Global Kalman filter approaches to estimate absolute angles of lower limb segments.

Science.gov (United States)

Nogueira, Samuel L; Lambrecht, Stefan; Inoue, Roberto S; Bortole, Magdo; Montagnoli, Arlindo N; Moreno, Juan C; Rocon, Eduardo; Terra, Marco H; Siqueira, Adriano A G; Pons, Jose L

2017-05-16

In this paper we propose the use of global Kalman filters (KFs) to estimate absolute angles of lower limb segments. Standard approaches adopt KFs to improve the performance of inertial sensors based on individual link configurations. In consequence, for a multi-body system like a lower limb exoskeleton, the inertial measurements of one link (e.g., the shank) are not taken into account in other link angle estimations (e.g., foot). Global KF approaches, on the other hand, correlate the collective contribution of all signals from lower limb segments observed in the state-space model through the filtering process. We present a novel global KF (matricial global KF) relying only on inertial sensor data, and validate both this KF and a previously presented global KF (Markov Jump Linear Systems, MJLS-based KF), which fuses data from inertial sensors and encoders from an exoskeleton. We furthermore compare both methods to the commonly used local KF. The results indicate that the global KFs performed significantly better than the local KF, with an average root mean square error (RMSE) of respectively 0.942° for the MJLS-based KF, 1.167° for the matrical global KF, and 1.202° for the local KFs. Including the data from the exoskeleton encoders also resulted in a significant increase in performance. The results indicate that the current practice of using KFs based on local models is suboptimal. Both the presented KF based on inertial sensor data, as well our previously presented global approach fusing inertial sensor data with data from exoskeleton encoders, were superior to local KFs. We therefore recommend to use global KFs for gait analysis and exoskeleton control.

Examining the global health arena: strengths and weaknesses of a convention approach to global health challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Haffeld, Just Balstad; Siem, Harald; Røttingen, John-Arne

2010-01-01

The article comprises a conceptual framework to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a global health convention. The analyses are inspired by Lawrence Gostin's suggested Framework Convention on Global Health. The analytical model takes a starting-point in events tentatively following a logic sequence: Input (global health funding), Processes (coordination, cooperation, accountability, allocation of aid), Output (definition of basic survival needs), Outcome (access to health services), and Impact (health for all). It then examines to what degree binding international regulations can create order in such a sequence of events. We conclude that a global health convention could be an appropriate instrument to deal with some of the problems of global health. We also show that some of the tasks preceding a convention approach might be to muster international support for supra-national health regulations, negotiate compromises between existing stakeholders in the global health arena, and to utilize WHO as a platform for further discussions on a global health convention. © 2010 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Integrated assessment of the global warming problem: A decision-analytical approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Lenthe, J.; Hendrickx, L.; Vlek, C.A.J.

1994-12-01

The multi-disciplinary character of the global warming problem asks for an integrated assessment approach for ordering and combining the various physical, ecological, economical, and sociological results. The Netherlands initiated their own National Research Program (NRP) on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change (NRP). The first phase (NRP-1) identified the integration theme as one of five central research themes. The second phase (NRP-2) shows a growing concern for integrated assessment issues. The current two-year research project 'Characterizing the risks: a comparative analysis of the risks of global warming and of relevant policy options, which started in September 1993, comes under the integrated assessment part of the Dutch NRP. The first part of the interim report describes the search for an integrated assessment methodology. It starts with emphasizing the need for integrated assessment at a relatively high level of aggregation and from a policy point of view. The conclusion will be that a decision-analytical approach might fit the purpose of a policy-oriented integrated modeling of the global warming problem. The discussion proceeds with an account on decision analysis and its explicit incorporation and analysis of uncertainty. Then influence diagrams, a relatively recent development in decision analysis, are introduced as a useful decision-analytical approach for integrated assessment. Finally, a software environment for creating and analyzing complex influence diagram models is discussed. The second part of the interim report provides a first, provisional integrated modeling of the global warming problem, emphasizing on the illustration of the decision-analytical approach. Major problem elements are identified and an initial problem structure is developed. The problem structure is described in terms of hierarchical influence diagrams. At some places the qualitative structure is filled with quantitative data

Transport of nutrients from land to sea: Global modeling approaches and uncertainty analyses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beusen, A.H.W.

2014-01-01

This thesis presents four examples of global models developed as part of the Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE). They describe different components of global biogeochemical cycles of the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and silicon (Si), with a focus on approaches to

Global Sectoral Industry Approaches to Climate Change. The Way Forward

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stigson, B.; Egenhofer, C.; Fujiwara, N.

2008-01-01

The structure of some industrial sectors is so highly concentrated that just a handful of companies are responsible for producing a significant share of that sector's total greenhouse gases emissions worldwide. These sectors are thus a 'natural' focus of policy-makers concerned with climate change and have attracted keen interest from the EU. So-called 'sectoral approaches' are seen as having the potential to broaden the range of contributions by all parties, including emerging economies, to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and to help moderate competitiveness concerns in trade-exposed industries. In particular, such approaches may help to quantify emissions on a sector-by-sector basis, building confidence that policies and measures can be put in place to reduce emissions. They can also help identify national or global commitments through the aggregation of sectoral data. While sectoral approaches allow policy-makers to concentrate on those individual sectors that contribute significantly to global emissions, they also pose a number of challenges. This CEPS Task Force Report identifies the principal issues associated with sectoral approaches - their rationale and the associated political dynamics - and gives an overview of existing approaches, the formulation of preconditions that would allow sectoral approaches to be implemented and an analysis of the potential interaction of sectoral approaches with existing climate change policies. The concluding chapter sketches a possible way forward

Operationalizing the One Health approach: the global governance challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kelley; Brumme, Zabrina L

2013-10-01

While there has been wide-ranging commitment to the One Health approach, its operationalisation has so far proven challenging. One Health calls upon the human, animal and environmental health sectors to cross professional, disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and to work in a more integrated fashion. At the global level, this paper argues that this vision is hindered by dysfunctions characterising current forms of global health governance (GHG), namely institutional proliferation, fragmentation, competition for scarce resources, lack of an overarching authority, and donor-driven vertical programmes. This has contributed, in part, to shortcomings in how One Health has been articulated to date. An agreed operational definition of One Health among key global institutions, efforts to build One Health institutions from the ground up, comparative case studies of what works or does not work institutionally, and high-level global support for research, training and career opportunities would all help to enable One Health to help remedy, and not be subsumed by, existing dysfunctions in GHG.

ECONOMIC SECURITY – NEW APPROACHES IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel ANDRUSEAC

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, more than ever, economic relations between states are the ones that define the general character of the relations between them and establish economic security as a concept which cannot be neglected anymore. Globalization, the process that shapes the international environment, undermines the old definition of economic security and forces its redefinition. The article aims to identify and analyse the effects of globalization on economic security and the new approaches it takes in this context.

An Approach for Assessing the Benefits of IT Investments in Global Supply Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Betz, Michaela; Henningsson, Stefan

2016-01-01

-duced by the technology as an isolated product. In contrast, research on global supply chains has shown that benefits generated from IT investments in this domain are typically generated by the coor-dinated use of many stakeholders and by technologies producing complimentary effects in systemic relationships......This paper develops and demonstrates a novel approach for ex-ante assessment of business benefits from IT investments in global supply chains. Extant IT assessment approaches are typically based on the assumption that benefit realization from IT investments involves a single stakeholder and are pro....... The assessment approach in this paper brings the contingent inter-organizational and technological dependencies of IT investments to the forefront of the assessment. It provides actors in industries relating to global supply chains the means to better apprehend the possible benefits from an IT investment...

A perturbed martingale approach to global optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sarkar, Saikat [Computational Mechanics Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India); Roy, Debasish, E-mail: royd@civil.iisc.ernet.in [Computational Mechanics Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India); Vasu, Ram Mohan [Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India)

2014-08-01

A new global stochastic search, guided mainly through derivative-free directional information computable from the sample statistical moments of the design variables within a Monte Carlo setup, is proposed. The search is aided by imparting to the directional update term additional layers of random perturbations referred to as ‘coalescence’ and ‘scrambling’. A selection step, constituting yet another avenue for random perturbation, completes the global search. The direction-driven nature of the search is manifest in the local extremization and coalescence components, which are posed as martingale problems that yield gain-like update terms upon discretization. As anticipated and numerically demonstrated, to a limited extent, against the problem of parameter recovery given the chaotic response histories of a couple of nonlinear oscillators, the proposed method appears to offer a more rational, more accurate and faster alternative to most available evolutionary schemes, prominently the particle swarm optimization. - Highlights: • Evolutionary global optimization is posed as a perturbed martingale problem. • Resulting search via additive updates is a generalization over Gateaux derivatives. • Additional layers of random perturbation help avoid trapping at local extrema. • The approach ensures efficient design space exploration and high accuracy. • The method is numerically assessed via parameter recovery of chaotic oscillators.

Global GPS Ionospheric Modelling Using Spherical Harmonic Expansion Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byung-Kyu Choi

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In this study, we developed a global ionosphere model based on measurements from a worldwide network of global positioning system (GPS. The total number of the international GPS reference stations for development of ionospheric model is about 100 and the spherical harmonic expansion approach as a mathematical method was used. In order to produce the ionospheric total electron content (TEC based on grid form, we defined spatial resolution of 2.0 degree and 5.0 degree in latitude and longitude, respectively. Two-dimensional TEC maps were constructed within the interval of one hour, and have a high temporal resolution compared to global ionosphere maps which are produced by several analysis centers. As a result, we could detect the sudden increase of TEC by processing GPS observables on 29 October, 2003 when the massive solar flare took place.

A fuzzy regression with support vector machine approach to the estimation of horizontal global solar radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baser, Furkan; Demirhan, Haydar

2017-01-01

Accurate estimation of the amount of horizontal global solar radiation for a particular field is an important input for decision processes in solar radiation investments. In this article, we focus on the estimation of yearly mean daily horizontal global solar radiation by using an approach that utilizes fuzzy regression functions with support vector machine (FRF-SVM). This approach is not seriously affected by outlier observations and does not suffer from the over-fitting problem. To demonstrate the utility of the FRF-SVM approach in the estimation of horizontal global solar radiation, we conduct an empirical study over a dataset collected in Turkey and applied the FRF-SVM approach with several kernel functions. Then, we compare the estimation accuracy of the FRF-SVM approach to an adaptive neuro-fuzzy system and a coplot supported-genetic programming approach. We observe that the FRF-SVM approach with a Gaussian kernel function is not affected by both outliers and over-fitting problem and gives the most accurate estimates of horizontal global solar radiation among the applied approaches. Consequently, the use of hybrid fuzzy functions and support vector machine approaches is found beneficial in long-term forecasting of horizontal global solar radiation over a region with complex climatic and terrestrial characteristics. - Highlights: • A fuzzy regression functions with support vector machines approach is proposed. • The approach is robust against outlier observations and over-fitting problem. • Estimation accuracy of the model is superior to several existent alternatives. • A new solar radiation estimation model is proposed for the region of Turkey. • The model is useful under complex terrestrial and climatic conditions.

Adaptive approach to global synchronization of directed networks with fast switching topologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin Buzhi; Lu Xinbiao

2010-01-01

Global synchronization of directed networks with switching topologies is investigated. It is found that if there exists at least one directed spanning tree in the network with the fixed time-average topology and the time-average topology is achieved sufficiently fast, the network will reach global synchronization for appreciate coupling strength. Furthermore, this appreciate coupling strength may be obtained by local adaptive approach. A sufficient condition about the global synchronization is given. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the adaptive strategy.

Defining and Theorizing Terrorism: A Global Actor-Centered Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Lizardo

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Arriving at a consensual definition of the phenomenon of terrorism has been a particularly difficult undertaking. Some definitions are either too specific or too vague, concentrating on some essential “terrorist” aspect of the actions, strategies, or types of non-state organizations that engage in terrorism. In this paper I draw on global approaches from international relations and world systems theories to propose a definition of terrorism that skirts these issues by concentrating on terrorist actors rather than terrorist behavior. I argue that this approach has several advantages, including the dissolution of several empirical and analytical problems produced by more essentialist definitions, and the location of terrorism within a two dimensional continuum of collective-violence phenomena in the international system which discloses important theoretical insights. I proceed to examine the characteristics of terrorism by comparing it with other forms of violence in the international system. I propose that terrorism may be part of the cycles and trends of unrest in the world system, responding to the same broad families of global dynamics as other forms of system-level conflict.

Global music approach to persons with dementia: evidence and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raglio A

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Alfredo Raglio,1,2 Stefania Filippi,2 Daniele Bellandi,3 Marco Stramba-Badiale4 1Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; 2APSP “Margherita Grazioli”, Povo, Trento, Italy; 3Geriatric Department, Sospiro Foundation, Sospiro, Cremona, Italy; 4Department of Geriatrics and Cardiovascular Medicine, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy Abstract: Music is an important resource for achieving psychological, cognitive, and social goals in the field of dementia. This paper describes the different types of evidence-based music interventions that can be found in literature and proposes a structured intervention model (global music approach to persons with dementia, GMA-D. The literature concerning music and dementia was considered and analyzed. The reported studies included more recent studies and/or studies with relevant scientific characteristics. From this background, a global music approach was proposed using music and sound–music elements according to the needs, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic–rehabilitation goals that emerge in the care of persons with dementia. From the literature analysis the following evidence-based interventions emerged: active music therapy (psychological and rehabilitative approaches, active music therapy with family caregivers and persons with dementia, music-based interventions, caregivers singing, individualized listening to music, and background music. Characteristics of each type of intervention are described and discussed. Standardizing the operational methods and evaluation of the single activities and a joint practice can contribute to achieve the validation of the application model. The proposed model can be considered a low-cost nonpharmacological intervention and a therapeutic–rehabilitation method for the reduction of behavioral disturbances, for stimulation of cognitive functions, and for increasing the overall quality of life

River Export of Plastic from Land to Sea: A Global Modeling Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Siegfried, Max; Gabbert, Silke; Koelmans, Albert A.; Kroeze, Carolien; Löhr, Ansje; Verburg, Charlotte

2016-04-01

Plastic is increasingly considered a serious cause of water pollution. It is a threat to aquatic ecosystems, including rivers, coastal waters and oceans. Rivers transport considerable amounts of plastic from land to sea. The quantity and its main sources, however, are not well known. Assessing the amount of macro- and microplastic transport from river to sea is, therefore, important for understanding the dimension and the patterns of plastic pollution of aquatic ecosystems. In addition, it is crucial for assessing short- and long-term impacts caused by plastic pollution. Here we present a global modelling approach to quantify river export of plastic from land to sea. Our approach accounts for different types of plastic, including both macro- and micro-plastics. Moreover, we distinguish point sources and diffuse sources of plastic in rivers. Our modelling approach is inspired by global nutrient models, which include more than 6000 river basins. In this paper, we will present our modelling approach, as well as first model results for micro-plastic pollution in European rivers. Important sources of micro-plastics include personal care products, laundry, household dust and car tyre wear. We combine information on these sources with information on sewage management, and plastic retention during river transport for the largest European rivers. Our modelling approach may help to better understand and prevent water pollution by plastic , and at the same time serves as 'proof of concept' for future application on global scale.

78 FR 10181 - Global Quality Systems-An Integrated Approach To Improving Medical Product Safety; Public Workshop

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-13

...] Global Quality Systems--An Integrated Approach To Improving Medical Product Safety; Public Workshop... (AFDO), is announcing a public workshop entitled ``Global Quality Systems--An Integrated Approach to... topics concerning FDA requirements related to the production and marketing of drugs and/or devices...

Asthma Treatments for Children and Adolescents: Strategies for a Global Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert L Thivierge

1995-01-01

Full Text Available Strategies for a global approach to the management of asthma in children and adolescents are described. Such an approach requires the physician to explain to the patient the pathophysiology of asthma, to evaluate and, whenever possible, change predisposing environmental factors, to establish a written plan of action and to maintain a close follow-up of the patient to ensure compliance.

Finsler metrics—a global approach with applications to geometric function theory

CERN Document Server

Abate, Marco

1994-01-01

Complex Finsler metrics appear naturally in complex analysis. To develop new tools in this area, the book provides a graduate-level introduction to differential geometry of complex Finsler metrics. After reviewing real Finsler geometry stressing global results, complex Finsler geometry is presented introducing connections, Kählerianity, geodesics, curvature. Finally global geometry and complex Monge-Ampère equations are discussed for Finsler manifolds with constant holomorphic curvature, which are important in geometric function theory. Following E. Cartan, S.S. Chern and S. Kobayashi, the global approach carries the full strength of hermitian geometry of vector bundles avoiding cumbersome computations, and thus fosters applications in other fields.

Fairness through regulation? Reflections on a cosmopolitan approach to global finance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Božina Beroš

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In the aftermath of the last financial crisis a strong message prevails that ‘something’ has to be changed in the manner global finance is governed. What exactly this ‘something’ entails and what could constitute the ‘common ground’ of anticipated change is more difficult to determine. Many envisage future improvements of global financial governance by evoking deliberative democracy, political equality and cosmopolitanism. As financial regulation is the main instrument through which global finance is shaped and governed nowadays, these principles should then be transmitted to regulatory arrangements. This paper focuses on a new conceptual approach to regulatory and governance issues in global finance, by employing the philosophical idea of cosmopolitanism. It argues that although as a concept, cosmopolitanism cannot mitigate all the flaws attributed to contemporary finance, its development and extension to international financial regulation that is promulgated by institutions of the global financial system, would represent a worthwhile endeavour in making global finance more accountable and just in the eyes of many.

A global sensitivity analysis approach for morphogenesis models

KAUST Repository

Boas, Sonja E. M.

2015-11-21

Background Morphogenesis is a developmental process in which cells organize into shapes and patterns. Complex, non-linear and multi-factorial models with images as output are commonly used to study morphogenesis. It is difficult to understand the relation between the uncertainty in the input and the output of such ‘black-box’ models, giving rise to the need for sensitivity analysis tools. In this paper, we introduce a workflow for a global sensitivity analysis approach to study the impact of single parameters and the interactions between them on the output of morphogenesis models. Results To demonstrate the workflow, we used a published, well-studied model of vascular morphogenesis. The parameters of this cellular Potts model (CPM) represent cell properties and behaviors that drive the mechanisms of angiogenic sprouting. The global sensitivity analysis correctly identified the dominant parameters in the model, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the analysis provided information on the relative impact of single parameters and of interactions between them. This is very relevant because interactions of parameters impede the experimental verification of the predicted effect of single parameters. The parameter interactions, although of low impact, provided also new insights in the mechanisms of in silico sprouting. Finally, the analysis indicated that the model could be reduced by one parameter. Conclusions We propose global sensitivity analysis as an alternative approach to study the mechanisms of morphogenesis. Comparison of the ranking of the impact of the model parameters to knowledge derived from experimental data and from manipulation experiments can help to falsify models and to find the operand mechanisms in morphogenesis. The workflow is applicable to all ‘black-box’ models, including high-throughput in vitro models in which output measures are affected by a set of experimental perturbations.

A global sensitivity analysis approach for morphogenesis models.

Science.gov (United States)

Boas, Sonja E M; Navarro Jimenez, Maria I; Merks, Roeland M H; Blom, Joke G

2015-11-21

Morphogenesis is a developmental process in which cells organize into shapes and patterns. Complex, non-linear and multi-factorial models with images as output are commonly used to study morphogenesis. It is difficult to understand the relation between the uncertainty in the input and the output of such 'black-box' models, giving rise to the need for sensitivity analysis tools. In this paper, we introduce a workflow for a global sensitivity analysis approach to study the impact of single parameters and the interactions between them on the output of morphogenesis models. To demonstrate the workflow, we used a published, well-studied model of vascular morphogenesis. The parameters of this cellular Potts model (CPM) represent cell properties and behaviors that drive the mechanisms of angiogenic sprouting. The global sensitivity analysis correctly identified the dominant parameters in the model, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the analysis provided information on the relative impact of single parameters and of interactions between them. This is very relevant because interactions of parameters impede the experimental verification of the predicted effect of single parameters. The parameter interactions, although of low impact, provided also new insights in the mechanisms of in silico sprouting. Finally, the analysis indicated that the model could be reduced by one parameter. We propose global sensitivity analysis as an alternative approach to study the mechanisms of morphogenesis. Comparison of the ranking of the impact of the model parameters to knowledge derived from experimental data and from manipulation experiments can help to falsify models and to find the operand mechanisms in morphogenesis. The workflow is applicable to all 'black-box' models, including high-throughput in vitro models in which output measures are affected by a set of experimental perturbations.

Integrated assessment of the global warming problem. A decision-analytical approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Lenthe, J.; Hendrickx, L.; Vlek, C.A.J.

1995-01-01

The project on the title subject aims at developing a policy-oriented methodology for the integrated assessment of the global warming problem. Decision analysis in general and influence diagrams in particular appear to constitute an appropriate integrated assessment methodology. The influence-diagram approach is illustrated at a preliminary integrated modeling of the global warming problem. In next stages of the research, attention will be shifted from the methodology of integrated assessment to the contents of integrated models. 4 figs., 5 refs

Inter-relations between regional and global approaches to nuclear non-proliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simpson, J.

1995-01-01

It is now becoming evident that the end of the East-West conflict has had a significant effect upon both global and regional security structures. From a situation where regional arrangements were, in the main, determined and driven by pressures arising from the bipolar division which permeated all aspects of the global political system, they increasingly have an independent existence. This has enabled such arrangements to be tailored to local circumstances in a manner which is not possible with global agreements. In particular, it has become apparent that enhanced constraints on peaceful nuclear activities and much more intrusive inspection and monitoring procedures, can more easily be negotiated on a regional basis than a global one. It also appears that nuclear weapon states are prepared to make unconditional commitments about nuclear weapon use on a regional basis, whereas they may not be prepared to do so on a global one. In short, regional approaches enable fine-tuning of the international non-proliferation regime to occur, and for measures to be taken on a regional level that would be politically unacceptable on the global level, due to their discriminatory nature. In the years ahead additional Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) agreements may be negotiated, covering more of the land area of the globe. In parallel, regional nuclear cooperation and safeguarding agreements might also be expected to develop along the lines of EURATOM and ABACC. This in turn may move the states which remain outside of the NPT to a similar position to Argentina and Brazil at the moment: to an acceptance that whatever their opposition in principle to the NPT and the system of supplier export guidelines, the commitments they have already accepted on a regional level are more intrusive and constraining than those they would incur if they were to have acceded to the Treaty. In these circumstances, accession to the NPT becomes a distinct possibility, and thus the regional approach to non

Global approaches to regulating electronic cigarettes

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Ryan David; Awopegba, Ayodeji; De León, Elaine; Cohen, Joanna E

2017-01-01

Objectives Classify and describe the policy approaches used by countries to regulate e-cigarettes. Methods National policies regulating e-cigarettes were identified by (1) conducting web searches on Ministry of Health websites, and (2) broad web searches. The mechanisms used to regulate e-cigarettes were classified as new/amended laws, or existing laws. The policy domains identified include restrictions or prohibitions on product: sale, manufacturing, importation, distribution, use, product design including e-liquid ingredients, advertising/promotion/sponsorship, trademarks, and regulation requiring: taxation, health warning labels and child-safety standards. The classification of the policy was reviewed by a country expert. Results The search identified 68 countries that regulate e-cigarettes: 22 countries regulate e-cigarettes using existing regulations; 25 countries enacted new policies to regulate e-cigarettes; 7 countries made amendments to existing legislation; 14 countries use a combination of new/amended and existing regulation. Common policies include a minimum-age-of-purchase, indoor-use (vape-free public places) bans and marketing restrictions. Few countries are applying a tax to e-cigarettes. Conclusions A range of regulatory approaches are being applied to e-cigarettes globally; many countries regulate e-cigarettes using legislation not written for e-cigarettes. PMID:27903958

Approach on a global HTGR R and D network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lensa, W. von

1997-01-01

The present situation of nuclear power in general and of the innovative nuclear reactor systems in particular requires more comprehensive, coordinated R and D efforts on a broad international level to respond to today's requirements with respect to public and economic acceptance as well as to globalization trends and global environmental problems. HTGR technology development has already reached a high degree of maturity that will be complemented by the operation of the two new test reactors in Japan and China, representing technological milestones for the demonstration of HTGR safety characteristics and Nuclear Process Heat generation capabilities. It is proposed by the IAEA 'International Working Group on Gas-Cooled Reactors' to establish a 'Global HTGR R and D Network' on basic HTGR technology for the stable, long-term advancement of the specific HTGR features and as a basis for the future market introduction of this innovative reactor system. The background and the motivation for this approach are illustrated, as well as first proposals on the main objectives, the structure and the further procedures for the implementation of such a multinational working sharing R and D network. Modern telecooperation methods are foreseen as an interactive tool for effective communication and collaboration on a global scale. (author)

Helicopter precision approach capability using the Global Positioning System

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufmann, David N.

1992-01-01

The period between 1 July and 31 December, 1992, was spent developing a research plan as well as a navigation system document and flight test plan to investigate helicopter precision approach capability using the Global Positioning System (GPS). In addition, all hardware and software required for the research was acquired, developed, installed, and verified on both the test aircraft and the ground-based reference station.

A hybrid computational approach to estimate solar global radiation: An empirical evidence from Iran

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mostafavi, Elham Sadat; Ramiyani, Sara Saeidi; Sarvar, Rahim; Moud, Hashem Izadi; Mousavi, Seyyed Mohammad

2013-01-01

This paper presents an innovative hybrid approach for the estimation of the solar global radiation. New prediction equations were developed for the global radiation using an integrated search method of genetic programming (GP) and simulated annealing (SA), called GP/SA. The solar radiation was formulated in terms of several climatological and meteorological parameters. Comprehensive databases containing monthly data collected for 6 years in two cities of Iran were used to develop GP/SA-based models. Separate models were established for each city. The generalization of the models was verified using a separate testing database. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the contribution of the parameters affecting the solar radiation. The derived models make accurate predictions of the solar global radiation and notably outperform the existing models. -- Highlights: ► A hybrid approach is presented for the estimation of the solar global radiation. ► The proposed method integrates the capabilities of GP and SA. ► Several climatological and meteorological parameters are included in the analysis. ► The GP/SA models make accurate predictions of the solar global radiation.

On the quality of global emission inventories. Approaches, methodologies, input data and uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olivier, J.G.J.

2002-01-01

Four key scientific questions will be investigated: (1) How does a user define the 'quality' of a global (or national) emission inventory? (Chapter 2); (2) What determines the quality of a global emission inventory? (Chapters 2 and 7); (3) How can inventory quality be achieved in practice and expressed in quantitative terms ('uncertainty')? (Chapters 3 to 6); and (4) What is the preferred approach for compiling a global emission inventory, given the practical limitations and the desired inventory quality? (Chapters 7 and 8)

Helicopter Approach Capability Using the Differential Global Positioning System

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufmann, David N.

1994-01-01

The results of flight tests to determine the feasibility of using the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the Differential mode (DGPS) to provide high accuracy, precision navigation and guidance for helicopter approaches to landing are presented. The airborne DGPS receiver and associated equipment is installed in a NASA UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The ground-based DGPS reference receiver is located at a surveyed test site and is equipped with a real-time VHF data link to transmit correction information to the airborne DGPS receiver. The corrected airborne DGPS information, together with the preset approach geometry, is used to calculate guidance commands which are sent to the aircraft's approach guidance instruments. The use of DGPS derived guidance for helicopter approaches to landing is evaluated by comparing the DGPS data with the laser tracker truth data. The errors indicate that the helicopter position based on DGPS guidance satisfies the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Category 1 (CAT 1) lateral and vertical navigational accuracy requirements.

A GOCE-only global gravity field model by the space-wise approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Migliaccio, Frederica; Reguzzoni, Mirko; Gatti, Andrea

2011-01-01

The global gravity field model computed by the spacewise approach is one of three official solutions delivered by ESA from the analysis of the GOCE data. The model consists of a set of spherical harmonic coefficients and the corresponding error covariance matrix. The main idea behind this approach...... the orbit to reduce the noise variance and correlation before gridding the data. In the first release of the space-wise approach, based on a period of about two months, some prior information coming from existing gravity field models entered into the solution especially at low degrees and low orders...... degrees; the second is an internally computed GOCE-only prior model to be used in place of the official quick-look model, thus removing the dependency on EIGEN5C especially in the polar gaps. Once the procedure to obtain a GOCE-only solution has been outlined, a new global gravity field model has been...

Comprehensive and market-based approaches to global-change policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, R.B.

1992-01-01

The summary highlights the need to take a system-wide approach to global change. The need to minimize costs while achieving environmental goals suggests the utility of employing market-based incentives that (1) ensure that the most is achieved by those who can do so at least cost and (2) encourage, innovation, rather than using 'command-and-control' tactics that mandate uniform adoption of centrally selected techniques. 18 refs

Global sourcing risk management approaches: A study of small clothing and textile retailers in Gauteng

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wesley Niemann

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Global sourcing has increased as buyers searched for new markets that offered better pricing, quality, variety and delivery lead times than their local markets. However, the increase in global sourcing has also exposed businesses to many supply risks. Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to explore the global sourcing supply risks encountered by small clothing and textile retailers in Gauteng and to determine what supply risk identification and management approaches they utilise. Method: This study utilised semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 small clothing and textile retail owners. Results: The study found that the three major supply risks encountered by these retailers were fluctuating exchange rates, communication barriers and costly and complicated logistics, which included high customs costs. Furthermore, although aware of the supply risks, none of the small clothing and textile retailers had formal identification and management approaches in place. Instead, risks are dealt with at the sole discretion of the owner as and when they occur. The study also found that informal identification and management approaches were being applied by some of the retailers. These included factoring exchange rate fluctuations into the profit margins and using translators to combat communication barriers. Contribution: The study is one of the first empirical studies conducted on global supply risks and the associated identification and management approaches in the South African small business context, specifically focused on clothing and textile retailers. Conclusion: Small clothing and textile retailers need to proactively identify and manage global sourcing risk using the identified approaches in order to reduce and mitigate potential supply disruptions.

Coordinated approaches to quantify long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Y.; Melillo, J.; Niu, S.

2011-01-01

a coordinated approach that combines long-term, large-scale global change experiments with process studies and modeling. Long-term global change manipulative experiments, especially in high-priority ecosystems such as tropical forests and high-latitude regions, are essential to maximize information gain......Many serious ecosystem consequences of climate change will take decades or even centuries to emerge. Long-term ecological responses to global change are strongly regulated by slow processes, such as changes in species composition, carbon dynamics in soil and by long-lived plants, and accumulation...... to be the most effective strategy to gain the best information on long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change....

The Methodical Approaches to the Research of Informatization of the Global Economic Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazakova Nadezhda A.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at researching the identification of global economic development informatization. The complex of issues connected with research of development of informatization of the world countries in the conditions of globalization is considered. The development of informatization in the global economic space, which facilitates opening of new markets for international trade enterprises, international transnational corporations and other organizations, which not only provide exports, but also create production capacities for local producers. The methodical approach which includes three stages together with formation of the input information on the status of informatization of the global economic development of the world countries has been proposed.

The biopsychosocial approach and global mental health: Synergies and opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emmanuel Babalola

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The biopsychosocial (BPS approach proposed by Engel four decades ago was regarded as one of the most important developments in medicine and psychiatry in the late 20th century. Unlike the biomedical model, the BPS approach posits that biological, psychological, and social factors play a significant role in disease causation and treatment. This approach brought about a new way of conceptualizing mental health difficulties and engendered changes within research, medical teaching and practice. Global mental health (GMH is a relatively new area of study and practice that seek to bridge inequities and inequality in mental healthcare services provision for people worldwide. The significance of the BPS approach for understanding mental health difficulties is being debated in the context of GMH initiatives. This paper critically evaluates strengths and weaknesses of the BPS approach to mental health difficulties and explores its relevance to GMH initiatives.

Mode decomposition methods for flows in high-contrast porous media. Global-local approach

KAUST Repository

Ghommem, Mehdi; Presho, Michael; Calo, Victor M.; Efendiev, Yalchin R.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we combine concepts of the generalized multiscale finite element method (GMsFEM) and mode decomposition methods to construct a robust global-local approach for model reduction of flows in high-contrast porous media. This is achieved by implementing Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) techniques on a coarse grid computed using GMsFEM. The resulting reduced-order approach enables a significant reduction in the flow problem size while accurately capturing the behavior of fully-resolved solutions. We consider a variety of high-contrast coefficients and present the corresponding numerical results to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. This paper is a continuation of our work presented in Ghommem et al. (2013) [1] where we examine the applicability of POD and DMD to derive simplified and reliable representations of flows in high-contrast porous media on fully resolved models. In the current paper, we discuss how these global model reduction approaches can be combined with local techniques to speed-up the simulations. The speed-up is due to inexpensive, while sufficiently accurate, computations of global snapshots. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Mode decomposition methods for flows in high-contrast porous media. Global-local approach

KAUST Repository

Ghommem, Mehdi

2013-11-01

In this paper, we combine concepts of the generalized multiscale finite element method (GMsFEM) and mode decomposition methods to construct a robust global-local approach for model reduction of flows in high-contrast porous media. This is achieved by implementing Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) techniques on a coarse grid computed using GMsFEM. The resulting reduced-order approach enables a significant reduction in the flow problem size while accurately capturing the behavior of fully-resolved solutions. We consider a variety of high-contrast coefficients and present the corresponding numerical results to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. This paper is a continuation of our work presented in Ghommem et al. (2013) [1] where we examine the applicability of POD and DMD to derive simplified and reliable representations of flows in high-contrast porous media on fully resolved models. In the current paper, we discuss how these global model reduction approaches can be combined with local techniques to speed-up the simulations. The speed-up is due to inexpensive, while sufficiently accurate, computations of global snapshots. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

A new approach to a global fit of the CKM matrix

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoecker, A.; Lacker, H.; Laplace, S. [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, 91 - Orsay (France); Le Diberder, F. [Laboratoire de Physique Nucleaire et des Hautes Energies, 75 - Paris (France)

2001-05-01

We report on a new approach to a global CKM matrix analysis taking into account most recent experimental and theoretical results. The statistical framework (Rfit) developed in this paper advocates frequentist statistics. Other approaches, such as Bayesian statistics or the 95% CL scan method are also discussed. We emphasize the distinction of a model testing and a model dependent, metrological phase in which the various parameters of the theory are estimated. Measurements and theoretical parameters entering the global fit are thoroughly discussed, in particular with respect to their theoretical uncertainties. Graphical results for confidence levels are drawn in various one and two-dimensional parameter spaces. Numerical results are provided for all relevant CKM parameterizations, the CKM elements and theoretical input parameters. Predictions for branching ratios of rare K and B meson decays are obtained. A simple, predictive SUSY extension of the Standard Model is discussed. (authors)

A systematic approach to developing a global surgery elective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoehn, Richard S; Davis, Bradley R; Huber, Nathan L; Edwards, Michael J; Lungu, Douglas; Logan, Jocelyn M

2015-01-01

Interest in global health has been increasing for years among American residents and medical students. Many residency programs have developed global health tracks or electives in response to this need. Our goal was to create a global surgery elective based on a synergistic partnership between our institution and a hospital in the developing world. We created a business plan and 1-year schedule for researching potential sites and completing a pilot rotation at our selected hospital. We administered a survey to general surgery residents at the University of Cincinnati and visited medical facilities in Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Malawi. The survey was given to all general surgery residents. A resident and a faculty member executed the fact-finding trip as well as the pilot rotation. Our general surgery residents view an international elective as integral to residency training and would participate in such an elective. After investigating 6 hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, we conducted a pilot rotation at our selected hospital and gained the necessary information to organize a curriculum. We will begin sending senior residents for 8-week rotations in the coming academic year. By systematically approaching the process of creating a global surgery elective, we were able to gain considerable insight into choosing a location and organizing the elective. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global approaches and local strategies for phase unwrapping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerriero, L.; Refice, A.; Stramaglia, S.; Chiaradia, M. T.; Satalino, G.; Veneziani, N.; Blonda, P.; Pasquariello, G.

2001-01-01

Phase unwrapping, i.e. the retrieval of absolute phases from wrapped, noisy measures, is a tough problem because of the presence of rotational inconsistencies (residues), randomly generated by noise and undersampling on the principal phase gradient field. These inconsistencies prevent the recovery of the absolute phase field by direct integration of the wrapped gradients. In this paper it is examined the relative merit of known global approaches and then it is presented evidence that the approach based on stochastic annealing can recover the true phase field also in noisy areas with severe undersampling, where other methods fail. Then, some experiments with local approaches are presented. A fast neural filter has been trained to eliminate close residue couples by joining them in a way which takes into account the local phase information. Performances are about 60-70% of the residues. Finally, other experiments have been aimed at designing an automated method for the determination of weight matrices to use in conjunction with local phase unwrapping algorithms. The method, tested with the minimum cost flow algorithm, gives good performances over both simulated and real data

Quantifying Spatial Variation in Ecosystem Services Demand : A Global Mapping Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolff, S.; Schulp, C. J E; Kastner, T.; Verburg, P. H.

2017-01-01

Understanding the spatial-temporal variability in ecosystem services (ES) demand can help anticipate externalities of land use change. This study presents new operational approaches to quantify and map demand for three non-commodity ES on a global scale: animal pollination, wild medicinal plants and

Global music approach to persons with dementia: evidence and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Raglio, Alfredo; Filippi, Stefania; Bellandi, Daniele; Stramba-Badiale, Marco

2014-01-01

Music is an important resource for achieving psychological, cognitive, and social goals in the field of dementia. This paper describes the different types of evidence-based music interventions that can be found in literature and proposes a structured intervention model (global music approach to persons with dementia, GMA-D). The literature concerning music and dementia was considered and analyzed. The reported studies included more recent studies and/or studies with relevant scientific characteristics. From this background, a global music approach was proposed using music and sound-music elements according to the needs, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic-rehabilitation goals that emerge in the care of persons with dementia. From the literature analysis the following evidence-based interventions emerged: active music therapy (psychological and rehabilitative approaches), active music therapy with family caregivers and persons with dementia, music-based interventions, caregivers singing, individualized listening to music, and background music. Characteristics of each type of intervention are described and discussed. Standardizing the operational methods and evaluation of the single activities and a joint practice can contribute to achieve the validation of the application model. The proposed model can be considered a low-cost nonpharmacological intervention and a therapeutic-rehabilitation method for the reduction of behavioral disturbances, for stimulation of cognitive functions, and for increasing the overall quality of life of persons with dementia.

Global justice, capabilities approach and commercial surrogacy in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Saravanan, Sheela

2015-08-01

Inequalities, ineffective governance, unclear surrogacy regulations and unethical practices make India an ideal environment for global injustice in the process of commercial surrogacy. This article aims to apply the 'capabilities approach' to find possibilities of global justice through human fellowship in the context of commercial surrogacy. I draw primarily on my research findings supplemented by other relevant empirical research and documentary films on surrogacy. The paper reveals inequalities and inadequate basic entitlements among surrogate mothers as a consequence of which they are engaged in unjust contracts. Their limited entitlements also limit their opportunities to engage in enriching goals. It is the role of the state to provide all its citizens with basic entitlements and protect their basic human rights. Individuals in India evading their basic duty also contribute to the existing inequalities. Individual responsibilities of the medical practitioners and the intended parents are in question here as they are more inclined towards self-interest rather than commitment towards human fellowship. At the global level, the injustice in transnational commercial surrogacy practices in developing countries calls for an international declaration of women and child rights in third party reproduction with a normative vision of mutual fellowship and human dignity.

The Global Dimension of Water Governance: Why the River Basin Approach Is No Longer Sufficient and Why Cooperative Action at Global Level Is Needed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arjen Y. Hoekstra

2010-12-01

Full Text Available When water problems extend beyond the borders of local communities, the river basin is generally seen as the most appropriate unit for analysis, planning, and institutional arrangements. In this paper it is argued that addressing water problems at the river basin level is not always sufficient. Many of today’s seemingly local water issues carry a (subcontinental or even global dimension, which urges for a governance approach that comprises institutional arrangements at a level beyond that of the river basin. This paper examines a number of arguments for the thesis that good water governance requires a global approach complementary to the river basin approach. Subsequently, it identifies four major issues to be addressed at global scale: Efficiency, equity, sustainability and security of water supply in a globalised world. Finally, the paper raises the question of what kind of institutional arrangements could be developed to cope with the global dimension of water issues. A few possible directions are explored, ranging from an international protocol on full-cost water pricing and a water label for water-intensive products to the implementation of water footprint quotas and the water-neutral concept.

Computational Approaches to Simulation and Optimization of Global Aircraft Trajectories

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Hok Kwan; Sridhar, Banavar

2016-01-01

This study examines three possible approaches to improving the speed in generating wind-optimal routes for air traffic at the national or global level. They are: (a) using the resources of a supercomputer, (b) running the computations on multiple commercially available computers and (c) implementing those same algorithms into NASAs Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) and compares those to a standard implementation run on a single CPU. Wind-optimal aircraft trajectories are computed using global air traffic schedules. The run time and wait time on the supercomputer for trajectory optimization using various numbers of CPUs ranging from 80 to 10,240 units are compared with the total computational time for running the same computation on a single desktop computer and on multiple commercially available computers for potential computational enhancement through parallel processing on the computer clusters. This study also re-implements the trajectory optimization algorithm for further reduction of computational time through algorithm modifications and integrates that with FACET to facilitate the use of the new features which calculate time-optimal routes between worldwide airport pairs in a wind field for use with existing FACET applications. The implementations of trajectory optimization algorithms use MATLAB, Python, and Java programming languages. The performance evaluations are done by comparing their computational efficiencies and based on the potential application of optimized trajectories. The paper shows that in the absence of special privileges on a supercomputer, a cluster of commercially available computers provides a feasible approach for national and global air traffic system studies.

MAPPING THE SIMILARITIES OF SPECTRA: GLOBAL AND LOCALLY-BIASED APPROACHES TO SDSS GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lawlor, David [Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (United States); Budavári, Tamás [Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, The Johns Hopkins University (United States); Mahoney, Michael W. [International Computer Science Institute (United States)

2016-12-10

We present a novel approach to studying the diversity of galaxies. It is based on a novel spectral graph technique, that of locally-biased semi-supervised eigenvectors . Our method introduces new coordinates that summarize an entire spectrum, similar to but going well beyond the widely used Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Unlike PCA, however, this technique does not assume that the Euclidean distance between galaxy spectra is a good global measure of similarity. Instead, we relax that condition to only the most similar spectra, and we show that doing so yields more reliable results for many astronomical questions of interest. The global variant of our approach can identify very finely numerous astronomical phenomena of interest. The locally-biased variants of our basic approach enable us to explore subtle trends around a set of chosen objects. The power of the method is demonstrated in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample, by illustrating that the derived spectral coordinates carry an unprecedented amount of information.

Mapping the Similarities of Spectra: Global and Locally-biased Approaches to SDSS Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Lawlor, David; Budavári, Tamás; Mahoney, Michael W.

2016-12-01

We present a novel approach to studying the diversity of galaxies. It is based on a novel spectral graph technique, that of locally-biased semi-supervised eigenvectors. Our method introduces new coordinates that summarize an entire spectrum, similar to but going well beyond the widely used Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Unlike PCA, however, this technique does not assume that the Euclidean distance between galaxy spectra is a good global measure of similarity. Instead, we relax that condition to only the most similar spectra, and we show that doing so yields more reliable results for many astronomical questions of interest. The global variant of our approach can identify very finely numerous astronomical phenomena of interest. The locally-biased variants of our basic approach enable us to explore subtle trends around a set of chosen objects. The power of the method is demonstrated in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample, by illustrating that the derived spectral coordinates carry an unprecedented amount of information.

MAPPING THE SIMILARITIES OF SPECTRA: GLOBAL AND LOCALLY-BIASED APPROACHES TO SDSS GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawlor, David; Budavári, Tamás; Mahoney, Michael W.

2016-01-01

We present a novel approach to studying the diversity of galaxies. It is based on a novel spectral graph technique, that of locally-biased semi-supervised eigenvectors . Our method introduces new coordinates that summarize an entire spectrum, similar to but going well beyond the widely used Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Unlike PCA, however, this technique does not assume that the Euclidean distance between galaxy spectra is a good global measure of similarity. Instead, we relax that condition to only the most similar spectra, and we show that doing so yields more reliable results for many astronomical questions of interest. The global variant of our approach can identify very finely numerous astronomical phenomena of interest. The locally-biased variants of our basic approach enable us to explore subtle trends around a set of chosen objects. The power of the method is demonstrated in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample, by illustrating that the derived spectral coordinates carry an unprecedented amount of information.

Global approach of mean service satisfaction assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Dooguy Kora

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A theoretical expression for mobile service satisfaction assessment has been proposed. Mobile networks users’ satisfaction is a major concern for the operators and regulators. Therefore a certain level of network qualification is required to be offered to consumers by operators thanks to the decisions initiated by the regulation authority. For the assessment of the level of satisfaction, several methodologies and tools (measuring and monitoring have emerged. Ranking in two broad categories, namely the objective and subjective methods, both have advantages as well as disadvantages. This Letter has proposed a unified approach to evaluate more objectively users’ level of satisfaction of a service based on the most common network key performance indicators (KPIs rate following the different methods. This approach's main advantage is that it has taken advantages of the different positive aspects of the existing methods and outperformed their limitations thanks to the introduced concept of global KPI. In addition, the size of samples according to each method has been considered. A mean service satisfaction theoretical expression has been proposed to regulation authority, consumers association and operators as common base of service satisfaction assessment.

World environmental policy. Conceptual approaches of German political science in response to the challenges of Global Change; Weltumweltpolitik - Global Change als Herausforderung fuer die deutsche Politikwissenschaft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biermann, F. [Potsdam-Institut fuer Klimafolgenforschung (PIK), Potsdam (Germany); Dingwerth, K. [Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany). Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften

2001-12-01

This paper describes, first, the international community of social scientists working on global change, and elaborates on possible contributions to this community by German political scientists. Second, the paper examines three new conceptual approaches to analysing global change, namely the Syndromes of Global Change approach, Earth System Analysis, and Sustainability Science. The paper then elaborates on a number of ways in which German political science could respond to the academic and political challenges posed by global change. It concludes by emphasizing the need for a new approach, focusing on 'world environmental policy analysis' that would bridge traditional (environmental) policy analysis, international relations research, and comparative politics. (orig.) [German] Der Aufsatz beschreibt die Wissenschaftslandschaft der internationalen sozialwissenschaftlichen Global-Change-Forschung mit besonderem Augenmerk auf moegliche Beitraege der deutschen Politologie. Mit den 'Syndromen des Globalen Wandels', der 'Erdsystemanalyse' und der 'Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaft' werden drei neuere konzeptionelle Innovationen vorgestellt, mit denen der Herausforderung des Globalen Wandels begegnet werden soll. Anschliessend werden Wege skizziert, wie die Politikwissenschaft auf die neuen gesellschaftlichen und wissenschaftlichen Probleme des Globalen Wandels reagieren koennte. Eine Schlussfolgerung ist ein Plaedoyer fuer die Entwicklung einer eigenstaendigen Weltumweltpolitik-Analyse an der Schnittstelle von traditioneller Policy-Analyse, Internationalen Beziehungen/Aussenpolitik sowie Komparatistik. (orig./CB)

Workshop in adaptation and mitigation strategies - approaching global warming: A review of the adaptation and mitigation perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrisette, P.M.

1992-01-01

The debate within the scientific, policy, and environmental communities on what, if anything, to do about global warming appears to be focused on whether to adapt to climate change in the future or to mitigate climate change in the present. As the issue has become increasingly politicized, the debate over these two approaches has become polarized. The two approaches, however, are not mutually exclusive; in fact, there is much common ground between them. But differences can be found in how proponents of each approach view the risks of global climate change and the values that underpin these perceptions of risk. In this paper, the author will briefly outline the progression of global warming from an obscure scientific concern into a leading international political issue. The author will also review some previous efforts by social scientists to assess attitudes and positions on global warming. He will then examine in detail the adaptation and mitigation perspectives and assess how they differ on the basis of different conceptions of uncertainty and risk, equity, and technology. Finally, he will examine the adaptation and mitigation approaches from the perspective of developing countries

Foreign Direct Investment versus Portfolio Investment : A Global Games Approach

OpenAIRE

Yamin Ahmad; Pietro Cova; Rodrigo Harrison

2004-01-01

We present a model of investment under uncertainty about fundamentals, using a global games approach. Goldstein & Razin (2003) show that there is an information based trade-off between foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio investment (PI) which rationalizes some well known stylised facts in the literature - the relative volatility and reversibility of foreign direct investment versus portfolio investment. We extend their result and show that uncertainty about fundamentals does not imp...

The Emergence of Cambodian Civil Society within Global Educational Governance: A Morphogenetic Approach to Agency and Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, D. Brent, Jr.; Brehm, William C.

2015-01-01

This paper uses Margaret Archer's morphogenetic approach to analyze the emergence of civil society within global educational governance. The purpose is to understand the intersection of historical structures with global actors and spaces that have accompanied the globalization of education. Based on findings from a study on the impact in Cambodia…

Critical remarks on Simon Caney's humanity- centered approach to global justice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julian Culp

2016-09-01

The practice-independent approach to theorizing justice (PIA holds that the social practices to which a particular conception of justice is meant to apply are of no importance for the justification of such a conception. In this paper I argue that this approach to theorizing justice is incompatible with the method of reflective equilibrium (MRE because the MRE is antithetical to a clean separation between issues of justification and application. In particular I will be maintaining that this incompatibility renders Simon Caney’s cosmopolitan theory of global justice inconsistent, because Caney claims to endorse both a humanity-centered PIA and the MRE.

Global Software Engineering: A Software Process Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Ita; Casey, Valentine; Burton, John; McCaffery, Fergal

Our research has shown that many companies are struggling with the successful implementation of global software engineering, due to temporal, cultural and geographical distance, which causes a range of factors to come into play. For example, cultural, project managementproject management and communication difficulties continually cause problems for software engineers and project managers. While the implementation of efficient software processes can be used to improve the quality of the software product, published software process models do not cater explicitly for the recent growth in global software engineering. Our thesis is that global software engineering factors should be included in software process models to ensure their continued usefulness in global organisations. Based on extensive global software engineering research, we have developed a software process, Global Teaming, which includes specific practices and sub-practices. The purpose is to ensure that requirements for successful global software engineering are stipulated so that organisations can ensure successful implementation of global software engineering.

Global Crop Monitoring: A Satellite-Based Hierarchical Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bingfang Wu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Taking advantage of multiple new remote sensing data sources, especially from Chinese satellites, the CropWatch system has expanded the scope of its international analyses through the development of new indicators and an upgraded operational methodology. The approach adopts a hierarchical system covering four spatial levels of detail: global, regional, national (thirty-one key countries including China and “sub-countries” (for the nine largest countries. The thirty-one countries encompass more that 80% of both production and exports of maize, rice, soybean and wheat. The methodology resorts to climatic and remote sensing indicators at different scales. The global patterns of crop environmental growing conditions are first analyzed with indicators for rainfall, temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR as well as potential biomass. At the regional scale, the indicators pay more attention to crops and include Vegetation Health Index (VHI, Vegetation Condition Index (VCI, Cropped Arable Land Fraction (CALF as well as Cropping Intensity (CI. Together, they characterize crop situation, farming intensity and stress. CropWatch carries out detailed crop condition analyses at the national scale with a comprehensive array of variables and indicators. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, cropped areas and crop conditions are integrated to derive food production estimates. For the nine largest countries, CropWatch zooms into the sub-national units to acquire detailed information on crop condition and production by including new indicators (e.g., Crop type proportion. Based on trend analysis, CropWatch also issues crop production supply outlooks, covering both long-term variations and short-term dynamic changes in key food exporters and importers. The hierarchical approach adopted by CropWatch is the basis of the analyses of climatic and crop conditions assessments published in the quarterly “CropWatch bulletin” which

Toward an Agile Approach to Managing the Effect of Requirements on Software Architecture during Global Software Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulaziz Alsahli

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Requirement change management (RCM is a critical activity during software development because poor RCM results in occurrence of defects, thereby resulting in software failure. To achieve RCM, efficient impact analysis is mandatory. A common repository is a good approach to maintain changed requirements, reusing and reducing effort. Thus, a better approach is needed to tailor knowledge for better change management of requirements and architecture during global software development (GSD.The objective of this research is to introduce an innovative approach for handling requirements and architecture changes simultaneously during global software development. The approach makes use of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR and agile practices. Agile practices make our approach iterative, whereas CBR stores requirements and makes them reusable. Twin Peaks is our base model, meaning that requirements and architecture are handled simultaneously. For this research, grounded theory has been applied; similarly, interviews from domain experts were conducted. Interview and literature transcripts formed the basis of data collection in grounded theory. Physical saturation of theory has been achieved through a published case study and developed tool. Expert reviews and statistical analysis have been used for evaluation. The proposed approach resulted in effective change management of requirements and architecture simultaneously during global software development.

Grade 7 students' normative decision making in science learning about global warming through science technology and society (STS) approach

Science.gov (United States)

Luengam, Piyanuch; Tupsai, Jiraporn; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

This study reported Grade 7 students' normative decision making in teaching and learning about global warming through science technology and society (STS) approach. The participants were 43 Grade 7 students in Sungkom, Nongkhai, Thailand. The teaching and learning about global warming through STS approach had carried out for 5 weeks. The global warming unit through STS approach was developed based on framework of Yuenyong (2006) that consisted of five stages including (1) identification of social issues, (2) identification of potential solutions, (3) need for knowledge, (4) decision-making, and (5) socialization stage. Students' normative decision making was collected during their learning by questionnaire, participant observation, and students' tasks. Students' normative decision making were analyzed from both pre-and post-intervention and students' ideas during the intervention. The aspects of normative include influences of global warming on technology and society; influences of values, culture, and society on global warming; and influences of technology on global warming. The findings revealed that students have chance to learn science concerning with the relationship between science, technology, and society through their giving reasons about issues related to global warming. The paper will discuss implications of these for science teaching and learning through STS in Thailand.

Developing a curriculum framework for global health in family medicine: emerging principles, competencies, and educational approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Redwood-Campbell, Lynda; Pakes, Barry; Rouleau, Katherine; MacDonald, Colla J; Arya, Neil; Purkey, Eva; Schultz, Karen; Dhatt, Reena; Wilson, Briana; Hadi, Abdullahel; Pottie, Kevin

2011-07-22

Recognizing the growing demand from medical students and residents for more comprehensive global health training, and the paucity of explicit curricula on such issues, global health and curriculum experts from the six Ontario Family Medicine Residency Programs worked together to design a framework for global health curricula in family medicine training programs. A working group comprised of global health educators from Ontario's six medical schools conducted a scoping review of global health curricula, competencies, and pedagogical approaches. The working group then hosted a full day meeting, inviting experts in education, clinical care, family medicine and public health, and developed a consensus process and draft framework to design global health curricula. Through a series of weekly teleconferences over the next six months, the framework was revised and used to guide the identification of enabling global health competencies (behaviours, skills and attitudes) for Canadian Family Medicine training. The main outcome was an evidence-informed interactive framework http://globalhealth.ennovativesolution.com/ to provide a shared foundation to guide the design, delivery and evaluation of global health education programs for Ontario's family medicine residency programs. The curriculum framework blended a definition and mission for global health training, core values and principles, global health competencies aligning with the Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS) competencies, and key learning approaches. The framework guided the development of subsequent enabling competencies. The shared curriculum framework can support the design, delivery and evaluation of global health curriculum in Canada and around the world, lay the foundation for research and development, provide consistency across programmes, and support the creation of learning and evaluation tools to align with the framework. The process used to develop this framework can be applied

Developing a curriculum framework for global health in family medicine: emerging principles, competencies, and educational approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilson Briana

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recognizing the growing demand from medical students and residents for more comprehensive global health training, and the paucity of explicit curricula on such issues, global health and curriculum experts from the six Ontario Family Medicine Residency Programs worked together to design a framework for global health curricula in family medicine training programs. Methods A working group comprised of global health educators from Ontario's six medical schools conducted a scoping review of global health curricula, competencies, and pedagogical approaches. The working group then hosted a full day meeting, inviting experts in education, clinical care, family medicine and public health, and developed a consensus process and draft framework to design global health curricula. Through a series of weekly teleconferences over the next six months, the framework was revised and used to guide the identification of enabling global health competencies (behaviours, skills and attitudes for Canadian Family Medicine training. Results The main outcome was an evidence-informed interactive framework http://globalhealth.ennovativesolution.com/ to provide a shared foundation to guide the design, delivery and evaluation of global health education programs for Ontario's family medicine residency programs. The curriculum framework blended a definition and mission for global health training, core values and principles, global health competencies aligning with the Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists (CanMEDS competencies, and key learning approaches. The framework guided the development of subsequent enabling competencies. Conclusions The shared curriculum framework can support the design, delivery and evaluation of global health curriculum in Canada and around the world, lay the foundation for research and development, provide consistency across programmes, and support the creation of learning and evaluation tools to align with the

An ensemble-based dynamic Bayesian averaging approach for discharge simulations using multiple global precipitation products and hydrological models

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Wei; Liu, Junguo; Yang, Hong; Sweetapple, Chris

2018-03-01

Global precipitation products are very important datasets in flow simulations, especially in poorly gauged regions. Uncertainties resulting from precipitation products, hydrological models and their combinations vary with time and data magnitude, and undermine their application to flow simulations. However, previous studies have not quantified these uncertainties individually and explicitly. This study developed an ensemble-based dynamic Bayesian averaging approach (e-Bay) for deterministic discharge simulations using multiple global precipitation products and hydrological models. In this approach, the joint probability of precipitation products and hydrological models being correct is quantified based on uncertainties in maximum and mean estimation, posterior probability is quantified as functions of the magnitude and timing of discharges, and the law of total probability is implemented to calculate expected discharges. Six global fine-resolution precipitation products and two hydrological models of different complexities are included in an illustrative application. e-Bay can effectively quantify uncertainties and therefore generate better deterministic discharges than traditional approaches (weighted average methods with equal and varying weights and maximum likelihood approach). The mean Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency values of e-Bay are up to 0.97 and 0.85 in training and validation periods respectively, which are at least 0.06 and 0.13 higher than traditional approaches. In addition, with increased training data, assessment criteria values of e-Bay show smaller fluctuations than traditional approaches and its performance becomes outstanding. The proposed e-Bay approach bridges the gap between global precipitation products and their pragmatic applications to discharge simulations, and is beneficial to water resources management in ungauged or poorly gauged regions across the world.

Investing for Impact: The Global Fund Approach to Measurement of AIDS Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Suman; Zorzi, Nathalie

2017-07-01

The Global Fund raises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run in more than 140 countries. The Global Fund strategy 2012-2016 is focused on "Investing for Impact". In order to accomplish this, timely and accurate data are needed to inform strategies and prioritize activities to achieve greater coverage with quality services. Monitoring and evaluation is intrinsic to the Global Fund's system of performance-based funding. The Global Fund invests in strengthening measurement and reporting of results at all stages of the grant cycle. The Global Fund approach to measurement is based on three key principles-(1) simplified reporting: the Global Fund has updated its measurement guidance to focus on impact, coverage and quality with the use of a harmonized set of indicators. (2) Supporting data systems-based on a common framework developed and supported by partners, it promotes investment in five common data systems: routine reporting including HMIS; Surveys-population based and risk group surveys; Analysis, reviews and transparency; Administrative and financial data sources; and, Vital registration systems. (3) Strengthen data use: the Global Fund funding encourages use of data at all levels-national, subnational and site level. Countries do not automatically prioritize M&E but when guidance, tools and investments are available, there is high level utilization of M&E systems in program design, planning, implementation, and results reporting. An in-depth analysis of the available data helps the Global Fund and countries to direct investments towards interventions where impact could be achieved and focus on target population groups and geographic areas that are most affected.

Senior University Officials' Approaches to Global Engagement: A Case Study of a Private and a Public Research University

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Chan, Shirley

2013-01-01

The phenomenon of globalization has a significant impact on higher education, but the lack of a clear roadmap for how senior university officials should create and implement global engagement strategies and for how these approaches support (or impede) an organizational culture that fosters globalization remains a gap in knowledge in higher…

Systems Approaches: A Global and Historical Perspective on Integrative Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

The globalization of healing systems is a dance of cultural awareness and cultural dominance that has arisen throughout history. With the development of greater communication and interest in whole-systems approaches to healing, the opportunity for the development of a global perspective on healing has emerged with new life force. The birth of integrative holistic healing systems in the West, such as naturopathic, homeopathic, anthroposophic, integral and functional medicine, and others, echoes the ocean of wisdom present in traditional healing systems, such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda. In working to integrate the lessons from these systems, we see the inextricable link between man and the natural world, we work to understand the root cause of disease, we focus on the whole person to return balance, and we use empiric observation in large populations over time to grasp the interrelationships inherent in the whole-systems view of illness and wellness. PMID:24278794

Beyond Scientism and Skepticism: An Integrative Approach to Global Mental Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan J Stein

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The global burden of disorders has shifted from infectious disease to non-communicable diseases, including neuropsychiatric disorders. Whereas infectious disease can sometimes be combated by targeting single causal mechanisms, such as prevention of contact-spread illness by hand-washing, in the case of mental disorders multiple causal mechanisms are relevant. The emergent field of global mental health has emphasized the magnitude of the treatment gap, particularly in the low and middle income world, and has paid particular attention to upstream causal factors, for example, poverty, inequality, and gender discrimination in the pathogenesis of mental disorders. However, this field has also been criticised for relying on erroneous Western paradigms of mental illness, which may not be relevant or appropriate to the low- and middle-income context. Here, it is important to steer a path between scienticism and skepticism. Scientism regards mental disorders as essential categories, and takes a covering law approach to causality; skepticism regards mental disorders as merely social constructions, and emphasizes the role of political power in causal relations. We propose an integrative model that emphasizes the contribution of a broad range of causal mechanisms operating at biological and societal levels to mental disorders, and the consequent importance of broad-spectrum and multi-pronged approaches to intervention.

COMPETING CONCEPTIONS OF GLOBALIZATION

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Leslie Sklair

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Globalization is a relatively new idea in the social sciences, although people who work in and write about the mass media, transnational corporations and international business have been using it for some time. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the ways in which sociologists and other social scientists use ideas of globalization and to evaluate the fruitfulness of these competing conceptions. The central feature of the idea of globalization is that many contemporary problems cannot be adequately studied at the level of nation-states, that is, in terms of each country and its inter-national relations. Instead, they need to be conceptualized in terms of global processes. Some have even gone so far as to predict that global forces, by which they usually mean transnational corporations and other global economic institutions, global culture or globalizing belief systems/ideologies of various types, or a combination of all of these, are becoming so powerful that the continuing existence of the nation-state is in serious doubt. This is not a necessary consequence of most theories of globalization. The argument of this paper is that much of the globalization literature is confused because not all those who use the term distinguish it clearly enough from internation-alization, and some writers appear to use the two terms interchangeably. I argue that a clear distinction must be drawn between the inter-national and the global. The hyphen in inter-national is to distinguish (inadequate conceptions of the global' founded on the existing even if changing system of nation-states, from (genuine conceptions of the global based on the emergence of global processes and a global system of social relations not founded on national characteristics or nation-states. This global system theory is the framework for my own research. Globalization studies can be categorized on the basis of four research clusters:1. The world-systems approach; 2. The global

A System of Systems Approach to Integrating Global Sea Level Change Application Programs

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Bambachus, M. J.; Foster, R. S.; Powell, C.; Cole, M.

2005-12-01

The global sea level change application community has numerous disparate models used to make predications over various regional and temporal scales. These models have typically been focused on limited sets of data and optimized for specific areas or questions of interest. Increasingly, decision makers at the national, international, and local/regional levels require access to these application data models and want to be able to integrate large disparate data sets, with new ubiquitous sensor data, and use these data across models from multiple sources. These requirements will force the Global Sea Level Change application community to take a new system-of-systems approach to their programs. We present a new technical architecture approach to the global sea level change program that provides external access to the vast stores of global sea level change data, provides a collaboration forum for the discussion and visualization of data, and provides a simulation environment to evaluate decisions. This architectural approach will provide the tools to support multi-disciplinary decision making. A conceptual system of systems approach is needed to address questions around the multiple approaches to tracking and predicting Sea Level Change. A systems of systems approach would include (1) a forum of data providers, modelers, and users, (2) a service oriented architecture including interoperable web services with a backbone of Grid computing capability, and (3) discovery and access functionality to the information developed through this structure. Each of these three areas would be clearly designed to maximize communication, data use for decision making and flexibility and extensibility for evolution of technology and requirements. In contemplating a system-of-systems approach, it is important to highlight common understanding and coordination as foundational to success across the multiple systems. The workflow of science in different applications is often conceptually similar

A data-driven approach to identify controls on global fire activity from satellite and climate observations (SOFIA V1

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M. Forkel

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Vegetation fires affect human infrastructures, ecosystems, global vegetation distribution, and atmospheric composition. However, the climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that control global fire activity in vegetation are only poorly understood, and in various complexities and formulations are represented in global process-oriented vegetation-fire models. Data-driven model approaches such as machine learning algorithms have successfully been used to identify and better understand controlling factors for fire activity. However, such machine learning models cannot be easily adapted or even implemented within process-oriented global vegetation-fire models. To overcome this gap between machine learning-based approaches and process-oriented global fire models, we introduce a new flexible data-driven fire modelling approach here (Satellite Observations to predict FIre Activity, SOFIA approach version 1. SOFIA models can use several predictor variables and functional relationships to estimate burned area that can be easily adapted with more complex process-oriented vegetation-fire models. We created an ensemble of SOFIA models to test the importance of several predictor variables. SOFIA models result in the highest performance in predicting burned area if they account for a direct restriction of fire activity under wet conditions and if they include a land cover-dependent restriction or allowance of fire activity by vegetation density and biomass. The use of vegetation optical depth data from microwave satellite observations, a proxy for vegetation biomass and water content, reaches higher model performance than commonly used vegetation variables from optical sensors. We further analyse spatial patterns of the sensitivity between anthropogenic, climate, and vegetation predictor variables and burned area. We finally discuss how multiple observational datasets on climate, hydrological, vegetation, and socioeconomic variables together with

A data-driven approach to identify controls on global fire activity from satellite and climate observations (SOFIA V1)

Science.gov (United States)

Forkel, Matthias; Dorigo, Wouter; Lasslop, Gitta; Teubner, Irene; Chuvieco, Emilio; Thonicke, Kirsten

2017-12-01

Vegetation fires affect human infrastructures, ecosystems, global vegetation distribution, and atmospheric composition. However, the climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that control global fire activity in vegetation are only poorly understood, and in various complexities and formulations are represented in global process-oriented vegetation-fire models. Data-driven model approaches such as machine learning algorithms have successfully been used to identify and better understand controlling factors for fire activity. However, such machine learning models cannot be easily adapted or even implemented within process-oriented global vegetation-fire models. To overcome this gap between machine learning-based approaches and process-oriented global fire models, we introduce a new flexible data-driven fire modelling approach here (Satellite Observations to predict FIre Activity, SOFIA approach version 1). SOFIA models can use several predictor variables and functional relationships to estimate burned area that can be easily adapted with more complex process-oriented vegetation-fire models. We created an ensemble of SOFIA models to test the importance of several predictor variables. SOFIA models result in the highest performance in predicting burned area if they account for a direct restriction of fire activity under wet conditions and if they include a land cover-dependent restriction or allowance of fire activity by vegetation density and biomass. The use of vegetation optical depth data from microwave satellite observations, a proxy for vegetation biomass and water content, reaches higher model performance than commonly used vegetation variables from optical sensors. We further analyse spatial patterns of the sensitivity between anthropogenic, climate, and vegetation predictor variables and burned area. We finally discuss how multiple observational datasets on climate, hydrological, vegetation, and socioeconomic variables together with data

Time-varying correlations in global real estate markets: A multivariate GARCH with spatial effects approach

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Huaying; Liu, Zhixue; Weng, Yingliang

2017-04-01

The present study applies the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (MGARCH) with spatial effects approach for the analysis of the time-varying conditional correlations and contagion effects among global real estate markets. A distinguishing feature of the proposed model is that it can simultaneously capture the spatial interactions and the dynamic conditional correlations compared with the traditional MGARCH models. Results reveal that the estimated dynamic conditional correlations have exhibited significant increases during the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, thereby suggesting contagion effects among global real estate markets. The analysis further indicates that the returns of the regional real estate markets that are in close geographic and economic proximities exhibit strong co-movement. In addition, evidence of significantly positive leverage effects in global real estate markets is also determined. The findings have significant implications on global portfolio diversification opportunities and risk management practices.

Prediction of welding residual distortions of large structures using a local/global approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duan, Y. G.; Bergheau, J. M.; Vincent, Y.; Boitour, F.; Leblond, J. B.

2007-01-01

Prediction of welding residual distortions is more difficult than that of the microstructure and residual stresses. On the one hand, a fine mesh (often 3D) has to be used in the heat affected zone for the sake of the sharp variations of thermal, metallurgical and mechanical fields in this region. On the other hand, the whole structure is required to be meshed for the calculation of residual distortions. But for large structures, a 3D mesh is inconceivable caused by the costs of the calculation. Numerous methods have been developed to reduce the size of models. A local/global approach has been proposed to determine the welding residual distortions of large structures. The plastic strains and the microstructure due to welding are supposed can be determined from a local 3D model which concerns only the weld and its vicinity. They are projected as initial strains into a global 3D model which consists of the whole structure and obviously much less fine in the welded zone than the local model. The residual distortions are then calculated using a simple elastic analysis, which makes this method particularly effective in an industrial context. The aim of this article is to present the principle of the local/global approach then show the capacity of this method in an industrial context and finally study the definition of the local model

A global approach to estimate irrigated areas - a comparison between different data and statistics

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Meier, Jonas; Zabel, Florian; Mauser, Wolfram

2018-02-01

Agriculture is the largest global consumer of water. Irrigated areas constitute 40 % of the total area used for agricultural production (FAO, 2014a) Information on their spatial distribution is highly relevant for regional water management and food security. Spatial information on irrigation is highly important for policy and decision makers, who are facing the transition towards more efficient sustainable agriculture. However, the mapping of irrigated areas still represents a challenge for land use classifications, and existing global data sets differ strongly in their results. The following study tests an existing irrigation map based on statistics and extends the irrigated area using ancillary data. The approach processes and analyzes multi-temporal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) SPOT-VGT data and agricultural suitability data - both at a spatial resolution of 30 arcsec - incrementally in a multiple decision tree. It covers the period from 1999 to 2012. The results globally show a 18 % larger irrigated area than existing approaches based on statistical data. The largest differences compared to the official national statistics are found in Asia and particularly in China and India. The additional areas are mainly identified within already known irrigated regions where irrigation is more dense than previously estimated. The validation with global and regional products shows the large divergence of existing data sets with respect to size and distribution of irrigated areas caused by spatial resolution, the considered time period and the input data and assumption made.

Supplementary Material for: A global sensitivity analysis approach for morphogenesis models

KAUST Repository

Boas, Sonja

2015-01-01

Abstract Background Morphogenesis is a developmental process in which cells organize into shapes and patterns. Complex, non-linear and multi-factorial models with images as output are commonly used to study morphogenesis. It is difficult to understand the relation between the uncertainty in the input and the output of such ‘black-box’ models, giving rise to the need for sensitivity analysis tools. In this paper, we introduce a workflow for a global sensitivity analysis approach to study the impact of single parameters and the interactions between them on the output of morphogenesis models. Results To demonstrate the workflow, we used a published, well-studied model of vascular morphogenesis. The parameters of this cellular Potts model (CPM) represent cell properties and behaviors that drive the mechanisms of angiogenic sprouting. The global sensitivity analysis correctly identified the dominant parameters in the model, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the analysis provided information on the relative impact of single parameters and of interactions between them. This is very relevant because interactions of parameters impede the experimental verification of the predicted effect of single parameters. The parameter interactions, although of low impact, provided also new insights in the mechanisms of in silico sprouting. Finally, the analysis indicated that the model could be reduced by one parameter. Conclusions We propose global sensitivity analysis as an alternative approach to study the mechanisms of morphogenesis. Comparison of the ranking of the impact of the model parameters to knowledge derived from experimental data and from manipulation experiments can help to falsify models and to find the operand mechanisms in morphogenesis. The workflow is applicable to all ‘black-box’ models, including high-throughput in vitro models in which output measures are affected by a set of experimental perturbations.

A case-based, problem-based learning approach to prepare master of public health candidates for the complexities of global health.

Science.gov (United States)

Leon, Juan S; Winskell, Kate; McFarland, Deborah A; del Rio, Carlos

2015-03-01

Global health is a dynamic, emerging, and interdisciplinary field. To address current and emerging global health challenges, we need a public health workforce with adaptable and collaborative problem-solving skills. In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health-Emory University launched an innovative required core course for its first-year Master of Public Health students in the global health track. The course uses a case-based, problem-based learning approach to develop global health competencies. Small teams of students propose solutions to these problems by identifying learning issues and critically analyzing and synthesizing new information. We describe the course structure and logistics used to apply this approach in the context of a large class and share lessons learned.

Debating Globalization in Social Studies Education: Approaching Globalization Historically and Discursively

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Agbaria, Ayman K.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dominant positions in the debates on globalization in American social studies education. Specifically, the paper illustrates that, first, globalization is conceived of as more of an unprecedented new age and less of a historical development. Second, it is conceived of as more of a natural process and…

The response of terrestrial ecosystems to global climate change: Towards an integrated approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rustad, Lindsey E.

2008-01-01

Accumulating evidence points to an anthropogenic 'fingerprint' on the global climate change that has occurred in the last century. Climate change has, and will continue to have, profound effects on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems. As such, there is a critical need to continue to develop a sound scientific basis for national and international policies regulating carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reflects on the nature of current global change experiments, and provides recommendations for a unified multidisciplinary approach to future research in this dynamic field. These recommendations include: (1) better integration between experiments and models, and amongst experimental, monitoring, and space-for-time studies; (2) stable and increased support for long-term studies and multi-factor experiments; (3) explicit inclusion of biodiversity, disturbance, and extreme events in experiments and models; (4) consideration of timing vs intensity of global change factors in experiments and models; (5) evaluation of potential thresholds or ecosystem 'tipping points'; and (6) increased support for model-model and model-experiment comparisons. These recommendations, which reflect discussions within the TERACC international network of global change scientists, will facilitate the unraveling of the complex direct and indirect effects of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and their components

Perspectives on global climate change: A review of the adaptation and mitigation approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrisette, P.M.

1992-01-01

This paper was prepared for the conference on Global Climate Change and International Security sponsored by the Midwest Consortium for International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and held in Chicago, Illinois on February 11-13, 1992. The purpose of the paper is to provide some background on the different perceptions and perspectives that are presently shaping the policy debate on how to respond to the problem of global warming. For better or worse, this debate has focused primarily on whether to adapt to climate change in the future or to mitigate climate change in the present, and as the issue has become increasingly political this debate has become polarized. The two approaches, as this paper notes, are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they share much in common. Differences, however, can be found in how proponents of each view the risks of global climate change. This paper provides a brief outline of the progression of global warming from an obscure scientific concern into a leading international political issue, reviews previous efforts by social scientists to assess attitudes and positions on global warming, and examines in detail the adaptation and mitigation perspectives and assesses how they differ on the basis of different conceptions of uncertainty and risk, equity, and technology

Spatiotemporal radiotherapy planning using a global optimization approach

Science.gov (United States)

Adibi, Ali; Salari, Ehsan

2018-02-01

This paper aims at quantifying the extent of potential therapeutic gain, measured using biologically effective dose (BED), that can be achieved by altering the radiation dose distribution over treatment sessions in fractionated radiotherapy. To that end, a spatiotemporally integrated planning approach is developed, where the spatial and temporal dose modulations are optimized simultaneously. The concept of equivalent uniform BED (EUBED) is used to quantify and compare the clinical quality of spatiotemporally heterogeneous dose distributions in target and critical structures. This gives rise to a large-scale non-convex treatment-plan optimization problem, which is solved using global optimization techniques. The proposed spatiotemporal planning approach is tested on two stylized cancer cases resembling two different tumor sites and sensitivity analysis is performed for radio-biological and EUBED parameters. Numerical results validate that spatiotemporal plans are capable of delivering a larger BED to the target volume without increasing the BED in critical structures compared to conventional time-invariant plans. In particular, this additional gain is attributed to the irradiation of different regions of the target volume at different treatment sessions. Additionally, the trade-off between the potential therapeutic gain and the number of distinct dose distributions is quantified, which suggests a diminishing marginal gain as the number of dose distributions increases.

Re-assessing Present Day Global Mass Transport and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment From a Data Driven Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, X.; Jiang, Y.; Simonsen, S.; van den Broeke, M. R.; Ligtenberg, S.; Kuipers Munneke, P.; van der Wal, W.; Vermeersen, B. L. A.

2017-12-01

Determining present-day mass transport (PDMT) is complicated by the fact that most observations contain signals from both present day ice melting and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA). Despite decades of progress in geodynamic modeling and new observations, significant uncertainties remain in both. The key to separate present-day ice mass change and signals from GIA is to include data of different physical characteristics. We designed an approach to separate PDMT and GIA signatures by estimating them simultaneously using globally distributed interdisciplinary data with distinct physical information and a dynamically constructed a priori GIA model. We conducted a high-resolution global reappraisal of present-day ice mass balance with focus on Earth's polar regions and its contribution to global sea-level rise using a combination of ICESat, GRACE gravity, surface geodetic velocity data, and an ocean bottom pressure model. Adding ice altimetry supplies critically needed dual data types over the interiors of ice covered regions to enhance separation of PDMT and GIA signatures, and achieve half an order of magnitude expected higher accuracies for GIA and consequently ice mass balance estimates. The global data based approach can adequately address issues of PDMT and GIA induced geocenter motion and long-wavelength signatures important for large areas such as Antarctica and global mean sea level. In conjunction with the dense altimetry data, we solved for PDMT coefficients up to degree and order 180 by using a higher-resolution GRACE data set, and a high-resolution a priori PDMT model that includes detailed geographic boundaries. The high-resolution approach solves the problem of multiple resolutions in various data types, greatly reduces aliased errors from a low-degree truncation, and at the same time, enhances separation of signatures from adjacent regions such as Greenland and Canadian Arctic territories.

Global Climate Change as Perceived by Elementary School Teachers in Yogyakarta , Indigenous Psychology Approach

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Aquilina Tanti Arini

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to describe how the global climate change was perceived by teachers of elementary schools. The subjects were 111 teachers from 7 elementary schools in Yogyakarta City and Sleman district. The data were collected using open-ended questions (including perception about the weather, feeling evoked by global warming words and free responses related to global warming issues. The data were analyzed using the technique of qualitative and quantitative content analysis with Indigenous Psychology Approach. The result showed that only one teacher reported that there was no weather anomaly, while 110 teachers reported that they perceived weather anomaly. Of those who perceived weather anomaly mostly referred to natural conditions (including global climatic condition and environmental destruction and human behavior as its causes. Responses about feeling as evoked by global warming word were classified into three categories, i.e. emotional, physical and irrelevant responses. Free responses about global warming were classified into four categories respectively from the highest frequency of responses: prevention (including statement “must be prevented”, prevention behaviors and prevention efforts, states (including the weather states and feeling, causes (including technological advances and human behavior generally, and others. The research finding was discussed in the frame of environmental concern as a means of character education in elementary school.

Global Fund financing of public-private mix approaches for delivery of tuberculosis care.

Science.gov (United States)

Lal, S S; Uplekar, Mukund; Katz, Itamar; Lonnroth, Knut; Komatsu, Ryuichi; Yesudian Dias, Hannah Monica; Atun, Rifat

2011-06-01

To map the extent and scope of public-private mix (PPM) interventions in tuberculosis (TB) control programmes supported by the Global Fund. We reviewed the Global Fund's official documents and data to analyse the distribution, characteristics and budgets of PPM approaches within Global Fund supported TB grants in recipient countries between 2003 and 2008. We supplemented this analysis with data on contribution of PPM to TB case notifications in 14 countries reported to World Health Organization in 2009, for the preparation of the global TB control report. Fifty-eight of 93 countries and multi-country recipients of Global Fund-supported TB grants had PPM activities in 2008. Engagement with 'for-profit' private sector was more prevalent in South Asia while involvement of prison health services has been common in Eastern Europe and central Asia. In the Middle East and North Africa, involving non-governmental organizations seemed to be the focus. Average and median spending on PPM within grants was 10% and 5% respectively, ranging from 0.03% to 69% of the total grant budget. In China, India, Nigeria and the Philippines, PPM contributed to detecting more than 25% TB cases while maintaining high treatment success rates. In spite of evidence of cost-effectiveness, PPM constitutes only a modest part of overall TB control activities. Scaling up PPM across countries could contribute to expanding access to TB care, increasing case detection, improving treatment outcomes and help achieve the global TB control targets. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Global health research needs global networking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ignaciuk, A.; Leemans, R.

2012-01-01

To meet the challenges arising from global environmental change on human health, co-developing common approaches and new alliances of science and society are necessary. The first steps towards defining cross-cutting, health-environment issues were developed by the Global Environmental Change and

Working with teams of "insiders": Qualitative approaches to data collection in the Global South

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enid Schatz

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Background: The convergence of two qualitative methodological strategies - working in "teams" and with "insiders" - can facilitate access, efficiency, and insights into research questions of interest to demographers. Even though this approach is becoming more common among population researchers in the Global South to address a range of research questions, little has been published that describes the method and critically assesses its strengths and weaknesses. Objective: We draw on three projects embedded in the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System site in rural South Africa that integrate both approaches to demonstrate the benefits and limitations of this strategy. Methods: We document, through in-depth description, how these three projects achieve access, efficiency, and insights into issues of population concern (HIV/AIDS, aging, and child wellbeing utilizing a "team-insider" approach by working with groups of local research assistants. Conclusions: The projects vary in their use of "teams" and "insiders" but collectively deepen our understanding of pressing population concerns in the Global South. In particular, by using teams of insiders, these projects gain insights into local ideas about HIV, uncover ways that HIV affects older women's lives, and provide in-depth understanding of children's social connections. The approach also presents a number of challenges, however, such as grappling with the responsibilities and burdens that are placed on local insider team members.

Global Environmental Change: An integrated modelling approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Den Elzen, M.

1993-01-01

Two major global environmental problems are dealt with: climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion (and their mutual interactions), briefly surveyed in part 1. In Part 2 a brief description of the integrated modelling framework IMAGE 1.6 is given. Some specific parts of the model are described in more detail in other Chapters, e.g. the carbon cycle model, the atmospheric chemistry model, the halocarbon model, and the UV-B impact model. In Part 3 an uncertainty analysis of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion is presented (Chapter 4). Chapter 5 briefly reviews the social and economic uncertainties implied by future greenhouse gas emissions. Chapters 6 and 7 describe a model and sensitivity analysis pertaining to the scientific uncertainties and/or lacunae in the sources and sinks of methane and carbon dioxide, and their biogeochemical feedback processes. Chapter 8 presents an uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of the carbon cycle model, the halocarbon model, and the IMAGE model 1.6 as a whole. Part 4 presents the risk assessment methodology as applied to the problems of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion more specifically. In Chapter 10, this methodology is used as a means with which to asses current ozone policy and a wide range of halocarbon policies. Chapter 11 presents and evaluates the simulated globally-averaged temperature and sea level rise (indicators) for the IPCC-1990 and 1992 scenarios, concluding with a Low Risk scenario, which would meet the climate targets. Chapter 12 discusses the impact of sea level rise on the frequency of the Dutch coastal defence system (indicator) for the IPCC-1990 scenarios. Chapter 13 presents projections of mortality rates due to stratospheric ozone depletion based on model simulations employing the UV-B chain model for a number of halocarbon policies. Chapter 14 presents an approach for allocating future emissions of CO 2 among regions. (Abstract Truncated)

Global land cover mapping at 30 m resolution: A POK-based operational approach

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun; Chen, Jin; Liao, Anping; Cao, Xin; Chen, Lijun; Chen, Xuehong; He, Chaoying; Han, Gang; Peng, Shu; Lu, Miao; Zhang, Weiwei; Tong, Xiaohua; Mills, Jon

2015-05-01

Global Land Cover (GLC) information is fundamental for environmental change studies, land resource management, sustainable development, and many other societal benefits. Although GLC data exists at spatial resolutions of 300 m and 1000 m, a 30 m resolution mapping approach is now a feasible option for the next generation of GLC products. Since most significant human impacts on the land system can be captured at this scale, a number of researchers are focusing on such products. This paper reports the operational approach used in such a project, which aims to deliver reliable data products. Over 10,000 Landsat-like satellite images are required to cover the entire Earth at 30 m resolution. To derive a GLC map from such a large volume of data necessitates the development of effective, efficient, economic and operational approaches. Automated approaches usually provide higher efficiency and thus more economic solutions, yet existing automated classification has been deemed ineffective because of the low classification accuracy achievable (typically below 65%) at global scale at 30 m resolution. As a result, an approach based on the integration of pixel- and object-based methods with knowledge (POK-based) has been developed. To handle the classification process of 10 land cover types, a split-and-merge strategy was employed, i.e. firstly each class identified in a prioritized sequence and then results are merged together. For the identification of each class, a robust integration of pixel-and object-based classification was developed. To improve the quality of the classification results, a knowledge-based interactive verification procedure was developed with the support of web service technology. The performance of the POK-based approach was tested using eight selected areas with differing landscapes from five different continents. An overall classification accuracy of over 80% was achieved. This indicates that the developed POK-based approach is effective and feasible

Global optimization based on noisy evaluations: An empirical study of two statistical approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vazquez, Emmanuel; Villemonteix, Julien; Sidorkiewicz, Maryan; Walter, Eric

2008-01-01

The optimization of the output of complex computer codes has often to be achieved with a small budget of evaluations. Algorithms dedicated to such problems have been developed and compared, such as the Expected Improvement algorithm (El) or the Informational Approach to Global Optimization (IAGO). However, the influence of noisy evaluation results on the outcome of these comparisons has often been neglected, despite its frequent appearance in industrial problems. In this paper, empirical convergence rates for El and IAGO are compared when an additive noise corrupts the result of an evaluation. IAGO appears more efficient than El and various modifications of El designed to deal with noisy evaluations. Keywords. Global optimization; computer simulations; kriging; Gaussian process; noisy evaluations.

A global learning-centered approach to higher education: workplace development in the 21st century

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Tasso Eira de Aquino

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Competition in the 21st century economy requires corporations, organizations, and professionals to face a common challenge: diverse individuals need consistent motivation towards building competences that increase personal marketability using a combination of higher education and professional development. This article represents an evolving report summary and non-traditional learning-centered approach focusing on adult competences necessary for succeeding in the competitive global marketplace of the 21st century. The purpose of this article is to understand the needs of constantly changing employer demands in the work environment. Exploring contemporary approaches related to skill development, adult education, and learning processes, will be the path towards higher levels of professional success. This article will provide readers with an enlightening discussion focusing on the necessary adult skills and competencies professionals need to succeed in the global marketplace.

Global warming and energy technology choices: An approach to weighing the alternatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeGroat, K.J.

1991-01-01

Responses to global warming must be fashioned in the face of great uncertainty as to the actual costs and benefits of the actions. Yet the possible consequences of inaction are so great that policy makers are having to move ahead on the basis of science's incomplete knowledge of the true impacts of global warming. Energy technology is a key component of any response becauseof fossil fuels' dominant role in generating the gases that are the cause of the greenhouse effect. This paper presents an approach to analyzing CO 2 emissions from both fossil fuel and alternative energy technologies on a basis that normalizes emissions as a function of useful power output over the life of a generating technology, and over its entire fuel cycle. A scenario for analyzing wood-fired electricity generation from a short-rotation wood plantation is developed in detail to illustrate the application of the approach to assessing the CO 2 impact of biomass energy. The paper concludes that wood energy supplied by a short-rotation woody plantation not only balances the emissions during the operation of the generating plant, but also sequesters CO 2 in the 'infrastructure' of growing biomass that remains on the plantation after harvesting. The paper finishes with a caution that this analysis tends to highlight only the environmental issues involved in technology selection; economics, technical feasibility and important technical parameters are intentionally simplified in order to focus attention on emissions and power output. However, if used properly this approach does provide useful inputs for policy makers concerned with integrating environmental concerns into energy decisions

Identifying interactions in the time and frequency domains in local and global networks - A Granger Causality Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Cunlu; Ladroue, Christophe; Guo, Shuixia; Feng, Jianfeng

2010-06-21

Reverse-engineering approaches such as Bayesian network inference, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and information theory are widely applied to deriving causal relationships among different elements such as genes, proteins, metabolites, neurons, brain areas and so on, based upon multi-dimensional spatial and temporal data. There are several well-established reverse-engineering approaches to explore causal relationships in a dynamic network, such as ordinary differential equations (ODE), Bayesian networks, information theory and Granger Causality. Here we focused on Granger causality both in the time and frequency domain and in local and global networks, and applied our approach to experimental data (genes and proteins). For a small gene network, Granger causality outperformed all the other three approaches mentioned above. A global protein network of 812 proteins was reconstructed, using a novel approach. The obtained results fitted well with known experimental findings and predicted many experimentally testable results. In addition to interactions in the time domain, interactions in the frequency domain were also recovered. The results on the proteomic data and gene data confirm that Granger causality is a simple and accurate approach to recover the network structure. Our approach is general and can be easily applied to other types of temporal data.

Identifying interactions in the time and frequency domains in local and global networks - A Granger Causality Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guo Shuixia

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Reverse-engineering approaches such as Bayesian network inference, ordinary differential equations (ODEs and information theory are widely applied to deriving causal relationships among different elements such as genes, proteins, metabolites, neurons, brain areas and so on, based upon multi-dimensional spatial and temporal data. There are several well-established reverse-engineering approaches to explore causal relationships in a dynamic network, such as ordinary differential equations (ODE, Bayesian networks, information theory and Granger Causality. Results Here we focused on Granger causality both in the time and frequency domain and in local and global networks, and applied our approach to experimental data (genes and proteins. For a small gene network, Granger causality outperformed all the other three approaches mentioned above. A global protein network of 812 proteins was reconstructed, using a novel approach. The obtained results fitted well with known experimental findings and predicted many experimentally testable results. In addition to interactions in the time domain, interactions in the frequency domain were also recovered. Conclusions The results on the proteomic data and gene data confirm that Granger causality is a simple and accurate approach to recover the network structure. Our approach is general and can be easily applied to other types of temporal data.

A Global Approach to Foreign Language Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Conner, Maurice W., Ed.

The papers collected here are largely devoted to foreign language education as a means of increasing international and cross-cultural understanding. Titles include: (1) "Language Is the Medium, Culture Is the Message: Globalizing Foreign Languages" (Lorraine A. Strasheim); (2) "Cultural Understanding for Global Citizenship: An Inservice Model"…

Multi-tier sustainable global supplier selection using a fuzzy AHP-VIKOR based approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Awasthi, Anjali; Govindan, Kannan; Gold, Stefan

2018-01-01

Politico-economic deregulation, new communication technologies, and cheap transport have pushed companies to increasingly outsource business activities to geographically distant countries. Such outsourcing has often resulted in complex supply chain configurations. Because social and environmental...... and global risk displayed the least weight. This result clearly shows that global risks are still not considered a major criterion for supplier selection. Further, the proposed framework may serve as a starting point for developing managerial decision-making tools to help companies more effectively address...... regulations in those countries are often weak or poorly enforced, stakeholders impose responsibility on focal companies to ensure socially and environmentally sustainable production standards throughout their supply chains. In this paper, we present an integrated fuzzy AHP-VIKOR approach-based framework...

A Visual Approach to Investigating Shared and Global Memory Behavior of CUDA Kernels

KAUST Repository

Rosen, Paul

2013-01-01

We present an approach to investigate the memory behavior of a parallel kernel executing on thousands of threads simultaneously within the CUDA architecture. Our top-down approach allows for quickly identifying any significant differences between the execution of the many blocks and warps. As interesting warps are identified, we allow further investigation of memory behavior by visualizing the shared memory bank conflicts and global memory coalescence, first with an overview of a single warp with many operations and, subsequently, with a detailed view of a single warp and a single operation. We demonstrate the strength of our approach in the context of a parallel matrix transpose kernel and a parallel 1D Haar Wavelet transform kernel. © 2013 The Author(s) Computer Graphics Forum © 2013 The Eurographics Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A Visual Approach to Investigating Shared and Global Memory Behavior of CUDA Kernels

KAUST Repository

Rosen, Paul

2013-06-01

We present an approach to investigate the memory behavior of a parallel kernel executing on thousands of threads simultaneously within the CUDA architecture. Our top-down approach allows for quickly identifying any significant differences between the execution of the many blocks and warps. As interesting warps are identified, we allow further investigation of memory behavior by visualizing the shared memory bank conflicts and global memory coalescence, first with an overview of a single warp with many operations and, subsequently, with a detailed view of a single warp and a single operation. We demonstrate the strength of our approach in the context of a parallel matrix transpose kernel and a parallel 1D Haar Wavelet transform kernel. © 2013 The Author(s) Computer Graphics Forum © 2013 The Eurographics Association and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

South Africa's transformational approach to global governance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

One goal was to transform structures and institutions of global governance while another aim was to place developmental goals on the global agenda. As South Africa targeted UN agencies, notably the Security Council, the IMF, World Bank, WTO and more recently the G20, the curious question begs: will South Africa ...

Adding a soil fertility dimension to the global farming systems approach, with cases from Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smaling, E.M.A.; Dixon, J.

2006-01-01

The global farming systems (GFS) approach is extended by adding a soil fertility and nutrient management dimension for Africa's forest-based, maize mixed, cereal¿root crop mixed, and agro-pastoral millet/sorghum farming systems. Use is made of sustainable livelihood concepts, translated into farmer

The global, centralized approach of the GAIN Premix Facility has made oil fortification in Indonesia more affordable.

Science.gov (United States)

Jallier, Vincent; Guyondet, Christophe; Provent, Adeline; Laillou, Arnaud; Soekirman; Moench-Pfanner, Regina

2013-06-01

Access to high-grade micronutrients is a recurring challenge that often threatens the long-term sustainability of food fortification programs. To assess the efficiency of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Premix Facility in procuring quality, affordable vitamin A for fortification of edible oil in Indonesia. A global approach to procurement of standard items was used by combining volumes across various demand streams in order to reduce the total cost of acquisition through economies of scale. The GAIN Premix Facility undertook a detailed analysis of vitamin A requirements across its existing customer base, which served as a basis for developing a reliable demand forecast. A consolidated, competitive tender was launched that resulted in the setting up of a long-term commercial agreement with the selected supplier to lock in the most competitive price for a given period of time. The direct benefit to oil manufacturers of fortifying with vitamin A is that the cost of fortification went down significantly compared with prices they would have been offered had they ordered vitamin A individually. In Indonesia, this consolidated procurement approach has allowed a 14.5% decrease in the unit price of vitamin A. The GAIN Premix Facility demonstrated its effectiveness in acting as a global procurement platform by aggregating demand across different customers and leveraging improved prices through increased volumes. Building on the success of this effort, the GAIN Premix Facility is replicating this global approach for procurement of other standard items being procured across fortification programs worldwide.

State strategies of governance in biomedical innovation: aligning conceptual approaches for understanding 'Rising Powers' in the global context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faulkner Alex

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background 'Innovation' has become a policy focus in its own right in many states as they compete to position themselves in the emerging knowledge economies. Innovation in biomedicine is a global enterprise in which 'Rising Power' states figure prominently, and which undoubtedly will re-shape health systems and health economies globally. Scientific and technological innovation processes and policies raise difficult issues in the domains of science/technology, civil society, and the economic and healthcare marketplace. The production of knowledge in these fields is complex, uncertain, inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional, and subject to a continuing political struggle for advantage. As part of this struggle, a wide variety of issues - regulation, intellectual property, ethics, scientific boundaries, healthcare market formation - are raised and policy agendas negotiated. Methods A range of social science disciplines and approaches have conceptualised such innovation processes. Against a background of concepts such as the competition state and the developmental state, and national innovation systems, we give an overview of a range of approaches that have potential for advancing understanding of governance of global life science and biomedical innovation, with special reference to the 'Rising Powers', in order to examine convergences and divergences between them. Conceptual approaches that we focus on include those drawn from political science/political economy, sociology of technology; Innovation Studies and Science & Technology Studies. The paper is part of a project supported by the UK ESRC's Rising Powers programme. Results We show convergences and complementarities between the approaches discussed, and argue that the role of the national state itself has become relatively neglected in much of the relevant theorising. Conclusions We conclude that an approach is required that enables innovation and governance to be seen as 'co

State strategies of governance in biomedical innovation: aligning conceptual approaches for understanding 'Rising Powers' in the global context

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background 'Innovation' has become a policy focus in its own right in many states as they compete to position themselves in the emerging knowledge economies. Innovation in biomedicine is a global enterprise in which 'Rising Power' states figure prominently, and which undoubtedly will re-shape health systems and health economies globally. Scientific and technological innovation processes and policies raise difficult issues in the domains of science/technology, civil society, and the economic and healthcare marketplace. The production of knowledge in these fields is complex, uncertain, inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional, and subject to a continuing political struggle for advantage. As part of this struggle, a wide variety of issues - regulation, intellectual property, ethics, scientific boundaries, healthcare market formation - are raised and policy agendas negotiated. Methods A range of social science disciplines and approaches have conceptualised such innovation processes. Against a background of concepts such as the competition state and the developmental state, and national innovation systems, we give an overview of a range of approaches that have potential for advancing understanding of governance of global life science and biomedical innovation, with special reference to the 'Rising Powers', in order to examine convergences and divergences between them. Conceptual approaches that we focus on include those drawn from political science/political economy, sociology of technology; Innovation Studies and Science & Technology Studies. The paper is part of a project supported by the UK ESRC's Rising Powers programme. Results We show convergences and complementarities between the approaches discussed, and argue that the role of the national state itself has become relatively neglected in much of the relevant theorising. Conclusions We conclude that an approach is required that enables innovation and governance to be seen as 'co-producing' each other in a multi

The Current Approaches to the Harmonization of Interests of Participants of Competitive Relationships at the Global Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shvydanenko Oleg A.

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The key problems of development of participants of global competitive relationships, approaches to harmonization of their interests have been considered. The article defines essence of the global system of regulation of competitive relationships, the technology of its formation, improvement and development, taking into account the reasonable assemblage of relevant principles. The main tasks and processes of formation of the competitive culture in the context of globalization changes have been highlighted. The strategic directions of improvement of the system of regulation of competitive relationships in accordance with transformation of external conditions of development of globalizing space and strengthening of international character of competition have been specified. The organizational-economic mechanism of the system of regulation of competitive relationships has been provided.

Global Practical Stabilization and Tracking for an Underactuated Ship - A Combined Averaging and Backstepping Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristin Y. Pettersen

1999-10-01

Full Text Available We solve both the global practical stabilization and tracking problem for an underactuated ship, using a combined integrator backstepping and averaging approach. Exponential convergence to an arbitrarily small neighbourhood of the origin and of the reference trajectory, respectively, is proved. Simulation results are included.

A comparison of threats, vulnerabilities and management approaches in global seagrass bioregions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grech, Alana; Chartrand-Miller, Katie; McKenzie, Len; Rasheed, Michael; Taylor, Helen; Coles, Rob; Erftemeijer, Paul; Fonseca, Mark

2012-01-01

Global seagrass habitats are threatened by multiple anthropogenic factors. Effective management of seagrasses requires information on the relative impacts of threats; however, this information is rarely available. Our goal was to use the knowledge of experts to assess the relative impacts of anthropogenic activities in six global seagrass bioregions. The activities that threaten seagrasses were identified at an international seagrass workshop and followed with a web-based survey to collect seagrass vulnerability information. There was a global consensus that urban/industrial runoff, urban/port infrastructure development, agricultural runoff and dredging had the greatest impact on seagrasses, though the order of relative impacts varied by bioregion. These activities are largely terrestrially based, highlighting the need for marine planning initiatives to be co-ordinated with adjacent watershed planning. Sea level rise and increases in the severity of cyclones were ranked highest relative to other climate change related activities, but overall the five climate change activities were ranked low and experts were uncertain of their effects on seagrasses. The experts’ preferred mechanism of delivering management outcomes were processes such as policy development, planning and consultation rather than prescriptive management tools. Our approach to collecting expert opinion provides the required data to prioritize seagrass management actions at bioregional scales. (letter)

Global Natural Disaster Risk Hotspots: Transition to a Regional Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner-Lam, A.; Chen, R.; Dilley, M.

2005-12-01

The "Hotspots Project" is a collaborative study of the global distribution and occurrence of multiple natural hazards and the associated exposures of populations and their economic output. In this study we assess the global risks of two disaster-related outcomes: mortality and economic losses. We estimate risk levels by combining hazard exposure with historical vulnerability for two indicators of elements at risk-gridded population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per unit area - for six major natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, drought, and cyclones. By calculating relative risks for each grid cell rather than for countries as a whole, we are able to estimate risk levels at sub-national scales. These can then be used to estimate aggregate relative multiple hazard risk at regional and national scales. Mortality-related risks are assessed on a 2.5' x 2.5' latitude-longitude grid of global population (GPW Version 3). Economic risks are assessed at the same resolution for gridded GDP per unit area, using World Bank estimates of GDP based on purchasing power parity. Global hazard data were compiled from multiple sources. The project collaborated directly with UNDP and UNEP, the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) at Columbia, and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in the creation of data sets for several hazards for which global data sets did not previously exist. Drought, flood and volcano hazards are characterized in terms of event frequency, storms by frequency and severity, earthquakes by frequency and ground acceleration exceedance probability, and landslides by an index derived from probability of occurrence. The global analysis undertaken in this project is clearly limited by issues of scale as well as by the availability and quality of data. For some hazards, there exist only 15- to 25-year global records with relatively crude spatial information. Data on historical disaster losses, and particularly on

Hawking and Unruh Effects of a 5-Dimensional Minimal Gauged Supergravity Black Hole by a Global Embedding Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li-Chun Zhang

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Using the new global embedding approach we investigate Unruh/Hawking temperature of the 5-dimensional minimal gauged supergravity black hole with double rotating parameters in a general (1 + 1 space-time. Our results verify that views of Banerjee and Majhi, and extend this approach to a higher dimension situation.

Consolidating Data of Global Urban Populations: a Comparative Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Blankespoor, B.; Khan, A.; Selod, H.

2017-12-01

Global data on city populations are essential for the study of urbanization, city growth and the spatial distribution of human settlements. Such data are either gathered by combining official estimates of urban populations from across countries or extracted from gridded population models that combine these estimates with geospatial data. These data sources provide varying estimates of urban populations and each approach has its advantages and limitations. In particular, official figures suffer from a lack of consistency in defining urban units (across both space and time) and often provide data for jurisdictions rather than the functionally meaningful urban area. On the other hand, gridded population models require a user-imposed definition to identify urban areas and are constrained by the modelling techniques and input data employed. To address these drawbacks, we combine these approaches by consolidating information from three established sources: (i) the Citypopulation.de (Brinkhoff, 2016); (ii) the World Urban Prospects data (United Nations, 2014); and (iii) the Global Human Settlements population grid (GHS-POP) (EC - JRC, 2015). We create urban footprints with GHS-POP and spatially merge georeferenced city points from both UN WUP and Citypopulation.de with these urban footprints to identify city points that belong to a single agglomeration. We create a consolidated dataset by combining population data from the UN WUP and Citypopulation.de. The flexible framework outlined can incorporate information from alternative inputs to identify urban clusters e.g. by using night-time lights, built-up area or alternative gridded population models (e.g WorldPop or Landscan) and the parameters employed (e.g. density thresholds for urban footprints) may also be adjusted, e.g., as a function of city-specific characteristics. Our consolidated dataset provides a wider and more accurate coverage of city populations to support studies of urbanization. We apply the data to re

A SmallSat Approach for Global Imaging Spectroscopy of the Earth SYSTEM Enabled by Advanced Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Green, R. O.; Asner, G. P.; Thompson, D. R.; Mouroulis, P.; Eastwood, M. L.; Chien, S.

2017-12-01

Global coverage imaging spectroscopy in the solar reflected energy portion of the spectrum has been identified by the Earth Decadal Survey as an important measurement that enables a diverse set of new and time critical science objectives/targets for the Earth system. These science objectives include biodiversity; ecosystem function; ecosystem biogeochemistry; initialization and constraint of global ecosystem models; fire fuel, combustion, burn severity, and recovery; surface mineralogy, geochemistry, geologic processes, soils, and hazards; global mineral dust source composition; cryospheric albedo, energy balance, and melting; coastal and inland water habitats; coral reefs; point source gas emission; cloud thermodynamic phase; urban system properties; and more. Traceability of these science objectives to spectroscopic measurement in the visible to short wavelength infrared portion of the spectrum is summarized. New approaches, including satellite constellations, to acquire these global imaging spectroscopy measurements is presented drawing from recent advances in optical design, detector technology, instrument architecture, thermal control, on-board processing, data storage, and downlink.

Climate change, livelihoods and the multiple determinants of water adequacy: two approaches at regional to global scale

Science.gov (United States)

Lissner, Tabea; Reusser, Dominik

2015-04-01

Inadequate access to water is already a problem in many regions of the world and processes of global change are expected to further exacerbate the situation. Many aspects determine the adequacy of water resources: beside actual physical water stress, where the resource itself is limited, economic and social water stress can be experienced if access to resource is limited by inadequate infrastructure, political or financial constraints. To assess the adequacy of water availability for human use, integrated approaches are needed that allow to view the multiple determinants in conjunction and provide sound results as a basis for informed decisions. This contribution proposes two parts of an integrated approach to look at the multiple dimensions of water scarcity at regional to global scale. These were developed in a joint project with the German Development Agency (GIZ). It first outlines the AHEAD approach to measure Adequate Human livelihood conditions for wEll-being And Development, implemented at global scale and at national resolution. This first approach allows viewing impacts of climate change, e.g. changes in water availability, within the wider context of AHEAD conditions. A specific focus lies on the uncertainties in projections of climate change and future water availability. As adequate water access is not determined by water availability alone, in a second step we develop an approach to assess the water requirements for different sectors in more detail, including aspects of quantity, quality as well as access, in an integrated way. This more detailed approach is exemplified at region-scale in Indonesia and South Africa. Our results show that in many regions of the world, water scarcity is a limitation to AHEAD conditions in many countries, regardless of differing modelling output. The more detailed assessments highlight the relevance of additional aspects to assess the adequacy of water for human use, showing that in many regions, quality and

Global thermodynamics of confined inhomogeneous dilute gases: A semi-classical approach

Science.gov (United States)

Poveda-Cuevas, F. J.; Reyes-Ayala, I.; Seman, J. A.; Romero-Rochín, V.

2018-04-01

In this work we present our contribution to the Latin American School of Physics "Marcos Moshinsky" 2017 on Quantum Correlations which was held in Mexico City during the summer of 2017. We review the efforts that have been done to construct a global thermodynamic description of ultracold dilute gases confined in inhomogeneous potentials. This is difficult because the presence of this non-uniform trap makes the pressure of the gas to be a spatially dependent variable and its volume an ambiguously defined quantity. In this paper we introduce new global thermodynamic variables, equivalent to pressure and volume, and propose a realistic model of the equation of state of the system. This model is based on a mean-field approach which asymptotically reaches the Thomas-Fermi limit for a weakly interacting Bose gas. We put special emphasis to the transition between the normal and superfluid phases by studying the behavior of the isothermal compressibility across the transition. We reveal how the potential modifies the critical properties of the transition by determining the critical exponents associated to the divergences not of the susceptibilities but of their derivatives.

Parameter identification and global sensitivity analysis of Xin'anjiang model using meta-modeling approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-meng Song

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Parameter identification, model calibration, and uncertainty quantification are important steps in the model-building process, and are necessary for obtaining credible results and valuable information. Sensitivity analysis of hydrological model is a key step in model uncertainty quantification, which can identify the dominant parameters, reduce the model calibration uncertainty, and enhance the model optimization efficiency. There are, however, some shortcomings in classical approaches, including the long duration of time and high computation cost required to quantitatively assess the sensitivity of a multiple-parameter hydrological model. For this reason, a two-step statistical evaluation framework using global techniques is presented. It is based on (1 a screening method (Morris for qualitative ranking of parameters, and (2 a variance-based method integrated with a meta-model for quantitative sensitivity analysis, i.e., the Sobol method integrated with the response surface model (RSMSobol. First, the Morris screening method was used to qualitatively identify the parameters' sensitivity, and then ten parameters were selected to quantify the sensitivity indices. Subsequently, the RSMSobol method was used to quantify the sensitivity, i.e., the first-order and total sensitivity indices based on the response surface model (RSM were calculated. The RSMSobol method can not only quantify the sensitivity, but also reduce the computational cost, with good accuracy compared to the classical approaches. This approach will be effective and reliable in the global sensitivity analysis of a complex large-scale distributed hydrological model.

Globalizing Globalization: The Neo-Institutional Concept of a World Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Trohler, Daniel

2009-01-01

In this paper, the author focuses on how globalization and education are addressed in research. More precisely, he concentrates on only one dominant approach to analyzing globalization and its effects on education and also the educational role within globalization. His thesis is that, with the background of Max Weber's Protestant ethic thesis,…

Forecasting the global shortage of physicians: an economic- and needs-based approach

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jenny X; Kinfu, Yohannes; Dal Poz, Mario R

2008-01-01

Abstract Objective Global achievements in health may be limited by critical shortages of health-care workers. To help guide workforce policy, we estimate the future demand for, need for and supply of physicians, by WHO region, to determine where likely shortages will occur by 2015, the target date of the Millennium Development Goals. Methods Using World Bank and WHO data on physicians per capita from 1980 to 2001 for 158 countries, we employ two modelling approaches for estimating the future global requirement for physicians. A needs-based model determines the number of physicians per capita required to achieve 80% coverage of live births by a skilled health-care attendant. In contrast, our economic model identifies the number of physicians per capita that are likely to be demanded, given each country’s economic growth. These estimates are compared to the future supply of physicians projected by extrapolating the historical rate of increase in physicians per capita for each country. Findings By 2015, the global supply of physicians appears to be in balance with projected economic demand. Because our measure of need reflects the minimum level of workforce density required to provide a basic health service that is met in all but the least developed countries, the needs-based estimates predict a global surplus of physicians. However, on a regional basis, both models predict shortages for many countries in the WHO African Region in 2015, with some countries experiencing a needs-based shortage, a demand-based shortage, or both. Conclusion The type of policy intervention needed to alleviate projected shortages, such as increasing health-care training or adopting measures to discourage migration, depends on the type of shortage projected. PMID:18670663

A global "imaging'' view on systems approaches in immunology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ludewig, Burkhard; Stein, Jens V; Sharpe, James; Cervantes-Barragan, Luisa; Thiel, Volker; Bocharov, Gennady

2012-12-01

The immune system exhibits an enormous complexity. High throughput methods such as the "-omic'' technologies generate vast amounts of data that facilitate dissection of immunological processes at ever finer resolution. Using high-resolution data-driven systems analysis, causal relationships between complex molecular processes and particular immunological phenotypes can be constructed. However, processes in tissues, organs, and the organism itself (so-called higher level processes) also control and regulate the molecular (lower level) processes. Reverse systems engineering approaches, which focus on the examination of the structure, dynamics and control of the immune system, can help to understand the construction principles of the immune system. Such integrative mechanistic models can properly describe, explain, and predict the behavior of the immune system in health and disease by combining both higher and lower level processes. Moving from molecular and cellular levels to a multiscale systems understanding requires the development of methodologies that integrate data from different biological levels into multiscale mechanistic models. In particular, 3D imaging techniques and 4D modeling of the spatiotemporal dynamics of immune processes within lymphoid tissues are central for such integrative approaches. Both dynamic and global organ imaging technologies will be instrumental in facilitating comprehensive multiscale systems immunology analyses as discussed in this review. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Global warming policy: A coherent-sequential approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manicke, R.L.

1996-01-01

This paper addresses these two closely related themes: (1) the need for structuring and evaluating global climate policy sequentially and (2) the need to incorporate the analysis of real options which may contribute significantly to global climate policy. This paper is organized into four sections. The first section deals with benefit-cost analysis and capital budgeting as they are generally practiced and discusses the reasons why the traditional benefit-cost formulation is inadequate. The second section then discusses the case of one financial option, namely, the European Call Option and discusses some important results. The third section of the paper addresses some of the important results or principles derived in the literature on real options, and while most of the mathematics is not easily transferred nor relevant to the global climate policy, there are many principles that can be applied. In the fourth section the author discusses the implications of a real option environment for the policy process

Toward a global space exploration program: A stepping stone approach

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrenfreund, Pascale; McKay, Chris; Rummel, John D.; Foing, Bernard H.; Neal, Clive R.; Masson-Zwaan, Tanja; Ansdell, Megan; Peter, Nicolas; Zarnecki, John; Mackwell, Steve; Perino, Maria Antionetta; Billings, Linda; Mankins, John; Race, Margaret

2012-01-01

In response to the growing importance of space exploration in future planning, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) Panel on Exploration (PEX) was chartered to provide independent scientific advice to support the development of exploration programs and to safeguard the potential scientific assets of solar system objects. In this report, PEX elaborates a stepwise approach to achieve a new level of space cooperation that can help develop world-wide capabilities in space science and exploration and support a transition that will lead to a global space exploration program. The proposed stepping stones are intended to transcend cross-cultural barriers, leading to the development of technical interfaces and shared legal frameworks and fostering coordination and cooperation on a broad front. Input for this report was drawn from expertise provided by COSPAR Associates within the international community and via the contacts they maintain in various scientific entities. The report provides a summary and synthesis of science roadmaps and recommendations for planetary exploration produced by many national and international working groups, aiming to encourage and exploit synergies among similar programs. While science and technology represent the core and, often, the drivers for space exploration, several other disciplines and their stakeholders (Earth science, space law, and others) should be more robustly interlinked and involved than they have been to date. The report argues that a shared vision is crucial to this linkage, and to providing a direction that enables new countries and stakeholders to join and engage in the overall space exploration effort. Building a basic space technology capacity within a wider range of countries, ensuring new actors in space act responsibly, and increasing public awareness and engagement are concrete steps that can provide a broader interest in space exploration, worldwide, and build a solid basis for program sustainability. By engaging

Toward an Agile Approach to Managing the Effect of Requirements on Software Architecture during Global Software Development

OpenAIRE

Alsahli, Abdulaziz; Khan, Hameed; Alyahya, Sultan

2016-01-01

Requirement change management (RCM) is a critical activity during software development because poor RCM results in occurrence of defects, thereby resulting in software failure. To achieve RCM, efficient impact analysis is mandatory. A common repository is a good approach to maintain changed requirements, reusing and reducing effort. Thus, a better approach is needed to tailor knowledge for better change management of requirements and architecture during global software development (GSD).The o...

Globalization challenges in a globalized world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr.Sc. Gjon Boriçi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Globalization is an ongoing phenomenon trying to redefine the economic, social, cultural and political dynamics of contemporary societies. The communication among countries and not only them, has been increased expanding political ties, making possible greater economic integration and wider cultural relations combined with augmented global wealth across the world. But, the process of globalization is in wider terms considered a beneficial one, but also viewed by some countries as a menace to national sovereignty and national culture. This paper tries to explain the obstacles to the process of globalization and its attendant benefits. Although globalization has arisen as a result of a more stable world, the factors that had contributed to its rise also help the factions interested to bring destabilization. In an academic approach in this article, between the research and comparative methods, I have been trying to get the maxims between economy, politics and diplomacy in their efforts of affecting the global era.

A new approach to inventorying bodies of water, from local to global scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartout, Pascal

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Having reliable estimates of the number of water bodies on different geographical scales is of great importance to better understand biogeochemical cycles and to tackle the social issues related to the economic and cultural use of water bodies. However, limnological research suffers from a lack of reliable inventories; the available scientific references are predominately based on water bodies of natural origin, large in size and preferentially located in previously glaciated areas. Artificial, small and randomly distributed water bodies, especially ponds, are usually not inventoried. Following Wetzel’s theory (1990, some authors included them in global inventories by using remote sensing or mathematical extrapolation, but fieldwork on the ground has been done on a very limited amount of territory. These studies have resulted in an explosive increase in the estimated number of water bodies, going from 8.44 million lakes (Meybeck 1995 to 3.5 billion water bodies (Downing 2010. These numbers raise several questions, especially about the methodology used for counting small-sized water bodies and the methodological treatment of spatial variables. In this study, we use inventories of water bodies for Sweden, Finland, Estonia and France to show incoherencies generated by the “global to local” approach. We demonstrate that one universal relationship does not suffice for generating the regional or global inventories of water bodies because local conditions vary greatly from one region to another and cannot be offset adequately by each other. The current paradigm for global estimates of water bodies in limnology, which is based on one representative model applied to different territories, does not produce sufficiently exact global inventories. The step-wise progression from the local to the global scale requires the development of many regional equations based on fieldwork; a specific equation that adequately reflects the actual relationship

The Impact of Globalization on the Formation of a Global Political System

Science.gov (United States)

Ilyin, Ilya V.; Rozanov, Alexander Sergeevich

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of globalization on the formation of a global political system. Design/methodology/approach: Taking into account the fact of global political evolution, the authors of the paper point out that the global political structures tend to change. Findings: During the past millennium the global…

Multi-hazard national-level risk assessment in Africa using global approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Stuart; Jongman, Brenden; Simpson, Alanna; Murnane, Richard

2016-04-01

In recent years Sub-Saharan Africa has been characterized by unprecedented opportunity for transformation and sustained growth. However, natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and extreme temperatures cause significant economic and human losses, and major development challenges. Quantitative disaster risk assessments are an important basis for governments to understand disaster risk in their country, and to develop effective risk management and risk financing solutions. However, the data-scarce nature of many Sub-Saharan African countries as well as a lack of financing for risk assessments has long prevented detailed analytics. Recent advances in globally applicable disaster risk modelling practices and data availability offer new opportunities. In December 2013 the European Union approved a € 60 million contribution to support the development of an analytical basis for risk financing and to accelerate the effective implementation of a comprehensive disaster risk reduction. The World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) was selected as the implementing partner of the Program for Result Area 5: the "Africa Disaster Risk Assessment and Financing Program." As part of this effort, the GFDRR is overseeing the production of national-level multi-hazard risk profiles for a range of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, using a combination of national and global datasets and state-of-the-art hazard and risk assessment methodologies. In this presentation, we will highlight the analytical approach behind these assessments, and show results for the first five countries for which the assessment has been completed (Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Niger and Ethiopia). The presentation will also demonstrate the visualization of the risk assessments into understandable and visually attractive risk profile documents.

Global Challenges and Threats: European and US Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Marquina

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Este artículo presenta las similitudes y diferencias que existen en las aproximaciones de seguridad entre la Unión Europea y los Estados Unidos, así como sus implicaciones para la OTAN. La Estrategia de Seguridad Europea enfatiza los desafíos y amenazas globales, dejando en un segundo plano los problemas de seguridad tradicional existentes en la periferia europea. Los Estados Unidos, por su parte, que es una potencia militar global tiende a considerar los problemas de seguridad europea en un contexto más global. El artículo hace un recorrido por las políticas puestas en pie por la Unión Europea y los Estados Unidos para hacer frente a los desafíos globales y explica las similitudes y diferencias en orden a entender los problemas cruciales que los estados miembros de la OTAN tienen que abordar para dar consistencia y permanencia al nuevo concepto estratégico de la OTAN que se está elaborando.

Conceptual Approaches to the Development of Economic Systems in the Context of Globalization and Regionalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. I.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Interactions of the national and the global in economic transformations occurring in open economic systems are substantiated. Conceptual approaches to the development of economic systems in the globalization and regionalization context are summed up. It is shown that globalization is a logical consequence of mutual influences and interactions of multiple local transformations in socio-economic systems of various levels, which planetary self-organization generates the new quality of the global economic development. It is concluded that globalization has controversial impact on the transformation capacities of national economic systems that have to operate in the unfavorable condition of the growing instability of the global economic system and rapid integration in the structures with already established economic relations. The heuristic and experimental nature of economic and institutional transformations in these countries is added by splits of national economic systems and disruptions of established production links; the outstripping liberalization of foreign economic relations, creating rather external than internal pressures on national manufacturers and making them less capable to adapt to the competitive environment; the accelerated liberalization of monetary and financial systems, opening up ways to reallocation of capital from the sluggish real sector to the more flexible sector of transactions with currencies and securities; the shrinking regulatory authorities of national governments with respect of trade, competition, tax policies or social welfare; the growing domination of TNC and outflow of productive resources from national economies, important for their self-development, thus making their economic systems structurally primitive; the sharp property differentiation within societies and the increasing shares of population with low incomes.

Approaches to characterise chromatographic column performance based on global parameters accounting for peak broadening and skewness.

Science.gov (United States)

Baeza-Baeza, J J; Pous-Torres, S; Torres-Lapasió, J R; García-Alvarez-Coque, M C

2010-04-02

Peak broadening and skewness are fundamental parameters in chromatography, since they affect the resolution capability of a chromatographic column. A common practice to characterise chromatographic columns is to estimate the efficiency and asymmetry factor for the peaks of one or more solutes eluted at selected experimental conditions. This has the drawback that the extra-column contributions to the peak variance and skewness make the peak shape parameters depend on the retention time. We propose and discuss here the use of several approaches that allow the estimation of global parameters (non-dependent on the retention time) to describe the column performance. The global parameters arise from different linear relationships that can be established between the peak variance, standard deviation, or half-widths with the retention time. Some of them describe exclusively the column contribution to the peak broadening, whereas others consider the extra-column effects also. The estimation of peak skewness was also possible for the approaches based on the half-widths. The proposed approaches were applied to the characterisation of different columns (Spherisorb, Zorbax SB, Zorbax Eclipse, Kromasil, Chromolith, X-Terra and Inertsil), using the chromatographic data obtained for several diuretics and basic drugs (beta-blockers). Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Helicopter approach capability using the differential global positioning system. M.S. Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufmann, David N.

1993-01-01

The results of flight tests to determine the feasibility of using the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the differential mode (DGPS) to provide high accuracy, precision navigation, and guidance for helicopter approaches to landing are presented. The airborne DGPS receiver and associated equipment is installed in a NASA UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The ground-based DGPS reference receiver is located at a surveyed test site and is equipped with a real-time VHF data link to transmit correction information to the airborne DGPS receiver. The corrected airborne DGPS information, together with the preset approach geometry, is used to calculate guidance commands which are sent to the aircraft's approach guidance instruments. The use of DGPS derived guidance for helicopter approaches to landing is evaluated by comparing the DGPS data with the laser tracker truth data. Both standard (3 deg) and steep (6 deg and 9 deg) glideslope straight-in approaches were flown. DGPS positioning accuracy based on a time history analysis of the entire approach was 0.2 m (mean) +/- 1.8 m (2 sigma) laterally and -2.0 m (mean) +/- 3.5 m (2 sigma) vertically for 3 deg glideslope approaches, -0.1 m (mean) +/- 1.5 m (2 sigma) laterally and -1.1 m (mean) +/- 3.5 m (2 sigma) vertically for 6 deg glideslope approaches and 0.2 m (mean) +/- 1.3 m (2 sigma) laterally and -1.0 m (mean) +/- 2.8 m (2 sigma) vertically for 9 deg glideslope approaches. DGPS positioning accuracy at the 200 ft decision height (DH) on a standard 3 deg slideslope approach was 0.3 m (mean) +/- 1.5 m (2 sigma) laterally and -2.3 m (mean) +/- 1.6 m (2 sigma) vertically. These errors indicate that the helicopter position based on DGPS guidance satisfies the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Category 1 (CAT 1) lateral and vertical navigational accuracy requirements.

Guidelines and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mason, P.

1994-01-01

Guidelines and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security provide both a conceptual framework within which to pursue arms control in South Asia and a variety of concrete mechanisms or tools to carry out the task. However, they cannot operate independently of a broader process of political accommodation, which might be named as 'cooperative security building'. That process, however embryonic, is under way across Asia Pacific region

The Global Approach to Quantum Field Theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Folacci, Antoine; Jensen, Bruce [Faculte des Sciences, Universite de Corse (France); Department of Mathematics, University of Southampton (United Kingdom)

2003-12-12

Thanks to its impressive success in the second half of the 20th century, both in high-energy physics and in critical phenomena, quantum field theory has enjoyed an abundant literature. We therefore greet yet another book on this subject with caution: what can a monograph on quantum field theory bring now that is new, either conceptually or pedagogically? But when it is written by a physicist such as Bryce DeWitt, who has made his own contribution to the collection of field theory books with The Global Approach to Quantum Field Theory, all suspicion is naturally abandoned. DeWitt has made a formidable contribution to various areas of physics: general relativity, the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and most of all the quantization of non-Abelian gauge theories and quantum gravity. In addition, his pedagogical publications, especially the Les Houches schools of 1963 and 1983, have had a great impact on quantum field theory. We must begin by alerting the potential readers of this book that it cannot be compared to any other book in the field. This uniqueness applies to both the scientific content and the way the ideas are presented. For DeWitt, a central concept of field theory is that of 'space of histories'. For a field varphi{sup i} defined on a given spacetime M, the set of all varphi{sup i}(x) for all x in all charts of M defines its history. It is the space Phi of all possible histories (dynamically allowed or not) of the fields defined on M which is called the 'pace of histories' by DeWitt. If only bosonic fields are considered, the space of histories is an infinite-dimensional manifold and if fermionic fields are also present, it must be viewed as an infinite-dimensional supermanifold. The fields can then be regarded as coordinates on these structures, and the geometrical notions of differentiation, metric, connections, measure, as well as the geodesics which can be defined on it, are of fundamental importance in the development of the

Policy Approaches for Regulating Alcohol Marketing in a Global Context: A Public Health Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Esser, Marissa B; Jernigan, David H

2018-04-01

Alcohol consumption is responsible for 3.3 million deaths globally or nearly 6% of all deaths. Alcohol use contributes to both communicable and noncommunicable diseases, as well as violence and injuries. The purpose of this review is to discuss, in the context of the expansion of transnational alcohol corporations and harms associated with alcohol use, policy options for regulating exposure to alcohol marketing. We first provide an overview of the public health problem of harmful alcohol consumption and describe the association between exposure to alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption. We then discuss the growth and concentration of global alcohol corporations and their marketing practices in low- and middle-income countries, as well as in higher-income societies. We review the use and effectiveness of various approaches for regulating alcohol marketing in various countries before discussing challenges and opportunities to protect public health.

When Going Global Isn't Enough.

Science.gov (United States)

Randolph, Benton

1990-01-01

The traditional multinational approach to business strategy and human resource management, as well as the global approach, are not effective in a world no longer insular. A transnational approach requires global strategy and perspective, local responsiveness and flexibility, teamwork, shared responsibility, and empowered and innovative workers.…

Local to global: a collaborative approach to volcanic risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Calder, Eliza; Loughlin, Sue; Barsotti, Sara; Bonadonna, Costanza; Jenkins, Susanna

2017-04-01

-economic conditions tending to influence longer term well-being and recovery. The volcanological community includes almost 100 Volcano Observatories worldwide, the official institutions responsible for monitoring volcanoes. They may be dedicated institutions, or operate from national institutions (geological surveys, universities, met agencies). They have a key role in early warning, forecasting and long term hazard assessment (often in the form of volcanic hazards maps). The complexity of volcanic systems means that once unrest begins there are multiple potential eruptive outcomes and short term forecasts can change rapidly. This local knowledge of individual volcanoes underpins hazard and risk assessments developed at national, regional and global scales. Combining this local expertise with the knowledge of the international research community (including interdisciplinary perspectives) creates a powerful partnership. A collaborative approach is therefore needed to develop effective volcanic risk assessments at regional to global scale. The World Organisation of Volcano Observatories is a Commission of IAVCEI, alongside other Commissions such as 'Hazard and Risk' (with an active working group on volcanic hazards maps) and the 'Cities and Volcanoes' Commission. The Global Volcano Model network is a collaborative initiative developing hazards and risk information at national to global scales, underpinned by local expertise. Partners include IAVCEI, Smithsonian Institution, International Volcanic Health Hazard Network, VHub and other initiatives and institutions.

A Hartree–Fock study of the confined helium atom: Local and global basis set approaches

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Young, Toby D., E-mail: tyoung@ippt.pan.pl [Zakład Metod Komputerowych, Instytut Podstawowych Prolemów Techniki Polskiej Akademia Nauk, ul. Pawińskiego 5b, 02-106 Warszawa (Poland); Vargas, Rubicelia [Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, División de Ciencias Básicas e Ingenierías, Departamento de Química, San Rafael Atlixco 186, Col. Vicentina, Iztapalapa, D.F. C.P. 09340, México (Mexico); Garza, Jorge, E-mail: jgo@xanum.uam.mx [Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, División de Ciencias Básicas e Ingenierías, Departamento de Química, San Rafael Atlixco 186, Col. Vicentina, Iztapalapa, D.F. C.P. 09340, México (Mexico)

2016-02-15

Two different basis set methods are used to calculate atomic energy within Hartree–Fock theory. The first is a local basis set approach using high-order real-space finite elements and the second is a global basis set approach using modified Slater-type orbitals. These two approaches are applied to the confined helium atom and are compared by calculating one- and two-electron contributions to the total energy. As a measure of the quality of the electron density, the cusp condition is analyzed. - Highlights: • Two different basis set methods for atomic Hartree–Fock theory. • Galerkin finite element method and modified Slater-type orbitals. • Confined atom model (helium) under small-to-extreme confinement radii. • Detailed analysis of the electron wave-function and the cusp condition.

Managing Global Customers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G.S. Yip (George)

2009-01-01

textabstractMultinational companies need to manage their relationships with multinational customers in a globally integrated approach. This paper provides a systematic framework for developing and implementing such global customer management programmes. The paper is based on Chapter 1 of George S.

Global Learning in a Geography Course Using the Mystery Method as an Approach to Complex Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Applis, Stefan

2014-01-01

In the study which is the foundation of this essay, the question is examined of whether the complexity of global issues can be solved at the level of teaching methodology. In this context, the first qualitative and constructive study was carried out which researches the Mystery Method using the Thinking-Through-Geography approach (David Leat,…

Industrial lightning. Towards a global cost approach of an industrial lightning installation; Eclairage industriel. Pour une approche en cout global d'une installation d'eclairage industriel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

This document proposes an approach of the global cost of an industrial lightning installation and provides information on the benefits and its associated performance of a good industrial lightning, examples of applications, the available products and the regulation texts of the domain. (A.L.B.)

Hierarchical Satellite-based Approach to Global Monitoring of Crop Condition and Food Production

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Y.; Wu, B.; Gommes, R.; Zhang, M.; Zhang, N.; Zeng, H.; Zou, W.; Yan, N.

2014-12-01

The assessment of global food security goes beyond the mere estimate of crop production: It needs to take into account the spatial and temporal patterns of food availability, as well as physical and economic access. Accurate and timely information is essential to both food producers and consumers. Taking advantage of multiple new remote sensing data sources, especially from Chinese satellites, such as FY-2/3A, HJ-1 CCD, CropWatch has expanded the scope of its international analyses through the development of new indicators and an upgraded operational methodology. The new monitoring approach adopts a hierarchical system covering four spatial levels of detail: global (sixty-five Monitoring and Reporting Units, MRU), seven major production zones (MPZ), thirty-one key countries (including China) and "sub- countries." The thirty-one countries encompass more that 80% of both global exports and production of four major crops (maize, rice, soybean and wheat). The methodology resorts to climatic and remote sensing indicators at different scales, using the integrated information to assess global, regional, and national (as well as sub-national) crop environmental condition, crop condition, drought, production, and agricultural trends. The climatic indicators for rainfall, temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) as well as potential biomass are first analysed at global scale to describe overall crop growing conditions. At MPZ scale, the key indicators pay more attention to crops and include Vegetation health index (VHI), Vegetation condition index (VCI), Cropped arable land fraction (CALF) as well as Cropping intensity (CI). Together, they characterise agricultural patterns, farming intensity and stress. CropWatch carries out detailed crop condition analyses for thirty one individual countries at the national scale with a comprehensive array of variables and indicators. The Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), cropped areas and crop condition are

Cultural Elements and Universality in the Process of Globalization : A Tentative Approach to a Theorization of Culture in sociology

OpenAIRE

丸山, 哲央

2002-01-01

"The main purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual scheme for the analysis of cultural globalization in accordance with the Parsonian notion of culture, and to point out some problematic issues caused by cultural globalization: the unbalanced development of cultural elements and the prevalence of the pseudo universality of a dominant particular culture. With respect to the recent trend of ‘cultural turn’ in social sciences, this is a tentative approach to a theorization of culture as ...

A global analysis approach for investigating structural resilience in urban drainage systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mugume, Seith N; Gomez, Diego E; Fu, Guangtao; Farmani, Raziyeh; Butler, David

2015-09-15

Building resilience in urban drainage systems requires consideration of a wide range of threats that contribute to urban flooding. Existing hydraulic reliability based approaches have focused on quantifying functional failure caused by extreme rainfall or increase in dry weather flows that lead to hydraulic overloading of the system. Such approaches however, do not fully explore the full system failure scenario space due to exclusion of crucial threats such as equipment malfunction, pipe collapse and blockage that can also lead to urban flooding. In this research, a new analytical approach based on global resilience analysis is investigated and applied to systematically evaluate the performance of an urban drainage system when subjected to a wide range of structural failure scenarios resulting from random cumulative link failure. Link failure envelopes, which represent the resulting loss of system functionality (impacts) are determined by computing the upper and lower limits of the simulation results for total flood volume (failure magnitude) and average flood duration (failure duration) at each link failure level. A new resilience index that combines the failure magnitude and duration into a single metric is applied to quantify system residual functionality at each considered link failure level. With this approach, resilience has been tested and characterised for an existing urban drainage system in Kampala city, Uganda. In addition, the effectiveness of potential adaptation strategies in enhancing its resilience to cumulative link failure has been tested. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Humanity and Justice in Global Health: Problems with Venkatapuram's Justification of the Global Health Duty.

Science.gov (United States)

Kollar, Eszter; Laukötter, Sebastian; Buyx, Alena

2016-01-01

One of the most ambitious and sophisticated recent approaches to provide a theory of global health justice is Sridhar Venkatapuram's recent work. In this commentary, we first outline the core idea of Venkatapuram's approach to global health justice. We then argue that one of the most important elements of the account, Venkatapuram's basis of global health duties, is either too weak or assumed implicitly without a robust justification. The more explicit grounding of the duty to protect and promote health capabilities is based on Martha Nussbaum's version of the capability approach. We argue that this foundation gives rise to humanitarian duties rather than duties of justice proper. Venkatapuram's second argument from the social determinants of health thesis is instead a stronger candidate for grounding duties of justice. However, as a justificatory argument, it is only alluded to and has not yet been spelled out sufficiently. We offer plausible justificatory steps to fill this gap and draw some implications for global health action. We believe this both strengthens Venkatapuram's approach and serves to broaden the basis for future action in the area of global health. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Globalization, Local and Global Identities of Students (Case study: University of Tabriz

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akram Hobbi

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The process of globalization is both a disputable issue and an ambiguous one and it has been approached through various and sometimes contradictory views. One of the major topics related to the process of globalization is the subject of survival or persistence of local identities in the mainstream of global economy and culture. Different views have been presented in this respect. One of them claims that globalization has a negative influence on local identities, and eliminates the differences. Some others, however, state an opposite view. This paper has identified three fundamental but different approaches and examines them by the research’s data .This research which its subjects are Fars, Turk and Kurd students of Tabriz University, indicates that as the global identity among the students’ increases, their local identities decrease. In other words, with enhancement of globalization process, local identities starts to decrease and it means that second and third approach’s theories in the research is rejected and the first approach’s theories are confirmed.

Measuring Globalization: Existing Methods and Their Implications for Teaching Global Studies and Forecasting

Science.gov (United States)

Zinkina, Julia; Korotayev, Andrey; Andreev, Aleksey I.

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to encourage discussions regarding the existing approaches to globalization measurement (taking mainly the form of indices and rankings) and their shortcomings in terms of applicability to developing Global Studies curricula. Another aim is to propose an outline for the globalization measurement methodology…

An approach to global rovibrational analysis based on anharmonic ladder operators: Application to Hydrogen Selenide (H{sub 2}{sup 80}Se)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alvarez-Bajo, O. [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva (Spain); Carvajal, M., E-mail: miguel.carvajal@dfa.uhu.es [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva (Spain); Perez-Bernal, F. [Dpto. Fisica Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva (Spain)

2012-01-02

Graphical abstract: Schematic diagram of a bent triatomic molecule, depicting the atom numbering, and molecular axis system. An algebraic approach to perform global rovibrational analysis is presented. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Novel approach for a global rovibrational analysis of polyatomic molecules spectra. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer One-dimensional vibron model limit combined with rotational degrees of freedom. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Phase space Hamiltonian written in terms of anharmonic ladder operators. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Algebraic calculations performed with a symmetry-adapted rovibrational basis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Description of the rovibrational spectrum of H{sub 2}Se in the ground electronic state. - Abstract: An algebraic approach to perform global rovibrational analysis of molecular spectra is presented. The approach combines the one-dimensional limit of the vibron model with rotational degrees of freedom. The model is based on the expression of the phase space Hamiltonian in terms of anharmonic ladder operators and the use of a symmetry-adapted basis set given by the linear combination of products of local vibrational and rotational wavefunctions. As an example we model the rovibrational spectra of a bent triatomic molecule, providing a global analysis for vibrational bands up to polyad 12 and J{sub max} = 5 of Hydrogen Selenide (H{sub 2}Se). Satisfactory fits of vibrational and rovibrational energies are obtained. A prediction of 2579 rovibrational energies up to J Less-Than-Or-Slanted-Equal-To 5 and polyad 12 for the 140 lowest vibrational bands is also obtained. A possible extension of the model to reach spectroscopic quality results in larger molecular systems is also given.

Approaches to the Understanding of the Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Кукарцев, Олег Вікторович

2016-01-01

A central issue in this paper is the origins and specific character of global governance discourse that formed at the turn of the twenty-first century. The new discourse marked a gradual exclusion of most early discourses – «international relations» and «world government». It is demonstrated that new term «global governance» signalizes about grand reconstruction of previous international relations discourse where international society was considered as the complex of states and their governme...

A new hybrid support vector machine–wavelet transform approach for estimation of horizontal global solar radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohammadi, Kasra; Shamshirband, Shahaboddin; Tong, Chong Wen; Arif, Muhammad; Petković, Dalibor; Ch, Sudheer

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Horizontal global solar radiation (HGSR) is predicted based on a new hybrid approach. • Support Vector Machines and Wavelet Transform algorithm (SVM–WT) are combined. • Different sets of meteorological elements are used to predict HGSR. • The precision of SVM–WT is assessed thoroughly against ANN, GP and ARMA. • SVM–WT would be an appealing approach to predict HGSR and outperforms others. - Abstract: In this paper, a new hybrid approach by combining the Support Vector Machine (SVM) with Wavelet Transform (WT) algorithm is developed to predict horizontal global solar radiation. The predictions are conducted on both daily and monthly mean scales for an Iranian coastal city. The proposed SVM–WT method is compared against other existing techniques to demonstrate its efficiency and viability. Three different sets of parameters are served as inputs to establish three models. The results indicate that the model using relative sunshine duration, difference between air temperatures, relative humidity, average temperature and extraterrestrial solar radiation as inputs shows higher performance than other models. The statistical analysis demonstrates that SVM–WT approach enjoys very good performance and outperforms other approaches. For the best SVM–WT model, the obtained statistical indicators of mean absolute percentage error, mean absolute bias error, root mean square error, relative root mean square error and coefficient of determination for daily estimation are 6.9996%, 0.8405 MJ/m 2 , 1.4245 MJ/m 2 , 7.9467% and 0.9086, respectively. Also, for monthly mean estimation the values are 3.2601%, 0.5104 MJ/m 2 , 0.6618 MJ/m 2 , 3.6935% and 0.9742, respectively. Based upon relative percentage error, for the best SVM–WT model, 88.70% of daily predictions fall within the acceptable range of −10% to +10%

Stochastic identification of temperature effects on the dynamics of a smart composite beam: assessment of multi-model and global model approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hios, J D; Fassois, S D

2009-01-01

The temperature effects on the dynamics of a smart composite beam are experimentally studied via conventional multi-model and novel global model identification approaches. The multi-model approaches are based on non-parametric and parametric VARX representations, whereas the global model approaches are based on novel constant coefficient pooled (CCP) and functionally pooled (FP) VARX parametric representations. The analysis indicates that the obtained multi-model and global model representations are in rough overall agreement. Nevertheless, the latter simultaneously use all available data records offering more compact descriptions of the dynamics, improved numerical robustness and estimation accuracy, which is reflected in significantly reduced modal parameter uncertainties. Although the CCP-VARX representations provide only 'averaged' descriptions of the structural dynamics over temperature, their FP-VARX counterparts allow for the explicit, analytical modeling of temperature dependence exhibiting a 'smooth' deterministic dependence of the dynamics on temperature which is compatible with the physics of the problem. In accordance with previous studies, the obtained natural frequencies decrease with temperature in a weakly nonlinear or approximately linear fashion. The damping factors are less affected, although their dependence on temperature may be of a potentially more complex nature

A unified approach to global and local beam position feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Y.

1994-01-01

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) will implement both global and local beam position feedback systems to stabilize the particle and X-ray beams for the storage ring. The global feedback system uses 40 BPMs and 40 correctors per plane. Singular value decomposition (SVD) of the response matrix is used for closed orbit correction. The local feedback system uses two X-ray BPMS, two rf BPMS, and the four-magnet local bump to control the angle and displacement of the X-ray beam from a bending magnet or an insertion device. Both the global and local feedback systems are based on digital signal processing (DSP) running at 4-kHz sampling rate with a proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) control algorithm. In this paper, we will discuss resolution of the conflict among multiple local feedback systems due to local bump closure error and decoupling of the global and local feedback systems to maximize correction efficiency. In this scheme, the global feedback system absorbs the local bump closure error and the local feedback systems compensate for the effect of global feedback on the local beamlines. The required data sharing between the global and local feedback systems is done through the fiber-optically networked reflective memory

Global evolution: New approach to understanding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Damiani, V.

1993-01-01

Current threats to the health of the environment - urban air pollution, deforestation, water pollution, etc. are taking on an ever increasing global dimension and it is becoming clear that it will be impossible to develop real solutions to these problems without effectively and contemporaneously resolving the deep social and political problems which are affecting just about every part of the globe. The cause of past failures in environmental protection policy implementation can be ascribed to one of the main defects of our society - that of not having cultivated intuitive knowledge through direct as opposed to intellectual experience; and this defect was probably the result of man having separated biological and cultural aspects from human nature during the course of civilization. To accomplish the formidable task of global environmental restoration, mankind must re-program his ways of living and reasoning which are not in harmony with nature. Conventional rational methods of thinking, which are highly linear, must give way to an intuitive process of comprehension to allow man to successfully deal with the maintenance of the earth's dynamic and non-linear ecosystems and socio-economic frameworks

Meeting report on the Bellagio Conference 'prevention of vascular diseases in the emerging world: An approach to global health equity'.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirks, J H; Robinson, S W; Alderman, M; Couser, W G; Grundy, S M; Smith, S C; Remuzzi, G; Unwin, N

2006-10-01

Representatives from five international organizations (International Society of Nephrology, World Heart Federation, International Diabetes Federation, International Atherosclerosis Federation, and International Society of Hypertension) participated in a strategic planning workshop in December 2005 in Bellagio, Italy sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. There were equal representatives from developed and developing countries. Global perspectives on diabetes and cardiovascular and renal diseases were presented, with special emphasis on China, India, Latin America, and Africa. The rationale and effectiveness of preventive measures were discussed. It was apparent that measures for primary prevention and early intervention for all the chronic vascular diseases are similar. The five organizations agreed that an integrated global approach to chronic vascular diseases is needed. They resolved to collaborate and work towards an integrated approach to chronic vascular diseases with the establishment of a 5-year plan for the prevention and treatment of chronic vascular diseases, including public advocacy, advising international and national agencies, and improving education and the practice of established approaches.

A general framework for global asymptotic stability analysis of delayed neural networks based on LMI approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Jinde; Ho, Daniel W.C.

2005-01-01

In this paper, global asymptotic stability is discussed for neural networks with time-varying delay. Several new criteria in matrix inequality form are given to ascertain the uniqueness and global asymptotic stability of equilibrium point for neural networks with time-varying delay based on Lyapunov method and Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) technique. The proposed LMI approach has the advantage of considering the difference of neuronal excitatory and inhibitory efforts, which is also computationally efficient as it can be solved numerically using recently developed interior-point algorithm. In addition, the proposed results generalize and improve previous works. The obtained criteria also combine two existing conditions into one generalized condition in matrix form. An illustrative example is also given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results

[Global health: a Latin American vision].

Science.gov (United States)

Franco-Giraldo, Álvaro

2016-02-01

This article presents a Latin American vision of global health from a counterhegemonic perspective, applicable to various countries of the world in similar circumstances. It begins by reviewing several concepts and trends in global health and outlining the differences between conventional public health, international health, and global health, but without seeing them as antagonistic, instead situating them in a model that is based on global health and also includes the other two disciplines. It is understood that global factors influenced earlier theories, schemes, and models of classic international health. The article emphasizes the importance of several aspects of world-geopolitics and economic globalization that impose constraints on world health; it also underscores the theory of social and environmental determinants of the health-disease spectrum, which have impacts beyond those of epidemiologic risk factors. The suggested approach is based on cosmopolitanism and holism: global philosophical and political currents that allow for a better interpretation of world phenomena and are more relevant because they give rise to lines of action. Structurally, the theoretical foundations of global health are presented in three analytical areas: global justice and equity, governance and the supranational protection of rights, and holism and a new global consciousness. The article concludes by underscoring the need to construct an approach to the existence and praxis of global public health that is based on the Latin American perspective, an approach that highlights grassroots social movements as an alternative way to secure a new order and global awareness of rights and to redefine the architecture of global health governance.

Introduction to Global Urban Climatology

Science.gov (United States)

Varquez, A. C. G.; Kanda, M.; Kawano, N.; Darmanto, N. S.; Dong, Y.

2016-12-01

Urban heat island (UHI) is a widely investigated phenomenon in the field of urban climate characterized by the warming of urban areas relative to its surrounding rural environs. Being able to understand the mechanism behind the UHI formation of a city and distinguish its impact from that of global climate change is indispensable when identifying adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, the lack of UHI studies many cities especially for developing countries makes it difficult to generalize the mechanism for UHI formation. Thus, there is an impending demand for studies that focus on the simultaneous analyses of UHI and its trends throughout the world. Hence, we propose a subfield of urban climatology, called "global urban climatology" (GUC), which mainly focuses on the uniform understanding of urban climates across all cities, globally. By using globally applicable methodologies to quantify and compare urban heat islands of cities with diverse backgrounds, including their geography, climate, socio-demography, and other factors, a universal understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of the phenomenon can be established. The implementation of GUC involves the use of globally acquired historical observation networks, gridded meteorological parameters from climate models, global geographic information system datasets; the construction of a distributed urban parameter database; and the development of techniques necessary to model the urban climate. Research under GUC can be categorized into three approaches. The collaborative approach (1st) relies on the collection of data from micro-scale experiments conducted worldwide with the aid or development of professional social networking platforms; the analytical approach (2nd) relies on the use of global weather station datasets and their corresponding objectively analysed global outputs; and the numerical approach (3rd) relies on the global estimation of high-resolution urban-representative parameters as

Global partnering related to nuclear materials safeguards and security - A pragmatic approach to international safeguards work

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanford, Dennis

2007-01-01

This paper documents issues Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. has addressed in the performance of international work to safeguards and security work. It begins with a description of the package we put together for a sample proposal for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, for which we were ranked number one for technical approach and cost, and concludes with a discussion of approaches that we have taken to performing this work, including issues related to performing the work as part of a team. The primary focus is on communication, workforce, equipment, and coordination issues. Finally, the paper documents the rules that we use to assure the work is performed safely and successfully. (author)

Approaching Pediatric Cancers through a Global Lens

Science.gov (United States)

Since the incidence of pediatric cancer is relatively constant worldwide, strengthening population-based registries to collect data on the extent of disease at diagnosis would be helpful in determining if late diagnosis may explain difference in outcome globally.

New approach to a global description of the deuteron electromagnetic structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dubnickova, A.Z.; Dubnicka, S.

1991-07-01

A new approach to a global description of the deuteron electro-magnetic (EM) structure is developed on the bases of a modification of the well known vector-meson-dominance (VMD) model of EM hadron interactions by incorporating the true deuteron form factor (FF) analytic properties, non-zero vector meson widths and the correct power asymptotic behaviour as predicted by QCD. As a result, the experimental data on elastic electron-deuteron scattering structure functions A(t) and B(t) are described quite well, the deuteron EM FF's in the space-like region are reproduced and their behaviour in the time- like region is predicted. At the same time the couplings of the ω-mesons to deuteron are evaluated and the total cross section of e + e - → dd-bar process is determined for the first time. (author). 47 refs, 5 figs

Redefining the Indirect Approach, Defining Special Operations Forces (SOF Power, and the Global Networking of SOF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Morrison

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The current Defense Strategy assigns Special Operations Forces (SOF to play a central role in countering terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and irregular warfare. However, there has been little published that defines the role of Special Operations alongside air, land, and sea domains. The U.S. Special Operations Community struggles to define its own theoretical concepts such as direct approach and indirect approach. The U.S. SOF circles typically define direct approach with direct action and the indirect approach with foreign internal defense or security force assistance. Military theorist Liddell Hart viewed the indirect approach as a method to orient upon, target, and upset an adversary’s equilibrium in order to plan for and direct decisive blows. Today, the SOF indirect approach is arguable more applicable due to the prevalence of non-state threats and internal conflicts. Following Hart’s definition, precision raids are among the integral components of a broader application of the indirect approach. The approach also networks U.S. government power as a force when used in concert with allies and local partners. Global networking along with balanced precision raids will exponentially increase the utility of SOF power and position it to appropriately complement all domains to tackle 21st century challenges.

Global ethics and principlism.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, John-Stewart

2011-09-01

This article examines the special relation between common morality and particular moralities in the four-principles approach and its use for global ethics. It is argued that the special dialectical relation between common morality and particular moralities is the key to bridging the gap between ethical universalism and relativism. The four-principles approach is a good model for a global bioethics by virtue of its ability to mediate successfully between universal demands and cultural diversity. The principle of autonomy (i.e., the idea of individual informed consent), however, does need to be revised so as to make it compatible with alternatives such as family- or community-informed consent. The upshot is that the contribution of the four-principles approach to global ethics lies in the so-called dialectical process and its power to deal with cross-cultural issues against the background of universal demands by joining them together.

Global Studies: Hurdles to Program Development

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Patricia J.; Masters, Paul E.; Goolsby, Amy

2004-01-01

In this article, we examine a new global studies program that departs from the traditional state-centric approach and uses a geocentric, or earth-centered, approach that emphasizes the roles of individuals, grassroots organizations, cultural groups, and international organizations in an attempt to help students conceptualize global events and…

Premises and solutions regarding a global approach of gaseous pollutants emissions from the fossil fuel power plants in Romania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tutuianu, O.; Fulger, E.D.; Vieru, A.; Feher, M.

1996-01-01

This paper deals with the present state of RENEL (Romanian Electricity Authority) - controlled thermal power plants from the point of view of technical aspects, utilized fuels and pollutant emissions. National and international regulations are also analyzed as well as their implications concerning the management of pollutant atmospheric emissions of the plants of RENEL. Starting from these premises the paper points out the advantage of global approach of pollution problems and offers solutions already implemented by RENEL. This global approach will result in an optimization of costs implied in pollutant emission limitations as the most efficient solution were found and applied. Having in view this treatment of the pollution problems, RENEL has submitted to the Ministry of the Industries and to the Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection a 'Convention on the limitation of CO 2 , SO 2 and NO x emissions produced in the thermal power plants of RENEL'. (author)

The Global Approach to Quantum Field Theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Folacci, Antoine; Jensen, Bruce

2003-01-01

Thanks to its impressive success in the second half of the 20th century, both in high-energy physics and in critical phenomena, quantum field theory has enjoyed an abundant literature. We therefore greet yet another book on this subject with caution: what can a monograph on quantum field theory bring now that is new, either conceptually or pedagogically? But when it is written by a physicist such as Bryce DeWitt, who has made his own contribution to the collection of field theory books with The Global Approach to Quantum Field Theory, all suspicion is naturally abandoned. DeWitt has made a formidable contribution to various areas of physics: general relativity, the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and most of all the quantization of non-Abelian gauge theories and quantum gravity. In addition, his pedagogical publications, especially the Les Houches schools of 1963 and 1983, have had a great impact on quantum field theory. We must begin by alerting the potential readers of this book that it cannot be compared to any other book in the field. This uniqueness applies to both the scientific content and the way the ideas are presented. For DeWitt, a central concept of field theory is that of 'space of histories'. For a field varphi i defined on a given spacetime M, the set of all varphi i (x) for all x in all charts of M defines its history. It is the space Phi of all possible histories (dynamically allowed or not) of the fields defined on M which is called the 'pace of histories' by DeWitt. If only bosonic fields are considered, the space of histories is an infinite-dimensional manifold and if fermionic fields are also present, it must be viewed as an infinite-dimensional supermanifold. The fields can then be regarded as coordinates on these structures, and the geometrical notions of differentiation, metric, connections, measure, as well as the geodesics which can be defined on it, are of fundamental importance in the development of the formalism of quantum field

Geoscience Meets Social Science: A Flexible Data Driven Approach for Developing High Resolution Population Datasets at Global Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, A.; McKee, J.; Weber, E.; Bhaduri, B. L.

2017-12-01

Leveraging decades of expertise in population modeling, and in response to growing demand for higher resolution population data, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now generating LandScan HD at global scale. LandScan HD is conceived as a 90m resolution population distribution where modeling is tailored to the unique geography and data conditions of individual countries or regions by combining social, cultural, physiographic, and other information with novel geocomputation methods. Similarities among these areas are exploited in order to leverage existing training data and machine learning algorithms to rapidly scale development. Drawing on ORNL's unique set of capabilities, LandScan HD adapts highly mature population modeling methods developed for LandScan Global and LandScan USA, settlement mapping research and production in high-performance computing (HPC) environments, land use and neighborhood mapping through image segmentation, and facility-specific population density models. Adopting a flexible methodology to accommodate different geographic areas, LandScan HD accounts for the availability, completeness, and level of detail of relevant ancillary data. Beyond core population and mapped settlement inputs, these factors determine the model complexity for an area, requiring that for any given area, a data-driven model could support either a simple top-down approach, a more detailed bottom-up approach, or a hybrid approach.

The Rise and Attenuation of the Basic Education Programme (BEP) in Botswana: A Global-Local Dialectic Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Tabulawa, Richard

2011-01-01

Using a global-local dialectic approach, this paper traces the rise of the basic education programme in the 1980s and 1990s in Botswana and its subsequent attenuation in the 2000s. Amongst the local forces that led to the rise of BEP were Botswana's political project of nation-building; the country's dire human resources situation in the decades…

Generation of real-time global ionospheric map based on the global GNSS stations with only a sparse distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zishen; Wang, Ningbo; Li, Min; Zhou, Kai; Yuan, Yunbin; Yuan, Hong

2017-04-01

The Earth's ionosphere is part of the atmosphere stretching from an altitude of about 50 km to more than 1000 km. When the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal emitted from a satellite travels through the ionosphere before reaches a receiver on or near the Earth surface, the GNSS signal is significantly delayed by the ionosphere and this delay bas been considered as one of the major errors in the GNSS measurement. The real-time global ionospheric map calculated from the real-time data obtained by global stations is an essential method for mitigating the ionospheric delay for real-time positioning. The generation of an accurate global ionospheric map generally depends on the global stations with dense distribution; however, the number of global stations that can produce the real-time data is very limited at present, which results that the generation of global ionospheric map with a high accuracy is very different when only using the current stations with real-time data. In view of this, a new approach is proposed for calculating the real-time global ionospheric map only based on the current stations with real-time data. This new approach is developed on the basis of the post-processing and the one-day predicted global ionospheric map from our research group. The performance of the proposed approach is tested by the current global stations with the real-time data and the test results are also compared with the IGS-released final global ionospheric map products.

OLD AND NEW ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

OpenAIRE

Elena MĂRGULESCU

2015-01-01

The retrospective of the theoretical approaches of the phenomenon of economic globalization in the last three decades emphasizes the movement of attention from the globalization of markets, from the'80s, to the globalization of production and services in the current decade. This trend is essentially the result of implementing new strategies by multinational and transnational companies. We try in this context to draw a line between the "globalization of markets" and the "globalization of produ...

A simple integrated assessment approach to global change simulation and evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Ogutu, Keroboto; D'Andrea, Fabio; Ghil, Michael

2016-04-01

We formulate and study the Coupled Climate-Economy-Biosphere (CoCEB) model, which constitutes the basis of our idealized integrated assessment approach to simulating and evaluating global change. CoCEB is composed of a physical climate module, based on Earth's energy balance, and an economy module that uses endogenous economic growth with physical and human capital accumulation. A biosphere model is likewise under study and will be coupled to the existing two modules. We concentrate on the interactions between the two subsystems: the effect of climate on the economy, via damage functions, and the effect of the economy on climate, via a control of the greenhouse gas emissions. Simple functional forms of the relation between the two subsystems permit simple interpretations of the coupled effects. The CoCEB model is used to make hypotheses on the long-term effect of investment in emission abatement, and on the comparative efficacy of different approaches to abatement, in particular by investing in low carbon technology, in deforestation reduction or in carbon capture and storage (CCS). The CoCEB model is very flexible and transparent, and it allows one to easily formulate and compare different functional representations of climate change mitigation policies. Using different mitigation measures and their cost estimates, as found in the literature, one is able to compare these measures in a coherent way.

Challenges to improvement of oral health in the 21st century--the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Poul Erik

2004-01-01

Chronic diseases and injuries are overtaking communicable diseases as the leading health problems in all but a few parts of the world. This rapidly changing global disease pattern is closely linked to changing lifestyles, which include diets rich in sugars, widespread use of tobacco and increased...... consumption of alcohol. These lifestyle factors also significantly impact on oral health, and oral diseases qualify as major public health problems owing to their high prevalence and incidence in all regions of the world. Like all diseases, they affect primarily the disadvantaged and socially marginalised...... of noncommunicable diseases and the 'common risk factor approach' offer new ways of managing the prevention and control of oral diseases. This document outlines the current oral health situation and development trends at global level as well as WHO strategies and approaches for better oral health in the 21 st...

Approaches to Building Global Strategic Deterrence System after 2021

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vitaliy V. Kabernik

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article studies prospective for transformation of the current global deterrence system in 21st century, paying special attention to the structures of treaties past 2021. After the mainstay arms control treaty (New START expiration development of the new system of treaties and agreements seems inevitable, quite possibly, on multilateral basis. The hypothesis stressing possibility of multilateral deterrence system for global stability is quite popular nowadays. Studying the dynamics of nuclear arms cuts and monitoring progress on New START treaty, we can see numerous positive effects. However, the nuclear modernization programs currently in progress or planned for the near future should be taken into account for future agreements. This is when geospatialanalysis is important, demonstrating effectively which states are deterring each other and for which ones this is simply impossible because of the available weapons delivery range. This analysis is performed for three possible candidates for future multilateral treaties: USA, Russia and China, mentioning Great Britain and France as well. Going further into geospatial analysis, strategic ABM factor is accounted and the role of global ABM is estimated for future treaties. Numerical estimates of nuclear potentials of third countries - incomparable to the current numbers in possession of two main nuclear powers - performed specifically. Based on the analysis provided we can effectively deny the possibility of multilateral agreements for future deterrence scenarios. However, some steps for involving third countries into the global process of nuclear regulations can be outlined. This includes a number of bilateral agreements for arms control in certain regions, specifically developed to form a system of treaties aimed for global tensions reduction moving towards a safer world in the 21st century.

Approaches to Building Global Strategic Deterrence System after 2021

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vitaliy V. Kabernik

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article studies prospective for transformation of the current global deterrence system in 21 century, paying special attention to the structures of treaties past 2021. After the mainstay arms control treaty (New START expiration development of the new system of treaties and agreements seems inevitable, quite possibly, on multilateral basis. The hypothesis stressing possibility of multilateral deterrence system for global stability is quite popular nowadays. Studying the dynamics of nuclear arms cuts and monitoring progress on New START treaty, we can see numerous positive effects. However, the nuclear modernization programs currently in progress or planned for the near future should be taken into account for future agreements. This is when geospatialanalysis is important, demonstrating effectively which states are deterring each other and for which ones this is simply impossible because of the available weapons delivery range. This analysis is performed for three possible candidates for future multilateral treaties: USA, Russia and China, mentioning Great Britain and France as well. Going further into geospatial analysis, strategic ABM factor is accounted and the role of global ABM is estimated for future treaties. Numerical estimates of nuclear potentials of third countries - incomparable to the current numbers in possession of two main nuclear powers - performed specifically. Based on the analysis provided we can effectively deny the possibility of multilateral agreements for future deterrence scenarios. However, some steps for involving third countries into the global process of nuclear regulations can be outlined. This includes a number of bilateral agreements for arms control in certain regions, specifically developed to form a system of treaties aimed for global tensions reduction moving towards a safer world in the 21st century.

Global Managers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barakat, Livia L.; Lorenz, Melanie P.; Ramsey, Jase R.

2016-01-01

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on the job performance of global managers. Design/methodology/approach: – In total, 332 global managers were surveyed from multinational companies operating in Brazil. The mediating effect of job...... satisfaction was tested on the CQ-job performance relationship. Findings: – The findings suggest that job satisfaction transmits the effect of CQ to job performance, such that global managers high in CQ exhibit more job satisfaction in an international setting, and therefore perform better at their jobs....... Practical implications: – Results imply that global managers should increase their CQ in order to improve their job satisfaction and ultimately perform better in an international context. Originality/value: – The authors make three primary contributions to the international business literature. First...

Salud y justicia global

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Puyol, Ángel

2010-12-01

Full Text Available A question that would have to worry more to the global justice is the huge inequality of health in the world. In this paper, I analyse the causes of the global inequality of health and the ethical arguments for and against the need to treat this inequality from the perspective of the global justice. After refusing the arguments against both of the libertarianism and the statism, and after showing the critics both to the approach to the language of human rights and to the poggean proposal to reduce the duties of global justice to negative moral duties, I defend the need to use a sufficiency approach to global justice based in positive moral duties to face the severity and the moral urgency of the global inequalities of health.

Una de las cuestiones que debería preocupar más a la teoría de la justicia global es la enorme desigualdad de salud que hay en el mundo. En este artículo, se repasan las causas de la desigualdad global de salud y los argumentos éticos a favor y en contra de la necesidad de tratar dicha desigualdad desde la perspectiva de la justicia global. Tras rechazar los argumentos en contra tanto del libertarismo de derechas como del estatalismo, y tras exponer las críticas tanto al lenguaje de los derechos humanos como a la propuesta poggeana de reducir los deberes de la justicia global a deberes morales negativos, defiendo la necesidad de partir de un criterio de justicia global suficientista y basado en los deberes morales positivos para afrontar la gravedad y la urgencia moral que suponen las desigualdades globales de salud.

Global approach to the n-dimensional traveling salesman problem: Application to the optimization of crystallographic data collection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weinrach, J.B.; Bennett, D.W.

1987-12-01

An algorithm for the optimization of data collection time has been written and a subsequent computer program tested for diffractometer systems. The program, which utilizes a global statistical approach to the traveling salesman problem, yields reasonable solutions in a relatively short time. The algorithm has been successful in treating very large data sets (up to 4000 points) in three dimensions with subsequent time savings of ca 30%.

A fully traits-based approach to modeling global vegetation distribution

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bodegom, van P.M.; Douma, J.C.; Verheijen, L.M.

2014-01-01

Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) are indispensable for our understanding of climate change impacts. The application of traits in DGVMs is increasingly refined. However, a comprehensive analysis of the direct impacts of trait variation on global vegetation distribution does not yet exist.

Multiple Approaches for Testing Novel Coatings in the Laboratory and in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with Emphasis on the Global, Problem-Fouling Invertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-25

Multiple Approaches for Testing Novel Coatings in the Laboratory and in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with Emphasis on the Global, Problem-Fouling Invertebrates 5a...on the Global, Problem-Fouling Invertebrates ONR AWARD NUMBER: N00014-11-1-0167 PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR: Michael G. Hadfield, Ph.D...luteoviolacea a phage tail-like component that is capable of inducing the metamorphosis of a marine invertebrate . However, our continued studies in the

Global modelling to predict timber production and prices: the GFPM approach

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph Buongiorno

2014-01-01

Timber production and prices are determined by the global demand for forest products, and the capability of producers from many countries to grow and harvest trees, transform them into products and export. The Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) simulates how this global demand and supply of multiple products among many countries determines prices and attendant...

Deterministic global optimization an introduction to the diagonal approach

CERN Document Server

Sergeyev, Yaroslav D

2017-01-01

This book begins with a concentrated introduction into deterministic global optimization and moves forward to present new original results from the authors who are well known experts in the field. Multiextremal continuous problems that have an unknown structure with Lipschitz objective functions and functions having the first Lipschitz derivatives defined over hyperintervals are examined. A class of algorithms using several Lipschitz constants is introduced which has its origins in the DIRECT (DIviding RECTangles) method. This new class is based on an efficient strategy that is applied for the search domain partitioning. In addition a survey on derivative free methods and methods using the first derivatives is given for both one-dimensional and multi-dimensional cases. Non-smooth and smooth minorants and acceleration techniques that can speed up several classes of global optimization methods with examples of applications and problems arising in numerical testing of global optimization algorithms are discussed...

Tractographie globale sous contraintes anatomiques

OpenAIRE

Teillac , Achille

2017-01-01

This work aims at developing a method inferring white matter fibers reconstructed using a global spin-glass approach constrained by anatomical prior knowledge. Unlike usual methods building fibers independently from one another, our markovian approach reconstructs the whole tractogram in an unique process by minimizing the global energy depending on the spin glass configuration (position, orientation, length and connection(s)) and the match with the local diffusion process in order to increas...

Global Account Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hollensen, Svend; Wulff, Vlad Stefan

2012-01-01

Global account management (GAM) has become a critical issue for many multinational corporations that compete in a fast changing global market environment. In this article, we approach GAM from a benchlearning perspective, synthesize selected literature and examine case studies in order to underline...... the importance of multilevel relationships in strategic business-to-business relationships. The purpose of this study is to address various issues related to multilevel relationships in strategic partnerships (e.g. the recruitment of the global account manager and his supporting team, turf wars and compensation...

Translation as (Global) Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Horner, Bruce; Tetreault, Laura

2016-01-01

This article explores translation as a useful point of departure and framework for taking a translingual approach to writing engaging globalization. Globalization and the knowledge economy are putting renewed emphasis on translation as a key site of contest between a dominant language ideology of monolingualism aligned with fast capitalist…

Interactions between global processes and local health problems. A human ecology approach to health among indigenous groups in the Amazon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maj-Lis Follér

Full Text Available This article deals with methodological issues and how to link global processes - social and ecological - with environmental changes and human health in local communities. The discussion concerns how interdisciplinary approaches can help us find tools to develop new knowledge. Scientific knowledge and local knowledge are not seen as opposite epistemological forms, but as socially and culturally constructed. Power and social legitimacy have to be included when analyzing how to deal with the interaction between global processes and local environmental change and the health/disease interface.

Globalization and Income Inequality Revisited

OpenAIRE

Dorn, Florian; Fuest, Clemens; Potrafke, Niklas

2018-01-01

This paper re-examines the link between globalization and income inequality. We use data for 140 countries over the period 1970-2014 and employ an IV approach to deal with the endogeneity of globalization measures. We find that the link between globalization and income inequality differs across different groups of countries. There is a robust positive relationship between globalization and inequality in the transition countries including China and most countries of Middle and Eastern Europe. ...

Improving Sustainability in Global Supply Chains with Private Certification Standards: Testing An Approach for Assessing Their Performance and Impact Potential

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vermeulen, Walter; Metselaar, Janneke

Sustainable supply chain governance approaches aim for improvement of environmental and community living conditions at the developing country's side of the global supply chains. Impact evaluation in remote and multiple sourcing countries is hardly done in practice because of its complexity and

Dynamic ocean provinces: a multi-sensor approach to global marine ecophysiology

Science.gov (United States)

Dowell, M.; Campbell, J.; Moore, T.

The concept of oceanic provinces or domains has existed for well over a century. Such systems, whether real or only conceptual, provide a useful framework for understanding the mechanisms controlling biological, physical and chemical processes and their interactions. Criteria have been established for defining provinces based on physical forcings, availability of light and nutrients, complexity of the marine food web, and other factors. In general, such classification systems reflect the heterogeneous nature of the ocean environment, and the effort of scientists to comprehend the whole system by understanding its various homogeneous components. If provinces are defined strictly on the basis of geospatial or temporal criteria (e.g., latitude zones, bathymetry, or season), the resulting maps exhibit discontinuities that are uncharacteristic of the ocean. While this may be useful for many purposes, it is unsatisfactory in that it does not capture the dynamic nature of fluid boundaries in the ocean. Boundaries fixed in time and space do not allow us to observe interannual or longer-term variability (e.g., regime shifts) that may result from climate change. The current study illustrates the potential of using fuzzy logic as a means of classifying the ocean into objectively defined provinces using properties measurable from satellite sensors (MODIS and SeaWiFS). This approach accommodates the dynamic variability of provinces which can be updated as each image is processed. We adopt this classification as the basis for parameterizing specific algorithms for each of the classes. Once the class specific algorithms have been applied, retrievals are then recomposed into a single blended product based on the "weighted" fuzzy memberships. This will be demonstrated through animations of multi-year time- series of monthly composites of the individual classes or provinces. The provinces themselves are identified on the basis of global fields of chlorophyll, sea surface temperature

Parameter extraction using global particle swarm optimization approach and the influence of polymer processing temperature on the solar cell parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, S.; Singh, A.; Dhar, A.

2017-08-01

The accurate estimation of the photovoltaic parameters is fundamental to gain an insight of the physical processes occurring inside a photovoltaic device and thereby to optimize its design, fabrication processes, and quality. A simulative approach of accurately determining the device parameters is crucial for cell array and module simulation when applied in practical on-field applications. In this work, we have developed a global particle swarm optimization (GPSO) approach to estimate the different solar cell parameters viz., ideality factor (η), short circuit current (Isc), open circuit voltage (Voc), shunt resistant (Rsh), and series resistance (Rs) with wide a search range of over ±100 % for each model parameter. After validating the accurateness and global search power of the proposed approach with synthetic and noisy data, we applied the technique to the extract the PV parameters of ZnO/PCDTBT based hybrid solar cells (HSCs) prepared under different annealing conditions. Further, we examine the variation of extracted model parameters to unveil the physical processes occurring when different annealing temperatures are employed during the device fabrication and establish the role of improved charge transport in polymer films from independent FET measurements. The evolution of surface morphology, optical absorption, and chemical compositional behaviour of PCDTBT co-polymer films as a function of processing temperature has also been captured in the study and correlated with the findings from the PV parameters extracted using GPSO approach.

A Fit-For-Purpose approach to Land Administration in Africa in support of the new 2030 Global Agenda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enemark, Stig

2017-01-01

on legacy approaches, have been fragmented and have not delivered the required pervasive changes and improvements at scale. The solutions have not helped the most needy - the poor and disadvantaged that have no security of tenure. In fact the beneficiaries have often been the elite and organizations...... involved in land grabbing. It is time to rethink the approaches. New solutions are required that can deliver security of tenure for all, are affordable and can be quickly developed and incrementally improved over time. The Fit-For-Purpose (FFP) approach to land administration has emerged to meet...... administration systems is the only viable solution to solving the global security of tenure divide. The FFP approach is flexible and includes the adaptability to meet the actual and basic needs of society today and having the capability to be incrementally improved over time. This will be triggered in response...

Parasail: SIMD C library for global, semi-global, and local pairwise sequence alignments.

Science.gov (United States)

Daily, Jeff

2016-02-10

Sequence alignment algorithms are a key component of many bioinformatics applications. Though various fast Smith-Waterman local sequence alignment implementations have been developed for x86 CPUs, most are embedded into larger database search tools. In addition, fast implementations of Needleman-Wunsch global sequence alignment and its semi-global variants are not as widespread. This article presents the first software library for local, global, and semi-global pairwise intra-sequence alignments and improves the performance of previous intra-sequence implementations. A faster intra-sequence local pairwise alignment implementation is described and benchmarked, including new global and semi-global variants. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 136 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS) was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon E5-2670 24-core processor system, the highest reported for an implementation based on Farrar's 'striped' approach. Rognes's SWIPE optimal database search application is still generally the fastest available at 1.2 to at best 2.4 times faster than Parasail for sequences shorter than 500 amino acids. However, Parasail was faster for longer sequences. For global alignments, Parasail's prefix scan implementation is generally the fastest, faster even than Farrar's 'striped' approach, however the opal library is faster for single-threaded applications. The software library is designed for 64 bit Linux, OS X, or Windows on processors with SSE2, SSE41, or AVX2. Source code is available from https://github.com/jeffdaily/parasail under the Battelle BSD-style license. Applications that require optimal alignment scores could benefit from the improved performance. For the first time, SIMD global, semi-global, and local alignments are available in a stand-alone C library.

Toward a Global Sociology of Religion

Science.gov (United States)

Parvez, Z. Fareen

2017-01-01

This article offers an example of a global approach to teaching the sociology of religion, a course that typically focuses on American religious phenomena. It builds on three interventions in the movement for a global sociology: connecting the local and global, moving beyond methodological nationalism, and developing an ethical orientation toward…

The Complexity of the Implications of Globalization in the Context of the Current Global Economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raluca Ionela CREŢOIU

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Globalization represents a controversial phenomenon both because of its complexity and because of the various implications it has on the global economy. Globalization will act simultaneously on many levels, its effects being correlated with the diversity of the angles from which this phenomenon can be approached from – economic, social, politic, cultural, philosophic etc. The article represents an incursion into the issue regarding the implications and effects of globalization grouped in several areas of analysis such as the disappearance of borders, the effects on culture, the effects on the education, the impact on labour market impact and the phenomenon of immigration, the effects of globalization in the context of the food crisis underdevelopment and poverty. To complete the analysis that points out enough elements considered to be negative, at the end of the article, there are also approached the development opportunities that globalization can offer in terms of boosting the economic exchanges, the exchange of genuine cultural values and ensuring a transfer of information at a global scale, so necessary for the scientific and technological progress.  The conclusions of the article weighs the many aspects highlighted, both negative and positive, and suggests a series of useful research directions in order to fathom the complex features of this concept so controversial – globalization.

Developing Global Transformational Leaders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramsey, Jase R.; Rutti, Raina M.; Lorenz, Melanie P.

2016-01-01

Despite significant increases in training and development of global managers, little is known about the precursors of transformational leadership in Multilatinas. While prior cross-cultural literature suggests that being an autocratic leader is ideal in Multilatinas, using transformational...... leadership theory, we argue that global leaders of Multilatinas embrace a more humanistic approach to leadership because of the importance of relationships between leaders and their followers. Additionally, we argue that global leaders with high levels of cultural intelligence will have high levels...

Evaluating the effects of terrestrial ecosystems, climate and carbon dioxide on weathering over geological time: a global-scale process-based approach

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Lyla L.; Banwart, Steve A.; Valdes, Paul J.; Leake, Jonathan R.; Beerling, David J.

2012-01-01

Global weathering of calcium and magnesium silicate rocks provides the long-term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on a timescale of millions of years by causing precipitation of calcium carbonates on the seafloor. Catchment-scale field studies consistently indicate that vegetation increases silicate rock weathering, but incorporating the effects of trees and fungal symbionts into geochemical carbon cycle models has relied upon simple empirical scaling functions. Here, we describe the development and application of a process-based approach to deriving quantitative estimates of weathering by plant roots, associated symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi and climate. Our approach accounts for the influence of terrestrial primary productivity via nutrient uptake on soil chemistry and mineral weathering, driven by simulations using a dynamic global vegetation model coupled to an ocean–atmosphere general circulation model of the Earth's climate. The strategy is successfully validated against observations of weathering in watersheds around the world, indicating that it may have some utility when extrapolated into the past. When applied to a suite of six global simulations from 215 to 50 Ma, we find significantly larger effects over the past 220 Myr relative to the present day. Vegetation and mycorrhizal fungi enhanced climate-driven weathering by a factor of up to 2. Overall, we demonstrate a more realistic process-based treatment of plant fungal–geosphere interactions at the global scale, which constitutes a first step towards developing ‘next-generation’ geochemical models. PMID:22232768

Space Applications and Global Information Infrastructure: a Global Approach against Epidemics

Science.gov (United States)

Bastos, C. R.

2002-01-01

Brazilian space expenditures correspond to a low-middle rank among the space-faring nations. In this regard, international partnerships have opened doors for the country to take part in a wider range of projects than it would be possible if carried out on its own. Within the above framework, this paper will address a concept in which countries join efforts in pursuit of common objectives and needs in the field of health, countries whose similarities tend to make them face the same types of health problems. Exactly for this reason, such countries can get together and share the costs, risks and ultimately the benefits of their joint efforts. Infectious diseases are mankind's leading causes of death. And their agents travel around the world by the action of their vectors: insects, birds, winds, infected individuals, and others. The ways how Global Information Infrastructure and Space applications can be very helpful in the detection, identification, tracking and fighting migratory diseases will then be discussed. A concept for an international cooperative initiative is presented, addressing its composition, its implementation, the international coordination requirements, the financial and funding issues related to its implementation and sustainability, and the roles to be played by such an organization. The funding issue deserves a closer attention, since many good ideas are killed by financial problems in their early implementation stages. Finally, a conclusion drives the audience's attention towards the potential advantages of space-based assets in covering large portions of the Earth, and consequently being suitable for global initiatives for the benefit of mankind.

Global chemical pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Travis, C.C.; Hester, S.T.

1991-01-01

Over the past decade, public and governmental awareness of environmental problems has grown steadily, with an accompanying increase in the regulation of point sources of pollution. As a result, great strides have been made in cleaning polluted rivers and decreasing air pollution near factories. However, traditional regulatory approaches to environmental pollution have focused primarily on protecting the maximally exposed individual located in the immediate vicinity of the pollution source. Little attention has been given to the global implications of human production and use of synthetic chemicals. A consensus is emerging that even trace levels of environmental contamination can have potentially devastating environmental consequences. The authors maintain that ambient levels of pollution have risen to the point where human health is being affected on a global scale. Atmospheric transport is recognized as the primary mode of global distribution and entry into the food chain for organic chemicals. The following are examples of global chemical pollutants that result in human exposure of significant proportions: PCBs, dioxins, benzene, mercury and lead. Current regulatory approaches for environmental pollution do not incorporate ways of dealing with global pollution. Instead the major focus has been on protecting the maximally exposed individual. If we do not want to change our standard of living, the only way to reduce global chemical pollution is to make production and consumption processes more efficient and to lower the levels of production of these toxic chemicals. Thus the only reasonable solution to global pollution is not increased regulation of isolated point sources, but rather an increased emphasis on waste reduction and materials recycling. Until we focus on these issues, we will continue to experience background cancer risk in the 10 -3 range

Managing global responsibility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saur, K. [Five Winds International, Donzdorf (Germany)

2004-07-01

The electronics industry in particular is a global industry. Local and regional solutions require a globally applicable product design and use global value chains. Operating in increasingly integrated material and product loops offers a unique solution to not only providing markets with compatible solutions, but also offer a chance to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of the industry. Product lifespan extension in emerging economies, utilization of local market needs, utilize available and affordable labour forces and creating wealth and capacity in developing countries may serve as a way to make industry more sustainable and successful. Both the supply side and the product end of life management need to be considered in this global industry. Intelligent solution support the dematerialization and material throughput and help creating markets and build wealth. Critical success factors include knowledge management, capacity building, developing infrastructure. This paper presents a discussion on a solutions oriented approach towards product life cycle management and stewardship combined with sustainable production and consumption considerations, support the industries aspirations and the UNEP Life Cycle Initiative's mission in a perfect manner. The aim of this paper is to offer approaches and develop ideas how economic viable and sustainable solutions can be developed. (orig.)

Global approach to the spectral problem of microinstabilities in tokamak plasmas using a gyrokinetic model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunner, S.

1997-08-01

Ion temperature gradient (ITG)-related instabilities are studied in tokamak-like plasmas with the help of a new global eigenvalue code. Ions are modelled in the frame of gyrokinetic theory so that finite Larmor radius effects of these particles are retained to all orders. Non-adiabatic trapped electron dynamics is taken into account through the bounce-averaged drift kinetic equation. Assuming electrostatic perturbations, the system is closed with the quasineutrality relation. Practical methods are presented which make this global approach feasible. These include a non-standard wave decomposition compatible with the curved geometry as well as adapting an efficient root finding algorithm for computing the unstable spectrum. These techniques are applied to a low pressure configuration given by a large aspect ratio torus with circular, concentric magnetic surfaces. Simulations from a linear, time evolution, particle in cell code provide a useful benchmark. Comparisons with local ballooning calculations for different parameter scans enable further validation while illustrating the limits of that representation at low toroidal wave numbers or for non-interchange-like instabilities. The stabilizing effect of negative magnetic shear is also considered, in which case the global results show not only an attenuation of the growth rate but also a reduction of the radial extent induced by a transition from the toroidal- to the slab-ITG mode. Contributions of trapped electrons to the ITG instability as well as the possible coupling to the trapped electron mode are clearly brought to the fore. (author) figs., tabs., 69 refs

A probabilistic approach to examine the impacts of mitigation policies on future global PM emissions from on-road vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, F.; Winijkul, E.; Bond, T. C.; Streets, D. G.

2012-12-01

There is deficiency in the determination of emission reduction potential in the future, especially with consideration of uncertainty. Mitigation measures for some economic sectors have been proposed, but few studies provide an evaluation of the amount of PM emission reduction that can be obtained in future years by different emission reduction strategies. We attribute the absence of helpful mitigation strategy analysis to limitations in the technical detail of future emission scenarios, which result in the inability to relate technological or regulatory intervention to emission changes. The purpose of this work is to provide a better understanding of the potential benefits of mitigation policies in addressing global and regional emissions. In this work, we introduce a probabilistic approach to explore the impacts of retrofit and scrappage on global PM emissions from on-road vehicles in the coming decades. This approach includes scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. A dynamic model of vehicle population linked to emission characteristics, SPEW-Trend, is used to estimate future emissions and make policy evaluations. Three basic questions will be answered in this work: (1) what contribution can these two programs make to improve global emissions in the future? (2) in which regions are such programs most and least effective in reducing emissions and what features of the vehicle fleet cause these results? (3) what is the level of confidence in the projected emission reductions, given uncertain parameters in describing the dynamic vehicle fleet?

Moral Education in an Age of Globalization

Science.gov (United States)

Noddings, Nel

2010-01-01

Care theory is used to describe an approach to global ethics and moral education. After a brief introduction to care ethics, the theory is applied to global ethics. The paper concludes with a discussion of moral education for personal, political, and global domains.

Global anomalies in chiral lattice gauge theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baer, O.

2000-07-01

We study global anomalies in a new approach to chiral gauge theories on the lattice, which is based on the Ginsparg-Wilson relation. In this approach, global anomalies make it impossible to define consistently a fermionic measure for the functional integral. We show that a global anomaly occurs in an SU(2) theory if the fundamental representation is used for the fermion fields. The generalization to higher representations is also discussed. In addition we establish a close relation between global anomalies and the spectral flow of the Dirac operator and employ it in a numerical computation to prove the existence of the global SU(2) anomaly in a different way. This method is inspired by an earlier work of Witten who first discovered this type of anomalies in continuum field theory. (orig.)

Analyzing Personal Happiness from Global Survey and Weather Data: A Geospatial Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Yi-Fan; Tang, Jia-Hong; Fu, Yang-chih; Fan, I-chun; Hor, Maw-Kae; Chan, Ta-Chien

2016-01-01

Past studies have shown that personal subjective happiness is associated with various macro- and micro-level background factors, including environmental conditions, such as weather and the economic situation, and personal health behaviors, such as smoking and exercise. We contribute to this literature of happiness studies by using a geospatial approach to examine both macro and micro links to personal happiness. Our geospatial approach incorporates two major global datasets: representative national survey data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and corresponding world weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). After processing and filtering 55,081 records of ISSP 2011 survey data from 32 countries, we extracted 5,420 records from China and 25,441 records from 28 other countries. Sensitivity analyses of different intervals for average weather variables showed that macro-level conditions, including temperature, wind speed, elevation, and GDP, are positively correlated with happiness. To distinguish the effects of weather conditions on happiness in different seasons, we also adopted climate zone and seasonal variables. The micro-level analysis indicated that better health status and eating more vegetables or fruits are highly associated with happiness. Never engaging in physical activity appears to make people less happy. The findings suggest that weather conditions, economic situations, and personal health behaviors are all correlated with levels of happiness.

Global safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorien J. DeTombe

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Global Safety is a container concept referring to various threats such as HIV/Aids, floods and terrorism; threats with different causes and different effects. These dangers threaten people, the global economy and the slity of states. Policy making for this kind of threats often lack an overview of the real causes and the interventions are based on a too shallow analysis of the problem, mono-disciplinary and focus mostly only on the effects. It would be more appropriate to develop policy related to these issues by utilizing the approaches, methods and tools that have been developed for complex societal problems. Handling these complex societal problems should be done multidisciplinary instead of mono-disciplinary. In order to give politicians the opportunity to handle complex problems multidisciplinary, multidisciplinary research institutes should be created. These multidisciplinary research institutes would provide politicians with better approaches to handle this type of problem. In these institutes the knowledge necessary for the change of these problems can be created through the use of the Compram methodology which has been developed specifically for handling complex societal problems. In a six step approach, experts, actors and policymakers discuss the content of the problem and the possible changes. The framework method uses interviewing, the Group Decision Room, simulation models and scenario's in a cooperative way. The methodology emphasizes the exchange of knowledge and understanding by communication among and between the experts, actors and politicians meanwhile keeping emotion in mind. The Compram methodology will be further explained in relation to global safety in regard to terrorism, economy, health care and agriculture.

Estimating a planetary magnetic field with time-dependent global MHD simulations using an adjoint approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Nabert

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The interaction of the solar wind with a planetary magnetic field causes electrical currents that modify the magnetic field distribution around the planet. We present an approach to estimating the planetary magnetic field from in situ spacecraft data using a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD simulation approach. The method is developed with respect to the upcoming BepiColombo mission to planet Mercury aimed at determining the planet's magnetic field and its interior electrical conductivity distribution. In contrast to the widely used empirical models, global MHD simulations allow the calculation of the strongly time-dependent interaction process of the solar wind with the planet. As a first approach, we use a simple MHD simulation code that includes time-dependent solar wind and magnetic field parameters. The planetary parameters are estimated by minimizing the misfit of spacecraft data and simulation results with a gradient-based optimization. As the calculation of gradients with respect to many parameters is usually very time-consuming, we investigate the application of an adjoint MHD model. This adjoint MHD model is generated by an automatic differentiation tool to compute the gradients efficiently. The computational cost for determining the gradient with an adjoint approach is nearly independent of the number of parameters. Our method is validated by application to THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms magnetosheath data to estimate Earth's dipole moment.

An online education approach to population health in a global society.

Science.gov (United States)

Utley-Smith, Queen

2017-07-01

Health professions education content must keep pace with the ever-evolving and changing health care system. Population-based health care is advocated as a way to improve health outcomes, particularly in a technologically advanced health system like the United States. At the same time, global health knowledge is increasingly valued in health professions education, including nursing. This article describes the design and implementation of an online population health course with a global viewpoint intended to accommodate the need for improved knowledge and skill application for graduate nurses. Attention was also given to faculty efficiency during the process of design and implementation. This population-global health course was piloted in a renovated master's curriculum for two semesters. Administering a Course Improvement Survey after initial course offerings assisted faculty to assess and target essential course changes. Data were collected from 106 registered nurse graduate students. Population and global health course objectives were met and students identified areas for course enhancement. Students (90%-94%) reported achieving increased knowledge of population health and global health. Like other creative works, the first rendition of a course requires pedagogical adjustments and editing. Formal student input, when built into the design and implementation of a course can assist faculty to be efficient when crafting essential course changes for subsequent semesters. Data from the survey showed that major population and global subject matter was being grasped by students, the data also revealed that tweaking specific online strategies like making all course content mobile would enhance the course. The course development process and course improvement evaluation for this Population Health in a Global Society course proved valuable in the education of nurses, and helped maintain faculty work efficiency. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Globalization, Justice, and Communication : A Critical Study of Global Ethics

OpenAIRE

Ehnberg, Jenny

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to seek to an answer to the question of what constitutes a tenable model for global ethics. This is done in part by a critical engagement with four different models of global ethics; two proposals from political philosophy and two contributions from theological ethics. The models analyzed in the study are: (1) the capabilities approach as developed by Martha Nussbaum, (2) Seyla Benhabib’s discourse ethics and model of cosmopolitan federalism, (3) David Hollenbach’...

Global action networks: agents for collective action

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glasbergen, P.

2010-01-01

Global action networks (GANs) are civil society initiated multi-stakeholder arrangements that aim to fulfill a leadership role for systemic change in global governance for sustainable development. The paper develops a network approach to study some of these GANs as motivators of global collective

The Global Public Health Intelligence Network and early warning outbreak detection: a Canadian contribution to global public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Mykhalovskiy, Eric; Weir, Lorna

2006-01-01

The recent SARS epidemic has renewed widespread concerns about the global transmission of infectious diseases. In this commentary, we explore novel approaches to global infectious disease surveillance through a focus on an important Canadian contribution to the area--the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN). GPHIN is a cutting-edge initiative that draws on the capacity of the Internet and newly available 24/7 global news coverage of health events to create a unique form of early warning outbreak detection. This commentary outlines the operation and development of GPHIN and compares it to ProMED-mail, another Internet-based approach to global health surveillance. We argue that GPHIN has created an important shift in the relationship of public health and news information. By exiting the pyramid of official reporting, GPHIN has created a new monitoring technique that has disrupted national boundaries of outbreak notification, while creating new possibilities for global outbreak response. By incorporating news within the emerging apparatus of global infectious disease surveillance, GPHIN has effectively responded to the global media's challenge to official country reporting of outbreak and enhanced the effectiveness and credibility of international public health.

Going global?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fejerskov, Adam Moe; Rasmussen, Christel

2016-01-01

occurred at a more micro level. This article explores this issue by studying the international activities of Danish foundations. It finds that grant-making on global issues is increasing, and that several foundations have undergone transformations in their approach to grantmaking, making them surprisingly...

Global energy supply the day before yesterday, the day after tomorrow, today, tomorrow - a qualitative modeling approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrmann, D.

2004-01-01

Current developments, and peak world market price levels, of oil, which add to the prices also of natural gas and other energy resources, give rise to the question whether there is any reason to expect fundamental changes and trend reversals in energy prices and on energy markets on a medium to long term basis. Attempts to find answers to such questions about the future can be helped by looking back into the more than three hundred years of global history of the development of modern industrial-sale power supply. Over that period of time, there have always been changes of boundary conditions and reversals of trends, respectively; step by step, by trial and error, a structural change has evolved from the use mainly of renewable energy resources to the primary use of fossil fuels supplemented by nuclear power. A model is presented which is able not only to describe and explain in a consistent and plausible way the global qualitative development of industrial-scale energy supply over the three different development periods, as far as contents go, between 1700 and 2100, but also allows higher resolution to be achieved in terms both of contents and time. The modeling approach is applied to the entire era of energy supply on an industrial scale, and should be seen as a representation of the specific perspective in this approach for further discussion. (orig.)

Global detection approach for clustered microcalcifications in mammograms using a deep learning network.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Juan; Nishikawa, Robert M; Yang, Yongyi

2017-04-01

In computerized detection of clustered microcalcifications (MCs) from mammograms, the traditional approach is to apply a pattern detector to locate the presence of individual MCs, which are subsequently grouped into clusters. Such an approach is often susceptible to the occurrence of false positives (FPs) caused by local image patterns that resemble MCs. We investigate the feasibility of a direct detection approach to determining whether an image region contains clustered MCs or not. Toward this goal, we develop a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) as the classifier model to which the input consists of a large image window ([Formula: see text] in size). The multiple layers in the CNN classifier are trained to automatically extract image features relevant to MCs at different spatial scales. In the experiments, we demonstrated this approach on a dataset consisting of both screen-film mammograms and full-field digital mammograms. We evaluated the detection performance both on classifying image regions of clustered MCs using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and on detecting clustered MCs from full mammograms by a free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis. For comparison, we also considered a recently developed MC detector with FP suppression. In classifying image regions of clustered MCs, the CNN classifier achieved 0.971 in the area under the ROC curve, compared to 0.944 for the MC detector. In detecting clustered MCs from full mammograms, at 90% sensitivity, the CNN classifier obtained an FP rate of 0.69 clusters/image, compared to 1.17 clusters/image by the MC detector. These results indicate that using global image features can be more effective in discriminating clustered MCs from FPs caused by various sources, such as linear structures, thereby providing a more accurate detection of clustered MCs on mammograms.

How the public engages with global warming: A social representations approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Nicholas; Joffe, Helene

2013-01-01

The present study utilises social representations theory to explore common sense conceptualisations of global warming risk using an in-depth, qualitative methodology. Fifty-six members of a British, London-based 2008 public were initially asked to draw or write four spontaneous "first thoughts or feelings" about global warming. These were then explored via an open-ended, exploratory interview. The analysis revealed that first thoughts, either drawn or written, often mirrored the images used by the British press to depict global warming visually. Thus in terms of media framings, it was their visual rather than their textual content that was spontaneously available for their audiences. Furthermore, an in-depth exploration of interview data revealed that global warming was structured around three themata: self/other, natural/unnatural and certainty/uncertainty, reflecting the complex and often contradictory nature of common sense thinking in relation to risk issues.

Historical approach of contemporary understanding of school in globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Parlić-Božović Jasna Lj.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Intercultural education respects and promotes diversity in all areas of human life. This phenomenon indicates that people naturally and spontaneously develop different lifestyles, different customs and worldviews. These differences need to be considered as a wealth of life. When we talk about education, and school as a narrow concept, in which the differences are usually promoted, we have a vision of a community that provides equal opportunities, opposes injustice and discrimination, and strives for the values which equality is being built on. Especially, this phenomenon is being pointed out in our conditions, when we are still adapting to the reforms of globalization. In the Contemporary World, promoting the democracy becomes a key goal of education, as well as the whole society. Therefore, in the education system it should be taken into account the multicultural character of the society that tends to actively contribute to a peaceful coexistence and positive interaction between different cultural groups. Traditionally, in this sense, there are two approaches in education: multi­cultural education that strives to provide the acceptance and tolerance of other cultures through learning about them. On the other side, we have the intercultural education that aims to overcome the passive coexistence and achieve developed and sustainable way of living together in a multicultural society. This is achieved through the construcive process of understanding, mutual respect and dialogue among groups of different cultures, then, ensuring equal opportunities and combating discrimination.

THE THEORETICAL AND METHODICAL APPROACH TO AN ASSESSMENT OF A LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENTERPRISE IN CONDITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Shved

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The subject of this article is theoretical, methodical and practical aspects of enterprise development in conditions of globalization. The purpose of this research is to provide theoretical and methodical approach to an assessment of a level of development of the enterprise, which is based on the relationship between the factors and influence, illustrating the effect of the internal and external environment of enterprises functioning, and indicates the level of development of the enterprise. Methodology. Theoretical basis of the study was the examination and rethinking of the main achievements of world and domestic science on the development of enterprises. To achieve the objectives of the research following methods were used: systemic and structural analysis for the formation of methodical approaches to the selection of the factors, influencing the development of enterprises; abstract and logical – for the formulation of conclusions and proposals; the method of valuation and expert assessments to the implementation of the proposed theoretical and methodical approach to an assessment of a level of development of the enterprise in conditions of globalization. Results of the research is the proposed theoretical and methodical to an assessment of a level of development of the enterprise in conditions of globalization, which is associated with the idea of development of the enterprise as a system with inputs–factors, influencing on the development , and outputs – indicators of the level of enterprise development within these factors. So, the chosen factors – resources, financial-economic activity, innovation and investment activities, competition, government influence, and foreign trade. Indicators that express these factors, are capital productivity, labour productivity, material efficiency within the first factor; the profitability of the activity, the coefficient of current assets, the total liquidity coefficient, financial stability

Security Components of Globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florin Iftode

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is our intention to present what are the main connections between globalization and international security. In terms of global security we can perceive the globalization as a process by which global state is represented by the UN, with a single world system, represented by major security organizations and with global effects. We will present from the beginning the main theoretical aspects that define the phenomenon of globalization, and then our contribution in assessing the implications of this phenomenon on the regional and global security. The results of our research are materialized in the last part of the paper. They emphasize the personal assessments on how the phenomenon of globalization has direct effect on global security. When talking about government, we think of norms, rules and decisionmaking procedures in the management of international life. The value that we add to the new scientific interpretation of the definition of globalization is represented, primarily, by the valuable bibliographic used resources and the original approach on the concept that refers to the links between globalization and security. This article may be, at any time, a starting point in an interesting research direction in the field of global security.

GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics: A component of the US Global Change Research Program

Science.gov (United States)

1991-01-01

GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research initiative proposed by the oceanographic and fisheries communities to address the question of how changes in global environment are expected to affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea. The approach to this problem is to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that determine both the abundance of key marine animal populations and their variances in space and time. The assumption is that the physical environment is a major contributor to patterns of abundance and production of marine animals, in large part because the planktonic life stages typical of most marine animals are intrinsically at the mercy of the fluid motions of the medium in which they live. Consequently, the authors reason that a logical approach to predicting the potential impact of a globally changing environment is to understand how the physical environment, both directly and indirectly, contributes to animal abundance and its variability in marine ecosystems. The plans for this coordinated study of of the potential impact of global change on ocean ecosystems dynamics are discussed.

Views from the Global South: exploring how student volunteers from the Global North can achieve sustainable impact in global health.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouma, Brian D O; Dimaras, Helen

2013-07-26

The body of research and practice regarding student volunteer abroad experiences largely focuses on ensuring the optimal learning experience for the student from the Global North, without equivalent attention to the benefits, if any, to the host institution in the Global South. In this debate article, we examine an often overlooked component of global student volunteer programs: the views of the local partner on what makes for a mutually beneficial partnership between volunteers from the Global North and institutions in the Global South. To guide our discussion, we drew upon the experiences of a Kenyan NGO with a Canadian student volunteer in the summer of 2012, organized via a formalized partnership with a Canadian university. We found that the approach of the NGO to hosting the student mirrored the organizational behaviour theories of Margaret J. Wheatley, who emphasized a disorderly or 'chaotic' approach to acquiring impactful change, coupled with a focus on building solid human relationships. Rather than following a set of rigid goals or tasks, the student was encouraged to critically engage and participate in all aspects of the culture of the organization and country, to naturally discover an area where his priorities aligned with the needs of the NGO. Solid networks and interpersonal connections resulted in a process useful for the organization long after the student's short-term placement ended. Our discussion reveals key features of successful academic volunteer abroad placements: equal partnership in the design phase between organizations in the Global North and Global South; the absence of rigid structures or preplanned tasks during the student's placement; participatory observation and critical engagement of the student volunteer; and a willingness of the partners to measure impact by the resultant process instead of tangible outcomes.

Globalization and its methodological discontents: Contextualizing globalization through the study of HIV/AIDS

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

There remains considerable discontent between globalization scholars about how to conceptualize its meaning and in regards to epistemological and methodological questions concerning how we can come to understand how these processes ultimately operate, intersect and transform our lives. This article argues that to better understand what globalization is and how it affects issues such as global health, we must take a differentiating approach, which focuses on how the multiple processes of globalization are encountered and informed by different social groups and with how these encounters are experienced within particular contexts. The article examines the heuristic properties of qualitative field research as a means to help better understand how the intersections of globalization are manifested within particular locations. To do so, the article focuses on three recent case studies conducted on globalization and HIV/AIDS and explores how these cases can help us to understand the contextual permutations involved within the processes of globalization. PMID:21861895

Globalization and its methodological discontents: Contextualizing globalization through the study of HIV/AIDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Labonté Ronald

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract There remains considerable discontent between globalization scholars about how to conceptualize its meaning and in regards to epistemological and methodological questions concerning how we can come to understand how these processes ultimately operate, intersect and transform our lives. This article argues that to better understand what globalization is and how it affects issues such as global health, we must take a differentiating approach, which focuses on how the multiple processes of globalization are encountered and informed by different social groups and with how these encounters are experienced within particular contexts. The article examines the heuristic properties of qualitative field research as a means to help better understand how the intersections of globalization are manifested within particular locations. To do so, the article focuses on three recent case studies conducted on globalization and HIV/AIDS and explores how these cases can help us to understand the contextual permutations involved within the processes of globalization.

Cultivating Global Competencies in Costa Rica: One Community College's Innovative Approach to Taking Early Childhood Education Global

Science.gov (United States)

Delafield, Julia

2018-01-01

Giving an immersive global experience to preservice early childhood educators lays the foundation for building their global competencies and thereby helping them provide their own students with 21st century skills.

The Flickering Global City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric Slater

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This article explores new dimensions of the global city in light of the correlation between hegemonic transition and the prominence of financial centers. It counterposes Braudel’s historical sequence of dominant cities to extant approaches in the literature, shifting the emphasis from a convergence of form and function to variations in history and structure. The marked increase of finance in the composition of London, New York and Tokyo has paralleled each city’s occupation of a distinct niche in world financial markets: London is the principal center of currency exchange, New York is the primary equities market, and Tokyo is the leader in international banking. This division expresses the progression of world-economies since the nineteenth century and unfolds in the context of the present hegemonic transition. By combining world-historical and city-centered approaches, the article seeks to reframe the global city and overcome the limits inherent in the paradigm of globalization.

Automatic identification approach for high-performance liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring fatty acid global profiling.

Science.gov (United States)

Tie, Cai; Hu, Ting; Jia, Zhi-Xin; Zhang, Jin-Lan

2015-08-18

Fatty acids (FAs) are a group of lipid molecules that are essential to organisms. As potential biomarkers for different diseases, FAs have attracted increasing attention from both biological researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. A sensitive and accurate method for globally profiling and identifying FAs is required for biomarker discovery. The high selectivity and sensitivity of high-performance liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring (HPLC-MRM) gives it great potential to fulfill the need to identify FAs from complicated matrices. This paper developed a new approach for global FA profiling and identification for HPLC-MRM FA data mining. Mathematical models for identifying FAs were simulated using the isotope-induced retention time (RT) shift (IRS) and peak area ratios between parallel isotope peaks for a series of FA standards. The FA structures were predicated using another model based on the RT and molecular weight. Fully automated FA identification software was coded using the Qt platform based on these mathematical models. Different samples were used to verify the software. A high identification efficiency (greater than 75%) was observed when 96 FA species were identified in plasma. This FAs identification strategy promises to accelerate FA research and applications.

Global teaching of global seismology

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, S.; Wysession, M.

2005-12-01

Our recent textbook, Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, & Earth Structure (Blackwell, 2003) is used in many countries. Part of the reason for this may be our deliberate attempt to write the book for an international audience. This effort appears in several ways. We stress seismology's long tradition of global data interchange. Our brief discussions of the science's history illustrate the contributions of scientists around the world. Perhaps most importantly, our discussions of earthquakes, tectonics, and seismic hazards take a global view. Many examples are from North America, whereas others are from other areas. Our view is that non-North American students should be exposed to North American examples that are type examples, and that North American students should be similarly exposed to examples elsewhere. For example, we illustrate how the Euler vector geometry changes a plate boundary from spreading, to strike-slip, to convergence using both the Pacific-North America boundary from the Gulf of California to Alaska and the Eurasia-Africa boundary from the Azores to the Mediterranean. We illustrate diffuse plate boundary zones using western North America, the Andes, the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and the East Africa Rift. The subduction zone discussions examine Japan, Tonga, and Chile. We discuss significant earthquakes both in the U.S. and elsewhere, and explore hazard mitigation issues in different contexts. Both comments from foreign colleagues and our experience lecturing overseas indicate that this approach works well. Beyond the specifics of our text, we believe that such a global approach is facilitated by the international traditions of the earth sciences and the world youth culture that gives students worldwide common culture. For example, a video of the scene in New Madrid, Missouri that arose from a nonsensical earthquake prediction in 1990 elicits similar responses from American and European students.

Study Behaviour: A counselling approach | Okpechi | Global Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The researcher recommended that students should take their studies seriously as their failure and success lies on it. He equally draws the attention of students to the essentials of study behaviour, time management, organisation of study task, etc. Global Journal of Educational Research Vol. 5 (1&2) 2006: pp. 5-11 ...

Global Learning in a New Era

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith Ramaley

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Our nation’s colleges and universities have frequently adapted their educational approaches and their relationships with society to respond to new social, economic and environmental challenges. The increasingly interconnected patterns that link together our lives on a global scale have created a new reality. Globalization offers an especially exciting and challenging blend of generational change combined with the emergence of a set of complex, multi-faceted problems created by the global context in which we all now live and work. How shall we educate our students for life in this new era? What can we expect of our graduates in a global world? The answer to these questions is straightforward but will require our institutions to make significant changes in their approach to educating their students and in their interactions with the broader communities that they serve. The approach is shaped by a clear sense of what a globally prepared graduate knows and can do, guided by clear learning outcomes exercised along a sequential pathway of experiences extending from the first year of college through to graduation. These experiences are supported by the use of engaged learning practices that draw students into work that is both personally and socially meaningful cross-disciplinary inquiry that focuses on Big Questions with the goal of finding ways to address those questions in ethical and responsible and effective ways.

Fetal beat detection in abdominal ECG recordings: global and time adaptive approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodrigues, Rui

2014-01-01

We present a method for location of fetal QRS in maternal abdominal ECG recordings. This method’s initial, global approach was proposed in the context of the 2013 PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge where it was tested on the 447 four channel one-minute recordings. The first step is filtering to eliminate baseline wander and high frequency noise. Upon detection, maternal QRS is removed on each channel using a filter applied to the other three channels. Next we locate fetal QRS on each channel and select the channel with the best set of detections. The method was awarded the third-best score in the Challenge event 1 with 278.755 (beats/minute) and the fourth-best score on event 2 with 28.201 ms. The 5 min long recordings of the Abdominal and Direct Fetal ECG Database were used to further test the method. This database contains five recordings obtained from women in labor. Results in these longer recordings were not satisfactory. This appears to be particularly the case in recordings with a more clearly non-stationary nature. In a new approach to our method, some changes are introduced. Two features are updated over time: the filter used to eliminate maternal QRS and the channel used to detect fetal beats. These changes significantly improved the QRS detection performance on longer recordings, but the scores on the 1 minute Challenge recordings were degraded. (paper)

The Jena Diversity-Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (JeDi-DGVM: a diverse approach to representing terrestrial biogeography and biogeochemistry based on plant functional trade-offs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Pavlick

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Terrestrial biosphere models typically abstract the immense diversity of vegetation forms and functioning into a relatively small set of predefined semi-empirical plant functional types (PFTs. There is growing evidence, however, from the field ecology community as well as from modelling studies that current PFT schemes may not adequately represent the observed variations in plant functional traits and their effect on ecosystem functioning. In this paper, we introduce the Jena Diversity-Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (JeDi-DGVM as a new approach to terrestrial biosphere modelling with a richer representation of functional diversity than traditional modelling approaches based on a small number of fixed PFTs. JeDi-DGVM simulates the performance of a large number of randomly generated plant growth strategies, each defined by a set of 15 trait parameters which characterize various aspects of plant functioning including carbon allocation, ecophysiology and phenology. Each trait parameter is involved in one or more functional trade-offs. These trade-offs ultimately determine whether a strategy is able to survive under the climatic conditions in a given model grid cell and its performance relative to the other strategies. The biogeochemical fluxes and land surface properties of the individual strategies are aggregated to the grid-cell scale using a mass-based weighting scheme. We evaluate the simulated global biogeochemical patterns against a variety of field and satellite-based observations following a protocol established by the Carbon-Land Model Intercomparison Project. The land surface fluxes and vegetation structural properties are reasonably well simulated by JeDi-DGVM, and compare favourably with other state-of-the-art global vegetation models. We also evaluate the simulated patterns of functional diversity and the sensitivity of the JeDi-DGVM modelling approach to the number of sampled strategies. Altogether, the results demonstrate the

Experiencing Global Culture in Vatel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kampf, Constance Elizabeth; Broillet, Alexandra; John, Claudette

2015-01-01

To explore the meaning of “global culture” in a professional communication context, this paper explores the “unsettled” global culture of Vatel, a private business school educating students from nearly 50 different countries for the hospitality industry. This paper explores the role of knowledge...... management in understanding global culture, arguing that the notion of “unsettled” cultures demonstrates how ideologies function in global settings and draw on national “settled” cultural resources. In unpacking different aspects of Vatel's culture this paper questions assumptions built into cultural frames...... of reference by offering a global culture frame, drawing on cultural resources from country based “settled” cultural contexts, and reflects on how global cultural contexts can benefit from a knowledge management approach to this dynamic between “settled” cultural contexts and “unsettled” cultural ideologies...

Individual capacity-building approaches in a global pharmaceutical systems strengthening program: a selected review.

Science.gov (United States)

Konduri, Niranjan; Rauscher, Megan; Wang, Shiou-Chu Judy; Malpica-Llanos, Tanya

2017-01-01

Medicines use related challenges such as inadequate adherence, high levels of antimicrobial resistance and preventable adverse drug reactions have underscored the need to incorporate pharmaceutical services to help achieve desired treatment outcomes, and protect patients from inappropriate use of medicines. This situation is further constrained by insufficient numbers of pharmaceutical personnel and inappropriate skill mix. Studies have addressed individual capacity building approaches of logistics, supply chain or disease specific interventions but few have documented those involving such pharmacy assistants/professionals, or health workers/professionals charged with improving access and provision of pharmaceutical services. We examined how different training modalities have been employed and adapted to meet country-specific context and needs by a global pharmaceutical systems strengthening program in collaboration with a country's Ministry of Health and local stakeholders. Structured, content analysis of training approaches from twelve selected countries and a survey among conveniently selected trainees in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Case-based learning, practice and feedback, and repetitive interventions such as post-training action plan, supportive supervision and mentoring approaches are effective, evidence-based training techniques. In Ethiopia and Bangladesh, over 94% of respondents indicated that they have improved or developed skills or competencies as a result of the program's training activities. Supportive supervision structures and mentorship have been institutionalized with appropriate management structures. National authorities have been sensitized to secure funding from domestic resources or from the global fund grants for post-training follow-up initiatives. The Pharmaceutical Leadership Development Program is an effective, case-based training modality that motivates staff to develop quality-improvement interventions and solve specific challenges

Estimating shaking-induced casualties and building damage for global earthquake events: a proposed modelling approach

Science.gov (United States)

So, Emily; Spence, Robin

2013-01-01

Recent earthquakes such as the Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010 and the Qinghai earthquake on 14 April 2010 have highlighted the importance of rapid estimation of casualties after the event for humanitarian response. Both of these events resulted in surprisingly high death tolls, casualties and survivors made homeless. In the Mw = 7.0 Haiti earthquake, over 200,000 people perished with more than 300,000 reported injuries and 2 million made homeless. The Mw = 6.9 earthquake in Qinghai resulted in over 2,000 deaths with a further 11,000 people with serious or moderate injuries and 100,000 people have been left homeless in this mountainous region of China. In such events relief efforts can be significantly benefitted by the availability of rapid estimation and mapping of expected casualties. This paper contributes to ongoing global efforts to estimate probable earthquake casualties very rapidly after an earthquake has taken place. The analysis uses the assembled empirical damage and casualty data in the Cambridge Earthquake Impacts Database (CEQID) and explores data by event and across events to test the relationships of building and fatality distributions to the main explanatory variables of building type, building damage level and earthquake intensity. The prototype global casualty estimation model described here uses a semi-empirical approach that estimates damage rates for different classes of buildings present in the local building stock, and then relates fatality rates to the damage rates of each class of buildings. This approach accounts for the effect of the very different types of buildings (by climatic zone, urban or rural location, culture, income level etc), on casualties. The resulting casualty parameters were tested against the overall casualty data from several historical earthquakes in CEQID; a reasonable fit was found.

Developing an approach to assessing the political feasibility of global collective action and an international agreement on antimicrobial resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers Van Katwyk, Susan; Danik, Marie Évelyne; Pantis, Ioana; Smith, Rachel; Røttingen, John-Arne; Hoffman, Steven J

2016-01-01

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global issue. International trade, travel, agricultural practices, and environmental contamination all make it possible for resistant microbes to cross national borders. Global collective action is needed in the form of an international agreement or other mechanism that brings states together at the negotiation table and commits them to adopt or implement policies to limit the spread of resistant microorganisms. This article describes an approach to assessing whether political and stakeholder interests can align to commit to tackling AMR. Two dimensions affecting political feasibility were selected and compared across 82 countries: 1) states' global influence and 2) self-interest in addressing AMR. World Bank GDP ranking was used as a proxy for global influence, while human antibiotic consumption (10-year percent change) was used as a proxy for self-interest in addressing AMR. We used these data to outline a typology of four country archetypes, and discuss how these archetypes can be used to understand whether a proposed agreement may have sufficient support to be politically feasible. Four types of countries exist within our proposed typology: 1) wealthy countries who have the expertise and financial resources to push for global collective action on AMR, 2) wealthy countries who need to act on AMR, 3) countries who require external assistance to act on AMR, and 4) neutral countries who may support action where applicable. Any international agreement will require substantial support from countries of the first type to lead global action, and from countries of the second type who have large increasing antimicrobial consumption levels. A large number of barriers exist that could derail efforts towards global collective action on AMR; issues of capacity, infrastructure, regulation, and stakeholder interests will need to be addressed in coordination with other actors to achieve an agreement on AMR. Achieving a global agreement on

Economic responses to global warming: Prospects for cooperative approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schelling, T.C.

1991-01-01

At the outset, any cooperative approach to global warming will have to reach some rough consensus on two sets of magnitudes and the marginal trade-off between them. One set of magnitudes relates to CO 2 production and abatement. It is the cost and difficulties of reducing energy use by households, farms, and industry, and of switching to cleaner fossil fuels or converting to nonfossil energies. These are the kinds of things that economists and engineers, sometimes sociologists and architects, have been working on with special motivation since 1973. The uncertainties remain great, and they increase many-fold when projected to the middle of the next century. But these estimates do receive attention. The other set of magnitudes has to do with the impact of changing climate on economic productivity, on health and comfort, on the quality of life in general, and on the differential rates of progress among countries. These estimates, on which virtually no work was done until recently, are doubly uncertain. In this study the author offers a judgment about the magnitude of the consequences of failing to reduce CO 2 emissions drastically below what they would be in the absence of such an effort. The author takes 'drastic' to mean anything between an emissions growth rate half of what it would otherwise be and an emissions growth rate of zero beginning one or two decades from now - that is, annual emissions leveling off within a decade or two. That level would still leave emissions growing at the maximum achieved rate

Conceptualizing Innovation in Born Global Firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zijdemans, Erik; Tanev, Stoyan

2014-01-01

This research provides insights from recent literature on innovativeness in the environment of born globals. This article will be relevant to researchers interested in born globals and their business environments and, more specifically, the role that innovation plays in their foundation and devel...... of knowledge acquisition, networking capabilities and the lean startup approach in born global innovation. Finally, the article addresses the issue of quantifying and measuring innovativeness....

Discussing Global Issues through Contemporary Art

Science.gov (United States)

Mead, Sarah M.; Ellerbrock, Cheryl R.; Cruz, Bárbara C.

2017-01-01

Contemporary global issues can be examined through the lens of modern photographic art. In an effort to prepare global-ready graduates, this article explores the pressing problems of environmental degradation, urbanization, and homelessness through the work of three contemporary artists. Illustrative works, suggested approaches, and curriculum…

Globalization and Conflict Management in Schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Ilker Gumuseli

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Globalization has brought many changes on the education systems and schools. These changes will be exemplified from thebasis of school finance, employee rights, curriculum, administration, and school-environment relations in this study. The studyalso reviews common types of conflicts experienced at schools as a result of globalization and the ways in which conflict couldbe managed. Following topics were discussed in the article: ‘Conflicts emerged from perspectives towards globalization,conflicts emerged from cross cultural differences, conflicts sourced from changes in the teaching and learning processes,conflicts sourced from the standardization efforts, conflicts sourced from the change in school-parents relations, conflictssourced from the process of finance related activities and conflicts sourced from information, communication andeducational technologies’. This article argues that schools cannot be isolated from the effects of globalization. Therefore sinceconflict is a normal occurrence in schools, school administrators should discover constructive approaches through carefuldiagnosis and an approach that transforms the conflicting situations into constructive experiences for the school and theeducation.

Professional Competence of Teachers in the Age of Globalization

Science.gov (United States)

Orazbayeva, Kuldarkhan O.

2016-01-01

Current challenges of globalization in a democratic post-industrial information society make the competency-based approach a standard in the creation of the global educational environment. This study describes the special aspects of the integration of the competency-based approach into the educational theory and practice of post-Soviet countries,…

Transforming global health with mobile technologies and social enterprises: global health and innovation conference.

Science.gov (United States)

Kayingo, Gerald

2012-09-01

More than 2,000 people convened for the ninth annual Global Health and Innovation Conference at Yale University on April 21-22, 2012. Participants discussed the latest innovations, ideas in development, lessons learned, opportunities and challenges in global health activities. Several themes emerged, including the important role of frontline workers, strengthening health systems, leveraging social media, and sustainable and impact-driven philanthropy. Overall, the major outcome of the conference was the increased awareness of the potential of mobile technologies and social enterprises in transforming global health. Experts warned that donations and technological advances alone will not transform global health unless there are strong functioning health infrastructures and improved workforce. It was noted that there is a critical need for an integrated systems approach to global health problems and a need for scaling up promising pilot projects. Lack of funding, accountability, and sustainability were identified as major challenges in global health.

Responsibility without Guilt: A Youngian Approach to Responsibility for Global Injustice

OpenAIRE

McKeown, M. C.

2015-01-01

What responsibilities do individuals have in relation to global injustice? Iris Young argues that all agents “connected” to global structural injustice bear political responsibility, rather than moral responsibility; the difference being that political responsibility is non-blameworthy, shared and forward-looking, whereas moral responsibility entails blameworthiness, isolates particular agents for censure and is backward-looking. Thus, individuals are not guilty of wrongdoing but they bear re...

Beyond EFL : Globalizing Education in Japan

OpenAIRE

Smith, Michael

2017-01-01

Current approaches to education are not providing students in Japan with the skills necessary to become global human resources. How can skills such as effective communication, problem solving, cultural awareness, and leadership, all necessary in a rapidly globalizing world, be developed and nurtured in Japan’s schools？ National public education must begin to play a more prominent role in the development of these important global skills. This paper will describe first year university students’...

OLD AND NEW ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena MĂRGULESCU

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The retrospective of the theoretical approaches of the phenomenon of economic globalization in the last three decades emphasizes the movement of attention from the globalization of markets, from the'80s, to the globalization of production and services in the current decade. This trend is essentially the result of implementing new strategies by multinational and transnational companies. We try in this context to draw a line between the "globalization of markets" and the "globalization of production and services”. A feature of the globalization of production and services is the implementation of the arbitrage strategy in respect of one or more production factors. But the "globalization of production and services’ gains a new content due to the new possibilities offered by the “modularization” of production. Following, the arbitrage strategies began to address new factors, as for example the "functions" of production resulting from the restructuring of the product value chain.

Global Geodesy Using GPS Without Fiducial Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Heflin, Michael B.; Blewitt, Geoffrey

1994-01-01

Global Positioning System, GPS, used to make global geodetic measurements without use of fiducial site coordinates. Baseline lengths and geocentric radii for each site determined without having to fix any site coordinates. Given n globally distributed sites, n baseline lengths and n geocentric radii form polyhedron with each site at vertex and with geocenter at intersection of all radii. Geodetic information derived from structure of polyhedron and its change with time. Approach applied to any global geodetic technique.

Identifying strategies for mitigating the global warming impact of the EU-25 economy using a multi-objective input–output approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cortés-Borda, D.; Ruiz-Hernández, A.; Guillén-Gosálbez, G.; Llop, M.; Guimerà, R.; Sales-Pardo, M.

2015-01-01

Global warming mitigation has recently become a priority worldwide. A large body of literature dealing with energy related problems has focused on reducing greenhouse gases emissions at an engineering scale. In contrast, the minimization of climate change at a wider macroeconomic level has so far received much less attention. We investigate here how to mitigate global warming by performing changes in an economy. To this end, we make use of a systematic tool that combines three methods: linear programming, environmentally extended input output models, and life cycle assessment principles. The problem of identifying key economic sectors that contribute significantly to global warming is posed in mathematical terms as a bi-criteria linear program that seeks to optimize simultaneously the total economic output and the total life cycle CO 2 emissions. We have applied this approach to the European Union economy, finding that significant reductions in global warming potential can be attained by regulating specific economic sectors. Our tool is intended to aid policy makers in the design of more effective public policies for achieving the environmental and economic targets sought. - Highlights: • We minimize climate change by performing small changes in the consumption habits. • We propose a tool that combines multiobjective optimization and macroeconomic models. • Identifying key sectors allows improving the environmental performance significantly with little impact to the economy. • Significant reductions in global warming potential are attained by regulating sectors. • Our tool aids policy makers in the design of effective sustainability policies

The economic impact of global climate change on Mediterranean rangeland ecosystems. A Space-for-Time approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleischer, Aliza; Sternberg, Marcelo

2006-01-01

Global Climate Change (GCC) can bring about changes in ecosystems and consequently in their services value. Here we show that the urban population in Israel values the green landscape of rangelands in the mesic Mediterranean climate region and is willing to pay for preserving it in light of the expected increasing aridity conditions in this region. Their valuation of the landscape is higher than that of the grazing services these rangelands provide for livestock growers. These results stem from a Time-for-Space approach with which we were able to measure changes in biomass production and rainfall at four experimental sites along an aridity gradient. (author)

The global environment: An overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolba, M.K.

1992-01-01

Global environmental chemistry today involves a rapidly expanding need both for new research and for the development of an interdiciplinary approach to the multiplicity of interconnected environmental problems. Every ecosystem shows signs of damage: growing quantities of wastes; decreasing water supplies; soil degradation; coastal zone deterioration; deforestation and climatic change; global warming due to ozone depletion. Solutions must involve a cooperative and holistic global effort in three areas: scientific understanding of how the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes regulate the total Earth system; public policy implications including closer liaison between scientists and policymakers;and understanding of the state of the global environment, what is going wrong, why, and whether it is getting worse

Global Learning in a New Era

Science.gov (United States)

Ramaley, Judith

2016-01-01

Our nation's colleges and universities frequently adapt their approach to education in response to the reality of social, economic and environmental challenges. Today the reality is that we are increasingly interconnected on a global scale. This new era of globalization impacts every facet of society, and it offers both an exciting blend of…

A novel approach for the global localization problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abraham Sánchez

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Este artículo describe una metodología de planificación, localización y mapeo simultáneos enfocada en el problema de localización global, el robot explora el ambiente eficientemente y también considera los requisitos de un algoritmo de localización y mapeo simultáneos. El método está basado en la generación aleatoria incremental de una estructura de datos llamada árbol aleatorio basado en sensores, la cual representa un mapa de caminos del área explorada con su región segura asociada. Un procedimiento de localización continuo basado encaracterísticas B-splines de la región segura se integró en el esquema.This paper describes a simultaneous planning localization and mapping (SPLAM methodology focussed on the global localization problem, where the robot explores the environment efficiently and also considers the requisites of the simultaneous localization and mapping algorithm. The method is based on the randomized incremental generation of a data structure called Sensor-based Random Tree, which represents a roadmap of the explored area with an associated safe region. A continuous localization procedure based on B-Splines features of the safe region is integrated in the scheme.

Globalization of Cities: Towards Conceptualizing a New Politics of Place-Making in a Transnational Era

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Şerife Geniş

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Within the past two decades, city has emerged as a critical site for analyzing dynamic and dialectic articulations of global and local processes. The proliferation of concepts such as “informational city, “entrepreneurial city”, “transnational city”, “world city,” and “global city’ reflect a growing concern in contemporary urban studies to understand and theorize the link between contemporary globalization and urbanization processes and the dynamic interplay between global and local forces in shaping cities. Among these frameworks, “world city/global city” approach played the leading role in providing a framework for recent research on the relationship between globalization and cities. “World city/global city” approach also became the main framework in shaping the urban policy agendas of many powerful public and private institutions and actors around the world. This article argues that the global prominence of this approach not only in academia but also in public debates attends to its significance and warrants a close inquiry of its claims and analyses. The article criticizes the world city/global city approach for its overly structuralist and top-down account of globalization of cities and for neglecting the interplay between the global and local actors. It attempts to develop an alternative approach that offers a historical, political, and actor-oriented perspective on globalization and global city-making in the major cities of the world

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship; Comment on “Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jale Tosun

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors.

Peopling Global Health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

João Biehl

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The field of Global Health brings together a vastly diverse array of actors working to address pressing health issues worldwide with unprecedented financial and technological resources and informed by various agendas. While Global Health initiatives are booming and displacing earlier framings of the field (such as tropical medicine or international health, critical analyses of the social, political, and economic processes associated with this expanding field — an “open source anarchy” on the ground — are still few and far between. In this essay, we contend that, among the powerful players of Global Health, the supposed beneficiaries of interventions are generally lost from view and appear as having little to say or nothing to contribute. We make the case for a more comprehensive and people-centered approach and demonstrate the crucial role of ethnography as an empirical lantern in Global Health. By shifting the emphasis from diseases to people and environments, and from trickle-down access to equality, we have the opportunity to set a humane agenda that both realistically confronts challenges and expands our vision of the future of global communities.

GLOBAL KEYNESIANISM AND BEYOND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gernot Kohler

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Something like "global Keynesianism" or "transnational socialism" has been mentioned as a desirable alternative to global neoliberalism (Redmond 1997. However, a definition of this kind of global Keynesianism is hard to find. Many leftists tend to associate Keynesianism with corporate power. However, there are also numerous other leftists who view this differently. For example, a member of parliament for the German Green Party stated in a recent interview that "a reformist party today has to be a left-Keynesian party which contradicts the logic of capital" (Ebermann 1998. A number of scholars from several countries, including Canada, pursue post-Keynesian-ism, in the sense of left-Keynesian economics (e.g., Seccareccia 1991. How-ever, available left-Keynesian literature, as I see it, is lacking a world-system perspective. I am trying in this article to synthesize the two perspectives-namely, left-Keynesianism and world-system theory, leading to a perspective of global left-Keynesianism. This leftist global Keynesianism can, perhaps, be described as an approach to economics which emphasizes responsible public management of economic problems in a world-system context. Common themes in global Keynesianism include the importance of public management, democratic politics, the mixed economy, global income distribution, the management of global demand, investment and money, ecological sustainability and the importance of multiple levels of public management-local, national, regional and global.

Fiscal federalism approach for controlling global environmental pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murty, M.N.

1996-01-01

It is found that optimal international carbon taxes are country specific and we can decompose a tax on a domestically produced carbon-intensive commodity into a revenue tax, a tax to control local atmospheric pollution and an international carbon tax. It shows that an institutional arrangement for the world economy similar to the fiscal federalism in the federal countries can be useful to internalize the global externalities of atmospheric pollution. 18 refs

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Jale

2018-01-01

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors. PMID:29325406

SWITCHING FROM THE GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS TO THE GLOBALIZATION OF PRODUCTION AND SERVICES IN A SEMIGLOBALIZED WORLD

OpenAIRE

Serghei M RGULESCU; Elena M RGULESCU

2009-01-01

The retrospective of the theoretical approaches of the phenomenon of economic globalization in the last three decades emphasizes the movement of attention from the globalization of markets, from the\\'80s, to the globalization of production and services in the current decade. This trend is essentially the result of implementing new strategies by multinational companies. It also requires accepting the idea that the current status of the world economy is in reality one of semiglobalization and n...

Population mobility, globalization, and antimicrobial drug resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

MacPherson, Douglas W; Gushulak, Brian D; Baine, William B; Bala, Shukal; Gubbins, Paul O; Holtom, Paul; Segarra-Newnham, Marisel

2009-11-01

Population mobility is a main factor in globalization of public health threats and risks, specifically distribution of antimicrobial drug-resistant organisms. Drug resistance is a major risk in healthcare settings and is emerging as a problem in community-acquired infections. Traditional health policy approaches have focused on diseases of global public health significance such as tuberculosis, yellow fever, and cholera; however, new diseases and resistant organisms challenge existing approaches. Clinical implications and health policy challenges associated with movement of persons across barriers permeable to products, pathogens, and toxins (e.g., geopolitical borders, patient care environments) are complex. Outcomes are complicated by high numbers of persons who move across disparate and diverse settings of disease threat and risk. Existing policies and processes lack design and capacity to prevent or mitigate adverse health outcomes. We propose an approach to global public health risk management that integrates population factors with effective and timely application of policies and processes.

The global transmission network of HIV-1.

Science.gov (United States)

Wertheim, Joel O; Leigh Brown, Andrew J; Hepler, N Lance; Mehta, Sanjay R; Richman, Douglas D; Smith, Davey M; Kosakovsky Pond, Sergei L

2014-01-15

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is pandemic, but its contemporary global transmission network has not been characterized. A better understanding of the properties and dynamics of this network is essential for surveillance, prevention, and eventual eradication of HIV. Here, we apply a simple and computationally efficient network-based approach to all publicly available HIV polymerase sequences in the global database, revealing a contemporary picture of the spread of HIV-1 within and between countries. This approach automatically recovered well-characterized transmission clusters and extended other clusters thought to be contained within a single country across international borders. In addition, previously undescribed transmission clusters were discovered. Together, these clusters represent all known modes of HIV transmission. The extent of international linkage revealed by our comprehensive approach demonstrates the need to consider the global diversity of HIV, even when describing local epidemics. Finally, the speed of this method allows for near-real-time surveillance of the pandemic's progression.

Three approaches in the research field of ethnomodeling: emic (local, etic (global, and dialogical (glocal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel C. Orey

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The acquisition of both emic (local and etic (global knowledge is an alternative goal for the implementation of ethnomodeling research. Emic knowledge is essential for an intuitive and empathic understanding of mathematical ideas, procedures, and practices developed by the members of distinct cultural groups. It is essential for conducting effective ethnographic fieldwork. Furthermore, emic knowledge is a valuable source of inspiration for etic hypotheses. Etic knowledge is essential for cross-cultural comparisons, which are based on the components of ethnology. In this regard, such comparisons demand standard units and categories to facilitate communication. Dialogical (glocal is a third approach for ethnomodeling research that makes use of both emic and etic knowledge traditions through processes of dialogue and interaction. Ethnomodeling is defined as the study of mathematical phenomena within a culture because it is a social construct and is culturally bound. Finally, the objective of this article is to show how we have come to use a combination of emic, etic and dialogical (glocal approaches in our work in the area of ethnomodeling, which contributes to the acquisition of a more complete understanding of mathematical practices developed by the members of distinct cultural groups.

Local and Global Gestalt Laws: A Neurally Based Spectral Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Favali, Marta; Citti, Giovanna; Sarti, Alessandro

2017-02-01

This letter presents a mathematical model of figure-ground articulation that takes into account both local and global gestalt laws and is compatible with the functional architecture of the primary visual cortex (V1). The local gestalt law of good continuation is described by means of suitable connectivity kernels that are derived from Lie group theory and quantitatively compared with long-range connectivity in V1. Global gestalt constraints are then introduced in terms of spectral analysis of a connectivity matrix derived from these kernels. This analysis performs grouping of local features and individuates perceptual units with the highest salience. Numerical simulations are performed, and results are obtained by applying the technique to a number of stimuli.

Radioisotope tracer approach for understanding the impacts of global change-induced pedoturbation on soil C dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Meler, M. A.; Sturchio, N. C.; Sanchez-de Leon, Y.; Blanc-Betes, E.; Taneva, L.; Poghosyan, A.; Norby, R. J.; Filley, T. R.; Guilderson, T. P.; Welker, J. M.

2010-12-01

Biogeochemical carbon-cycle feedbacks to climate are apparent but uncertain, primarily because of gaps in mechanistic understanding on the ecosystem processes that drive carbon cycling and storage in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in soils. Recent findings are increasingly recognizing the interaction between soil biota and the soil physical environment. Soil carbon turnover is partly determined by burial of organic matter and its physical and chemical protection. These factors are potentially affected by changes in climate (freezing-thawing or wet-drying cycles) or ecosystem structure including biological invasions. A major impediment to understanding dynamics of soil C in terrestrial systems is our inability to measure soil physical processes such as soil mixing rates or turnover of soil structures, including aggregates. Here we present a multiple radioisotope tracer approach (naturally occurring and man-made) to measure soil mixing rates in response to global change. We will present evidence of soil mixing rate changes in a temperate forest exposed to increased levels of atmospheric CO2 and in a tundra ecosystem exposed to increased thermal insulation. In both cases, radioisotope tracers proved to be an effective way to measure effects of global change on pedoturbation. Results also provided insights into the specific mechanisms involved in the responses. Elevated CO2 resulted in deeper soil mixing cells (increased by about 5cm on average) when compared to control soils as a consequence of changes in biota (increased root growth, higher earthworm density). In the tundra, soil warming induced higher rates of cryoturbation, resulting in what appears to be a net uplift of organic matter to the surface thereby exposing deeper C to decomposers. In both cases, global change factors affected the vertical distribution of C and changed the amount of bulk soil actively involved in soil processes. As a consequence, comparisons of C budgets to a given soil depth in

Observing the Global Water Cycle from Space

Science.gov (United States)

Hildebrand, P. H.

2004-01-01

This paper presents an approach to measuring all major components of the water cycle from space. Key elements of the global water cycle are discussed in terms of the storage of water-in the ocean, air, cloud and precipitation, in soil, ground water, snow and ice, and in lakes and rivers, and in terms of the global fluxes of water between these reservoirs. Approaches to measuring or otherwise evaluating the global water cycle are presented, and the limitations on known accuracy for many components of the water cycle are discussed, as are the characteristic spatial and temporal scales of the different water cycle components. Using these observational requirements for a global water cycle observing system, an approach to measuring the global water cycle from space is developed. The capabilities of various active and passive microwave instruments are discussed, as is the potential of supporting measurements from other sources. Examples of space observational systems, including TRMM/GPM precipitation measurement, cloud radars, soil moisture, sea surface salinity, temperature and humidity profiling, other measurement approaches and assimilation of the microwave and other data into interpretative computer models are discussed to develop the observational possibilities. The selection of orbits is then addressed, for orbit selection and antenna size/beamwidth considerations determine the sampling characteristics for satellite measurement systems. These considerations dictate a particular set of measurement possibilities, which are then matched to the observational sampling requirements based on the science. The results define a network of satellite instrumentation systems, many in low Earth orbit, a few in geostationary orbit, and all tied together through a sampling network that feeds the observations into a data-assimilative computer model.

Global interpersonal inequality: Trends and measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel; Roope, Laurence; Tarp, Finn

This paper discusses different approaches to the measurement of global interpersonal in equality. Trends in global interpersonal inequality during 1975-2005 are measured using data from UNU-WIDER’s World Income Inequality Database. In order to better understand the trends, global interpersonal...... inequality is decomposed into within-country and between-country inequality. The paper illustrates that the relationship between global interpersonal inequality and these constituent components is a complex one. In particular, we demonstrate that the changes in China’s and India’s income distributions over...... the past 30 years have simultaneously caused inequality to rise domestically in those countries, while tending to reduce global inter-personal inequality. In light of these findings, we reflect on the meaning and policy relevance of global vis-à-vis domestic inequality measures...

Resistances to Global Educational Prescriptions in the Global South: Theoretical Considerations through Michel Foucault's Lenses

Science.gov (United States)

Charlier, Jean-Émile; Panait, Oana Marina

2018-01-01

This article proposes an inquiry into Foucault's approach of subjectivation, extending it to the institutional actors and individual subjects in the educational field in the Global South. The article takes Senegal as a case study and examines the reactions of these categories of actors to the Education for All global policy and to the national…

Global facial beauty: approaching a unified aesthetic ideal.

Science.gov (United States)

Sands, Noah B; Adamson, Peter A

2014-04-01

Recognition of facial beauty is both inborn and learned through social discourses and exposures. Demographic shifts across the globe, in addition to cross-cultural interactions that typify 21st century globalization in virtually all industries, comprise major active evolutionary forces that reshape our individual notions of facial beauty. This article highlights the changing perceptions of beauty, while defining and distinguishing natural beauty and artificial beauty. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Global mental health and neuroscience: potential synergies.

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Dan J; He, Yanling; Phillips, Anthony; Sahakian, Barbara J; Williams, John; Patel, Vikram

2015-02-01

Global mental health has emerged as an important specialty. It has drawn attention to the burden of mental illness and to the relative gap in mental health research and services around the world. Global mental health has raised the question of whether this gap is a developmental issue, a health issue, a human rights issue, or a combination of these issues-and it has raised awareness of the need to develop new approaches for building capacity, mobilising resources, and closing the research and treatment gap. Translational neuroscience has also advanced. It comprises an important conceptual approach to understanding the neurocircuitry and molecular basis of mental disorders, to rethinking how best to undertake research on the aetiology, assessment, and treatment of these disorders, with the ultimate aim to develop entirely new approaches to prevention and intervention. Some apparent contrasts exist between these fields; global mental health emphasises knowledge translation, moving away from the bedside to a focus on health systems, whereas translational neuroscience emphasises molecular neuroscience, focusing on transitions between the bench and bedside. Meanwhile, important opportunities exist for synergy between the two paradigms, to ensure that present opportunities in mental health research and services are maximised. Here, we review the approaches of global mental health and clinical neuroscience to diagnosis, pathogenesis, and intervention, and make recommendations for facilitating an integration of these two perspectives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A global central banker competency model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David W. Brits

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: No comprehensive, integrated competency model exists for central bankers. Due to the importance of central banks in the context of the ongoing global financial crisis, it was deemed necessary to design and validate such a model. Research purpose: To craft and validate a comprehensive, integrated global central banker competency model (GCBCM and to assess whether central banks using the GCBCM for training have a higher global influence. Motivation for the study: Limited consensus exists globally about what constitutes a ‘competent’ central banker. A quantitatively validated GCBCM would make a significant contribution to enhancing central banker effectiveness, and also provide a solid foundation for effective people management. Research approach, design and method: A blended quantitative and qualitative research approach was taken. Two sets of hypotheses were tested regarding the relationships between the GCBCM and the training offered, using the model on the one hand, and a central bank’s global influence on the other. Main findings: The GCBCM was generally accepted across all participating central banks globally, although some differences were found between central banks with higher and lower global influence. The actual training offered by central banks in terms of the model, however, is generally limited to technical-functional skills. The GCBCM is therefore at present predominantly aspirational. Significant differences were found regarding the training offered. Practical/managerial implications: By adopting the GCBCM, central banks would be able to develop organisation-specific competency models in order to enhance their organisational capabilities and play their increasingly important global role more effectively. Contribution: A generic conceptual framework for the crafting of a competency model with evaluation criteria was developed. A GCBCM was quantitatively validated.

A Global Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Mark

2015-01-01

Summary The emergence of global history has been one of the more notable features of academic history over the past three decades. Although historians of disease were among the pioneers of one of its earlier incarnations—world history—the recent “global turn” has made relatively little impact on histories of health, disease, and medicine. Most continue to be framed by familiar entities such as the colony or nation-state or are confined to particular medical “traditions.” This article aims to show what can be gained from taking a broader perspective. Its purpose is not to replace other ways of seeing or to write a new “grand narrative” but to show how transnational and transimperial approaches are vital to understanding some of the key issues with which historians of health, disease, and medicine are concerned. Moving on from an analysis of earlier periods of integration, the article offers some reflections on our own era of globalization and on the emerging field of global health. PMID:26725408

A Strategy To Infuse a Global Perspective into Consumer Education.

Science.gov (United States)

McGregor, Sue L. T.; Bourbonniere, Katherine

2002-01-01

A four-phase plan for delivering consumer education from a global perspective involves teachers in gaining familiarity with (1) the conventional approach to consumer education; (2) the cultures of globalization, capitalism, and consumerism; (3) the global perspective; and (4) integration of the three to create a global curriculum. (Contains 50…

Global Derivatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Torben Juul

approaches to dealing in the global business environment." - Sharon Brown-Hruska, Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, USA. "This comprehensive survey of modern risk management using derivative securities is a fine demonstration of the practical relevance of modern derivatives theory to risk......" provides comprehensive coverage of different types of derivatives, including exchange traded contracts and over-the-counter instruments as well as real options. There is an equal emphasis on the practical application of derivatives and their actual uses in business transactions and corporate risk...... management situations. Its key features include: derivatives are introduced in a global market perspective; describes major derivative pricing models for practical use, extending these principles to valuation of real options; practical applications of derivative instruments are richly illustrated...

The Dynamics of Regional and Global Expansion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Geisler Asmussen, Christian; Nielsen, Bo Bernhard; Osegowitsch, Tom

2015-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to model and test the dynamics of home-regional and global penetration by multi-national enterprises (MNEs). Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on international business (IB) theory, the authors model MNEs adjusting their home-regional and global market...... domain. Findings – The authors demonstrate that MNEs do penetrate both home-regional and global markets, often simultaneously, and that penetration levels often oscillate within an MNE over time. The authors show firms’ rates of regional and global expansion to be affected by their existing regional...

Global Elite as Transnational Capitalist Class

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lukáš Kantor

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As a contribution to the burgeoning field of multidisciplinary globalization studies, this article evaluates how IR grand theories can conceptualize the phenomenon of global elite. It compares and synthesizes (neoliberalism, constructivism, feminism and neo-Marxism. Liberal approaches use the analytical tool of transnational actors or transnational networks. In constructivist’s perspective, part of global elite falls into the category of epistemic community. Feminists offer the term Davos Men. Neo-Marxist conceptualization revolves around the notion of transnational capitalist class. The paper concludes that neo-Marxist IR theory best accounts for the global elite and therefore, the debates on the transnational capitalist class are thoroughly and critically reviewed.

Acceleration techniques in the univariate Lipschitz global optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Sergeyev, Yaroslav D.; Kvasov, Dmitri E.; Mukhametzhanov, Marat S.; De Franco, Angela

2016-10-01

Univariate box-constrained Lipschitz global optimization problems are considered in this contribution. Geometric and information statistical approaches are presented. The novel powerful local tuning and local improvement techniques are described in the contribution as well as the traditional ways to estimate the Lipschitz constant. The advantages of the presented local tuning and local improvement techniques are demonstrated using the operational characteristics approach for comparing deterministic global optimization algorithms on the class of 100 widely used test functions.

Canada's global health role: supporting equity and global citizenship as a middle power.

Science.gov (United States)

Nixon, Stephanie A; Lee, Kelley; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Blanchard, James; Haddad, Slim; Hoffman, Steven J; Tugwell, Peter

2018-02-22

Canada's history of nation building, combined with its status as a so-called middle power in international affairs, has been translated into an approach to global health that is focused on equity and global citizenship. Canada has often aspired to be a socially progressive force abroad, using alliance building and collective action to exert influence beyond that expected from a country with moderate financial and military resources. Conversely, when Canada has primarily used economic self-interest to define its global role, the country's perceived leadership in global health has diminished. Current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal federal government has signalled a return to progressive values, driven by appreciation for diversity, equality, and Canada's responsibility to be a good global citizen. However, poor coordination of efforts, limited funding, and the unaddressed legacy of Canada's colonisation of Indigenous peoples weaken the potential for Canadians to make meaningful contributions to improvement of global health equity. Amid increased nationalism and uncertainty towards multilateral commitments by some major powers in the world, the Canadian federal government has a clear opportunity to convert its commitments to equity and global citizenship into stronger leadership on the global stage. Such leadership will require the translation of aspirational messages about health equity and inclusion into concrete action at home and internationally. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emergence of multilateral proto-institutions in global health and new approaches to governance: analysis using path dependency and institutional theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, Eduardo J; Atun, Rifat

2013-05-10

The role of multilateral donor agencies in global health is a new area of research, with limited research on how these agencies differ in terms of their governance arrangements, especially in relation to transparency, inclusiveness, accountability, and responsiveness to civil society. We argue that historical analysis of the origins of these agencies and their coalition formation processes can help to explain these differences. We propose an analytical approach that links the theoretical literature discussing institutional origins to path dependency and institutional theory relating to proto institutions in order to illustrate the differences in coalition formation processes that shape governance within four multilateral agencies involved in global health. We find that two new multilateral donor agencies that were created by a diverse coalition of state and non-state actors, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and GAVI, what we call proto-institutions, were more adaptive in strengthening their governance processes. This contrasts with two well-established multilateral donor agencies, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, what we call Bretton Woods (BW) institutions, which were created by nation states alone; and hence, have different origins and consequently different path dependent processes.

The global Minmax k-means algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaoyan; Bai, Yanping

2016-01-01

The global k -means algorithm is an incremental approach to clustering that dynamically adds one cluster center at a time through a deterministic global search procedure from suitable initial positions, and employs k -means to minimize the sum of the intra-cluster variances. However the global k -means algorithm sometimes results singleton clusters and the initial positions sometimes are bad, after a bad initialization, poor local optimal can be easily obtained by k -means algorithm. In this paper, we modified the global k -means algorithm to eliminate the singleton clusters at first, and then we apply MinMax k -means clustering error method to global k -means algorithm to overcome the effect of bad initialization, proposed the global Minmax k -means algorithm. The proposed clustering method is tested on some popular data sets and compared to the k -means algorithm, the global k -means algorithm and the MinMax k -means algorithm. The experiment results show our proposed algorithm outperforms other algorithms mentioned in the paper.

Assessing the decennial, reassessing the global

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manners, Ian James

2013-01-01

in global politics by rethinking the nature of power and actorness in a globalizing, multilateralizing and multipolarizing era. To do this, the article assesses the past decade in terms of normative power engagement, internationalization and comparison. The article then argues that rethinking power...... and actorness involves reassessing global theory and pouvoir normatif in action. The article concludes by setting out three ways of developing the NPA in its second decade: macro-approach, meso-characterization and micro-analysis. Following the suggestion of Emanuel Adler, Barry Buzan and Tim Dunne, the article...

Cluster-based global firms' use of local capabilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Poul Houman; Bøllingtoft, Anne

2011-01-01

Purpose – Despite growing interest in clusters role for the global competitiveness of firms, there has been little research into how globalization affects cluster-based firms’ (CBFs) use of local knowledge resources and the combination of local and global knowledge used. Using the cluster......’s knowledge base as a mediating variable, the purpose of this paper is to examine how globalization affected the studied firms’ use of local cluster-based knowledge, integration of local and global knowledge, and networking capabilities. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative case studies of nine firms...... in three clusters strongly affected by increasing global division of labour. Findings – The paper suggests that globalization has affected how firms use local resources and combine local and global knowledge. Unexpectedly, clustered firms with explicit procedures and established global fora for exchanging...

On the Efficiency of Local and Global Communication in Modular Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garcia, Ricardo Franco Mendoza; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh; Støy, Kasper

2009-01-01

, we conclude that global communication is convenient for centralized control approaches and local communication is convenient for distributed control approaches. In addition, we conclude that global is in general convenient for low-connectivity configurations, such as chains, trees or limbs......As exchange of information is essential to modular robots, deciding between local or global communication is a common design choice. This choice, however, still lacks theoretical support. In this paper we analyse the efficiency of local and global communication in modular robots. To this end, we...... use parameters to describe the topology of modular robots, develop a probabilistic model of local communication using these parameters and, using a model of global communication from literature, compare the transmission times of local and global communication in different robots. Based on our results...

Global water cycle: geochemistry and environment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Berner, Elizabeth Kay; Berner, Robert A

1987-01-01

.... The book provides an integrated approach to global geochemistry and environmental problems and introduces the reader to some fundamental concepts of geology, oceanography, meteorology, environmental...

Expanding global forest management: An easy first' proposal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winjum, J.K. (Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR (United States)); Meganck, R.A. (United Nations Environment Programme, Kingston (Jamaica)); Dixon, R.K.

1993-04-01

World leaders have become increasingly aware of the contributions of sustainable forest resources to political, social, economic, and environmental health. As a result, interest is growing for a world treaty or protocol on forest management and protection. This article focuses on global forest management. The first section discusses the current situtation in global forest management (10-12% of the total). Benefits of global benefit to management included sustained and even increased yield, slowing of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and conservation of biodiversity and increase sustainable use options. The Noordwijk Goal is discussed as one example of concrete global action. Finally, the easy first approach is presented in detail. It involves starting in areas where the obstacles are minimal to develop early momentum and a can do outlook for implementation. Difficulties of this approach involve dealing with the political, social, and economic aspects of resource constraints that many nations face daily. But the easy first approach attempts to demonstrate that not all financial commitments, political agreements and forest management techniques must be in place for work to start.

Memo to US energy executives: Don't forget global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howes, J.A.

1990-01-01

This article warns executives of energy related companies and government policy makers to not be complacent regarding the impact of future global warming legislation. The author feels that those companies that take a minimum approach to meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act may find themselves having to revise their approach in midstream to meet tougher global warming legislation requirements. The author approaches the issue as a challenge to the industry to compete in an increasingly environmentally-conscious worldwide market

Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic

Science.gov (United States)

Percivall, George; Plesea, Lucian

2003-01-01

The WMS Global Mosaic provides access to imagery of the global landmass using an open standard for web mapping. The seamless image is a mosaic of Landsat 7 scenes; geographically-accurate with 30 and 15 meter resolutions. By using the OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS) interface, any organization can use the global mosaic as a layer in their geospatial applications. Based on a trade study, an implementation approach was chosen that extends a previously developed WMS hosting a Landsat 5 CONUS mosaic developed by JPL. The WMS Global Mosaic supports the NASA Geospatial Interoperability Office goal of providing an integrated digital representation of the Earth, widely accessible for humanity's critical decisions.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and PAH-related DNA adducts.

Science.gov (United States)

Ewa, Błaszczyk; Danuta, Mielżyńska-Švach

2017-08-01

Investigations on the impact of chemicals on the environment and human health have led to the development of an exposome concept. The exposome refers to the totality of exposures received by a person during life, including exposures to life-style factors, from the prenatal period to death. The exposure to genotoxic chemicals and their reactive metabolites can induce chemical modifications of DNA, such as, for example, DNA adducts, which have been extensively studied and which play a key role in chemically induced carcinogenesis. Development of different methods for the identification of DNA adducts has led to adopting DNA adductomic approaches. The ability to simultaneously detect multiple PAH-derived DNA adducts may allow for the improved assessment of exposure, and offer a mechanistic insight into the carcinogenic process following exposure to PAH mixtures. The major advantage of measuring chemical-specific DNA adducts is the assessment of a biologically effective dose. This review provides information about the occurrence of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their influence on human exposure and biological effects, including PAH-derived DNA adduct formation and repair processes. Selected methods used for determination of DNA adducts have been presented.

MRI reconstruction with joint global regularization and transform learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanc, A Korhan; Eksioglu, Ender M

2016-10-01

Sparsity based regularization has been a popular approach to remedy the measurement scarcity in image reconstruction. Recently, sparsifying transforms learned from image patches have been utilized as an effective regularizer for the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reconstruction. Here, we infuse additional global regularization terms to the patch-based transform learning. We develop an algorithm to solve the resulting novel cost function, which includes both patchwise and global regularization terms. Extensive simulation results indicate that the introduced mixed approach has improved MRI reconstruction performance, when compared to the algorithms which use either of the patchwise transform learning or global regularization terms alone. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A global satellite assisted precipitation climatology

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, Christopher C.; Verdin, Andrew P.; Michaelsen, Joel C.; Pedreros, Diego; Husak, Gregory J.; Peterson, P.

2015-01-01

Accurate representations of mean climate conditions, especially in areas of complex terrain, are an important part of environmental monitoring systems. As high-resolution satellite monitoring information accumulates with the passage of time, it can be increasingly useful in efforts to better characterize the earth's mean climatology. Current state-of-the-science products rely on complex and sometimes unreliable relationships between elevation and station-based precipitation records, which can result in poor performance in food and water insecure regions with sparse observation networks. These vulnerable areas (like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, or Haiti) are often the critical regions for humanitarian drought monitoring. Here, we show that long period of record geo-synchronous and polar-orbiting satellite observations provide a unique new resource for producing high resolution (0.05°) global precipitation climatologies that perform reasonably well in data sparse regions. Traditionally, global climatologies have been produced by combining station observations and physiographic predictors like latitude, longitude, elevation, and slope. While such approaches can work well, especially in areas with reasonably dense observation networks, the fundamental relationship between physiographic variables and the target climate variables can often be indirect and spatially complex. Infrared and microwave satellite observations, on the other hand, directly monitor the earth's energy emissions. These emissions often correspond physically with the location and intensity of precipitation. We show that these relationships provide a good basis for building global climatologies. We also introduce a new geospatial modeling approach based on moving window regressions and inverse distance weighting interpolation. This approach combines satellite fields, gridded physiographic indicators, and in situ climate normals. The resulting global 0.05° monthly precipitation climatology, the Climate

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship Comment on "Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face".

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Jale

2017-05-23

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Teacher Research: Limits and Possibilities of Global and International Connections.

Science.gov (United States)

Diniz-Pereira, Julio Emilio

This paper suggests that teacher research, as an international movement, has the potential to become a counter-hegemonic strategy to construct critical teacher education approaches in a globalized world. It begins by describing globalization and discussing the distinction between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic globalization, or between…

The (Mis)appropriation of HIV/AIDS advocacy strategies in Global Mental Health: towards a more nuanced approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Howell, Alison; Mills, China; Rushton, Simon

2017-07-01

Mental health is increasingly finding a place on global health and international development agendas. Advocates for Global Mental Health (GMH), and international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, argue that treatments available in high-income countries should also be made available in low- and middle-income countries. Such arguments are often made by comparing mental health to infectious diseases, including the relative disease and economic burdens they impose, and pointing to the applicability of the right to access treatment for mental health, not only infectious diseases. HIV/AIDS advocacy in particular has been held up by GMH advocates as offering an appropriate strategy for generating global commitment. There is a need to assess how health issues are framed not only in relation to social goods outside of health (such as human rights, security or development), but also in relation to other health or disease models, and how health policy and practice is shaped as a result. The article debates the merits and consequences of likening mental health to HIV/AIDS, and identifies four major problems with the model for GMH advocacy being developed through these analogies: 1. An inappropriately universalizing global approach to context-specific problems; 2. A conception of human rights that focuses on the right to access treatment at the expense of the right to refuse it; 3. A tendency to treat poverty as a psychiatric issue, rather than recognizing that mental distress can be the result of poverty and other forms of inequality; 4. The prioritization of destigmatization of disease over social justice models. There are significant problems with the wholesale adoption of an (often simplified) version of HIV/AIDS advocacy as a model for GMH. Yet critical engagement with the important and nuanced differences between HIV/AIDS and mental health may nevertheless point to some possibilities for productive engagement and cross

Final Report, “Exploiting Global View for Resilience”

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chien, Andrew [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

2017-03-29

Final technical report for the "Exploiting Global View for Resilience" project. The GVR project aims to create a new approach to portable, resilient applications. The GVR approach builds on a global view data model,, adding versioning (multi-version), user control of timing and rate (multi-stream), and flexible cross layer error signalling and recovery. With a versioned array as a portable abstraction, GVR enables application programmers to exploit deep scientific and application code insights to manage resilience (and its overhead) in a flexible, portable fashion.

Global processing takes time: A meta-analysis on local-global visual processing in ASD.

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Hallen, Ruth; Evers, Kris; Brewaeys, Katrien; Van den Noortgate, Wim; Wagemans, Johan

2015-05-01

What does an individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceive first: the forest or the trees? In spite of 30 years of research and influential theories like the weak central coherence (WCC) theory and the enhanced perceptual functioning (EPF) account, the interplay of local and global visual processing in ASD remains only partly understood. Research findings vary in indicating a local processing bias or a global processing deficit, and often contradict each other. We have applied a formal meta-analytic approach and combined 56 articles that tested about 1,000 ASD participants and used a wide range of stimuli and tasks to investigate local and global visual processing in ASD. Overall, results show no enhanced local visual processing nor a deficit in global visual processing. Detailed analysis reveals a difference in the temporal pattern of the local-global balance, that is, slow global processing in individuals with ASD. Whereas task-dependent interaction effects are obtained, gender, age, and IQ of either participant groups seem to have no direct influence on performance. Based on the overview of the literature, suggestions are made for future research. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Global approaches to regulating electronic cigarettes

OpenAIRE

Kennedy, Ryan David; Awopegba, Ayodeji; De Le?n, Elaine; Cohen, Joanna E

2016-01-01

Objectives Classify and describe the policy approaches used by countries to regulate e-cigarettes. Methods National policies regulating e-cigarettes were identified by (1) conducting web searches on Ministry of Health websites, and (2) broad web searches. The mechanisms used to regulate e-cigarettes were classified as new/amended laws, or existing laws. The policy domains identified include restrictions or prohibitions on product: sale, manufacturing, importation, distribution, use, product d...

The application of weight windows to 'Global' Monte Carlo problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, T. L.; Larsen, E. W.

2009-01-01

This paper describes two basic types of global deep-penetration (shielding) problems-the global flux problem and the global response problem. For each of these, two methods for generating weight windows are presented. The first approach, developed by the authors of this paper and referred to generally as the Global Weight Window, constructs a weight window that distributes Monte Carlo particles according to a user-specified distribution. The second approach, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and referred to as FW-CADIS, constructs a weight window based on intuitively extending the concept of the source-detector problem to global problems. The numerical results confirm that the theory used to describe the Monte Carlo particle distribution for a given weight window is valid and that the figure of merit is strongly correlated to the Monte Carlo particle distribution. Furthermore, they illustrate that, while both methods are capable of obtaining the correct solution, the Global Weight Window distributes particles much more uniformly than FW-CADIS. As a result, the figure of merit is higher for the Global Weight Window. (authors)

Managing CSR Globally and Locally

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

L. Brown, Dana; Knudsen, Jette Steen

Corporate Responsibility (CR) is today an essential component of corporate global strategy. CR can bolster the institutional context for market expansion (Porter and Kramer 2006); fill institutional voids (Tarun, et.al. 2005); or facilitate market entry as a component of non-market strategy (Baron...... 2006). Yet, in fulfilling these functions, CR may need to be highly sensitive to local contexts. How can transnational firms organize CR so as to maximize efficiencies from globalization and to minimize the fragmentation of corporate organizational cultures? Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) provide...... a framework for analyzing the way that corporations coordinate global and local functions. We build on this framework in a case study of Novo Nordisk and its approach to determining global and local CR policies and procedures with regard to its China and United States subsidiaries. Our findings suggest...

The carbon-budget approach to climate stabilization: Costeffective subglobal versus global action

OpenAIRE

Eichner, Thomas; Pethig, Rüdiger

2010-01-01

Scientific expertise suggests that mitigating extreme world-wide climate change damages requires avoiding increases in the world mean temperature exceeding 2ê Celsius. To achieve the two degree target, the cumulated global emissions must not exceed some limit, the so-called global carbon budget. In a two-period twocountry general equilibrium model with a finite stock of fossil fuels we compare the cooperative cost-effective policy with the unilateral cost-effective policy of restricting emiss...

Biodiversity and global change. Adaptative responses to global change: results and prospective. IFB-GICC restitution colloquium; Biodiversite et changement global. Reponses adaptatives au changement global: resultats et prospective. Colloque de restitution IFB-GICC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Despres, L; Hossaert-Mckey, M; Martin, J F; Pont, D; Valero, M; Chave, J; Benizri, E; Amiaud, B; Boury-Esnault, N; Fritz, H; Lavelle, P; Martin, F; Poulet, S; Blanchard, F; Cheddadi, R; Dupouey, J L; Hulle, M; Michaux, J; Souissi, S; Bridault, A; Dambrine, E; Gomez, B; Thevenard, F; Legendre, S; Suc, J P; Zeitoun, V; Bezancon, G; Frascaria-Lacoste, N; Ponsard, S; Bourguet, D; Vigne, J D; Doyen, L; Joly, P; Gourlet-Fleury, S; Garnier, E; Lebaron, Ph; Boulinier, Th; Chuine, I; Jiguet, F; Couvet, D; Soussana, J F; Weimerskirsch, H; Grosbois, V; Bretagnolle, V

2006-07-01

Global change is the consequence of the worldwide human print on ecology. The uncontrolled use of fossil fuels, the urbanization, the intensifying of agriculture, the homogenization of life styles and cultures, the homogenization of fauna and vegetation, the commercial trades, the bio-invasions, the over-exploitation of resources and the emergence of new economic powers (China, India, Brazil..) represent an adaptative dynamics of interactions which affects the overall biosphere and the adaptative capacities and the future of all species. Biodiversity is an ecological and societal insurance against the risks and uncertainties linked with global change. The French institute of biodiversity (IFB) has created a working group in charge of a study on global change and biodiversity, in particular in terms of: speed and acceleration of processes, interaction between the different organization levels of the world of living, scale changes, and adaptative capacities. 38 projects with an interdisciplinary approach have been retained by the IFB and the Ministry of ecology and sustainable development. The conclusion of these projects were presented at this restitution colloquium and are summarized in this document. The presentations are organized in 7 sessions dealing with: global changes and adaptation mechanisms; functional responses to global changes; spatial responses to global changes; temporal responses to global changes; selective answers to global changes; available tools and ecological services; scenarios and projections. (J.S.)

Global governance and transnational financial crime: opportunities and tensions in the global anti-money laundering regime

OpenAIRE

Tsingou, Eleni

2005-01-01

This paper examines the global anti-money laundering regime, assesses its purpose and draws some conclusions with regards to its effectiveness as a tool for targeting transnational financial crime. The paper shows that targeting money laundering is presented as a means of strengthening the integrity of the financial system and tackling organised crime through a global approach, and contrasts official policies with actual (and potential) results in practice. The paper explains that at the core...

GLOBALIZATION AS A POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PHENOMENON

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Victoria Flores Trujillo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Globalization is defined as a process that integrates knowledge worldwide, has its historical reference on changes in the ways processes, methods and information are addressed; documented its inception in the late twentieth century, Castells, M. (2001 beyond the discrepancy about whether it is a product of technological development or an inevitable evolution of capitalism, research arises from the formulation of the following questions: How important is the study of globalization ?, What has produced important contributions in the scientific community about globalization? And What are the perspectives or approaches addressed? . This work aims to show how the scientific community has produced knowledge about this phenomenon addressing the political, economic and social approaches: From the economic point of view reconfigures how to address the processes of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in the world, permeating this way all international economic events. From the political point of view, besides the redistribution of emerging geopolitical blocs, it establishes a new category of state, transnational state. From the social point of view, it shows evidence of the negative effects of globalization on resizing the category personal, local or regional or even in global risk-Global group. The research is documentary literature, their contribution to social science evidence to characterize globalization as political, economic and social phenomenon of the century that permeates all areas of study applied.

Training healthcare professionals for the future: internationalism and effective inclusion of global health training.

Science.gov (United States)

Eaton, Deborah Murdoch; Redmond, Anthony; Bax, Nigel

2011-01-01

There has been a continuing rise in recent years of the number of medical schools in the developed world offering 'global health' teaching to its students. Yet, the term itself is used in a number of contexts and as yet no clear consensus on what constitutes an appropriate or successful global health education programme has been reached. Approaches to sustainable internationalisation of medical curricula include the expansion of not only opportunities for training in specific global health topics, but also the development of broader generic graduate attributes including global citizenship and ethical, cultural and social responsibility. Key components for successful implementation of such an educational framework includes a breadth of educational approach to effect truly integrated and effective curricular internationalisation. That such programmes can offer benefits is appreciated by both faculty and students alike, but there is also a burgeoning concern about potential negative effects of socially and culturally insensitive programmes. We explore three potential pedagogic approaches to the subject; Model A: an 'additive' or contributory model of global health content (the commonest current approach), Model B: an 'integrated' approach and Model C: the more challenging 'transformative' approach requiring institutional as well as programme flexibility.

The role of philosophy in global bioethics: introducing four trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Hellsten, Sirkku K

2015-04-01

This article examines the relationship between philosophy and culture in global bioethics. First, it studies what is meant by the term "global" in global bioethics. Second, the author introduces four different types, or recognizable trends, in philosophical inquiry in bioethics today. The main argument is that, in order to make better sense of the complexity of the ethical questions and challenges we face today across the globe, we need to embrace the universal nature of self-critical and analytical philosophical analysis and argumentation, rather than using seemingly philosophical approaches to give unjustified normative emphasis on different cultural approaches to bioethics.

Conflicts over natural resources in the Global South : conceptual approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bavinck, M.; Pellegrini, L.; Mostert, E.

2014-01-01

Inhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources - whether it is water, fish, wood fuel, minerals, or land - severely affect their livelihoods. The contributors to this volume

River export of triclosan from land to sea: A global modelling approach.

Science.gov (United States)

van Wijnen, Jikke; Ragas, Ad M J; Kroeze, Carolien

2018-04-15

Triclosan (TCS) is an antibacterial agent that is added to commonly used personal care products. Emitted to the aquatic environment in large quantities, it poses a potential threat to aquatic organisms. Triclosan enters the aquatic environment mainly through sewage effluent. We developed a global, spatially explicit model, the Global TCS model, to simulate triclosan transport by rivers to coastal areas. With this model we analysed annual, basin-wide triclosan export for the year 2000 and two future scenarios for the year 2050. Our analyses for 2000 indicate that triclosan export to coastal areas in Western Europe, Southeast Asia and the East Coast of the USA is higher than in the rest of the world. For future scenarios, the Global TCS model predicts an increase in river export of triclosan in Southeast Asia and a small decrease in Europe. The number of rivers with an annual average triclosan concentration at the river mouth that exceeds a PNEC of 26.2ng/L is projected to double between 2000 and 2050. This increase is most prominent in Southeast Asia, as a result of fast population growth, increasing urbanisation and increasing numbers of people connected to sewerage systems with poor wastewater treatment. Predicted triclosan loads correspond reasonably well with measured values. However, basin-specific predictions have considerable uncertainty due to lacking knowledge and location-specific data on the processes determining the fate of triclosan in river water, e.g. sorption, degradation and sedimentation. Additional research on the fate of triclosan in river systems is therefore recommended. We developed a global spatially explicit model to simulate triclosan export by rivers to coastal seas. For two future scenarios this Global TCS model projects an increase in river export of triclosan to several seas around the world. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Alignment of global supply networks based on strategic groups of supply chains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikos G. Moraitakis

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: From a supply chain perspective, often big differences exist between global raw material suppliers’ approaches to supply their respective local markets. The progressing complexity of large centrally managed global supply networks and their often-unknown upstream ramifications increase the likelihood of undetected bottlenecks and inefficiencies. It is therefore necessary to develop an approach to strategically master the upstream complexity of such networks from a holistic supply chain perspective in order to align regional competitive priorities and supply chain structures. The objective of this research is hence to develop an approach for the supply-chain-based alignment of complex global supply networks. Method: We review existing literature from the fields of supply chain and network management, strategic sourcing, and strategic management. Based on the literature review and theoretical and practical considerations we deduce a conceptual approach to consider upstream supply chain structures in supply network alignment initiatives. Results: On the basis of these considerations and current empirical literature we transfer strategic group theory to the supply network management context. The proposed approach introduces strategic groups of supply chains as a segmentation criterion for complex global supply networks which enables the network-wide alignment of competitive priorities. Conclusion: Supply-chain-based segmentation of global supply network structures can effectively reduce the complexity, firms face when aiming to strategically align their supply chains on a holistic level. The results of this research are applicable for certain types of global supply networks and can be used for network alignment and strategy development. The approach can furthermore generate insights useable for negotiation support with suppliers.

Global Climate Change as Perceived by Elementary School Teachers in YOGYAKARTA , Indigenous Psychology Approach

OpenAIRE

Arini, Aquilina Tanti; Ghazali, Ratna Juwita; Satiti, Arti; Mintarsih, Mintarsih; Yuniarti, Kwartarini W

2017-01-01

This study aimed to describe how the global climate change was perceived by teachers of elementary schools. The subjects were 111 teachers from 7 elementary schools in Yogyakarta City and Sleman district. The data were collected using open-ended questions (including perception about the weather, feeling evoked by global warming words and free responses related to global warming issues). The data were analyzed using the technique of qualitative and quantitative content analysis with Indigenous...

Global Operations Networks in Motion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Slepniov, Dmitrij; Jørgensen, Claus; Wæhrens, Brian Vejrum

2009-01-01

This paper addresses the phenomenon of global operations networks and how they change over time. The paper is based on the cases of three Danish companies and their global operations networks. It finds a number of common patterns highlighting some organisational effects and managerial challenges...... the companies face regarding rapid changes in their networks configurations and capabilities. The paper details the variables determining these changes and suggests how the on-going interplay between the focal organisation, its network partners, and their various contextual conditions can be approached....

Global warming and environmental contaminants in aquatic organisms: the need of the etho-toxicology approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Manciocco, Arianna; Calamandrei, Gemma; Alleva, Enrico

2014-04-01

Environmental contaminants are associated with a wide spectrum of pathological effects. Temperature increase affects ambient distribution and toxicity of these chemicals in the water environment, representing a potentially emerging problem for aquatic species with short-, medium- and long-term repercussions on human health through the food chain. We assessed peer-reviewed literature, including primary studies, review articles and organizational reports available. We focused on studies concerning toxicity of environmental pollutants within a global warming scenario. Existing knowledge on the effects that the increase of water temperature in a contaminated situation has on physiological mechanisms of aquatic organisms is presented. Altogether we consider the potential consequences for the human beings due to fish and shellfish consumption. Finally, we propose an etho-toxicological approach to study the effects of toxicants in conditions of thermal increase, using aquatic organisms as experimental models under laboratory controlled conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Some anthropological aspects of globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đurić Jelena B.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Awareness about the role of anthropological perspective places each anthropological research within the context of globalization, pointing at the need for making the difference between concepts of globalization as the description and as the political project. This differentiation represents a frame of the research of globalization phenomena in order to understand their influence on concrete people in a concrete situation. The importance of the role of concepts in ubiquitous transformation of human lives is also confirmed in the paper. This is the way the influence of one culture unfolds through the dominant concepts, the culture which symbolically and normatively imposes itself as 'global' in spite of the fact that it is 'local' not only (and/or not any more in territorial sense but in its materialistic approach to the values. Hence, horizontal communication (globally available via the internet could serve to the communication of values as crucial spiritual points. It could contribute not only to the widening of cultural circles, but to the evolution of consciousness about the generalization of values up to the universal. This requires transcending of particular interests, which prevent effective conceptualization of the global anthropological meaning.

Multiple Cultures of Doing Geography Facilitate Global Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Ahamer, Gilbert

2013-01-01

Purpose: This article aims to explain why geography is a prime discipline for analysing globalisation and a multicultural view of Global Studies. The generic approach of human geography to first select an appropriate methodology is taken as a key approach. Design/methodology/approach: Concepts from aggregate disciplines such as history, economics,…

Towards an International Approach to Nuclear Safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomihiro Taniguchi

2006-01-01

This document presents in a series of transparencies the different activities of the IAEA: Introduction of International Atomic Energy Agency, Changing world, Changing Technology, Changing Global Security, Developing Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems, Global Nuclear Safety Regime, IAEA Safety Standards: Hierarchy - Global Reference for Striving for Excellence, IAEA Safety Reviews and Services: Integrated Safety Approach, Global Knowledge Network - Asian Nuclear Safety Network, Safety Issues and Challenges, Synergy between Safety and Security, Recent Developments: Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources, Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), Incident and Emergency Preparedness and Response, Holistic Approach for Safety and Security, Sustainable Development. (J.S.)

Role and importance of leadership in the conditions of global business

OpenAIRE

Aleksić Ana

2007-01-01

The paper discusses features of leaders and leadership in global enterprises. The key hypothesis is that in times of globalization a different approach to leadership is necessary than the one proposed by the traditional leadership theory. The paper also indicates some techniques for the management of global enterprises to promote and incite the development of global leadership.

Global-local Knowledge Coupling Approach to Support Airframe Structural Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, H.

2014-01-01

The outsourcing that has taken place in the aircraft industry over the last few decades has created a globalized supply chain from and to a limited number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This has led to multi-level design due to the shift from airframe subsystem design to suppliers.

The workforce for health in a globalized context--global shortages and international migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Aluttis, Christoph; Bishaw, Tewabech; Frank, Martina W

2014-01-01

The 'crisis in human resources' in the health sector has been described as one of the most pressing global health issues of our time. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world faces a global shortage of almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. A global undersupply of these threatens the quality and sustainability of health systems worldwide. This undersupply is concurrent with globalization and the resulting liberalization of markets, which allow health workers to offer their services in countries other than those of their origin. The opportunities of health workers to seek employment abroad has led to a complex migration pattern, characterized by a flow of health professionals from low- to high-income countries. This global migration pattern has sparked a broad international debate about the consequences for health systems worldwide, including questions about sustainability, justice, and global social accountabilities. This article provides a review of this phenomenon and gives an overview of the current scope of health workforce migration patterns. It further focuses on the scientific discourse regarding health workforce migration and its effects on both high- and low-income countries in an interdependent world. The article also reviews the internal and external factors that fuel health worker migration and illustrates how health workforce migration is a classic global health issue of our time. Accordingly, it elaborates on the international community's approach to solving the workforce crisis, focusing in particular on the WHO Code of Practice, established in 2010.

What contribution can international relations make to the evolving global health agenda?

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Sara E

2010-01-01

This article presents two approaches that have dominated International Relations in their approach to the international politics of health. The statist approach, which is primarily security-focused, seeks to link health initiatives to a foreign or defence policy remit. The globalist approach, in contrast, seeks to advance health not because of its intrinsic security value but because it advances the well-being and rights of individuals. This article charts the evolution of these approaches and demonstrates why both have the potential to shape our understanding of the evolving global health agenda. It examines how the statist and globalist perspectives have helped shape contemporary initiatives in global health governance and suggests that there is evidence of an emerging convergence between the two perspectives. This convergence is particularly clear in the articulation of a number of UN initiatives in this area - especially the One World, One Health Strategic Framework and the Oslo Ministerial Declaration (2007) which inspired the first UN General Assembly resolution on global health and foreign policy in 2009 and the UN Secretary-General's note "Global health and foreign policy: strategic opportunities and challenges". What remains to be seen is whether this convergence will deliver on securing states' interest long enough to promote the interests of the individuals who require global efforts to deliver local health improvements.

Globalizing land use transitions: the soybean acceleration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reenberg, Anette; Fenger, Nina Astrid

2011-01-01

into a leading player on the global scale. It takes point of departure in a land change science approach and employs the notions of underlying and proximate drivers and teleconnections to characterize the process of land use change in relation to the accelerating use of land for soybean cultivation.......This note presents the recent global development trends in soybean cultivation as derived from the FAO statistics. It focuses on the change over the course of the last thirty years, when significant new allocations of the global production have occurred, which have turned South America...

Global cities and cultural experimentation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rojas Gaviria, Pilar; Emontspool, Julie

2015-01-01

Purpose: Studying the cultural dynamics of expatriate amateur theater in Brussels, this paper investigates multicultural marketplace development in contemporary global cities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper performs an interpretive analysis of the expatriate amateur scene in Brussels from...... an ethnographic perspective, combining observations of rehearsals and performances, in-depth interviews with actors, directors and audience, and secondary data. Findings: The fluidity of global cities allows their inhabitants to engage in collective creative processes of cultural experimentation, performing...... to the important role of global cities for cultural experimentation. Such cities are not only an interesting market for culturally diverse products, but also learning hubs. Managers willing to address multicultural marketplaces might target these markets with dynamic cultural offers that ensure a balance between...

Creating a Global Law Graduate: The Need, Benefits and Practical Approaches to Internationalise the Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

O'Sullivan, Carmel; McNamara, Judith

2015-01-01

The increasingly integrated world has facilitated important international and trans-border trends, such as a progressively connected global economy, a significant growth in transnational business transactions and an increase in global regulation of global issues. Such globalisation has had a transformational impact on the legal profession in a…

Ideological Hegemony and Global Governance

OpenAIRE

Thomas Ford Brown

2015-01-01

In this paper, I analyze libertarian discourse from the perspective of regulation theory, a~ a hegemonic ideology that underlies the emergence of a new mode of regulation. Within this general theoretical approach, I will also employ frames from regime theory as developed by international relations scholars, as well as the "epistemic community" approach from the same discipline. I want to suggest that free-market ideology could engender the emergence of rationalized global governance in order ...

What Is Local or Global about Wine? An Attempt to Objectivize a Social Construction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean-Marc Touzard

2016-04-01

Full Text Available What is a “local” food chain as opposed to a “global” chain? Are local food chains more sustainable than global chains? In the context of market globalization and the proliferation of local alternatives, these questions have taken on a new aspect, which has been addressed by the GLAMUR (Global and Local food chain Assessment: a Multidimensional performance-based approach project. Using an analysis of three archetypal wine chains in the south of France, and considering food chains as embedded social constructions, we will first attempt to objectivize which aspects of wine are local, and which are global, using a multidimensional analytical approach. As local vs. global characteristics seem to be strategic assets or constraints, and not structural components, we will then outline an evaluative approach to wine chain sustainability by valuing qualitative indicators to be scored and benchmarked by experts. We will discuss our findings from a scientific and operational perspective by highlighting how a local vs. global approach produces new sustainability issues and practical solutions. Nevertheless, as concrete chains often mix global and local characteristics, further research must be done in order to assess how this combination may be sustainable for different types of actors, depending on their values, capacities, networks and constraints.

An integrated approach for estimating global glacio isostatic adjustment, land ice, hydrology and ocean mass trends within a complete coupled Earth system framework

Science.gov (United States)

Schumacher, M.; Bamber, J. L.; Martin, A.

2016-12-01

Future sea level rise (SLR) is one of the most serious consequences of climate change. Therefore, understanding the drivers of past sea level change is crucial for improving predictions. SLR integrates many Earth system components including oceans, land ice, terrestrial water storage, as well as solid Earth effects. Traditionally, each component have been tackled separately, which has often lead to inconsistencies between discipline-specific estimates of each part of the sea level budget. To address these issues, the European Research Council has funded a five year project aimed at producing a physically-based, data-driven solution for the complete coupled land-ocean-solid Earth system that is consistent with the full suite of observations, prior knowledge and fundamental geophysical constraints. The project is called "GlobalMass" and based at University of Bristol. Observed mass movement from the GRACE mission plus vertical land motion from a global network of permanent GPS stations will be utilized in a data-driven approach to estimate glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) without introducing any assumptions about the Earth structure or ice loading history. A Bayesian Hierarchical Model (BHM) will be used as the framework to combine the satellite and in-situ observations alongside prior information that incorporates the physics of the coupled system such as conservation of mass and characteristic length scales of different processes in both space and time. The BHM is used to implement a simultaneous solution at a global scale. It will produce a consistent partitioning of the integrated SLR signal into its steric (thermal) and barystatic (mass) component for the satellite era. The latter component is induced by hydrological mass trends and melting of land ice. The BHM was developed and tested on Antarctica, where it has been used to separate surface, ice dynamic and GIA signals simultaneously. We illustrate the approach and concepts with examples from this test case

Modeling Global Water Use for the 21st Century: Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) Initiative and Its Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Wada, Y.; Florke, M.; Hanasaki, N.; Eisner, S.; Fischer, G.; Tramberend, S.; Satoh, Y.; van Vliet, M. T. H.; Yillia, P.; Ringler, C.;

Global spatiotemporal distribution of soil respiration modeled using a global database

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, S.; Carvalhais, N.; Ito, A.; Migliavacca, M.; Nishina, K.; Reichstein, M.

2015-07-01

The flux of carbon dioxide from the soil to the atmosphere (soil respiration) is one of the major fluxes in the global carbon cycle. At present, the accumulated field observation data cover a wide range of geographical locations and climate conditions. However, there are still large uncertainties in the magnitude and spatiotemporal variation of global soil respiration. Using a global soil respiration data set, we developed a climate-driven model of soil respiration by modifying and updating Raich's model, and the global spatiotemporal distribution of soil respiration was examined using this model. The model was applied at a spatial resolution of 0.5°and a monthly time step. Soil respiration was divided into the heterotrophic and autotrophic components of respiration using an empirical model. The estimated mean annual global soil respiration was 91 Pg C yr-1 (between 1965 and 2012; Monte Carlo 95 % confidence interval: 87-95 Pg C yr-1) and increased at the rate of 0.09 Pg C yr-2. The contribution of soil respiration from boreal regions to the total increase in global soil respiration was on the same order of magnitude as that of tropical and temperate regions, despite a lower absolute magnitude of soil respiration in boreal regions. The estimated annual global heterotrophic respiration and global autotrophic respiration were 51 and 40 Pg C yr-1, respectively. The global soil respiration responded to the increase in air temperature at the rate of 3.3 Pg C yr-1 °C-1, and Q10 = 1.4. Our study scaled up observed soil respiration values from field measurements to estimate global soil respiration and provide a data-oriented estimate of global soil respiration. The estimates are based on a semi-empirical model parameterized with over one thousand data points. Our analysis indicates that the climate controls on soil respiration may translate into an increasing trend in global soil respiration and our analysis emphasizes the relevance of the soil carbon flux from soil to

A Comparison of Local and Global Formulations of Thermodynamics

Science.gov (United States)

DeVoe, Howard

2013-01-01

Several educators have advocated teaching thermodynamics using a"global" approach in place of the conventional "local" approach. This article uses four examples of experiments to illustrate the two formulations and the definitions of heat and work associated with them. Advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are…

Salutogenesis, globalization, and communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Petzold, Theodor Dierk; Lehmann, Nadja

2011-12-01

Achieving successful communication in transcultural contexts means integrating emotional communication patterns into a global context. Professional, rational communication is characteristic of the cultural dimension, and emotions are characteristic of the direct, interpersonal dimension of human existence. Humans strive to achieve coherence in all dimensions of their lives; this goal is in the end the most essential aspect of psychophysical self-regulation. A major role in integrating emotional needs and cultural features in global coherence is played by the attractor 'global affinity'. The transitions from emotional coherence to cultural coherence, and likewise from cultural coherence to global coherence, can cause considerable insecurity as well as psychological problems, which previously went by the name 'adjustment disorders'. However, instead of pathologizing these processes, we should understand them in a salutogenic sense as challenges important for both individual and collective development. The development of more coherence is regulated by the neuropsychological approach and avoidance system. This system can be consciously fostered by directing our attention to the commonalities of all human beings. Such a global salutogenic orientation furthers both communication and creativity in teamwork. This article introduces a consequent salutogenic and evolutionary systemic view of transcultural communication and demonstrates its effectiveness in a number of case examples.

Africa and global recessions: Options for reducing vulnerability in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Africa and global recessions: Options for reducing vulnerability in future. ... It concludes that traditional or conventional, market-based approaches do not adequately explain the root causes of global recessions and that the dominant counter-cyclical Keynesian-type fiscal and monetary policies that characterised the ...

Learning Global Leadership via Liberation Projects: An Interdisciplinary Application

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Shelbee

2014-01-01

Global leadership programs framed within singular cultural contexts do not promote authentic leadership. Unilateral methods may exclude individual multicultural experiences or identities, and further, encourage a one-size fits all approach to leadership. An interdisciplinary global leadership course aims to promote authentic unlearning and…

Supplementary Material for: A global sensitivity analysis approach for morphogenesis models

KAUST Repository

Boas, Sonja; Navarro, Marí a; Merks, Roeland; Blom, Joke

2015-01-01

) represent cell properties and behaviors that drive the mechanisms of angiogenic sprouting. The global sensitivity analysis correctly identified the dominant parameters in the model, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the analysis provided

Global Tourism. New Volatility, Old Statistics

OpenAIRE

Corti, Alberto

2016-01-01

In 2015 the scenario of global tourism has radically changed. The new scenario has shifted from the approach of the foregoing “closed-circuit” international tourism flows and the creation of different development centres of the tourism economy in the world taking over the global business that was previously in the hands of Europe and North America. The globalisation of tourism is unavoidable and, in many respects, positive. The creation of new tourist destinations and new countries generating...

Global Health Governance at a Crossroads.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Nora Y; Ruger, Jennifer Prah

2011-06-21

This review takes stock of the global health governance (GHG) literature. We address the transition from international health governance (IHG) to global health governance, identify major actors, and explain some challenges and successes in GHG. We analyze the framing of health as national security, human security, human rights, and global public good, and the implications of these various frames. We also establish and examine from the literature GHG's major themes and issues, which include: 1) persistent GHG problems; 2) different approaches to tackling health challenges (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal); 3) health's multisectoral connections; 4) neoliberalism and the global economy; 5) the framing of health (e.g. as a security issue, as a foreign policy issue, as a human rights issue, and as a global public good); 6) global health inequalities; 7) local and country ownership and capacity; 8) international law in GHG; and 9) research gaps in GHG. We find that decades-old challenges in GHG persist and GHG needs a new way forward. A framework called shared health governance offers promise.

Modeling higher education attractiveness to stand global environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonel Cezar Rodrigues

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Inabilities to deal with the changing environment may lead Higher Education Institutions (HEI to loose institutional attractiveness. Digital transformation requires global insertion as essential feature to institutional attractiveness. Processes for international education seem to lack the links between real environmental trends and the internal capabilities to global education. HEI managers may approach endeavors to internationalize education combining ambidextrous strategy supported by consolidated resilience capabilities. The latest ones refer to building internal value attributes to increase institutional attractiveness assuring solid standing in the global environment. In this article, a theoretical essay, we approach the problem of creating resilience as a way of backing up ambidexterity to generate institutional attractiveness. The set of value attributes, on the other hand, may originate strategic routes to strengthen internal competences and to make the institution more attractive, as a dynamic capability.

Bringing the Global Home: Students Research Local Areas through Postcolonial Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Ricarda

2018-01-01

This article describes a class that draws on postcolonial insights to create a global sociological imagination. Postcolonial approaches can make visible how global connections have shaped our local environments even if these relations are not always immediately visible. Specifically, students in this class highlight how global relations, such as…

Approaches to the embedding of sustainability into the engineering curriculum - where are we now, and how do our graduates become global engineers?

OpenAIRE

Steiner, Simon; Penlington, Roger

2010-01-01

This paper presents a resume of how the topic of sustainability can become fully-integrated into the engineering curriculum in the UK, and how this needs to evolve toward consideration of how graduates could be better developed as global engineers. The paper begins by providing a justification as to why sustainability is an important feature of the already overcrowded engineering curriculum, and briefly reports, through illustrative examples, on alternative approaches which currently embed su...

Conceptualising global health: theoretical issues and their relevance for teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rowson Mike

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There has long been debate around the definition of the field of education, research and practice known as global health. In this article we step back from attempts at definition and instead ask what current definitions tell us about the evolution of the field, identifying gaps and points of debate and using these to inform discussions of how global health might be taught. Discussion What we now know as global health has its roots in the late 19th century, in the largely colonial, biomedical pursuit of ‘international health’. The twentieth century saw a change in emphasis of the field towards a much broader conceptualisation of global health, encompassing broader social determinants of health and a truly global focus. The disciplinary focus has broadened greatly to include economics, anthropology and political science, among others. There have been a number of attempts to define the new field of global health. We suggest there are three central areas of contention: what the object of knowledge of global health is, the types of knowledge to be used and around the purpose of knowledge in the field of global health. We draw a number of conclusions from this discussion. First, that definitions should pay attention to differences as well as commonalities in different parts of the world, and that the definitions of global health themselves depend to some extent on the position of the definer. Second, global health’s core strength lies in its interdisciplinary character, in particular the incorporation of approaches from outside biomedicine. This approach recognises that political, social and economic factors are central causes of ill health. Last, we argue that definition should avoid inclusion of values. In particular we argue that equity, a key element of many definitions of global health, is a value-laden concept and carries with it significant ideological baggage. As such, its widespread inclusion in the definitions of

Conceptualising global health: theoretical issues and their relevance for teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowson, Mike; Willott, Chris; Hughes, Rob; Maini, Arti; Martin, Sophie; Miranda, J Jaime; Pollit, Vicki; Smith, Abi; Wake, Rae; Yudkin, John S

2012-11-14

There has long been debate around the definition of the field of education, research and practice known as global health. In this article we step back from attempts at definition and instead ask what current definitions tell us about the evolution of the field, identifying gaps and points of debate and using these to inform discussions of how global health might be taught. What we now know as global health has its roots in the late 19(th) century, in the largely colonial, biomedical pursuit of 'international health'. The twentieth century saw a change in emphasis of the field towards a much broader conceptualisation of global health, encompassing broader social determinants of health and a truly global focus. The disciplinary focus has broadened greatly to include economics, anthropology and political science, among others. There have been a number of attempts to define the new field of global health. We suggest there are three central areas of contention: what the object of knowledge of global health is, the types of knowledge to be used and around the purpose of knowledge in the field of global health. We draw a number of conclusions from this discussion. First, that definitions should pay attention to differences as well as commonalities in different parts of the world, and that the definitions of global health themselves depend to some extent on the position of the definer. Second, global health's core strength lies in its interdisciplinary character, in particular the incorporation of approaches from outside biomedicine. This approach recognises that political, social and economic factors are central causes of ill health. Last, we argue that definition should avoid inclusion of values. In particular we argue that equity, a key element of many definitions of global health, is a value-laden concept and carries with it significant ideological baggage. As such, its widespread inclusion in the definitions of global health is inappropriate as it suggests that only

Global experience curves for wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Junginger, M.; Faaij, A.; Turkenburg, W.C.

2005-01-01

In order to forecast the technological development and cost of wind turbines and the production costs of wind electricity, frequent use is made of the so-called experience curve concept. Experience curves of wind turbines are generally based on data describing the development of national markets, which cause a number of problems when applied for global assessments. To analyze global wind energy price development more adequately, we compose a global experience curve. First, underlying factors for past and potential future price reductions of wind turbines are analyzed. Also possible implications and pitfalls when applying the experience curve methodology are assessed. Second, we present and discuss a new approach of establishing a global experience curve and thus a global progress ratio for the investment cost of wind farms. Results show that global progress ratios for wind farms may lie between 77% and 85% (with an average of 81%), which is significantly more optimistic than progress ratios applied in most current scenario studies and integrated assessment models. While the findings are based on a limited amount of data, they may indicate faster price reduction opportunities than so far assumed. With this global experience curve we aim to improve the reliability of describing the speed with which global costs of wind power may decline

Competing intelligent search agents in global optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Streltsov, S.; Vakili, P. [Boston Univ., MA (United States); Muchnik, I. [Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)

1996-12-31

In this paper we present a new search methodology that we view as a development of intelligent agent approach to the analysis of complex system. The main idea is to consider search process as a competition mechanism between concurrent adaptive intelligent agents. Agents cooperate in achieving a common search goal and at the same time compete with each other for computational resources. We propose a statistical selection approach to resource allocation between agents that leads to simple and efficient on average index allocation policies. We use global optimization as the most general setting that encompasses many types of search problems, and show how proposed selection policies can be used to improve and combine various global optimization methods.

Double-Difference Global Adjoint Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Orsvuran, R.; Bozdag, E.; Lei, W.; Tromp, J.

2017-12-01

The adjoint method allows us to incorporate full waveform simulations in inverse problems. Misfit functions play an important role in extracting the relevant information from seismic waveforms. In this study, our goal is to apply the Double-Difference (DD) methodology proposed by Yuan et al. (2016) to global adjoint tomography. Dense seismic networks, such as USArray, lead to higher-resolution seismic images underneath continents. However, the imbalanced distribution of stations and sources poses challenges in global ray coverage. We adapt double-difference multitaper measurements to global adjoint tomography. We normalize each DD measurement by its number of pairs, and if a measurement has no pair, as may frequently happen for data recorded at oceanic stations, classical multitaper measurements are used. As a result, the differential measurements and pair-wise weighting strategy help balance uneven global kernel coverage. Our initial experiments with minor- and major-arc surface waves show promising results, revealing more pronounced structure near dense networks while reducing the prominence of paths towards cluster of stations. We have started using this new measurement in global adjoint inversions, addressing azimuthal anisotropy in upper mantle. Meanwhile, we are working on combining the double-difference approach with instantaneous phase measurements to emphasize contributions of scattered waves in global inversions and extending it to body waves. We will present our results and discuss challenges and future directions in the context of global tomographic inversions.

Global Economic Impact of Dental Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Listl, S; Galloway, J; Mossey, P A; Marcenes, W

2015-10-01

Reporting the economic burden of oral diseases is important to evaluate the societal relevance of preventing and addressing oral diseases. In addition to treatment costs, there are indirect costs to consider, mainly in terms of productivity losses due to absenteeism from work. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the direct and indirect costs of dental diseases worldwide to approximate the global economic impact. Estimation of direct treatment costs was based on a systematic approach. For estimation of indirect costs, an approach suggested by the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health was employed, which factored in 2010 values of gross domestic product per capita as provided by the International Monetary Fund and oral burden of disease estimates from the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study. Direct treatment costs due to dental diseases worldwide were estimated at US$298 billion yearly, corresponding to an average of 4.6% of global health expenditure. Indirect costs due to dental diseases worldwide amounted to US$144 billion yearly, corresponding to economic losses within the range of the 10 most frequent global causes of death. Within the limitations of currently available data sources and methodologies, these findings suggest that the global economic impact of dental diseases amounted to US$442 billion in 2010. Improvements in population oral health may imply substantial economic benefits not only in terms of reduced treatment costs but also because of fewer productivity losses in the labor market. © International & American Associations for Dental Research 2015.

Globalizing the history of disease, medicine, and public health in Latin America.

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, Mariola

2013-12-01

The history of Latin America, the history of disease, medicine, and public health, and global history are deeply intertwined, but the intersection of these three fields has not yet attracted sustained attention from historians. Recent developments in the historiography of disease, medicine, and public health in Latin America suggest, however, that a distinctive, global approach to the topic is beginning to emerge. This essay identifies the distinguishing characteristic of this approach as an attentiveness to transfers of contagions, cures, and medical knowledge from Latin America to the rest of the world and then summarizes a few episodes that demonstrate its promise. While national as well as colonial and neocolonial histories of Latin America have made important contributions to our understanding, works taking the global approach have the potential to contribute more directly to the decentering of the global history of disease, medicine, and public health.

Globalizing Policy Sociology in Education: Working with Bourdieu

Science.gov (United States)

Lingard, Bob; Rawolle, Shaun; Taylor, Sandra

2005-01-01

This paper uses Bourdieu to develop theorizing about policy processes in education and to extend the policy cycle approach in a time of globalization. Use is made of Bourdieu's concept of social field and the argument is sustained that in the context of globalization the field of educational policy has reduced autonomy, with enhanced cross-field…

Social Capital and Global Mindset

Science.gov (United States)

Mikhaylov, Natalie S.; Fierro, Isidro

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of development of cultural knowledge and cosmopolitan identities among international management students in multicultural learning environments and to investigate how international business students develop global mindset during their studies. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative…

Non-communicable diseases and global health governance: enhancing global processes to improve health development.

Science.gov (United States)

Magnusson, Roger S

2007-05-22

This paper assesses progress in the development of a global framework for responding to non-communicable diseases, as reflected in the policies and initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank and the UN: the institutions most capable of shaping a coherent global policy. Responding to the global burden of chronic disease requires a strategic assessment of the global processes that are likely to be most effective in generating commitment to policy change at country level, and in influencing industry behaviour. WHO has adopted a legal process with tobacco (the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), but a non-legal, advocacy-based approach with diet and physical activity (the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health). The paper assesses the merits of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the FCTC as distinct global processes for advancing health development, before considering what lessons might be learned for enhancing the implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet. While global partnerships, economic incentives, and international legal instruments could each contribute to a more effective global response to chronic diseases, the paper makes a special case for the development of international legal standards in select areas of diet and nutrition, as a strategy for ensuring that the health of future generations does not become dependent on corporate charity and voluntary commitments. A broader frame of reference for lifestyle-related chronic diseases is needed: one that draws together WHO's work in tobacco, nutrition and physical activity, and that envisages selective use of international legal obligations, non-binding recommendations, advocacy and policy advice as tools of choice for promoting different elements of the strategy.

Non-communicable diseases and global health governance: enhancing global processes to improve health development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magnusson Roger S

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract This paper assesses progress in the development of a global framework for responding to non-communicable diseases, as reflected in the policies and initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO, World Bank and the UN: the institutions most capable of shaping a coherent global policy. Responding to the global burden of chronic disease requires a strategic assessment of the global processes that are likely to be most effective in generating commitment to policy change at country level, and in influencing industry behaviour. WHO has adopted a legal process with tobacco (the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but a non-legal, advocacy-based approach with diet and physical activity (the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The paper assesses the merits of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs and the FCTC as distinct global processes for advancing health development, before considering what lessons might be learned for enhancing the implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet. While global partnerships, economic incentives, and international legal instruments could each contribute to a more effective global response to chronic diseases, the paper makes a special case for the development of international legal standards in select areas of diet and nutrition, as a strategy for ensuring that the health of future generations does not become dependent on corporate charity and voluntary commitments. A broader frame of reference for lifestyle-related chronic diseases is needed: one that draws together WHO's work in tobacco, nutrition and physical activity, and that envisages selective use of international legal obligations, non-binding recommendations, advocacy and policy advice as tools of choice for promoting different elements of the strategy.

Forecasting the Global Mean Sea Level, a Continuous-Time State-Space Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boldrini, Lorenzo

In this paper we propose a continuous-time, Gaussian, linear, state-space system to model the relation between global mean sea level (GMSL) and the global mean temperature (GMT), with the aim of making long-term projections for the GMSL. We provide a justification for the model specification based......) and the temperature reconstruction from Hansen et al. (2010). We compare the forecasting performance of the proposed specification to the procedures developed in Rahmstorf (2007b) and Vermeer and Rahmstorf (2009). Finally, we compute projections for the sea-level rise conditional on the 21st century SRES temperature...

Global public health today: connecting the dots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Lomazzi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Global public health today faces new challenges and is impacted by a range of actors from within and outside state boundaries. The diversity of the actors involved has created challenges and a complex environment that requires a new context-tailored global approach. The World Federation of Public Health Associations has embarked on a collaborative consultation with the World Health Organization to encourage a debate on how to adapt public health to its future role in global health. Design: A qualitative study was undertaken. High-level stakeholders from leading universities, multilateral organizations, and other institutions worldwide participated in the study. Inductive content analyses were performed. Results: Stakeholders underscored that global public health today should tackle the political, commercial, economic, social, and environmental determinants of health and social inequalities. A multisectoral and holistic approach should be guaranteed, engaging public health in broad dialogues and a concerted decision-making process. The connection between neoliberal ideology and public health reforms should be taken into account. The WHO must show leadership and play a supervising and technical role. More and better data are required across many programmatic areas of public health. Resources should be allocated in a sustainable and accountable way. Public health professionals need new skills that should be provided by a collaborative global education system. A common framework context-tailored to influence governments has been evaluated as useful. Conclusions: The study highlighted some of the main public health challenges currently under debate in the global arena, providing interesting ideas. A more inclusive integrated vision of global health in its complexity, shared and advocated for by all stakeholders involved in decision-making processes, is crucial. This vision represents the first step in innovating public health at the

Global public health today: connecting the dots

Science.gov (United States)

Lomazzi, Marta; Jenkins, Christopher; Borisch, Bettina

2016-01-01

Background Global public health today faces new challenges and is impacted by a range of actors from within and outside state boundaries. The diversity of the actors involved has created challenges and a complex environment that requires a new context-tailored global approach. The World Federation of Public Health Associations has embarked on a collaborative consultation with the World Health Organization to encourage a debate on how to adapt public health to its future role in global health. Design A qualitative study was undertaken. High-level stakeholders from leading universities, multilateral organizations, and other institutions worldwide participated in the study. Inductive content analyses were performed. Results Stakeholders underscored that global public health today should tackle the political, commercial, economic, social, and environmental determinants of health and social inequalities. A multisectoral and holistic approach should be guaranteed, engaging public health in broad dialogues and a concerted decision-making process. The connection between neoliberal ideology and public health reforms should be taken into account. The WHO must show leadership and play a supervising and technical role. More and better data are required across many programmatic areas of public health. Resources should be allocated in a sustainable and accountable way. Public health professionals need new skills that should be provided by a collaborative global education system. A common framework context-tailored to influence governments has been evaluated as useful. Conclusions The study highlighted some of the main public health challenges currently under debate in the global arena, providing interesting ideas. A more inclusive integrated vision of global health in its complexity, shared and advocated for by all stakeholders involved in decision-making processes, is crucial. This vision represents the first step in innovating public health at the global level and should lead

Globalization and social determinants of health: The role of the global marketplace (part 2 of 3

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schrecker Ted

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Globalization is a key context for the study of social determinants of health (SDH: broadly stated, SDH are the conditions in which people live and work, and that affect their opportunities to lead healthy lives. In the first article in this three part series, we described the origins of the series in work conducted for the Globalization Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health and in the Commission's specific concern with health equity. We identified and defended a definition of globalization that gives primacy to the drivers and effects of transnational economic integration, and addressed a number of important conceptual and methodological issues in studying globalization's effects on SDH and their distribution, emphasizing the need for transdisciplinary approaches that reflect the complexity of the topic. In this second article, we identify and describe several, often interacting clusters of pathways leading from globalization to changes in SDH that are relevant to health equity. These involve: trade liberalization; the global reorganization of production and labour markets; debt crises and economic restructuring; financial liberalization; urban settings; influences that operate by way of the physical environment; and health systems changed by the global marketplace.

Global Carbon-and-Conservation Models, Global Eco-States? Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative and Governance Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Conny Davidsen

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The “global carbon age” marks a structural change far beyond the economic realms of implementing carbon trade, affecting the fabric of global environmental governance and its actors. Carbon trade and conservation in the Global South have taken on various forms, and climate change mitigation efforts in light of continued rainforest deforestation are scrambling to establish effective approaches. Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative proposes a new global carbon-and-conservation model in the Ecuadorian Amazon that leaves oil reserves of the Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT oil fields underground, in exchange for international compensation payments that would be based on voluntary contributions of governments and nongovernmental actors in an international conservation partnership and trust fund under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme. This model suggests far-reaching consequences, as it introduces new global scales for the sharing and management of environmental costs within a framework of neoliberal cost internalization. The analysis in this paper uses the concept of the “ecological state” (Duit, 2008 as a theoretical point of departure to examine the trans-scalar implications of such a carbon-and-conservation model on global governance structures toward a “global ecological state” (or global eco-state.

Global stability analysis of epidemiological models based on Volterra–Lyapunov stable matrices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao Shu; Wang Jin

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Global dynamics of high dimensional dynamical systems. ► A systematic approach for global stability analysis. ► Epidemiological models of environment-dependent diseases. - Abstract: In this paper, we study the global dynamics of a class of mathematical epidemiological models formulated by systems of differential equations. These models involve both human population and environmental component(s) and constitute high-dimensional nonlinear autonomous systems, for which the global asymptotic stability of the endemic equilibria has been a major challenge in analyzing the dynamics. By incorporating the theory of Volterra–Lyapunov stable matrices into the classical method of Lyapunov functions, we present an approach for global stability analysis and obtain new results on some three- and four-dimensional model systems. In addition, we conduct numerical simulation to verify the analytical results.

Global health-a circumpolar perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chatwood, Susan; Bjerregaard, Peter; Young, T Kue

2012-01-01

Global health should encompass circumpolar health if it is to transcend the traditional approach of the "rich North" assisting the "poor South." Although the eight Arctic states are among the world's most highly developed countries, considerable health disparities exist among regions across...... the Arctic, as well as between northern and southern regions and between indigenous and nonindigenous populations within some of these states. While sharing commonalities such as a sparse population, geographical remoteness, harsh physical environment, and underdeveloped human resources, circumpolar regions...... in the northern hemisphere have developed different health systems, strategies, and practices, some of which are relevant to middle and lower income countries. As the Arctic gains prominence as a sentinel of global issues such as climate change, the health of circumpolar populations should be part of the global...

An input-to-state stability approach to verify almost global stability of a synchronous-machine-infinite-bus system.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiffer, Johannes; Efimov, Denis; Ortega, Romeo; Barabanov, Nikita

2017-08-13

Conditions for almost global stability of an operating point of a realistic model of a synchronous generator with constant field current connected to an infinite bus are derived. The analysis is conducted by employing the recently proposed concept of input-to-state stability (ISS)-Leonov functions, which is an extension of the powerful cell structure principle developed by Leonov and Noldus to the ISS framework. Compared with the original ideas of Leonov and Noldus, the ISS-Leonov approach has the advantage of providing additional robustness guarantees. The efficiency of the derived sufficient conditions is illustrated via numerical experiments.This article is part of the themed issue 'Energy management: flexibility, risk and optimization'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Nonbinding Legal Instruments in Governance for Global Health: Lessons from the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Allyn; Alfvén, Tobias; Hougendobler, Daniel; Buse, Kent

2014-01-01

Recent debate over World Health Organization reform has included unprecedented attention to international lawmaking as a future priority function of the Organization. However, the debate is largely focused on the codification of new binding legal instruments. Drawing upon lessons from the success of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism, established pursuant to the United Nations' Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, we argue that effective global health governance requires consideration of a broad range of instruments, both binding and nonbinding. A detailed examination of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism reveals that the choice of the nonbinding format makes an important contribution to its effectiveness. For instance, the flexibility and adaptability of the nonbinding format have allowed the global community to: (1) undertake commitments in a timely manner; (2) adapt and experiment in the face of a dynamic pandemic; and (3) grant civil society an unparalleled role in monitoring and reporting on state implementation of global commitments. UNAIDS' institutional support has also played a vital role in ensuring the continuing effectiveness of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism. Overall, the experience of the Global AIDS Reporting Mechanism evidences that, at times, nimbler nonbinding instruments can offer benefits over slower, more rigid binding legal approaches to governance, but depend critically, like all instruments, on the perceived legitimacy thereof. © 2014 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Biodiversity and global change. Adaptative responses to global change: results and prospective. IFB-GICC restitution colloquium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Despres, L.; Hossaert-Mckey, M.; Martin, J.F.; Pont, D.; Valero, M.; Chave, J.; Benizri, E.; Amiaud, B.; Boury-Esnault, N.; Fritz, H.; Lavelle, P.; Martin, F.; Poulet, S.; Blanchard, F.; Cheddadi, R.; Dupouey, J.L.; Hulle, M.; Michaux, J.; Souissi, S.; Bridault, A.; Dambrine, E.; Gomez, B.; Thevenard, F.; Legendre, S.; Suc, J.P.; Zeitoun, V.; Bezancon, G.; Frascaria-Lacoste, N.; Ponsard, S.; Bourguet, D.; Vigne, J.D.; Doyen, L.; Joly, P.; Gourlet-Fleury, S.; Garnier, E.; Lebaron, Ph.; Boulinier, Th.; Chuine, I.; Jiguet, F.; Couvet, D.; Soussana, J.F.; Weimerskirsch, H.; Grosbois, V.; Bretagnolle, V.

2006-01-01

Global change is the consequence of the worldwide human print on ecology. The uncontrolled use of fossil fuels, the urbanization, the intensifying of agriculture, the homogenization of life styles and cultures, the homogenization of fauna and vegetation, the commercial trades, the bio-invasions, the over-exploitation of resources and the emergence of new economic powers (China, India, Brazil..) represent an adaptative dynamics of interactions which affects the overall biosphere and the adaptative capacities and the future of all species. Biodiversity is an ecological and societal insurance against the risks and uncertainties linked with global change. The French institute of biodiversity (IFB) has created a working group in charge of a study on global change and biodiversity, in particular in terms of: speed and acceleration of processes, interaction between the different organization levels of the world of living, scale changes, and adaptative capacities. 38 projects with an interdisciplinary approach have been retained by the IFB and the Ministry of ecology and sustainable development. The conclusion of these projects were presented at this restitution colloquium and are summarized in this document. The presentations are organized in 7 sessions dealing with: global changes and adaptation mechanisms; functional responses to global changes; spatial responses to global changes; temporal responses to global changes; selective answers to global changes; available tools and ecological services; scenarios and projections. (J.S.)

Managing Corporate Responsibility Globally and Locally

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brown, Dana; Knudsen, Jette Steen

2012-01-01

Corporate Responsibility (CR) is today an essential component of corporate global strategy. CR can bolster the institutional context for market expansion fill institutional voids or facilitate market entry as a component of non-market strategy. Yet, in fulfilling these functions, CR may need...... to be highly sensitive to local contexts. How can transnational firms organize CR so as to maximize efficiencies from globalization and to minimize the fragmentation of corporate organizational cultures? provide a framework for analyzing the way that corporations coordinate global and local functions. We build...... on this framework in a case study of Novo Nordisk and its approach to determining global and local CR policies and procedures with regard to its China and US subsidiaries. Our findings suggest that it is important for companies to define a common set of organizational norms. In addition, CR need to be sensitive...

Catholic Social Teaching: Addressing Globalization in Catholic Business Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ball, James B.; Martinez, Zaida; Toyne, Brian

2009-01-01

Although business schools are increasingly aware of the importance of globalization in educating future business leaders, their business programs have addressed globalization from a limited perspective that fails to provide students with a broader understanding of its impact on societies and its moral consequences. The conventional approach to the…

Introducing a New Business Course: "Global Business and Sustainability"

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, R. Scott; Harry, Sean P.

2005-01-01

Purpose--To outline the themes, topics and material used in a new course, Global business and sustainability, for business educators interested in integrating this emerging paradigm into their courses. Design/methodology/approach--The structure, design and reference materials for the Global business and sustainability course are reviewed. Specific…

GLOBALIZATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION: A WAY TO THE GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP OR LOSS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. L. Oskolova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers the influence of globalization (both its positive and negative effects on higher education systems worldwide including the USA and Russia. The research analyzes the potential of higher educational institutions for raising students’ capability of living and working in the global environment, which implies both raising the global competencies and preserving the traditional national and cultural values. Applying the comparative historical method, the author traces the US history that combines the “macdonaldization” period and long records of poly-cultural social interactions and cross-cultural adaptations. As an alternative to the existing pragmatic approach, the author puts forward the multicultural educational paradigm which is a culture relevant, valuebased system of moral and civil education focused on preservation of unique national features and simultaneous development of universal human values. The research objectives include critical evaluation of the USA experience, regarding the advantages and disadvantages of commercialized education; and identification of the pragmatic approach consequences in Russia, such as unification and simplification of education, and negative impact on the cultural and national identity formation. The research findings could be used for developing the higher education strategy as well as the curriculum on globalistics, multicultural education, and cross-cultural communications.

Mixed multiscale finite element methods using approximate global information based on partial upscaling

KAUST Repository

Jiang, Lijian; Efendiev, Yalchin; Mishev, IIya

2009-01-01

The use of limited global information in multiscale simulations is needed when there is no scale separation. Previous approaches entail fine-scale simulations in the computation of the global information. The computation of the global information

Quantitative assessment of drivers of recent global temperature variability: an information theoretic approach

Science.gov (United States)

Bhaskar, Ankush; Ramesh, Durbha Sai; Vichare, Geeta; Koganti, Triven; Gurubaran, S.

2017-12-01

Identification and quantification of possible drivers of recent global temperature variability remains a challenging task. This important issue is addressed adopting a non-parametric information theory technique, the Transfer Entropy and its normalized variant. It distinctly quantifies actual information exchanged along with the directional flow of information between any two variables with no bearing on their common history or inputs, unlike correlation, mutual information etc. Measurements of greenhouse gases: CO2, CH4 and N2O; volcanic aerosols; solar activity: UV radiation, total solar irradiance ( TSI) and cosmic ray flux ( CR); El Niño Southern Oscillation ( ENSO) and Global Mean Temperature Anomaly ( GMTA) made during 1984-2005 are utilized to distinguish driving and responding signals of global temperature variability. Estimates of their relative contributions reveal that CO2 ({˜ } 24 %), CH4 ({˜ } 19 %) and volcanic aerosols ({˜ }23 %) are the primary contributors to the observed variations in GMTA. While, UV ({˜ } 9 %) and ENSO ({˜ } 12 %) act as secondary drivers of variations in the GMTA, the remaining play a marginal role in the observed recent global temperature variability. Interestingly, ENSO and GMTA mutually drive each other at varied time lags. This study assists future modelling efforts in climate science.

Globalization and Integration Processes in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beti Godnič

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Research Question (RQ: In the article we highlight the issue of whether Integration processes in the European Union are only a manifestation of these Globalization processes and if there are differences in the the old member States EU (15 and the new EU member states in changed micro and macro environment? Purpose: We wanted to determine how the old member States EU (15 and the new EU member states adapt to the new circumstances and other changes in the micro and macro environment. Method: Analysing complexity of the changes of the state of economic system, and complex fundamental global processes, which have been occurred in long period of time, need to supplement the pure scientific approach with other types of research work, more holistic approach, which is commonly used in Comparative economics. We have taken such an approach in this article. Results: In the article we studied the geopolitical changes in the micro and macro environment. We found that the development in the old EU member states EU-15 and in the new EU member states is different. EU havent addopted the harmonised economic policy which will solve the »North-South« problem and cross-state cultural consensus and find a way to operate systemically in global environment. Organization: The findings can be used to support undestanding of micro and macro envirnment of the companys and contribute for better strategic planning and design of the entire supply chain. Society: The findings can contribute to better understanding of integrative processes in the EU. Limitations/Future Research: The complexity of the problem and the dynamic changes in the functioning of the global market requires in-depth studiying of changes in the micro and macro environment of logistics companie

The carbon-budget approach to climate stabilization: Cost-effective subglobal versus global action

OpenAIRE

Eichner, Thomas; Pethig, Rüdiger

2010-01-01

Scientific expertise suggests that mitigating extreme world-wide climate change damages requires avoiding increases in the world mean temperature exceeding 2 degrees Celsius. To achieve the two degree target, the cumulated global emissions must not exceed some limit, the so-called global carbon budget. In a two-period two country general equilibrium model with a finite stock of fossil fuels we compare the cooperative cost-effective policy with the unilateral cost-effective policy of restricti...

Global carbon inequality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hubacek, Klaus [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States); Masaryk University, Department of Environmental Studies, Brno (Czech Republic); Baiocchi, Giovanni [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States); University of Maryland, Department of Economics, College Park, MD (United States); Feng, Kuishuang [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States); Munoz Castillo, Raul [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States); Interamerican Development Bank, Washington, DC (United States); Sun, Laixiang [University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD (United States); SOAS, University of London, London (United Kingdom); International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg (Austria); Xue, Jinjun [Nagoya University, Graduate School of Economics, Nagoya (Japan); Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan (China)

2017-12-01

Global climate change and inequality are inescapably linked both in terms of who contributes climate change and who suffers the consequences. This fact is also partly reflected in two United Nations (UN) processes: on the one hand, the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change under which countries agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and, on the other hand, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals aiming to end poverty. These agreements are seen as important foundation to put the world nations on a sustainable pathway. However, how these agreements can be achieved or whether they are even mutually compatible is less clear. We explore the global carbon inequality between and within countries and the carbon implications of poverty alleviation by combining detailed consumer expenditure surveys for different income categories for a wide range of countries with an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output approach to estimate carbon footprints of different household groups, globally, and assess the carbon implications of moving the poorest people out of poverty. Given the current context, increasing income leads to increasing carbon footprints and makes global targets for mitigating greenhouse gases more difficult to achieve given the pace of technological progress and current levels of fossil fuel dependence. We conclude that the huge level of carbon inequality requires a critical discussion of undifferentiated income growth. Current carbon-intensive lifestyles and consumption patterns need to enter the climate discourse to a larger extent. (orig.)

Global carbon inequality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hubacek, Klaus; Baiocchi, Giovanni; Feng, Kuishuang; Munoz Castillo, Raul; Sun, Laixiang; Xue, Jinjun

2017-01-01

Global climate change and inequality are inescapably linked both in terms of who contributes climate change and who suffers the consequences. This fact is also partly reflected in two United Nations (UN) processes: on the one hand, the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change under which countries agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and, on the other hand, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals aiming to end poverty. These agreements are seen as important foundation to put the world nations on a sustainable pathway. However, how these agreements can be achieved or whether they are even mutually compatible is less clear. We explore the global carbon inequality between and within countries and the carbon implications of poverty alleviation by combining detailed consumer expenditure surveys for different income categories for a wide range of countries with an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output approach to estimate carbon footprints of different household groups, globally, and assess the carbon implications of moving the poorest people out of poverty. Given the current context, increasing income leads to increasing carbon footprints and makes global targets for mitigating greenhouse gases more difficult to achieve given the pace of technological progress and current levels of fossil fuel dependence. We conclude that the huge level of carbon inequality requires a critical discussion of undifferentiated income growth. Current carbon-intensive lifestyles and consumption patterns need to enter the climate discourse to a larger extent. (orig.)

Studying the Impacts of Globalization on Iranian Education System

Science.gov (United States)

Chahardahcheriki, Mitra Abdolahi; Shahi, Sakine

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the degree of globalization of important indicators of education system in Iran including teaching approaches, educational tools and facilities, curriculums and contents, and education management. Findings suggest that the situation of Iranian education system has some distance with the globalized level and…

Spherical Process Models for Global Spatial Statistics

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong

2017-11-28

Statistical models used in geophysical, environmental, and climate science applications must reflect the curvature of the spatial domain in global data. Over the past few decades, statisticians have developed covariance models that capture the spatial and temporal behavior of these global data sets. Though the geodesic distance is the most natural metric for measuring distance on the surface of a sphere, mathematical limitations have compelled statisticians to use the chordal distance to compute the covariance matrix in many applications instead, which may cause physically unrealistic distortions. Therefore, covariance functions directly defined on a sphere using the geodesic distance are needed. We discuss the issues that arise when dealing with spherical data sets on a global scale and provide references to recent literature. We review the current approaches to building process models on spheres, including the differential operator, the stochastic partial differential equation, the kernel convolution, and the deformation approaches. We illustrate realizations obtained from Gaussian processes with different covariance structures and the use of isotropic and nonstationary covariance models through deformations and geographical indicators for global surface temperature data. To assess the suitability of each method, we compare their log-likelihood values and prediction scores, and we end with a discussion of related research problems.

Finite element meshing approached as a global minimization process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

WITKOWSKI,WALTER R.; JUNG,JOSEPH; DOHRMANN,CLARK R.; LEUNG,VITUS J.

2000-03-01

The ability to generate a suitable finite element mesh in an automatic fashion is becoming the key to being able to automate the entire engineering analysis process. However, placing an all-hexahedron mesh in a general three-dimensional body continues to be an elusive goal. The approach investigated in this research is fundamentally different from any other that is known of by the authors. A physical analogy viewpoint is used to formulate the actual meshing problem which constructs a global mathematical description of the problem. The analogy used was that of minimizing the electrical potential of a system charged particles within a charged domain. The particles in the presented analogy represent duals to mesh elements (i.e., quads or hexes). Particle movement is governed by a mathematical functional which accounts for inter-particles repulsive, attractive and alignment forces. This functional is minimized to find the optimal location and orientation of each particle. After the particles are connected a mesh can be easily resolved. The mathematical description for this problem is as easy to formulate in three-dimensions as it is in two- or one-dimensions. The meshing algorithm was developed within CoMeT. It can solve the two-dimensional meshing problem for convex and concave geometries in a purely automated fashion. Investigation of the robustness of the technique has shown a success rate of approximately 99% for the two-dimensional geometries tested. Run times to mesh a 100 element complex geometry were typically in the 10 minute range. Efficiency of the technique is still an issue that needs to be addressed. Performance is an issue that is critical for most engineers generating meshes. It was not for this project. The primary focus of this work was to investigate and evaluate a meshing algorithm/philosophy with efficiency issues being secondary. The algorithm was also extended to mesh three-dimensional geometries. Unfortunately, only simple geometries were tested

From City-States to Global Cities: the role of Cities in Global Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Domingos Martins Vaz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Global governance has altered institutional architecture and the systemic and institutional conditions under which power is exercised, as well as the characteristics of the political system, the form of government, and the system of intermediation of interests. However, although it has surpassed the State’s dimension of power, it created new interstate dimensions and new relations between powers, particularly at the level of cities. Cities have helped to solve common problems in a more efficient and effective way by facilitating the exchange of knowledge, sharing of solutions and resources, and building capacity to implement and monitor progress in order to achieve collectively agreed goals, in a bottom-up approach. Cities have the virtue of securing the most direct social and political contract between societies and the notion of authority. This study, therefore, aims to reflect on this emerging, less hierarchical and rigid governance and address complex global challenges such as climate and demographic change; increasing crime rates; disruptive technology; and pressures on resources, infrastructure and energy. As a global/local interface, cities can ensure effective solutions to current challenges and act together in areas where the global agenda has stalled.

The Open Global Glacier Model

Science.gov (United States)

Marzeion, B.; Maussion, F.

2017-12-01

Mountain glaciers are one of the few remaining sub-systems of the global climate system for which no globally applicable, open source, community-driven model exists. Notable examples from the ice sheet community include the Parallel Ice Sheet Model or Elmer/Ice. While the atmospheric modeling community has a long tradition of sharing models (e.g. the Weather Research and Forecasting model) or comparing them (e.g. the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project or CMIP), recent initiatives originating from the glaciological community show a new willingness to better coordinate global research efforts following the CMIP example (e.g. the Glacier Model Intercomparison Project or the Glacier Ice Thickness Estimation Working Group). In the recent past, great advances have been made in the global availability of data and methods relevant for glacier modeling, spanning glacier outlines, automatized glacier centerline identification, bed rock inversion methods, and global topographic data sets. Taken together, these advances now allow the ice dynamics of glaciers to be modeled on a global scale, provided that adequate modeling platforms are available. Here, we present the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM), developed to provide a global scale, modular, and open source numerical model framework for consistently simulating past and future global scale glacier change. Global not only in the sense of leading to meaningful results for all glaciers combined, but also for any small ensemble of glaciers, e.g. at the headwater catchment scale. Modular to allow combinations of different approaches to the representation of ice flow and surface mass balance, enabling a new kind of model intercomparison. Open source so that the code can be read and used by anyone and so that new modules can be added and discussed by the community, following the principles of open governance. Consistent in order to provide uncertainty measures at all realizable scales.

From Internationalisation to Global Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Bourn, Douglas

2011-01-01

Over the past decade, many universities have re-evaluated their roles and approaches towards learning in the context of a globalised society. Some institutions have responded to globalisation by marketing themselves more effectively internationally. Others have responded by promoting ideas such as "graduates as global citizens" or by…

Electromagnetic microinstabilities in tokamak plasmas using a global spectral approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Falchetto, G. L

2002-03-01

Electromagnetic microinstabilities in tokamak plasmas are studied by means of a linear global eigenvalue numerical code. The code is the electromagnetic extension of an existing electrostatic global gyrokinetic spectral toroidal code, called GLOGYSTO. Ion dynamics is described by the gyrokinetic equation, so that ion finite Larmor radius effects are taken into account to all orders. Non adiabatic electrons are included in the model, with passing particles described by the drift-kinetic equation and trapped particles through the bounce averaged drift-kinetic equation. A low frequency electromagnetic perturbation is applied to a low -but finite- {beta}plasma (where the parameter {beta} identifies the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure); thus, the parallel perturbations of the magnetic field are neglected. The system is closed by the quasi-neutrality equation and the parallel component of Ampere's law. The formulation is applied to a large aspect ratio toroidal configuration, with circular shifted surfaces. Such a simple configuration enables one to derive analytically the gyrocenter trajectories. The system is solved in Fourier space, taking advantage of a decomposition adapted to the toroidal geometry. The major contributions of this thesis are as follows. The electromagnetic effects on toroidal Ion Temperature Gradient driven (ITG) modes are studied. The stabilization of these modes with increasing {beta}, as predicted in previous work, is confirmed. The inclusion of trapped electron dynamics enables the study of its coupling to the ITG modes and of Trapped Electron Modes (TEM) .The effects of finite {beta} are considered together with those of different magnetic shear profiles and of the Shafranov shift. The threshold for the destabilization of an electromagnetic mode is identified. Moreover, the global formulation yields for the first time the radial structure of this so-called Alfvenic Ion Temperature Gradient (AITG) mode. The stability of the

Engineering Global Soils to Sustain Planet Earth

OpenAIRE

Banwart, Steven A.; Menon, Manoj

2014-01-01

Global soils are under intense pressure from the demographic drivers of increasing human population and\\ud wealth. During the next 40 years Earth’s human population is project to approach 10 billion with a quadrupling\\ud in the global economy, a doubling in the demand for food, a doubling in the demand for fuel, and a more than\\ud 50% increase in the demand for clean water. Can Earth’s soils keep up?

Ciudadanía global y educación

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Lizette Vega Rojas

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of citizenship has evolved by social, political and cultural changes, so it is necessary to review the scope of a global citizen that is participatory and respectful of diversity of thought. To the extent that globalization creates new interconnections, it is necessary to educate the person in living skills and also recognize their rights and duties beyond national borders. In this sense, a descriptive qualitative approach was applied to this article, supported by a literature review that allowed establishing the relationship between education and global citizen.

Using Scientific Enquiry to Make Sense of Global Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Hogg, Max

2010-01-01

In a context where the science underlying global issues such as climate change often loses out to political opinions and distortions, science teachers have a unique and very important role. Science teachers can use global-learning approaches to encourage learners to develop skills in scientific enquiry and critical analysis of scientific issues.…

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.J.L. Murray (Christopher); K.F. Ortblad (Katrina F); C. Guinovart (Caterina); S.S. Lim (Stephen); T.M. Wolock (Timothy M); D.A. Roberts (D Allen); E.A. Dansereau (Emily A); N. Graetz (Nicholas); R.M. Barber (Ryan); J.C. Brown (Jonathan C); H. Wang (Haidong); H.C. Duber (Herbert C); M. Naghavi (Morteza); D. Dicker (Daniel); L. Dandona (Lalit); J.A. Salomon (Joshua); K.R. Heuton (Kyle R); K. Foreman (Kyle); D.E. Phillips (David E); T.D. Fleming (Thomas D); A.D. Flaxman (Abraham D); B.K. Phillips (Bryan K); E.M. Johnson (Elizabeth); M.S. Coggeshall (Megan S); F. Abd-Allah (Foad); S.F. Abera (Semaw Ferede); J.P. Abraham (Jerry); I. Abubakar (Ibrahim); L.J. Abu-Raddad (Laith J); N.M. Abu-Rmeileh (Niveen Me); T. Achoki (Tom); A. Adeyemo (Adebowale); A.K. Adou (Arsène Kouablan); J.C. Adsuar (José C); E.E. Agardh (Emilie Elisabet); D. Akena (Dickens); M.J. Al Kahbouri (Mazin J); D. Alasfoor (Deena); M.I. Albittar (Mohammed I); G. Alcalá-Cerra (Gabriel); M.A. Alegretti (Miguel Angel); G. Alemu (Getnet ); R. Alfonso-Cristancho (Rafael); S. Alhabib (Samia); R. Ali (Raghib); F. Alla (Francois); P.J. Allen (Peter); U. Alsharif (Ubai); E. Alvarez (Elena); N. Alvis-Guzman (Nelson); A.A. Amankwaa (Adansi A); A.T. Amare (Azmeraw T); H. Amini (Hassan); K.A. Ammar; B.O. Anderson (Benjamin); C.A.T. Antonio (Carl Abelardo T); P. Anwari (Palwasha); J. Ärnlöv (Johan); V.S.A. Arsenijevic (Valentina S Arsic); A. Artaman (Ali); R.J. Asghar (Rana J); R. Assadi (Reza); L.S. Atkins (Lydia S); A.F. Badawi (Alaa); A. Banerjee (Amitava); S. Basu (Saonli); J. Beardsley (Justin); T. Bekele (Tolesa); M.L. Bell (Michelle Lee); E. Bernabe (Eduardo); T.J. Beyene (Tariku Jibat); N. Bhala (Neeraj); P.L. Bhalla (Pankaj); Z.A. Bhutta (Zulfiqar A); A.B. Abdulhak (Aref Bin); A. Binagwaho (Agnes); J.D. Blore (Jed D); D. Bose (Dipan); M. Brainin (Michael); N. Breitborde (Nicholas); C.A. Castañeda-Orjuela (Carlos A); F. Catalá-López (Ferrán); D. Chadha; J.-C. Chang (Jung-Chen); Y.T. Chiang; T.-W. Chuang (Ting-Wu); M. Colomar (Mercedes); L.T. Cooper Jr. (Leslie Trumbull); C. Cooper (Charles); K.J. Courville (Karen J); M.R. Cowie (Martin R.); M. Criqui (Michael); R. Dandona (Rakhi); A. Dayama (Anand); D. de Leo (Diego); F. Degenhardt; B. Del Pozo-Cruz (Borja); K. Deribe (Kebede); D.C. Des Jarlais (Don C); M. Dessalegn (Muluken); S.D. Dharmaratne (Samath D); U. Dilmen (Uǧur); E.L. Ding (Eric); J.M. Driscoll; Z. Durrani; R.G. Ellenbogen (Richard G); S. Ermakov (Sergey); A. Esteghamati (Alireza); E.J.A. Faraon (Emerito Jose A); F. Farzadfar (Farshad); S.-M. Fereshtehnejad (Seyed-Mohammad); D.O. Fijabi (Daniel Obadare); M.H. Forouzanfar (Mohammad H); U. Fra.Paleo (Urbano); L. Gaffikin (Lynne); A. Gamkrelidze (Amiran); F.G. Gankpé (Fortuné Gbètoho); J.M. Geleijnse (Marianne); B.D. Gessner (Bradford D); K.B. Gibney (Katherine B); I.A.M. Ginawi (Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed); E.L. Glaser (Elizabeth L); P. Gona (Philimon); A. Goto (Akimoto); H.N. Gouda (Hebe N); H.C. Gugnani (Harish Chander); R. Gupta (Rajeev); R. Gupta (Rajeev); N. Hafezi-Nejad (Nima); R.R. Hamadeh (Randah Ribhi); M. Hammami (Mouhanad); G.J. Hankey (Graeme); H.L. Harb (Hilda L); J.M. Haro (Josep Maria); R. Havmoeller (Rasmus); S.I. Hay (Simon I); M.T. Hedayati (Mohammad T); I.B.H. Pi (Ileana B Heredia); H.W. Hoek (Hans); J.C. Hornberger (John C); H.D. Hosgood (H Dean); P.J. Hotez (Peter); D.G. Hoy (Damian G); J. Huang (Jian); K.M. Iburg (Kim M); B.T. Idrisov (Bulat T); K. Innos (Kaire); K.H. Jacobsen (Kathryn H); P. Jeemon (Panniyammakal); P.N. Jensen (Paul N); V. Jha (Vivekanand); G. Jiang (Guohong); J.B. Jonas; K. Juel (Knud); H. Kan (Haidong); I. Kankindi (Ida); V. Karam (Vincent); F. Karch (Francois); C.K. Karema (Corine Kakizi); A. Kaul (Anil); N. Kawakami (Norito); D.S. Kazi (Dhruv S); A.H. Kemp (Andrew H); A.P. Kengne (Andre Pascal); A. Keren (Andre); M. Kereselidze (Maia); Y.S. Khader (Yousef Saleh); S.E.A.H. Khalifa (Shams Eldin Ali Hassan); E.A. Khan (Ejaz Ahmed); Y.-H. Khang (Young-Ho); I. Khonelidze (Irma); Y. Kinfu (Yohannes); J.M. Kinge (Jonas M); L. Knibbs (Luke); Y. Kokubo (Yoshihiro); S. Kosen (Soewarta); B.K. Defo (Barthelemy Kuate); V.S. Kulkarni (Veena S); C. Kulkarni (Chanda); K. Kumar (Kuldeep); R.B. Kumar (Ravi B); G.A. Kumar (G Anil); G.F. Kwan (Gene F); T. Lai (Taavi); A.L. Balaji (Arjun Lakshmana); H. Lam (Hilton); Q. Lan (Qing); V.C. Lansingh (Van C); H.J. Larson (Heidi J); A. Larsson (Anders); J.-T. Lee (Jong-Tae); P.N. Leigh (Nigel); M. Leinsalu (Mall); R. Leung (Ricky); Y. Li (Yichong); Y. Li (Yongmei); G.M.F. de Lima (Graça Maria Ferreira); H.-H. Lin (Hsien-Ho); S.E. Lipshultz (Steven); S. Liu (Simin); Y. Liu (Yang); B.K. Lloyd (Belinda K); P.A. Lotufo (Paulo A); V.M.P. Machado (Vasco Manuel Pedro); J.H. Maclachlan (Jennifer H); C. Magis-Rodriguez (Carlos); M. Majdan (Marek); C.C. Mapoma (Christopher Chabila); W. Marcenes (Wagner); M.B. Marzan (Melvin Barrientos); J.R. Masci (Joseph R); R. Mashal; A.J. Mason-Jones (Amanda J); B.M. Mayosi (Bongani); T.T. Mazorodze (Tasara T); M.J. Mckay (Michael); M.J. Meaney; M.M. Mehndiratta (Man Mohan); F. Mejia-Rodriguez (Fabiola); Y.A. Melaku (Yohannes Adama); Z.A. Memish (Ziad); W. Mendoza (Walter); T.R. Miller (Ted R); E.J. Mills (Edward J); K.A. Mohammad (Karzan Abdulmuhsin); A.H. Mokdad (Ali H); G.L. Mola (Glen Liddell); L. Monasta (Lorenzo); M. Montico (Marcella); A.R. Moore (Ami R); R. Mori (Riccardo); W.N. Moturi (Wilkister Nyaora); M. Mukaigawara (Mitsuru); A.C. Murthy (Adeline C.); A. Naheed (Aliya); K.S. Naidoo (Kovin S); L. Naldi; M. Nangia (Monika); K.M.V. Narayan (Venkat); J.H.E. Nash (John); C. Nejjari (Chakib); R.D. Nelson (Robert); S.P. Neupane (Sudan Prasad); C. Newton (Cameron); M. Ng (Marie); M.I. Nisar (Muhammad Imran); S. Nolte (Sandra); O.F. Norheim (Ole F); V. Nowaseb (Vincent); L. Nyakarahuka (Luke); I.-H. Oh (In-Hwan); T. Ohkubo (Takayoshi); B.O. Olusanya (Bolajoko O); S.B. Omer (Saad B); J.N. Opio (John Nelson); O.E. Orisakwe (Orish Ebere); N.G. Pandian (Natesa); C. Papachristou; M.S. Caicedo (Marco); J. Patten; V.K. Paul (Vinod K); B.I. Pavlin (Boris Igor); N. Pearce (Neil); D.M. Pereira (David M); Z. Pervaiz (Zahid); K. Pesudovs (Konrad); M. Petzold (Max); F. Pourmalek (Farshad); D. Qato (Dima); A.D. Quezada (Amado D); D.A. Quistberg (D Alex); A. Rafay (Anwar); K. Rahimi (Kazem); V. Rahimi-Movaghar (Vafa); S.U. Rahman (Sajjad Ur); M. Raju (Murugesan); S.M. Rana (Saleem M); H. Razavi (Homie); R.Q. Reilly (Robert Quentin); G. Remuzzi (Giuseppe); J.H. Richardus (Jan Hendrik); L. Ronfani (Luca); N. van Roy (Nadine); M.L. Sabin (Miriam Lewis); M.Y. Saeedi (Mohammad Yahya); M.A. Sahraian (Mohammad Ali); G.M.J. Samonte (Genesis May J); M.S. Sawhney (Monika); I.J.C. Schneider (Ione J C); D.C. Schwebel (David C); S. Seedat (Soraya); S.G. Sepanlou (Sadaf G); E.E. Servan-Mori (Edson E); S. Sheikhbahaei (Sara); K. Shibuya (Kenji); H.H. Shin (Hwashin Hyun); I. Shiue (Ivy); R. Shivakoti (Rupak); I.D. Sigfusdottir (Inga Dora); D.H. Silberberg (Donald H); A.P. Silva (Andrea P); J. Simard (Jacques); J.A. Singh (Jasvinder); V. Skirbekk (Vegard); K. Sliwa (Karen); S. Soneji (Samir); S.S. Soshnikov (Sergey S); C.T. Sreeramareddy (Chandrashekhar T); V.K. Stathopoulou (Vasiliki Kalliopi); K. Stroumpoulis (Konstantinos); S. Swaminathan; B.C. Sykes (Bryan); K.M. Tabb (Karen M); R.T. Talongwa (Roberto Tchio); E.Y. Tenkorang (Eric Yeboah); A.S. Terkawi (Abdullah Sulieman); A.J. Thomson (Alan J); A.L. Thorne-Lyman (Andrew L); J.A. Towbin (Jeffrey A); J. Traebert (Jefferson); B.X. Tran (Bach X); Z.T. Dimbuene (Zacharie Tsala); M. Tsilimbaris (Miltiadis); U.S. Uchendu (Uche S); K.N. Ukwaja (Kingsley N); S.R. Vallely (Stephen); T.J. Vasankari (Tommi J); N. Venketasubramanian (Narayanaswamy); F.S. Violante (Francesco S); V.V. Vlassov (Vasiliy Victorovich); P. Waller (Patrick); M.T. Wallin (Mitchell T); L. Wang (Linhong); S.X. Wang; Y. Wang (Yanping); S. Weichenthal (Scott); E. Weiderpass (Elisabete); R.G. Weintraub (Robert G); R. Westerman (Ronny); R.G. White (Richard); J.D. Wilkinson (James D); T.N. Williams (Thomas Neil); S.M. Woldeyohannes (Solomon Meseret); J.B. Wong (John); G. Xu (Gelin); Y.C. Yang (Yang C); K.-I. Yano; P. Yip (Paul); N. Yonemoto (Naohiro); S.-J. Yoon (Seok-Jun); M. Younis (Mustafa); C. Yu (Chuanhua); K.Y. Jin (Kim Yun); M. El Sayed Zaki (Maysaa); Y. Zhao (Yong); Y. Zheng (Yuhui); K. Balakrishnan (Kalpana); M. Zhou (Ming); J. Zhu (Jun); X.N. Zou (Xiao Nong); A.D. Lopez (Alan D); T. Vos (Theo)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Background: The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach

Statistics-Based Compression of Global Wind Fields

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong

2017-02-07

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth\\'s orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Statistics-Based Compression of Global Wind Fields

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Jaehong; Castruccio, Stefano; Crippa, Paola; Genton, Marc G.

2017-01-01

Wind has the potential to make a significant contribution to future energy resources. Locating the sources of this renewable energy on a global scale is however extremely challenging, given the difficulty to store very large data sets generated by modern computer models. We propose a statistical model that aims at reproducing the data-generating mechanism of an ensemble of runs via a Stochastic Generator (SG) of global annual wind data. We introduce an evolutionary spectrum approach with spatially varying parameters based on large-scale geographical descriptors such as altitude to better account for different regimes across the Earth's orography. We consider a multi-step conditional likelihood approach to estimate the parameters that explicitly accounts for nonstationary features while also balancing memory storage and distributed computation. We apply the proposed model to more than 18 million points of yearly global wind speed. The proposed SG requires orders of magnitude less storage for generating surrogate ensemble members from wind than does creating additional wind fields from the climate model, even if an effective lossy data compression algorithm is applied to the simulation output.

Facilitating open global data use in earthquake source modelling to improve geodetic and seismological approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Sudhaus, Henriette; Heimann, Sebastian; Steinberg, Andreas; Isken, Marius; Vasyura-Bathke, Hannes

2017-04-01

In the last few years impressive achievements have been made in improving inferences about earthquake sources by using InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) data. Several factors aided these developments. The open data basis of earthquake observations has expanded vastly with the two powerful Sentinel-1 SAR sensors up in space. Increasing computer power allows processing of large data sets for more detailed source models. Moreover, data inversion approaches for earthquake source inferences are becoming more advanced. By now data error propagation is widely implemented and the estimation of model uncertainties is a regular feature of reported optimum earthquake source models. Also, more regularly InSAR-derived surface displacements and seismological waveforms are combined, which requires finite rupture models instead of point-source approximations and layered medium models instead of homogeneous half-spaces. In other words the disciplinary differences in geodetic and seismological earthquake source modelling shrink towards common source-medium descriptions and a source near-field/far-field data point of view. We explore and facilitate the combination of InSAR-derived near-field static surface displacement maps and dynamic far-field seismological waveform data for global earthquake source inferences. We join in the community efforts with the particular goal to improve crustal earthquake source inferences in generally not well instrumented areas, where often only the global backbone observations of earthquakes are available provided by seismological broadband sensor networks and, since recently, by Sentinel-1 SAR acquisitions. We present our work on modelling standards for the combination of static and dynamic surface displacements in the source's near-field and far-field, e.g. on data and prediction error estimations as well as model uncertainty estimation. Rectangular dislocations and moment-tensor point sources are exchanged by simple planar finite

Alignment of global supply networks based on strategic groups of supply chains

OpenAIRE

Nikos G. Moraitakis; Jiazhen Huo; Hans-Christian Pfohl

2017-01-01

Background: From a supply chain perspective, often big differences exist between global raw material suppliers’ approaches to supply their respective local markets. The progressing complexity of large centrally managed global supply networks and their often-unknown upstream ramifications increase the likelihood of undetected bottlenecks and inefficiencies. It is therefore necessary to develop an approach to strategically master the upstream complexity of such networks from a holistic su...

The workforce for health in a globalized context – global shortages and international migration

Science.gov (United States)

Aluttis, Christoph; Bishaw, Tewabech; Frank, Martina W.

2014-01-01

The ‘crisis in human resources’ in the health sector has been described as one of the most pressing global health issues of our time. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world faces a global shortage of almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. A global undersupply of these threatens the quality and sustainability of health systems worldwide. This undersupply is concurrent with globalization and the resulting liberalization of markets, which allow health workers to offer their services in countries other than those of their origin. The opportunities of health workers to seek employment abroad has led to a complex migration pattern, characterized by a flow of health professionals from low- to high-income countries. This global migration pattern has sparked a broad international debate about the consequences for health systems worldwide, including questions about sustainability, justice, and global social accountabilities. This article provides a review of this phenomenon and gives an overview of the current scope of health workforce migration patterns. It further focuses on the scientific discourse regarding health workforce migration and its effects on both high- and low-income countries in an interdependent world. The article also reviews the internal and external factors that fuel health worker migration and illustrates how health workforce migration is a classic global health issue of our time. Accordingly, it elaborates on the international community's approach to solving the workforce crisis, focusing in particular on the WHO Code of Practice, established in 2010. PMID:24560265

Experience and Cultural Learning in Global Business Contexts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søderberg, Anne-Marie

2017-01-01

. Learners in today’s global business (school) world are more culturally diverse, and the potential of the increasing number of bi-cultural and bi-lingual students and managers as boundary-spanners must be considered. Recent empirical studies of face-to-face and virtual global collaboration show that cross...... divides. This chapter discusses a number of issues in relation to cultural learning processes in global business contexts: various concepts of learning, different approaches to cross-cultural competence training of future global leaders, and various learning contexts in management education and training......Globalization with increased mobility of the workforce and more frequent use of information and communication technologies means still more people must develop a deeper understanding of Cultural Others, a higher degree of cultural self-awareness and an ability to bridge across multiple cultural...

The Spatial and Temporal Layers of Global History

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schulz-Forberg, Hagen

2013-01-01

Recent debates on global history have challenged the understanding of history beyond the nation-state. Simultaneously, they search for non-Eurocentric approaches. This has repercussions on the relation between historical space and time in both historical interpretation and in research design....... This article reflects on the possibilities of a global conceptual history by expanding Reinhart Koselleck’s theory of temporal layers (Zeitschichten) into global spaces. To this end, it introduces the notion of spatial layers (Raumschichten). First, historicisation and its relation to and interaction...... with spatialisation and temporalisation is pondered; then, the impact of global spatial and temporal complexities on comparative and conceptual history is considered, before, thirdly, a framework of three tensions of global history – normative, temporal and spatial – is introduced as a way to concretely unfold...

Global minimum profile error (GMPE) - a least-squares-based approach for extracting macroscopic rate coefficients for complex gas-phase chemical reactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Duong, Minh V; Nguyen, Hieu T; Mai, Tam V-T; Huynh, Lam K

2018-01-03

Master equation/Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (ME/RRKM) has shown to be a powerful framework for modeling kinetic and dynamic behaviors of a complex gas-phase chemical system on a complicated multiple-species and multiple-channel potential energy surface (PES) for a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Derived from the ME time-resolved species profiles, the macroscopic or phenomenological rate coefficients are essential for many reaction engineering applications including those in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Therefore, in this study, a least-squares-based approach named Global Minimum Profile Error (GMPE) was proposed and implemented in the MultiSpecies-MultiChannel (MSMC) code (Int. J. Chem. Kinet., 2015, 47, 564) to extract macroscopic rate coefficients for such a complicated system. The capability and limitations of the new approach were discussed in several well-defined test cases.

Introduction to Nonlinear and Global Optimization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendrix, E.M.T.; Tóth, B.

2010-01-01

This self-contained text provides a solid introduction to global and nonlinear optimization, providing students of mathematics and interdisciplinary sciences with a strong foundation in applied optimization techniques. The book offers a unique hands-on and critical approach to applied optimization

Global biosurveillance: enabling science and technology. Workshop background and motivation: international scientific engagement for global security

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cui, Helen H [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2011-01-18

Through discussion the conference aims to: (1) Identify core components of a comprehensive global biosurveillance capability; (2) Determine the scientific and technical bases to support such a program; (3) Explore the improvement in biosurveillance to enhance regional and global disease outbreak prediction; (4) Recommend an engagement approach to establishing an effective international community and regional or global network; (5) Propose implementation strategies and the measures of effectiveness; and (6) Identify the challenges that must be overcome in the next 3-5 years in order to establish an initial global biosurveillance capability that will have significant positive impact on BioNP as well as public health and/or agriculture. There is also a look back at the First Biothreat Nonproliferation Conference from December 2007. Whereas the first conference was an opportunity for problem solving to enhance and identify new paradigms for biothreat nonproliferation, this conference is moving towards integrated comprehensive global biosurveillance. Main reasons for global biosurveillance are: (1) Rapid assessment of unusual disease outbreak; (2) Early warning of emerging, re-emerging and engineered biothreat enabling reduced morbidity and mortality; (3) Enhanced crop and livestock management; (4) Increase understanding of host-pathogen interactions and epidemiology; (5) Enhanced international transparency for infectious disease research supporting BWC goals; and (6) Greater sharing of technology and knowledge to improve global health.

Global oceanic production of nitrous oxide

Science.gov (United States)

Freing, Alina; Wallace, Douglas W. R.; Bange, Hermann W.

2012-01-01

We use transient time distributions calculated from tracer data together with in situ measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O) to estimate the concentration of biologically produced N2O and N2O production rates in the ocean on a global scale. Our approach to estimate the N2O production rates integrates the effects of potentially varying production and decomposition mechanisms along the transport path of a water mass. We estimate that the oceanic N2O production is dominated by nitrification with a contribution of only approximately 7 per cent by denitrification. This indicates that previously used approaches have overestimated the contribution by denitrification. Shelf areas may account for only a negligible fraction of the global production; however, estuarine sources and coastal upwelling of N2O are not taken into account in our study. The largest amount of subsurface N2O is produced in the upper 500 m of the water column. The estimated global annual subsurface N2O production ranges from 3.1 ± 0.9 to 3.4 ± 0.9 Tg N yr−1. This is in agreement with estimates of the global N2O emissions to the atmosphere and indicates that a N2O source in the mixed layer is unlikely. The potential future development of the oceanic N2O source in view of the ongoing changes of the ocean environment (deoxygenation, warming, eutrophication and acidification) is discussed. PMID:22451110

Global oceanic production of nitrous oxide.

Science.gov (United States)

Freing, Alina; Wallace, Douglas W R; Bange, Hermann W

2012-05-05

We use transient time distributions calculated from tracer data together with in situ measurements of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) to estimate the concentration of biologically produced N(2)O and N(2)O production rates in the ocean on a global scale. Our approach to estimate the N(2)O production rates integrates the effects of potentially varying production and decomposition mechanisms along the transport path of a water mass. We estimate that the oceanic N(2)O production is dominated by nitrification with a contribution of only approximately 7 per cent by denitrification. This indicates that previously used approaches have overestimated the contribution by denitrification. Shelf areas may account for only a negligible fraction of the global production; however, estuarine sources and coastal upwelling of N(2)O are not taken into account in our study. The largest amount of subsurface N(2)O is produced in the upper 500 m of the water column. The estimated global annual subsurface N(2)O production ranges from 3.1 ± 0.9 to 3.4 ± 0.9 Tg N yr(-1). This is in agreement with estimates of the global N(2)O emissions to the atmosphere and indicates that a N(2)O source in the mixed layer is unlikely. The potential future development of the oceanic N(2)O source in view of the ongoing changes of the ocean environment (deoxygenation, warming, eutrophication and acidification) is discussed.

Slowing global warming biotically - Options for the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

Each of the five biotic approaches introduced in Chapter 2 is applicable to some extent in the US. Taking US land-use characteristics into account, a menu of policy options tailored to US carbon storage opportunities is presented. Several of the options are capable of significantly reducing net US carbon emissions; several offer corollary benefits in areas other than global warming mitigation. The time frame and costs of the different options vary widely, although in most cases some level of implementation appears economically justified even without considering global warming. The approach, projected costs, and advantages of seven different policy options are profiled

Ideas and institutions in global governance - the case of microcredit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Peter

There is a growing demand for effective strategic problem solving in relation to a wide array of global policy problems such as AIDS, poverty, global warming, etc. This makes the introduction of new policy ideas for institutional change increasingly important in global governance. But researchers...... need a new approach in order to better grasp the complexity in global problem solving. We need to know more about how ideas emerge, spread and transform in a complex, networked global environment. New literature on institutional dynamics can inform the literature on global governance networks......, especially when it comes to the meta-governance of global networks. Based on a case study of microcredit and its emergence as a policy idea in development policy, the paper will illustrate the use of institutional dynamic conceptualisation in global governance....

Occupational ethis sustainable a global society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilton Cesar Flores

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The thematic working environment reproduces the complexities of the risks in a globalized world. In imbricar the interrelationship of this globalization movement of the economy and productive restructuring that triggers a series of social consequences. While globalization and the emergence of new technologies benefited the man, however, they gave up the cost of a degree of disregard and neglect the integrity of those involved in the process. Thus arises the need for new approaches to law. To this end, the study overcomes the theory of shallow ecology and of the understanding of the theory of deep ecology without it looses its essence, proposing an analysis focused on the human element within the web of life, indicating a new guiding principle: sustainable occupational ethics.

M-Commerce: Global Experiences and Perspectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dholakia, Nikhilesh; Rask, Morten; Dholakia, Ruby

-Pacific - and highlights several countries from each region. These countries are significant because of their large existing base of mobile telecom users, their future potential, their innovativeness in mobile telecom technology development, and their leadership in launching new mobile applications. M-Commerce: Global...... Experiences and Perspectives contains chapters from authors of many countries, and while each chapter examines a specific country in-depth, all the chapters use a common integrative framework called the CLIP (communications, locatability, information provision, and payment processing) application......M-Commerce: Global Experiences and Perspectives focuses on the emerging growth of mobile telecommunications and mobile commerce around the world. To provide a global perspective, this book describes approaches from three major regions of the world - North America, Europe, and Asia...

Biodiversity mediates top-down control in eelgrass ecosystems: a global comparative-experimental approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, J Emmett; Reynolds, Pamela L; Boström, Christoffer; Coyer, James A; Cusson, Mathieu; Donadi, Serena; Douglass, James G; Eklöf, Johan S; Engelen, Aschwin H; Eriksson, Britas Klemens; Fredriksen, Stein; Gamfeldt, Lars; Gustafsson, Camilla; Hoarau, Galice; Hori, Masakazu; Hovel, Kevin; Iken, Katrin; Lefcheck, Jonathan S; Moksnes, Per-Olav; Nakaoka, Masahiro; O'Connor, Mary I; Olsen, Jeanine L; Richardson, J Paul; Ruesink, Jennifer L; Sotka, Erik E; Thormar, Jonas; Whalen, Matthew A; Stachowicz, John J

2015-07-01

Nutrient pollution and reduced grazing each can stimulate algal blooms as shown by numerous experiments. But because experiments rarely incorporate natural variation in environmental factors and biodiversity, conditions determining the relative strength of bottom-up and top-down forcing remain unresolved. We factorially added nutrients and reduced grazing at 15 sites across the range of the marine foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) to quantify how top-down and bottom-up control interact with natural gradients in biodiversity and environmental forcing. Experiments confirmed modest top-down control of algae, whereas fertilisation had no general effect. Unexpectedly, grazer and algal biomass were better predicted by cross-site variation in grazer and eelgrass diversity than by global environmental gradients. Moreover, these large-scale patterns corresponded strikingly with prior small-scale experiments. Our results link global and local evidence that biodiversity and top-down control strongly influence functioning of threatened seagrass ecosystems, and suggest that biodiversity is comparably important to global change stressors. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

The global existence problem and cosmic censorship in general relativity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moncrief, V.; Eardley, D.M.

1981-01-01

Two global existence conjectures for the Einstein equations are formulated and their relevance to the cosmic censorship conjecture discussed. It is argued that the reformulation of the cosmic censorship conjecture as a global existence problem renders it more amenable to direct analytical attack. To demonstrate the facility of this approach the cosmological version of the global existence conjecture is proved for the Gowdy spacetimes on T 3 X R. (author)

A new approach to global health institutions? A case study of new vaccine introduction and the formation of the GAVI Alliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandberg, Kristin Ingstad; Andresen, Steinar; Bjune, Gunnar

2010-10-01

There is an emerging research agenda to analyse empirically the forces driving changes in global health governance. This study applies analytical tools from international relations research to explain the formation of international health regimes. The study utilizes two explanatory perspectives: individual leadership, and the interests of key non-state actors in the formation process, using the case of the formation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) from 1995 to 1999. The case study is based on material from interviews with key actors, an archival review of documents from the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI), and published literature. Findings show that the regime formation process was initiated by individuals who were primarily affiliated to scientific communities and who led to the World Bank and the Gates Foundation becoming champions of a new coordinating mechanism for new vaccine introduction. Negotiations in the regime formation process were between a small group of founding agencies with divergent interests regarding immunization priorities. The case also sheds light on the authority of the WHO and the resources of the Gates Foundation in driving the process towards the final structure of the alliance. The paper discusses the potential contribution of the international relations approach compared to policy research as a way of understanding the institutional dynamics of global health, particularly in respect of relations between countries and non-state actors.

The HepTestContest: a global innovation contest to identify approaches to hepatitis B and C testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Joseph D; Meyers, Kathrine; Best, John; Kaplan, Karyn; Pendse, Razia; Fenton, Kevin A; Andrieux-Meyer, Isabelle; Figueroa, Carmen; Goicochea, Pedro; Gore, Charles; Ishizaki, Azumi; Khwairakpam, Giten; Miller, Veronica; Mozalevskis, Antons; Ninburg, Michael; Ocama, Ponsiano; Peeling, Rosanna; Walsh, Nick; Colombo, Massimo G; Easterbrook, Philippa

2017-11-01

); decentralization (n = 8); and task shifting (n = 7). The global innovation contest identified a range of local hepatitis testing approaches that can be used to inform the development of testing strategies in different settings and populations. Further implementation and evaluation of different testing approaches is needed.

Modeling Global Biogenic Emission of Isoprene: Exploration of Model Drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Susan E.; Potter, Christopher S.; Coughlan, Joseph C.; Klooster, Steven A.; Lerdau, Manuel T.; Chatfield, Robert B.; Peterson, David L. (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

Vegetation provides the major source of isoprene emission to the atmosphere. We present a modeling approach to estimate global biogenic isoprene emission. The isoprene flux model is linked to a process-based computer simulation model of biogenic trace-gas fluxes that operates on scales that link regional and global data sets and ecosystem nutrient transformations Isoprene emission estimates are determined from estimates of ecosystem specific biomass, emission factors, and algorithms based on light and temperature. Our approach differs from an existing modeling framework by including the process-based global model for terrestrial ecosystem production, satellite derived ecosystem classification, and isoprene emission measurements from a tropical deciduous forest. We explore the sensitivity of model estimates to input parameters. The resulting emission products from the global 1 degree x 1 degree coverage provided by the satellite datasets and the process model allow flux estimations across large spatial scales and enable direct linkage to atmospheric models of trace-gas transport and transformation.

APPROACHES TO GLOBAL SECURITY. ACTORS, MANIFESTATIONS AND TENDENCIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gheorghe MINCULETE

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, the world seems to be in a transition from the current system founded on the liberal social, economic and political model to a more diverse and heterogeneous model in which the determinant role is played by a number of state and non-state actors. The step from the Western system of cultural, political and predominant economic values to a more diverse and heterogeneous system makes the actors involved defend not only their visions, but also promote their own interests. The differences between visions gain relevance and clarity because the countries supporting them obtain increased power, and that is more than obvious. All this leads to a symmetric allocation of different means, which generates uncertainties and diminishes unilateral actions This transition process impacts global security especially through the asymmetric, unconventional and hybrid risks and threats manifesting worldwide.

GLOBAL LOGISTICS , COMPETITIVENESS AND THE NEW INCOTERMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popa Ioan

2013-07-01

The category of global firms should not include just the large transnational corporations, but also the medium and small enterprises that operate exclusively or mainly on the global market. Within this plan there can be created and developed competitive advantages which are primarily based on the reaction speed to the changes in progress, the capacity to adapt to new things and the availability for intercultural communication. These last conditions represent characteristics of the Romanian business approach.

Global/local methods for probabilistic structural analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Millwater, H. R.; Wu, Y.-T.

1993-04-01

A probabilistic global/local method is proposed to reduce the computational requirements of probabilistic structural analysis. A coarser global model is used for most of the computations with a local more refined model used only at key probabilistic conditions. The global model is used to establish the cumulative distribution function (cdf) and the Most Probable Point (MPP). The local model then uses the predicted MPP to adjust the cdf value. The global/local method is used within the advanced mean value probabilistic algorithm. The local model can be more refined with respect to the g1obal model in terms of finer mesh, smaller time step, tighter tolerances, etc. and can be used with linear or nonlinear models. The basis for this approach is described in terms of the correlation between the global and local models which can be estimated from the global and local MPPs. A numerical example is presented using the NESSUS probabilistic structural analysis program with the finite element method used for the structural modeling. The results clearly indicate a significant computer savings with minimal loss in accuracy.

Glass viscosity calculation based on a global statistical modelling approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fluegel, Alex

2007-02-01

A global statistical glass viscosity model was developed for predicting the complete viscosity curve, based on more than 2200 composition-property data of silicate glasses from the scientific literature, including soda-lime-silica container and float glasses, TV panel glasses, borosilicate fiber wool and E type glasses, low expansion borosilicate glasses, glasses for nuclear waste vitrification, lead crystal glasses, binary alkali silicates, and various further compositions from over half a century. It is shown that within a measurement series from a specific laboratory the reported viscosity values are often over-estimated at higher temperatures due to alkali and boron oxide evaporation during the measurement and glass preparation, including data by Lakatos et al. (1972) and the recently published High temperature glass melt property database for process modeling by Seward et al. (2005). Similarly, in the glass transition range many experimental data of borosilicate glasses are reported too high due to phase separation effects. The developed global model corrects those errors. The model standard error was 9-17°C, with R^2 = 0.985-0.989. The prediction 95% confidence interval for glass in mass production largely depends on the glass composition of interest, the composition uncertainty, and the viscosity level. New insights in the mixed-alkali effect are provided.

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Murray, Christopher J. L.; Ortblad, Katrina F.; Guinovart, Caterina; Lim, Stephen S.; Wolock, Timothy M.; Roberts, D. Allen; Dansereau, Emily A.; Graetz, Nicholas; Barber, Ryan M.; Brown, Jonathan C.; Wang, Haidong; Duber, Herbert C.; Naghavi, Mohsen; Dicker, Daniel; Dandona, Lalit; Salomon, Joshua A.; Heuton, Kyle R.; Foreman, Kyle; Phillips, David E.; Fleming, Thomas D.; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Phillips, Bryan K.; Johnson, Elizabeth K.; Coggeshall, Megan S.; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Abraham, Jerry P.; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen Me; Achoki, Tom; Adeyemo, Austine Olufemi; Adou, Arsene Kouablan; Adsuar, Jose C.; Agardh, Emilie Elisabet; Akena, Dickens; Al Kahbouri, Mazin J.; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed I.; Alcala-Cerra, Gabriel; Angel Alegretti, Miguel; Alemu, Zewdie Aderaw; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Alhabib, Samia; Ali, Raghib; Alla, Francois; Allen, Peter J.; Alsharif, Ubai; Alvarez, Elena; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amankwaa, Adansi A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Amini, Hassan; Ammar, Walid; Anderson, Benjamin O.; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Anwari, Palwasha; Arnlov, Johan; Arsenijevic, Valentina S. Arsic; Artaman, Ali; Asghar, Rana J.; Assadi, Reza; Atkins, Lydia S.; Badawi, Alaa; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Banerjee, Amitava; Basu, Sanjay; Beardsley, Justin; Bekele, Tolesa; Bell, Michelle L.; Bernabe, Eduardo; Beyene, Tariku Jibat; Bhala, Neeraj; Bhalla, Ashish; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Bin Abdulhak, Aref; Binagwaho, Agnes; Blore, Jed D.; Basara, Berrak Bora; Bose, Dipan; Brainin, Michael; Breitborde, Nicholas; Castaneda-Orjuela, Carlos A.; Catala-Lopez, Ferran; Chadha, Vineet K.; Chang, Jung-Chen; Chiang, Peggy Pei-Chia; Chuang, Ting-Wu; Colomar, Mercedes; Cooper, Leslie Trumbull; Cooper, Cyrus; Courville, Karen J.; Cowie, Benjamin C.; Criqui, Michael H.; Dandona, Rakhi; Dayama, Anand; De Leo, Diego; Degenhardt, Louisa; Del Pozo-Cruz, Borja; Deribe, Kebede; Des Jarlais, Don C.; Dessalegn, Muluken; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dilmen, Ugur; Ding, Eric L.; Driscoll, Tim R.; Durrani, Adnan M.; Ellenbogen, Richard G.; Ermakov, Sergey Petrovich; Esteghamati, Alireza; Faraon, Emerito Jose A.; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Fijabi, Daniel Obadare; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Paleo, Urbano Fra; Gaffikin, Lynne; Gamkrelidze, Amiran; Gankpe, Fortune Gbetoho; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Gessner, Bradford D.; Gibney, Katherine B.; Ginawi, Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed; Glaser, Elizabeth L.; Gona, Philimon; Goto, Atsushi; Gouda, Hebe N.; Gugnani, Harish Chander; Gupta, Rajeev; Gupta, Rahul; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hamadeh, Randah Ribhi; Hammami, Mouhanad; Hankey, Graeme J.; Harb, Hilda L.; Maria Haro, Josep; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hay, Simon I.; Hedayati, Mohammad T.; Heredia Pi, Ileana B.; Hoek, Hans W.; Hornberger, John C.; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hotez, Peter J.; Hoy, Damian G.; Huang, John J.; Iburg, Kim M.; Idrisov, Bulat T.; Innos, Kaire; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N.; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Guohong; Jonas, Jost B.; Juel, Knud; Kan, Haidong; Kankindi, Ida; Karam, Nadim E.; Karch, Andre; Karema, Corine Kakizi; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Kazi, Dhruv S.; Kemp, Andrew H.; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Keren, Andre; Kereselidze, Maia; Khader, Yousef Saleh; Khalifa, Shams Eldin Ali Hassan; Khan, Ejaz Ahmed; Khang, Young-Ho; Khonelidze, Irma; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kinge, Jonas M.; Knibbs, Luke; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kosen, S.; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Kulkarni, Veena S.; Kulkarni, Chanda; Kumar, Kaushalendra; Kumar, Ravi B.; Kumar, G. Anil; Kwan, Gene F.; Lai, Taavi; Balaji, Arjun Lakshmana; Lam, Hilton; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C.; Larson, Heidi J.; Larsson, Anders; Lee, Jong-Tae; Leigh, James; Leinsalu, Mall; Leung, Ricky; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Ferreira De Lima, Graca Maria; Lin, Hsien-Ho; Lipshultz, Steven E.; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lloyd, Belinda K.; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Pedro Machado, Vasco Manuel; Maclachlan, Jennifer H.; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Majdan, Marek; Mapoma, Christopher Chabila; Marcenes, Wagner; Barrieotos Marzan, Melvin; Masci, Joseph R.; Mashal, Mohammad Taufiq; Mason-Jones, Amanda J.; Mayosi, Bongani M.; Mazorodze, Tasara T.; Mckay, Abigail Cecilia; Meaney, Peter A.; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Mejia-Rodriguez, Fabiola; Melaku, Yohannes Adama; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Miller, Ted R.; Mills, Edward J.; Mohammad, Karzan Abdulmuhsin; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mola, Glen Liddell; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montico, Marcella; Moore, Ami R.; Mori, Rintaro; Moturi, Wilkister Nyaora; Mukaigawara, Mitsuru; Murthy, Kinnari S.; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S.; Naldi, Luigi; Nangia, Vinay; Narayan, K. M. Venkat; Nash, Denis; Nejjari, Chakib; Nelson, Robert G.; Neupane, Sudan Prasad; Newton, Charles R.; Ng, Marie; Nisar, Muhammad Imran; Nolte, Sandra; Norheim, Ole F.; Nowaseb, Vincent; Nyakarahuka, Luke; Oh, In-Hwan; Ohkubo, Takayoshi; Olusanya, Bolajoko O.; Omer, Saad B.; Opio, John Nelson; Orisakwe, Orish Ebere; Pandian, Jeyaraj D.; Papachristou, Christina; Paternina Caicedo, Angel J.; Patten, Scott B.; Paul, Vinod K.; Pavlin, Boris Igor; Pearce, Neil; Pereira, David M.; Pervaiz, Aslam; Pesudovs, Konrad; Petzold, Max; Pourmalek, Farshad; Qato, Dima; Quezada, Amado D.; Quistberg, D. Alex; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Sajjad Ur; Raju, Murugesan; Rana, Saleem M.; Razavi, Homie; Reilly, Robert Quentin; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Richardus, Jan Hendrik; Ronfani, Luca; Roy, Nobhojit; Sabin, Nsanzimana; Saeedi, Mohammad Yahya; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Samonte, Genesis May J.; Sawhney, Monika; Schneider, Ione J. C.; Schwebel, David C.; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Servan-Mori, Edson E.; Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Shibuya, Kenji; Shin, Hwashin Hyun; Shiue, Ivy; Shivakoti, Rupak; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora; Silberberg, Donald H.; Silva, Andrea P.; Simard, Edgar P.; Singh, Jasvinder A.; Skirbekk, Vegard; Sliwa, Karen; Soneji, Samir; Soshnikov, Sergey S.; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T.; Stathopoulou, Vasiliki Kalliopi; Stroumpoulis, Konstantinos; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sykes, Bryan L.; Tabb, Karen M.; Talongwa, Roberto Tchio; Tenkorang, Eric Yeboah; Terkawi, Abdullah Sulieman; Thomson, Alan J.; Thorne-Lyman, Andrew L.; Towbin, Jeffrey A.; Traebert, Jefferson; Tran, Bach X.; Dimbuene, Zacharie Tsala; Tsilimbaris, Miltiadis; Uchendu, Uche S.; Ukwaja, Kingsley N.; Uzun, Selen Begum; Vallely, Andrew J.; Vasankari, Tommi J.; Venketasubramanian, N.; Violante, Francesco S.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Waller, Stephen; Wallin, Mitchell T.; Wang, Linhong; Wang, XiaoRong; Wang, Yanping; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G.; Westerman, Ronny; White, Richard A.; Wilkinson, James D.; Williams, Thomas Neil; Woldeyohannes, Solomon Meseret; Wong, John Q.; Xu, Gelin; Yang, Yong C.; Yano, Yuichiro; Yentur, Gokalp Kadri; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Younis, Mustafa; Yu, Chuanhua; Jin, Kim Yun; Zaki, Maysaa El Sayed; Zhao, Yong; Zheng, Yingfeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Zhu, Jun; Zou, Xiao Nong; Lopez, Alan D.; Vos, Theo

2014-01-01

Background The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach to disease estimation for between

Face-based recognition techniques: proposals for the metrological characterization of global and feature-based approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Betta, G.; Capriglione, D.; Crenna, F.; Rossi, G. B.; Gasparetto, M.; Zappa, E.; Liguori, C.; Paolillo, A.

2011-12-01

Security systems based on face recognition through video surveillance systems deserve great interest. Their use is important in several areas including airport security, identification of individuals and access control to critical areas. These systems are based either on the measurement of details of a human face or on a global approach whereby faces are considered as a whole. The recognition is then performed by comparing the measured parameters with reference values stored in a database. The result of this comparison is not deterministic because measurement results are affected by uncertainty due to random variations and/or to systematic effects. In these circumstances the recognition of a face is subject to the risk of a faulty decision. Therefore, a proper metrological characterization is needed to improve the performance of such systems. Suitable methods are proposed for a quantitative metrological characterization of face measurement systems, on which recognition procedures are based. The proposed methods are applied to three different algorithms based either on linear discrimination, on eigenface analysis, or on feature detection.

Face-based recognition techniques: proposals for the metrological characterization of global and feature-based approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Betta, G; Capriglione, D; Crenna, F; Rossi, G B; Gasparetto, M; Zappa, E; Liguori, C; Paolillo, A

2011-01-01

Security systems based on face recognition through video surveillance systems deserve great interest. Their use is important in several areas including airport security, identification of individuals and access control to critical areas. These systems are based either on the measurement of details of a human face or on a global approach whereby faces are considered as a whole. The recognition is then performed by comparing the measured parameters with reference values stored in a database. The result of this comparison is not deterministic because measurement results are affected by uncertainty due to random variations and/or to systematic effects. In these circumstances the recognition of a face is subject to the risk of a faulty decision. Therefore, a proper metrological characterization is needed to improve the performance of such systems. Suitable methods are proposed for a quantitative metrological characterization of face measurement systems, on which recognition procedures are based. The proposed methods are applied to three different algorithms based either on linear discrimination, on eigenface analysis, or on feature detection

High-resolution minisatellite-based typing as a portable approach to global analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis molecular epidemiology

Science.gov (United States)

Mazars, Edith; Lesjean, Sarah; Banuls, Anne-Laure; Gilbert, Michèle; Vincent, Véronique; Gicquel, Brigitte; Tibayrenc, Michel; Locht, Camille; Supply, Philip

2001-01-01

The worldwide threat of tuberculosis to human health emphasizes the need to develop novel approaches to a global epidemiological surveillance. The current standard for Mycobacterium tuberculosis typing based on IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) suffers from the difficulty of comparing data between independent laboratories. Here, we propose a high-resolution typing method based on variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) of genetic elements named mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRUs) in 12 human minisatellite-like regions of the M. tuberculosis genome. MIRU-VNTR profiles of 72 different M. tuberculosis isolates were established by PCR analysis of all 12 loci. From 2 to 8 MIRU-VNTR alleles were identified in the 12 regions in these strains, which corresponds to a potential of over 16 million different combinations, yielding a resolution power close to that of IS6110-RFLP. All epidemiologically related isolates tested were perfectly clustered by MIRU-VNTR typing, indicating that the stability of these MIRU-VNTRs is adequate to track outbreak episodes. The correlation between genetic relationships inferred from MIRU-VNTR and IS6110-RFLP typing was highly significant. Compared with IS6110-RFLP, high-resolution MIRU-VNTR typing has the considerable advantages of being fast, appropriate for all M. tuberculosis isolates, including strains that have a few IS6110 copies, and permitting easy and rapid comparison of results from independent laboratories. This typing method opens the way to the construction of digital global databases for molecular epidemiology studies of M. tuberculosis. PMID:11172048

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)

Unemployment, Investment and Global Expected Returns: A Panel FAVAR Approach

OpenAIRE

Ron Smith; Gylfi Zoega

2005-01-01

We consider the hypothesis that a common factor, global expected returns, drives unemployment and investment in 21 OECD countries over the period 1960-2002. We investigate this hypothesis using a panel-factor augmented-vector autoregression (FAVAR). We first estimate the common factors of unemployment and investment by principal components and show that the first principal component of unemployment is almost identical to that of investment and that they both show the pattern one would expect ...

Global optimization and simulated annealing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dekkers, A.; Aarts, E.H.L.

1988-01-01

In this paper we are concerned with global optimization, which can be defined as the problem of finding points on a bounded subset of Rn in which some real valued functionf assumes its optimal (i.e. maximal or minimal) value. We present a stochastic approach which is based on the simulated annealing

Bridge 47--Building Global Citizenship

Science.gov (United States)

Lappalainen, Rilli

2018-01-01

Preparing young people to solve the world's greatest challenges is necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, as recognized in Target 4.7 for global citizenship. The Bridge 47 Network brings together different perspectives and approaches in values-based education to provide a forum to examine the skills and competencies needed to be…

Sustainable and resource-conserving utilization of global land areas and biomass; Globale Landflaechen und Biomasse nachhaltig und ressourcenschonend nutzen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jering, Almut; Klatt, Anne; Seven, Jan; Ehlers, Knut; Guenther, Jens; Ostermeier, Andreas; Moench, Lars

2012-10-15

The contribution under consideration reports on the state of the art of biomass based land use as well as on existing and future global development trends. An ecologically compatible and socially equitable utilization of resources as well as priorities in the production and utilization of biomass are described in order to achieve their goals. Approaches to action, measures and policy recommendations are presented with respect to the development of a globally sustainable, resource-conserving utilization of land.

Uncertain long-run emissions targets, CO2 price and global energy transition. A general equilibrium approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durand-Lasserve, Olivier; Smeers, Yves; Pierru, Axel

2010-01-01

The persistent uncertainty about mid-century CO 2 emissions targets is likely to affect not only the technological choices that energy-producing firms will make in the future but also their current investment decisions. We illustrate this effect on CO 2 price and global energy transition within a MERGE-type general-equilibrium model framework, by considering simple stochastic CO 2 policy scenarios. In these scenarios, economic agents know that credible long-run CO 2 emissions targets will be set in 2020, with two possible outcomes: either a hard cap or a soft cap. Each scenario is characterized by the relative probabilities of both possible caps. We derive consistent stochastic trajectories - with two branches after 2020 - for prices and quantities of energy commodities and CO 2 emissions permits. The impact of uncertain long-run CO 2 emissions targets on prices and technological trajectories is discussed. In addition, a simple marginal approach allows us to analyze the Hotelling rule with risk premia observed for certain scenarios. (author)

Convex analysis and global optimization

CERN Document Server

Tuy, Hoang

2016-01-01

This book presents state-of-the-art results and methodologies in modern global optimization, and has been a staple reference for researchers, engineers, advanced students (also in applied mathematics), and practitioners in various fields of engineering. The second edition has been brought up to date and continues to develop a coherent and rigorous theory of deterministic global optimization, highlighting the essential role of convex analysis. The text has been revised and expanded to meet the needs of research, education, and applications for many years to come. Updates for this new edition include: · Discussion of modern approaches to minimax, fixed point, and equilibrium theorems, and to nonconvex optimization; · Increased focus on dealing more efficiently with ill-posed problems of global optimization, particularly those with hard constraints;

Ebola and Its Global Research Architecture—Need for an Improvement

OpenAIRE

Quarcoo, David; Brüggmann, Dörthe; Klingelhöfer, Doris; Groneberg, David A.

2015-01-01

Abstract: The current Ebola outbreak poses a threat to individual and global public health. Although the disease has been of interest to the scientific community since 1976, an effective vaccination approach is still lacking. This fact questions past global public health strategies, which have not foreseen the possible impact of this infectious disease. To quantify the global research activity in this field, a scientometric investigation was conducted. We analyzed the research output of count...

Militarism and globalization: Is there an empirical link?

Science.gov (United States)

Irandoust, Manuchehr

2018-01-01

Despite the fact that previous studies have extensively investigated the causal nexus between military expenditure and economic growth in both developed and developing countries, those studies have not considered the role of globalization. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between militarism and globalization for the top 15 military expenditure spenders over the period 1990-2012. The bootstrap panel Granger causality approach is utilized to detect the direction of causality. The results show that military expenditure and overall globalization are causally related in most of the countries under review. This implies that countries experiencing greater globalization have relatively large increases in militarization over the past 20 years. The policy implication of the findings is that greater military spending by a country increases the likelihood of military conflict in the future, the anticipation of which discourages globalization.

Global Health Diplomacy, "San Francisco Values," and HIV/AIDS: From the Local to the Global.

Science.gov (United States)

Kevany, Sebastian

2015-01-01

San Francisco has a distinguished history as a cosmopolitan, progressive, and international city, including extensive associations with global health. These circumstances have contributed to new, interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of global health diplomacy (GHD). In the present review, we describe the evolution and history of GHD at the practical and theoretical levels within the San Francisco medical community, trace related associations between the local and the global, and propose a range of potential opportunities for further development of this dynamic field. We provide a historical overview of the development of the "San Francisco Model" of collaborative, community-owned HIV/AIDS treatment and care programs as pioneered under the "Ward 86" paradigm of the 1980s. We traced the expansion and evolution of this model to the national level under the Ryan White Care Act, and internationally via the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In parallel, we describe the evolution of global health diplomacy practices, from the local to the global, including the integration of GHD principles into intervention design to ensure social, political, and cultural acceptability and sensitivity. Global health programs, as informed by lessons learned from the San Francisco Model, are increasingly aligned with diplomatic principles and practices. This awareness has aided implementation, allowed policymakers to pursue related and progressive social and humanitarian issues in conjunction with medical responses, and elevated global health to the realm of "high politics." In the 21st century, the integration between diplomatic, medical, and global health practices will continue under "smart global health" and GHD paradigms. These approaches will enhance intervention cost-effectiveness by addressing and optimizing, in tandem with each other, a wide range of (health and non-health) foreign policy, diplomatic, security, and economic priorities in a synergistic manner

Globalized conflicts, globalized responses. Changing manners of contestation among indigenous communities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Benyei, Petra; Turreira Garcia, Nerea; Orta-Martínez, Martí

2017-01-01

In a globalized world, environmental conflicts affecting indigenous communities (including hunter-gatherer groups) have intensified and grown in their transnational character. These changes have affected the choice of manners of contestation of these groups, favouring in some cases the emergence...... activities and confront conflicts through a truly bottom-up approach. The chapter ends discussing how, despite the potential of such new manners of contestation, the power imbalances that currently underpin many indigenous conflicts are first to be addressed....

Collaborative Proposal: Transforming How Climate System Models are Used: A Global, Multi-Resolution Approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Estep, Donald

2013-04-15

Despite the great interest in regional modeling for both weather and climate applications, regional modeling is not yet at the stage that it can be used routinely and effectively for climate modeling of the ocean. The overarching goal of this project is to transform how climate models are used by developing and implementing a robust, efficient, and accurate global approach to regional ocean modeling. To achieve this goal, we will use theoretical and computational means to resolve several basic modeling and algorithmic issues. The first task is to develop techniques for transitioning between parameterized and high-fidelity regional ocean models as the discretization grid transitions from coarse to fine regions. The second task is to develop estimates for the error in scientifically relevant quantities of interest that provide a systematic way to automatically determine where refinement is needed in order to obtain accurate simulations of dynamic and tracer transport in regional ocean models. The third task is to develop efficient, accurate, and robust time-stepping schemes for variable spatial resolution discretizations used in regional ocean models of dynamics and tracer transport. The fourth task is to develop frequency-dependent eddy viscosity finite element and discontinuous Galerkin methods and study their performance and effectiveness for simulation of dynamics and tracer transport in regional ocean models. These four projects share common difficulties and will be approach using a common computational and mathematical toolbox. This is a multidisciplinary project involving faculty and postdocs from Colorado State University, Florida State University, and Penn State University along with scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory. The completion of the tasks listed within the discussion of the four sub-projects will go a long way towards meeting our goal of developing superior regional ocean models that will transform how climate system models are used.

52 Million Points and Counting: A New Stratification Approach for Mapping Global Marine Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, D. J.; Sayre, R.; Breyer, S.; Butler, K. A.; VanGraafeiland, K.; Goodin, K.; Kavanaugh, M.; Costello, M. J.; Cressie, N.; Basher, Z.; Harris, P. T.; Guinotte, J. M.

2016-12-01

We report progress on the Ecological Marine Units (EMU) project, a new undertaking commissioned by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as a means of developing a standardized and practical global ecosystems classification and map for the oceans, and thus a key outcome of the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). The project is one of four components of the new GI-14 GEO Ecosystems Initiative within the GEO 2016 Transitional Work plan, and for eventual use by the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The project is also the follow-on to a comprehensive Ecological Land Units project (ELU), also commissioned by GEO. The EMU is comprised of a global point mesh framework, created from 52,487,233 points from the NOAA World Ocean Atlas; spatial resolution is ¼° by ¼° by varying depth; temporal resolution is currently decadal; each point has x, y, z, as well as six attributes of chemical and physical oceanographic structure (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, silicate, phosphate) that are likely drivers of many ecosystem responses. We implemented a k-means statistical clustering of the point mesh (using the pseudo-F statistic to help determine the numbers of clusters), allowing us to identify and map 37 environmentally distinct 3D regions (candidate `ecosystems') within the water column. These units can be attributed according to their productivity, direction and velocity of currents, species abundance, global seafloor geomorphology (from Harris et al.), and much more. A series of data products for open access will share the 3D point mesh and EMU clusters at the surface, bottom, and within the water column, as well as 2D and 3D web apps for exploration of the EMUs and the original World Ocean Atlas data. Future plans include a global delineation of Ecological Coastal Units (ECU) at a much finer spatial resolution (not yet commenced), as well as global ecological freshwater ecosystems (EFUs; in earliest planning stages). We will

GHG Mitigation Potential, Costs and Benefits in Global Forests: ADynamic Partial Equilibrium Approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sathaye, Jayant; Makundi, Willy; Dale, Larry; Chan, Peter; Andrasko, Kenneth

2005-03-22

This paper reports on the global potential for carbonsequestration in forest plantations, and the reduction of carbonemissions from deforestation, in response to six carbon price scenariosfrom 2000 to 2100. These carbon price scenarios cover a range typicallyseen in global integrated assessment models. The world forest sector wasdisaggregated into tenregions, four largely temperate, developedregions: the European Union, Oceania, Russia, and the United States; andsix developing, mostly tropical, regions: Africa, Central America, China,India, Rest of Asia, and South America. Three mitigation options -- long-and short-rotation forestry, and the reduction of deforestation -- wereanalyzed using a global dynamic partial equilibrium model (GCOMAP). Keyfindings of this work are that cumulative carbon gain ranges from 50.9 to113.2 Gt C by 2100, higher carbon prices early lead to earlier carbongain and vice versa, and avoided deforestation accounts for 51 to 78percent of modeled carbon gains by 2100. The estimated present value ofcumulative welfare change in the sector ranges from a decline of $158billion to a gain of $81 billion by 2100. The decline is associated witha decrease in deforestation.

Tourism in a Globalizing World

Science.gov (United States)

Yudina, Elena V.; Uhina, Tatiana V.; Bushueva, Irina V.; Pirozhenko, Natalia T.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the investigated problem is caused by the fact that virtually no comprehensive research on issues related to tourism as an integrative multidimensional phenomenon in the socio-cultural environment in the context of globalization has been made by now. The purpose of this article is based on sociological and cultural approach to…

Global chaos synchronization with channel time-delay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Guoping; Zheng Weixing; Chen Guanrong

2004-01-01

This paper addresses a practical issue in chaos synchronization where there is a time-delay in the receiver as compared with the transmitter. A new synchronization scheme and a general criterion for global chaos synchronization are proposed and developed from the approach of unidirectional linear error feedback coupling with time-delay. The chaotic Chua's circuit is used for illustration, where the coupling parameters are determined according to the criterion under which the global chaos synchronization of the time-delay coupled systems is achieved

[The Caribbean origins of the National Public Health System in the USA: a global approach to the history of medicine and public health in Latin America].

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, Mariola

2015-01-01

This article defines global history in relation to the history of medicine and public health. It argues that a global approach to history opens up a space for examining the reverberations transmitted from the geographic periphery towards western regions, which have traditionally dominated modern historiography. It analyzes two medical interventions in the Caribbean in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, showing how these events had profound consequences in the USA. The successes achieved in the Caribbean in terms of yellow fever and ancylostoma control, as well as providing a model for health campaigns in the southern USA, inspired the centralization of public health in North America under the centralizing control of the federal government.

Emerging Economies and Firms in the Global Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

n exploration into the impact of the global crisis on emerging economies and firms and their responses to it. The ways in which the leading emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are dealing with the challenges of the global crisis are complemented by the approaches applied...... by countries and firms from Central and Eastern Europe. This is a pioneering volume shedding light on the successful international activities of the emerging economies in the global crisis. Offering a variety of perspectives, the chapters deal with the successful application of specific modes of market entry...... of BRIC economies in developed countries and the ways in which Russian, Indian, Chinese, and also Polish, Slovene and Estonian firms have coped with the challenges of the global crisis....

Asia's changing role in global climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddiqi, Toufiq A

2008-10-01

Asia's role in global climate change has evolved significantly from the time when the Kyoto Protocol was being negotiated. Emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, from energy use in Asian countries now exceed those from the European Union or North America. Three of the top five emitters-China, India, and Japan, are Asian countries. Any meaningful global effort to address global climate change requires the active cooperation of these and other large Asian countries, if it is to succeed. Issues of equity between countries, within countries, and between generations, need to be tackled. Some quantitative current and historic data to illustrate the difficulties involved are provided, and one approach to making progress is suggested.

Global change and sustainable development. A modelling perspective for the next decade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rotmans, J.; Van Asselt, M.B.A.; De Bruin, A.J.; Den Elzen, M.G.J.; De greef, J.; Hilderink, H.; Hoekstra, A.Y.; Janssen, M.A.; Koester, H.W.; Martens, W.J.M.; Niessen, L.W.; De Vries, H.J.M.

1994-06-01

The main objective of the title program is to develop an integrated modelling framework for analysing global change and sustainable development. The framework to be developed is referred to as TARGETS: Tool to Assess Regional and Global Environmental and health Targets for Sustainability. The research is based on a systems-based, integrated modelling approach and has a multi- and interdisciplinary character. A top-down approach is chosen: analysis starts at the global level and will be disaggregated to the level of major world regions. Alliance has been sought with the IMAGE project team in regard to data collection, regionalization and aggregation levels. The modelling framework is to be used by both researchers and policy analysts. In this report attention is paid to the requirements of an integrated systems approach (a multi-disciplinary systems analysis, quantification of uncertainties, and visualization of various system perspectives); the TARGETS model; the use of sustainability indicators to monitor the pressure on, the status of, and the impact on the global environment, which are linked to TARGETS; the scientific and cultural perspectives from which to describe and evaluate the global change phenomenon; the expected results; and finally the organizational embedment of the title programme. 19 figs., 3 tabs., 200 refs

l0 Sparsity for Image Denoising with Local and Global Priors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoni Gao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a l0 sparsity based approach to remove additive white Gaussian noise from a given image. To achieve this goal, we combine the local prior and global prior together to recover the noise-free values of pixels. The local prior depends on the neighborhood relationships of a search window to help maintain edges and smoothness. The global prior is generated from a hierarchical l0 sparse representation to help eliminate the redundant information and preserve the global consistency. In addition, to make the correlations between pixels more meaningful, we adopt Principle Component Analysis to measure the similarities, which can be both propitious to reduce the computational complexity and improve the accuracies. Experiments on the benchmark image set show that the proposed approach can achieve superior performance to the state-of-the-art approaches both in accuracy and perception in removing the zero-mean additive white Gaussian noise.

Mixed kernel function support vector regression for global sensitivity analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Kai; Lu, Zhenzhou; Wei, Yuhao; Shi, Yan; Zhou, Yicheng

2017-11-01

Global sensitivity analysis (GSA) plays an important role in exploring the respective effects of input variables on an assigned output response. Amongst the wide sensitivity analyses in literature, the Sobol indices have attracted much attention since they can provide accurate information for most models. In this paper, a mixed kernel function (MKF) based support vector regression (SVR) model is employed to evaluate the Sobol indices at low computational cost. By the proposed derivation, the estimation of the Sobol indices can be obtained by post-processing the coefficients of the SVR meta-model. The MKF is constituted by the orthogonal polynomials kernel function and Gaussian radial basis kernel function, thus the MKF possesses both the global characteristic advantage of the polynomials kernel function and the local characteristic advantage of the Gaussian radial basis kernel function. The proposed approach is suitable for high-dimensional and non-linear problems. Performance of the proposed approach is validated by various analytical functions and compared with the popular polynomial chaos expansion (PCE). Results demonstrate that the proposed approach is an efficient method for global sensitivity analysis.

Global governance approaches to addressing illegal logging: uptake and lessons learnt

Science.gov (United States)

B. Cashore; K. McGinley; S. Leipold; P.O. Cerutti; G. Bueno; S. et al. Carodenuto

2016-01-01

This report presents the results of the fifth global scientific assessment undertaken by the GFEP initiative. The report set out to gain deeper understanding of the meaning of illegal logging and related timber trade, its scale, drivers and consequences. It provides a structured synthesis of available scientific and expert knowledge on illegal logging and associated...

A Snapshot of the World of Global Multinationals – An Industry Based Analysis of Fortune Global 500 Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ogrean Claudia

2017-08-01

Full Text Available For better or for worse, the “corporations rule the world” assertion is nowadays more actual and accurate than ever before, as multinational companies represent the undisputable engine of the globalization process, and the latter continuously (recreates the background against which global multinationals are flourishing, while reinforcing their “domination”. Since 1995, the Fortune Global 500 ranking (FG 500 annually provides a comprehensive and eloquent image of the world of global multinationals; the merits of the FG 500 ranking go beyond the synchronic approach of the characteristics of global multinationals (in terms of revenues, profits, assets and employees - by sector, industry and country, as it also favors diachronic analysis and comparisons - which are essential for strategists in identifying evolving trends and substantiating corporate strategies able to lead to sustainable competitiveness. The paper aims to determine the contribution of sectors to FG 500 ranking in 2016, on one hand, and to emphasize on some industry-based dynamics in FG 500 - by comparatively analyzing the 2016 and 1996 rankings, on the other hand.

Global wind power potential: Physical and technological limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro, Carlos de; Mediavilla, Margarita; Miguel, Luis Javier; Frechoso, Fernando

2011-01-01

This paper is focused on a new methodology for the global assessment of wind power potential. Most of the previous works on the global assessment of the technological potential of wind power have used bottom-up methodologies (e.g. ). Economic, ecological and other assessments have been developed, based on these technological capacities. However, this paper tries to show that the reported regional and global technological potential are flawed because they do not conserve the energetic balance on Earth, violating the first principle of energy conservation (). We propose a top-down approach, such as that in , to evaluate the physical-geographical potential and, for the first time, to evaluate the global technological wind power potential, while acknowledging energy conservation. The results give roughly 1 TW for the top limit of the future electrical potential of wind energy. This value is much lower than previous estimates and even lower than economic and realizable potentials published for the mid-century (e.g. ). - Highlights: → Reported wind power potentials are flawed because they violate energy conservation. → For the first time, it is evaluated the technological wind power potential with a top-down approach. → Our results show 1 TWe for the limit of wind power energy, which is much lower than previous estimates.

The First International Conference on Global Food Security – A Synthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ittersum, van M.K.; Giller, K.E.

2014-01-01

Improving food security is difficult. There are many reasons why hunger and malnutrition persist, not least because deep social inequities and conflicts often dominate. Equally many approaches are needed to deal with this global problem. In the case of global food security, improvements can depend

Ciudad - región global: una revisión conceptual

OpenAIRE

Suelen Emilia Castiblanco Moreno

2013-01-01

The global city-region focus responds to a global context in which territories become active subjects of global networks through which political, economic, social and cultural information travels. This production system is based on the flexibility of production processes, the formation of networks based on human talent and innovation, the importance of small and medium enterprises and the mobility of capital based on the “neutralization” of the distances. In this approach, “the association or...

Buy-back and revenue-sharing contracts in global supply shain

OpenAIRE

Liu, Yang

2015-01-01

Purpose: The main propose of this study is to investigate how exchange rate risk affects the buy-back and revenue-sharing contracts in the global supply chain, hence to improve the performance of global supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a two-echelon global supply chain, with the model equilibrium, this paper studies the difference between the buy-back contract and the revenue-sharing contract. By the transmitting of the exchange rate risk, it discusses the node-enterpris...

Real-time global illumination on mobile device

Science.gov (United States)

Ahn, Minsu; Ha, Inwoo; Lee, Hyong-Euk; Kim, James D. K.

2014-02-01

We propose a novel method for real-time global illumination on mobile devices. Our approach is based on instant radiosity, which uses a sequence of virtual point lights in order to represent the e ect of indirect illumination. Our rendering process consists of three stages. With the primary light, the rst stage generates a local illumination with the shadow map on GPU The second stage of the global illumination uses the re ective shadow map on GPU and generates the sequence of virtual point lights on CPU. Finally, we use the splatting method of Dachsbacher et al 1 and add the indirect illumination to the local illumination on GPU. With the limited computing resources in mobile devices, a small number of virtual point lights are allowed for real-time rendering. Our approach uses the multi-resolution sampling method with 3D geometry and attributes simultaneously and reduce the total number of virtual point lights. We also use the hybrid strategy, which collaboratively combines the CPUs and GPUs available in a mobile SoC due to the limited computing resources in mobile devices. Experimental results demonstrate the global illumination performance of the proposed method.

Challenges of the Audit Profession in the Globalization Era

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Munteanu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Massive unprecedented changes, that best describe this era, are affecting the accountant and auditor profession, as well as the global business environment. The traditional role of the financial auditor will change, but if it will adapt and provide new services, may become a trusted councillor for its clients. The way financial auditors approach future tendencies will shape the destiny of the accountant and auditor profession. Financial auditors must understand innovation, to be open towards globalization, to be prepared as human resources that are competing not only nationally but also globally.

The carbon cycle and global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

Five land-use-based approaches can be used to slow the buildup of CO 2 in the atmosphere: slowing or stopping the loss of existing forests, thus preserving current carbon reservoirs; adding to the planet's vegetative cover through reforestation or other means, thus enlarging living terrestrial carbon reservoirs; increasing the carbon stored in nonliving carbon reservoirs such as agricultural soils; increasing the carbon stored in artificial reservoirs, including timber products; and substituting sustainable biomass energy sources for fossil fuel consumption, thus reducing energy-related carbon emissions. These approaches are all based on the same basic premise: adding to the planet's net carbon stores in vegetative cover or soil, or preventing any net loss, will help moderate global warming by keeping atmospheric CO 2 levels lower than they would otherwise be. Because biotic policy options appear capable of contributing significantly to the mitigation of global warming while also furthering many other public policy objectives, their role deserves careful consideration on a country-by-country basis

Global nuclear-structure calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeller, P.; Nix, J.R.

1990-01-01

The revival of interest in nuclear ground-state octupole deformations that occurred in the 1980's was stimulated by observations in 1980 of particularly large deviations between calculated and experimental masses in the Ra region, in a global calculation of nuclear ground-state masses. By minimizing the total potential energy with respect to octupole shape degrees of freedom in addition to ε 2 and ε 4 used originally, a vastly improved agreement between calculated and experimental masses was obtained. To study the global behavior and interrelationships between other nuclear properties, we calculate nuclear ground-state masses, spins, pairing gaps and Β-decay and half-lives and compare the results to experimental qualities. The calculations are based on the macroscopic-microscopic approach, with the microscopic contributions calculated in a folded-Yukawa single-particle potential

Global Internet Governance: Russian Approach and International Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)