75 FR 30002 - Federal Advisory Committee; Threat Reduction Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-28

... management; c. Nuclear deterrence transformation; d. Weapons effects; and e. Other Office of the Under... Reduction Agency on the following: a. Reducing the threat posed by nuclear, biological, chemical...

Global and local threats to coral reef functioning and existence: review and predictions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilkinson, C.R. [Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, Townsville, Qld. (Australia)

1999-07-01

Factors causing global degradation of coral reefs are examined briefly as a basis for predicting the likely consequences of increases in these factors. The earlier consensus was that widespread but localized damage from natural factors such as storms, and direct anthropogenic effects such as increased sedimentation, pollution and exploitation, posed the largest immediate threat to coral reefs. Now truly global factors associated with accelerating Global Climate Change are either damaging coral reefs or have the potential to inflict greater damage in the immediate future e.g. increases in coral bleaching and mortality, and reduction in coral calcification due to changes in sea-water chemistry with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. Rises in sea level will probably disrupt human communities and their cultures by making coral cays uninhabitable, whereas coral reefs will sustain minimal damage from the rise in sea level. The short-term (decades) prognosis is that major reductions are almost certain in the extent and biodiversity of coral reefs, and severe disruptions to cultures and economies dependent on reef resources will occur. The long-term (centuries to millennia) prognosis is more encouraging because coral reefs have remarkable resilience to severe disruption and will probably show this resilience in the future when climate changes either stabilize or reverse.

Cyber Conflicts as a New Global Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Kosenkov

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, an attempt is made to analyze the potential threats and consequences of cyber conflicts and, in particular, the risks of a global cyber conflict. The material is based on a comprehensive analysis of the nature of cyber conflict and its elements from both technical and societal points of view. The approach used in the paper considers the societal component as an essential part of cyber conflicts, allowing basics of cyber conflicts often disregarded by researchers and the public to be highlighted. Finally, the conclusion offers an opportunity to consider cyber conflict as the most advanced form of modern warfare, which imposes the most serious threat and whose effect could be comparable to weapons of mass destruction.

75 FR 71079 - Determination on Use of Cooperative Threat Reduction Funds in Pakistan and Afghanistan Under...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-22

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Determination on Use of Cooperative Threat Reduction Funds in Pakistan and Afghanistan Under Section 1308 of the National Defense Authorization Act for... Threat Reduction (CTR) funds for the implementation of CTR programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan will...

Toward a psychology of human survival: Psychological approaches to contemporary global threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, R.

1989-01-01

Nuclear weapons, population explosion, resource and food-supply depletion, and environmental deterioration have been posing increasing threats to human survival. Moreover, for the first time in history, all these major global threats are human caused and can, therefore, be traced in large part to psychological origins. After a brief overview of the nature and extent of current threats, this paper suggests criteria for an adequate psychology of human survival. The causes and effects of the threats are examined from various psychological perspectives and the psychological principles underlying effective responses are deduced. The ways in which mental health professionals may contribute to this most crucial task are discussed. 76 references

Organic pollution of rivers: Combined threats of urbanization, livestock farming and global climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Yingrong; Schoups, Gerrit; van de Giesen, Nick

2017-02-23

Organic pollution of rivers by wastewater discharge from human activities negatively impacts people and ecosystems. Without treatment, pollution control relies on a combination of natural degradation and dilution by natural runoff to reduce downstream effects. We quantify here for the first time the global sanitation crisis through its impact on organic river pollution from the threats of (1) increasing wastewater discharge due to urbanization and intensification of livestock farming, and (2) reductions in river dilution capacity due to climate change and water extractions. Using in-stream Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) as an overall indicator of organic river pollution, we calculate historical (2000) and future (2050) BOD concentrations in global river networks. Despite significant self-cleaning capacities of rivers, the number of people affected by organic pollution (BOD >5 mg/l) is projected to increase from 1.1 billion in 2000 to 2.5 billion in 2050. With developing countries disproportionately affected, our results point to a growing need for affordable wastewater solutions.

Organic pollution of rivers: Combined threats of urbanization, livestock farming and global climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Yingrong; Schoups, Gerrit; van de Giesen, Nick

2017-02-01

Organic pollution of rivers by wastewater discharge from human activities negatively impacts people and ecosystems. Without treatment, pollution control relies on a combination of natural degradation and dilution by natural runoff to reduce downstream effects. We quantify here for the first time the global sanitation crisis through its impact on organic river pollution from the threats of (1) increasing wastewater discharge due to urbanization and intensification of livestock farming, and (2) reductions in river dilution capacity due to climate change and water extractions. Using in-stream Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) as an overall indicator of organic river pollution, we calculate historical (2000) and future (2050) BOD concentrations in global river networks. Despite significant self-cleaning capacities of rivers, the number of people affected by organic pollution (BOD >5 mg/l) is projected to increase from 1.1 billion in 2000 to 2.5 billion in 2050. With developing countries disproportionately affected, our results point to a growing need for affordable wastewater solutions.

Coping with global environmental change, disasters and security: threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brauch, H.G.; Oswald Spring, Ú.; Mesjasz, C.; Grin, J.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; Chourou, B.; Dunay, P.; Birkmann, J.

2011-01-01

This policy-focused Global Environmental and Human Security Handbook for the Anthropo-cene (GEHSHA) addresses new security threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks posed by global environmental change and disasters. In 6 forewords, 5 preface essays 95 peer reviewed chapcountries analyse in 10

COOPERATIVE THREAT REDUCTION: DOD Has Adequate Oversight of Assistance, but Procedural Limitations Remain

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

2001-01-01

... more than $3 billion for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program to help Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Georgia secure and eliminate weapons of mass destruction...

Cooperative Threat Reduction: Status of Defense Conversion Efforts in the Former Soviet Union

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1997-01-01

DOD's program to convert former Soviet Union defense industries to commercial enterprises is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which DOD has supported since 1992 to reduce the weapons...

Evaluating Strategies for Achieving Global Collective Action on Transnational Health Threats and Social Inequalities

OpenAIRE

Hoffman, Steven Justin

2015-01-01

This dissertation presents three studies that evaluate different strategies for addressing transnational health threats and social inequalities that depend upon or would benefit from global collective action. Each draws upon different academic disciplines, methods and epistemological traditions. Chapter 1 assesses the role of international law in addressing global health challenges, specifically examining when, how and why global health treaties may be helpful. Evidence from 90 quantitati...

Lab-to-Lab Cooperative Threat Reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Hecker, Siegfried S.

2017-11-01

It is difficult to imagine today how dramatically global nuclear risks changed 25 years ago as the Soviet Union disintegrated. Instead of the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation, the world became concerned that Russia and the other 14 former Soviet states would lose control of their huge nuclear assets - tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, more than a million kilograms of fissile materials, hundreds of thousands of nuclear workers, and a huge nuclear complex. I will describe how scientists and engineers at the DOE laboratories, with a focus on Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories, joined forces with those at the Russian nuclear weapon institutes for more than 20 years to avoid what looked like the perfect nuclear storm - a story told in the two-volume book Doomed to Cooperate1 published in 2016. Due to an internal processing error, an incorrect version of this article was published on 15 November 2017 that omitted the footnotes. AIP Publishing apologizes for this error. An updated version of this article, including the missing footnotes, was published on 21 November 2017.

Global threat reduction initiative efforts to address transportation challenges associated with the recovery of disused radioactive sealed sources - 10460

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitworth, Julie; Abeyta, Cristy L.; Griffin, Justin M.; Matzke, James L.; Pearson, Michael W.; Cuthbertson, Abigail; Rawl, Richard; Singley, Paul

2010-01-01

Proper disposition of disused radioactive sources is essential for their safe and secure management and necessary to preclude their use in malicious activities. Without affordable, timely transportation options, disused sealed sources remain in storage at hundreds of sites throughout the country and around the world. While secure storage is a temporary measure, the longer sources remain disused or unwanted the chances increase that they will become unsecured or abandoned. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative's Off-Site Source Recovery Project (GTRIlOSRP), recovers thousands of disused and unwanted sealed sources annually as part of GTRl's larger mission to reduce and protect high risk nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites worldwide. Faced with decreasing availability of certified transportation containers to support movement of disused and unwanted neutron- and beta/gamma-emitting radioactive sealed sources, GTRIlOSRP has initiated actions to ensure the continued success of the project in timely recovery and management of sealed radioactive sources. Efforts described in this paper to enhance transportation capabilities include: (sm b ullet) Addition of authorized content to existing and planned Type B containers to support the movement of non-special form and other Type B-quantity sealed sources; (sm b ullet) Procurement of vendor services for the design, development, testing and certification of a new Type B container to support transportation of irradiators, teletherapy heads or sources removed from these devices using remote handling capabilities such as the IAEA portable hot cell facility; (sm b ullet) Expansion of shielded Type A container inventory for transportation of gamma-emitting sources in activity ranges requiring use of shielding for conformity with transportation requirements; (sm b ullet) Approval of the S300 Type A fissile container for transport of Pu-239 sealed sources internationally; (sm b ullet) Technology transfer of

At a global scale, do climate change threatened species also face a greater number of non-climatic threats?

Science.gov (United States)

Fortini, Lucas B.; Dye, Kaipo

2017-01-01

For many species the threats of climate change occur in a context of multiple existing threats. Given the current focus of global change ecology in identifying and understanding species vulnerable to climate change, we performed a global analysis to characterize the multi-threat context for species threatened by climate change. Utilizing 30,053 species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, we sought to evaluate if species threatened by climate change are more likely threatened by a greater number of non-climatic threats than species not threatened by climate change. Our results show that species threatened by climate change are generally impacted by 21% more non-climatic threats than species not threatened by climate change. Across all species, this pattern is related to IUCN risk status, where endangered species threatened by climate change face 33% more non-climatic threats than endangered species not threatened by climate change. With the clear challenges of assessing current and projected impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems, research often requires reductionist approaches that result in downplaying this multi-threat context. This cautionary note bears relevance beyond climate change threatened species as we also

At a global scale, do climate change threatened species also face a greater number of non-climatic threats?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucas B. Fortini

2017-07-01

Full Text Available For many species the threats of climate change occur in a context of multiple existing threats. Given the current focus of global change ecology in identifying and understanding species vulnerable to climate change, we performed a global analysis to characterize the multi-threat context for species threatened by climate change. Utilizing 30,053 species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, we sought to evaluate if species threatened by climate change are more likely threatened by a greater number of non-climatic threats than species not threatened by climate change. Our results show that species threatened by climate change are generally impacted by 21% more non-climatic threats than species not threatened by climate change. Across all species, this pattern is related to IUCN risk status, where endangered species threatened by climate change face 33% more non-climatic threats than endangered species not threatened by climate change. With the clear challenges of assessing current and projected impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems, research often requires reductionist approaches that result in downplaying this multi-threat context. This cautionary note bears relevance beyond climate change threatened species as we also found other (but not all anthropogenic threats are also similarly associated with more threats. Our findings serve as a reminder that ecological research should seriously consider these potential threat interactions, especially for species under elevated conservation concern.

Skin bleaching: A neglected form of injury and threat to global skin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Skin bleaching: A neglected form of injury and threat to global skin. JC Street, K Gaska, KM Lewis, ML Wilson. Abstract. Skin bleaching is the use of creams, gels, or soaps to lighten the skin and is known to cause a number of injuries, many of which are potentially life-threatening. Despite the growing body of research ...

Introductory remarks at the Global Threat Reduction Initiative Partners Conference (GTRI). 18 September 2004, Vienna, Austria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

2004-01-01

The security of nuclear and other radioactive material has taken on dramatically heightened significance in recent years, due to a number of factors: first, the increasing awareness that nuclear weapons related 'know-how' is no longer confined to a relatively few countries; second, the uncovering of an illicit procurement network capable of supplying nuclear designs and equipment; and third, the rise of extremist groups that have demonstrated an interest in obtaining and using nuclear and radiological weapons. Against this background, the need to protect nuclear material and facilities, and to control nuclear material and radioactive sources, has become an ever more global priority. The IAEA has been active in the field of nuclear security for many years, but the urgency and scope of our efforts underwent a 'sea-change' in the months following September 2001. International cooperation has become the hallmark of these security efforts. While nuclear security is and should remain a national responsibility, many countries still lack the programmes and the resources to respond properly to the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism. International efforts are focused both on assisting these countries in strengthening their programmes, and on building global networks for combating cross-border threats. The Agency's work has three main points of focus: prevention, detection and response. Our first objective is to assist States in preventing any illicit or non-peaceful use of nuclear or other radioactive materials - including acts of terrorism. This requires effective physical protection of nuclear materials in use, storage and transport, as well as protection of related nuclear facilities. It demands strong State programmes for accounting and control of nuclear material. It recognizes the benefits of the conversion of research reactors to use low enriched uranium a process that requires substantial funding and, in some cases, the development of technological

Global nuclear cleanout initiative 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edlow, J.; Gruber, G.

2004-01-01

Full text: During more than 50 years of Atoms for Peace programmes nuclear materials were spread out worldwide. Stranded nuclear materials from nuclear research are left over without any safe back-end solution. 'Dirty Bombs' or so-called 'Radioactive Dispersal Devices (RDD)' are no longer science fiction since the world experienced the 9/11 attack. Governmental, NGO's and private industry organizations having discussed Global Nuclear Cleanout since then and start to take actions. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced to establish a dedicated organization in cooperation with IAEA and start the 'Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI)'. The US government will allocate to that program USD 450 M over the next 10 years. Besides the historical development the paper will focus on the progress of the different initiatives and perspectives to threat reduction. (author)

Socio-Economic Correlates of Information Security Threats and Controls in Global Financial Services Industry: An Analysis

OpenAIRE

Princely Ifinedo

2015-01-01

Threats to data and information assets of Global Financial Services Industry (GFSI) are ever-present; such problems, if not well understood, could lead to huge negative impact. To some extent, the environment where a business operates does matter for its success. This study presents information about the relationships between selected socio-economic factors and information security threats and controls in the financial services industry. Essentially, it seeks to enrich the information provide...

Antimicrobial resistance: A global emerging threat to public health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferri, Maurizio; Ranucci, Elena; Romagnoli, Paola; Giaccone, Valerio

2017-09-02

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) became in the last two decades a global threat to public health systems in the world. Since the antibiotic era, with the discovery of the first antibiotics that provided consistent health benefits to human medicine, the misuse and abuse of antimicrobials in veterinary and human medicine have accelerated the growing worldwide phenomenon of AMR. This article presents an extensive overview of the epidemiology of AMR, with a focus on the link between food producing-animals and humans and on the legal framework and policies currently implemented at the EU level and globally. The ways of responding to the AMR challenges foresee an array of measures that include: designing more effective preventive measures at farm level to reduce the use of antimicrobials; development of novel antimicrobials; strengthening of AMR surveillance system in animal and human populations; better knowledge of the ecology of resistant bacteria and resistant genes; increased awareness of stakeholders on the prudent use of antibiotics in animal productions and clinical arena; and the public health and environmental consequences of AMR. Based on the global nature of AMR and considering that bacterial resistance does not recognize barriers and can spread to people and the environment, the article ends with specific recommendations structured around a holistic approach and targeted to different stakeholders.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND POVERTY REDUCTION THIS MILLENNIUM: NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John N. N. Ugoani

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Issue of global poverty became very worrisome that the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 placed it at the heart of global agenda to halve 1990 extreme poverty and hunger rates by the end of 2015. This means that the percentage of improvised people defined by the World Bank as those living on less than $1.25 a day must fall to 25 percent by the end of this year, while the proportion of people without adequate food security must be reduced to 12.5 percent. To achieve the aim, global leaders agreed to set a time-bound and measurable goals and targets. The United Nations believes that achieving the target which involves improvements in standards of living, universal primary education, empowerment of women, reduction in mortality rates, unemployment, among others, requires a global partnership with national governments, multinational agencies through global governance architecture. The ideal of global governance is a process of co-operative leadership that brings together national governments, multilateral public agencies and civil society to achieve commonly accepted goals. It provides strategic direction and then marshals collective energies to address global challenges. It is inclusive, dynamic and operates across national and sectoral boundaries and interests. It is this perspective of global governance that drives the Millennium Development Goals agenda toward global poverty reduction. This perspective is making positive contributions with some regions in the world heading toward the achievement of the target. Even those countries in sub-saharan Africa where most of the global poor live and who are lagging behind, are making frantic efforts to do so, with the assistance of global bodies like the world bank,  IMF, UNIDO, among others. The beauty of global governance is that it appears to be more democratic than authoritarian, more openly political than bureaucratic, and more integrated than specialized. This is the level that drives the

A reduction of the globalization and U(1)-covering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran Dao Dong.

1993-03-01

We suggest a reduction of the globalization and multidimensional quantization to the case of reductive Lie groups by lifting to U(1)-covering. our construction is connected with M. Duflo's third method for algebraic groups. From a reductive datum of the given real algebraic Lie group we firstly construct geometric complexes with respect to U(1)-covering by using the unipotent positive distributions. Then we describe in terms of local cohomology the maximal globalization of Harish-Chandra modules which correspond to the geometric complexes. (author). 9 refs

Coping with global environmental change, disasters and security. Threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brauch, Hans Guenter [Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany). Dept. of Political and Social Sciences; UNU-EHS, Bonn (DE). College of Associated Scientists and Advisors (CASA); Oswald Spring, Ursula [National Univ. of Mexico, Cuernavaca (MX). Regional Multidisciplinary Research Centre (CRIM); Mesjasz, Czeslaw [Cracow Univ. of Exonomics (Poland). Faculty of Management; Grin, John [Amsterdam Univ. (Netherlands). Dept. of Political Science; Dutch Knowledge network for Systems Innovations and Transitions (KSI), Amsterdam (Netherlands); Kameri-Mbote, Patricia [Strathmore Univ., Nairobi (Kenya). Dept. of Law; International Environmental Law Research Centre, Nairobi (Kenya); Chourou, Bechir [Univ. of Tunis-Carthage, Hammam-Chatt (Tunisia); Dunay, Pal [Geneva Centre for Security Policy (Switzerland). International Training Course in Security Policy; Birkmann, Joern (eds.) [United Nations Univ. (UNU), Bonn (DE). Inst. for Environment and Human Security (EHS)

2011-07-01

This policy-focused Global Environmental and Human Security Handbook for the Anthropo-cene (GEHSHA) addresses new security threats, challenges, vulnerabilities and risks posed by global environmental change and disasters. In 6 forewords, 5 preface essays 95 peer reviewed chapcountries analyse in 10 parts concepts of military and political hard security and economic, social, environmental soft security with a regional focus on the Near East, North and Sub-Sahara Africa and Asia and on hazards in urban centres. The major focus is on coping with global environmental change: climate change, desertification, water, food and health and with hazards and strategies on social vulnerability and resilience building and scientific, international, regional and national political strategies, policies and measures including early warning of conflicts and hazards. The book proposes a political geo-ecology and discusses a 'Fourth Green Revolution' for the Anthropocene era of earth history. (orig.)

Diplomatic advantages and threats in global health program selection, design, delivery and implementation: development and application of the Kevany Riposte.

Science.gov (United States)

Kevany, Sebastian

2015-05-27

Global health programs, as supported by organizations such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), stand to make significant contributions to international medical outcomes. Traditional systems of monitoring and evaluation, however, fail to capture downstream, indirect, or collateral advantages (and threats) of intervention selection, design, and implementation from broader donor perspectives, including those of the diplomatic and foreign policy communities, which these programs also generate. This paper describes the development a new métier under which assessment systems designed to consider the diplomatic value of global health initiatives are described and applied based on previously-identified "Top Ten" criteria. The "Kevany Riposte" and the "K-Score" were conceptualized based on a retrospective and collective assessment of the author's participation in the design, implementation and delivery of a range of global health interventions related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Responses and associated scores reframe intervention worth or value in terms of global health diplomacy criteria such as "adaptability", "interdependence", "training," and "neutrality". Response options ranged from "highly advantageous" to "significant potential threat". Global health initiatives under review were found to generate significant advantages from the diplomatic perspective. These included (1) intervention visibility and associations with donor altruism and prestige, (2) development of international non-health collaborations and partnerships, (3) adaptability and responsiveness of service delivery to local needs, and (4) advancement of broader strategic goals of the international community. Corresponding threats included (1) an absence of formal training of project staff on broader political and international relations roles and responsibilities, (2) challenges to recipient cultural and religious practices

The nuclear threat and the Nuclear Threat Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curtis, Charles

2001-01-01

Full text: President and chief operating officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), was invited by the IAEA Director General to speak about NTI and its mission at the IAEA Safeguards Symposium. Established by CNN founder Ted Turner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, NTI is a charitable organization working to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The foundation is global, concentrating not just on the United States, Russia, and other nations of the former Soviet Union, but also on those regions of greatest proliferation concern in Asia and the Middle East. NTI is working to close what it perceives as an increasingly dangerous gap between the threat from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the global response. NTI is supported by a pledge from Mr. Turner of at least $250 million over five years, among the largest sums any private individual has ever invested in these security issues. NTI's Board of Directors, an international team of experienced and knowledgeable experts, determines the overall direction of the foundation. (author)

Global threats from invasive alien species in the twenty-first century and national response capacities

Science.gov (United States)

Early, Regan; Bradley, Bethany A.; Dukes, Jeffrey S.; Lawler, Joshua J.; Olden, Julian D.; Blumenthal, Dana M.; Gonzalez, Patrick; Grosholz, Edwin D.; Ibañez, Ines; Miller, Luke P.; Sorte, Cascade J. B.; Tatem, Andrew J.

2016-01-01

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten human livelihoods and biodiversity globally. Increasing globalization facilitates IAS arrival, and environmental changes, including climate change, facilitate IAS establishment. Here we provide the first global, spatial analysis of the terrestrial threat from IAS in light of twenty-first century globalization and environmental change, and evaluate national capacities to prevent and manage species invasions. We find that one-sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing economies and biodiversity hotspots. The dominant invasion vectors differ between high-income countries (imports, particularly of plants and pets) and low-income countries (air travel). Uniting data on the causes of introduction and establishment can improve early-warning and eradication schemes. Most countries have limited capacity to act against invasions. In particular, we reveal a clear need for proactive invasion strategies in areas with high poverty levels, high biodiversity and low historical levels of invasion. PMID:27549569

On the implementation of the Biological Threat Reduction Program in the Republic of Uzbekistan

Science.gov (United States)

Tuychiev, Laziz; Madaminov, Marifjon

2013-01-01

Objective To review the implementation of the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency in the Republic of Uzbekistan since 2004. Introduction The Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) has been being implemented in the Republic of Uzbekistan since 2004 within the framework of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the United States of America Concerning Cooperation in the Area of the Promotion of Defense Relations and the Prevention of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction of 06.05.2001. Threat agent detection and response activities that target a list of especially dangerous pathogens are being carried out under the BTRP within the health care system of Uzbekistan. This presentation reviews some of the achievements of the program to date. Results BTRP, in partnership with the Government of Uzbekistan, has funded the establishment of five Regional Diagnostic Laboratories (RDL) and ten Epidemiological Support Units (ESU), operated by the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, which are intended to improve the diagnosis of quarantine and especially dangerous infections, and to ensure timely preventive and anti-epidemic measures. RDLs provide a high level of biosafety and biosecurity to conduct rapid laboratory diagnostics (PCR, ELISA) of especially dangerous infections. RDLs are equipped with up-to-date diagnostic laboratory equipment that conforms to internationals standards, as well as with all necessary consumables. Personnel of RDLs have been appropriately trained in epidemiology, clinical and diagnostic techniques for especially dangerous infections, including such state-of-the-art techniques as rapid PCR and ELISA diagnostics, as well as in work and equipment operation safety regulations. Epidemiological Support Units (ESU) have been established on the basis of the Especially Dangerous Infections Divisions of Oblast, city and Rayon Centers for State Sanitary

Migrants and emerging public health issues in a globalized world: threats, risks and challenges, an evidence-based framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Gushulak, Bd; Weekers, J; Macpherson, Dw

2009-01-01

International population mobility is an underlying factor in the emergence of public health threats and risks that must be managed globally. These risks are often related, but not limited, to transmissible pathogens. Mobile populations can link zones of disease emergence to lowprevalence or nonendemic areas through rapid or high-volume international movements, or both. Against this background of human movement, other global processes such as economics, trade, transportation, environment and climate change, as well as civil security influence the health impacts of disease emergence. Concurrently, global information systems, together with regulatory frameworks for disease surveillance and reporting, affect organizational and public awareness of events of potential public health significance. International regulations directed at disease mitigation and control have not kept pace with the growing challenges associated with the volume, speed, diversity, and disparity of modern patterns of human movement. The thesis that human population mobility is itself a major determinant of global public health is supported in this article by review of the published literature from the perspective of determinants of health (such as genetics/biology, behavior, environment, and socioeconomics), population-based disease prevalence differences, existing national and international health policies and regulations, as well as inter-regional shifts in population demographics and health outcomes. This paper highlights some of the emerging threats and risks to public health, identifies gaps in existing frameworks to manage health issues associated with migration, and suggests changes in approach to population mobility, globalization, and public health. The proposed integrated approach includes a broad spectrum of stakeholders ranging from individual health-care providers to policy makers and international organizations that are primarily involved in global health management, or are influenced

Global Fund investments in harm reduction from 2002 to 2009

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Atun, Rifat

2012-01-01

Injecting drug use has been documented in 158 countries and is a major contributor to HIV epidemics. People who inject drugs have poor and inequitable access to HIV services. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the leading multilateral donor for HIV programmes and encourage...... applicants to include harm reduction interventions in their proposals. This study is the first detailed analysis of Global Fund investments in harm reduction interventions....

INFORMATION THREATS IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD: ECONOMICS, POLITICS, SOCIETY (EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anatoliy Holovka

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The scientific article deals with both integral vision of the contemporary informative risks in the globalized world and their classification. The essence of the informative security is exposed, which is one of main factors of steady development of the modern informative society. In consideration of the foreign practice, the experience of Ukraine is also analyzed in counteraction to the contemporary informative threats. The effective policy of safety and counteraction to the informative threats is one of the basic constituents of the state national safety system and at the same time testifies to the correct character of connections between the public organs and the society. Under the conditions of unrestrained progress of information technologies and general informatization in all sectors of people’s life (politics, economy, defense, energy etc., providing of control and defense of informative space of the country becomes much more difficult task. Modern Ukrainian realities certify convincingly, that Ukraine is in an extremely difficult political situation that influences all spheres of Ukrainians’ life. The key reason of such situation is a military-informative aggression against Ukraine from Russia, which is the fact of waging a «hybrid war». As it is known, this type of war combines the application of both classic soldiery instruments (military technique, firearms, regular troops and methods of informative influence (cyber-attack, informative diversions, aggressive propaganda, impact on public opinion. This factor encourages such research. The object of the study is the phenomenon of information risks in the modern world. Subject of research – is the impact of modern information threats to the state and society, namely the economic, political and social spheres. For a holistic analysis of the subject of research was used appropriate methodology – systematic approach, method of comparative analysis, general scientific methods

Preventing radiological threat in the Republic of Azerbaijan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabulov, I.A.

2005-01-01

Full text: Azerbaijan is a developing and transit country in the Caucasus, connecting East and West. In addition, Azerbaijan is neighboring countries with pronounced political instability, some of which have extensive nuclear infrastructure or try to develop nuclear infrastructure. Furthermore, in the recent past fundamentalist religious terrorism has taken roots in some of these countries. Therefore, in spite of the fact that the Republic of Azerbaijan has no nuclear facilities or nuclear materials in its own territory, it could be interesting for terrorist groups trying to develop a crude radiological dispersal device using radioactive sources that are widely used in everyday life especially in such areas as oil industry, medicine, agriculture and scientific researches. The issues of reduction and prevention of both radiological and nuclear terrorism threat are one of the main global challenges around the world. The Republic of Azerbaijan is a part of world community and so we are concerned that radioactive sources used for peaceful applications could be stolen by the terrorist groups and used in the development of radiological dispersal devices sometimes referred to as a 'dirty bomb'. It is obvious that using highly radioactive materials in radiological dispersal devices could be very disruptive to society, causing panic, environmental contamination, and large financial losses. One of the ways for reduction and prevention of radiological threat for the countries like Azerbaijan with underdeveloped nuclear security and radiation safety infrastructure is closely participation in the international cooperation programs. As an example of such cooperation, I would like to present the United States Department of Energy's International Radiological Threat Reduction (IRTR) Program. Good progress has made in the field of radiological security within the framework of this program that was started 2003. Actually, in comparison with any IAEA programs, the progress reached by

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)

Biological diversity, ecology and global climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jutro, P.R.

1991-01-01

Worldwide climate change and loss of biodiversity are issues of global scope and importance that have recently become subjects of considerable public concern. Their perceived threat lies in their potential to disrupt ecological functioning and stability rather than from any direct threat they may pose to human health. Over the last 5 years, the international scientific community and the general public have become aware of the implications that atmospheric warming might have for world climate patterns and the resulting changes in the persistence, location, and composition of ecosystems worldwide. Human activities are currently responsible for a species loss rate that is the most extreme in millions of years, and an alarmingly increasing rate of transformation and fragmentation of natural landscapes. In the case of both global warming and reduction of biological diversity, man is affecting nature in an unprecedented fashion, on a global scale, and with unpredictable and frequently irreversible results

The Global Earthquake Model and Disaster Risk Reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Smolka, A. J.

2015-12-01

Advanced, reliable and transparent tools and data to assess earthquake risk are inaccessible to most, especially in less developed regions of the world while few, if any, globally accepted standards currently allow a meaningful comparison of risk between places. The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) is a collaborative effort that aims to provide models, datasets and state-of-the-art tools for transparent assessment of earthquake hazard and risk. As part of this goal, GEM and its global network of collaborators have developed the OpenQuake engine (an open-source software for hazard and risk calculations), the OpenQuake platform (a web-based portal making GEM's resources and datasets freely available to all potential users), and a suite of tools to support modelers and other experts in the development of hazard, exposure and vulnerability models. These resources are being used extensively across the world in hazard and risk assessment, from individual practitioners to local and national institutions, and in regional projects to inform disaster risk reduction. Practical examples for how GEM is bridging the gap between science and disaster risk reduction are: - Several countries including Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Ecuador, Papua-New Guinea and Taiwan (with more to follow) are computing national seismic hazard using the OpenQuake-engine. In some cases these results are used for the definition of actions in building codes. - Technical support, tools and data for the development of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk models for regional projects in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. - Going beyond physical risk, GEM's scorecard approach evaluates local resilience by bringing together neighborhood/community leaders and the risk reduction community as a basis for designing risk reduction programs at various levels of geography. Actual case studies are Lalitpur in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal and Quito/Ecuador. In agreement with GEM's collaborative approach, all

Global warming and its implication to emission reduction strategies for residential buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Xiaoming; Chen, Dong; Ren, Zhengen [CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), P.O. Box 56, Graham Road, Highett, Victoria 3190 (Australia)

2011-04-15

Carbon emission reduction schemes by improving residential building energy performance are often developed and assessed upon the assumption of current or stationary climates. This study investigated the heating and cooling (H-C) energy requirements and corresponding carbon emissions of residential houses in different climatic conditions in relation to global warming. This included assessing and quantifying the efficacy of emission reduction schemes based on emission reduction capacity (ERC). ERC represents the percentage of projected carbon emission reduction under changing climate in a specific year compared to the expected reduction by a scheme at current or stationary climates. It is shown that in a heating-dominated region with a cold climate or temperate climate with cold winter, ERC is projected to increase (or the projected emission reduction is higher than the expected reduction under the emission reduction scheme) in the presence of global warming. In contrast, in a cooling-dominated region with a hot dry or hot humid climate or an H-C balanced temperate climate, ERC is projected to decline. This implies that emission reductions will be lower than those initially targeted by the emission reduction scheme without consideration of global warming. Additionally, to reflect the changing carbon emission over years due to climate change, the average emission reduction capacity (AERC) was also proposed for the assessment of reduction schemes. It was concluded that the design and assessment of carbon emission reduction schemes for residential buildings need to move beyond its assumptions of a current or stationary climate to take into account climate change impacts. (author)

After Globalization Future Security in a Technology Rich World

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilmartin,T J

2001-08-17

Over the course of the year 2000, five workshops were conducted by the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on threats to international security in the 2015 to 2020 timeframe due to the global availability of advanced technology. These workshops focused on threats that are enabled by nuclear, missile, and space technology; military technology; information technology; bio technology; and geo systems technology. The participants included US national leaders and experts from the Department of Energy National Laboratories; the Department of Defense: Army, Navy, Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the Department of State, NASA, Congressional technical staff, the intelligence community, universities and university study centers, think tanks, consultants on security issues, and private industry. For each workshop the process of analysis involved identification and prioritization of the participants' perceived most severe threat scenarios (worst nightmares), discussion of the technologies which enabled those threats, and ranking of the technologies' threat potentials. The threats ranged from local/regional to global, from intentional to unintended to natural, from merely economic to massively destructive, and from individual and group to state actions. We were not concerned in this exercise with defining responses to the threats, although our assessment of each threat's severity included consideration of the ease or difficulty with which it might be executed or countered. At the concluding review, we brought the various workshops' participants together, added senior participant/reviewers with broad experience and national responsibility, and discussed the workshop findings to determine what is most certain or uncertain, and what might be needed to resolve our uncertainties. This paper summarizes the consenses and

Identifying the Species Threat Hotspots from Global Supply Chains

OpenAIRE

Moran, Daniel; Kanemoto, Keiichiro

2016-01-01

Identifying species threat hotspots has been a successful approach for setting conservation priorities. One major challenge in conservation is that in many hotspots export industries continue to drive overexploitation. Conservation measures must consider not just the point of impact, but also the consumer demand that ultimately drives resource use. To understand which species threat hotspots are driven by which consumers, we have developed a new approach to link a set of biodiversity footprin...

Global patterns in threats to vertebrates by biological invasions

Science.gov (United States)

Bellard, C.; Genovesi, P.; Jeschke, J. M.

2016-01-01

Biological invasions as drivers of biodiversity loss have recently been challenged. Fundamentally, we must know where species that are threatened by invasive alien species (IAS) live, and the degree to which they are threatened. We report the first study linking 1372 vertebrates threatened by more than 200 IAS from the completely revised Global Invasive Species Database. New maps of the vulnerability of threatened vertebrates to IAS permit assessments of whether IAS have a major influence on biodiversity, and if so, which taxonomic groups are threatened and where they are threatened. We found that centres of IAS-threatened vertebrates are concentrated in the Americas, India, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. The areas in which IAS-threatened species are located do not fully match the current hotspots of invasions, or the current hotspots of threatened species. The relative importance of biological invasions as drivers of biodiversity loss clearly varies across regions and taxa, and changes over time, with mammals from India, Indonesia, Australia and Europe are increasingly being threatened by IAS. The chytrid fungus primarily threatens amphibians, whereas invasive mammals primarily threaten other vertebrates. The differences in IAS threats between regions and taxa can help efficiently target IAS, which is essential for achieving the Strategic Plan 2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. PMID:26817767

Global analysis of threat status reveals higher extinction risk in tropical than in temperate bird sister species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reif Jiří

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Given increasing pressures upon biodiversity, identification of species’ traits related to elevated extinction risk is useful for more efficient allocation of limited resources for nature conservation. Despite its need, such a global analysis was lacking in the case of birds. Therefore, we performed this exercise for avian sister species using information about their global extinction risk from IUCN Red List. We focused on 113 pairs of sister species, each containing a threatened and an unthreatened species to factor out the effects of common evolutionary history on the revealed relationship. We collected data on five traits with expected relationships to species’ extinction risk based on previous studies performed at regional or national levels: breeding habitat (recognizing forest, grassland, wetland and oceanic species, latitudinal range position (temperate and tropics species, migration strategy (migratory and resident species, diet (carnivorous, insectivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous species and body mass. We related the extinction risk using IUCN threat level categories to species’ traits using generalised linear mixed effects models expecting lower risk for forest, temperate, omnivorous and smaller-bodied species. Our expectation was confirmed only in the case of latitudinal range position, as we revealed higher threat level for tropical than for temperate species. This relationship was robust to different methods of threat level expression and cannot be explained by a simple association of high bird species richness with the tropical zone. Instead, it seems that tropical species are more threatened because of their intrinsic characteristics such as slow life histories, adaptations to stable environments and small geographic ranges. These characteristics are obviously disadvantageous in conditions of current human-induced environmental perturbations. Moreover, given the absence of habitat effects, our study indicates that such

Hybrid biasing approaches for global variance reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Zeyun; Abdel-Khalik, Hany S.

2013-01-01

A new variant of Monte Carlo—deterministic (DT) hybrid variance reduction approach based on Gaussian process theory is presented for accelerating convergence of Monte Carlo simulation and compared with Forward-Weighted Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (FW-CADIS) approach implemented in the SCALE package from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The new approach, denoted the Gaussian process approach, treats the responses of interest as normally distributed random processes. The Gaussian process approach improves the selection of the weight windows of simulated particles by identifying a subspace that captures the dominant sources of statistical response variations. Like the FW-CADIS approach, the Gaussian process approach utilizes particle importance maps obtained from deterministic adjoint models to derive weight window biasing. In contrast to the FW-CADIS approach, the Gaussian process approach identifies the response correlations (via a covariance matrix) and employs them to reduce the computational overhead required for global variance reduction (GVR) purpose. The effective rank of the covariance matrix identifies the minimum number of uncorrelated pseudo responses, which are employed to bias simulated particles. Numerical experiments, serving as a proof of principle, are presented to compare the Gaussian process and FW-CADIS approaches in terms of the global reduction in standard deviation of the estimated responses. - Highlights: ► Hybrid Monte Carlo Deterministic Method based on Gaussian Process Model is introduced. ► Method employs deterministic model to calculate responses correlations. ► Method employs correlations to bias Monte Carlo transport. ► Method compared to FW-CADIS methodology in SCALE code. ► An order of magnitude speed up is achieved for a PWR core model.

International forum on nuclear and biological decommissioning: Management of global security threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslanian, G.; Kouzminov, V.; Martellini, M.; Santesso, R.

1998-01-01

The Forum on Nuclear and Biological Decommissioning: Management of Global Security Threats was organized by the Landau Network-Centro Volta (LNCV) with the support of the UNESCO Venice Office, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian National Board for Alternative Energy Sources (ENEA), the Lombardy Region and the Municipality of Como. Subjects dealt with at the conference included the reconversion of nuclear and biological military equipment produced in the 50 years of the Cold War period and the effects of radio contamination on the environment and on human life. This conference was the most recent of a number of initiatives on reconversion organized in collaboration with the UNESCO Venice Office. The issues dealt with at the conference will be among the subjects for discussion at the UNESCO International School Science for Peace, which will be set up at the 'A. Volta' Center for Scientific Culture

Health system strengthening: prospects and threats for its sustainability on the global health policy agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Naimoli, Joseph F; Saxena, Sweta; Hatt, Laurel E; Yarrow, Kristina M; White, Trenton M; Ifafore-Calfee, Temitayo

2018-01-01

In 2013, Hafner and Shiffman applied Kingdon's public policy process model to explain the emergence of global attention to health system strengthening (HSS). They questioned, however, HSS's sustainability on the global health policy agenda, citing various concerns. Guided by the Grindle and Thomas interactive model of policy implementation, we advance and elaborate a proposition: a confluence of developments will contribute to maintaining HSS's prominent place on the agenda until at least 2030. Those developments include (1) technical, managerial, financial, and political responses to unpredictable public health crises that imperil the routine functioning of health systems, such as the 2014-2015 Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic in West Africa; (2) similar responses to non-crisis situations requiring fully engaged, robust health systems, such as the pursuit of the new Sustainable Development Goal for health (SDG3); and (3) increased availability of new knowledge about system change at macro, meso, and micro levels and its effects on people's health and well-being. To gauge the accuracy of our proposition, we carried out a speculative assessment of credible threats to our premise by discussing all of the Hafner-Shiffman concerns. We conclude that (1) the components of our proposition and other forces that have the potential to promote continuing attention to HSS are of sufficient strength to counteract these concerns, and (2) prospective monitoring of HSS agenda status and further research on agenda sustainability can increase confidence in our threat assessment. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Adjoint-based global variance reduction approach for reactor analysis problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Qiong; Abdel-Khalik, Hany S.

2011-01-01

A new variant of a hybrid Monte Carlo-Deterministic approach for simulating particle transport problems is presented and compared to the SCALE FW-CADIS approach. The new approach, denoted by the Subspace approach, optimizes the selection of the weight windows for reactor analysis problems where detailed properties of all fuel assemblies are required everywhere in the reactor core. Like the FW-CADIS approach, the Subspace approach utilizes importance maps obtained from deterministic adjoint models to derive automatic weight-window biasing. In contrast to FW-CADIS, the Subspace approach identifies the correlations between weight window maps to minimize the computational time required for global variance reduction, i.e., when the solution is required everywhere in the phase space. The correlations are employed to reduce the number of maps required to achieve the same level of variance reduction that would be obtained with single-response maps. Numerical experiments, serving as proof of principle, are presented to compare the Subspace and FW-CADIS approaches in terms of the global reduction in standard deviation. (author)

Use of modified threat reduction assessments to estimate success of conservation measures within and adjacent to Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, Brandon P

2008-12-01

The importance of biodiversity as natural capital for economic development and sustaining human welfare is well documented. Nevertheless, resource degradation rates and persistent deterioration of human welfare in developing countries is increasingly worrisome. Developing effective monitoring and evaluation schemes and measuring biodiversity loss continue to pose unique challenges, particularly when there is a paucity of historical data. Threat reduction assessment (TRA) has been proposed as a method to measure conservation success and as a proxy measurement of conservation impact, monitoring threats to resources rather than changes to biological parameters themselves. This tool is considered a quick, practical alternative to more cost- and time-intensive approaches, but has inherent weaknesses. I conducted TRAs to evaluate the effectiveness of Kruger National Park (KNP) and Limpopo Province, South Africa, in mitigating threats to biodiversity from 1994 to 2004 in 4 geographical areas. I calculated TRA index values in these TRAs by using the original scoring developed by Margoluis and Salafsky (2001)and a modified scoring system that assigned negative mitigation values to incorporate new or worsening threats. Threats were standardized to allow comparisons across the sites. Modified TRA index values were significantly lower than values derived from the original scoring exercise. Five of the 11 standardized threats were present in all 4 assessment areas, 2 were restricted to KNP, 2 to Limpopo Province, and 2 only to Malamulele municipality. These results indicate, first, the need to integrate negative mitigation values into TRA scoring. By including negative values, investigators will be afforded a more accurate picture of biodiversity threats and of temporal and spatial trends across sites. Where the original TRA scoring was used to measure conservation success, reevaluation of these cases with the modified scoring is recommended. Second, practitioners must

Antibiotic resistance as a global threat: Evidence from China, Kuwait and the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rotimi Vincent

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Antimicrobial resistance is an under-appreciated threat to public health in nations around the globe. With globalization booming, it is important to understand international patterns of resistance. If countries already experience similar patterns of resistance, it may be too late to worry about international spread. If large countries or groups of countries that are likely to leap ahead in their integration with the rest of the world – China being the standout case – have high and distinctive patterns of resistance, then a coordinated response could substantially help to control the spread of resistance. The literature to date provides only limited evidence on these issues. Methods We study the recent patterns of antibiotic resistance in three geographically separated, and culturally and economically distinct countries – China, Kuwait and the United States – to gauge the range and depth of this global health threat, and its potential for growth as globalization expands. Our primary measures are the prevalence of resistance of specific bacteria to specific antibiotics. We also propose and illustrate methods for aggregating specific "bug-drug" data. We use these aggregate measures to summarize the resistance pattern for each country and to study the extent of correlation between countries' patterns of drug resistance. Results We find that China has the highest level of antibiotic resistance, followed by Kuwait and the U.S. In a study of resistance patterns of several most common bacteria in China in 1999 and 2001, the mean prevalence of resistance among hospital-acquired infections was as high as 41% (with a range from 23% to 77% and that among community- acquired infections was 26% (with a range from 15% to 39%. China also has the most rapid growth rate of resistance (22% average growth in a study spanning 1994 to 2000. Kuwait is second (17% average growth in a period from 1999 to 2003, and the U.S. the lowest (6% from

Communication complexity reduction from globally uncorrelated states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wieśniak, Marcin

2015-01-01

Bell inequality violating entangled states are the working horse for many potential quantum information processing applications, including secret sharing, cryptographic key distribution and communication complexity reduction in distributed computing. Here we explicitly demonstrate the power of certain multi-qubit states to improve the efficiency of partners in joint computation of some multi-qubit function, despite the fact that there could be no correlations between all distributed particles. It is important to stress that the class of functions that can be computed more efficiently is widened, as compared with the standard Bell inequalities. - Highlights: • We expand the set of functions, which can be computed more efficiently with quantum states. • We describe communication complexity reduction protocols based not only on full correlations. • We explicitly show an instance where, a globally uncorrelated state reduces communication complexity

Communication complexity reduction from globally uncorrelated states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wieśniak, Marcin, E-mail: marcin.wiesniak@univie.ac.at

2015-04-03

Bell inequality violating entangled states are the working horse for many potential quantum information processing applications, including secret sharing, cryptographic key distribution and communication complexity reduction in distributed computing. Here we explicitly demonstrate the power of certain multi-qubit states to improve the efficiency of partners in joint computation of some multi-qubit function, despite the fact that there could be no correlations between all distributed particles. It is important to stress that the class of functions that can be computed more efficiently is widened, as compared with the standard Bell inequalities. - Highlights: • We expand the set of functions, which can be computed more efficiently with quantum states. • We describe communication complexity reduction protocols based not only on full correlations. • We explicitly show an instance where, a globally uncorrelated state reduces communication complexity.

Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, Chris; Van Sebille, Erik; Hardesty, Britta Denise

2015-09-22

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern; concentrations reach 580,000 pieces per km(2) and production is increasing exponentially. Although a large number of empirical studies provide emerging evidence of impacts to wildlife, there has been little systematic assessment of risk. We performed a spatial risk analysis using predicted debris distributions and ranges for 186 seabird species to model debris exposure. We adjusted the model using published data on plastic ingestion by seabirds. Eighty of 135 (59%) species with studies reported in the literature between 1962 and 2012 had ingested plastic, and, within those studies, on average 29% of individuals had plastic in their gut. Standardizing the data for time and species, we estimate the ingestion rate would reach 90% of individuals if these studies were conducted today. Using these results from the literature, we tuned our risk model and were able to capture 71% of the variation in plastic ingestion based on a model including exposure, time, study method, and body size. We used this tuned model to predict risk across seabird species at the global scale. The highest area of expected impact occurs at the Southern Ocean boundary in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, which contrasts with previous work identifying this area as having low anthropogenic pressures and concentrations of marine debris. We predict that plastics ingestion is increasing in seabirds, that it will reach 99% of all species by 2050, and that effective waste management can reduce this threat.

Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, Chris; Van Sebille, Erik; Hardesty, Britta Denise

2015-01-01

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern; concentrations reach 580,000 pieces per km2 and production is increasing exponentially. Although a large number of empirical studies provide emerging evidence of impacts to wildlife, there has been little systematic assessment of risk. We performed a spatial risk analysis using predicted debris distributions and ranges for 186 seabird species to model debris exposure. We adjusted the model using published data on plastic ingestion by seabirds. Eighty of 135 (59%) species with studies reported in the literature between 1962 and 2012 had ingested plastic, and, within those studies, on average 29% of individuals had plastic in their gut. Standardizing the data for time and species, we estimate the ingestion rate would reach 90% of individuals if these studies were conducted today. Using these results from the literature, we tuned our risk model and were able to capture 71% of the variation in plastic ingestion based on a model including exposure, time, study method, and body size. We used this tuned model to predict risk across seabird species at the global scale. The highest area of expected impact occurs at the Southern Ocean boundary in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, which contrasts with previous work identifying this area as having low anthropogenic pressures and concentrations of marine debris. We predict that plastics ingestion is increasing in seabirds, that it will reach 99% of all species by 2050, and that effective waste management can reduce this threat. PMID:26324886

Additive threats from pathogens, climate and land-use change for global amphibian diversity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hof, Christian; Bastos Araujo, Miguel; Jetz, Walter

2011-01-01

Amphibian population declines far exceed those of other vertebrate groups, with 30% of all species listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The causes of these declines are a matter of continued research, but probably include climate change, land-use change...... to be found in Africa, parts of northern South America and the Andes. Regions with the highest projected impact of land-use and climate change coincide, but there is little spatial overlap with regions highly threatened by the fungal disease. Overall, the areas harbouring the richest amphibian faunas...... and spread of the pathogenic fungal disease chytridiomycosis. Here we assess the spatial distribution and interactions of these primary threats in relation to the global distribution of amphibian species. We show that the greatest proportions of species negatively affected by climate change are projected...

Global Health Solidarity.

Science.gov (United States)

West-Oram, Peter G N; Buyx, Alena

2017-07-01

For much of the 20th century, vulnerability to deprivations of health has often been defined by geographical and economic factors. Those in wealthy, usually 'Northern' and 'Western', parts of the world have benefited from infrastructures, and accidents of geography and climate, which insulate them from many serious threats to health. Conversely, poorer people are typically exposed to more threats to health, and have lesser access to the infrastructures needed to safeguard them against the worst consequences of such exposure. However, in recent years the increasingly globalized nature of the world's economy, society and culture, combined with anthropogenic climate change and the evolution of antibiotic resistance, has begun to shift the boundaries that previously defined the categories of person threatened by many exogenous threats to health. In doing so, these factors expose both new and forgotten similarities between persons, and highlight the need for global cooperative responses to the existential threats posed by climate change and the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. In this article, we argue that these emerging health threats, in demonstrating the similarities that exist between even distant persons, provides a catalyst for global solidarity, which justifies, and provides motivation for, the establishment of solidaristic, cooperative global health infrastructures.

Hybrid Wars: The 21 st -Century's New Threats to Global Peace and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

cyber-terrorism' and 'cyber-war' against the backdrop of Russia's 'Ukrainian Spring' and the continuing threat posed by radical Islamist groups in Africa and the Middle East. It also discusses the findings of an on-going hybrid threat project by ...

Ebola virus – new threat to global health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rina K. Kusumaratna

2015-12-01

    The Ebola virus outbreak constitutes a serious warning that epidemics may occur anywhere and places every afflicted nation at risk. Therefore it is essential to institute measures to stop its spread and its future threat, which is a moral obligation of members of the health profession, whether academicians, researchers, or health ministry officials.

Time for the Global Rollout of Endoscopic Lung Volume Reduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koegelenberg, Coenraad F. N.; Slebos, Dirk-Jan; Shah, Pallav L.; Theron, Johan; Dheda, Keertan; Allwood, Brian W.; Herth, Felix J. F.

2015-01-01

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality globally. The disease is generally managed with pharmacotherapy, as well as guidance about smoking cessation and pulmonary rehabilitation. Endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) has been proposed

Insular threat associations within taxa worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclerc, Camille; Courchamp, Franck; Bellard, Céline

2018-04-23

The global loss of biodiversity can be attributed to numerous threats. While pioneer studies have investigated their relative importance, the majority of those studies are restricted to specific geographic regions and/or taxonomic groups and only consider a small subset of threats, generally in isolation despite their frequent interaction. Here, we investigated 11 major threats responsible for species decline on islands worldwide. We applied an innovative method of network analyses to disentangle the associations of multiple threats on vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in 15 insular regions. Biological invasions, wildlife exploitation, and cultivation, either alone or in association, were found to be the three most important drivers of species extinction and decline on islands. Specifically, wildlife exploitation and cultivation are largely associated with the decline of threatened plants and terrestrial vertebrates, whereas biological invasions mostly threaten invertebrates and freshwater fish. Furthermore, biodiversity in the Indian Ocean and near the Asian coasts is mostly affected by wildlife exploitation and cultivation compared to biological invasions in the Pacific and Atlantic insular regions. We highlighted specific associations of threats at different scales, showing that the analysis of each threat in isolation might be inadequate for developing effective conservation policies and managements.

Terrorism and global security: The nuclear threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beres, L.R.

1987-01-01

In the seven years since this book was first published, the threat of nuclear terrorism has increased dramatically. The enormous destructive potential of nuclear technology inevitably raises the specter of the use of nuclear explosives or radioactivity by insurgent groups. The author explores the political bases of terrorism by considering the factors that might foster nuclear terrorism, the forms it could take, and the probable consequences of such acts. New to this edition is the author's examination of the essential distinctions between lawful insurgencies and terrorism, as well as his analysis of the impact of recent U.S. foreign policy. The author explores the United State's all-consuming rivalry with the Soviet Union, arguing that it has created an atmosphere ripe for anti-U.S. terrorism and that the only viable option for the super-powers is cooperation in an effort to control terrorist activities. He also discusses the ''Reagan doctrine,'' which he believes has increased the long-term threat of nuclear terrorism against the U.S. by its continuing support of authoritarian regimes and by its active opposition to Marxist regimes such as those in Nicaragua and Angola. The book concludes by presenting the first coherent strategy for countering nuclear terrorism-embracing both technological and behavioral measures. The proposal includes policies for deterrence and situation management on national and international scales and emphasizes the logic of a major reshaping of world order

Mercury contamination, a potential threat to the globally endangered aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacyna, Aneta Dorota; Martínez, Carlos Zumalacárregui; Miguélez, David; Jiguet, Frédéric; Polkowska, Żaneta; Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna

2017-12-01

Mercury (Hg) contamination is considered a global concern for humans and wildlife, and although the number of studies dealing with that issue continues to increase, some taxonomic groups such as small passerine birds are largely understudied. In this paper, concentration of mercury in the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) feathers, a globally threatened passerine species, was examined. The concentration differences between two ages and sexes were investigated. The comparison of feathers taken on autumn migrants of two age categories act as a comparison of the species' exposure within the two different areas (European breeding or African wintering grounds). The average Hg concentration for all sampled individuals [2.32 μg/g dw (range 0.38-12.76)] is relatively high, compared with values found in other passerine species. An age difference was found, with first-year individuals displaying higher mercury concentrations than adults. This indicates that birds are exposed to mercury pollution during the breeding season, i.e., in the continental floodplains of eastern Europe. The average Hg concentration in feathers grown on the breeding grounds was 3.88 ± 2.59 μg/g dw, closer to the critical value of 5 μg/g dw, which is considered to impair the health of individuals. The findings suggest that mercury pollution may constitute a threat so far neglected for the endangered aquatic warbler.

Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Katzman, Kenneth

2005-01-01

.... interests abroad, and against Western countries. But many believe that the Al Qaeda organization and its leadership are no longer as relevant to assessing the global Islamic terrorist threat as they were on September 11, 2001. Some believe U.S...

Zika virus: Global health challenge, threat and current situation.

Science.gov (United States)

Aziz, Hafsa; Zia, Aadarash; Anwer, Amania; Aziz, Muneeba; Fatima, Shazia; Faheem, Muhammad

2017-06-01

ZIKV has emerged as grave global health issue in the past few years. ZIKV was firstly isolated in 1947 from a rhesus sentinel monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda. It is usually transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes and infects skin fibroblasts, skin keratinocytes, etc. ZIKV until now was under reported because of its clinical similarity with the dengue and chikungunya. It is usually spread through the course of the sylvatic cycle. In this cycle, the virus or pathogen lifespan is spent between the wild animal and vectors. The intrinsic incubation period is not yet fully known but it is observed that the very first symptoms of ZIKV infection can appear or develop within 3-12 days of time period and usually subside within 7 days of time. There is a strong relationship between prenatal Zika virus infection and microcephaly; other serious brain anomalies to the infant or newborn are Guillain-Barré syndrome. To date no vaccines are available for ZIKV prevention hence only symptomatic treatment is recommended in infected patients. Usually ZIKV is detected by serologic (IgM ELISA), plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) along with in-house" molecular techniques (RT-PCR). ZIKV infection being imminent global health issue warrants strong protective measures to prevent it from becoming an epidemic. Early detection and prevention is the key to tackle this grave potential health hazard. J. Med. Virol. 89:943-951, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Global demand for gold is another threat for tropical forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvarez-Berríos, Nora L; Mitchell Aide, T

2015-01-01

The current global gold rush, driven by increasing consumption in developing countries and uncertainty in financial markets, is an increasing threat for tropical ecosystems. Gold mining causes significant alteration to the environment, yet mining is often overlooked in deforestation analyses because it occupies relatively small areas. As a result, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the spatial extent of gold mining impacts on tropical forests. In this study, we provide a regional assessment of gold mining deforestation in the tropical moist forest biome of South America. Specifically, we analyzed the patterns of forest change in gold mining sites between 2001 and 2013, and evaluated the proximity of gold mining deforestation to protected areas (PAs). The forest cover maps were produced using the Land Mapper web application and images from the MODIS satellite MOD13Q1 vegetation indices 250 m product. Annual maps of forest cover were used to model the incremental change in forest in ∼1600 potential gold mining sites between 2001–2006 and 2007–2013. Approximately 1680 km 2 of tropical moist forest was lost in these mining sites between 2001 and 2013. Deforestation was significantly higher during the 2007–2013 period, and this was associated with the increase in global demand for gold after the international financial crisis. More than 90% of the deforestation occurred in four major hotspots: Guianan moist forest ecoregion (41%), Southwest Amazon moist forest ecoregion (28%), Tapajós–Xingú moist forest ecoregion (11%), and Magdalena Valley montane forest and Magdalena–Urabá moist forest ecoregions (9%). In addition, some of the more active zones of gold mining deforestation occurred inside or within 10 km of ∼32 PAs. There is an urgent need to understand the ecological and social impacts of gold mining because it is an important cause of deforestation in the most remote forests in South America, and the impacts, particularly in aquatic systems

Major threats of pollution and climate change to global coastal ecosystems and enhanced management for sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yonglong; Yuan, Jingjing; Lu, Xiaotian; Su, Chao; Zhang, Yueqing; Wang, Chenchen; Cao, Xianghui; Li, Qifeng; Su, Jilan; Ittekkot, Venugopalan; Garbutt, Richard Angus; Bush, Simon; Fletcher, Stephen; Wagey, Tonny; Kachur, Anatolii; Sweijd, Neville

2018-08-01

Coastal zone is of great importance in the provision of various valuable ecosystem services. However, it is also sensitive and vulnerable to environmental changes due to high human populations and interactions between the land and ocean. Major threats of pollution from over enrichment of nutrients, increasing metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and climate change have led to severe ecological degradation in the coastal zone, while few studies have focused on the combined impacts of pollution and climate change on the coastal ecosystems at the global level. A global overview of nutrients, metals, POPs, and major environmental changes due to climate change and their impacts on coastal ecosystems was carried out in this study. Coasts of the Eastern Atlantic and Western Pacific were hotspots of concentrations of several pollutants, and mostly affected by warming climate. These hotspots shared the same features of large populations, heavy industry and (semi-) closed sea. Estimation of coastal ocean capital, integrated management of land-ocean interaction in the coastal zone, enhancement of integrated global observation system, and coastal ecosystem-based management can play effective roles in promoting sustainable management of coastal marine ecosystems. Enhanced management from the perspective of mitigating pollution and climate change was proposed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Avian Influenza: a global threat needing a global solution

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Koh GCH

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract There have been three influenza pandemics since the 1900s, of which the 1919–1919 flu pandemic had the highest mortality rates. The influenza virus infects both humans and birds, and mutates using two mechanisms: antigenic drift and antigenic shift. Currently, the H5N1 avian flu virus is limited to outbreaks among poultry and persons in direct contact to infected poultry, but the mortality rate among infected humans is high. Avian influenza (AI is endemic in Asia as a result of unregulated poultry rearing in rural areas. Such birds often live in close proximity to humans and this increases the chance of genetic re-assortment between avian and human influenza viruses which may produce a mutant strain that is easily transmitted between humans. Once this happens, a global pandemic is likely. Unlike SARS, a person with influenza infection is contagious before the onset of case-defining symptoms which limits the effectiveness of case isolation as a control strategy. Researchers have shown that carefully orchestrated of public health measures could potentially limit the spread of an AI pandemic if implemented soon after the first cases appear. To successfully contain and control an AI pandemic, both national and global strategies are needed. National strategies include source surveillance and control, adequate stockpiles of anti-viral agents, timely production of flu vaccines and healthcare system readiness. Global strategies such as early integrated response, curbing the disease outbreak at source, utilization of global resources, continuing research and open communication are also critical.

The role of energy-service demand reduction in global climate change mitigation: Combining energy modelling and decomposition analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kesicki, Fabian; Anandarajah, Gabrial

2011-01-01

In order to reduce energy-related CO 2 emissions different options have been considered: energy efficiency improvements, structural changes to low carbon or zero carbon fuel/technologies, carbon sequestration, and reduction in energy-service demands (useful energy). While efficiency and technology options have been extensively studied within the context of climate change mitigation, this paper addresses the possible role of price-related energy-service demand reduction. For this analysis, the elastic demand version of the TIAM-UCL global energy system model is used in combination with decomposition analysis. The results of the CO 2 emission decomposition indicate that a reduction in energy-service demand can play a limited role, contributing around 5% to global emission reduction in the 21st century. A look at the sectoral level reveals that the demand reduction can play a greater role in selected sectors like transport contributing around 16% at a global level. The societal welfare loss is found to be high when the price elasticity of demand is low. - Highlights: → A reduction in global energy-service demand can contribute around 5% to global emission reduction in the 21st century. → The role of demand is a lot higher in transport than in the residential sector. → Contribution of demand reduction is higher in early periods of the 21st century. → Societal welfare loss is found to be high when the price elasticity of demand is low. → Regional shares in residual emissions vary under different elasticity scenarios.

The role of energy-service demand reduction in global climate change mitigation: Combining energy modelling and decomposition analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kesicki, Fabian, E-mail: fabian.kesicki.09@ucl.ac.uk [UCL Energy Institute, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0NN (United Kingdom); Anandarajah, Gabrial [UCL Energy Institute, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0NN (United Kingdom)

2011-11-15

In order to reduce energy-related CO{sub 2} emissions different options have been considered: energy efficiency improvements, structural changes to low carbon or zero carbon fuel/technologies, carbon sequestration, and reduction in energy-service demands (useful energy). While efficiency and technology options have been extensively studied within the context of climate change mitigation, this paper addresses the possible role of price-related energy-service demand reduction. For this analysis, the elastic demand version of the TIAM-UCL global energy system model is used in combination with decomposition analysis. The results of the CO{sub 2} emission decomposition indicate that a reduction in energy-service demand can play a limited role, contributing around 5% to global emission reduction in the 21st century. A look at the sectoral level reveals that the demand reduction can play a greater role in selected sectors like transport contributing around 16% at a global level. The societal welfare loss is found to be high when the price elasticity of demand is low. - Highlights: > A reduction in global energy-service demand can contribute around 5% to global emission reduction in the 21st century. > The role of demand is a lot higher in transport than in the residential sector. > Contribution of demand reduction is higher in early periods of the 21st century. > Societal welfare loss is found to be high when the price elasticity of demand is low. > Regional shares in residual emissions vary under different elasticity scenarios.

SECURITY THREATS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Çağla Gül Yesevi

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This study will analyze main security threats in Central Asia. It is obvious thatsince the end of Cold War, there have been many security threats in Central Asiaas internal weakness of Central Asian states, terrorism, transnational crime,economic insecurity, environmental issues, drug trafficking, ethnic violence,regional instability. This study will propose thatwith increasing interdependence,states need each other to solve these global security problems. In that sense,regional and sub-regional cooperation between Central Asian states and with otherregional actors has been witnessed. It is clear that the withdrawal of NATO fromAfghanistan will destabilize Central Asia. This study will investigate overallsecurity situation in Central Asia and affects andcontributions of regionalorganizations to Eurasian security

International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenzen, M; Moran, D; Kanemoto, K; Foran, B; Lobefaro, L; Geschke, A

2012-06-06

Human activities are causing Earth's sixth major extinction event-an accelerating decline of the world's stocks of biological diversity at rates 100 to 1,000 times pre-human levels. Historically, low-impact intrusion into species habitats arose from local demands for food, fuel and living space. However, in today's increasingly globalized economy, international trade chains accelerate habitat degradation far removed from the place of consumption. Although adverse effects of economic prosperity and economic inequality have been confirmed, the importance of international trade as a driver of threats to species is poorly understood. Here we show that a significant number of species are threatened as a result of international trade along complex routes, and that, in particular, consumers in developed countries cause threats to species through their demand of commodities that are ultimately produced in developing countries. We linked 25,000 Animalia species threat records from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List to more than 15,000 commodities produced in 187 countries and evaluated more than 5 billion supply chains in terms of their biodiversity impacts. Excluding invasive species, we found that 30% of global species threats are due to international trade. In many developed countries, the consumption of imported coffee, tea, sugar, textiles, fish and other manufactured items causes a biodiversity footprint that is larger abroad than at home. Our results emphasize the importance of examining biodiversity loss as a global systemic phenomenon, instead of looking at the degrading or polluting producers in isolation. We anticipate that our findings will facilitate better regulation, sustainable supply-chain certification and consumer product labelling.

Different groups, different threats: a multi-threat approach to the experience of stereotype threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R

2011-04-01

Two studies demonstrated that different negatively stereotyped groups are at risk for distinct forms of stereotype threats. The Multi-Threat Framework articulates six distinct stereotype threats and the unique constellations of variables (e.g., group identification, stereotype endorsement) that elicit each stereotype threat. Previous research suggests that different negatively stereotyped groups systematically vary across these stereotype threat elicitors; a pilot study confirms these differences. Across two studies, groups that tend to elicit low stereotype endorsement (religion, race/ethnicity, congenital blindness) were less likely to report experiencing self-as-source stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring stereotype endorsement) and groups that tend to elicit low group identification (mental illness, obesity, blindness later in life) were less likely to report experiencing group-as-target stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring group identification). This research suggests that traditional models may overlook the experiences of stereotype threats within some groups and that interventions tailored to address differences between stereotype threats will be most effective.

Perceived control qualifies the effects of threat on prejudice.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenaway, Katharine H; Louis, Winnifred R; Hornsey, Matthew J; Jones, Janelle M

2014-09-01

People sometimes show a tendency to lash out in a prejudiced manner when they feel threatened. This research shows that the relationship between threat and prejudice is moderated by people's levels of perceived control: Threat leads to prejudice only when people feel concurrently low in control. In two studies, terrorist threat was associated with heightened prejudice among people who were low in perceived control over the threat (Study 1; N = 87) or over their lives in general (Study 2; N = 2,394), but was not associated with prejudice among people who were high in perceived control. Study 3 (N = 139) replicated this finding experimentally in the context of the Global Financial Crisis. The research identifies control as an important ingredient in threatening contexts that, if bolstered, can reduce general tendencies to lash out under threat. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Global Warming: Threat to Sundarbans and the Silence of Indo-Bangladesh Mass Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moumita Basu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The Sundarbans or the ‘beautiful forest’ is a cluster of low-lying islands in the Bay of Bengal, considered as one of the natural wonders of the world, which is facing the problem of global warming since the past few decades. Global warming, climate change, increasing water level and salinity of the river as well as inlet areas are some recognized threats to the Sundarbans. This is threatening species survival, the health of natural systems and causing extinction of biodiversity. This study is a modest attempt to examine the factors because of which the burning issues of Sundarbans are almost excluded from the attention of the media in India as well as Bangladesh. This is despite the fact that various initiatives have been taken by the governments and at the private level in these two countries to conserve the Sundarbans ecosystem. The research paper summarizes findings of newspaper reports on Sundarbans, from Earth Day to World Environment Day 2017 (22 April to 5 June of two reputed broadsheets dailies i.e. The Daily Prothom Alo (Dhaka, Bangladesh and The Ei Samay Sangbadpatra (Kolkata, India. The youngest member of the mass communication family, the film has also been included in this paper. This is because the joint production of the two Bengali film industries has already made a lot of cinema. There is going to be more in the near future, where many issues of India and Bangladesh are getting priority, but the destruction of Sundarbans has never been the subject of any such media intervention.

Cyber Terrorism demands a Global Risks and Threats Strategic Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gareva, R.

2007-01-01

The world is in the third wave of development, which is digital managed and networked. Information, which creates the knowledge is transferring thorough the Internet by exponential function. The rapid advancement of the computer technology has a great influence over the development of the critical information infrastructure, thus changing the safety environment and the national values and interests. This advancement produces threats and risks from computer perspective which are sublimated in different forms of international terrorism and particularly in cyber terrorism. The main aim of this paper is based on a thorough analysis of what is scientifically known and practiced when nowadays critical information infrastructure is in the focus of the cyber terrorism. The rapid IT development demands changes in the strategic management focus. As a result of a time-consuming theoretical and empirical research this paper suggests a methodology for strategic managing of: threats, risks and vulnerabilities. The proposed methodology is seen as a mean to increase the human security conscious in every sense of the word, and to promote the need for rules, procedures and standards establishment from the aspect of the strategic management in the new information epoch concerning. In addition, through a scientific discourse, a short attempt is made to relate Macedonian reality with the phenomenon mentioned above. The most fundamental set phrase is that the efficiency and promptly made decisions during strategic planning are a projection of the systematic organization of functions and models for managing the risks and threats of the critical information infrastructure. Hence, this paper could be seen as a perspective when taking in consideration the regional strategic management, and the cyber space vital functioning. (author)

Cybersecurity Public Sector Threats and Responses

CERN Document Server

Andreasson, Kim J

2011-01-01

The Internet has given rise to new opportunities for the public sector to improve efficiency and better serve constituents in the form of e-government. But with a rapidly growing user base globally and an increasing reliance on the Internet, digital tools are also exposing the public sector to new risks. An accessible primer, Cybersecurity: Public Sector Threats and Responses focuses on the convergence of globalization, connectivity, and the migration of public sector functions online. It identifies the challenges you need to be aware of and examines emerging trends and strategies from around

Greenhouse gas emission reduction scenarios for BC : meeting the twin objectives of temperature stabilization and global equity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, C.R.

2008-08-01

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction strategies are needed in order to prevent rises in global temperatures. This report presented 6 GHG emission scenarios conducted to understand the kind of contribution that the province of British Columbia (BC) might make towards reducing global warming in the future. Short, medium, and longer term GHG reduction targets were benchmarked. The University of Victoria earth system climate model was used to calculate emission pathways where global average temperature did not exceed 2 degrees C above pre-industrial values, and where atmospheric GHGs were stabilized at 400 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e). Global carbon emission budgets of the total amount of GHG emissions permissible between now and 2100 were identified. A carbon emission budget for 2008 to 2100 was then developed based on the population of BC. Average annual emission reduction rates for the world and for BC were also identified. It was concluded that dramatically reduced emissions will be insufficient to achieve an equilibrium temperature less than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Global reductions of greater than 80 per cent are needed to prevent unacceptable levels of ocean acidification. Results suggested that carbon sequestration technologies may need to be used to remove CO 2 from the atmosphere by artificial means. 38 refs., 5 tabs., 4 figs

Terrorism threats and preparedness in Canada: the perspective of the Canadian public.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Stacey; Lemyre, Louise; Clément, Mélanie; Markon, Marie-Pierre L; Lee, Jennifer E C

2007-06-01

Although Canada has not experienced a major terrorist attack, an increased global pending threat has put preparedness at the top of the Canadian government's agenda. Given its strong multicultural community and close proximity to the recently targeted United States, the Canadian experience is unique. However, minimal research exists on the public's reactions to terrorism threats and related preparedness strategies. In order for response initiatives to be optimally effective, it is important that the public's opinions regarding terrorism and preparedness be considered. This qualitative study examined perceptions of terrorism threats among Canadians living in Central and Eastern Canada (N = 75) in the fall of 2004. Conceptualizations of terrorism threat, psychosocial impacts, and sense of preparedness were explored in a series of qualitative interviews. Findings revealed that the majority of Canadians did not feel overly threatened by terrorist attacks, due in part to a perception of terrorist threats as related to global sociopolitical events and a positive Canadian identity. In addition, while most respondents did not feel they were individually affected by the threat of terrorism, there was some concern regarding larger societal impacts, such as increased paranoia, discrimination, and threats to civil liberties. Participants' views on preparedness focused largely on the utility of emergency preparedness strategies and the factors that could mitigate or inhibit preparedness at the individual and institutional levels, with a specific focus on education. Finally, the significant relevance of these findings in shaping terrorism preparedness, both in Canada and generally, is discussed.

Nuclear theft and sabotage. Priorities for reducing new threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bunn, Matthew; Bunn, George

2001-01-01

The appalling attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States make clear that the threat of large, well-organized global terrorist groups bent on causing mass destruction is not hypothetical but real. The attackers achieved horrifying destruction with box-cutters. The results could have been even more horrific if the attackers would have had access to, and used, weapons of mass destruction. Ensuring that technologies and materials for weapons of mass destruction - especially weapons-usable nuclear materials, whose acquisition is the most difficult part of making a nuclear bomb - do not fall into the hands of terrorist groups or hostile States must be a central element of the coming global effort to prevent catastrophic terrorism. At the same time, nuclear facilities and materials - along with a wide range of other especially hazardous facilities and materials must be protected from mass-consequence sabotage. Securing these materials and facilities must be a top priority on the international agenda - pursued at every opportunity, at every level of authority, until the job is done. At the same time, the threats against which we must defend have to be fundamentally reconsidered. On 11 September, the threat revealed itself to be bigger, smarter, better organized, and more deadly than the threats most of the world's security systems were designed to defend against. We must ensure that our defensive response is every bit as intelligent and capable as the September attackers. And we may have to rethink some of the approaches to nuclear energy that the world has been pursuing or contemplating. Every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that nuclear materials and facilities are effectively secured. In the past, many scenarios with enormously high consequences were dismissed as too unlikely to contribute much to overall risk - but now many of these probability estimates will have to be revised. A far-reaching new effort is needed to strengthen security for nuclear

Door still open for action on issue of global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crow, P.

1992-01-01

Global warming may or may not be a legitimate environmental threat, but Washington lobbyists consider it a legislative threat. It does not appear the current Congress will limit or tax use of U.S. fossil fuels, whose burning releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This paper reports that some scientists have claimed a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in a significant warming of the earth by 2050, threatening agriculture, altering ecosystems, and even melting polar ice and causing rising oceans to flood coastal areas and islands. In 1990 a United Nations panel of climate scientists predicted a 2 degrees C. increase in world temperatures within 35 years and 6 degrees by the end of the next century. Some scientists say preventing further increases will require a 60% reduction in current CO 2 emissions. The oil industry already is beginning to feel heat from the global warming issue. The Environmental Protection Agency calculates energy production and use is responsible for 57% of current emissions caused by man

Radiological Threat Reduction (RTR) program: implementing physical security to protect large radioactive sources worldwide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lowe, Daniel L.

2004-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's Radiological Threat Reduction (RTR) Program strives to reduce the threat of a Radiological Dispersion Device (RDD) incident that could affect U.S. interests worldwide. Sandia National Laboratories supports the RTR program on many different levels. Sandia works directly with DOE to develop strategies, including the selection of countries to receive support and the identification of radioactive materials to be protected. Sandia also works with DOE in the development of guidelines and in training DOE project managers in physical protection principles. Other support to DOE includes performing rapid assessments and providing guidance for establishing foreign regulatory and knowledge infrastructure. Sandia works directly with foreign governments to establish cooperative agreements necessary to implement the RTR Program efforts to protect radioactive sources. Once necessary agreements are in place, Sandia works with in-country organizations to implement various security related initiatives, such as installing security systems and searching for (and securing) orphaned radioactive sources. The radioactive materials of interest to the RTR program include Cobalt 60, Cesium 137, Strontium 90, Iridium 192, Radium 226, Plutonium 238, Americium 241, Californium 252, and Others. Security systems are implemented using a standardized approach that provides consistency through out the RTR program efforts at Sandia. The approach incorporates a series of major tasks that overlap in order to provide continuity. The major task sequence is to: Establish in-country contacts - integrators, Obtain material characterizations, Perform site assessments and vulnerability assessments, Develop upgrade plans, Procure and install equipment, Conduct acceptance testing and performance testing, Develop procedures, and Conduct training. Other tasks are incorporated as appropriate and commonly include such as support of reconfiguring infrastructure, and developing security

Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K.; Nayyar, Gaurvika

2016-01-01

Background Amidst the rise of e-commerce, there has been a proliferation of illicit online pharmacies that threaten global patient safety by selling drugs without a prescription directly to the consumer. Despite this clear threat, little is known about the key risk characteristics, central challenges and current legal, regulatory and law enforcement responses. Sources of data A review was conducted of the English literature with search terms ‘online pharmacies’, ‘Internet pharmacies’, ‘cyber pharmacies’, ‘rogue pharmacies’, and ‘e-pharmacies’ using PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar from 1999–2005. Areas of agreement Illicit online pharmacies are a rapidly growing public health threat and are characterized by a number of complex and interrelated risk factors. Areas of controversy Solutions are varied and are of questionable utility in the face of evolving technology that enables this form of transnational cybercrime. Growing points Legal, regulatory and technology solutions must address the entire illicit online pharmacy ecosystem in order to be effective. Areas timely for developing research There is a critical need to build international consensus, conduct additional research and develop technology to combat illicit online pharmacies. PMID:27151957

Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Nayyar, Gaurvika

2016-06-01

Amidst the rise of e-commerce, there has been a proliferation of illicit online pharmacies that threaten global patient safety by selling drugs without a prescription directly to the consumer. Despite this clear threat, little is known about the key risk characteristics, central challenges and current legal, regulatory and law enforcement responses. A review was conducted of the English literature with search terms 'online pharmacies', 'Internet pharmacies', 'cyber pharmacies', 'rogue pharmacies', and 'e-pharmacies' using PubMed, JSTOR, and Google Scholar from 1999-2005. Illicit online pharmacies are a rapidly growing public health threat and are characterized by a number of complex and interrelated risk factors. Solutions are varied and are of questionable utility in the face of evolving technology that enables this form of transnational cybercrime. Legal, regulatory and technology solutions must address the entire illicit online pharmacy ecosystem in order to be effective. There is a critical need to build international consensus, conduct additional research and develop technology to combat illicit online pharmacies. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Forest Distribution on Small Isolated Hills and Implications on Woody Plant Distribution under Threats of Global Warming

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Chi-Cheng Liao

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Treelines have been found to be lower in small isolated hilltops, but the specific dynamics behind this unique phenomenon are unknown. This study investigates the distribution patterns of woody plants in Yangmingshan National Park (YMSNP, Northern Taiwan in search of the limitation mechanisms unique to small isolated hills, and to evaluate potential threats under global warming. Forests distributed between 200 to 900 m above sea level (ASL. Remnant forest fragments between 400 and 900 m ASL, have the highest species richness, and should be protected to ensure future forest recovery from the former extensive artificial disturbance. The lower boundary is threatened by urban and agricultural development. The lack of native woody species in these low elevation zones may cause a gap susceptible to invasive species. A consistent forest line at 100 m below mountain tops regardless of elevation suggests a topography-induced instead of an elevation-related limiting mechanism. Therefore, upward-shift of forests, caused by global warming, might be limited at 100 m below hilltops in small isolated hills because of topography-related factors. The spatial range of woody plants along the altitudinal gradient, thus, is likely to become narrower under the combined pressures of global warming, limited elevation, exposure-related stress, and artificial disturbance. Management priorities for forest recovery are suggested to include preservation of remnant forest fragments, increasing forest connectivity, and increasing seedling establishment in the grasslands.

'NRBC' threat: is this concept still valid?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacronique, J.F.

2006-01-01

About 10 years ago, after the Sarin attack in Tokyo, the world discover that terrorists could use again radio-nuclear, chemical or biological agents to launch attacks, just to cause terror and disruption of western economies. This has forged the acronym 'NRBC'. In terms of likelihood, nuclear and radiological attacks could be considered among the most easy to prepare, and some possible acts are listed in this paper. A considerable amount of work has been prepared for the preparedness against radio-nuclear attacks, during the last 3 years, by World Health Organization (WHO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Atomic Energy Agency (AEN) as well as by the International Commission of Radio Protection (ICRP). A series of documents have been issued from international cooperation. These documents shows specificities to the R/N threat in terms of health consequences, that make this threat less prone to international cooperative efforts than biological threats. In addition, the Ministers of Health of the G7 countries have created an 'Global Health Security Initiative' (GHSI) in 2002 to anticipate crisis such as the anthrax problem, or other possible NRBC threats

Assessing the Biological Threat Posed by Suicide Bombers

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-01

the test by about 350’, it is clear some aerosol particles “ surfed ” the shockwave from the blast and were carried a distance upwind. Had the sampling...projectiles implantation in victims of suicide bombings and implications for health and emergency care provideres: the 7/7 experience, Ann R Coll Surg Engl...Ebola in East Africa and Implications for Global Health and Security, Global Policy 2013. (8) Ustun, C.; Ozgurler, O., Ebola: A Significant Threat as

Situating globality : African agency in the appropriation of global culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Binsbergen, van W.M.J.; Dijk, van R.A.

2004-01-01

The papers in this volume were earlier presented at the conference 'Globalization and new questions of ownership', which was held in Leiden, The Netherlands, from 26-27 April 2002. The volume challenges the dominant view that globalization is a primary threat to African societies. Instead, it

GLOBALIZATION AND TRADE LIBERALIZATION: “A THREAT OR AN OPPORTUNITY”?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrei-Stefan Enghiş

2006-07-01

Full Text Available The present paper attempts to evaluate the global economic system through the perspective of neoliberalism, which advocates for the continuous liberalization of trade and the progressive opening of the markets in different economic sectors. Seeking to observe the neoliberal vision on the world economy, the study relies on two speeches delivered by the former European Union’s Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy in a time span of four years, between 2000 and 2004, a period marked by two important WTO Ministerial Conferences: the Doha 2001 WTO Ministerial Conference and the Cancun 2003 WTO Ministerial Conference. Nonetheless, in order to provide a balanced analysis of the world economic system, the study provides a brief introspection into the other theoretical vision, alterglobalism, which advocates for a different understanding of the relations between trade liberalization, state intervention in the economy and the reduction of the existent economic disparities. The analysis is divided into three sections: the first section portrays the two antithetical visions, neoliberalism and alterglobalism, while the second one focuses exclusively on the person of Pascal Lamy and on the speeches that represent the core of this study. The third section consists in a comparative analysis of the two divergent economic perspectives, trying to identify the main opposing points, as well as those points on which the two economic perspectives may converge. The conclusion looks closely at the relations between globalization and trade liberalization and the criticism brought about by alterglobalism, the archrival of neoliberalism and trade liberalization. It also considers the relation between the two neoliberal speeches of the former EU Trade Commissioner, attempting to identify potential links or divergent attitudes between the two.

Global Obesity Study on Drivers for Weight Reduction Strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carola Grebitus

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To assess factors determining the reaction of individuals to the threats of overweight and obesity and to examine the interdependencies between weight-reducing strategies. Methods: Cross-country survey covering 19 countries and 13,155 interviews. Data were analysed using a bivariate probit model that allows simultaneously analysing two weight-reducing strategies. Results: Results show that weight-reducing strategies chosen are not independent from each other. Findings also reveal that different strategies are chosen by different population segments. Women are more likely to change their dietary patterns and less likely to become physically active after surpassing a weight threshold. In addition, the probability of a dietary change in case of overweight differs considerably between countries. The study also reveals that attitudes are an important factor for the strategy choice. Conclusions: It is vital for public health policies to understand determinants of citizens' engagement in weight reduction strategies once a certain threshold is reached. Thus, results can support the design of public health campaigns and programmes that aim to change community or national health behaviour trends taking into account, e.g., national differences.

Categorizing threat : building and using a generic threat matrix.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Woodard, Laura; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Thomas, Sherry Reede; Duggan, David Patrick

2007-09-01

The key piece of knowledge necessary for building defenses capable of withstanding or surviving cyber and kinetic attacks is an understanding of the capabilities posed by threats to a government, function, or system. With the number of threats continuing to increase, it is no longer feasible to enumerate the capabilities of all known threats and then build defenses based on those threats that are considered, at the time, to be the most relevant. Exacerbating the problem for critical infrastructure entities is the fact that the majority of detailed threat information for higher-level threats is held in classified status and is not available for general use, such as the design of defenses and the development of mitigation strategies. To reduce the complexity of analyzing threat, the threat space must first be reduced. This is achieved by taking the continuous nature of the threat space and creating an abstraction that allows the entire space to be grouped, based on measurable attributes, into a small number of distinctly different levels. The work documented in this report is an effort to create such an abstraction.

The tundra - a threat to global climate?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roejle Christensen, T.

1997-01-01

The tundra biome has an important direct influence on the global climate through its exchange of radiatively active 'greenhouse gases', carbon dioxide and methane. A number of suggestions have been raised as to how a changing climate may alter the natural state of this exchange causing significant feedback effects in a changing climate. This paper provides a brief discussion of three different issues relating to the interaction between tundra and climate. It is concluded that release of methane hydrates, permafrost degradation and major biome changes are processes which in the long term may have important effects on further development of the global climate. (au) 32 refs

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.

Filling in biodiversity threat gaps

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joppa, L. N.; O'Connor, Brian; Visconti, Piero

2016-01-01

increase to 10,000 times the background rate should species threatened with extinction succumb to pressures they face (4). Reversing these trends is a focus of the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its 20 Aichi Targets and is explicitly incorporated...... into the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We identify major gaps in data available for assessing global biodiversity threats and suggest mechanisms for closing them....

Coral reefs: threats and conservation in an era of global change.

Science.gov (United States)

Riegl, Bernhard; Bruckner, Andy; Coles, Steve L; Renaud, Philip; Dodge, Richard E

2009-04-01

Coral reefs are iconic, threatened ecosystems that have been in existence for approximately 500 million years, yet their continued ecological persistence seems doubtful at present. Anthropogenic modification of chemical and physical atmospheric dynamics that cause coral death by bleaching and newly emergent diseases due to increased heat and irradiation, as well as decline in calcification caused by ocean acidification due to increased CO(2), are the most important large-scale threats. On more local scales, overfishing and destructive fisheries, coastal construction, nutrient enrichment, increased runoff and sedimentation, and the introduction of nonindigenous invasive species have caused phase shifts away from corals. Already approximately 20% of the world's reefs are lost and approximately 26% are under imminent threat. Conservation science of coral reefs is well advanced, but its practical application has often been lagging. Societal priorites, economic pressures, and legal/administrative systems of many countries are more prone to destroy rather than conserve coral-reef ecosystems. Nevertheless, many examples of successful conservation exist from the national level to community-enforced local action. When effectively managed, protected areas have contributed to regeneration of coral reefs and stocks of associated marine resources. Local communities often support coral-reef conservation in order to raise income potential associated with tourism and/or improved resource levels. Coral reefs create an annual income in S-Florida alone of over $4 billion. Thus, no conflict between development, societal welfare, and coral-reef conservation needs to exist. Despite growing threats, it is not too late for decisive action to protect and save these economically and ecologically high-value ecosystems. Conservation science plays a critical role in designing effective strategies.

Global Climate Change: Threat Multiplier for AFRICOM?

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Yackle, Terri A

2007-01-01

.... Whatever the catalyst for this abrupt climate change, stability for Africa hinges upon mitigating the effects of global climate change to prevent future conflicts such as Darfur, and the instability...

Cyber threat metrics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frye, Jason Neal; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Mateski, Mark Elliot; Michalski, John T.; Harris, James Mark; Trevino, Cassandra M.; Maruoka, Scott

2012-03-01

Threats are generally much easier to list than to describe, and much easier to describe than to measure. As a result, many organizations list threats. Fewer describe them in useful terms, and still fewer measure them in meaningful ways. This is particularly true in the dynamic and nebulous domain of cyber threats - a domain that tends to resist easy measurement and, in some cases, appears to defy any measurement. We believe the problem is tractable. In this report we describe threat metrics and models for characterizing threats consistently and unambiguously. The purpose of this report is to support the Operational Threat Assessment (OTA) phase of risk and vulnerability assessment. To this end, we focus on the task of characterizing cyber threats using consistent threat metrics and models. In particular, we address threat metrics and models for describing malicious cyber threats to US FCEB agencies and systems.

Evolution of the perception of the threats to security in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Grasa

1993-07-01

Full Text Available security was internal, in other words, subversion and opposition to the regime. Public opinion, however, revealed that characteristics very different to those in the context of the western block existed, such as a void perception of the soviet threat as opposed to a marked antiamericanism for its support of the regime.This legacy of threats weighed heavily during the transition together with the existence of a cleavage between the armed forces, the political actors and public opinion regarding the real necessity of intergration into NATO. In the eighties there exists a clear differentiation between the threats perceived by public opinion and those considered by the political elites. With regard to the former,serious threats to Spain do not exist. only certain concerns when the subject of security took on importance in the field of public opinion, such as during the referendum campaign over NATO in 1986 which was mixed with the scarce perception of the soviet threat, theconstant danger represented by the United States and the slight rise in those who believed in the Moroccan threat, and the impact of the Gulf War in 1991 and the consequent increase of the threat represented by the arab countries. For the political actors, the mainthreat contemplated was the protection of territorial integrity on a stage closer to the western Mediterranean instead of a global threat to the western block something only considered at a theoretical level with the strategic concept of Spanish defence within the framework of participation in NATO.From 1992 onwards with the Defence Directive, the threat concept is replaced by that of risk and which recovers the importance given over to North Africa. It is argued in the belief that security is indivisible and must be shared not only with the European members. A greater convergence is also initiated in the nineties between the political actors and public opinion with respect to considering what are the risks in a global

The BMD threat: when and how to intercept - Opinion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouquet, F.

2007-01-01

NATO and the US are involved in developing Ballistic missile defense (BMD) capabilities that must provide protection against various threats, which has received global attention. One needs to carefully consider the consequences of employing the defensive missiles. It is assumed that there will be no

Public risk-reduction measures: cost-effectiveness from a global point-of-view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, L.F.S. de; Motta Barros, E.B. da; Fleming, P.V.; Rosa, L.P.

1985-05-01

A review of systemic or global approach to cost-effectiveness analysis of risk-reduction measures is presented, and its advantages and limitations are discussed. The method is applied for problem of the cost-effectiveness of increasing the Angra 3 reactor containment wall thickness from 60cm to 180cm thick, in case of a direct commercial aircraft crash on it. (Author) [pt

Think Globally, Act Locally -- Global Maritime Partnership Initiative and the Necessity for Cooperation and Coalition

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Reller, Jason S

2008-01-01

... to "police the global commons and suppress common threats." The Global Maritime Partnership Initiative, or GMPI, is intended to play a major role in this effort as one embodiment of the cooperation envisioned...

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's investments in harm reduction through the rounds-based funding model (2002-2014)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Albers, Eliot

2016-01-01

investment of US$ 620. million. Two-thirds of this budgeted amount was for interventions in the "comprehensive package" defined by the United Nations. 91% of the identified amount was for Eastern Europe and Asia. Conclusion: This study represents an updated, comprehensive assessment of Global Fund...... and inequitable access to these services and face widespread stigma and discrimination. In 2013, the Global Fund launched a new funding model-signalling the end of the previous rounds-based model that had operated since its founding in 2002. This study updates previous analyses to assess Global Fund investments...... investments in harm reduction from its founding (2002) until the start of the new funding model (2014). It also highlights the overall shortfall of harm reduction funding, with the estimated global need being US$ 2.3. billion for harm reduction in 2015 alone. Using this baseline, the Global Fund must...

Living with risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives. Preliminary version

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

In recent years the world has witnessed an interminable succession of disasters - floods, storms, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and wildfires that have claimed many thousands of lives, caused material losses in the tens of billions of dollars, and inflicted a terrible toll on developing countries in particular, where disasters divert attention and resources needed desperately to escape poverty. Communities will always face natural hazards, but today's disasters are often generated by, or at least exacerbated by, human activities. At the most dramatic level, human activities are changing the natural balance of the earth, interfering as never before with the atmosphere, the oceans, the polar ice caps, the forest cover and the natural pillars that make our world a livable home. But we are also putting ourselves in harm's way in less visible ways. At no time in human history have so many people lived in cities clustered around seismically active areas. Destitution and demographic pressure have led more people than ever before to live in flood plains or in areas prone to landslides. Poor land-use planning; environmental mismanagement; and a lack of regulatory mechanisms both increase the risk and exacerbate the effects of disasters. Living with risk: a global review of disaster reduction is the first comprehensive effort by the United Nations system to take stock of disaster reduction initiatives throughout the world. Coordinated by the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the report discusses current disaster trends, assesses policies aimed at mitigating the impact of disasters, and offers examples of successful initiatives. It also recommends that risk reduction be integrated into sustainable development at all levels - global, national and local. Most of all, Living with risk shows that we are far from helpless in the face of natural hazards. Early warning and risk reduction measures have been important factors in

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's investments in harm reduction through the rounds-based funding model (2002-2014).

Science.gov (United States)

Bridge, Jamie; Hunter, Benjamin M; Albers, Eliot; Cook, Catherine; Guarinieri, Mauro; Lazarus, Jeffrey V; MacAllister, Jack; McLean, Susie; Wolfe, Daniel

2016-01-01

Harm reduction is an evidence-based, effective response to HIV transmission and other harms faced by people who inject drugs, and is explicitly supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In spite of this, people who inject drugs continue to have poor and inequitable access to these services and face widespread stigma and discrimination. In 2013, the Global Fund launched a new funding model-signalling the end of the previous rounds-based model that had operated since its founding in 2002. This study updates previous analyses to assess Global Fund investments in harm reduction interventions for the duration of the rounds-based model, from 2002 to 2014. Global Fund HIV and TB/HIV grant documents from 2002 to 2014 were reviewed to identify grants that contained activities for people who inject drugs. Data were collected from detailed grant budgets, and relevant budget lines were recorded and analysed to determine the resources allocated to different interventions that were specifically targeted at people who inject drugs. 151 grants for 58 countries, plus one regional proposal, contained activities targeting people who inject drugs-for a total investment of US$ 620 million. Two-thirds of this budgeted amount was for interventions in the "comprehensive package" defined by the United Nations. 91% of the identified amount was for Eastern Europe and Asia. This study represents an updated, comprehensive assessment of Global Fund investments in harm reduction from its founding (2002) until the start of the new funding model (2014). It also highlights the overall shortfall of harm reduction funding, with the estimated global need being US$ 2.3 billion for harm reduction in 2015 alone. Using this baseline, the Global Fund must carefully monitor its new funding model and ensure that investments in harm reduction are maintained or scaled-up. There are widespread concerns regarding the withdrawal from middle-income countries where harm reduction remains

Global Insurgency: A Prescription for Imposing Strategic Paralysis

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Katka, Michael B

2008-01-01

.... Some argue that this threat constitutes a global insurgency. This Strategy Research Project examines the nature of this 21st century threat and analyzes the option of "strategic paralysis" to counter...

Intentional cargo disruption by nefarious means: Examining threats, systemic vulnerabilities and securitisation measures in complex global supply chains.

Science.gov (United States)

McGreevy, Conor; Harrop, Wayne

2015-01-01

Global trade and commerce requires products to be securely contained and transferred in a timely way across great distances and between national boundaries. Throughout the process, cargo and containers are stored, handled and checked by a range of authorities and authorised agents. Intermodal transportation involves the use of container ships, planes, railway systems, land bridges, road networks and barges. This paper examines the the nefarious nature of intentional disruption and nefarious risks associated with the movement of cargo and container freight. The paper explores main threats, vulnerabilities and security measures relevant to significant intermodal transit risk issues such as theft, piracy, terrorism, contamination, counterfeiting and product tampering. Three risk and vulnerability models are examined and basic standards and regulations that are relevant to safe and secure transit of container goods across international supply networks are outlined.

The Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP - 1992/1999

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Giardini

1999-06-01

Full Text Available The United Nations, recognizing natural disasters as a major threat to human life and development, designed the 1990-1999 period as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (UN/IDNDR; UN Res. 42/169/ 1987. Among the IDNDR Demonstration Projects is the Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP, launched in 1992 by the International Lithosphere Program (ILP and implemented in the 1992-1999 period. In order to mitigate the risk associated to the recurrence of earthquakes, the GSHAP promoted a regionally coordinated, homogeneous approach to seismic hazard evaluation. To achieve a global dimension, the GSHAP established initially a mosaic of regions and multinational test areas, then expanded to cover whole continents and finally the globe. The GSHAP Global Map of Seismic Hazard integrates the results obtained in the regional areas and depicts Peak-Ground-Acceleration (PGA with 10% chance of exceedance in 50 years, corresponding to a return period of 475 years. All regional results and the Global Map of Seismic Hazard are published in 1999 and available on the GSHAP homepage on http://seismo.ethz.ch/GSHAP/.

Impacts of Dams and Global Warming on Fish Biodiversity in the Indo-Burma Hotspot.

Science.gov (United States)

Kano, Yuichi; Dudgeon, David; Nam, So; Samejima, Hiromitsu; Watanabe, Katsutoshi; Grudpan, Chaiwut; Grudpan, Jarungjit; Magtoon, Wichan; Musikasinthorn, Prachya; Nguyen, Phuong Thanh; Praxaysonbath, Bounthob; Sato, Tomoyuki; Shibukawa, Koichi; Shimatani, Yukihiro; Suvarnaraksha, Apinun; Tanaka, Wataru; Thach, Phanara; Tran, Dac Dinh; Yamashita, Tomomi; Utsugi, Kenzo

2016-01-01

Both hydropower dams and global warming pose threats to freshwater fish diversity. While the extent of global warming may be reduced by a shift towards energy generation by large dams in order to reduce fossil-fuel use, such dams profoundly modify riverine habitats. Furthermore, the threats posed by dams and global warming will interact: for example, dams constrain range adjustments by fishes that might compensate for warming temperatures. Evaluation of their combined or synergistic effects is thus essential for adequate assessment of the consequences of planned water-resource developments. We made projections of the responses of 363 fish species within the Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot to the separate and joint impacts of dams and global warming. The hotspot encompasses the Lower Mekong Basin, which is the world's largest freshwater capture fishery. Projections for 81 dam-building scenarios revealed progressive impacts upon projected species richness, habitable area, and the proportion of threatened species as generating capacity increased. Projections from 126 global-warming scenarios included a rise in species richness, a reduction in habitable area, and an increase in the proportion of threatened species; however, there was substantial variation in the extent of these changes among warming projections. Projections from scenarios that combined the effects of dams and global warming were derived either by simply adding the two threats, or by combining them in a synergistic manner that took account of the likelihood that habitat shifts under global warming would be constrained by river fragmentation. Impacts on fish diversity under the synergistic projections were 10-20% higher than those attributable to additive scenarios, and were exacerbated as generating capacity increased-particularly if CO2 emissions remained high. The impacts of dams, especially those on river mainstreams, are likely to be greater, more predictable and more immediately pressing for

Impacts of Dams and Global Warming on Fish Biodiversity in the Indo-Burma Hotspot.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuichi Kano

Full Text Available Both hydropower dams and global warming pose threats to freshwater fish diversity. While the extent of global warming may be reduced by a shift towards energy generation by large dams in order to reduce fossil-fuel use, such dams profoundly modify riverine habitats. Furthermore, the threats posed by dams and global warming will interact: for example, dams constrain range adjustments by fishes that might compensate for warming temperatures. Evaluation of their combined or synergistic effects is thus essential for adequate assessment of the consequences of planned water-resource developments. We made projections of the responses of 363 fish species within the Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot to the separate and joint impacts of dams and global warming. The hotspot encompasses the Lower Mekong Basin, which is the world's largest freshwater capture fishery. Projections for 81 dam-building scenarios revealed progressive impacts upon projected species richness, habitable area, and the proportion of threatened species as generating capacity increased. Projections from 126 global-warming scenarios included a rise in species richness, a reduction in habitable area, and an increase in the proportion of threatened species; however, there was substantial variation in the extent of these changes among warming projections. Projections from scenarios that combined the effects of dams and global warming were derived either by simply adding the two threats, or by combining them in a synergistic manner that took account of the likelihood that habitat shifts under global warming would be constrained by river fragmentation. Impacts on fish diversity under the synergistic projections were 10-20% higher than those attributable to additive scenarios, and were exacerbated as generating capacity increased-particularly if CO2 emissions remained high. The impacts of dams, especially those on river mainstreams, are likely to be greater, more predictable and more

Stereotype Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Steven J; Logel, Christine; Davies, Paul G

2016-01-01

When members of a stigmatized group find themselves in a situation where negative stereotypes provide a possible framework for interpreting their behavior, the risk of being judged in light of those stereotypes can elicit a disruptive state that undermines performance and aspirations in that domain. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, continues to be an intensely debated and researched topic in educational, social, and organizational psychology. In this review, we explore the various sources of stereotype threat, the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects (both mediators and moderators), and the consequences of this situational predicament, as well as the means through which society and stigmatized individuals can overcome the insidious effects of stereotype threat. Ultimately, we hope this review alleviates some of the confusion surrounding stereotype threat while also sparking further research and debate.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE VS. NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabina TUCA

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The global economic and financial crisis of 2007 highlighted the risks, threats and enormous costs of a global economy in the absence of a global government. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of global governance in a world in which states are facing the erosion of national sovereignty. The two concepts are being analyzed from various points of view, including current challenges and future scenarios. Despite the fact that states, especially major powers, are not prepared to accept some elements of global governance and the limits that they would put on their national sovereignty, recent developments seem to make global governance a key component of the international scene.

Global warming and the challenge of international cooperation: an interdisciplinary assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bryner, G.C.

1992-01-01

The book aims to explore the nature of potential climatic change. It seeks to assess the scientific, economic legal and political issues related to the threat of global warming from an interdisciplinary perspective. The seven chapters have the following titles: the challenge of global warming; global warming and ozone depletion - certainties and uncertainties; consequences of global climate change for Earth's biosphere; global energy use and global warming; problems and prospects of institutionalizing ecological interdependence in a world of local independence; political institutions and climate change; and policy options for responding to the threat of global warming. Six chapters are abstracted separately. 158 refs

VIRTUAL REALITY: U.S. INFORMATION SECURITY THREATS CONCEPT AND ITS INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION

OpenAIRE

Elena Vladimirovna Batueva

2014-01-01

The development of ICT and the formation of the global information space changed the agenda of national and international security. Such key characteristics of cyberspace as openness, accessibility, anonymity, and identification complexity determined the rise of actors in cyber space and increased the level of cyber threats. Based on the analyses of the U.S. agencies' approach, the author defines three major groups of threats: use of ICT by states, criminals and terrorists. This concept is sh...

Globalisation of water: opportunities and threats of virtual water trade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chapagain, A.K.

2006-01-01

Where the river basin is generally seen as the appropriate unit for analyzing freshwater availability and use, it becomes increasingly important to put freshwater issues in a global context. The book analyses the opportunities and threats of international virtual water trade in the context of

Landslide risk reduction strategies: an inventory for the Global South

Science.gov (United States)

Maes, Jan; Kervyn, Matthieu; Vranken, Liesbet; Dewitte, Olivier; Vanmaercke, Matthias; Mertens, Kewan; Jacobs, Liesbet; Poesen, Jean

2015-04-01

Landslides constitute a serious problem globally. Moreover, landslide impact remains underestimated especially in the Global South. It is precisely there where the largest impact is experienced. An overview of measures taken to reduce risk of landslides in the Global South is however still lacking. Because in many countries of the Global South disaster risk reduction (DRR) is at an emerging stage, it is crucial to monitor the ongoing efforts (e.g. discussions on the Post-2015 Framework for DRR). The first objective of this study is to make an inventory of techniques and strategies that are applied to reduce risk from landslides in tropical countries. The second objective is to investigate what are the main bottlenecks for implementation of DRR strategies. In order to achieve these objectives, a review of both scientific and grey literature was conducted, supplemented with expert knowledge. The compilation of recommended and implemented DRR measures from landslide-prone tropical countries is based on an adapted classification proposed by the SafeLand project. According to Vaciago (2013), landslide risk can be reduced by either reducing the hazard, the vulnerability, the number or value of elements at risk or by sharing the residual risk. In addition, these measures can be combined with education and/or awareness raising and are influenced by governance structures and cultural beliefs. Global landslide datasets have been used to identify landslide-prone countries, augmented with region-specific datasets. Countries located in the tropics were selected in order to include landslide-prone countries with a different Human Development Index (HDI) but with a similar climate. Preliminary results support the statement made by Anderson (2013) that although the importance of shifting from post-disaster emergency actions to pre-disaster mitigation is acknowledged, in practice this paradigm shift seems rather limited. It is expected that this is especially the case in countries

Importance of rapid testing to combat the global threat of bird flu.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meijer, A.

2006-01-01

One of the important outcomes of the recently held meeting of the World Heatlh Organization (EHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Organization of Animal Heath (OIE) and the World Bank in Genevan November 7- 9, 2005, on the threat of avian inluenza

Threat and Guilt Aspects of Internalized Antilesbian and Gay Prejudice: An Application of Personal Construct Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Moradi, Bonnie; van den Berg, Jacob J.; Epting, Franz R.

2009-01-01

Building on G. A. Kelly's (1991a, 1991b) personal construct theory, this study introduced concepts of threat and guilt as different manifestations of internalized antilesbian and gay prejudice. Results with 102 lesbian and gay participants indicated that internalized threat and guilt each accounted for unique variance in global internalized…

Cyclic-AMP mediated drugs: differential or global reduction of eicosanoid synthesis in the isolated rat lung?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark J. Post

1992-01-01

Full Text Available In this study the question was addressed whether cAMP mediated drugs induce a differential reduction of branches of the arachidonic acid metabolism rather than a global reduction of eicosanoid synthesis. The isolated lungs of actively sensitized rats were employed to study prostaglandin and leukotriene release in the presence and absence of the cAMP mediated drugs theophylline, milrinone, sulmazole, isobutyl-methylxanthine and salbutamol. The release of eicosanoids as measured by RIA was predominantly basal and continuous, with a mild antigen induced stimulation only for TXB2 and the leukotrienes. All drugs reduced eicosanoid release globally. It is concluded that cAMP mediated drugs interfere with arachidonic acid metabolism at a site proximal to the branching into lipoxygenase and cyclo-oxygenase pathways.

Global warming and extinctions of endemic species from biodiversity hotspots.

Science.gov (United States)

Jay R. Malcolm; Canran Liu; Ronald P. Neilson; Lara Hansen; Lee. Hannah

2006-01-01

Global warming is a key threat to biodiversity, but few researchers have assessed the magnitude of this threat at the global scale. We used major vegetation types (biomes) as proxies for natural habitats and, based on projected future biome distributions under doubled-C02 climates, calculated changes in habitat areas and associated extinctions of...

A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark J.F. Brown

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background. Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation, pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats, e.g., agri-environment schemes and pesticide-use moratoriums, exist, but have largely been applied post-hoc. However, future sustainability of pollinators and the service they provide requires anticipation of potential threats and opportunities before they occur, enabling timely implementation of policy and practice to prevent, rather than mitigate, further pollinator declines. Methods.Using a horizon scanning approach we identified issues that are likely to impact pollinators, either positively or negatively, over the coming three decades. Results.Our analysis highlights six high priority, and nine secondary issues. High priorities are: (1 corporate control of global agriculture, (2 novel systemic pesticides, (3 novel RNA viruses, (4 the development of new managed pollinators, (5 more frequent heatwaves and drought under climate change, and (6 the potential positive impact of reduced chemical use on pollinators in non-agricultural settings. Discussion. While current pollinator management approaches are largely driven by mitigating past impacts, we present opportunities for pre-emptive practice, legislation, and policy to sustainably manage pollinators for future generations.

Stereotype threat and executive functions: which functions mediate different threat-related outcomes?

Science.gov (United States)

Rydell, Robert J; Van Loo, Katie J; Boucher, Kathryn L

2014-03-01

Stereotype threat research shows that women's math performance can be reduced by activating gender-based math stereotypes. Models of stereotype threat assert that threat reduces cognitive functioning, thereby accounting for its negative effects. This work provides a more detailed understanding of the cognitive processes through which stereotype threat leads women to underperform at math and to take risks, by examining which basic executive functions (inhibition, shifting, and updating) account for these outcomes. In Experiments 1 and 2, women under threat showed reduced inhibition, reduced updating, and reduced math performance compared with women in a control condition (or men); however, only updating accounted for women's poor math performance under threat. In Experiment 3, only updating accounted for stereotype threat's effect on women's math performance, whereas only inhibition accounted for the effect of threat on risk-taking, suggesting that distinct executive functions can account for different stereotype threat-related outcomes.

Moving towards global health equity: Opportunities and threats: An ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: The theme of the 13th World Congress on Public Health, “Moving Towards Global Health Equity: Opportunities and Threats”, strikes an optimistic note as the gaps within and between countries are greater than at any time in recent history. There is no consensus on what globalization is, but most agree that it will ...

Reducing the Impact of Stereotype Threat on Women's Math Performance: Are Two Strategies Better than One?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Paul R.

2011-01-01

Introduction: Two studies examined whether stereotype threat impairs women's math performance and whether concurrent threat reduction strategies can be used to offset this effect. Method: In Study 1, collegiate men and women (N = 100) watched a video purporting that males and females performed equally well ("gender-fair") or males outperformed…

A Quantitative Threats Analysis for the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

Science.gov (United States)

Runge, Michael C.; Sanders-Reed, Carol A.; Langtimm, Catherine A.; Fonnesbeck, Christopher J.

2007-01-01

example of the type of results generated, we estimated that the probability of the manatee population falling to less than 250 adults on either the Atlantic or Gulf coasts (from a current statewide population size of near 3300) within 100 years is 8.6%. Complete removal of the watercraft threat alone would reduce this risk to 0.4%; complete removal of the warm-water threat to 4.2%; removal of both threats would reduce the risk to 0.1%. The modeling approach we have taken also allows us to consider partial removal of threats, as well as removal of multiple threats simultaneously. We believe the measure we have proposed (probability of quasi-extinction over y years, with quasi-extinction defined as dropping below a threshold of z on either coast) is a suitable measure of status that integrates a number of the elements that are relevant to interpretation under the ESA (it directly integrates risk of extinction and reduction of range, and indirectly integrates loss of genetic diversity). But the identification of the time frame of interest and the tolerable risk of quasi-extinction are policy decisions, and an ecology-based quasi-extinction threshold has not yet been determined. We have endeavored to provide results over a wide range of these parameters to give decision-makers useful information to assess status. This assessment of threats suggests that watercraft-related mortality is having the greatest impact on manatee population growth and resilience. Elimination of this single threat would greatly reduce the probability of quasi-extinction. Loss of warm-water is also a significant threat, particularly over the long-term. Red tide and entanglement, while noticeable threats, have had less of an impact on the manatee population. The effect of water control structures may have already been largely mitigated. We did not, however, consider an exhaustive list of threats. Other threats (e.g., reduction of food resources due to storms and development) may play a

Diet change and food loss reduction: What is their combined impact on global water use and scarcity?

Science.gov (United States)

Jalava, Mika; Guillaume, Joseph H. A.; Kummu, Matti; Porkka, Miina; Siebert, Stefan; Varis, Olli

2016-03-01

There is a pressing need to improve food security and reduce environmental impacts of agricultural production globally. Two of the proposed measures are diet change from animal-based to plant-based foodstuffs and reduction of food losses and waste. These two measures are linked, as diet change affects production and consumption of foodstuffs and consequently loss processes through their different water footprints and loss percentages. This paper takes this link into account for the first time and provides an assessment of the combined potential contribution of diet change and food loss reduction for reducing water footprints and water scarcity. We apply scenarios in which we change diets to follow basic dietary recommendations, limit animal-based protein intake to 25% of total protein intake, and halve food losses to study single and combined effects of diet change and loss reduction. Dietary recommendations alone would achieve 6% and 7% reductions of blue and green water consumption, respectively, while changing diets to contain less animal products would result in savings of 11% and 18%, respectively. Halving food loss would alone achieve 12% reductions for both blue and green water. Combining the measures would reduce water consumption by 23% and 28%, respectively, lowering water scarcity in areas with a population of over 600 million. At a global scale, effects of diet change and loss reduction were synergistic with loss reductions being more effective under changed diet. This demonstrates the importance of considering the link between diet change and loss reduction in assessments of food security and resource use.

Chytridiomycosis: a global threat to amphibians.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, P L L; Torres, A M C; Soares, D F M; Hijosa-Valsero, M; Bécares, E

2013-12-01

Chytridiomycosis, which is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, is an emerging infectious disease of amphibians. The disease is one of the main causes of the global decline in amphibians. The aetiological agent is ubiquitous, with worldwide distribution, and affects a large number of amphibian species in several biomes. In the last decade, scientific research has substantially increased knowledge of the aetiological agent and the associated infection. However, important epidemiological aspects of the environment-mediated interactions between the aetiological agent and the host are not yet clear. The objective of the present review is to describe chytridiomycosis with regard to the major features of the aetiological agent, the host and the environment.

Currency crises with the threat of an interest rate defence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Daniels, T.R.; Jager, H.; Klaassen, F.

2011-01-01

While virtually all currency crisis models recognise that the decision to abandon a peg depends on how tenaciously policy makers defend it, this is seldom modelled explicitly. We add the threat of an interest rate defence to the global game model of Morris and Shin (American Economic Review 88,

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.

PAPR Reduction of OFDM Signals by Novel Global Harmony Search in PTS Scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hojjat Salehinejad

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM modulation technique is one of the key strategies for multiuser signal transmission especially in smart grids and wind farms. This paper introduces an approach for peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR reduction of such signals based on novel global harmony search (NGHS and partial transmit sequence (PTS schemes. In PTS technique, the data block to be transmitted is partitioned into disjoint subblocks, which are combined using phase factors to minimize PAPR. The PTS requires an exhaustive search over all combinations of allowed phase factors. Therefore, with respect to the fast implementation and simplicity of NGHS technique, we could achieve significant reduction of PAPR.

Calculating the new global nuclear terrorism threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

Experts from around the world are meeting at the IAEA on 29 October to 2 November at an international symposium on nuclear safeguards, verification, and security. A special session on 2 November focuses on the issue of combating nuclear terrorism. Although terrorists have never used a nuclear weapon, reports that some terrorist groups, particularly al-Qaeda, have attempted to acquire nuclear material is a cause of great concern. According to the IAEA, since 1993, there have been 175 cases of trafficking in nuclear material and 201 cases of trafficking in other radioactive sources (medical, industrial). However, only 18 of these cases have actually involved small amounts of highly enriched uranium or plutonium, the material needed to produce a nuclear bomb. IAEA experts judge the quantities involved to be insufficient to construct a nuclear explosive device. The IAEA experts have evaluated the risks for nuclear terrorism in these three categories: Nuclear facilities; Nuclear Material; Radioactive Sources. The IAEA is proposing a number of new initiatives, including strengthening border monitoring, helping States search for and dispose of orphan sources and strengthening the capabilities of the IAEA Emergency Response Centre to react to radiological emergencies following a terrorist attack. In the short term, the IAEA estimates that at least $30-$50 million annually will be needed to strengthen and expand its programs to meet this terrorist threat

Global security and the impacts in nuclear matter control: Nuclear Security Summit 2016

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lima, Martonio Mont’Alverne Barreto; Barreto, Midred Cavalcante

2017-01-01

Due to the current international security instability, especially resulting from traffic and nuclear terrorism threat proliferation, the Nuclear Security Summits were conceived with the objective of increasing the cooperation between States, institutions and international organisms, as well as conducting a global community in following the guidelines and action plans which have produced curious results such as the reduction and the removal of enriched uranium in some countries, the reinforcement of safeguard installations that store radioactive materials and the establishment of Excellence Centers, qualification, training and technological development in the fight against nuclear weaponry traffic. (author)

Global security and the impacts in nuclear matter control: Nuclear Security Summit 2016

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lima, Martonio Mont’Alverne Barreto; Barreto, Midred Cavalcante, E-mail: barreto@unifor.br, E-mail: midredcb@hotmail.com [Universidade de Fortaleza (UNIFOR), CE (Brazil)

2017-07-01

Due to the current international security instability, especially resulting from traffic and nuclear terrorism threat proliferation, the Nuclear Security Summits were conceived with the objective of increasing the cooperation between States, institutions and international organisms, as well as conducting a global community in following the guidelines and action plans which have produced curious results such as the reduction and the removal of enriched uranium in some countries, the reinforcement of safeguard installations that store radioactive materials and the establishment of Excellence Centers, qualification, training and technological development in the fight against nuclear weaponry traffic. (author)

Threat detection of liquid explosives and precursors from their x-ray scattering pattern using energy dispersive detector technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kehres, Jan; Olsen, Ulrik Lund; Lyksborg, Mark

2017-01-01

Energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) can be applied for identification of liquid threats in luggage scanning in security applications. To define the instrumental design, the framework for data reduction and analysis and test the performance of the threat detection in various scenarios....... Initial testing of the threat detection algorithms with this data set indicate the feasibility of detection levels of > 95 % true positive with

[Globalization and infectious diseases].

Science.gov (United States)

Mirski, Tomasz; Bartoszcze, Michał; Bielawska-Drózd, Agata

2011-01-01

Globalization is a phenomenon characteristic of present times. It can be considered in various aspects: economic, environmental changes, demographic changes, as well as the development of new technologies. All these aspects of globalization have a definite influence on the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Economic aspects ofglobalization are mainly the trade development, including food trade, which has an impact on the spread of food-borne diseases. The environmental changes caused by intensive development of industry, as a result of globalization, which in turn affects human health. The demographic changes are mainly people migration between countries and rural and urban areas, which essentially favors the global spread of many infectious diseases. While technological advances prevents the spread of infections, for example through better access to information, it may also increase the risk, for example through to create opportunities to travel into more world regions, including the endemic regions for various diseases. The phenomenon ofglobalization is also closely associated with the threat of terrorism, including bioterrorism. It forces the governments of many countries to develop effective programs to protect and fight against this threat.

Online Adaptive Local-Global Model Reduction for Flows in Heterogeneous Porous Media

KAUST Repository

Efendiev, Yalchin R.; Gildin, Eduardo; Yang, Yanfang

2016-01-01

We propose an online adaptive local-global POD-DEIM model reduction method for flows in heterogeneous porous media. The main idea of the proposed method is to use local online indicators to decide on the global update, which is performed via reduced cost local multiscale basis functions. This unique local-global online combination allows (1) developing local indicators that are used for both local and global updates (2) computing global online modes via local multiscale basis functions. The multiscale basis functions consist of offline and some online local basis functions. The approach used for constructing a global reduced system is based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) Galerkin projection. The nonlinearities are approximated by the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM). The online adaption is performed by incorporating new data, which become available at the online stage. Once the criterion for updates is satisfied, we adapt the reduced system online by changing the POD subspace and the DEIM approximation of the nonlinear functions. The main contribution of the paper is that the criterion for adaption and the construction of the global online modes are based on local error indicators and local multiscale basis function which can be cheaply computed. Since the adaption is performed infrequently, the new methodology does not add significant computational overhead associated with when and how to adapt the reduced basis. Our approach is particularly useful for situations where it is desired to solve the reduced system for inputs or controls that result in a solution outside the span of the snapshots generated in the offline stage. Our method also offers an alternative of constructing a robust reduced system even if a potential initial poor choice of snapshots is used. Applications to single-phase and two-phase flow problems demonstrate the efficiency of our method.

Online Adaptive Local-Global Model Reduction for Flows in Heterogeneous Porous Media

KAUST Repository

Efendiev, Yalchin R.

2016-06-07

We propose an online adaptive local-global POD-DEIM model reduction method for flows in heterogeneous porous media. The main idea of the proposed method is to use local online indicators to decide on the global update, which is performed via reduced cost local multiscale basis functions. This unique local-global online combination allows (1) developing local indicators that are used for both local and global updates (2) computing global online modes via local multiscale basis functions. The multiscale basis functions consist of offline and some online local basis functions. The approach used for constructing a global reduced system is based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) Galerkin projection. The nonlinearities are approximated by the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM). The online adaption is performed by incorporating new data, which become available at the online stage. Once the criterion for updates is satisfied, we adapt the reduced system online by changing the POD subspace and the DEIM approximation of the nonlinear functions. The main contribution of the paper is that the criterion for adaption and the construction of the global online modes are based on local error indicators and local multiscale basis function which can be cheaply computed. Since the adaption is performed infrequently, the new methodology does not add significant computational overhead associated with when and how to adapt the reduced basis. Our approach is particularly useful for situations where it is desired to solve the reduced system for inputs or controls that result in a solution outside the span of the snapshots generated in the offline stage. Our method also offers an alternative of constructing a robust reduced system even if a potential initial poor choice of snapshots is used. Applications to single-phase and two-phase flow problems demonstrate the efficiency of our method.

Reductions in soil surface albedo as a function of biochar application rate: implications for global radiative forcing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verheijen, Frank G A; Bastos, Ana Catarina; Keizer, Jan Jacob; Jeffery, Simon; Van der Velde, Marijn; Penížek, Vít; Beland, Martin

2013-01-01

Biochar can be defined as pyrolysed (charred) biomass produced for application to soils with the aim of mitigating global climate change while improving soil functions. Sustainable biochar application to soils has been estimated to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 71–130 Pg CO 2 -C e over 100 years, indicating an important potential to mitigate climate change. However, these estimates ignored changes in soil surface reflection by the application of dark-coloured biochar. Through a laboratory experiment we show a strong tendency for soil surface albedo to decrease as a power decay function with increasing biochar application rate, depending on soil moisture content, biochar application method and land use. Surface application of biochar resulted in strong reductions in soil surface albedo even at relatively low application rates. As a first assessment of the implications for climate change mitigation of these biochar–albedo relationships, we applied a first order global energy balance model to compare negative radiative forcings (from avoided CO 2 emissions) with positive radiative forcings (from reduced soil surface albedos). For a global-scale biochar application equivalent to 120 t ha −1 , we obtained reductions in negative radiative forcings of 5 and 11% for croplands and 11 and 23% for grasslands, when incorporating biochar into the topsoil or applying it to the soil surface, respectively. For a lower global biochar application rate (equivalent to 10 t ha −1 ), these reductions amounted to 13 and 44% for croplands and 28 and 94% for grasslands. Thus, our findings revealed the importance of including changes in soil surface albedo in studies assessing the net climate change mitigation potential of biochar, and we discuss the urgent need for field studies and more detailed spatiotemporal modelling. (letter)

Catalunya a l'aldea global

OpenAIRE

Pes, Àngel

1999-01-01

Small societies must also adapt to an increasingly integrated world, econmmically, culturally and politically. Globalization is a polifaceted phenomenon transforming the world into a global village. Three examples of globalisation are the rapidly extended financial crisis, with the threat of global recession; the arrest of Pinochet in London on a Spanish warrant, marking the birth of a global public opinion; and the acceptance of differences as a way to solve conflicts both in Nor...

Emerging viral infectious disease threat: Why Tanzania is not in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Emerging diseases are global threat towards human existence. Every country is exposed to potentially emergence of infectious diseases. Several factor such as changes in ecology, climate and human demographics play different roles in a complex mechanism contributing to the occurrence of infectious diseases. Important ...

Improving Visual Threat Detection: Research to Validate the Threat Detection Skills Trainer

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-01

26 Threat Detection and Mitigation Strategies...quicker when identifying threats in relevant locations. This task utilized the Flicker paradigm (Rensink, O’Regan, & Clark, 1997; Scholl, 2000...the meaning and implication of threats, why cues were relevant, strategies used to detect and mitigate threats, and challenges when attempting to

Taking chances in the face of threat: romantic risk regulation and approach motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavallo, Justin V; Fitzsimons, Gráinne M; Holmes, John G

2009-06-01

Four studies examine the hypothesis that goals adopted by high and low self-esteem people (HSEs and LSEs) to manage risk in romantic relationships may reflect global shifts in approach motivation and subsequently affect risk taking in nonsocial domains. In Studies 1 and 2, threats to participants' romantic relationships heightened HSEs' self-reported general approach motivation while lowering LSEs' approach motivation. In Studies 2 through 4, HSEs exhibited riskier decision making (i.e., a greater tendency to pursue rewards and ignore risks) in nonsocial domains following a relationship threat manipulation whereas LSEs made more conservative decisions. These results suggest that the romantic risk regulation may be inherently linked to a broader approach and avoidance system and that specific risk regulation behaviors may be driven by global motivational shifts to a greater degree than previously theorized.

Zika Virus: An Emerging Global Health Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Mittal, Rahul; Nguyen, Desiree; Debs, Luca H.; Patel, Amit P.; Liu, George; Jhaveri, Vasanti M.; S. Kay, Sae-In; Mittal, Jeenu; Bandstra, Emmalee S.; Younis, Ramzi T.; Chapagain, Prem; Jayaweera, Dushyantha T.; Liu, Xue Zhong

2017-01-01

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging healthcare threat. The presence of the mosquito Aedes species across South and Central America in combination with complementary climates have incited an epidemic of locally transmitted cases of ZIKV infection in Brazil. As one of the most significant current public health concerns in the Americas, ZIKV epidemic has been a cause of alarm due to its known and unknown complications. At this point, there has been a clear association between ZIKV infection and severe clinical manifestations in both adults and neonates, including but not limited to neurological deficits such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and microcephaly, respectively. The gravity of the fetal anomalies linked to ZIKV vertical transmission from the mother has prompted a discussion on whether to include ZIKV as a formal member of the TORCH [Toxoplasma gondii, other, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), and herpes] family of pathogens known to breach placental barriers and cause congenital disease in the fetus. The mechanisms of these complex phenotypes have yet to be fully described. As such, diagnostic tools are limited and no effective modalities are available to treat ZIKV. This article will review the recent advancements in understanding the pathogenesis of ZIKV infection as well as diagnostic tests available to detect the infection. Due to the increase in incidence of ZIKV infections, there is an immediate need to develop new diagnostic tools and novel preventive as well as therapeutic modalities based on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. PMID:29276699

Chronic illness in the workplace: stigma, identity threat and strain.

Science.gov (United States)

McGonagle, Alyssa K; Barnes-Farrell, Janet L

2014-10-01

Chronic illness affects a large and growing number of workers in the United States and globally. Stigmatization (devaluation) at work based on chronic illness may be stressful for individuals and therefore may lead to negative psychological consequences (i.e. strains). In order to better understand stressful experiences of stigma for workers with chronic illnesses, a model of stigma-related identity threat (perceptions that one is at risk of being treated negatively at work because of chronic illness) was tested on a sample of 203 working adults with chronic illnesses. The following variables related to workers' perceptions of chronic illness-related identity threat: workers' boundary flexibility (flexibility in managing their work and life), their meta-perceptions of devaluation (perceptions of others' devaluation of them based on illness) and their job self-efficacy (feelings of confidence related to performing their job). In turn, perceptions of identity threat related to both feelings of psychological strain and (lower levels of) perceived work ability. Surprisingly, neither stigma centrality (how fundamental illness is to one's identity) nor supervisor support related to workers' identity threat perceptions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Climate change and the World Bank: opportunity for global governance?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehmer-Christiansen, S.A.

1999-01-01

The direct and indirect efforts of the World Bank and its off-spring, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to become leading international agents of global environmental 'governance' and 'sustainable development' are described and analysed politically with reference to the development of an implementation regime of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). The Bank/GEF are seen as engaging in a potentially dangerous experiment of 'global ecological modernisation', or industrial transformation, in 'emerging economies', an experiment legitimised by reference to the catastrophic threat of man-made 'global warming'. This threat is already being translated into political, commercial and bureaucratic benefits accruing to a small global elite. How was this achieved and what are the likely political implications? (author)

Global Reduction in HIV-related Maternal Mortality: ART as a Key Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamisu M. Salihu, MD, PhD

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Dr. Holtz and colleagues present a synthesis of evidence from published studies over the previous decade on the collective impact of HIV-targeted interventions on maternal mortality. Amongst an assortment of interventions [that include antiretroviral therapy (ART, micronutrients (multivitamins, vitamin A and selenium, and antibiotics], only ART reduced maternal mortality among HIV-infected pregnant and post-partum mothers. These findings have fundamental and global strategic implications. They are also timely since they provide the evidence that ART reduces HIV-related maternal mortality, and by further enhancing access to ART in HIV-challenged and poor regions of the world, significant improvement in maternal morbidity and mortality indices could be attained. The paper bears good tidings and sound scientific proof that the financial investment made globally by government and non-governmental organizations and agencies to reduce the global burden of HIV/AIDS primarily by making ART more accessible to regions of the world most affected by the epidemic is beginning to show beneficial effects not only in terms of numerical reductions in the rates of new cases of HIV/AIDS among women, but also in maternal mortality levels.

War Journalism in the Threat Society: Peace journalism as a strategy for challenging the mediated culture of fear?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stig Arne Nohrstedt

2008-10-01

Full Text Available The possible development of the Risk Society into what could be called the Threat Society, in which threat perceptions are exploited in politics to a degree seldom seen in modernity, seriously challenges conflict and peace journalism in many new ways. The context of the Global War on Terror as the dominant global discursive order, and the lack of a consistent strategy for democratisation in post-conflict countries, together with visual war propaganda, perception management and psychological operations as part of the media wars conducted alongside of military operations, all make it urgent to discuss the relevance, reach and applicability of the peace journalism model and/or philosophy in the present international situation. This article outlines points of departure for such a discussion in the Threat Society.

Global Warming: A Reduced Threat?.

Science.gov (United States)

Michaels, Patrick J.; Stooksbury, David E.

1992-10-01

One popular and apocalyptic vision of the world influenced by increasing concentrations of infrared-absorbing trace gases is that of ecological disaster brought about by rapidly rising temperatures, sea level, and evaporation rates. This vision developed from a suite of climate models that have since considerably changed in both their dynamics and their estimates of prospective warming. Observed temperatures indicate that much more warming should already have taken place than predicted by earlier models in the Northern Hemisphere, and that night, rather than day, readings in that hemisphere show a relative warming. A high-latitude polar-night warming or a general night warming could be either benign or beneficial. A large number of plant species show both increased growth and greater water-use efficiency under enhanced carbon dioxide.An extensive body of evidence now indicates that anthropo-generated sulfate emissions are mitigating some of the warming, and that increased cloudiness as a result of these emissions will further enhance night, rather than day, warming. The sulfate emissions, though, are not sufficient to explain all of the night warming. However, the sensitivity of climate to anthropogenerated aerosols, and the general lack of previously predicted warming, could drastically alter the debate on global warming in favor of less expensive policies.

Infrastructure, Attitude and Weather: Today’s Threats to Supply Chain Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Blank

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The global economy can be viewed today as a myriad of border-crossing supply chain networks of production, supply, distribution and marketing systems. Given the enormous value embodied in these systems, and an environment increasingly characterized by uncertainty and vulnerability, it is not surprising that concern about supply chain security has intensified. Concern takes many forms. For example, how supply chains might be used as vehicles for criminal activity (smuggling, trafficking of narcotics and importing counterfeit goods or acts of terrorism (radio-active materials, bombs, even nukes in containers. Technology-based threats to supply chains, such as cybercrimes, data breaches and IT failures, now appear more frequently in the literature on supply chain security. These threats could result in substantial disruption to supply chains and damage to companies and their customers.Clima But larger storms are brewing, whose menace to supply chain security is greater still – and where actions to protect supply chains move more slowly. These include the continued deterioration of transportation infrastructure, a new posture on trade which views supply chains as threats to jobs and wages, and the impact of climate change. These threats do not lie off in the distant future; they are threats of today and tomorrow.

Identifying and Mitigating Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Organisations face many threats that coarsely can be separated in inside threats and outside threats. Threats from insiders are especially hard to counter since insiders have special knowledge and privileges. Therefore, malicious insider actions are hard to distinguish from benign actions. After ...... discussing new definitions of insiders and insider threats, this article gives an overview of how to mitigate insider threats and discusses conflicting goals when dealing with insider threats....

Global-local nonlinear model reduction for flows in heterogeneous porous media

KAUST Repository

AlOtaibi, Manal; Calo, Victor M.; Efendiev, Yalchin R.; Galvis, Juan; Ghommem, Mehdi

2015-01-01

In this paper, we combine discrete empirical interpolation techniques, global mode decomposition methods, and local multiscale methods, such as the Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method (GMsFEM), to reduce the computational complexity associated with nonlinear flows in highly-heterogeneous porous media. To solve the nonlinear governing equations, we employ the GMsFEM to represent the solution on a coarse grid with multiscale basis functions and apply proper orthogonal decomposition on a coarse grid. Computing the GMsFEM solution involves calculating the residual and the Jacobian on a fine grid. As such, we use local and global empirical interpolation concepts to circumvent performing these computations on the fine grid. The resulting reduced-order approach significantly reduces the flow problem size while accurately capturing the behavior of fully-resolved solutions. We consider several numerical examples of nonlinear multiscale partial differential equations that are numerically integrated using fully-implicit time marching schemes to demonstrate the capability of the proposed model reduction approach to speed up simulations of nonlinear flows in high-contrast porous media.

Global-local nonlinear model reduction for flows in heterogeneous porous media

KAUST Repository

AlOtaibi, Manal

2015-08-01

In this paper, we combine discrete empirical interpolation techniques, global mode decomposition methods, and local multiscale methods, such as the Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method (GMsFEM), to reduce the computational complexity associated with nonlinear flows in highly-heterogeneous porous media. To solve the nonlinear governing equations, we employ the GMsFEM to represent the solution on a coarse grid with multiscale basis functions and apply proper orthogonal decomposition on a coarse grid. Computing the GMsFEM solution involves calculating the residual and the Jacobian on a fine grid. As such, we use local and global empirical interpolation concepts to circumvent performing these computations on the fine grid. The resulting reduced-order approach significantly reduces the flow problem size while accurately capturing the behavior of fully-resolved solutions. We consider several numerical examples of nonlinear multiscale partial differential equations that are numerically integrated using fully-implicit time marching schemes to demonstrate the capability of the proposed model reduction approach to speed up simulations of nonlinear flows in high-contrast porous media.

Examining perceived stereotype threat among overweight/obese adults using a multi-threat framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Carels, Robert A; Domoff, Sarah E; Burmeister, Jacob M; Koball, Afton M; Hinman, Nova G; Davis, Alan K; Wagner Oehlhof, Marissa; Leroy, Michelle; Bannon, Erin; Hoffmann, Debra A

2013-01-01

The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group) and source (i.e., the self or others). This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64) years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5) kg/m². Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI) and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat). Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Examining Perceived Stereotype Threat among Overweight/Obese Adults Using a Multi-Threat Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Carels

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group and source (i.e., the self or others. This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. Method: 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64 years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5 kg/m2. Results: Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat. Conclusion: Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

Global Emissions of Nitrous Oxide: Key Source Sectors, their Future Activities and Technical Opportunities for Emission Reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Winiwarter, W.; Höglund-Isaksson, L.; Klimont, Z.; Schöpp, W.; Amann, M.

2017-12-01

Nitrous oxide originates primarily from natural biogeochemical processes, but its atmospheric concentrations have been strongly affected by human activities. According to IPCC, it is the third largest contributor to the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (after carbon dioxide and methane). Deep decarbonization scenarios, which are able to constrain global temperature increase within 1.5°C, require strategies to cut methane and nitrous oxide emissions on top of phasing out carbon dioxide emissions. Employing the Greenhouse gas and Air pollution INteractions and Synergies (GAINS) model, we have estimated global emissions of nitrous oxide until 2050. Using explicitly defined emission reduction technologies we demonstrate that, by 2030, about 26% ± 9% of the emissions can be avoided assuming full implementation of currently existing reduction technologies. Nearly a quarter of this mitigation can be achieved at marginal costs lower than 10 Euro/t CO2-eq with the chemical industry sector offering important reductions. Overall, the largest emitter of nitrous oxide, agriculture, also provides the largest emission abatement potentials. Emission reduction may be achieved by precision farming methods (variable rate technology) as well as by agrochemistry (nitrification inhibitors). Regionally, the largest emission reductions are achievable where intensive agriculture and industry are prevalent (production and application of mineral fertilizers): Centrally Planned Asia including China, North and Latin America, and South Asia including India. Further deep cuts in nitrous oxide emissions will require extending reduction efforts beyond strictly technological solutions, i.e., considering behavioral changes, including widespread adoption of "healthy diets" minimizing excess protein consumption.

The global warming game - simulations of a CO2 reduction agreement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fankhauser, S.; Kverndokk, S.

1992-06-01

The paper analyses incentives for and the benefits of a possible international cooperation to reduce CO-2-emissions. The negotiations are modeled as a (static) reciprocal-externality-game in CO 2 -emissions between five world regions. CO 2 -emissions affect the players in two ways: First, each country's income depends (via energy inputs) on the amount of CO 2 emitted. On the other hand, emissions may cause future damage due to climate change. Without cooperation, each player maximizes its net benefits in setting marginal income equal to its marginal damage cost (Nash equilibrium). Under full cooperation marginal income equals the sum of the marginal damages (social optimum). The paper presents simulations of these two equilibria. Compared to the situation where no attention is paid to the greenhouse effect (the business as usual scenario), emission reductions under the Nash equilibrium can be interpreted as incentives for unilateral actions. According to the simulation results, this can only be expected from OECD countries. The results also imply that a socially optimal treaty, while clearly beneficial for the world in its entirety, may only be achieved if side payments are offered to at least China and the former Soviet Union, and probably the USA. The optimal global emission reductions in this study are on average lower than the reductions recommended by international conferences. 34 refs., 2 figs., 9 tabs

Zika Virus: An Emerging Global Health Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahul Mittal

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Zika virus (ZIKV is an emerging healthcare threat. The presence of the mosquito Aedes species across South and Central America in combination with complementary climates have incited an epidemic of locally transmitted cases of ZIKV infection in Brazil. As one of the most significant current public health concerns in the Americas, ZIKV epidemic has been a cause of alarm due to its known and unknown complications. At this point, there has been a clear association between ZIKV infection and severe clinical manifestations in both adults and neonates, including but not limited to neurological deficits such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS and microcephaly, respectively. The gravity of the fetal anomalies linked to ZIKV vertical transmission from the mother has prompted a discussion on whether to include ZIKV as a formal member of the TORCH [Toxoplasma gondii, other, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV, and herpes] family of pathogens known to breach placental barriers and cause congenital disease in the fetus. The mechanisms of these complex phenotypes have yet to be fully described. As such, diagnostic tools are limited and no effective modalities are available to treat ZIKV. This article will review the recent advancements in understanding the pathogenesis of ZIKV infection as well as diagnostic tests available to detect the infection. Due to the increase in incidence of ZIKV infections, there is an immediate need to develop new diagnostic tools and novel preventive as well as therapeutic modalities based on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease.

Are all interventions created equal? A multi-threat approach to tailoring stereotype threat interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R; Williams, Amy M; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2013-02-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one's group-and self-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on one's own abilities. The present experiments explored Black college students' performance on diagnostic intelligence tests (Experiments 1 and 3) and women's interest (Experiment 2) and performance (Experiment 4) in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Across the 4 experiments, participants were randomly assigned to experience either a group-as-target or self-as-target stereotype threat. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that role model interventions were successful at protecting only against group-as-target stereotype threats, and Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that self-affirmation interventions were successful at protecting only against self-as-target stereotype threats. The present research provides an experimental test of the Multi-Threat Framework across different negatively stereotyped groups (Black students, female students), different negatively stereotyped domains (general intelligence, STEM), and different outcomes (test performance, career interest). This research suggests that interventions should address the range of possible stereotype threats to effectively protect individuals against these threats. Through an appreciation of the distinct forms of stereotype threats and the ways in which interventions work to reduce them, this research aims to facilitate a more complete understanding of stereotype threat. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

No-lose targets as an option to integrate non-Annex I countries in global emission reduction efforts. A game-theoretical analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duscha, Vicki

2012-07-01

Substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions of 50% and more below 1990 levels by 2050 are necessary, to limit mean temperature increase below 2 C above pre-industrial levels. While the Kyoto Protocol foresees emission reduction targets for Annex I countries only, current and projected greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the growing economic importance of emerging economies call for an integration of non-Annex I countries in global reduction efforts. No-lose targets set emission reduction targets and define incentives for meeting the target, in contrast to binding reduction targets that use penalties to ensure compliance. One form of incentive is the participation in an international emissions trading market. While a few conceptual and quantitative analyses of no-lose targets can be found in the literature, economic analyses have not been carried out so far. In this thesis, two theoretical frameworks are introduced to analyze the potential of no-lose targets to contribute to global emission reduction efforts. First, a two-player, two-stage model is developed to model a non-Annex I country's participation decision and derive the contribution to global emission reductions. Then a two-player participation game is introduced to analyze the effects that the participation decision of one non-Annex I country has on another non-Annex I country also facing a no-lose target. Two market forms, a perfectly competitive market, and a market with market power on the side of the non-Annex I country are analyzed. In order to complement the highly stylized theoretical frameworks, a quantitative analysis applying marginal abatement cost curves is conducted to estimate the contribution of no-lose targets to reaching the 2 C target. The analyses show that no-lose targets can result in substantial contributions from non-Annex I countries to global emission reductions, in particular if the reduction potential in the non-Annex I countries is large, compared to that of the Annex I

On the experience of feeling powerful: perceived power moderates the effect of stereotype threat on women's math performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Loo, Katie J; Rydell, Robert J

2013-03-01

This research examined whether feeling powerful can eliminate the deleterious effect of stereotype threat (i.e., concerns about confirming a negative self-relevant stereotype) on women's math performance. In Experiments 1 and 2, priming women with high power buffered them from reduced math performance in response to stereotype threat instructions, whereas women in the low and control power conditions showed poorer math performance in response to threat. Experiment 3 found that working memory capacity is one mechanism through which power moderates the effect of threat on women's math performance. In the low and control power conditions, women showed reduced working memory capacity in response to stereotype threat, accounting for threat's effect on performance. In contrast, women in the high power condition did not show reductions in working memory capacity or math performance in response to threat. This work demonstrates that perceived power moderates stereotype threat-based performance effects and explains why this occurs.

The politics of global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moss, N.

1991-01-01

The probable warming of the world over the next few decades due to human activity presents a unique threat. The threat of global warming has been brought about by the activities of the entire human race, and only action by a large part of the human race can slow down the process or halt it. Other unwanted effects of industrial activity are trans-national, and require international agreements to regulate them, most obviously radioactivity from nuclear power accidents, acid rain and river pollution; but climatic change, unlike these, is global. International negotiations are going on now to deal with the problem of global warming, mostly by reducing the emission of gases that contribute to it. These are preliminary, yet already different perceptions and conflicting interests are emerging. The aim of the present negotiations is a convention for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to be held in June 1992, the so-called ''Earth Summit''. (author)

Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Marlee A.; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Fagan, William F.; Fryxell, John; Van Moorter, Bram; Alberts, Susan C; Ali, Abdullahi H.; Allen, Andrew M.; Attias, Nina; Avgar, Tal; Bartlam-Brooks, Hattie; Bayarbaatar, Buuveibaatar; Belant, Jerrold L.; Bertassoni, Alessandra; Beyer, Dean; Bidner, Laura; M. van Beest, Floris; Blake, Stephen; Blaum, Niels; Bracis, Chloe; Brown, Danielle; Nico de Bruyn, P. J.; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calabrese, J.M.; Camilo-Alves, Constança; Chamaillé-Jammes, Simon; Chiaradia, Andre; Davidson, Sarah C.; Dennis, Todd; DeStefano, Stephen; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Fennessy, Julian; Fichtel, Claudia; Fiedler, Wolfgang; Fischer, Christina; Fischhoff, Ilya; Fleming, Christen H.; Ford, Adam T.; Fritz, Susanne A.; Gehr, Benedikt; Goheen, Jacob R.; Gurarie, Eliezer; Hebblewhite, Mark; Heurich, Marco; Mark Hewison, A.J.; Hof, Christian; Hurme, Edward; Isbell, Lynne A.; Janssen, René; Jeltsch, Florian; Kaczensky, Petra; Kane, Adam; Kappeler, Peter M.; Kauffman, Matthew J.; Kays, Roland; Kimuyu, Duncan; Koch, Flavia; Kranstauber, Bart; LaPoint, Scott; Leimgruber, Peter; Linnell, John D. C.; López-López, Pascual; Markham, A. Catherine; Mattisson, Jenny; Medici, Emilia Patricia; Mellone, Ugo; Merrill, E.; de Miranda Mourão, Guilherme; Morato, Ronaldo G.; Morellet, Nicolas; Morrison, Thomas A.; Díaz-Muñoz, Samuel L.; Mysterud, Atle; Nandintsetseg, Dejid; Nathan, Ran; Niamir, Aidin; Odden, John; O'Hara, Robert B.; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz G. R.; Olson, Kirk A.; Patterson, Bruce D.; Cunha de Paula, Rogerio; Pedrotti, Luca; Reineking, Björn; Rimmler, Martin; Rogers, T.L.; Rolandsen, Christer Moe; Rosenberry, Christopher S.; Rubenstein, Daniel I.; Safi, Kamran; Saïd, Sonia; Sapir, Nir; Sawyer, Hall; Schmidt, Niels Martin; Selva, Nuria; Sergiel, Agnieszka; Shiilegdamba, Enkhtuvshin; Silva, João Paulo; Singh, N.; Solberg, Erling J.; Spiegel, Orr; Strand, Olav; Sundaresan, S.R.; Ullmann, Wiebke; Voigt, Ulrich; Wall, J.; Wattles, David W.; Wikelski, Martin; Wilmers, Christopher C.; Wilson, Jon W.; Wittemyer, George; Zięba, Filip; Zwijacz-Kozica, Tomasz; Mueller, Thomas

2018-01-01

Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission.

Threat bias, not negativity bias, underpins differences in political ideology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lilienfeld, Scott O; Latzman, Robert D

2014-06-01

Although disparities in political ideology are rooted partly in dispositional differences, Hibbing et al.'s analysis paints with an overly broad brush. Research on the personality correlates of liberal-conservative differences points not to global differences in negativity bias, but to differences in threat bias, probably emanating from differences in fearfulness. This distinction bears implications for etiological research and persuasion efforts.

Supply Chain Risk Management: An Introduction to the Credible Threat

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

van.poindexter@dau.mil. Figure 3. Trusted Suppliers Source: “ Managing Information Communications Technology Global Supply Chain Risk Awareness...Defense AT&L: July-August 2016 18 Supply Chain Risk Management An Introduction to the Credible Threat Heath Ferry n Van Poindexter 19...cybersecurity breach. This article examines the elements of supply chain risk management , the national security risks associated with exploitation, and

Environmental and health impacts of fine and ultrafine metallic particles: Assessment of threat scores

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goix, Sylvaine [Université de Toulouse, INP-ENSAT, Av. Agrobiopôle, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); UMR 5245 CNRS-INP-UPS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d' écologie fonctionnelle), Avenue de l' Agrobiopôle, BP 32607, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); Lévêque, Thibaut [Université de Toulouse, INP-ENSAT, Av. Agrobiopôle, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); UMR 5245 CNRS-INP-UPS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d' écologie fonctionnelle), Avenue de l' Agrobiopôle, BP 32607, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); ADEME (French Agency for Environment and Energy Management), 20 Avenue du Grésillé, BP 90406, 49004 Angers Cedex 01 (France); Xiong, Tian-Tian [Université de Toulouse, INP-ENSAT, Av. Agrobiopôle, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); UMR 5245 CNRS-INP-UPS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d' écologie fonctionnelle), Avenue de l' Agrobiopôle, BP 32607, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan (France); Schreck, Eva [Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Observatoire Midi Pyrénées, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, 14 Avenue E. Belin, F-31400 Toulouse (France); and others

2014-08-15

This study proposes global threat scores to prioritize the harmfulness of anthropogenic fine and ultrafine metallic particles (FMP) emitted into the atmosphere at the global scale. (Eco)toxicity of physicochemically characterized FMP oxides for metals currently observed in the atmosphere (CdO, CuO, PbO, PbSO{sub 4}, Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3}, and ZnO) was assessed by performing complementary in vitro tests: ecotoxicity, human bioaccessibility, cytotoxicity, and oxidative potential. Using an innovative methodology based on the combination of (eco)toxicity and physicochemical results, the following hazard classification of the particles is proposed: CdCl{sub 2}∼CdO>CuO>PbO>ZnO>PbSO{sub 4}>Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Both cadmium compounds exhibited the highest threat score due to their high cytotoxicity and bioaccessible dose, whatever their solubility and speciation, suggesting that cadmium toxicity is due to its chemical form rather than its physical form. In contrast, the Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3} threat score was the lowest due to particles with low specific area and solubility, with no effects except a slight oxidative stress. As FMP physicochemical properties reveal differences in specific area, crystallization systems, dissolution process, and speciation, various mechanisms may influence their biological impact. Finally, this newly developed and global approach could be widely used in various contexts of pollution by complex metal particles and may improve risk management. - Highlights: • Seven micro- and nano- monometallic characterized particles were studied as references. • Bioaccessibility, eco and cytotoxicity, and oxidative potential assays were performed. • According to calculated threat scores: CdCl{sub 2}∼CdO>CuO>PbO>ZnO>PbSO{sub 4}>Sb{sub 2}O{sub 3}.

The globalization of ayahuasca: harm reduction or benefit maximization?

Science.gov (United States)

Tupper, Kenneth W

2008-08-01

Ayahuasca is a tea made from two plants native to the Amazon, Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which, respectively, contain the psychoactive chemicals harmala alkaloids and dimethyltryptamine. The tea has been used by indigenous peoples in countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and Peru for medicinal, spiritual and cultural purposes since pre-Columbian times. In the 20th century, ayahuasca spread beyond its native habitat and has been incorporated into syncretistic practices that are being adopted by non-indigenous peoples in modern Western contexts. Ayahuasca's globalization in the past few decades has led to a number of legal cases which pit religious freedom against national drug control laws. This paper explores some of the philosophical and policy implications of contemporary ayahuasca use. It addresses the issue of the social construction of ayahuasca as a medicine, a sacrament and a "plant teacher." Issues of harm reduction with respect to ayahuasca use are explored, but so too is the corollary notion of "benefit maximization."

Global conservation priorities for marine turtles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bryan P Wallace

Full Text Available Where conservation resources are limited and conservation targets are diverse, robust yet flexible priority-setting frameworks are vital. Priority-setting is especially important for geographically widespread species with distinct populations subject to multiple threats that operate on different spatial and temporal scales. Marine turtles are widely distributed and exhibit intra-specific variations in population sizes and trends, as well as reproduction and morphology. However, current global extinction risk assessment frameworks do not assess conservation status of spatially and biologically distinct marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs, and thus do not capture variations in population trends, impacts of threats, or necessary conservation actions across individual populations. To address this issue, we developed a new assessment framework that allowed us to evaluate, compare and organize marine turtle RMUs according to status and threats criteria. Because conservation priorities can vary widely (i.e. from avoiding imminent extinction to maintaining long-term monitoring efforts we developed a "conservation priorities portfolio" system using categories of paired risk and threats scores for all RMUs (n = 58. We performed these assessments and rankings globally, by species, by ocean basin, and by recognized geopolitical bodies to identify patterns in risk, threats, and data gaps at different scales. This process resulted in characterization of risk and threats to all marine turtle RMUs, including identification of the world's 11 most endangered marine turtle RMUs based on highest risk and threats scores. This system also highlighted important gaps in available information that is crucial for accurate conservation assessments. Overall, this priority-setting framework can provide guidance for research and conservation priorities at multiple relevant scales, and should serve as a model for conservation status assessments and priority

Threats to economic security of the region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. A. Salikov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Various aspects of economic security are in sight of the researchers for more than two decades. Today in the economic literature widely presents the conceptual aspects of economic safety of the state. Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of this multifaceted problem lies in the researches of many domestic and foreign scientists, which are the basic levels of economic security. Among the priority levels include, in our view, the regional level (meso-level and actual problems of economic security studied to date lack detail. Economic development regions of the country has its own specifics, which is projected to the achieving of regional and national economic security. The article summarizes the approaches to definition of essence of the category “economic security of the region” and was given its author’s interpretation, considers the reasons of appearance and development of crisis situations causing threats to the economic security of the region. Given that the prevention of threats and reduction of their consequences is the basis of regional economic security, the article identifies the main threats to economic security, as well as the peculiarities of their manifestations (for example, the most significant threats to economic security of the Voronezh region, as well as the proposed activities in support of regional economic security and stated objectives of regional economic policy, the solution of which is aimed at ensuring the economic security of the region. In addition, it is proved that the actual problems of economic security must be constantly in sight of the regional leadership and find its solution in government documents and policy programmes promising socio-economic development of the region.

Helping Parents Cope with Suicide Threats: An Approach Based on Nonviolent Resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Omer, Haim; Dolberger, Dan Isaac

2015-09-01

Parent training in nonviolent resistance was adapted to deal with situations of suicide threat by children, adolescents, and young adults. The approach aims at reducing the risk potential and the mutual distress surrounding the threat-interaction. Parent training in nonviolent resistance has been shown to help parents move from helplessness to presence, from isolation to connectedness, from submission to resistance, from escalation to self-control, and from mutual distancing and hostility to care and support. Those emphases can be crucial for the diminution of suicide risk. Parents show good ability to implement the approach and report gains on various areas over and beyond the reduction in suicide threat. A particular advantage is that the method can be used also in cases where the young person threatening suicide is not willing to cooperate. © 2015 Family Process Institute.

The concept of ego threat in social and personality psychology: is ego threat a viable scientific construct?

Science.gov (United States)

Leary, Mark R; Terry, Meredith L; Batts Allen, Ashley; Tate, Eleanor B

2009-08-01

Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person's self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people's personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.

Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing

OpenAIRE

Wilcox, C; Van Sebille, E; Hardesty, BD

2015-01-01

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a rapidly emerging global environmental concern, with high concentrations (up to 580,000 pieces per km2) and a global distribution, driven by exponentially increasing production. Seabirds are particularly vulnerable to this type of pollution and are widely observed to ingest floating plastic. We used a mixture of literature surveys, oceanographic modeling, and ecological models to predict the risk of plastic ingestion to 186 seabird species globally. Impacts ...

The effectiveness of coral reefs for coastal hazard risk reduction and adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrario, Filippo; Beck, Michael W.; Storlazzi, Curt D.; Micheli, Fiorenza; Shepard, Christine C.; Airoldi, Laura

2014-01-01

The world’s coastal zones are experiencing rapid development and an increase in storms and flooding. These hazards put coastal communities at heightened risk, which may increase with habitat loss. Here we analyse globally the role and cost effectiveness of coral reefs in risk reduction. Meta-analyses reveal that coral reefs provide substantial protection against natural hazards by reducing wave energy by an average of 97%. Reef crests alone dissipate most of this energy (86%). There are 100 million or more people who may receive risk reduction benefits from reefs or bear hazard mitigation and adaptation costs if reefs are degraded. We show that coral reefs can provide comparable wave attenuation benefits to artificial defences such as breakwaters, and reef defences can be enhanced cost effectively. Reefs face growing threats yet there is opportunity to guide adaptation and hazard mitigation investments towards reef restoration to strengthen this first line of coastal defence.

Ecotourism and Climates changes: the ecolodge contribution in global warming mitigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lukman Hakim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Global attention to the global warming reduction has invite numerous strategy implemented with the objectives is mitigating greenhouse gasses emission which threats to the future of living in biosphere. Essentially, absorbing CO2 from atmosphere and sequestering in terrestrial ecosystem is one of the significant strategy. While in developing countries it is become essential, support for forest conservation, afforestation and effort to increase terrestrial ability to capture and storage carbon is poor. Ecotourism offer potential key to solved such problems by promoting ecolodge as a sustainable tourism accomodations. This paper aims to explore the potential of ecotourism sector to alleviate global warming and establishing framework for ecolodge planning and development in tropical developing countries. This paper highlight the significant of ecolodge attraction and development management to meet proper carbon capture and sequestration mechanism. The attraction management and developing programs ultimately able to increase plants biomass while accommodation able to practicing energy efficient and optimizing reuse and recycle approach. It will become the potential solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and create clean development strategy.

Incorporating global warming risks in power sector planning: A case study of the New England region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krause, F.; Busch, J.; Koomey, J.

1992-11-01

Growing international concern over the threat of global climate change has led to proposals to buy insurance against this threat by reducing emissions of carbon (short for carbon dioxide) and other greenhouse gases below current levels. Concern over these and other, non-climatic environmental effects of electricity generation has led a number of states to adopt or explore new mechanisms for incorporating environmental externalities in utility resource planning. For example, the New York and Massachusetts utility commissions have adopted monetized surcharges (or adders) to induce emission reductions of federally regulated air pollutants (notably, SO 2 , NO x , and particulates) beyond federally mandated levels. These regulations also include preliminary estimates of the cost of reducing carbon emissions, for which no federal regulations exist at this time. Within New England, regulators and utilities have also held several workshops and meetings to discuss alternative methods of incorporating externalities as well as the feasibility of regional approaches. This study examines the potential for reduced carbon emissions in the New England power sector as well as the cost and rate impacts of two policy approaches: environmental externality surcharges and a target- based approach. We analyze the following questions: Does New England have sufficient low-carbon resources to achieve significant reductions (10% to 20% below current levels) in fossil carbon emissions in its utility sector? What reductions could be achieved at a maximum? What is the expected cost of carbon reductions as a function of the reduction goal? How would carbon reduction strategies affect electricity rates? How effective are environmental externality cost surcharges as an instrument in bringing about carbon reductions? To what extent could the minimization of total electricity costs alone result in carbon reductions relative to conventional resource plans?

On the Behaviour, abundance, habitat use and potential threats of the Gangetic Dolphin Platanista gangetica in southern West Bengal, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahua Roy Chowdhury

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The Ganga River Dolphin Platanista gangetica Roxburgh, 1801 is a globally endangered cetacean found in the River system of Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna in Bangladesh and India.  A survey and research were conducted from 2012–2014 to explore the behaviour, abundance, habitat use and potential threats of the Dolphin in the lower, middle and upper stretches of the river Ganga and its tributaries in southern West Bengal.  The study recorded different types of surfacing patterns with respect to their age class as well as on diurnal activity pattern of the individual. The adults and sub-adults were found to have different types of surfacing during different hours of the day.  The morning and afternoon were observed to be feeding hours of the Dolphin.  Multiple potential threats were encountered during the present study such as destructive fishing gears, dumping of solid and municipal waste, industrial effluents, agricultural run-off, construction of water structures, water extraction and reduction of river depth attributed to siltation.  These factors contributed to the present study of the river dolphins in the Ganga, which are localised at certain pockets in good number.  

The global nephrology workforce: emerging threats and potential solutions!

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, Muhammad U; Elsayed, Mohamed E; Stack, Austin G

2016-02-01

Amidst the rising tide of chronic kidney disease (CKD) burden, the global nephrology workforce has failed to expand in order to meet the growing healthcare needs of this vulnerable patient population. In truth, this shortage of nephrologists is seen in many parts of the world, including North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the African continent. Moreover, expert groups on workforce planning as well as national and international professional organizations predict further reductions in the nephrology workforce over the next decade, with potentially serious implications. Although the full impact of this has not been clearly articulated, what is clear is that the delivery of care to patients with CKD may be threatened in many parts of the world unless effective country-specific workforce strategies are put in place and implemented. Multiple factors are responsible for this apparent shortage in the nephrology workforce and the underpinning reasons may vary across health systems and countries. Potential contributors include the increasing burden of CKD, aging workforce, declining interest in nephrology among trainees, lack of exposure to nephrology among students and residents, rising cost of medical education and specialist training, increasing cultural and ethnic disparities between patients and care providers, increasing reliance on foreign medical graduates, inflexible work schedules, erosion of nephrology practice scope by other specialists, inadequate training, reduced focus on scholarship and research funds, increased demand to meet quality of care standards and the development of new care delivery models. It is apparent from this list that the solution is not simple and that a comprehensive evaluation is required. Consequently, there is an urgent need for all countries to develop a policy framework for the provision of kidney disease services within their health systems, a framework that is based on accurate projections of disease burden, a

NON-TRADITIONAL SECURITY THREATS IN CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramakant Trivedi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The article explores the roots and current state of religious extremism in Central Asia, as well as investigates its connections with the global salafi movement. It evaluates attempts of the regional players and external stakeholders to address the existing threats, and provides recommendations for their advancement.

An integrated approach to risk assessment and mitigating the CBRN threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bokan, S.

2009-01-01

CBRN mass casualty events threat mitigation remains today the highest international priority. Although significant progress has been made, the national security requirements for efforts to combat Weapons of Mass Destruction and Weapons of Mass Disruption will be of the highest national priority in the near future. An integration of a number of approaches is essential in the risk assessment and mitigating the CBRN treat. Preparedness measures and procedures, engineering, science and technology, policy, medical, and emergency response are essential to reduce the threat from the proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Improved coordination between international, public and private security entities is also essential task to hopefully prevent the terrorist attacks. In this lecture, it will be presented very important scientific approach to risk assessment of potential use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons in terrorist actions. An integrated approach for mitigating the CBRN threat, crisis management and preparedness measures for prevention and reduction of potential consequences, will be presented.(author)

THE THREATS TO THE ECONOMIC SAFETY OF STAVROPOL REGION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.V. Novikova

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with defining of threats to the economic safety of Stavropol region in food, manufacturing, infrastructural, financial, social and innovative industries of the region. Among these threats besides those relating to the Russian Federation on the whole there are also specific regional threats. They are: extremis; resource depletion; uncivilized redistribution of property; the reduction of tax potential; the destruction of the regional agro-industrial sector; the depletion of agricultural (arable land; the low level of competitiveness of processing industries; the breakdown of social welfare in rural areas; the price and tariff increases exceeding the population income growth; the increasing differentiation of population income and its poverty level; the high level of unemployment; the decline in material and technical and financial opportunities of businesses in procedure implementation and innovation mastering; the drain on workers from the region and the dismantling of sector research; the drop in all kinds of financing; the decline of research and development activities efficiency; regular lowering of domestic innovative markets; the low level of innovative infrastructure development; the availability of high investment risks; low effectiveness of carried out scientific and technological programmers and projects.

Global health and climate change: moving from denial and catastrophic fatalism to positive action.

Science.gov (United States)

Costello, Anthony; Maslin, Mark; Montgomery, Hugh; Johnson, Anne M; Ekins, Paul

2011-05-13

The health effects of climate change have had relatively little attention from climate scientists and governments. Climate change will be a major threat to population health in the current century through its potential effects on communicable disease, heat stress, food and water security, extreme weather events, vulnerable shelter and population migration. This paper addresses three health-sector strategies to manage the health effects of climate change-promotion of mitigation, tackling the pathways that lead to ill-health and strengthening health systems. Mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is affordable, and low-carbon technologies are available now or will be in the near future. Pathways to ill-health can be managed through better information, poverty reduction, technological innovation, social and cultural change and greater coordination of national and international institutions. Strengthening health systems requires increased investment in order to provide effective public health responses to climate-induced threats to health, equitable treatment of illness, promotion of low-carbon lifestyles and renewable energy solutions within health facilities. Mitigation and adaptation strategies will produce substantial benefits for health, such as reductions in obesity and heart disease, diabetes, stress and depression, pneumonia and asthma, as well as potential cost savings within the health sector. The case for mitigating climate change by reducing GHGs is overwhelming. The need to build population resilience to the global health threat from already unavoidable climate change is real and urgent. Action must not be delayed by contrarians, nor by catastrophic fatalists who say it is all too late. © 2011 Royal Society

The global warming game - simulations of a CO[sub 2] reduction agreement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fankhauser, S [Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, London (United Kingdom); Kverndokk, S [Stiftelsen for Samfunns- og Naeringslivsforskning, Oslo (Norway)

1992-06-01

The paper analyses incentives for and the benefits of a possible international cooperation to reduce CO-2-emissions. The negotiations are modeled as a (static) reciprocal-externality-game in CO[sub 2]-emissions between five world regions. CO[sub 2]-emissions affect the players in two ways: First, each country's income depends (via energy inputs) on the amount of CO[sub 2] emitted. On the other hand, emissions may cause future damage due to climate change. Without cooperation, each player maximizes its net benefits in setting marginal income equal to its marginal damage cost (Nash equilibrium). Under full cooperation marginal income equals the sum of the marginal damages (social optimum). The paper presents simulations of these two equilibria. Compared to the situation where no attention is paid to the greenhouse effect (the business as usual scenario), emission reductions under the Nash equilibrium can be interpreted as incentives for unilateral actions. According to the simulation results, this can only be expected from OECD countries. The results also imply that a socially optimal treaty, while clearly beneficial for the world in its entirety, may only be achieved if side payments are offered to at least China and the former Soviet Union, and probably the USA. The optimal global emission reductions in this study are on average lower than the reductions recommended by international conferences. 34 refs., 2 figs., 9 tabs.

Local Reasons to Give Globally: Identity Extension and Global Cooperation.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, Nancy R; Jeong, Sophia Soyoung; Ward, A K

2017-11-14

Recent political events across the world suggest a retrenchment from globalization and a possible increase in parochialism. This inward-looking threat from parochialism occurs just as the global community faces growing challenges that require trans-national cooperation. In this research, we question if strong identification with an in-group necessarily leads to parochialism and ultimately is detrimental to global cooperation. Building on research on global social identification, we explore whether strong local identification can expand in inclusiveness to global identification, and among whom this is likely to happen. The results of our global public goods study - conducted in South Korea and the United States - show that high levels of social identification with a local group can extend to the global collective, particularly for individuals who are also high in concern-for-others. Furthermore, this identification translates into behavior that benefits the global, anonymous group at a cost to oneself. These results shed light on how to avoid the trap of parochialism and instead engender cooperative behavior with the broader global community.

Insiders and Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hunker, Jeffrey; Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go on to disc......Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go...

Development and the global environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colombo, U.

1992-01-01

The development of the Third World and the protection of the environment are two major global problems interconnected by energy - the motor of economic growth and the main cause of deterioration of the global environment. They can no longer be separated. The threats of ozone, acid rain, and global warming are global in scope and solutions must involve energy consumption, conservations, and renewable resources. The precept that development should hinge on sound management of natural resources and the environment no longer has merely local or regional significance. It is a global concern and each person should feel a sense of ethical commitment as a world citizen

Data poverty: A global evaluation for 2009 to 2013 - implications for sustainable development and disaster risk reduction

Science.gov (United States)

Leidig, Mathias; Teeuw, Richard M.; Gibson, Andrew D.

2016-08-01

The article presents a time series (2009-2013) analysis for a new version of the ;Digital Divide; concept that developed in the 1990s. Digital information technologies, such as the Internet, mobile phones and social media, provide vast amounts of data for decision-making and resource management. The Data Poverty Index (DPI) provides an open-source means of annually evaluating global access to data and information. The DPI can be used to monitor aspects of data and information availability at global and national levels, with potential application at local (district) levels. Access to data and information is a major factor in disaster risk reduction, increased resilience to disaster and improved adaptation to climate change. In that context, the DPI could be a useful tool for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The effects of severe data poverty, particularly limited access to geoinformatic data, free software and online training materials, are discussed in the context of sustainable development and disaster risk reduction. Unlike many other indices, the DPI is underpinned by datasets that are consistently provided annually for almost all the countries of the world and can be downloaded without restriction or cost.

Tracking and Tracing Cyber-Attacks: Technical Challenges and Global Policy Issues

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lipson, Howard

2002-01-01

.... The anonymity enjoyed by today's cyber-attackers poses a grave threat to the global information society, the progress of an information-based international economy, and the advancement of global...

Medical Tourism, Medical Migration, and Global Justice: Implications for Biosecurity in a Globalized World.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, I Glenn

2017-05-01

We live in the age of globalization. In medicine, that globalization has brought many benefits such as the diffusion of technology and the spread of health care training, but it has also brought threats to biosecurity. This article examines how medical tourism and medical migration pose risks to biosecurity. It also argues that designing legal responses to these risks requires not only technical competence but also a theory of global justice to guide that design. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Are All Interventions Created Equal? A Multi-Threat Approach to Tailoring Stereotype Threat Interventions

OpenAIRE

Shapiro, Jenessa R.; Williams, Amy M.; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2012-01-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats—concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one’s group—and self-as-target stere...

Security Requirements for New Threats at International Airports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel Nowacki

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The paper refers to security requirements for new threats international airports, taking specifically into consideration current challenges within processing of passengers, in light of types of current major threats, in a way ensuring positive passenger experience within their journey. In addition, within the scope of this paper, presented initial outcome of study research among professional aviation stakeholder?s environment, on current threats in the area of security and protection of airport infrastructure. The airports are a very demanding environment: seasonal traffic, fluctuating passenger volumes and last minute changes mean there is a lot of flexibility required in order to meet specific needs of airport authorities and their clients or the passengers (Dolnik, 2009. Therefore, security in aviation sector has been a big issue for civil aviation authorities, as airports are susceptible targets for terrorist attacks. The list of incidents is extensive and gets longer every year despite strict security measures. Within decades, aviation has become the backbone of our global economy bringing people to business, tourists to vacation destinations and products to markets. Statistically flying remains the safest mode of travelling compared to other modes of transportation. However, simultaneously terrorists and criminals continue in their quest to explore new ways of disrupting air transportation and the challenge to secure airports and airline assets remain real. This calls for greater awareness of security concerns in the aviation sector. The key element, how to protects against terrorist modus operandi, is to stay ahead of recent threats, incidents and breaches occurring worldwide. It requires implementation of effective data sharing systems, in order to proactively monitor potential risks and vulnerabilities within different type of aviation ecosystems.

Threat modeling designing for security

CERN Document Server

Shostack, Adam

2014-01-01

Adam Shostack is responsible for security development lifecycle threat modeling at Microsoft and is one of a handful of threat modeling experts in the world. Now, he is sharing his considerable expertise into this unique book. With pages of specific actionable advice, he details how to build better security into the design of systems, software, or services from the outset. You'll explore various threat modeling approaches, find out how to test your designs against threats, and learn effective ways to address threats that have been validated at Microsoft and other top companies. Systems secur

Reduction and Uncertainty Analysis of Chemical Mechanisms Based on Local and Global Sensitivities

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, Gaetano

Numerical simulations of critical reacting flow phenomena in hypersonic propulsion devices require accurate representation of finite-rate chemical kinetics. The chemical kinetic models available for hydrocarbon fuel combustion are rather large, involving hundreds of species and thousands of reactions. As a consequence, they cannot be used in multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamic calculations in the foreseeable future due to the prohibitive computational cost. In addition to the computational difficulties, it is also known that some fundamental chemical kinetic parameters of detailed models have significant level of uncertainty due to limited experimental data available and to poor understanding of interactions among kinetic parameters. In the present investigation, local and global sensitivity analysis techniques are employed to develop a systematic approach of reducing and analyzing detailed chemical kinetic models. Unlike previous studies in which skeletal model reduction was based on the separate analysis of simple cases, in this work a novel strategy based on Principal Component Analysis of local sensitivity values is presented. This new approach is capable of simultaneously taking into account all the relevant canonical combustion configurations over different composition, temperature and pressure conditions. Moreover, the procedure developed in this work represents the first documented inclusion of non-premixed extinction phenomena, which is of great relevance in hypersonic combustors, in an automated reduction algorithm. The application of the skeletal reduction to a detailed kinetic model consisting of 111 species in 784 reactions is demonstrated. The resulting reduced skeletal model of 37--38 species showed that the global ignition/propagation/extinction phenomena of ethylene-air mixtures can be predicted within an accuracy of 2% of the full detailed model. The problems of both understanding non-linear interactions between kinetic parameters and

Global warming

CERN Document Server

Hulme, M

1998-01-01

Global warming-like deforestation, the ozone hole and the loss of species- has become one of the late 20the century icons of global environmental damage. The threat, is not the reality, of such a global climate change has motivated governments. businesses and environmental organisations, to take serious action ot try and achieve serious control of the future climate. This culminated last December in Kyoto in the agreement for legally-binding climate protocol. In this series of three lectures I will provide a perspective on the phenomenon of global warming that accepts the scientific basis for our concern, but one that also recognises the dynamic interaction between climate and society that has always exited The future will be no different. The challenge of global warning is not to pretend it is not happening (as with some pressure groups), nor to pretend it threatens global civilisation (as with other pressure groups), and it is not even a challenge to try and stop it from happening-we are too far down the ro...

Global Inventory of Methane Hydrate: How Large is the Threat? (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Buffett, B. A.; Frederick, J. M.

2010-12-01

Methane hydrate is a dark horse in the science of climate change. The volume of methane sequestered in marine sediments is large enough to pose a potential threat, yet the expected contribution to future warming is not known. Part of the uncertainty lies in the poorly understood details of methane release from hydrate. Slow, diffusive loss of methane probably results in oxidation by sulfate and precipitation to CaCO3 in the sediments, with little effect on climate. Conversely, a direct release of methane into the atmosphere is liable to have strong and immediate consequences. Progress in narrowing the possibilities requires a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for methane release. Improvements are also needed in our estimates of the hydrate inventory, as this sets a limit on the possible response. Several recent estimates of the hydrate inventory have been constructed using mechanistic models. Many of the model parameters (e.g. sedimentation rate and sea floor temperature) can be estimated globally, while others (e.g. vertical fluid flow) are not well known. Available observations can be used to estimate the poorly known parameters, but it is reasonable to question whether the results from a limited number of sites are representative of other locations. Fluid flow is a case in point because most hydrate locations are associated with upward flow. On the other hand, simple models of sediment compaction predict downward flow relative to the sea floor, which acts to impede hydrate formation. A variety of mechanisms can produce upward flow, including time-dependent sedimentation, seafloor topography, subsurface fractures, dehydration of clay minerals and gradual burial of methane hydrate below the stability zone. Each of these mechanisms makes specific predictions for the magnitude of flow and the proportion of sea floor that is likely to be affected. We assess the role of fluid flow on the present-day inventory and show that the current estimates for

Salt Reduction Initiatives around the World - A Systematic Review of Progress towards the Global Target.

Science.gov (United States)

Trieu, Kathy; Neal, Bruce; Hawkes, Corinna; Dunford, Elizabeth; Campbell, Norm; Rodriguez-Fernandez, Rodrigo; Legetic, Branka; McLaren, Lindsay; Barberio, Amanda; Webster, Jacqui

2015-01-01

To quantify progress with the initiation of salt reduction strategies around the world in the context of the global target to reduce population salt intake by 30% by 2025. A systematic review of the published and grey literature was supplemented by questionnaires sent to country program leaders. Core characteristics of strategies were extracted and categorised according to a pre-defined framework. A total of 75 countries now have a national salt reduction strategy, more than double the number reported in a similar review done in 2010. The majority of programs are multifaceted and include industry engagement to reformulate products (n = 61), establishment of sodium content targets for foods (39), consumer education (71), front-of-pack labelling schemes (31), taxation on high-salt foods (3) and interventions in public institutions (54). Legislative action related to salt reduction such as mandatory targets, front of pack labelling, food procurement policies and taxation have been implemented in 33 countries. 12 countries have reported reductions in population salt intake, 19 reduced salt content in foods and 6 improvements in consumer knowledge, attitudes or behaviours relating to salt. The large and increasing number of countries with salt reduction strategies in place is encouraging although activity remains limited in low- and middle-income regions. The absence of a consistent approach to implementation highlights uncertainty about the elements most important to success. Rigorous evaluation of ongoing programs and initiation of salt reduction programs, particularly in low- and middle- income countries, will be vital to achieving the targeted 30% reduction in salt intake.

Salt Reduction Initiatives around the World - A Systematic Review of Progress towards the Global Target.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathy Trieu

Full Text Available To quantify progress with the initiation of salt reduction strategies around the world in the context of the global target to reduce population salt intake by 30% by 2025.A systematic review of the published and grey literature was supplemented by questionnaires sent to country program leaders. Core characteristics of strategies were extracted and categorised according to a pre-defined framework.A total of 75 countries now have a national salt reduction strategy, more than double the number reported in a similar review done in 2010. The majority of programs are multifaceted and include industry engagement to reformulate products (n = 61, establishment of sodium content targets for foods (39, consumer education (71, front-of-pack labelling schemes (31, taxation on high-salt foods (3 and interventions in public institutions (54. Legislative action related to salt reduction such as mandatory targets, front of pack labelling, food procurement policies and taxation have been implemented in 33 countries. 12 countries have reported reductions in population salt intake, 19 reduced salt content in foods and 6 improvements in consumer knowledge, attitudes or behaviours relating to salt.The large and increasing number of countries with salt reduction strategies in place is encouraging although activity remains limited in low- and middle-income regions. The absence of a consistent approach to implementation highlights uncertainty about the elements most important to success. Rigorous evaluation of ongoing programs and initiation of salt reduction programs, particularly in low- and middle- income countries, will be vital to achieving the targeted 30% reduction in salt intake.

Algal blooms: an emerging threat to seawater reverse osmosis desalination

KAUST Repository

Villacorte, Loreen O.

2014-08-04

Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination technology has been rapidly growing in terms of installed capacity and global application over the last decade. An emerging threat to SWRO application is the seasonal proliferation of microscopic algae in seawater known as algal blooms. Such blooms have caused operational problems in SWRO plants due to clogging and poor effluent quality of the pre-treatment system which eventually forced the shutdown of various desalination plants to avoid irreversible fouling of downstream SWRO membranes. This article summarizes the current state of SWRO technology and the emerging threat of algal blooms to its application. It also highlights the importance of studying the algal bloom phenomena in the perspective of seawater desalination, so proper mitigation and preventive strategies can be developed in the near future. © 2014 © 2014 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.

Algal blooms: an emerging threat to seawater reverse osmosis desalination

KAUST Repository

Villacorte, Loreen O.; Tabatabai, S. Assiyeh Alizadeh; Dhakal, N.; Amy, Gary L.; Schippers, Jan Cornelis; Kennedy, Maria Dolores

2014-01-01

Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination technology has been rapidly growing in terms of installed capacity and global application over the last decade. An emerging threat to SWRO application is the seasonal proliferation of microscopic algae in seawater known as algal blooms. Such blooms have caused operational problems in SWRO plants due to clogging and poor effluent quality of the pre-treatment system which eventually forced the shutdown of various desalination plants to avoid irreversible fouling of downstream SWRO membranes. This article summarizes the current state of SWRO technology and the emerging threat of algal blooms to its application. It also highlights the importance of studying the algal bloom phenomena in the perspective of seawater desalination, so proper mitigation and preventive strategies can be developed in the near future. © 2014 © 2014 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved.

75 FR 20578 - Availability of the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Threat Reduction Agency Services Contracts Inventory

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-20

... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary Availability of the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Threat... amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (NDAA 08) section 807, the Director of DTRA and the Office of the Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, Office of...

Energy and global environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fyfe, W.S.; Powell, M.A.

1991-01-01

At present about 90% of the world's energy consumption is met by the fossil carbon fuel used in the form of coal, oil and natural gas. This results into release of vast amounts of waste gas CO 2 into the atmosphere posing a threat to the global environment. Moreover this energy source is not sustainable (renewable) and its use amounts to spending Earth's capital resources. The options to this energy source are biomass energy, hydro power, solar energy, geothermal energy and nuclear energy. The potentials, limitations, geological impact and environmental dangers, if any, of these sources are discussed in brief. Energy conservation through energy efficient systems is also one more option. Problems and potential for change to sustainable energy systems with respect to India and Canada are examined. Finally it is pointed out that the ultimate solution to the world's energy problem lies in population control and population reduction. This will make possible for the world to have a sustainable energy system primarily based on solar energy. (M.G.B.). 15 refs

Drylands face potential threat under 2 °C global warming target

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jianping; Yu, Haipeng; Dai, Aiguo; Wei, Yun; Kang, Litai

2017-06-01

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean surface warming to less than 2 °C relative to pre-industrial levels. However, we show this target is acceptable only for humid lands, whereas drylands will bear greater warming risks. Over the past century, surface warming over global drylands (1.2-1.3 °C) has been 20-40% higher than that over humid lands (0.8-1.0 °C), while anthropogenic CO2 emissions generated from drylands (~230 Gt) have been only ~30% of those generated from humid lands (~750 Gt). For the twenty-first century, warming of 3.2-4.0 °C (2.4-2.6 °C) over drylands (humid lands) could occur when global warming reaches 2.0 °C, indicating ~44% more warming over drylands than humid lands. Decreased maize yields and runoff, increased long-lasting drought and more favourable conditions for malaria transmission are greatest over drylands if global warming were to rise from 1.5 °C to 2.0 °C. Our analyses indicate that ~38% of the world's population living in drylands would suffer the effects of climate change due to emissions primarily from humid lands. If the 1.5 °C warming limit were attained, the mean warming over drylands could be within 3.0 °C therefore it is necessary to keep global warming within 1.5 °C to prevent disastrous effects over drylands.

Global warming and extinctions of endemic species from biodiversity hotspots.

Science.gov (United States)

Malcolm, Jay R; Liu, Canran; Neilson, Ronald P; Hansen, Lara; Hannah, Lee

2006-04-01

Global warming is a key threat to biodiversity, but few researchers have assessed the magnitude of this threat at the global scale. We used major vegetation types (biomes) as proxies for natural habitats and, based on projected future biome distributions under doubled-CO2 climates, calculated changes in habitat areas and associated extinctions of endemic plant and vertebrate species in biodiversity hotspots. Because of numerous uncertainties in this approach, we undertook a sensitivity analysis of multiple factors that included (1) two global vegetation models, (2) different numbers of biome classes in our biome classification schemes, (3) different assumptions about whether species distributions were biome specific or not, and (4) different migration capabilities. Extinctions were calculated using both species-area and endemic-area relationships. In addition, average required migration rates were calculated for each hotspot assuming a doubled-CO2 climate in 100 years. Projected percent extinctions ranged from hotspots were the Cape Floristic Region, Caribbean, Indo-Burma, Mediterranean Basin, Southwest Australia, and Tropical Andes, where plant extinctions per hotspot sometimes exceeded 2000 species. Under the assumption that projected habitat changes were attained in 100 years, estimated global-warming-induced rates of species extinctions in tropical hotspots in some cases exceeded those due to deforestation, supporting suggestions that global warming is one of the most serious threats to the planet's biodiversity.

Dogs That Haven't Barked: Towards an Understanding of the Absence of Expected Technological Threats Workshop Bibliography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roseman, Mallory [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Zikry, Fareeda [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-12-13

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Global Security Research hosted a workshop to investigate why some consistently predicted threats from science and technology (S&T) have not manifested with the impacts to international security as forecasted. During the workshop, “Dogs That Haven’t Barked: Towards an Understanding of the Absence of Expected Technological Threats,” participants used two specific cases to focus the discussion: biotechnology and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).

Countering Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.; Hunker, Jeffrey; Gollmann, Dieter

threat, and to develop a common vision of how an insider can be categorized as well as an integrated approach that allows a qualitative reasoning about the threat and the possibilities of attacks. This report gives an overview of the discussions and presentations during the week, as well as the outcome...

PORT SECURITY-Threats and Vulnerabilities

OpenAIRE

Kusi, Bernard

2015-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to identify the threats and the vulnerabilities concerning Takoradi port, and finally recommend measure to overcome the identified threats and vul-nerabilities. Various categories of potential threats and vulnerabilities have been studied throughout the literature review. However, because each port presents a unique sets of threats and vulnerabilities, there was a need to look critically into how Takoradi port operations are being conducted in other to ide...

The emergence of Ebola as a global health security threat: From ′lessons learned′ to coordinated multilateral containment efforts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarathi Kalra

2014-01-01

Full Text Available First reported in remote villages of Africa in the 1970s, the Ebolavirus was originally believed to be transmitted to people from wild animals. Ebolavirus (EBOV causes a severe, frequently fatal hemorrhagic syndrome in humans. Each outbreak of the Ebolavirus over the last three decades has perpetuated fear and economic turmoil among the local and regional populations in Africa. Until now it has been considered a tragic malady confined largely to the isolated regions of the African continent, but it is no longer so. The frequency of outbreaks has increased since the 1970s. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in Western Africa has been the most severe in history and was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Given the widespread use of modern transportation and global travel, the EBOV is now a risk to the entire Global Village, with intercontinental transmission only an airplane flight away. Clinically, symptoms typically appear after an incubation period of approximately 11 days. A flu-like syndrome can progress to full hemorrhagic fever with multiorgan failure, and frequently, death. Diagnosis is confirmed by detection of viral antigens or Ribonucleic acid (RNA in the blood or other body fluids. Although historically the mortality of this infection exceeded 80%, modern medicine and public health measures have been able to lower this figure and reduce the impact of EBOV on individuals and communities. The treatment involves early, aggressive supportive care with rehydration. Core interventions, including contact tracing, preventive initiatives, active surveillance, effective isolation and quarantine procedures, and timely response to patients, are essential for a successful outbreak control. These measures, combined with public health education, point-of-care diagnostics, promising new vaccine and pharmaceutical efforts, and coordinated efforts of the international community, give new hope to the Global effort to eliminate Ebola

The Emergence of Ebola as a Global Health Security Threat: From ‘Lessons Learned’ to Coordinated Multilateral Containment Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Kalra, Sarathi; Kelkar, Dhanashree; Galwankar, Sagar C.; Papadimos, Thomas J.; Stawicki, Stanislaw P.; Arquilla, Bonnie; Hoey, Brian A.; Sharpe, Richard P.; Sabol, Donna; Jahre, Jeffrey A.

2014-01-01

First reported in remote villages of Africa in the 1970s, the Ebolavirus was originally believed to be transmitted to people from wild animals. Ebolavirus (EBOV) causes a severe, frequently fatal hemorrhagic syndrome in humans. Each outbreak of the Ebolavirus over the last three decades has perpetuated fear and economic turmoil among the local and regional populations in Africa. Until now it has been considered a tragic malady confined largely to the isolated regions of the African continent, but it is no longer so. The frequency of outbreaks has increased since the 1970s. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in Western Africa has been the most severe in history and was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. Given the widespread use of modern transportation and global travel, the EBOV is now a risk to the entire Global Village, with intercontinental transmission only an airplane flight away. Clinically, symptoms typically appear after an incubation period of approximately 11 days. A flu-like syndrome can progress to full hemorrhagic fever with multiorgan failure, and frequently, death. Diagnosis is confirmed by detection of viral antigens or Ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the blood or other body fluids. Although historically the mortality of this infection exceeded 80%, modern medicine and public health measures have been able to lower this figure and reduce the impact of EBOV on individuals and communities. The treatment involves early, aggressive supportive care with rehydration. Core interventions, including contact tracing, preventive initiatives, active surveillance, effective isolation and quarantine procedures, and timely response to patients, are essential for a successful outbreak control. These measures, combined with public health education, point-of-care diagnostics, promising new vaccine and pharmaceutical efforts, and coordinated efforts of the international community, give new hope to the Global effort to eliminate Ebola as a public

An examination of age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline: Implications for stereotype threat research and theory development

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.

2017-01-01

“Stereotype threat” is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Using Shapiro and Neuberg's (2007) Multi-Threat Framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat, and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the form(s) of threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the form(s) of threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects may vary across the lifespan. Due to age-related improvements in emotion regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity. This will allow us to design more effective stereotype threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain effects “fail to replicate” across domains or groups. PMID:28073332

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.

Patterns and biases of climate change threats in the IUCN Red List.

Science.gov (United States)

Trull, Nicholas; Böhm, Monika; Carr, Jamie

2018-02-01

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments rely on published data and expert inputs, and biases can be introduced where underlying definitions and concepts are ambiguous. Consideration of climate change threat is no exception, and recently numerous approaches to assessing the threat of climate change to species have been developed. We explored IUCN Red List assessments of amphibians and birds to determine whether species listed as threatened by climate change display distinct patterns in terms of habitat occupied and additional nonclimatic threats faced. We compared IUCN Red List data with a published data set of species' biological and ecological traits believed to infer high vulnerability to climate change and determined whether distributions of climate change-threatened species on the IUCN Red List concur with those of climate change-threatened species identified with the trait-based approach and whether species possessing these traits are more likely to have climate change listed as a threat on the IUCN Red List. Species in some ecosystems (e.g., grassland, shrubland) and subject to particular threats (e.g., invasive species) were more likely to have climate change as a listed threat. Geographical patterns of climate change-threatened amphibians and birds on the IUCN Red List were incongruent with patterns of global species richness and patterns identified using trait-based approaches. Certain traits were linked to increases or decreases in the likelihood of a species being threatened by climate change. Broad temperature tolerance of a species was consistently related to an increased likelihood of climate change threat, indicating counterintuitive relationships in IUCN assessments. To improve the robustness of species assessments of the vulnerability or extinction risk associated with climate change, we suggest IUCN adopt a more cohesive approach whereby specific traits highlighted by our results are considered in Red List

Today's threat and tomorrow's reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, L.R.

2002-01-01

Full text: The events of September 11 have only confirmed our past nightmares and warnings to industries, agencies, and governments. The threat of even more significant catastrophic attacks, using nuclear materials, was just as real ten years ago, as it is today. In many cases, our vulnerability remains the same as years ago. There is a dire need for all organizations to agree upon threats and vulnerabilities, and to implement appropriate protections, for nuclear materials or other 'means' to achieve an event of mass destruction. All appropriate organizations (industries, agencies, and governments) should be able to define, assess, and recognize international threats and vulnerabilities in the same manner. In complimentary fashion, the organizations should be able to implement safeguards against this consistent generic threat. On an international scale the same threats, and most vulnerabilities, pose high risks to all of these organizations and societies. Indeed, in today's world, the vulnerabilities of one nation may clearly pose great risk to another nation. Once threats and vulnerabilities are consistently recognized, we can begin to approach their mitigation in a more 'universal' fashion by the application of internationally recognized and accepted security measures. The path to recognition of these security measures will require agreement on many diverse issues. However, once there is general agreement, we can then proceed to the acquisition of diverse national and international resources with which to implement the security measures 'universally' to eliminate 'weak-links' in the chain of nuclear materials, on a truly international scale. I would like to discuss: developing a internationally acceptable 'generic' statement of threat, vulnerability assessment process, and security measure; proposing this international statement of threat, vulnerability assessment process, and appropriate security measures to organizations (industries, agencies, and governments

The Sickening Implications of Globalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Keigher, Sharon M.; Lowery, Christine T.

1998-01-01

"We are all in this together..." begins this review of the threats of globalization. Topics discussed include malnutrition, infectious diseases, urbanization, border protection, poverty, "lifestyle" diseases, the risks of technology, and war. Alternatives to the present trend toward capitalist transformation, possible and practical reforms are…

Historical evolution of human anthrax from occupational disease to potentially global threat as bioweapon.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Amelio, Enrico; Gentile, Bernardina; Lista, Florigio; D'Amelio, Raffaele

2015-12-01

Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, which can naturally infect livestock, wildlife and occupationally exposed humans. However, for its resistance due to spore formation, ease of dissemination, persistence in the environment and high virulence, B. anthracis has been considered the most serious bioterrorism agent for a long time. During the last century anthrax evolved from limited natural disease to potentially global threat if used as bioweapon. Several factors may mitigate the consequences of an anthrax attack, including 1. the capability to promptly recognize and manage the illness and its public health consequences; 2. the limitation of secondary contamination risk through an appropriate decontamination; and 3. the evolution of genotyping methods (for microbes characterization at high resolution level) that can influence the course and/or focus of investigations, impacting the response of the government to an attack. A PubMed search has been done using the key words “bioterrorism anthrax”. Over one thousand papers have been screened and the most significant examined to present a comprehensive literature review in order to discuss the current knowledge and strategies in preparedness for a possible deliberate release of B. anthracis spores and to indicate the most current and complete documents in which to deepen. The comprehensive analysis of the two most relevant unnatural anthrax release events, Sverdlovsk in the former Soviet Union (1979) and the contaminated letters in the USA (2001), shows that inhalational anthrax may easily and cheaply be spread resulting in serious consequences. The damage caused by an anthrax attack can be limited if public health organization, first responders, researchers and investigators will be able to promptly manage anthrax cases and use new technologies for decontamination methods and in forensic microbiology.

[The global climate: a sick patient

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lidegaard, O.; Lidegaard, M.

2008-01-01

, and major climatic disasters, including health threats to millions of people, are probable if the CO2 emission increases further. Therefore, serious global initiatives should be taken now in order to prevent global over heating. Denmark should be at the forefront of these initiatives Udgivelsesdato: 2008/8/25......Over the last 100 years the human use of fossil fuel has increased the atmospheric CO2 content from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 380 ppm. This increase is expected to increase the global average temperature by a few degrees. The global climate is very sensitive to an increase in temperature...

Inclusion of Premeditated Threats in the Safety Methodology for NPPs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levanon, I.

2014-01-01

During the last decade the global effort to prevent terrorism or to mitigate its harm, if prevention fails, has increased. The nuclear power community was involved in this effort trying to prevent terrorist attacks on NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants). A natural extension of terror restraining is the prevention of any premeditated damage to the plant, including acts of state. The pre-feasibility study of an Israeli NPP, conducted by the Ministry of National Infrastructures, has identified the risk of hostile damage to the NPP as a major obstacle to the establishment of nuclear power in Israel, second only to the refusal of nuclear exporting nations to sell an NPP to Israelv. The General Director of the Ministry and the Head of the IAEC (Israeli Atomic Energy Commission) have approved continuation of the pre-feasibility study. This synopsis presents a study, regarding premeditated threats to NPPs, commissioned by the Ministry of National Infrastructures as part of the continuation. It focuses on the safety aspect of premeditated threats originating outside the plant, although a significant part of the analysis can be extended to other subjects such as theft or diversion of strategic materials. The study deals only with methodology and does not encompass specific threats or protection measures. Conclusions and recommendations and marked by bold italics Arial font. The theory of nuclear safety regarding non-premeditated safety events (equipment failures, human errors, natural events, etc.) is well developed. The study refers to these events and the theory attached to them as c lassical , distinguishing them from premeditated events. The study defines two postulates, related to premeditated threats: Correspondence – We should adopt the classical methodology whenever possible. Regulation – The safety of an NPP from premeditated threats requires examination, approval and inspection by a regulator. Key issues of the methodology with substantial differences from the

Rethinking climate change as a security threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schoch, Corinne

2011-10-15

Once upon a time climate change was a strictly environment and development issue. Today it has become a matter of national and international security. Efforts to link climate change with violent conflict may not be based on solid evidence, but they have certainly captured the attention of governments. They have played a vital role in raising the much-needed awareness of climate change as an issue that deserves global action. But at what cost? Focusing on climate change as a security threat alone risks devolving humanitarian responsibilities to the military, ignoring key challenges and losing sight of those climate-vulnerable communities that stand most in need of protection.

Admitting Syrian Refugees: Is The Threat of Islamic State Infiltration Justified

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

discrimination from their hosts, radical Islamic ideology may find a receptive audience , particularly among second- and third-generation children of...theatricality, suspense, and threat of danger inherent in terrorism enhance its attention- getting qualities.”163 Furthermore, “As the audience grows larger...IS has grown in size and scope, unique from Al Qaeda in that it “coerces local populations while advertising to a global audience .”174 Its caliphate

Globalization and psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Chi-Yue; Kwan, Letty Yan-Yee

2016-04-01

In globalized societies, people often encounter symbols of diverse cultures in the same space at the same time. Simultaneous exposure to diverse cultures draws people's attention to cultural differences and promotes catergorical perceptions of culture. Local cultural identification and presence of cultural threat increase the likelihood of resisting inflow of foreign cultures (exclusionary reactions). When cultures are seen as intellectual resources, foreign cultural exposure affords intercultural learning and enhances individual creativity (integrative reactions). Psychological studies of globalization attest to the utility of treating cultures as evolving, interacting systems, rather than static, independent entities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Moving towards global health equity: Opportunities and threats: An ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

MESKE

time in recent history. ... Results: Equity has been a long quest in public health and global health equity could be seen as part of ... Sub-Saharan Africa will remain an enduring preoccupation ..... In recent years, “Equity as a shared vision for health and ..... skilled workers is evolving as a policy position in the US and Europe.

Higher Education in the Global Market: Opportunities and Threats

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Navin

2011-01-01

The world is marked by the twin processes of economic and cultural globalization in an era of information technology. The identities of all societies are evolving as social and political boundaries are shrinking day-by-day. As a result of significant economic and political changes, cross-cultural contact is at an all-time high in human history.…

Economic liberalization and globalization vs. India's poor

OpenAIRE

Oschinski, Matthias

2003-01-01

Today, many in the national and international NGO community perceive globalization and economic liberalization as a threat claiming that it widens inequalities and increases overall poverty. While it is true that inequality is on the rise in a rapidly globalizing world the real culprit is not globalization itself but rather a lack of economic reforms and economic liberalization. This paper aims to show that many in the international NGO community confuse cause and effect. The root cause of po...

RECENT THREATS TO CLOUD COMPUTING DATA AND ITS PREVENTION MEASURES

OpenAIRE

Rahul Neware*

2017-01-01

As the cloud computing is expanding day by day due to its benefits like Cost, Speed Global Scale, Productivity, Performance, Reliability etc. Everyone, like Business vendors, governments etc are using the cloud computing to grow fast. Although Cloud Computing has above mentioned and other benefits but security of cloud is problems and due to this security problem adoption of cloud computing is not growing. This paper gives information about recent threats to the cloud computing data and its p...

Economic optimization of a global strategy to address the pandemic threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Pike, Jamison; Bogich, Tiffany; Elwood, Sarah; Finnoff, David C; Daszak, Peter

2014-12-30

Emerging pandemics threaten global health and economies and are increasing in frequency. Globally coordinated strategies to combat pandemics, similar to current strategies that address climate change, are largely adaptive, in that they attempt to reduce the impact of a pathogen after it has emerged. However, like climate change, mitigation strategies have been developed that include programs to reduce the underlying drivers of pandemics, particularly animal-to-human disease transmission. Here, we use real options economic modeling of current globally coordinated adaptation strategies for pandemic prevention. We show that they would be optimally implemented within 27 y to reduce the annual rise of emerging infectious disease events by 50% at an estimated one-time cost of approximately $343.7 billion. We then analyze World Bank data on multilateral "One Health" pandemic mitigation programs. We find that, because most pandemics have animal origins, mitigation is a more cost-effective policy than business-as-usual adaptation programs, saving between $344.0.7 billion and $360.3 billion over the next 100 y if implemented today. We conclude that globally coordinated pandemic prevention policies need to be enacted urgently to be optimally effective and that strategies to mitigate pandemics by reducing the impact of their underlying drivers are likely to be more effective than business as usual.

Global warming and north-south solidarity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Islam, S.

1998-01-01

The discussion on climate change is based on 'contradictory certainties'. All sides claim to have found the truth. Much has been written and said about the connection between global warming, biodiversity and over population. The impoverished countries of the South se the insatiable intentions of the North as the major threat to the environment; and global warming as an excuse for stopping the economic development of the south

H1N1, globalization and the epidemiology of inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Sparke, Matthew; Anguelov, Dimitar

2012-07-01

This paper examines the lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in relation to wider work on globalization and the epidemiology of inequality. The media attention and economic resources diverted to the threats posed by H1N1 were significant inequalities themselves when contrasted with weaker responses to more lethal threats posed by other diseases associated with global inequality. However, the multiple inequalities revealed by H1N1 itself in 2009 still provide important insights into the future of global health in the context of market-led globalization. These lessons relate to at least four main forms of inequality: (1) inequalities in blame for the outbreak in the media; (2) inequalities in risk management; (3) inequalities in access to medicines; and (4) inequalities encoded in the actual emergence of new flu viruses. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Major issues in threat analysis and resolving such problems: an addendum to the GAP analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.D. Surasinghe

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Identification of regions that warrant conservation attention is a top priority among global environmental concerns. Conventionally, this objective was achieved via recognizing natural landscapes based on the number of IUCN Red Listed species, percentage of endemism and species diversity. A recent innovation in conservation biology is the use of GIS-based threat analysis models to identify key areas of conservation importance. Compared with GAP Analysis, which only identifies biodiversity-rich unprotected lands, threat analysis serves as a rigorous tool in conservation planning which specifically recognizes threats and habitat suitability to different taxa based on a spatially-explicit analysis. Threat analysis is a highly flexible process which involves building up a model with multiple independent (without autocorrelations variables that both positively and negatively affect distribution and population persistence of a concerned species. Parameters include rate of land-use change, population density, population growth rate, land management regimes, protection status, habitat suitability and land stewardship. Threat analysis models can be used to understand the current status of a particular species (or a community and can be used to project future trends about the species under consideration. This publication provides an overview of uses of GIS-based threat analyses in conservation biology and provides insights on the limitations of these models and the directions that should be taken in future.

Modulators of mercury risk to wildlife and humans in the context of rapid global change

Science.gov (United States)

Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Silbergeld, Ellen K.; Basu, Niladri; Bustamante, Paco; Diaz-Barriga, Fernando; Hopkins, William A.; Kidd, Karen A.; Nyland, Jennifer F.

2018-01-01

Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is an urgent global health threat. The complexity of Hg in the environment can hinder accurate determination of ecological and human health risks, particularly within the context of the rapid global changes that are altering many ecological processes, socioeconomic patterns, and other factors like infectious disease incidence, which can affect Hg exposures and health outcomes. However, the success of global Hg-reduction efforts depends on accurate assessments of their effectiveness in reducing health risks. In this paper, we examine the role that key extrinsic and intrinsic drivers play on several aspects of Hg risk to humans and organisms in the environment. We do so within three key domains of ecological and human health risk. First, we examine how extrinsic global change drivers influence pathways of Hg bioaccumulation and biomagnification through food webs. Next, we describe how extrinsic socioeconomic drivers at a global scale, and intrinsic individual-level drivers, influence human Hg exposure. Finally, we address how the adverse health effects of Hg in humans and wildlife are modulated by a range of extrinsic and intrinsic drivers within the context of rapid global change. Incorporating components of these three domains into research and monitoring will facilitate a more holistic understanding of how ecological and societal drivers interact to influence Hg health risks.

Cyber Threats for Organizations of Financial Market Infrastructures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Georgievna Miloslavskaya

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract: In the global informatization era the reliable and efficient financial market infrastructure of the Russian Federation (RF FMI plays an important role in the financial system and economy of the country. New cyber risks have acquired the status of the FR FMI systemic risk’s components, the importance of which is constantly growing due to the increase in the possible consequences of their implementation. The article introduces the basic concepts of cyber security, cyber space and cyber threats for the RF FMI and analyzes the specific features of cyber attacks against the RF FMI organizations.

Counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Lehman, Lynn A.; Krause, Lee S.

2004-09-01

This paper will evaluate the feasibility of constructing a system to support intelligence analysts engaged in counter-terrorism. It will discuss the use of emerging techniques to evaluate a large-scale threat data repository (or Infosphere) and comparing analyst developed models to identify and discover potential threat-related activity with a uncertainty metric used to evaluate the threat. This system will also employ the use of psychological (or intent) modeling to incorporate combatant (i.e. terrorist) beliefs and intent. The paper will explore the feasibility of constructing a hetero-hierarchical (a hierarchy of more than one kind or type characterized by loose connection/feedback among elements of the hierarchy) agent based framework or "family of agents" to support "evidence retrieval" defined as combing, or searching the threat data repository and returning information with an uncertainty metric. The counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture will be guided by a series of models, constructed to represent threat operational objectives, potential targets, or terrorist objectives. The approach would compare model representations against information retrieved by the agent family to isolate or identify patterns that match within reasonable measures of proximity. The central areas of discussion will be the construction of an agent framework to search the available threat related information repository, evaluation of results against models that will represent the cultural foundations, mindset, sociology and emotional drive of typical threat combatants (i.e. the mind and objectives of a terrorist), and the development of evaluation techniques to compare result sets with the models representing threat behavior and threat targets. The applicability of concepts surrounding Modeling Field Theory (MFT) will be discussed as the basis of this research into development of proximity measures between the models and result sets and to provide feedback in support of model

Stereotype threat and female communication styles.

Science.gov (United States)

von Hippel, Courtney; Wiryakusuma, Cindy; Bowden, Jessica; Shochet, Megan

2011-10-01

A large body of research has documented the performance-debilitating effects of stereotype threat for individuals, but there is a paucity of research exploring interpersonal consequences of stereotype threat. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat would change the style in which women communicate. Results indicate that women who experience stereotype threat regarding leadership abilities react against the stereotype by adopting a more masculine communication style. Study 2 provides evidence that self-affirmation eliminates this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication styles. A third study demonstrates an ironic consequence of this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication--when women under stereotype threat adopt a more masculine communication style, they are rated as less warm and likeable, and evaluators indicate less willingness to comply with their requests. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; Janssens, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-03-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts, on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement. Message involvement is a full mediator between evoked fear, perceived threat and efficacy perception on the one hand, and attitudes towards the message and behavioral intention to accept the message on the other. Speeding experience has a significantly negative impact on anti-speeding attitudes. Message and medium context threat levels and context thematic congruency have a significant effect on evoked fear and to a lesser extent on perceived threat.

Economic optimization of a global strategy to address the pandemic threat

Science.gov (United States)

Pike, Jamison; Bogich, Tiffany; Elwood, Sarah; Finnoff, David C.; Daszak, Peter

2014-01-01

Emerging pandemics threaten global health and economies and are increasing in frequency. Globally coordinated strategies to combat pandemics, similar to current strategies that address climate change, are largely adaptive, in that they attempt to reduce the impact of a pathogen after it has emerged. However, like climate change, mitigation strategies have been developed that include programs to reduce the underlying drivers of pandemics, particularly animal-to-human disease transmission. Here, we use real options economic modeling of current globally coordinated adaptation strategies for pandemic prevention. We show that they would be optimally implemented within 27 y to reduce the annual rise of emerging infectious disease events by 50% at an estimated one-time cost of approximately $343.7 billion. We then analyze World Bank data on multilateral “One Health” pandemic mitigation programs. We find that, because most pandemics have animal origins, mitigation is a more cost-effective policy than business-as-usual adaptation programs, saving between $344.0.7 billion and $360.3 billion over the next 100 y if implemented today. We conclude that globally coordinated pandemic prevention policies need to be enacted urgently to be optimally effective and that strategies to mitigate pandemics by reducing the impact of their underlying drivers are likely to be more effective than business as usual. PMID:25512538

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)

Reduction in global warming due to fuel economy improvements and emissions control of criteria pollutants: New US light-duty vehicles (1968--1991)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pitstick, M.E.; Santini, D.J. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States); Chauhan, H. [Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering

1992-08-01

This paper explores the impact of US emission controls and fuel economy improvements on the global warming potential (GWP) of new light-duty vehicles. Fuel economy improvements have reduced the GWP of both passenger cars and light-duty trucks by lowering the per mile emissions of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). Further GWP reductions have been achieved by emission standards for criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}). The GWP of a criteria pollutant was calculated by multiplying the emission rate by a relative global warming factor to obtain a CO{sub 2} equivalent emission rate. Both CO{sub 2} and criteria pollutant emission rates per vehicle have decreased substantially for new light-duty vehicles over the period from 1968 to 1991. Over that period, the GWP from CO{sub 2} was reduced by almost 50% in new vehicles by improving fuel economy. In that same time period, the GWP from criteria pollutants from new vehicles was reduced with emission controls by from 80% to 90% depending on the global warming time frame of interest. Consequently, total reductions in the GWP of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks have been on the order of 55 to 75 percent compared to precontrol (before 1968) new vehicles. However, the reduction in GWP caused by emission control of criteria pollutants has been larger than the reduction caused by improved fuel economy (i.e., reduced CO{sub 2}). The contribution of criteria pollutants to the GWP of precontrol new vehicles was substantial, but their contribution has been reduced significantly due to US emission controls. As a result, the contribution of criteria pollutants to global warming is now much less than the contribution of CO{sub 2} from fuel consumption.

Reduction in global warming due to fuel economy improvements and emissions control of criteria pollutants: New US light-duty vehicles (1968--1991)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pitstick, M.E.; Santini, D.J. (Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)); Chauhan, H. (Delaware Univ., Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering)

1992-01-01

This paper explores the impact of US emission controls and fuel economy improvements on the global warming potential (GWP) of new light-duty vehicles. Fuel economy improvements have reduced the GWP of both passenger cars and light-duty trucks by lowering the per mile emissions of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). Further GWP reductions have been achieved by emission standards for criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}). The GWP of a criteria pollutant was calculated by multiplying the emission rate by a relative global warming factor to obtain a CO{sub 2} equivalent emission rate. Both CO{sub 2} and criteria pollutant emission rates per vehicle have decreased substantially for new light-duty vehicles over the period from 1968 to 1991. Over that period, the GWP from CO{sub 2} was reduced by almost 50% in new vehicles by improving fuel economy. In that same time period, the GWP from criteria pollutants from new vehicles was reduced with emission controls by from 80% to 90% depending on the global warming time frame of interest. Consequently, total reductions in the GWP of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks have been on the order of 55 to 75 percent compared to precontrol (before 1968) new vehicles. However, the reduction in GWP caused by emission control of criteria pollutants has been larger than the reduction caused by improved fuel economy (i.e., reduced CO{sub 2}). The contribution of criteria pollutants to the GWP of precontrol new vehicles was substantial, but their contribution has been reduced significantly due to US emission controls. As a result, the contribution of criteria pollutants to global warming is now much less than the contribution of CO{sub 2} from fuel consumption.

Reduction in global warming due to fuel economy improvements and emissions control of criteria pollutants: New US light-duty vehicles (1968--1991)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pitstick, M.E.; Santini, D.J.; Chauhan, H.

1992-01-01

This paper explores the impact of US emission controls and fuel economy improvements on the global warming potential (GWP) of new light-duty vehicles. Fuel economy improvements have reduced the GWP of both passenger cars and light-duty trucks by lowering the per mile emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Further GWP reductions have been achieved by emission standards for criteria pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NO x ). The GWP of a criteria pollutant was calculated by multiplying the emission rate by a relative global warming factor to obtain a CO 2 equivalent emission rate. Both CO 2 and criteria pollutant emission rates per vehicle have decreased substantially for new light-duty vehicles over the period from 1968 to 1991. Over that period, the GWP from CO 2 was reduced by almost 50% in new vehicles by improving fuel economy. In that same time period, the GWP from criteria pollutants from new vehicles was reduced with emission controls by from 80% to 90% depending on the global warming time frame of interest. Consequently, total reductions in the GWP of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks have been on the order of 55 to 75 percent compared to precontrol (before 1968) new vehicles. However, the reduction in GWP caused by emission control of criteria pollutants has been larger than the reduction caused by improved fuel economy (i.e., reduced CO 2 ). The contribution of criteria pollutants to the GWP of precontrol new vehicles was substantial, but their contribution has been reduced significantly due to US emission controls. As a result, the contribution of criteria pollutants to global warming is now much less than the contribution of CO 2 from fuel consumption

National energy policies: Obstructing the reduction of global CO2 emissions? An analysis of Swedish energy policies for the district heating sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Difs, Kristina

2010-01-01

The effect of national energy policies on a local Swedish district heating (DH) system has been studied, regarding the profitability of new investments and the potential for climate change mitigation. The DH system has been optimised regarding three investments: biomass-fuelled CHP (bio CHP), natural gas-fuelled combined cycle CHP (NGCC CHP) and biomass-fuelled heat-only boiler (bio HOB) in two scenarios (with or without national taxes and policy instruments). In both scenarios EU's tradable CO 2 emission permits are included. Results from the study show that when national policies are included, the most cost-effective investment option is the bio CHP technology. However, when national taxes and policy instruments are excluded, the DH system containing the NGCC CHP plant has 30% lower system cost than the bio CHP system. Regardless of the scenario and when coal condensing is considered as marginal electricity production, the NGCC CHP has the largest global CO 2 reduction potential, about 300 ktonne CO 2 . However, the CO 2 reduction potential is highly dependent on the marginal electricity production. Demonstrated here is that national policies such as tradable green certificates can, when applied to DH systems, contribute to investments that will not fully utilise the DH systems' potential for global CO 2 emissions reductions. - Research highlights: →Swedish energy policies are promoting biomass fuelled electricity generating technologies over efficient fossil fuel electricity generating technologies. →An efficient fossil fuel technology like the natural gas combine cycle CHP technology with high power-to-heat ratio has potential to reduce the global CO 2 emissions more than a biomass fuelled electricity generating technology. →Swedish energy policies such as tradable green certificates for renewable electricity can, when applied to district heating systems, contribute to investments that will not fully utilise the district heating systems potential for

Coastal life is not under threat by the carbon dioxide emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Parker

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The near future of coastal life is threated by the claim of global warming alarmist that sea levels will rise by one to seven metres by 2100, destroying many coastal cities and habitats. This paper shows that sea levels will more likely rise no more than just a few centimetres during this century as the Earth defrosts from the Little Ice Age 500 years ago with a mild warming.

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Science.gov (United States)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald N

2012-10-23

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald

2014-09-16

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

Determinants and Drivers of Infectious Disease Threat Events in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Semenza, Jan C; Lindgren, Elisabet; Balkanyi, Laszlo; Espinosa, Laura; Almqvist, My S; Penttinen, Pasi; Rocklöv, Joacim

2016-04-01

Infectious disease threat events (IDTEs) are increasing in frequency worldwide. We analyzed underlying drivers of 116 IDTEs detected in Europe during 2008-2013 by epidemic intelligence at the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control. Seventeen drivers were identified and categorized into 3 groups: globalization and environment, sociodemographic, and public health systems. A combination of >2 drivers was responsible for most IDTEs. The driver category globalization and environment contributed to 61% of individual IDTEs, and the top 5 individual drivers of all IDTEs were travel and tourism, food and water quality, natural environment, global trade, and climate. Hierarchical cluster analysis of all drivers identified travel and tourism as a distinctly separate driver. Monitoring and modeling such disease drivers can help anticipate future IDTEs and strengthen control measures. More important, intervening directly on these underlying drivers can diminish the likelihood of the occurrence of an IDTE and reduce the associated human and economic costs.

Major threats of pollution and climate change to global coastal ecosystems and enhanced management for sustainability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lu, Y.; Yuan, J.; Lu, X.; Su, Chao; Zhang, Y.; Wang, C.; Cao, X.; Li, Q.; Su, Jilan; Ittekkot, Venugopalan; Garbutt, Richard Angus; Bush, S.R.; Fletcher, Stephen; Wagey, Tonny; Kachur, Anatolii; Sweijd, Neville

2018-01-01

Coastal zone is of great importance in the provision of various valuable ecosystem services. However, it is also sensitive and vulnerable to environmental changes due to high human populations and interactions between the land and ocean. Major threats of pollution from over enrichment of nutrients,

Black carbon emission reduction strategies in healthcare industry for effective global climate change management.

Science.gov (United States)

Raila, Emilia Mmbando; Anderson, David O

2017-04-01

Climate change remains one of the biggest threats to life on earth to date with black carbon (BC) emissions or smoke being the strongest cause after carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Surprisingly, scientific evidence about black carbon emissions reduction in healthcare settings is sparse. This paper presents new research findings on the reduction of black carbon emissions from an observational study conducted at the UN Peacekeeping Operations (MINUSTAH) in Haiti in 2014. Researchers observed 20 incineration cycles, 30 minutes for each cycle of plastic and cardboard sharps healthcare waste (HCW) containers ranged from 3 to 14.6 kg. The primary aim was to determine if black carbon emissions from healthcare waste incineration can be lowered by mainstreaming the use of cardboard sharps healthcare waste containers instead of plastic sharps healthcare waste containers. Similarly, the study looks into whether burning temperature was associated with the smoke levels for each case or not. Independent samples t-tests demonstrated significantly lower black carbon emissions during the incineration of cardboard sharps containers (6.81 ± 4.79% smoke) than in plastic containers (17.77 ± 8.38% smoke); a statistically significant increase of 10.96% smoke (95% Confidence Interval ( CI) [4.4 to 17.5% smoke], p = 0.003). Correspondingly, lower bottom burner temperatures occurred during the incineration of cardboard sharps containers than in plastic (95% Cl [16 to 126°C], p = 0.014). Finally, we expect the application of the new quantitative evidence to form the basis for policy formulation, mainstream the use of cardboard sharps containers and opt for non-incineration disposal technologies as urgent steps for going green in healthcare waste management.

Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Border Areas: Terrorism, Piracy, Environmental Degradation in Southeast Asian Maritime Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Dabova, E. L.

2013-11-01

In addition to facilitating peaceful trade and economic development, sovereign territory, territorial waters and international waters are being used by various criminal groups that pose threats to governments, businesses and civilian population in Southeast Asia. Nonstate criminal maritime activities were not receiving appropriate attention as they were overshadowed by traditional military security challenges. Yet more and more frequently, the non-traditional actors challenge lines of communication, jeopardize access to strategic resources, complicate traditional defence tasks, and harm the environment. Understanding the nature of non-traditional threats, and the ways to combat them, requires international legal, historical and political science analysis within a united problem-oriented approach. A fair critique to pure interest, power and knowledge -based theories of regime formation was developed by E.K. Leonard's1, who explained the evolution of the international system from the global governance perspective. The present study is based on the premise that pure nation-state approaches are incapable of providing a theoretical ground for addressing the growing influence of international criminal networks in South East Asia. From an international relations theory perspective, the author of this study agrees with D.Snidal2 that the hegemonic stability theory has "limits" and is insufficient in describing modern challenges to sustainable international security regime, including non-traditional threats, where collective action is more efficient from an interest and capability standpoint. At the same time the author of this study does not share the viewpoint on "marginalization"3 of international law in current international order due to its fragmentation and regionalization4 and "global power shifts"5 . The United Nations, as a global institution at the top of the vertical hierarchy of international legal order, and the EU as an example of "self-contained" regime along

Nuclear Smuggling and Threats to Lithuanian Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murauskaitė Eglė

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article explores threats related to illicit trafficking of radioactive materials and dual-use goods applicable in state level nuclear programs, actualizing the global trends for the Baltic region. The article points to Eastern Europe’s changing risk profile in this respect, as increasing penetration of Russian criminal groups inside Ukraine and the destabilized situations in neighboring countries create an environment where the risk of nuclear smuggling is on the rise. Criminal entities can be seen forming new bonds, with trafficking routes intersecting and zones of influence shifting - consequently, an unusual level of criminal involvement in nuclear smuggling is observed, alongside a geographic shift of smuggling patterns. In addition, states seeking materials and technologies for their military programs have taken a notable interest in this region as a way of circumventing international transit regulations. The article looks at the likely implications of these new nuclear smuggling trends for the security of the Baltic states. It suggests that Lithuania may soon be facing a relatively new threat, and one that it is ill-prepared to counter. The article discusses the risk factors and indicators to watch before that risk becomes reality, and offers ways for Lithuania to contribute to addressing these increasingly acute problems on a regional level.

DOE site-specific threat assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

West, D.J.; Al-Ayat, R.A.; Judd, B.R.

1985-01-01

A facility manager faced with the challenges of protecting a nuclear facility against potential threats must consider the likelihood and consequences of such threats, know the capabilities of the facility safeguards and security systems, and make informed decisions about the cost-effectivness of safeguards and security upgrades. To help meet these challenges, the San Francisco Operations Office of the Department of Energy, in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, has developed a site-specific threat assessment approach and a quantitative model to improve the quality and consistency of site-specific threat assessment and resultant security upgrade decisions at sensitive Department of Energy facilities. 5 figs

Ionospheric threats to the integrity of airborne GPS users

Science.gov (United States)

Datta-Barua, Seebany

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has both revolutionized and entwined the worlds of aviation and atmospheric science. As the largest and most unpredictable source of GPS positioning error, the ionospheric layer of the atmosphere, if left unchecked, can endanger the safety, or "integrity," of the single frequency airborne user. An augmentation system is a differential-GPS-based navigation system that provides integrity through independent ionospheric monitoring by reference stations. However, the monitor stations are not in general colocated with the user's GPS receiver. The augmentation system must protect users from possible ionosphere density variations occurring between its measurements and the user's. This study analyzes observations from ionospherically active periods to identify what types of ionospheric disturbances may cause threats to user safety if left unmitigated. This work identifies when such disturbances may occur using a geomagnetic measure of activity and then considers two disturbances as case studies. The first case study indicates the need for a non-trivial threat model for the Federal Aviation Administration's Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) that was not known prior to the work. The second case study uses ground- and space-based data to model an ionospheric disturbance of interest to the Federal Aviation Administration's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). This work is a step in the justification for, and possible future refinement of, one of the WAAS integrity algorithms. For both WAAS and LAAS, integrity threats are basically caused by events that may be occurring but are unobservable. Prior to the data available in this solar cycle, events of such magnitude were not known to be possible. This work serves as evidence that the ionospheric threat models developed for WARS and LAAS are warranted and that they are sufficiently conservative to maintain user integrity even under extreme ionospheric behavior.

Obesity and cardiovascular disease in developing countries: a growing problem and an economic threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, Susan U; Leeder, Stephen; Greenberg, Henry M

2006-03-01

This review examines the rise of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, especially obesity, in developing countries and the implications for both health and economics. In the majority of developing countries fertility and infant and child mortality have fallen markedly, and life expectancies have increased. Rapid urbanization, falling food prices, and globalization of economies have contributed to an increase in risk factors for chronic disease. Recent work indicates that the prevalence of these risk factors, including obesity, is rising faster than the historical experience of the West. The transition is affecting women in particular, and increases in risk factors are more marked among lower incomes in growing economies than among the wealthy. Rather than the stereotypical problem of the rich, chronic disease is now a problem for the poor. Significant research in this area of global health has only been undertaken in the last decade. Additional field research is needed in every dimension of the transition, both to document the problem itself and to determine its economic and societal impact and cost effective responses. Two critical factors are virtually absent from existing work and should be emphasized. First, the impact of rising risk factors for, and mortality from, cardiovascular disease in the work force may imply a growing threat to continued economic progress. Second, because risk factor reduction requires society-wide strategies, broad public-private coalitions will be needed to mobilize sectors beyond healthcare.

Globalization and Health: Exploring the opportunities and constraints for health arising from globalization

Science.gov (United States)

Yach, Derek

2005-01-01

The tremendous benefits which have been conferred to almost 5 billion people through improved technologies and knowledge highlights the concomitant challenge of bringing these changes to the 1 billion people living mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia who are yet to benefit. There is a growing awareness of the need to reduce human suffering and of the necessary participation of governments, non-government organizations and industry within this process. This awareness has recently translated into new funding mechanisms to address HIV/Aids and vaccines, a global push for debt relief and better trade opportunities for the poorest countries, and recognition of how global norms that address food safety, infectious diseases and tobacco benefit all. 'Globalization and Health' will encourage an exchange of views on how the global architecture for health governance needs to changes in the light of global threats and opportunities. PMID:15847700

Globalization and Health: Exploring the opportunities and constraints for health arising from globalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yach, Derek

2005-04-22

The tremendous benefits which have been conferred to almost 5 billion people through improved technologies and knowledge highlights the concomitant challenge of bringing these changes to the 1 billion people living mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia who are yet to benefit. There is a growing awareness of the need to reduce human suffering and of the necessary participation of governments, non-government organizations and industry within this process. This awareness has recently translated into new funding mechanisms to address HIV/Aids and vaccines, a global push for debt relief and better trade opportunities for the poorest countries, and recognition of how global norms that address food safety, infectious diseases and tobacco benefit all. 'Globalization and Health' will encourage an exchange of views on how the global architecture for health governance needs to changes in the light of global threats and opportunities.

After globalization future security in a technology rich world

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilmartin, T J

2000-02-12

Over the course of the year 2000, five one-day workshops were conducted by the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on threats that might come against the US and its allies in the 2015 to 2020 timeframe due to the global availability of advanced technology. These workshops focused on threats that are enabled by nuclear, missile, and space technology; military technology; information technology; bio technology; and geo systems technology. In December, an Integration Workshop and Senior Review before national leaders and experts were held. The participants and reviewers were invited from the DOE National Laboratories, the DOD Services, OSD, DTRA, and DARPA, the DOS, NASA, Congressional technical staff, the intelligence community, universities and university study centers, think tanks, consultants on national security issues, and private industry. For each workshop the process of analysis involved identification and prioritization of the participants' perceived most severe threat scenarios (worst nightmares), discussion of the technologies which enabled those threats, and ranking of the technologies' threat potentials. We were not concerned in this exercise with defining responses, although our assessment of each threat's severity included consideration of the ease or difficulty with which it might be countered. At the concluding Integration Workshop and Senior Panel Review, we brought the various workshops' participants together, added senior participant/reviewers with broad experience and responsibility, and discussed the workshop findings to determine what is most certain, and uncertain, and what might be needed to resolve our uncertainties. This document reports the consensus and important variations of both the reviewers and the participants. In all, 45 threats over a wide range of lethality and probability of occurrence were identified. Over 60 enabling technologies were also discussed. These are

The nuclear threat. 6. enl. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anders, G.

1993-01-01

This is the sixth edition of 'The last days and end of time', augmented by a foreword, which was first published in 1972. The reflections it contains cannot become outdated because their object: the risk of global catastrophe, persists. But it continues to exist not only because we can never now hope to efface what knowledge we have of self-annihilation methods, but also because we have become frighteningly used to the fact of being threatened. What we fight is not this or that adversary who attacks, or might be got rid of, by nuclear means, but the nuclear situation as such. Since this enemy is the enemy of all human beings, those who up to now have considered each other as adversaries should rally as allies against the common threat. (orig./HP) [de

Intrastate conflict in oil producing states: A threat to global oil supply?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toft, Peter

2011-01-01

In this paper I investigate how often and how much outbreaks of intrastate conflict in oil producing states translates into oil supply shortfalls. The Libyan conflict that broke out in February 2011 highlighted the fear that intrastate conflict in oil producing states may imply shortfalls and ensuing volatile global oil prices. I argue, however, that it is far from certain that shortfalls following conflict outbreak will occur, since both sides in a conflict face incentives simultaneously to protect and maintain oil installations and to strike and destroy these. Based on a quantitative analysis of 39 intrastate wars in oil producing countries (1965-2007) I conclude that outbreak of conflict does not translate into production decline with any certainty. In fact, likelihoods are less than 50% for reductions to occur. In many cases growing production actually followed conflict outbreak. I conclude by investigating four characteristics of intrastate conflict that may explain when oil production is at risk during conflict: (1) proximity of oil producing fields to key battle zones, (2) duration of conflict, (3) separatism and the location of oil in separatist territory, and (4) the relative size of oil production. While the first three factors did not prove important, oil producer size could be significant. But further research is needed to establish this with greater certainty. - Highlights: → Oil shortfall during intrastate conflict is not a given. → Statistical analysis of 39 intrastate conflicts in oil producing countries since 1965. → Examination of four characteristics of intrastate conflict in oil producing countries. → Marginal significance related to large producers and production shortfall.

Intrastate conflict in oil producing states: A threat to global oil supply?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toft, Peter, E-mail: peter.toft@ec.europa.eu [Institute for Energy, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Westerduinweg 3, 1755 ZG Petten (Netherlands)

2011-11-15

In this paper I investigate how often and how much outbreaks of intrastate conflict in oil producing states translates into oil supply shortfalls. The Libyan conflict that broke out in February 2011 highlighted the fear that intrastate conflict in oil producing states may imply shortfalls and ensuing volatile global oil prices. I argue, however, that it is far from certain that shortfalls following conflict outbreak will occur, since both sides in a conflict face incentives simultaneously to protect and maintain oil installations and to strike and destroy these. Based on a quantitative analysis of 39 intrastate wars in oil producing countries (1965-2007) I conclude that outbreak of conflict does not translate into production decline with any certainty. In fact, likelihoods are less than 50% for reductions to occur. In many cases growing production actually followed conflict outbreak. I conclude by investigating four characteristics of intrastate conflict that may explain when oil production is at risk during conflict: (1) proximity of oil producing fields to key battle zones, (2) duration of conflict, (3) separatism and the location of oil in separatist territory, and (4) the relative size of oil production. While the first three factors did not prove important, oil producer size could be significant. But further research is needed to establish this with greater certainty. - Highlights: > Oil shortfall during intrastate conflict is not a given. > Statistical analysis of 39 intrastate conflicts in oil producing countries since 1965. > Examination of four characteristics of intrastate conflict in oil producing countries. > Marginal significance related to large producers and production shortfall.

Prototyping of CBRN threat assessment system. Phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ina, Shinichiro; Suzuki, Tomoyuki; Maeno, Akihiro; Sakaue, Motoki

2015-01-01

Recently, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, that is, CBRN threats have emerged. In order to support the Japan Self Defense Forces unit coping with the CBRN threats, it is important to take measures against these invisible threats. Our CBRN threat assessment system will make invisible CBRN threats visible. This report describes a prototyping of the CBRN threat assessment system (PHASE 1) carried out from fiscal year 2012-2014. (author)

Psychoanalysis and the nuclear threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, H.B.; Jacobs, D.; Rubin, L.J.

1988-01-01

{ital Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat} provides coverage of the dynamic and clinical considerations that follow from life in the nuclear age. Of special clinical interest are chapters dealing with the developmental consequences of the nuclear threat in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and those exploring the technical issues raised by the occurrence in analytic and psychotherapeutic hours of material related to the nuclear threat. Additional chapters bring a psychoanalytic perspective to bear on such issues as the need to have enemies, silence as the real crime, love, work, and survival in the nuclear age, the relationship of the nuclear threat to issues of mourning and melancholia, apocalyptic fantasies, the paranoid process, considerations of the possible impact of gender on the nuclear threat, and the application of psychoanalytic thinking to nuclear arms strategy. Finally, the volume includes the first case report in the English language---albeit a brief psychotherapy---involving the treatment of a Hiroshima survivor.

Culture, threat, and mental illness stigma: identifying culture-specific threat among Chinese-American groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lawrence H; Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie; Kotabe, Hiroki; Link, Bruce G; Saw, Anne; Wong, Gloria; Phelan, Jo C

2013-07-01

We incorporate anthropological insights into a stigma framework to elucidate the role of culture in threat perception and stigma among Chinese groups. Prior work suggests that genetic contamination that jeopardizes the extension of one's family lineage may comprise a culture-specific threat among Chinese groups. In Study 1, a national survey conducted from 2002 to 2003 assessed cultural differences in mental illness stigma and perceptions of threat in 56 Chinese-Americans and 589 European-Americans. Study 2 sought to empirically test this culture-specific threat of genetic contamination to lineage via a memory paradigm. Conducted from June to August 2010, 48 Chinese-American and 37 European-American university students in New York City read vignettes containing content referring to lineage or non-lineage concerns. Half the participants in each ethnic group were assigned to a condition in which the illness was likely to be inherited (genetic condition) and the rest read that the illness was unlikely to be inherited (non-genetic condition). Findings from Study 1 and 2 were convergent. In Study 1, culture-specific threat to lineage predicted cultural variation in stigma independently and after accounting for other forms of threat. In Study 2, Chinese-Americans in the genetic condition were more likely to accurately recall and recognize lineage content than the Chinese-Americans in the non-genetic condition, but that memorial pattern was not found for non-lineage content. The identification of this culture-specific threat among Chinese groups has direct implications for culturally-tailored anti-stigma interventions. Further, this framework might be implemented across other conditions and cultural groups to reduce stigma across cultures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensor-guided threat countermeasure system

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Brent C.; Hackel, Lloyd A.; Hermann, Mark R.; Armstrong, James P.

2012-12-25

A countermeasure system for use by a target to protect against an incoming sensor-guided threat. The system includes a laser system for producing a broadband beam and means for directing the broadband beam from the target to the threat. The countermeasure system comprises the steps of producing a broadband beam and directing the broad band beam from the target to blind or confuse the incoming sensor-guided threat.

Hydrological threats to riparian wetlands of international importance – a global quantitative and qualitative analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Schneider

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Riparian wetlands have been disappearing at an accelerating rate. Their ecological integrity as well as their vital ecosystem services for humankind depend on regular patterns of inundation and drying provided by natural flow regimes. However, river hydrology has been altered worldwide. Dams cause less variable flow regimes and water abstractions decrease the amount of flow so that ecologically important flood pulses are often reduced. Given growing population pressure and projected climate change, immediate action is required. However, the implementation of counteractive measures is often a complex task. This study develops a screening tool for assessing hydrological threats to riparian wetlands on global scales. The approach is exemplified on 93 Ramsar sites, many of which are located in transboundary basins. First, the WaterGAP3 hydrological modeling framework is used to quantitatively compare current and future modified flow regimes to reference flow conditions. In our simulations current water resource management seriously impairs riparian wetland inundation at 29 % of the analyzed sites. A further 8 % experience significantly reduced flood pulses. In the future, eastern Europe, western Asia, as well as central South America could be hotspots of further flow modifications due to climate change. Second, a qualitative analysis of the 93 sites determined potential impact on overbank flows resulting from planned or proposed dam construction projects. They take place in one-third of the upstream areas and are likely to impair especially wetlands located in South America, Asia, and the Balkan Peninsula. Third, based on the existing legal/institutional framework and water resource availability upstream, further qualitative analysis evaluated the capacity to preserve overbank flows given future streamflow changes due to dam construction and climate change. Results indicate hotspots of vulnerability exist, especially in northern Africa and the

The global partnership: its achievements, missed opportunities and potential to address future threats from the spread of CBRN materials and expertise - 59335

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heyes, Alan; Bowen, Wyn; Chalmers, Hugh

2012-01-01

Document available in abstract form only. Full text of publication follows: In 2002, the G8 launched the Global Partnership (GP) against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. The partnerships budget was placed at $20 billion over 10 years, and it was supported by some 23 countries and the European Union (EU).Though it has had little public recognition, the partnership has been one of the G8's most successful initiatives and has led to many benefits, including improved international security and addressing a sizeable proportion of the Cold War nuclear and chemical weapons arsenal in the Former Soviet Union. Its future, however, remains undecided, as its funding is set to expire in less than two years. In 2009 and 2010 Kings College London with generous funding support from the US John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, carried out a detailed evaluation of the achievements and benefits of the GP to date, its failings and lost opportunities, and potential future direction. Our findings indicate that the partnership has aided security in the Former Soviet Union and had a significant number of wider benefits with the potential to continue to do the same on a broader geographic level in future. As such, it is a valuable tool to assist the international community to work together to address global threats relating to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and related expertise and the G8 should take steps to renew its funding. (authors)

Autobiographical memory sources of threats in dreams.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafrenière, Alexandre; Lortie-Lussier, Monique; Dale, Allyson; Robidoux, Raphaëlle; De Koninck, Joseph

2018-02-01

Temporal sources of dream threats were examined through the paradigm of the Threat Simulation Theory. Two groups of young adults (18-24 years old), who did not experience severe threatening events in the year preceding their dream and reported a dream either with or without threats, were included. Participants (N = 119) kept a log of daily activities and a dream diary, indicating whether dream components referred to past experiences. The occurrence of oneiric threats correlated with the reporting of threats in the daily logs, their average severity, and the stress level experienced the day preceding the dream. The group whose dreams contained threats had significantly more references to temporal categories beyond one year than the group with dreams without threats. Our findings suggest that in the absence of recent highly negative emotional experiences, the threat simulation system selects memory traces of threatening events experienced in the past. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nuclear security. IAEA: Working to build a global response to a global threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-04-01

The IAEA helps to ensure that measures are taken to control and protect nuclear and radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands. The IAEA delivers training, technical assistance, and equipment to States, and provides international guidance on improving nuclear security. IAEA nuclear security activities include: · Risk reduction (such as repatriating research reactor fuel and strengthening border monitoring) · International legal instruments and supporting their implementation · Internationally accepted guidance and benchmarks for nuclear security · Information exchange · Human Resource Development programmes · Research and development

Global tree network for computing structures enabling global processing operations

Science.gov (United States)

Blumrich; Matthias A.; Chen, Dong; Coteus, Paul W.; Gara, Alan G.; Giampapa, Mark E.; Heidelberger, Philip; Hoenicke, Dirk; Steinmacher-Burow, Burkhard D.; Takken, Todd E.; Vranas, Pavlos M.

2010-01-19

A system and method for enabling high-speed, low-latency global tree network communications among processing nodes interconnected according to a tree network structure. The global tree network enables collective reduction operations to be performed during parallel algorithm operations executing in a computer structure having a plurality of the interconnected processing nodes. Router devices are included that interconnect the nodes of the tree via links to facilitate performance of low-latency global processing operations at nodes of the virtual tree and sub-tree structures. The global operations performed include one or more of: broadcast operations downstream from a root node to leaf nodes of a virtual tree, reduction operations upstream from leaf nodes to the root node in the virtual tree, and point-to-point message passing from any node to the root node. The global tree network is configurable to provide global barrier and interrupt functionality in asynchronous or synchronized manner, and, is physically and logically partitionable.

Ultrasensitive microchip based on smart microgel for real-time online detection of trace threat analytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shuo; Wang, Wei; Ju, Xiao-Jie; Xie, Rui; Liu, Zhuang; Yu, Hai-Rong; Zhang, Chuan; Chu, Liang-Yin

2016-02-23

Real-time online detection of trace threat analytes is critical for global sustainability, whereas the key challenge is how to efficiently convert and amplify analyte signals into simple readouts. Here we report an ultrasensitive microfluidic platform incorporated with smart microgel for real-time online detection of trace threat analytes. The microgel can swell responding to specific stimulus in flowing solution, resulting in efficient conversion of the stimulus signal into significantly amplified signal of flow-rate change; thus highly sensitive, fast, and selective detection can be achieved. We demonstrate this by incorporating ion-recognizable microgel for detecting trace Pb(2+), and connecting our platform with pipelines of tap water and wastewater for real-time online Pb(2+) detection to achieve timely pollution warning and terminating. This work provides a generalizable platform for incorporating myriad stimuli-responsive microgels to achieve ever-better performance for real-time online detection of various trace threat molecules, and may expand the scope of applications of detection techniques.

Pollution from Fossil-Fuel Combustion is the Leading Environmental Threat to Global Pediatric Health and Equity: Solutions Exist

Science.gov (United States)

Perera, Frederica

2017-01-01

Fossil-fuel combustion by-products are the world’s most significant threat to children’s health and future and are major contributors to global inequality and environmental injustice. The emissions include a myriad of toxic air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the most important human-produced climate-altering greenhouse gas. Synergies between air pollution and climate change can magnify the harm to children. Impacts include impairment of cognitive and behavioral development, respiratory illness, and other chronic diseases—all of which may be “seeded“ in utero and affect health and functioning immediately and over the life course. By impairing children’s health, ability to learn, and potential to contribute to society, pollution and climate change cause children to become less resilient and the communities they live in to become less equitable. The developing fetus and young child are disproportionately affected by these exposures because of their immature defense mechanisms and rapid development, especially those in low- and middle-income countries where poverty and lack of resources compound the effects. No country is spared, however: even high-income countries, especially low-income communities and communities of color within them, are experiencing impacts of fossil fuel-related pollution, climate change and resultant widening inequality and environmental injustice. Global pediatric health is at a tipping point, with catastrophic consequences in the absence of bold action. Fortunately, technologies and interventions are at hand to reduce and prevent pollution and climate change, with large economic benefits documented or predicted. All cultures and communities share a concern for the health and well-being of present and future children: this shared value provides a politically powerful lever for action. The purpose of this commentary is to briefly review the data on the health impacts of fossil-fuel pollution, highlighting the

Pollution from Fossil-Fuel Combustion is the Leading Environmental Threat to Global Pediatric Health and Equity: Solutions Exist.

Science.gov (United States)

Perera, Frederica

2017-12-23

Fossil-fuel combustion by-products are the world's most significant threat to children's health and future and are major contributors to global inequality and environmental injustice. The emissions include a myriad of toxic air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is the most important human-produced climate-altering greenhouse gas. Synergies between air pollution and climate change can magnify the harm to children. Impacts include impairment of cognitive and behavioral development, respiratory illness, and other chronic diseases-all of which may be "seeded" in utero and affect health and functioning immediately and over the life course. By impairing children's health, ability to learn, and potential to contribute to society, pollution and climate change cause children to become less resilient and the communities they live in to become less equitable. The developing fetus and young child are disproportionately affected by these exposures because of their immature defense mechanisms and rapid development, especially those in low- and middle-income countries where poverty and lack of resources compound the effects. No country is spared, however: even high-income countries, especially low-income communities and communities of color within them, are experiencing impacts of fossil fuel-related pollution, climate change and resultant widening inequality and environmental injustice. Global pediatric health is at a tipping point, with catastrophic consequences in the absence of bold action. Fortunately, technologies and interventions are at hand to reduce and prevent pollution and climate change, with large economic benefits documented or predicted. All cultures and communities share a concern for the health and well-being of present and future children: this shared value provides a politically powerful lever for action. The purpose of this commentary is to briefly review the data on the health impacts of fossil-fuel pollution, highlighting the neurodevelopmental

CuZn Alloy- Based Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction

KAUST Repository

Alazmi, Amira

2014-06-01

ABSTRACT CuZn Alloy- Based Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction Amira Alazmi Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the major greenhouse gases and its emission is a significant threat to global economy and sustainability. Efficient CO2 conversion leads to utilization of CO2 as a carbon feedstock, but activating the most stable carbon-based molecule, CO2, is a challenging task. Electrochemical conversion of CO2 is considered to be the beneficial approach to generate carbon-containing fuels directly from CO2, especially when the electronic energy is derived from renewable energies, such as solar, wind, geo-thermal and tidal. To achieve this goal, the development of an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction is essential. In this thesis, studies on CuZn alloys with heat treatments at different temperatures have been evaluated as electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction. It was found that the catalytic activity of these electrodes was strongly dependent on the thermal oxidation temperature before their use for electrochemical measurements. The polycrystalline CuZn electrode without thermal treatment shows the Faradaic efficiency for CO formation of only 30% at applied potential ~−1.0 V vs. RHE with current density of ~−2.55 mA cm−2. In contrast, the reduction of oxide-based CuZn alloy electrode exhibits 65% Faradaic efficiency for CO at lower applied potential about −1.0 V vs. RHE with current density of −2.55 mA cm−2. Furthermore, stable activity was achieved over several hours of the reduction reaction at the modified electrodes. Based on electrokinetic studies, this improvement could be attributed to further stabilization of the CO2•− on the oxide-based Cu-Zn alloy surface.

Global malaria connectivity through air travel

OpenAIRE

Huang, Zhuojie; Tatem, Andrew J

2013-01-01

Background Air travel has expanded at an unprecedented rate and continues to do so. Its effects have been seen on malaria in rates of imported cases, local outbreaks in non-endemic areas and the global spread of drug resistance. With elimination and global eradication back on the agenda, changing levels and compositions of imported malaria in malaria-free countries, and the threat of artemisinin resistance spreading from Southeast Asia, there is a need to better understand how the modern flow...

From biodefence to biosecurity: the Obama administration's strategy for countering biological threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Koblentz, Gregory D

2012-01-01

The Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the first international treaty to outlaw an entire class of weapons, was held in Geneva in December 2011. On 7 December, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the highest-ranking US government official to address a BWC meeting. Secretary Clinton told the assembled delegation that ‘we view the risk of bioweapons attack as both a serious national security challenge and a foreign policy priority’. At the same time, she warned that a large-scale disease outbreak ‘could cripple an already fragile global economy’. Secretary Clinton's speech reflected a new understanding that the range of biological threats to international security has expanded from state-sponsored biological warfare programmes to include biological terrorism, dual-use research and naturally occurring infectious diseases such as pandemics. Recognizing these changes, President Barack Obama released a new national strategy for countering biological threats in 2009. This strategy represents a shift in thinking away from the George W. Bush administration's focus on biodefence, which emphasized preparing for and responding to biological weapon attacks, to the concept of biosecurity, which includes measures to prevent, prepare for and respond to naturally occurring and man-made biological threats. The Obama administration's biosecurity strategy seeks to reduce the global risk of naturally occurring and deliberate disease outbreaks through prevention, international cooperation, and maximizing synergies between health and security. The biosecurity strategy is closely aligned with the Obama administration's broader approach to foreign policy, which emphasizes the pragmatic use of smart power, multilateralism and engagement to further the national interest. This article describes the Obama administration's biosecurity strategy; highlights elements of continuity and change from the policies of the Bush administration; discusses

Threat in Context: School Moderation of the Impact of Social Identity Threat on Racial/Ethnic Achievement Gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Hanselman, Paul; Bruch, Sarah K.; Gamoran, Adam; Borman, Geoffrey D.

2014-01-01

Schools with very few and relatively low-performing marginalized students may be most likely to trigger social identity threats (including stereotype threats) that contribute to racial disparities. We test this hypothesis by assessing variation in the benefits of a self-affirmation intervention designed to counteract social identity threat in a…

Globalization, domestic politics, and transatlantic relations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burgoon, B.; Oliver, T.; Trubowitz, P.

For two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, globalization functioned as a unifying force in the West. In the absence of a common security threat, the United States and Europe found common ground in a neoliberal agenda calling for the freer movements of capital, goods, services, and peoples

Stewardship to tackle global phosphorus inefficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Withers, Paul J. A.; Dijk, Kimo van; Neset, Tina-Simone

2015-01-01

The inefficient use of phosphorus (P) in the food chain is a threat to the global aquatic environment and the health and well-being of citizens, and it is depleting an essential finite natural resource critical for future food security and ecosystem function. We outline a strategic framework of 5R...

Stewardship to tackle global phosphorus inefficiency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Withers, P.J.A.; Dijk, van K.C.; Neset, T.S.S.; Nesme, Thomas; Oenema, Oene; Rubæk, G.H.; Schoumans, O.F.; Smit, Bert; Pellerin, Sylvain

2015-01-01

The inefficient use of phosphorus (P) in the food chain is a threat to the global aquatic environment and the health and well-being of citizens, and it is depleting an essential finite natural resource critical for future food security and ecosystem function. We outline a strategic framework of

Threats: power, family mealtimes, and social influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hepburn, Alexa; Potter, Jonathan

2011-03-01

One of the most basic topics in social psychology is the way one agent influences the behaviour of another. This paper will focus on threats, which are an intensified form of attempted behavioural influence. Despite the centrality to the project of social psychology, little attention has been paid to threats. This paper will start to rectify this oversight. It reviews early examples of the way social psychology handles threats and highlights key limitations and presuppositions about the nature and role of threats. By contrast, we subject them to a programme of empirical research. Data comprise video records of a collection of family mealtimes that include preschool children. Threats are recurrent in this material. A preliminary conceptualization of features of candidate threats from this corpus will be used as an analytic start point. A series of examples are used to explicate basic features and dimensions that build the action of threatening. The basic structure of the threats uses a conditional logic: if the recipient continues problem action/does not initiate required action then negative consequences will be produced by the speaker. Further analysis clarifies how threats differ from warnings and admonishments. Sequential analysis suggests threats set up basic response options of compliance or defiance. However, recipients of threats can evade these options by, for example, reworking the unpleasant upshot specified in the threat, or producing barely minimal compliance. The implications for broader social psychological concerns are explored in a discussion of power, resistance, and asymmetry; the paper ends by reconsidering the way social influence can be studied in social psychology. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: Message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance

OpenAIRE

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; JANSSENS, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-01-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts. on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement...

Effect of evaluation threat on procrastination behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Ngoc H

2007-06-01

The author evaluated the effects of evaluation apprehension and trait procrastination on behaviors. The author examined private university students from southern California (N = 72) on two independent variables: evaluation threat (manipulated) and trait procrastination (nonmanipulated). The author found a significant interaction effect between type of evaluation threat and level of trait procrastination on the number of days to complete an assigned essay. Post hoc analyses showed high trait procrastinators in the high evaluation threat group significantly delayed returning essays compared with those in the low evaluation threat group. Also, in the low evaluation threat group, low trait procrastinators delayed more than did high trait procrastinators. These results suggest that educators can reduce behavioral delays by increasing evaluation threat, depending on a student's level of trait procrastination.

Does imminent threat capture and hold attention?

Science.gov (United States)

Koster, Ernst H W; Crombez, Geert; Van Damme, Stefaan; Verschuere, Bruno; De Houwer, Jan

2004-09-01

According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture and holding effects. Cues presented in an attentional task were simultaneously provided with a threat value through an aversive conditioning procedure. Response latencies showed that threatening cues captured and held attention. These results support recent views on attention to threat, proposing that imminent threat captures attention in everyone. (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved

Insider Threat to Computer Security at Nuclear Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

West, Rebecca Lynn [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2018-01-29

After completing this session, you should be able to: Describe the Insider Threat; Characterize the cyber insider threat; Describe preventive measures against the insider threat; Describe protective measures against the insider threat.

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...

Responding to Globalization and Urban Conflict: Human Rights City Initiatives

OpenAIRE

Jackie Smith

2018-01-01

Expanding globalization and urbanization have intensified the threats to human rights for many vulnerable groups and have restricted resources available to the primary guarantors of these rights—local authorities. Human rights cities initiatives are bottom-up efforts to advance human rights implementation in local contexts. They are emerging around the world in response to the global pressures on cities that intensify urban inequality and conflict. In this article I discuss how global changes...

The British public’s perception of the UK smart metering initiative: Threats and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchanan, Kathryn; Banks, Nick; Preston, Ian; Russo, Riccardo

2016-01-01

Consumer acceptance of smart meters remains crucial in achieving the potential carbon emission reductions offered by advanced metering infrastructures. Given this, the present research used deliberative focus groups to examine what is needed to secure acceptance and engagement from domestic consumers with services, products and ‘offers’ in smarter power systems. Our findings suggest that consumers are able to identify not just threats relating to smart metering initiatives but opportunities as well. In particular, our focus group participants responded positively to the idea of an automated system that could be used to achieve energy savings in combination with time-of-use tariffs. We conclude by outlining suggestions for policy recommendations that may help consumer acceptance of smart meter enabled services be more readily achieved. - Highlights: •We examine consumer acceptance of smart metering initiatives using focus groups. •Consumers perceive both threats and opportunities in smart metering initiatives. •Threats include; autonomy issues, privacy concerns and mistrust of suppliers. •Opportunities include: accurate billing and enablement of future ICT services. •Consumers responded positively to the idea of automated energy management.

Hybrid threats, cyber warfare and NATO's comprehensive approach for countering 21st century threats: mapping the new frontier of global risk and security management

OpenAIRE

Bachmann, Sascha

2011-01-01

The end of the so-called ‘Cold War’ has seen a change in the nature of present threats and with it to the overall role and mission of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1991 also removed the original raison d’etre of the Alliance: the prospect of having to repel a Soviet led attack by the Warsaw Pact on the West through the so called ‘Fulda gap’ in Germany (referring to the German lowlands between Frankfurt am Main and the for...

How Is Existential Threat Related to Intergroup Conflict? Introducing the Multidimensional Existential Threat (MET) Model

Science.gov (United States)

Hirschberger, Gilad; Ein-Dor, Tsachi; Leidner, Bernhard; Saguy, Tamar

2016-01-01

Existential threat lies at the heart of intergroup conflict, but the literature on existential concerns lacks clear conceptualization and integration. To address this problem, we offer a new conceptualization and measurement of existential threat. We establish the reliability and validity of our measure, and to illustrate its utility, we examine whether different existential threats underlie the association between political ideology and support for specific political policies. Study 1 (N = 798) established the construct validity of the scale, and revealed four distinct existential threats: personal death (PD), physical collective annihilation (PA), symbolic collective annihilation (SA), and past victimization (PV). Study 2 (N = 424) confirmed the 4-factor structure, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. Study 3 (N = 170) revealed that the association between a hawkish political ideology and support for hardline policies was mediated by PV, whereas the association between a dovish political ideology and conciliatory policies was mediated by concerns over collective symbolic annihilation. Study 4 (N = 503) conceptually replicated the pattern of findings found in Study 3, and showed that at times of conflict, PA concerns also mediate the relationship between hawkish ideologies and support for hardline policies. In both Studies 3 and 4, when controlling for other threats, PD did not play a significant role. These results underscore the need to consider the multidimensional nature of existential threat, especially in the context of political conflict. PMID:27994561

A horizon scanning assessment of current and potential future threats to migratory shorebirds

Science.gov (United States)

Sutherland, William J.; Alves, José A.; Amano, Tatsuya; Chang, Charlotte H.; Davidson, Nicholas C.; Finlayson, C. Max; Gill, Jennifer A.; Gill, Robert E.; González, Patricia M.; Gunnarsson, Tómas Grétar; Kleijn, David; Spray, Chris J.; Székely, Tamás; Thompson, Des B.A.

2012-01-01

We review the conservation issues facing migratory shorebird populations that breed in temperate regions and use wetlands in the non-breeding season. Shorebirds are excellent model organisms for understanding ecological, behavioural and evolutionary processes and are often used as indicators of wetland health. A global team of experienced shorebird researchers identified 45 issues facing these shorebird populations, and divided them into three categories (natural, current anthropogenic and future issues). The natural issues included megatsunamis, volcanoes and regional climate changes, while current anthropogenic threats encompassed agricultural intensification, conversion of tidal flats and coastal wetlands by human infrastructure developments and eutrophication of coastal systems. Possible future threats to shorebirds include microplastics, new means of recreation and infectious diseases. We suggest that this review process be broadened to other taxa to aid the identification and ranking of current and future conservation actions.

What Recent History Has Taught Us About Responding to Emerging Infectious Disease Threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Paules, Catharine I; Eisinger, Robert W; Marston, Hilary D; Fauci, Anthony S

2017-12-05

Presidential administrations face any number of unexpected crises during their tenure, and global pandemics are among the most challenging. As of January 2017, one of the authors had served under 5 presidents as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. During each administration, the government faced unexpected pandemics, ranging from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which began during the Reagan administration, to the recent Zika outbreak in the Americas, which started during the Obama administration. These experiences underscored the need to optimize preparation for and response to these threats whenever and wherever they emerge. This article recounts selected outbreaks occurring during this period and highlights lessons that were learned that can be applied to the infectious disease threats that will inevitably be faced in the current presidential administration and beyond.

Stereotype threat spillover: how coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Inzlicht, Michael; Kang, Sonia K

2010-09-01

Stereotype threat spillover is a situational predicament in which coping with the stress of stereotype confirmation leaves one in a depleted volitional state and thus less likely to engage in effortful self-control in a variety of domains. We examined this phenomenon in 4 studies in which we had participants cope with stereotype and social identity threat and then measured their performance in domains in which stereotypes were not "in the air." In Study 1 we examined whether taking a threatening math test could lead women to respond aggressively. In Study 2 we investigated whether coping with a threatening math test could lead women to indulge themselves with unhealthy food later on and examined the moderation of this effect by personal characteristics that contribute to identity-threat appraisals. In Study 3 we investigated whether vividly remembering an experience of social identity threat results in risky decision making. Finally, in Study 4 we asked whether coping with threat could directly influence attentional control and whether the effect was implemented by inefficient performance monitoring, as assessed by electroencephalography. Our results indicate that stereotype threat can spill over and impact self-control in a diverse array of nonstereotyped domains. These results reveal the potency of stereotype threat and that its negative consequences might extend further than was previously thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Power and threat in intergroup conflict : How emotional and behavioral responses depend on amount and content of threat

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamans, Elanor; Otten, Sabine; Gordijn, Ernestine H.

We propose that in intergroup conflict threat content is important in understanding the reactions of those who experience threats the most: the powerless. Studies 1 and 2 show that powerless groups experience more threat than powerful groups, resulting in the experience of both more anger and fear.

VIRTUAL REALITY: U.S. INFORMATION SECURITY THREATS CONCEPT AND ITS INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Vladimirovna Batueva

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The development of ICT and the formation of the global information space changed the agenda of national and international security. Such key characteristics of cyberspace as openness, accessibility, anonymity, and identification complexity determined the rise of actors in cyber space and increased the level of cyber threats. Based on the analyses of the U.S. agencies' approach, the author defines three major groups of threats: use of ICT by states, criminals and terrorists. This concept is shared by the majority of the countries involved in the international dialogue on information security issues and is fundamental for providing cyber security policy on both national and international levels. The United States is developing a complex strategy for cyber space that includes maximization of ICT's advantages in all strategically important fields as well as improvement of national information systems and networks security. On the international level the main task for the American diplomacy is to guarantee the U.S. information dominance. The United States is the only country that takes part practically in all international and regional fora dealing with cyber security issues. However process of the development of a global cyber security regime is not going to be fast due to countries' different approaches to key definitions and lack of joint understanding of cyber security issues as well as due to the position of the countries, among all the United States, that are not interested in any new obligatory international norms and principles. Such American policy aims at saving the possibility of using cyberspace capacity in reaching political and military goals, thus keeping the global leadership.

Virtual Reality: U.S. Information Security Threats Concept And Its International Dimension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Vladimirovna Batueva

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The development of ICT and the formation of the global information space changed the agenda of national and international security. Such key characteristics of cyberspace as openness, accessibility, anonymity, and identification complexity determined the rise of actors in cyber space and increased the level of cyber threats. Based on the analyses of the U.S. agencies' approach, the author defines three major groups of threats: use of ICT by states, criminals and terrorists. This concept is shared by the majority of the countries involved in the international dialogue on information security issues and is fundamental for providing cyber security policy on both national and international levels. The United States is developing a complex strategy for cyber space that includes maximization of ICT's advantages in all strategically important fields as well as improvement of national information systems and networks security. On the international level the main task for the American diplomacy is to guarantee the U.S. information dominance. The United States is the only country that takes part practically in all international and regional fora dealing with cyber security issues. However process of the development of a global cyber security regime is not going to be fast due to countries' different approaches to key definitions and lack of joint understanding of cyber security issues as well as due to the position of the countries, among all the United States, that are not interested in any new obligatory international norms and principles. Such American policy aims at saving the possibility of using cyberspace capacity in reaching political and military goals, thus keeping the global leadership.

Forecasting Lightning Threat Using WRF Proxy Fields

Science.gov (United States)

McCaul, E. W., Jr.

2010-01-01

Objectives: Given that high-resolution WRF forecasts can capture the character of convective outbreaks, we seek to: 1. Create WRF forecasts of LTG threat (1-24 h), based on 2 proxy fields from explicitly simulated convection: - graupel flux near -15 C (captures LTG time variability) - vertically integrated ice (captures LTG threat area). 2. Calibrate each threat to yield accurate quantitative peak flash rate densities. 3. Also evaluate threats for areal coverage, time variability. 4. Blend threats to optimize results. 5. Examine sensitivity to model mesh, microphysics. Methods: 1. Use high-resolution 2-km WRF simulations to prognose convection for a diverse series of selected case studies. 2. Evaluate graupel fluxes; vertically integrated ice (VII). 3. Calibrate WRF LTG proxies using peak total LTG flash rate densities from NALMA; relationships look linear, with regression line passing through origin. 4. Truncate low threat values to make threat areal coverage match NALMA flash extent density obs. 5. Blend proxies to achieve optimal performance 6. Study CAPS 4-km ensembles to evaluate sensitivities.

The evolution of global disaster risk assessments: from hazard to global change

Science.gov (United States)

Peduzzi, Pascal

2013-04-01

The perception of disaster risk as a dynamic process interlinked with global change is a fairly recent concept. It gradually emerged as an evolution from new scientific theories, currents of thinking and lessons learned from large disasters since the 1970s. The interest was further heighten, in the mid-1980s, by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the discovery of the ozone layer hole, both bringing awareness that dangerous hazards can generate global impacts. The creation of the UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and the publication of the first IPCC report in 1990 reinforced the interest for global risk assessment. First global risk models including hazard, exposure and vulnerability components were available since mid-2000s. Since then increased computation power and more refined datasets resolution, led to more numerous and sophisticated global risk models. This article presents a recent history of global disaster risk models, the current status of researches for the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2013) and future challenges and limitations for the development of next generation global disaster risk models.

Establishing 'design basis threat' in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maerli, M.B.; Naadland, E.; Reistad, O.

2002-01-01

Full text: INFCIRC 225 (Rev. 4) assumes that a state's physical protection system should be based on the state's evaluation of the threat, and that this should be reflected in the relevant legislation. Other factors should also be considered, including the state's emergency response capabilities and the existing and relevant measures of the state's system of accounting for and control of nuclear material. A design basis threat developed from an evaluation by the state of the threat of unauthorized removal of nuclear material and of sabotage of nuclear material and nuclear facilities is an essential element of a state's system of physical protection. The state should continuously review the threat, and evaluate the implications of any changes in that threat for the required levels and the methods of physical protection. As part of a national design basis threat assessment, this paper evaluates the risk of nuclear or radiological terrorism and sabotage in Norway. Possible scenarios are presented and plausible consequences are discussed with a view to characterize the risks. The need for more stringent regulatory requirements will be discussed, together with the (positive) impact of improved systems and procedures of physical protection on nuclear emergency planning. Special emphasis is placed on discussing the design basis threat for different scenarios in order to systemize regulatory efforts to update the current legislation, requirement for operators' contingency planning, response efforts and the need for emergency exercises. (author)

The future role of nuclear power in addressing global environmental problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stumpf, W.

1995-01-01

Decision makers have to increasingly balance the costs versus benefits of various energy choices against a background of global environmental deterioration. This is particularly so in the choice of long term electricity production strategies where these have to be balanced against the potential of a very severe disruption of the world's climate due to global warming. In this presentation, the threat of global warming is quantified and scenarios are developed of future predicted energy consumption patterns and their impact on international policies to curb global warming, are analyzed. The conclusion is reached that the threat of global warming is so severe that, on the macro level, an international accepted strategy of utilising a proper balance between all forms of electricity production, is a matter of priority and that all national energy choices should be taken against this framework. Such strategic decisions on the macro level must, however, also translate into the micro level of energy production on topics which include: - more efficient plant utilisation; - more effective risk management; correct choice and application of technology; and - better understanding of issues concerning safety, quality and environmental impact. (author)

Information Warfare, Threats and Information Security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dmitriy Nikolaevich Bespalov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents the opposite, but dependent on each other's reality - Revolutionary War information,information security goals and objectives of their study within the scheme "challenge-response", methodological and analytical support, the role of elites and the information society in promoting information security. One of the features of contemporaneityis the global spread of ICT, combined with poor governance and other difficulties in the construction of innovation infrastructures that are based on them in some countries. This leads to the reproduction of threats, primarily related to the ability to use ICT for purposes that are inconsistent with the objectives of maintaining international peace and security, compliance with the principles of non-use of force, non-interference in the internal affairs of states, etc. In this regard, include such terms as "a threat of information warfare", "information terrorism" and so forth. Information warfare, which stay in the policy declared the struggle for existence, and relationships are defined in terms of "friend-enemy", "ours-foreign". Superiority over the opponent or "capture of its territory" is the aim of political activity. And information security, serving activities similar process of political control, including a set of components, is a technology until their humanitarian. From the context and the decision itself is the ratio of the achieved results of information and political influence to the target - a positive image of Russia. Bringing its policy in line with the demands of a healthy public opinion provides conductivity of theauthorities initiatives in the country and increases the legitimacy of the Russian Federation actions in the world.

Combating healthcare corruption and fraud with improved global health governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Liang, Bryan A

2012-10-22

Corruption is a serious threat to global health outcomes, leading to financial waste and adverse health consequences. Yet, forms of corruption impacting global health are endemic worldwide in public and private sectors, and in developed and resource-poor settings alike. Allegations of misuse of funds and fraud in global health initiatives also threaten future investment. Current domestic and sectorial-level responses are fragmented and have been criticized as ineffective. In order to address this issue, we propose a global health governance framework calling for international recognition of "global health corruption" and development of a treaty protocol to combat this crucial issue.

Forecast Of International Security Threat Of Russia In 2017

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. O. Bezrukov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the threats to international security of Russia in 2017. It presents the analysis of the twelve situations, the development of which could have a significant effect on the interests of Russia in the field of international security. There is the most probable scenario for every situation and a list of conditions of its occurrence. The objective of the forecast is reduction of uncertainty of the future and the promotion of reasonable hypotheses about its likely scenarios. The forecast task is to help decision-makers, mentally put yourself in a situation in which realized one of the scenarios for the future and to encourage them to calculate their possible actions. In the preparation of the forecast two scenario analysis tools were used: the allocation of two key variables, the ratio of which determines the spectrum of the analyzed scenarios, and the key events method, which consists of several stages and allows to evaluate the prospect of implementing the scenario observed in real time. Authors conclude that the USA with the new president will be forced to choose between maintaining global posture and keeping order at home, and the EU will be absorbed by internal issues. In 2017 for Russia is important to keep the positive dynamics in the Transatlantic and Grand Eurasia regions, and in the Middle East. For this purpose it is necessary to ignore the provocations – mainly in Europe. The source of a new crisis may be NATO members discouraged by lack of attention to them by the USA or allies of Russia.

Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Rodriquez, Jose [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2008-01-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt theft of nuclear materials. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat.

Global change in marine ecosystems: implications for semi-enclosed Arabian seas

KAUST Repository

Duarte, Carlos M.

2015-12-07

Global Change has been defined as the impact of human activities on the key processes that determine the functioning of the Biosphere. Global Change is a major threat for marine ecosystems and includes climate change as well as other global impacts such as inputs of pollutants, overfishing and coastal sprawl. The Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas, including the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, have supported human livelihoods in the Arabian Peninsula over centuries and continue to do so, but are also threatened by Global Change. These threats are particularly severe as Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas already present rather extreme conditions, in terms of temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration. The vulnerability of the unique marine ecosystems of the Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas to Global Change vectors is largely unknown, but predictions based on first principles suggest that they may be at or near the tipping point for many pressures, such as warming and hypoxia. There is an urgent need to implement international collaborative research programs to accelerate our understanding of the vulnerability of Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas to Global Change vectors in order to inform conservation and management plans to ensure these Seas continue to support the livelihoods and well-being of the Arab nations.

Medical Providers as Global Warming and Climate Change Health Educators: A Health Literacy Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Villagran, Melinda; Weathers, Melinda; Keefe, Brian; Sparks, Lisa

2010-01-01

Climate change is a threat to wildlife and the environment, but it also one of the most pervasive threats to human health. The goal of this study was to examine the relationships among dimensions of health literacy, patient education about global warming and climate change (GWCC), and health behaviors. Results reveal that patients who have higher…

Linking terrestrial and marine conservation planning and threats analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tallis, Heather; Ferdaña, Zach; Gray, Elizabeth

2008-02-01

The existence of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone makes it clear that marine ecosystems can be damaged by terrestrial inputs. Marine and terrestrial conservation planning need to be aligned in an explicit fashion to fully represent threats to marine systems. To integrate conservation planning for terrestrial and marine systems, we used a novel threats assessment that included 5 cross-system threats in a site-prioritization exercise for the Pacific Northwest coast ecoregion (U.S.A.). Cross-system threats are actions or features in one ecological realm that have effects on species in another realm. We considered bulkheads and other forms of shoreline hardening threats to terrestrial systems and roads, logging, agriculture, and urban areas threats to marine systems. We used 2 proxies of freshwater influence on marine environments, validated against a mechanistic model and field observations, to propagate land-based threats into marine sites. We evaluated the influence of cross-system threats on conservation priorities by comparing MARXAN outputs for 3 scenarios that identified terrestrial and marine priorities simultaneously: (1) no threats, (2) single-system threats, and (3) single- and cross-system threats. Including cross-system threats changed the threat landscape dramatically. As a result the best plan that included only single-system threats identified 323 sites (161,500 ha) at risk from cross-system threats. Including these threats changed the location of best sites. By comparing the best and sum solutions of the single- and cross-system scenarios, we identified areas ideal for preservation or restoration through integrated management. Our findings lend quantitative support to the call for explicitly integrated decision making and management action in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Improved variable reduction in partial least squares modelling by Global-Minimum Error Uninformative-Variable Elimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Andries, Jan P M; Vander Heyden, Yvan; Buydens, Lutgarde M C

2017-08-22

The calibration performance of Partial Least Squares regression (PLS) can be improved by eliminating uninformative variables. For PLS, many variable elimination methods have been developed. One is the Uninformative-Variable Elimination for PLS (UVE-PLS). However, the number of variables retained by UVE-PLS is usually still large. In UVE-PLS, variable elimination is repeated as long as the root mean squared error of cross validation (RMSECV) is decreasing. The set of variables in this first local minimum is retained. In this paper, a modification of UVE-PLS is proposed and investigated, in which UVE is repeated until no further reduction in variables is possible, followed by a search for the global RMSECV minimum. The method is called Global-Minimum Error Uninformative-Variable Elimination for PLS, denoted as GME-UVE-PLS or simply GME-UVE. After each iteration, the predictive ability of the PLS model, built with the remaining variable set, is assessed by RMSECV. The variable set with the global RMSECV minimum is then finally selected. The goal is to obtain smaller sets of variables with similar or improved predictability than those from the classical UVE-PLS method. The performance of the GME-UVE-PLS method is investigated using four data sets, i.e. a simulated set, NIR and NMR spectra, and a theoretical molecular descriptors set, resulting in twelve profile-response (X-y) calibrations. The selective and predictive performances of the models resulting from GME-UVE-PLS are statistically compared to those from UVE-PLS and 1-step UVE, one-sided paired t-tests. The results demonstrate that variable reduction with the proposed GME-UVE-PLS method, usually eliminates significantly more variables than the classical UVE-PLS, while the predictive abilities of the resulting models are better. With GME-UVE-PLS, a lower number of uninformative variables, without a chemical meaning for the response, may be retained than with UVE-PLS. The selectivity of the classical UVE method

Drought-induced reduction in global terrestrial net primary production from 2000 through 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Maosheng; Running, Steven W

2010-08-20

Terrestrial net primary production (NPP) quantifies the amount of atmospheric carbon fixed by plants and accumulated as biomass. Previous studies have shown that climate constraints were relaxing with increasing temperature and solar radiation, allowing an upward trend in NPP from 1982 through 1999. The past decade (2000 to 2009) has been the warmest since instrumental measurements began, which could imply continued increases in NPP; however, our estimates suggest a reduction in the global NPP of 0.55 petagrams of carbon. Large-scale droughts have reduced regional NPP, and a drying trend in the Southern Hemisphere has decreased NPP in that area, counteracting the increased NPP over the Northern Hemisphere. A continued decline in NPP would not only weaken the terrestrial carbon sink, but it would also intensify future competition between food demand and proposed biofuel production.

Illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material: The 'net' security threat

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaitseva, L.; Steinhausler, F.

2006-01-01

Illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive material, which could be used for building a nuclear weapon or a radiological dispersal device, has been a subject of concern for more than a decade. A major obstacle to assessing the actual security threat due to nuclear trafficking is the inclusion in the analysis of incidents that do not represent a security threat, in the sense of being a possible pre-stage to a clandestine nuclear weapons programme or a terrorist operation involving a crude nuclear device or a radiological dispersal device. International transport of contaminated scrap metal, or discovery of lost or abandoned radioactive sources are examples of such incidents, which have little or no security relevance. This paper analyses the global data contained in the Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources (DSO) using special filters to discriminate between incidents that are of security relevance and those that are not. (author)

Bomb Threat Assessments. Fact Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Tunkel, Ronald F.

2010-01-01

This information provides a brief, summary outline of how investigators should assess anonymous bomb threats at schools. Applying these principles may help administrators and law enforcement personnel accurately assess the viability and credibility of a threat and appropriately gauge their response. Any credible evidence provided by teachers or…

Stereotype threat in classroom settings: the interactive effect of domain identification, task difficulty and stereotype threat on female students' maths performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Johannes

2007-06-01

Stereotype threat research revealed that negative stereotypes can disrupt the performance of persons targeted by such stereotypes. This paper contributes to stereotype threat research by providing evidence that domain identification and the difficulty level of test items moderate stereotype threat effects on female students' maths performance. The study was designed to test theoretical ideas derived from stereotype threat theory and assumptions outlined in the Yerkes-Dodson law proposing a nonlinear relationship between arousal, task difficulty and performance. Participants were 108 high school students attending secondary schools. Participants worked on a test comprising maths problems of different difficulty levels. Half of the participants learned that the test had been shown to produce gender differences (stereotype threat). The other half learned that the test had been shown not to produce gender differences (no threat). The degree to which participants identify with the domain of maths was included as a quasi-experimental factor. Maths-identified female students showed performance decrements under conditions of stereotype threat. Moreover, the stereotype threat manipulation had different effects on low and high domain identifiers' performance depending on test item difficulty. On difficult items, low identifiers showed higher performance under threat (vs. no threat) whereas the reverse was true in high identifiers. This interaction effect did not emerge on easy items. Domain identification and test item difficulty are two important factors that need to be considered in the attempt to understand the impact of stereotype threat on performance.

Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Digital forms of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing (eDTCA) have globalized in an era of free and open information exchange. Yet, the unregulated expansion of eDTCA has resulted in unaddressed global public health threats. Specifically, illicit online pharmacies are engaged in the sale of purportedly safe, legitimate product that may in fact be counterfeit or substandard. These cybercriminal actors exploit available eDTCA mediums over the Internet to market their suspect products globally. Despite these risks, a detailed assessment of the public health, patient safety, and cybersecurity threats and governance mechanisms to address them has not been conducted. Discussion Illicit online pharmacies represent a significant global public health and patient safety risk. Existing governance mechanisms are insufficient and include lack of adequate adoption in national regulation, ineffective voluntary governance mechanisms, and uneven global law enforcement efforts that have allowed proliferation of these cybercriminals on the web. In order to effectively address this multistakeholder threat, inclusive global governance strategies that engage the information technology, law enforcement and public health sectors should be established. Summary Effective global “eHealth Governance” focused on cybercrime is needed in order to effectively combat illicit online pharmacies. This includes building upon existing Internet governance structures and coordinating partnership between the UN Office of Drugs and Crime that leads the global fight against transnational organized crime and the Internet Governance Forum that is shaping the future of Internet governance. Through a UNODC-IGF governance mechanism, investigation, detection and coordination of activities against illicit online pharmacies and their misuse of eDTCA can commence. PMID:24131576

Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Liang, Bryan A

2013-10-16

Digital forms of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing (eDTCA) have globalized in an era of free and open information exchange. Yet, the unregulated expansion of eDTCA has resulted in unaddressed global public health threats. Specifically, illicit online pharmacies are engaged in the sale of purportedly safe, legitimate product that may in fact be counterfeit or substandard. These cybercriminal actors exploit available eDTCA mediums over the Internet to market their suspect products globally. Despite these risks, a detailed assessment of the public health, patient safety, and cybersecurity threats and governance mechanisms to address them has not been conducted. Illicit online pharmacies represent a significant global public health and patient safety risk. Existing governance mechanisms are insufficient and include lack of adequate adoption in national regulation, ineffective voluntary governance mechanisms, and uneven global law enforcement efforts that have allowed proliferation of these cybercriminals on the web. In order to effectively address this multistakeholder threat, inclusive global governance strategies that engage the information technology, law enforcement and public health sectors should be established. Effective global "eHealth Governance" focused on cybercrime is needed in order to effectively combat illicit online pharmacies. This includes building upon existing Internet governance structures and coordinating partnership between the UN Office of Drugs and Crime that leads the global fight against transnational organized crime and the Internet Governance Forum that is shaping the future of Internet governance. Through a UNODC-IGF governance mechanism, investigation, detection and coordination of activities against illicit online pharmacies and their misuse of eDTCA can commence.

Threats Management Throughout the Software Service Life-Cycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erlend Andreas Gjære

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Software services are inevitably exposed to a fluctuating threat picture. Unfortunately, not all threats can be handled only with preventive measures during design and development, but also require adaptive mitigations at runtime. In this paper we describe an approach where we model composite services and threats together, which allows us to create preventive measures at design-time. At runtime, our specification also allows the service runtime environment (SRE to receive alerts about active threats that we have not handled, and react to these automatically through adaptation of the composite service. A goal-oriented security requirements modelling tool is used to model business-level threats and analyse how they may impact goals. A process flow modelling tool, utilising Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN and standard error boundary events, allows us to define how threats should be responded to during service execution on a technical level. Throughout the software life-cycle, we maintain threats in a centralised threat repository. Re-use of these threats extends further into monitoring alerts being distributed through a cloud-based messaging service. To demonstrate our approach in practice, we have developed a proof-of-concept service for the Air Traffic Management (ATM domain. In addition to the design-time activities, we show how this composite service duly adapts itself when a service component is exposed to a threat at runtime.

An overview of non-traditional nuclear threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geelhood, B.D.; Wogman, N.A.

2005-01-01

In view of the terrorist threats to the United States, the country needs to consider new vectors and weapons related to nuclear and radiological threats against our homeland. The traditional threat vectors, missiles and bombers, have expanded to include threats arriving through the flow of commerce. The new commerce-related vectors include: sea cargo, truck cargo, rail cargo, air cargo, and passenger transport. The types of weapons have also expanded beyond nuclear warheads to include radiation dispersal devices (RDD) or 'dirty' bombs. The consequences of these nuclear and radiological threats are both economic and life threatening. The defense against undesirable materials entering our borders involves extensive radiation monitoring at ports of entry. The radiation and other signatures of potential nuclear and radiological threats are examined along with potential sensors to discover undesirable items in the flow of commerce. Techniques to improve radiation detection are considered. A strategy of primary and secondary screening is proposed to rapidly clear most cargo and carefully examine suspect cargo. (author)

Stereotype threat can reduce older adults' memory errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-01-01

Stereotype threat often incurs the cost of reducing the amount of information that older adults accurately recall. In the current research, we tested whether stereotype threat can also benefit memory. According to the regulatory focus account of stereotype threat, threat induces a prevention focus in which people become concerned with avoiding errors of commission and are sensitive to the presence or absence of losses within their environment. Because of this, we predicted that stereotype threat might reduce older adults' memory errors. Results were consistent with this prediction. Older adults under stereotype threat had lower intrusion rates during free-recall tests (Experiments 1 and 2). They also reduced their false alarms and adopted more conservative response criteria during a recognition test (Experiment 2). Thus, stereotype threat can decrease older adults' false memories, albeit at the cost of fewer veridical memories, as well.

Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Mathematics Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, Tobias; Neumann, Roland

2014-01-01

We investigated the combined effects of stereotype threat and trait test anxiety on mathematics test performance. Stereotype threat and test anxiety interacted with each other in affecting performance. Trait test anxiety predicted performance only in a diagnostic condition that prevented stereotype threat by stereotype denial. A state measure of…

Invasive and native plant responses to shrubland fuel reduction: comparing prescribed fire, mastication, and treatment season

Science.gov (United States)

Jennifer B. Potts; Scott L. Stephens

2009-01-01

Fuel reduction in the wildland–urban interface is a widely used international strategy for assisting human communities regarding wildfire threats, but very little research has examined whether certain fuel reduction methods and their seasonal timing promote nonnative invasion. To...

CLASSIFICATION OF THREATS OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF TAJIKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blinichkina N. Yu.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Ensuring of the state economic security suggests the fight against threats to such security. At the same time it is extremely important, firstly, to understand the essence of a threat to economic security and, secondly, to identify the common characteristics of threats allowing to systematize them and to determine the necessary measures to neutralize them on this basis. The traditional approach offers a classification of economic security threats depending on areas of their origin but it is impossible to determine the gravity of the threat to the economy and ways of neutralizing it.In this context we propose allocation of the economic threats to five groups depends on a number of characteristics that determine the level of their negative impact to the economy. Such classification of threats to economic security of Tajikistan helped to determine neutralization of which of them requires outside support, what requires priority within the framework of the strategy of economic security and national economic policy, and what does not require serious government efforts and may be neutralized automatically during neutralization of the other threats.

Globalization and Its Impact on the Middle East

Science.gov (United States)

2008-12-01

some 200 years ago. It began in 1798 when the Ottoman rule was weak. Then under control of Britain and France , the post- World War I colonial era came...existing government rather than lose their power to the forces of globalization. An independent bourgeoisie will be the partner of the state in order...region. Globalization poses threat to the authoritarian states as well as to the bourgeoisie classes aligned with the state. There is a need to resolve

Self-esteem threat combined with exposure to thin media images leads to body image compensatory self-enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarry, Josée L; Kossert, Amy L

2007-03-01

This study examined the effect of a self-esteem threat combined with exposure to thin images on body image (BI) satisfaction and investment. Female participants (N=94) received a self-esteem threat consisting of false failure feedback or received false success feedback on an intellectual task allegedly highly predictive of academic and professional success. They then viewed media images featuring thin models or products. After viewing thin models, women who had received failure feedback declared themselves more satisfied about their appearance and less invested in it than did women who had received success feedback. These results suggest that exposure to the thin ideal may inspire women experiencing self-esteem threats to use appearance as an alternative source of worth, thus maintaining their global esteem through BI compensatory self-enhancement. Potential long-term implications of this strategy, such as a paradoxical increase in BI investment and the development of eating pathology, are discussed.

Shrinkage of body size of small insects: A possible link to global warming?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He Jihuan

2007-01-01

The increase of global mean surface temperature leads to the increase of metabolic rate. This might lead to an unexpected threat from the small insect world. Global warming shrinks cell size, shorten lifespan, and accelerate evolution. The present note speculates on possible connections between allometry and E-infinity theory

The Global Quest to Build World-Class Universities: Toward a Social Justice Agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoads, Robert A.; Li, Shuai; Ilano, Lauren

2014-01-01

This chapter provides a critical perspective on the global quest to build world-class universities (WCUs), including global "ranking mania," excessive emphasis on university branding, and the attending threats to the traditional public good mission of the university. Alternatively, we offer suggestions on how rankings may be used to…

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

From the international geophysical year to global change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleagle, R.G.

1992-01-01

A series of major scientific programs carried out over the past 40 years has greatly increased understanding of our global environment and has led to the present concern over global change. Each program responded to a specific and urgent scientific need or opportunity. In each case, institutions and resources were created that provided the foundation for later programs. Increased scientific understanding has exposed threats to future welfare and has raised serious policy implications for governments. Institutions for responding to global policy issues need to be created or strengthened. Recommendations for better procedures and institutional structures are provided in this article. 39 refs

A globally integrated climate policy for Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernstein, S.; Brunnee, J.; Duff, D.G.; Green, A.J.

2008-01-01

This book explored policy ideas and options from various perspectives, including science, law, political science, economics and sociology. The costs, opportunities and imperatives to participate in international diplomatic initiatives were considered along with the opportunities of regional global carbon markets. Canada's current policy on climate change negotiations have been focused on domestic regulation and incentives for technological responses and the setting of a domestic carbon price. The sense of urgency about global warming was discussed and the need for action to respond to the threat of global climate change was emphasized. The book also reviewed Canada's role in international climate policies and presented parameters and imperatives for global regime building in Canada. Domestic policy tools were also reviewed along with policy obstacles and opportunities. refs., tabs., figs.

Stereotype threat affects financial decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Priyanka B; Steele, Claude M

2010-10-01

The research presented in this article provides the first evidence that one's decision making can be influenced by concerns about stereotypes and the devaluation of one's identity. Many studies document gender differences in decision making, and often attribute these differences to innate and stable factors, such as biological and hormonal differences. In three studies, we found that stereotype threat affected decision making and led to gender differences in loss-aversion and risk-aversion behaviors. In Study 1, women subjected to stereotype threat in academic and business settings were more loss averse than both men and women who were not facing the threat of being viewed in light of negative stereotypes. We found no gender differences in loss-aversion behavior in the absence of stereotype threat. In Studies 2a and 2b, we found the same pattern of effects for risk-aversion behavior that we had observed for loss-aversion behavior. In addition, in Study 2b, ego depletion mediated the effects of stereotype threat on women's decision making. These results suggest that individuals' decision making can be influenced by stereotype concerns.

A lightweight and secure two factor anonymous authentication protocol for Global Mobility Networks

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Global Mobility Networks(GLOMONETs) in wireless communication permits the global roaming services that enable a user to leverage the mobile services in any foreign country. Technological growth in wireless communication is also accompanied by new security threats and challenges. A threat-proof authentication protocol in wireless communication may overcome the security flaws by allowing only legitimate users to access a particular service. Recently, Lee et al. found Mun et al. scheme vulnerable to different attacks and proposed an advanced secure scheme to overcome the security flaws. However, this article points out that Lee et al. scheme lacks user anonymity, inefficient user authentication, vulnerable to replay and DoS attacks and Lack of local password verification. Furthermore, this article presents a more robust anonymous authentication scheme to handle the threats and challenges found in Lee et al.’s protocol. The proposed protocol is formally verified with an automated tool(ProVerif). The proposed protocol has superior efficiency in comparison to the existing protocols. PMID:29702675

Open Educational Resources: American Ideals, Global Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Weiland, Steven

2015-01-01

Educational relations between societies and cultures that begin with benevolent intentions can come to be seen as threats to national autonomy and local preferences. Indeed, side by side with the growth since the first years of this century of Open Educational Resources (OER) there has been worry about their impact on global educational…

Cyber threats within civil aviation

Science.gov (United States)

Heitner, Kerri A.

Existing security policies in civil aviation do not adequately protect against evolving cyber threats. Cybersecurity has been recognized as a top priority among some aviation industry leaders. Heightened concerns regarding cyber threats and vulnerabilities surround components utilized in compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) implementation. Automated Dependent Surveillance-B (ADS-B) and Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) have both been exploited through the research of experienced computer security professionals. Civil aviation is essential to international infrastructure and if its critical assets were compromised, it could pose a great risk to public safety and financial infrastructure. The purpose of this research was to raise awareness of aircraft system vulnerabilities in order to provoke change among current national and international cybersecurity policies, procedures and standards. Although the education of cyber threats is increasing in the aviation industry, there is not enough urgency when creating cybersecurity policies. This project intended to answer the following questions: What are the cyber threats to ADS-B of an aircraft in-flight? What are the cyber threats to EFB? What is the aviation industry's response to the issue of cybersecurity and in-flight safety? ADS-B remains unencrypted while the FAA's mandate to implement this system is rapidly approaching. The cyber threat of both portable and non-portable EFB's have received increased publicity, however, airlines are not responding quick enough (if at all) to create policies for the use of these devices. Collectively, the aviation industry is not being proactive enough to protect its aircraft or airport network systems. That is not to say there are not leaders in cybersecurity advancement. These proactive organizations must set the standard for the future to better protect society and it's most reliable form of transportation.

The emerging response of the insurance industry to the threat of climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leggett, J.

1994-01-01

The insurance industry is waking up fast to the threat anthropogenic enhancement of the greenhouse effect poses to its future market security. This has been in large measure because of a suspicious escalation in losses from windstorms and drought-related wildfire in recent years. Articulating worst-case analysis fears of a global-warming future, senior industry figures in London, Zurich, Munich, Tokyo and New York have spoken of the potential for a global collapse of the insurance industry. Such an eventuality would have negative consequences in many areas of economic activity. These consequences have been little explored or appreciated in the climate-change debate to date. In some developing countries, meanwhile, withdrawal of catastrophe insurance cover is already threatening development. (author). 16 refs

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert S. Anderson; Paul Moskowitz; Mark Schanfein; Trond Bjornard; Curtis St. Michel

2010-07-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, Robert S.; Moskowitz, Paul; Schanfein, Mark; Bjornard, Trond; St. Michel, Curtis

2010-01-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Global health security and the International Health Regulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliva Otavio

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Global nuclear proliferation, bioterrorism, and emerging infections have challenged national capacities to achieve and maintain global security. Over the last century, emerging infectious disease threats resulted in the development of the preliminary versions of the International Health Regulations (IHR of the World Health Organization (WHO. The current HR(2005 contain major differences compared to earlier versions, including: substantial shifts from containment at the border to containment at the source of the event; shifts from a rather small disease list (smallpox, plague, cholera, and yellow fever required to be reported, to all public health threats; and shifts from preset measures to tailored responses with more flexibility to deal with the local situations on the ground. The new IHR(2005 call for accountability. They also call for strengthened national capacity for surveillance and control; prevention, alert, and response to international public health emergencies beyond the traditional short list of required reporting; global partnership and collaboration; and human rights, obligations, accountability, and procedures of monitoring. Under these evolved regulations, as well as other measures, such as the Revolving Fund for vaccine procurement of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO, global health security could be maintained in the response to urban yellow fever in Paraguay in 2008 and the influenza (H1N1 pandemic of 2009-2010.

Combating healthcare corruption and fraud with improved global health governance

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Corruption is a serious threat to global health outcomes, leading to financial waste and adverse health consequences. Yet, forms of corruption impacting global health are endemic worldwide in public and private sectors, and in developed and resource-poor settings alike. Allegations of misuse of funds and fraud in global health initiatives also threaten future investment. Current domestic and sectorial-level responses are fragmented and have been criticized as ineffective. In order to address this issue, we propose a global health governance framework calling for international recognition of “global health corruption” and development of a treaty protocol to combat this crucial issue. PMID:23088820

Threat Assessment in College Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Cornell, Dewey

2010-01-01

In 2007, the landscape of campus safety changed abruptly with the Virginia Tech shooting and the subsequent wave of anonymous threats in colleges across the country. In response to the tragedy, the Virginia state legislature mandated that every public institution of higher education establish a "threat assessment team." Both the FBI and the U.S.…

How you perceive threat determines your behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlando Fernandes Junior

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The prioritization of processing emotional stimuli usually produces deleterious effects on task performance when it distracts from a task. One common explanation is that brain resources are consumed by emotional stimuli, diverting resources away from executing the task. Viewing unpleasant stimuli also generates defensive reactions, and these responses may be at least partially responsible for the effect of the emotional modulation observed in various reaction time (RT paradigms. We investigated whether modulatory effects on RT vary if we presented threat stimuli to prompt different defensive responses. To trigger different responses, we manipulated threat perception by moving the direction of threatening stimuli. Threatening or neutral stimuli were presented as distractors during a bar orientation discrimination task. The results demonstrated that threat stimuli directed towards the observer produced a decrease in RT; in contrast, threat stimuli directed away from the observer produced an increase in RT, when compared to neutral stimuli. Accelerated RT during direct threat stimuli was attributed to increased motor preparation resulting from strong activation of the defense response cascade. In contrast, no direct threat stimuli likely activated the defense cascade, but less intensively, prompting immobility. Different threat stimuli produced varying effects, which was interpreted as evidence that the modulation of RT by emotional stimuli represents the summation of attentional and motivational effects. Additionally, participants who had been previously exposed to diverse types of violent crime were more strongly influenced by direct threat stimuli. In sum, our data support the concept that emotions are indeed action tendencies.

Neural predictors and mechanisms of cognitive behavioral therapy on threat processing in social anxiety disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Klumpp, Heide; Fitzgerald, Daniel A; Phan, K Luan

2013-08-01

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is "gold standard" psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Cognitive models posit that preferential processing of threat mediates excessive forms of anxiety, which is supported by exaggerated amygdala, insula, and cortical reactivity to threatening socio-emotional signals in SAD. However, little is known about neural predictors of CBT success or the mechanisms by which CBT exerts its therapeutic effects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted during responses to social signals of threat (fearful/angry faces) against positive signals (happy faces) in 14 patients with SAD before and after 12 weeks of CBT. For comparison, 14 healthy control (HC) participants also underwent two fMRI scans, 12 weeks apart. Whole-brain voxel-wise analyses showed therapeutic success was predicted by enhanced pre-treatment activation to threatening faces in higher-order visual (superior and middle temporal gyrus), cognitive, and emotion processing areas (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex). Moreover, a group by time interaction was revealed in prefrontal regions (dorsomedial, medial gyrus) and insula. The interaction was driven by relatively greater activity during threat processing in SAD, which significantly reduced after CBT but did not significantly predict response to CBT. Therefore, pre-treatment cortical hyperactivity to social threat signals may serve as a prognostic indicator of CBT success in SAD. Collectively, CBT-related brain changes involved a reduction in activity in insula, prefrontal, and extrastriate regions. Results are consistent with cognitive models, which associate decreases in threat processing bias with recovery. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

GLOBAL RISKS AND INSTRUMENTS OF ITS MINIMIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. Havryliuk

2014-06-01

Full Text Available It is argued that economic globalization leads to the formation of macro-economic, political and other risks that are able to grow into global risks affecting, without exception, all national economies, creating a serious threat to national economic security. The emphasis is on the negative elements of a set of global risks, their development and minimize the possibility of using a number of tools. Ensuring firmness of the state to external risks demands continuous monitoring and forecasting of world processes and usage of economic instruments of rapid response for prevention of negative consequences. The essence of the category of "risk" is revealed and deepened. The global risks that can not affect the economic security of Ukraine is disclosed. It is shown that the emergence of these global risks has negative impact on the economic security of Ukraine.

Information security practices emerging threats and perspectives

CERN Document Server

Awad, Ahmed; Woungang, Isaac

2017-01-01

This book introduces novel research targeting technical aspects of protecting information security and establishing trust in the digital space. New paradigms, and emerging threats and solutions are presented in topics such as application security and threat management; modern authentication paradigms; digital fraud detection; social engineering and insider threats; cyber threat intelligence; intrusion detection; behavioral biometrics recognition; hardware security analysis. The book presents both the important core and the specialized issues in the areas of protection, assurance, and trust in information security practice. It is intended to be a valuable resource and reference for researchers, instructors, students, scientists, engineers, managers, and industry practitioners. .

Structuring Cooperative Nuclear RIsk Reduction Initiatives with China.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brandt, Larry [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Reinhardt, Jason Christian [Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Hecker, Siegfried [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

2017-03-01

The Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation engaged several Chinese nuclear organizations in cooperative research that focused on responses to radiological and nuclear terrorism. The objective was to identify joint research initiatives to reduce the global dangers of such threats and to pursue initial technical collaborations in several high priority areas. Initiatives were identified in three primary research areas: 1) detection and interdiction of smuggled nuclear materials; 2) nuclear forensics; and 3) radiological (“dirty bomb”) threats and countermeasures. Initial work emphasized the application of systems and risk analysis tools, which proved effective in structuring the collaborations. The extensive engagements between national security nuclear experts in China and the U.S. during the research strengthened professional relationships between these important communities.

The Global Potential for Drastic Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. On the interaction between technological innovation, sustainable growth and lifestyle development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruggink, J.J.C. [ECN Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands)

2000-03-01

Technological innovation is often viewed as the key to drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and rightly so. In fact there are already a number of technologies on the shelf that could fix global warming problems in no time. The trouble is that few people in the developing world can afford them or that few people in the developed world find them acceptable. Most people are simply too poor or too critical. So what are the decisive fault lines that should distinguish a climate-friendly next century from a climate-hostile past? First, only a more equal world will make drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions affordable. Secondly, mankind will have to accept that in addition to technological innovation, drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions depends on lifestyle innovation.

Global Perspectives on Resilience in Children and Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Masten, Ann S.

2014-01-01

Global concerns about the consequences of disasters, political violence, disease, malnutrition, maltreatment, and other threats to human development and well-being have sparked a surge of international interest in resilience science. This article highlights progress and issues in research that aims to understand variations in human adaptation to…

Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic

Science.gov (United States)

Heymann, David L; Chen, Lincoln; Takemi, Keizo; Fidler, David P; Tappero, Jordan W; Thomas, Mathew J; Kenyon, Thomas A; Frieden, Thomas R; Yach, Derek; Nishtar, Sania; Kalache, Alex; Olliaro, Piero L; Horby, Peter; Torreele, Els; Gostin, Lawrence O; Ndomondo-Sigonda, Margareth; Carpenter, Daniel; Rushton, Simon; Lillywhite, Louis; Devkota, Bhimsen; Koser, Khalid; Yates, Rob; Dhillon, Ranu S; Rannan-Eliya, Ravi P

2018-01-01

The Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in both its scale and impact. Out of this human calamity has come renewed attention to global health security—its definition, meaning, and the practical implications for programmes and policy. For example, how does a government begin to strengthen its core public health capacities, as demanded by the International Health Regulations? What counts as a global health security concern? In the context of the governance of global health, including WHO reform, it will be important to distil lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak. The Lancet invited a group of respected global health practitioners to reflect on these lessons, to explore the idea of global health security, and to offer suggestions for next steps. Their contributions describe some of the major threats to individual and collective human health, as well as the values and recommendations that should be considered to counteract such threats in the future. Many different perspectives are proposed. Their common goal is a more sustainable and resilient society for human health and wellbeing. PMID:25987157

An Examination of Age-Based Stereotype Threat About Cognitive Decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J

2017-01-01

"Stereotype threat" is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Drawing upon the multithreat framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the forms of stereotype threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of stereotype threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the forms of stereotype threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects may vary across the adult life span. Because of age-related improvements in emotion-regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive-control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity, allowing researchers to design more effective stereotype-threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain stereotype threat effects "fail to replicate" across domains or groups.

Spatial congruence in language and species richness but not threat in the world's top linguistic hotspot.

Science.gov (United States)

Turvey, Samuel T; Pettorelli, Nathalie

2014-12-07

Languages share key evolutionary properties with biological species, and global-level spatial congruence in richness and threat is documented between languages and several taxonomic groups. However, there is little understanding of the functional connection between diversification or extinction in languages and species, or the relationship between linguistic and species richness across different spatial scales. New Guinea is the world's most linguistically rich region and contains extremely high biological diversity. We demonstrate significant positive relationships between language and mammal richness in New Guinea across multiple spatial scales, revealing a likely functional relationship over scales at which infra-island diversification may occur. However, correlations are driven by spatial congruence between low levels of language and species richness. Regional biocultural richness may have showed closer congruence before New Guinea's linguistic landscape was altered by Holocene demographic events. In contrast to global studies, we demonstrate a significant negative correlation across New Guinea between areas with high levels of threatened languages and threatened mammals, indicating that landscape-scale threats differ between these groups. Spatial resource prioritization to conserve biodiversity may not benefit threatened languages, and conservation policy must adopt a multi-faceted approach to protect biocultural diversity as a whole.

The global energy challenge: new challenges and threats, the ways to overcome them

OpenAIRE

Alexandr N. Zakharov

2017-01-01

The article describes key aspects of global energy issues, with an emphasis on energy security. The Russian Federation is to face three inter-related challenges: provide energy security, stimulate economic growth and protect the environment, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that will reduce the level of air pollution and contribute to the global improvement of the atmosphere. The author analyzes the status and prospects of world energy markets and the forecast of their development for t...

The rise and manifestation of globalism and its implications for science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E.J. van Niekerk

1995-03-01

Full Text Available The rise and manifestation of globalism and its implicationsfor science. The concept globalism refers to the interdependent and interconnected character of the contemporary world. One of the characteristics of the globalistic world order is that it is a threat unto itself This threat is manifested in numerous global crises such as the population explosion, the extensive developmental disparities between First and Third World countries, the energy crisis, atomic warfare and the environmental crisis. Humanity has brought these and other global crises upon itself by the advancement of the modern (Western industrial civilisation which emanated from the absolutised application of the natural scientific mode of thought. In order to defend the thesis that the phenomenon of globalisation has profound implications for scientific practice, it is necessary to present a historical overview of the rise of globalism and an interpretation of its current manifestation. From these aspects one can deduce the significant implications that this phenomenon has for scientific practice. General features of a more accountable mode of scientific thought are also presented. Finally, Temporality Agogics, a paradigm within the context o f History of Education, is discussed as an example o f such a more accountable mode of scientific practice.

MANAGING THE IMAGE OF CITIES IN THE “GLOBAL VILLAGE:” City Branding As An Opportunity Against Globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gözdem Çelikkanat Aysu

2013-07-01

Full Text Available In this article the strong effect of forming a corporate identity in city branding is  studied. It is emphasized that by strong identity and image acquisition cities distinguish by their unique branding elements rather than global city imposition  hat is carried out by globalization pressure. According to the opinions that perceive globalization as an absolute fact, cities like Istanbul have to articulate  to this new system. In this way of thinking, it is inevitable to suffer in McLuhan’s  “global village”. However creating strategies for powerful image and branding of a city can be a leading factor against global city imposition. Keeping up with the same method of creating a “corporate” identity, the image of the cities has to be managed by the symmetric communication with all the actors. By this way  globalization can be used as an opportunity instead of threat.

SIP threats detection system

OpenAIRE

Vozňák, Miroslav; Řezáč, Filip

2010-01-01

The paper deals with detection of threats in IP telephony, the authors developed a penetration testing system that is able to check up the level of protection from security threats in IP telephony. The SIP server is a key komponent of VoIP infrastructure and often becomes the aim of attacks and providers have to ensure the appropriate level of security. We have developed web-based penetration system which is able to check the SIP server if can face to the most common attacks.The d...

CYBER ATTACKS, MAJOR THREATS AND VULNERABILITIES AGAINST STATES, ORGANIZATIONS AND CITIZENS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantin MINCU

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The author briefly tries to bring to the attention of those interested the complex issue developed globally on cyber risks, threats and vulnerabilities reaching to the "cyber warfare" with direct involvement of some state actors. Some means and vectors of attack are presented, as well as countermeasures to protect the individual users, companies, governmental and military structures. In the end, the article presents the situation in Romania with respect to some measures already taken and others that will be probably taken in the future, particularly in the legislative and administrative sector regarding cyber protection.

Reduction of chemical reaction models

Science.gov (United States)

Frenklach, Michael

1991-01-01

An attempt is made to reconcile the different terminologies pertaining to reduction of chemical reaction models. The approaches considered include global modeling, response modeling, detailed reduction, chemical lumping, and statistical lumping. The advantages and drawbacks of each of these methods are pointed out.

Reducing the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism- A Report Card on the Obama Administration’s Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

using methods that did not require HEU and the recovery of roughly 750 radioisotope thermoelectric...Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE ...December 2016 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE REDUCING THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR TERRORISM—A REPORT CARD ON

Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patrick Treado; Oksana Klueva; Jeffrey Beckstead

2008-12-31

Aerosol threat detection requires the ability to discern between threat agents and ambient background particulate matter (PM) encountered in the environment. To date, Raman imaging technology has been demonstrated as an effective strategy for the assessment of threat agents in the presence of specific, complex backgrounds. Expanding our understanding of the composition of ambient particulate matter background will improve the overall performance of Raman Chemical Imaging (RCI) detection strategies for the autonomous detection of airborne chemical and biological hazards. Improving RCI detection performance is strategic due to its potential to become a widely exploited detection approach by several U.S. government agencies. To improve the understanding of the ambient PM background with subsequent improvement in Raman threat detection capability, ChemImage undertook the Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment (APTA) Project in 2005-2008 through a collaborative effort with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under cooperative agreement number DE-FC26-05NT42594. During Phase 1 of the program, a novel PM classification based on molecular composition was developed based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. In addition, testing protocols were developed for ambient PM characterization. A signature database was developed based on a variety of microanalytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR microspectroscopy, optical microscopy, fluorescence and Raman chemical imaging techniques. An automated particle integrated collector and detector (APICD) prototype was developed for automated collection, deposition and detection of biothreat agents in background PM. During Phase 2 of the program, ChemImage continued to refine the understanding of ambient background composition. Additionally, ChemImage enhanced the APICD to provide improved autonomy, sensitivity and specificity. Deliverables included a Final Report detailing our

Developing Strategies for Islamic Banks to Face the Future Challenges of Financial Globalization

OpenAIRE

Al Ajlouni, Ahmed

2004-01-01

Developing Strategies for Islamic Banks to Face the Future Challenges of Financial Globalization Ahmed Al-Ajlouni Abstract This study aims at forming strategic response to assess the ability of Islamic banks in benefiting from the opportunities that may be provided by financial globalization and limits its threats, through assessing the capability of Islamic banks to meet the requirements and challenges of financial globalization, then suggests the suitable strategies that may be ...

New records of the Japanese seahorse Hippocampus mohnikei in Southeast Asia lead to updates in range, habitat and threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Aylesworth, L; Lawson, J M; Laksanawimol, P; Ferber, P; Loh, T-L

2016-04-01

New records of the Japanese seahorse Hippocampus mohnikei from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, along with recently published studies from India and Singapore, have greatly expanded the known range of H. mohnikei within Southeast Asia. These new records reveal novel habitat preferences and threats to H. mohnikei in the region. Although the global conservation status of H. mohnikei is classified as Data Deficient according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, new sightings indicate that this species is found in similar habitats and faces similar threats as other Hippocampus species that are considered Vulnerable. © 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming

OpenAIRE

Pennington, C. R.; Kaye, L. K.; McCann, J. J.

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-targe...

Microbial Threats to Health. Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

1992-10-01

and HIV in- fection. Although in the United States, HIV infection occurs predominately in male homosexuals and intravenous substance abusers, the rate...Davis. W. A., J. G. Kane, and V. G. Garagusi. 1978. Human Aerononas infections : a review of the literature and a case report of endocarditis ...AD-A257 841 AD____ GRANT NO: DAMD17-90-Z-0047 TITLE: MICROBIAL THREATS TO HEALTH SUBTITLE: REmerging Infections - Microbial Threats to Health in the

A knowledge-based approach to estimating the magnitude and spatial patterns of potential threats to soil biodiversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Orgiazzi, Alberto; Panagos, Panos; Yigini, Yusuf; Dunbar, Martha B; Gardi, Ciro; Montanarella, Luca; Ballabio, Cristiano

2016-03-01

Because of the increasing pressures exerted on soil, below-ground life is under threat. Knowledge-based rankings of potential threats to different components of soil biodiversity were developed in order to assess the spatial distribution of threats on a European scale. A list of 13 potential threats to soil biodiversity was proposed to experts with different backgrounds in order to assess the potential for three major components of soil biodiversity: soil microorganisms, fauna, and biological functions. This approach allowed us to obtain knowledge-based rankings of threats. These classifications formed the basis for the development of indices through an additive aggregation model that, along with ad-hoc proxies for each pressure, allowed us to preliminarily assess the spatial patterns of potential threats. Intensive exploitation was identified as the highest pressure. In contrast, the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture was considered as the threat with least potential. The potential impact of climate change showed the highest uncertainty. Fourteen out of the 27 considered countries have more than 40% of their soils with moderate-high to high potential risk for all three components of soil biodiversity. Arable soils are the most exposed to pressures. Soils within the boreal biogeographic region showed the lowest risk potential. The majority of soils at risk are outside the boundaries of protected areas. First maps of risks to three components of soil biodiversity based on the current scientific knowledge were developed. Despite the intrinsic limits of knowledge-based assessments, a remarkable potential risk to soil biodiversity was observed. Guidelines to preliminarily identify and circumscribe soils potentially at risk are provided. This approach may be used in future research to assess threat at both local and global scale and identify areas of possible risk and, subsequently, design appropriate strategies for monitoring and protection of soil

Problems of Ensuring Complex Business Security in the Conditions of Modern Globalization

OpenAIRE

Anatoliy Petrovich Sterkhov

2015-01-01

From the viewpoint of ensuring complex business security, the relevance of the present work is associated with the rationale of multilevel hierarchical approach to the classification of security threats in the age of globalization. The specificity of the threats specific to one or another level of the economy, helps to better understand and consequently to build an effective system of ensuring complex business security. For each of the nine hierarchical levels of the economy the author identi...

The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment Scale: An Instrument to Help Aid Immediate Threat Assessment for Counselors, Faculty, and Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Juhnke, Gerald A.

2010-01-01

Threats of violence are not uncommon to counselors, faculty, or teachers. Each must be taken seriously, quickly analyzed, and safety procedures implemented. Yet, there exists a paucity of brief, face-to-face, assessments designed to aid threat assessment. To address this paucity, the author created The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment…

Hypersonic Threats to the Homeland

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-28

ADAM) system . This ground based system protects 7 soldiers against rocket threats and utilizes a 10 kW laser with an effective range out to...early warning systems for response to hypersonic threats . The integration of directed energy defensive systems with Space Based Infrared Sensors (SBIRS...and early warning radars already in operation will save costs. By capitalizing on Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system capabilities

Global Security Program Management Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bretzke, John C. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2014-03-25

The Global Security Directorate mission is to protect against proliferant and unconventional nuclear threats –regardless of origin - and emerging new threats. This mission is accomplished as the Los Alamos National Laboratory staff completes projects for our numerous sponsors. The purpose of this Program Management Plan is to establish and clearly describe the GS program management requirements including instructions that are essential for the successful management of projects in accordance with our sponsor requirements. The detailed information provided in this document applies to all LANL staff and their subcontractors that are performing GS portfolio work. GS management is committed to a culture that ensures effective planning, execution, and achievement of measurable results in accordance with the GS mission. Outcomes of such a culture result in better communication, delegated authority, accountability, and increased emphasis on safely and securely achieving GS objectives.

Contribution to assessing the stiffness reduction of structural elements in the global stability analysis of precast concrete multi-storey buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. C. Marin

Full Text Available This study deals with the reduction of the stiffness in precast concrete structural elements of multi-storey buildings to analyze global stability. Having reviewed the technical literature, this paper present indications of stiffness reduction in different codes, standards, and recommendations and compare these to the values found in the present study. The structural model analyzed in this study was constructed with finite elements using ANSYS® software. Physical Non-Linearity (PNL was considered in relation to the diagrams M x N x 1/r, and Geometric Non-Linearity (GNL was calculated following the Newton-Raphson method. Using a typical precast concrete structure with multiple floors and a semi-rigid beam-to-column connection, expressions for a stiffness reduction coefficient are presented. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: the reduction coefficients obtained from the diagram M x N x 1/r differ from standards that use a simplified consideration of PNL; the stiffness reduction coefficient for columns in the arrangements analyzed were approximately 0.5 to 0.6; and the variation of values found for stiffness reduction coefficient in concrete beams, which were subjected to the effects of creep with linear coefficients from 0 to 3, ranged from 0.45 to 0.2 for positive bending moments and 0.3 to 0.2 for negative bending moments.

Key issues in body armour: threats, materials and design

OpenAIRE

Horsfall, Ian

2012-01-01

This chapter will examine the mechanics and materials of body armour in military, police and some security related applications to protect the wearer from penetrative threats. These threats will include battlefield threats such as shell fragments and high velocity bullets, and threats to law enforcement personnel such as handgun bullets and knives. Regardless of whether the threat is a high velocity bullet, or a knife, the essential requirements of body armour are the same; first an interacti...

Nuclear power in the context of global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bodansky, D.

1989-01-01

The paper examines the extent to which nuclear power could help ameliorate the greenhouse problem. Topics discussed include: (1) How serious is the environmental threat posed by the greenhouse effect? (2) How large a part do fossil fuels play in producing greenhouse gases? (3) Is it possible to prevent or abate the anticipated global warming? (4) Can nuclear power play a significant role? (5) What overall approached might best reduce greenhouse emissions? Global cooperativeness in addressing the problem will be essential. 14 refs., 5 tabs

LINK BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION OF CONTEMPORARY ECONOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Grigorescu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development requires a fundamental change in lifestyle. A fully break detachment by the past requires a major reorientation of public and private behavior and mentality. The challenge lies in linking economic growth with social issues and positioning the environmental degradation. The process of globalization is connected also with environmental degradation, which is now extended as a concept of threat and security, considered individually and in connection. It has already started recognizing new global threats as well as from non -state groups and individuals. The security is being defined to include, among others, the wars between and within states, international organizations of organized crime, nuclear weapons development, poverty, viral diseases, climatic events and environmental degradation. The concerns about the global market and the global environment protection will become more related, through their mutual dependency. The relationship of global economy and environment, from a market perspective, means stimulating economic growth, a process that generates higher revenues, funds and wealth, on one hand and political will to improve environmental conservation and protection, on the other hand. But it could be seen that the developed countries have made the greatest progress in environmental protection, and even so the poor quality of the environment continues to deteriorate. In this context it is important to consider the opinion of experts on the interaction between globalization and sustainable development. The paper aims to present the views of experts from the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (South Muntenia. The study is an empirical research based on a questionnaire applied to a sample of over 300 subjects. The research aims to set out the existence of the link between sustainable development and globalization, to identify the main advantages and disadvantages of globalization and to prioritize the main

Gender, Stereotype Threat and Mathematics Test Scores

OpenAIRE

Ming Tsui; Xiao Y. Xu; Edmond Venator

2011-01-01

Problem statement: Stereotype threat has repeatedly been shown to depress womens scores on difficult math tests. An attempt to replicate these findings in China found no support for the stereotype threat hypothesis. Our math test was characterized as being personally important for the student participants, an atypical condition in most stereotype threat laboratory research. Approach: To evaluate the effects of this personal demand, we conducted three experiments. Results: ...

Disaster Risks Reduction for Extreme Natural Hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Plag, H.; Jules-Plag, S.

2013-12-01

Mega disasters associated with extreme natural hazards have the potential to escalate the global sustainability crisis and put us close to the boundaries of the safe operating space for humanity. Floods and droughts are major threats that potentially could reach planetary extent, particularly through secondary economic and social impacts. Earthquakes and tsunamis frequently cause disasters that eventually could exceed the immediate coping capacity of the global economy, particularly since we have built mega cities in hazardous areas that are now ready to be harvested by natural hazards. Unfortunately, the more we learn to cope with the relatively frequent hazards (50 to 100 years events), the less we are worried about the low-probability, high-impact events (a few hundred and more years events). As a consequence, threats from the 500 years flood, drought, volcano eruption are not appropriately accounted for in disaster risk reduction (DRR) discussions. Extreme geohazards have occurred regularly throughout the past, but mostly did not cause major disasters because exposure of human assets to hazards was much lower in the past. The most extreme events that occurred during the last 2,000 years would today cause unparalleled damage on a global scale and could worsen the sustainability crisis. Simulation of these extreme hazards under present conditions can help to assess the disaster risk. Recent extreme earthquakes have illustrated the destruction they can inflict, both directly and indirectly through tsunamis. Large volcano eruptions have the potential to impact climate, anthropogenic infrastructure and resource supplies on global scale. During the last 2,000 years several large volcano eruptions occurred, which under today's conditions are associated with extreme disaster risk. The comparison of earthquakes and volcano eruptions indicates that large volcano eruptions are the low-probability geohazards with potentially the highest impact on our civilization

A freshwater biodiversity hotspot under pressure - assessing threats and identifying conservation needs for ancient Lake Ohrid

Science.gov (United States)

Kostoski, G.; Albrecht, C.; Trajanovski, S.; Wilke, T.

2010-12-01

Immediate conservation measures for world-wide freshwater resources are of eminent importance. This is particularly true for so-called ancient lakes. While these lakes are famous for being evolutionary theatres, often displaying an extraordinarily high degree of biodiversity and endemism, in many cases these biota are also experiencing extreme anthropogenic impact. Lake Ohrid, a major European biodiversity hotspot situated in a trans-frontier setting on the Balkans, is a prime example for a lake with a magnitude of narrow range endemic taxa that are under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Unfortunately, evidence for a "creeping biodiversity crisis" has accumulated over the last decades, and major socio-political changes have gone along with human-mediated environmental changes. Based on field surveys, monitoring data, published records, and expert interviews, we aimed to (1) assess threats to Lake Ohrids' (endemic) biodiversity, (2) summarize existing conservation activities and strategies, and (3) outline future conservation needs for Lake Ohrid. We compiled threats to both specific taxa (and in cases to particular species) as well as to the lake ecosystems itself. Major conservation concerns identified for Lake Ohrid are: (1) watershed impacts, (2) agriculture and forestry, (3) tourism and population growth, (4) non-indigenous species, (5) habitat alteration or loss, (6) unsustainable exploitation of fisheries, and (7) global climate change. Among the major (well-known) threats with high impact are nutrient input (particularly of phosphorus), habitat conversion and silt load. Other threats are potentially of high impact but less well known. Such threats include pollution with hazardous substances (from sources such as mines, former industries, agriculture) or climate change. We review and discuss institutional responsibilities, environmental monitoring and ecosystem management, existing parks and reserves, biodiversity and species measures, international

Impacts of global, regional, and sectoral black carbon emission reductions on surface air quality and human mortality

Science.gov (United States)

Anenberg, S. C.; Talgo, K.; Arunachalam, S.; Dolwick, P.; Jang, C.; West, J. J.

2011-07-01

As a component of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon (BC) is associated with premature human mortality. BC also affects climate by absorbing solar radiation and reducing planetary albedo. Several studies have examined the climate impacts of BC emissions, but the associated health impacts have been studied less extensively. Here, we examine the surface PM2.5 and premature mortality impacts of halving anthropogenic BC emissions globally and individually from eight world regions and three major economic sectors. We use a global chemical transport model, MOZART-4, to simulate PM2.5 concentrations and a health impact function to calculate premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths. We estimate that halving global anthropogenic BC emissions reduces outdoor population-weighted average PM2.5 by 542 ng m-3 (1.8 %) and avoids 157 000 (95 % confidence interval, 120 000-194 000) annual premature deaths globally, with the vast majority occurring within the source region. Most of these avoided deaths can be achieved by halving emissions in East Asia (China; 54 %), followed by South Asia (India; 31 %), however South Asian emissions have 50 % greater mortality impacts per unit BC emitted than East Asian emissions. Globally, halving residential, industrial, and transportation emissions contributes 47 %, 35 %, and 15 % to the avoided deaths from halving all anthropogenic BC emissions. These contributions are 1.2, 1.2, and 0.6 times each sector's portion of global BC emissions, owing to the degree of co-location with population globally. We find that reducing BC emissions increases regional SO4 concentrations by up to 28 % of the magnitude of the regional BC concentration reductions, due to reduced absorption of radiation that drives photochemistry. Impacts of residential BC emissions are likely underestimated since indoor PM2.5 exposure is excluded. We estimate ∼8 times more avoided deaths when BC and organic carbon (OC) emissions are halved together, suggesting

CO_2 emissions reduction of Chinese light manufacturing industries: A novel RAM-based global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emrouznejad, Ali; Yang, Guo-liang

2016-01-01

Climate change has become one of the most challenging issues facing the world. Chinese government has realized the importance of energy conservation and prevention of the climate changes for sustainable development of China's economy and set targets for CO_2 emissions reduction in China. In China industry contributes 84.2% of the total CO_2 emissions, especially manufacturing industries. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity (MP) index are the widely used mathematical techniques to address the relative efficiency and productivity of a group of homogenous decision making units, e.g. industries or countries. However, in many real applications, especially those related to energy efficiency, there are often undesirable outputs, e.g. the pollutions, waste and CO_2 emissions, which are produced inevitably with desirable outputs in the production. This paper introduces a novel Malmquist–Luenberger productivity (MLP) index based on directional distance function (DDF) to address the issue of productivity evolution of DMUs in the presence of undesirable outputs. The new RAM (Range-adjusted measure)-based global MLP index has been applied to evaluate CO_2 emissions reduction in Chinese light manufacturing industries. Recommendations for policy makers have been discussed. - Highlights: •CO_2 emissions reduction in Chinese light manufacturing industries are measured. •A novel RAM based Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index has been developed. •Recommendation to policy makers for reducing CO_2 reduction in China are given.

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala–BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety

Science.gov (United States)

Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Abstract Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants’ self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala–BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. PMID:29126127

Stereotype Threat Lowers Older Adults' Self-Reported Hearing Abilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2015-01-01

Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in noncognitive domains. Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adults' subjective hearing abilities. To test this, 115 adults (mean age 50.03 years, range 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40s and early 50s were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50s and 60s rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype threat-free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Stereotype threat lowers older adults’ self-reported hearing abilities

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2016-01-01

Background Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in non-cognitive domains. Objective Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adult's subjective hearing abilities. Methods To test this, 115 adults (M age = 50.02, range = 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. Results The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40's and early 50's were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50's and 60's rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. Conclusion The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype-threat free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. PMID:26461273

Habitats at Risk. Global Warming and Species Loss in Globally Significant Terrestrial Ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malcolm, J.R.; Liu, Canran; Miller, L.B.; Allnutt, T.; Hansen, L.

2002-02-01

In this study, a suite of models of global climate and vegetation change is used to investigate three important global warming-induced threats to the terrestrial Global 200 ecoregions: (1) Invasions by new habitat types (and corresponding loss of original habitat types); (2) Local changes of habitat types; (3) High rates of required species migration. Seven climate models (general circulation models or GCMs) and two vegetation models (BIOME3 and MAPSS) were used to produce 14 impact scenarios under the climate associated with a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which is expected to occur in less than 100 years. Previous analyses indicated that most of the variation among the impact scenarios was attributable to the particular vegetation model used, hence the authors provide results separately for the two models. The models do not provide information on biodiversity per se, but instead simulate current and future potential distributions of major vegetation types (biomes) such as tundra and broadleaf tropical rain forest

Polar marine ecosystems: major threats and future change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clarke, A. [British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Harris, C.M. [Environmental Research and Assessment, Grantchester (United Kingdom)

2003-07-01

This review of polar marine ecosystems covers both the Arctic and Antarctic, identifying the major threats and, where possible, predicting their possible state(s) in 2025. Although the two polar regions are similar in their extreme photoperiod, low temperatures, and in being heavily influenced by snow and ice, in almost all other respects they are very different. The Arctic Ocean is a basin surrounded by continental landmasses close to, and influenced by, large populations and industrial activities. In contrast, the Southern Ocean is contiguous with all the other great oceans and surrounds a single land mass; Antarctica is remote from major centres of population and sources of pollution. Marine environments in both Polar Regions have been highly disturbed by fishing activity, but, in terms of pollution, some areas remain among the most pristine in the world. There are, however, both local and global pressures. Over the 2025 time horizon, the greatest concern for the Arctic is probably the ecological implications of climate change, particularly insofar as sea ice extent and duration are likely to be affected. Such changes are not expected to be as pronounced in the Southern Ocean over this time period, and concerns are related more to direct threats from harvesting of marine living resources, and the ability to manage these fisheries sustainably. In both Polar Regions, the capacity of marine ecosystems to withstand the cumulative impact of a number of pressures, including climate change, pollution and overexploitation, acting synergistically is of greatest concern. (author)

49 CFR 1546.301 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1546.301 Section 1546... Threat Response § 1546.301 Bomb or air piracy threats. No foreign air carrier may land or take off an airplane in the United States after receiving a bomb or air piracy threat against that airplane, unless the...

Emissions targets in cap-and-trade : choosing reduction goals compatible with global climate stabilization

Science.gov (United States)

2009-09-01

Among the major environmental threats facing the world today, climate change stands out as both the largest in scope and the most unique in character, in the sense that the atmosphere : truly does not recognize national boundaries when it comes to ca...

From Threat to Relief: Expressing Prejudice toward Atheists as a Self-Regulatory Strategy Protecting the Religious Orthodox from Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Kossowska, Małgorzata; Szwed, Paulina; Czernatowicz-Kukuczka, Aneta; Sekerdej, Maciek; Wyczesany, Miroslaw

2017-01-01

We claim that religious orthodoxy is related to prejudice toward groups that violate important values, i.e., atheists. Moreover, we suggest that expressing prejudice may efficiently reduce the threat posed by this particular group among people who hold high levels, but not low levels, of orthodox belief. We tested these assumptions in an experimental study in which, after being exposed to atheistic worldviews (value-threat manipulation), high and low orthodox participants were allowed (experimental condition) or not (control condition) to express prejudice toward atheists. Threat was operationalized by cardiovascular reactivity, i.e., heart rate (HR); the higher the HR index, the higher the threat. The results found that people who hold high (vs. low) levels of orthodox belief responded with increased HR after the threat manipulation. However, we observed decreased HR after the expression of prejudice toward atheists among highly orthodox participants compared to the control condition. We did not find this effect among people holding low levels of orthodox belief. Thus, we conclude that expressing prejudice toward this particular group may be an efficient strategy to cope with the threat posed by this group for highly orthodox people. The results are discussed in light of previous findings on religious beliefs and the self-regulatory function of prejudice. PMID:28611715

What About the Children? The Threat of Nuclear War and Our Responsibility to Preserve this Planet for Future Generations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawkes, Glenn W.

Part of a global effort, this brochure was written to increase understanding of the threat nuclear war poses to children. Several issues are raised and briefly discussed, including (1) the present capacity for annihilating the next generation or ending human life on this planet, (2) the inadequacy of deterrence, (3) the suffering of children after…

Effects of a Community-Based HIV Risk Reduction Intervention Among HIV-Positive Individuals: Results of a Quasi-Experimental Study in Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Poudel, Krishna C; Buchanan, David R; Poudel-Tandukar, Kalpana

2015-06-01

We evaluated the efficacy of a sexual risk reduction intervention utilizing protection motivation and social cognitive theories to address knowledge, threat and coping appraisals, and condom use intentions among HIV-positive individuals in Nepal. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we assigned 277 participants to intervention (n=146) and control (n=131) groups. The intervention group received six sessions on sexual risk reduction strategies and the control group six sessions on medication adherence, smoking, and mental health. Data were collected at baseline and immediately after the intervention. Results indicate that the sexual risk reduction intervention produced a significant increase in HIV transmission knowledge, perceived threat and coping appraisals, and intentions to use condoms with regular, HIV-positive, and HIV-negative partners. The positive effects of the intervention remained significant after adjusting for baseline scores and other potential confounders. In conclusion, our theory-based sexual risk reduction intervention was effective in improving HIV transmission knowledge, perceived threat and coping appraisals, and condom use intentions. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of the intervention in increasing protection motivation and maintaining preventive behaviors.

The emerging threat of domestic terrorism: a systematic review of evolving needs, threats, and opportunities

OpenAIRE

Wright, Lynn M.

2014-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The domestic terrorist threat in the United States is active and complex, with ongoing threats from violent left- and right-wing extremist groups, and radicalization and recruitment efforts by international terrorist groups. In response, domestic intelligence agencies, at all levels of government, have instituted reforms and improvements since 9/11, but there are still gaps in information-sharing and community engagement. For example, ...

Development of transnational corporations in the world: opportunities and threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra NICULA

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Transnational corporations (TNCs are incorporated or unincorporated enterprises comprising parent enterprises and their foreign affiliates. Transnational Corporations exert a great deal of power in the globalized world economy. Many corporations are richer and more powerful than the states that seek to regulate them. Through mergers and acquisitions corporations have been growing very rapidly and some of the largest TNCs now have annual profits exceeding the GDPs of many low and medium income countries. TNCs dominate the global economy and exert their influence over global policymaking. Worldwide companies start the trend in many domains having a big range of competitors. Trade is an important development tool. Trade between developing and industrialized countries has expanded and borrowing from rich countries to the poor areas of this world increased. The links between these differing groups of economies intensified subsequently and made these two groups increasingly dependent from each other. TNCs based their activity around this idea. In this paper, we try to emphasize the role of the TNCs in the worldwide economy, the advantages and disadvantages these corporations bring to the countries they activate in and even to the entire world and what effect they have on globalization. Some opportunities and threats of TNS activity are presented, exemplifying through some well known corporations which succeded in this competitive world. The authors wanted in this way to show the positive and negative aspects of their performance and give the reader the opportunity to develop the own opinion.

Factors driving the global decline of cycad diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mankga, Ledile T; Yessoufou, Kowiyou

2017-07-01

Mounting evidence indicates that we are witnessing the sixth mass extinction period. Given the important goods and services biodiversity delivers to humans, there is a need for a continued commitment to investigate what pre-disposes some taxa to greater risk of extinction. Here, we investigate this question using a phylogenetic comparative method and fitting a cumulative link mixed effect model on biological, ecological and evolutionary data of cycads, the most threatened lineage in the plant kingdom. We identified nine groups of threats to cycads, with habitat loss, over-collection, fire and reproduction failure being the most prominent, but only four of these threats (habitat loss, over-collection, medicinal uses and reproduction failure) clustered on the cycad tree of life. This clustering suggests that closely related species may be exposed to similar threats, perhaps because of geographic regionalization of cycad genera. Nonetheless, the diversity of threats and several variables linked to the biology and ecology of cycads correlate with extinction risk (e.g. altitude, height, diameter, geographic range), and different variables seem to be linked to different IUCN status of cycads. Although their predictive power is generally extinction risk in cycads and, since most threats that we identified as drivers of extinction risk of cycads are anthropogenically mediated, we recommend stronger legislation to regulate human-cycad interactions and the commitment of all governments globally to implement this regulation.

Interfacing a biosurveillance portal and an international network of institutional analysts to detect biological threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Riccardo, Flavia; Shigematsu, Mika; Chow, Catherine; McKnight, C Jason; Linge, Jens; Doherty, Brian; Dente, Maria Grazia; Declich, Silvia; Barker, Mike; Barboza, Philippe; Vaillant, Laetitia; Donachie, Alastair; Mawudeku, Abla; Blench, Michael; Arthur, Ray

2014-01-01

The Early Alerting and Reporting (EAR) project, launched in 2008, is aimed at improving global early alerting and risk assessment and evaluating the feasibility and opportunity of integrating the analysis of biological, chemical, radionuclear (CBRN), and pandemic influenza threats. At a time when no international collaborations existed in the field of event-based surveillance, EAR's innovative approach involved both epidemic intelligence experts and internet-based biosurveillance system providers in the framework of an international collaboration called the Global Health Security Initiative, which involved the ministries of health of the G7 countries and Mexico, the World Health Organization, and the European Commission. The EAR project pooled data from 7 major internet-based biosurveillance systems onto a common portal that was progressively optimized for biological threat detection under the guidance of epidemic intelligence experts from public health institutions in Canada, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The group became the first end users of the EAR portal, constituting a network of analysts working with a common standard operating procedure and risk assessment tools on a rotation basis to constantly screen and assess public information on the web for events that could suggest an intentional release of biological agents. Following the first 2-year pilot phase, the EAR project was tested in its capacity to monitor biological threats, proving that its working model was feasible and demonstrating the high commitment of the countries and international institutions involved. During the testing period, analysts using the EAR platform did not miss intentional events of a biological nature and did not issue false alarms. Through the findings of this initial assessment, this article provides insights into how the field of epidemic intelligence can advance through an

Heating GLOBAL vs LOCAL Contamination. Problematic National

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turtos Carbonell, Leonor; Fernandez Rondon, Manuel; Meneses Ruiz, Elieza; Rivero Oliva, Jesus; Diaz Rivero, Norberto; Sanchez Gacita, Madeleine; Curbelo Garea, Lariza

2007-01-01

The tendency of growth year after year of the half temperature of the planet in correspondence with the increase of the concentrations of gases of greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, is an unequivocal sign that the greenhouse effect and its consequence, the one global heating, is a threat that hangs on the Earth. At national level and international conscience of this situation is won and the actions are increased directed to to mitigate it. The contribution of the energy sector to these emissions is considerable. The work it analyzes the contribution from Cuba to the global climatic change

Introduction to Special Edition (of the Journal of Nuclear Materials Management) on Reducing the Threat from Radioactive Materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mladineo, Stephen V.

2007-01-01

Introductory article for special edition of the JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT outlining the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management Nonproliferation and Arms Control Technical Division. In particular the International Nuclear and Radiological Security Standing Committee and its initial focus covering four topical areas--Radiological Threat Reduction, Nuclear Smuggling and Illicit Trafficking, Countering Nuclear Terrorism, and Radiological Terrorism Consequence Management

Man -made greenhouse gases trigger unified force to start global warming impacts referred to as climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karishnan, K.J.; Kalam, A.

2011-01-01

Global warming problems due to man-made greenhouse gases (GHGs), appear to be a serious concern and threat to the globe. CO/sub 2/, O/sub 3, NOx and HFC's are the main greenhouse gases and CO/sub 2/ is one of the main cause of global warming. CO/sub 2/ is emitted from burning fossil fuels to produce electricity from power plants and burning of gasoline in vehicles and airplanes. Global greenhouse gases and its sources in regions are discussed in this paper. This paper initially discusses the CO/sub 2/ emissions and the recycle of CO/sub 2/ in biodiesel. This paper mainly focuses on 'Unified Force'. The increase of H/sub 2/O in the sea due to warming of the globe triggers the 'Unified Force' or 'Self-Compressive Surrounding Pressure Force' which is proportional to the H/sub 2/O level in the sea to start global warming impacts referred to as climate change. This paper also points out the climate change and the ten surprising results of global warming. Finally, this paper suggests switching from fossil fuel technology to green energy technologies like biodiesel which recycles CO/sub 2/ emissions and also Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Technologies which eradicates global warming impacts. The benefits of switching from fossil fuel to biodiesel and Hydrogen Energy utilization includes reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, economic independence by having distributed production and burning of biodiesel does not add extra CO/sub 2/ to the air that contributes global warming impacts. (author)

Digital Threat and Vulnerability Management: The SVIDT Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roland W. Scholz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Digital Revolution is inducing major threats to many types of human systems. We present the SVIDT method (a Strengths, Vulnerability, and Intervention Assessment related to Digital Threats for managing the vulnerabilities of human systems with respect to digital threats and changes. The method first performs a multilevel system–actor analysis for assessing vulnerabilities and strengths with respect to digital threats. Then, the method identifies threat scenarios that may become real. By constructing, evaluating, and launching interventions against all identified digital threats and their critical negative outcomes, the resilience of a specific human system can be improved. The evaluation of interventions is done when strengthening the adaptive capacity, i.e., a system’s capability to cope with negative outcomes that may take place in the future. The SVIDT method is embedded in the framework of coupled human–environment systems, the theory of risk and vulnerability assessment, types of adaptation (assimilation vs. accommodation, and a comprehensive sustainability evaluation. The SVIDT method is exemplarily applied to an enterprise (i.e., a Swiss casino for which online gaming has become an essential digital-business field. The discussion reflects on the specifics of digital threats and discusses both the potential benefits and limitations of the SVIDT method.

Options for utilizing the CDM for global emission reductions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Butzengeiger-Geyer, Sonja; Castro, Paula; Harthan, Ralph O.; Hayashi, Daisuke; Healy, Sean; Maribu, Karl Magnus; Michaelowa, Axel; Okubo, Yuri; Schneider, Lambert; Storroe, Ingunn [Zuerich Univ. (Switzerland); Oeko-Institut e.V., Berlin (Germany); Perspectives GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Point Carbon A/S, Oslo (Norway)

2010-11-15

The study describes and discusses in detail how four CDM reform alternatives, namely discounting of emission reductions, ambitious baselines, purchase and cancellation of CERs and reinvestment of CER levies, could be integrated in a Post-2012 climate regime. The study assesses these alternatives, according to their impacts on GHG emission reductions, contribution to sustainable development, cost-efficiency, technical feasibility, incentives and distributional effects as well as negotiability. The study shows that the introduction of discounting and ambitious baselines is technically feasible but politically a massive challenge. With the help of an economic model the study shows that the introduction of reform alternatives increases the amount of emission reductions but in comparison to the current CDM the impact is rather limited. But a CDM reform can in any case increase the credibility and improve the environmental integrity of the mechanism. (orig.)

IDENTIFICATION OF THE FREQUENCY AND THE INTENSITY OF THE THREATS IN THE FUNCTION OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Željko Hutinski

2006-06-01

Full Text Available In the process of development of the security system of the information system, the risk assessment is the foundation for selection of the security measures. The reduction of the level of risk and the amount of costs depend upon the adequate selection of the security measures. The quality of the risk assessment depends upon the adequate assessment of the form and the intensity of the threats. If the forms of threats are not monitored in the business system, it should make its own threat assessment, or use experience of others. The best, but also the most time-consuming solution is to develop own security system, while the fastest way is to use experience of others. However, there is the problem of migration of some other solution to our own system. Depending upon the question whether we are adopting the experiences of domestic or foreign business systems, the question of the applicability to the system from the different business environment becomes relevant. This happens because of the significant differences in the form and intensity of threats in certain local environments or different branches of industry.

Carbon tariffs on Chinese exports: Emissions reduction, threat, or farce?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hübler, Michael

2012-01-01

(1) We estimate CO 2 implicitly exported via commodities relative to a region's total emissions: We find −15% for the industrialized, 12% for the developing region, and 24% for China. (2) We analyze a Contraction and Convergence climate regime in a CGE model including international capital mobility and technology diffusion: When China does not participate in the regime and instead a carbon tariff is imposed on its exports, it will likely be worse off than when participating. This result does not hold for the developing region in general. Meanwhile, the effect on emissions appears small. - Highlights: ► Carbon intensities and contents of trade by commodity and region using GTAP 7. ► Net carbon exports: industrialized region −15%, developing region 12%, China 24%. ► CGE analysis of carbon tariffs based on our carbon intensities. ► The tariffs make China worse off than climate policy and are ambiguous for the developing region. ► They have a small impact on reducing global emissions.

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala-BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Walker S; Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants' self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala-BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Climate change air toxic co-reduction in the context of macroeconomic modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford-Brown, Douglas; Chen, Pi-Cheng; Shi, Hsiu-Ching; Chao, Chia-Wei

2013-08-15

This paper examines the health implications of global PM reduction accompanying greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the 180 national economies of the global macroeconomy. A human health effects module based on empirical data on GHG emissions, PM emissions, background PM concentrations, source apportionment and human health risk coefficients is used to estimate reductions in morbidity and mortality from PM exposures globally as co-reduction of GHG reductions. These results are compared against the "fuzzy bright line" that often underlies regulatory decisions for environmental toxics, and demonstrate that the risk reduction through PM reduction would usually be considered justified in traditional risk-based decisions for environmental toxics. It is shown that this risk reduction can be on the order of more than 4 × 10(-3) excess lifetime mortality risk, with global annual cost savings of slightly more than $10B, when uniform GHG reduction measures across all sectors of the economy form the basis for climate policy ($2.2B if only Annex I nations reduce). Consideration of co-reduction of PM-10 within a climate policy framework harmonized with other environmental policies can therefore be an effective driver of climate policy. An error analysis comparing results of the current model against those of significantly more spatially resolved models at city and national scales indicates errors caused by the low spatial resolution of the global model used here may be on the order of a factor of 2. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Globalization and the Military Industrial Base: Where Should U.S. Policy Go?

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sundell, Dennis R

2007-01-01

.... military industrial base. While the prospects of globalization have provided the defense industrial base with rewards including reduced costs as a result of competition and greater access to foreign technologies it has also created some threats...

THE BIOTERRORISM THREAT: TECHNOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. F. PILAT

2000-03-01

Bioterrorism--along with biowarfare, from which it may not always be distinguishable in practice--will be a feature of the strategic landscape in the 21st century and is high on the US national security agenda. Bioterrorism poses a potential threat to the US population, agriculture, interests, friends and allies, and military forces (asymmetric threats). Yet these possibilities have not been widely pursued or realized by terrorists. The perceived threat is far worse than anything experienced to date, and is largely technologically driven.

Disappearing threat to ozone

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gribbin, J

1979-02-15

Concern that human activities might disturb the dynamic natural equilibrium of the ozone layer has stemmed from the fact that this layer plays a key part in the ecology of the earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation which would otherwise penetrate to the ground. Apparently, however, a decline of as much at 15% in total global ozone would have very little effect on climate. A 50% reduction would produce a marked cooling of the stratosphere at 40 km altitude over the tropics, but barely detectable changes in temperature and rainfall in the lower atmosphere. Therefore, biological effects of more uv light at ground level is the only hazard associated with ozone depletion on the scale which might take place.

Towards Global Jihadism: Al-Qaeda's Strategic, Ideological and Structural Adaptations since 9/11

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bill Braniff

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In recent years, Al-Qaeda has suffered a number of setbacks, but has also successfully spawned an expansionist global jihadist movement that will survive the death of Osama bin Laden. This article describes how the multifaceted threat posed by global jihadism has evolved over the last decade. It first recounts some of the more salient examples of Al-Qaeda’s post-9/11 strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations, and then offers a balance sheet of Al-Qaeda’s contemporary strengths and weaknesses. Al-Qaeda continues to enable the violence of others, orient that violence towards the United States and its allies in a distributed game of attrition warfare, and foster a dichotomous “us versus them” narrative between the Muslim world and the rest of the international community. Despite this overarching consistency, Al-Qaeda shepherds a different phenomenon than it did ten years ago. The aggregation of the movement’s strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations has fundamentally changed the nature of the jihadist threat to the West. This evolved threat is not inherently more dangerous, as counterterrorism efforts today focus on and disrupt capability earlier and more consistently than prior to September 2001. This multifaceted global jihad will, however, continue to produce greater numbers of attacks in more locations, from a more diverse cadre of individuals spanning a wider ideological spectrum.   

Affirmative Action and Stereotype Threat

OpenAIRE

Cohen, Alma

2015-01-01

This paper provides experimental evidence on the effect of affirmative action (AA). In particular, we investigate whether affirmative action has a ”stereotype threat effect” – that is, whether AA cues a negative stereotype that leads individuals to conform to the stereotype and adversely affects their performance. Stereotype threat has been shown in the literature to be potentially significant for individuals who identify strongly with the domain of the stereotype and who engage in complex st...

Another globalization

OpenAIRE

Prof. Ph.D. Ion Bucur

2007-01-01

Finding the anachronisms and the failures of the present globalization, as well as the vitiated system of world-wide government, has stimulated the debates regarding the identification of a more equitable form of globalization to favor the acceleration of the economic increase and the reduction of poverty.The deficiency of the present international economic institutions, especially the lack of transparency and democratic responsibility, claims back with acuteness the reformation of ...

Nuclear proliferation and the potential threat of nuclear terrorism. 8 November 2004, Sydney, Australia, Asia-Pacific Nuclear Safeguards and Security Conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ElBaradei, M.

2004-01-01

Today, the focus of the world is on nuclear proliferation and the potential threat of nuclear terrorism in Asia and the Pacific, and this address is presenting the perspectives on the challenges IAEA faces, and how the IAEA is working to strengthen nuclear security and the nuclear non-proliferation regime. But one would emphasize at the outset that, while much of our work must begin locally and regionally, we must not forget to think globally, because ultimately the existence of a nuclear threat anywhere is a threat everywhere, and as a global community, we will win or lose this battle together. This presentation, discusses cooperation, assistance, regional and international networks, and the importance of learning from each other. In effect, the focal subject is 'security culture', a mindset that, while providing the impetus for local and regional action, thinks globally and is fully capable of extending across borders. Sixty years ago, on a day in August, the dawn of the Nuclear Age in Asia left nearly a quarter of a million people dead, with two devices considered crude by modern standards. For six decades, we have managed to avoid a repeat of that event, but remain haunted by the prospect. It is my firm belief that we cannot move out from under the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until we are ready to make that move collectively, and build a system of security that transcends borders, that focuses on the equal value of every human life, and in which nuclear weapons have no place. May it not ultimately be said of our civilization that we created the inventions that led to our own demise

Stereotype Threat Alters the Subjective Experience of Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazerolle, Marie; Régner, Isabelle; Rigalleau, François; Huguet, Pascal

2015-01-01

There is now evidence that negative age-related stereotypes about memory reduce older adults' memory performance, and inflate age differences in this domain. Here, we examine whether stereotype threat may also influence the basic feeling that one is more or less able to remember. Using the Remember/Know paradigm, we demonstrated that stereotype threat conducted older adults to a greater feeling of familiarity with events, while failing to retrieve any contextual detail. This finding indicates that stereotype threat alters older adults' subjective experience of memory, and strengthens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects.

Bankrupting terrorism: the role of US anti-terrorism litigation in the prevention of terrorism and other hybrid threats: a legal assessment and outlook

OpenAIRE

Bachmann, Sascha

2012-01-01

Global terrorist networks are dependent on receiving financial support from a variety of sources, including individuals, charities and corporations. Also known as terrorist financing, the potential of terrorism finance to resemble a global threat has been recognised and also its closeness to other international crimes such as money laundering and organized crime. As a result, possible responses have to constitute co-ordinated, multi-lateral and multi faceted actions under the umbrella of a wi...

Cocaine Hoppers : The Nigerian Involvement in the Global Cocaine Trade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oboh, Jude Roys

2016-01-01

In recent decades, Nigerian criminal drug ‘barons’ and ‘gangs’ have come to dominate international cocaine trafficking via West Africa to destination countries globally, a trend that presents a serious security threat to Africa and the world. This work provides empirical evidence to define and

Many Species, Many Threats: A Composite Risk Assessment of Climate Impacts for Salmonids in the Pacific Northwest

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, M. C.; Greene, C.; Beechie, T. J.; Raymond, C.

2016-02-01

The life cycles of salmonid species span freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments, exposing these economically, ecologically, and culturally important species to a wide variety of climate change threats. The diverse life histories of salmonids make them differentially vulnerable to climate change based on their use of different habitat types and the variability in climate change threats across these habitat types. Previous studies have focused mainly on assessing the vulnerability of particular life stages for a few species. Hence, we lack a broad perspective on how multiple climate threats are expected to impact the entire salmonid community, which spend much of their lives in marine waters. This lack of knowledge hampers our ability to prioritize various adaptation strategies for salmonid conservation. In order to conduct a more extensive vulnerability study of salmonids, we performed a life cycle-based risk assessment of climate change threats for nine species of salmonids (species within Oncorhynchus, Salvelinus, and Prosopium genera) inhabiting the Skagit River watershed, which is subject to an array of climate impacts. Our risk assessment integrated projections of impacts from various climate threats in freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems with expert-based assessments of species-specific sensitivity and exposure. We found that projections (multiple global climate models under moderate emission scenarios) of both changes in magnitude and frequency of three flow-related freshwater impacts (flooding, low flows, and suspended sediment pulses) were more severe than threats in estuarine and marine habitats for which we could obtain projections. Combining projections with expert-based sensitivity and exposure scores revealed that these three threats exhibited the highest risk across all species. Of the nine species, the four most vulnerable were Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, and bull trout. Even though these salmonids spend much of their lives

Extent and agenda of emission reduction policies in front of climate risks: lessons learned from integrated models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ambrosi, Ph.

2004-05-01

After having highlighted the main difficulties met when trying to take decisions on emission reductions (i.e. disequilibrium between short term action and long term dynamics, series of uncertainties, lack of a clear information on threats), this research aims at studying the extent and the agenda of CO 2 emission reduction efforts at a global scale. First, the author explores under various perspectives the relationship between the extent of climate change and the extent of its impacts and modes of analysis of climate policies. Then, he examines how different attitudes towards the climate risk are translated into recommendations for action which are obtained by always more complex models. In order to compare results, simulations are performed, based on optimal control models belonging to the RESPONSE family. Three different options or attitudes are then studied and assessed with RESPONSE: firstly, the uncertainty on impact and damage assessment is still too important to have confidence in present assessments; secondly, while being sceptical on damage assessment, more confidence is given to climate model results, and thirdly, an explicit representation of climate damages is used to introduce rationality issues in the debate on risks

Eastern forest environmental threat assessment center

Science.gov (United States)

Southern Research Station. USDA Forest Service

2010-01-01

The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) provides the latest research and expertise concerning threats to healthy forests – such as insects and disease, wildland loss, invasive species, wildland fire, and climate change – to assist forest landowners, managers and scientists throughout the East. Established in 2005, EFETAC is a joint effort of...

The Nature of the Bioterrorism Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Regens, J. L.

2003-02-25

This analysis provides an overview of the nature of the bioterrorism threat. It identifies potential CDC Class A biological agents that are likely candidates for use in a terrorist incident and describes the known sources of vulnerability. The paper also summarizes S&T resources/needs and assesses response options for achieving effective biodefense against terrorist threats.

Bomb Threats and Bomb Search Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC.

This pamphlet explains how to be prepared and plan for bomb threats and describes procedures to follow once a call has been received. The content covers (1) preparation for bomb threats, (2) evacuation procedures, (3) room search methods, (4) procedures to follow once a bomb has been located, and (5) typical problems that search teams will…

Impacts of global, regional, and sectoral black carbon emission reductions on surface air quality and human mortality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. C. Anenberg

2011-07-01

Full Text Available As a component of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5, black carbon (BC is associated with premature human mortality. BC also affects climate by absorbing solar radiation and reducing planetary albedo. Several studies have examined the climate impacts of BC emissions, but the associated health impacts have been studied less extensively. Here, we examine the surface PM_2.5 and premature mortality impacts of halving anthropogenic BC emissions globally and individually from eight world regions and three major economic sectors. We use a global chemical transport model, MOZART-4, to simulate PM_2.5 concentrations and a health impact function to calculate premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths. We estimate that halving global anthropogenic BC emissions reduces outdoor population-weighted average PM_2.5 by 542 ng m⁻³ (1.8 % and avoids 157 000 (95 % confidence interval, 120 000–194 000 annual premature deaths globally, with the vast majority occurring within the source region. Most of these avoided deaths can be achieved by halving emissions in East Asia (China; 54 %, followed by South Asia (India; 31 %, however South Asian emissions have 50 % greater mortality impacts per unit BC emitted than East Asian emissions. Globally, halving residential, industrial, and transportation emissions contributes 47 %, 35 %, and 15 % to the avoided deaths from halving all anthropogenic BC emissions. These contributions are 1.2, 1.2, and 0.6 times each sector's portion of global BC emissions, owing to the degree of co-location with population globally. We find that reducing BC emissions increases regional SO₄ concentrations by up to 28 % of the magnitude of the regional BC concentration reductions, due to reduced absorption of radiation that drives photochemistry. Impacts of residential BC emissions are likely underestimated since indoor PM_2.5 exposure is excluded. We estimate ∼8 times

Self-Construal Priming Modulates Self-Evaluation under Social Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianyang Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that Westerners evaluate themselves in an especially flattering way when faced with a social-evaluative threat. The current study first investigated whether East Asians also have a similar pattern by recruiting Chinese participants and using social-evaluative threat manipulations in which participants perform self-evaluation tasks while adopting different social-evaluative feedbacks (Experiment 1. Then further examined whether the different response patterns can be modulated by different types of self-construal by using social-evaluative threat manipulations in conjunction with a self-construal priming task (Experiment 2. The results showed that, as opposed to Westerners' pattern, Chinese participants rated themselves as having significantly greater above-average effect only when faced with the nonthreatening feedback but not the social-evaluative threat. More importantly, we found that self-construal modulated the self-evaluation under social-evaluative threat: following independent self-construal priming, participants tended to show a greater above-average effect when faced with a social-evaluative threat. However, this pattern in conjunction with a social threat disappeared after participants received interdependent self-construal priming or neutral priming. These findings suggest that the effects of social-evaluative threat on self-evaluation are not culturally universal and is strongly modulated by self-construal priming.

Waiting for Disasters: A Risk Reduction Assessment of Technological Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Rovins, Jane; Winningham, Sam

2010-05-01

This session provides a risk reduction/mitigation assessment of natural hazards causation of technological disasters and possible solution. People use technology in an attempt to not only control their environment but nature itself in order to make them feel safe and productive. Most strategies for managing hazards followed a traditional planning model i.e. study the problem, identify and implement a solution, and move on to the next problem. This approach is often viewed as static model and risk reduction is more of an upward, positive, linear trend. However, technological disasters do not allow risk reduction action to neatly fit this upward, positive, linear trend with actual or potential threats to the environment and society. There are different types of technological disasters, including industrial accidents; pipeline ruptures; accidents at power, water and heat supply systems and other lines of communication; sudden collapse of buildings and mines; air crashes; shipwrecks; automobile and railway accidents to name a few. Natural factors can play an essential role in triggering or magnifying technological disasters. They can result from the direct destruction of given technical objects by a hazardous natural process such as the destruction of an atomic power plant or chemical plant due to an earthquake. Other examples would include the destruction of communications or infrastructure systems by heavy snowfalls, strong winds, avalanches. Events in the past ten years clearly demonstrate that natural disasters and the technological disasters that accompany them are not problems that can be solved in isolation and risk reduction can play an important part. Risk reduction was designed to head off the continuing rising financial and structural tolls from disasters. All Hazard Risk Reduction planning was supposed to include not only natural, but technological, and human-made disasters as well. The subsequent disaster risk reduction (DRR) indicators were to provide the

School Shooting : Threat Detection and Classification in Textual Leakage

OpenAIRE

Khan, Ajmal

2013-01-01

The continual occurrence of school shooting incidents underscores the need of taking preventive measures. Inductive measures of threat assessment have proved to be a bad strategy to solve the problem and new research is focusing on deductive approaches. Deductive threat assessment approaches are gaining ground and efforts are underway to mine text for automatic detection of threats in written text. Automatic detection and classification of threats in the digital world can help the decision ma...

A plea for Global Health Action bottom-up

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich Laaser

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This opinion piece focuses on global health action by hands-on bottom-up practice: Initiation of an organizational framework and securing financial efficiency are – however - essential, both clearly a domain of well trained public health professionals. Examples of action are cited in the four main areas of global threats: planetary climate change, global divides and inequity, global insecurity and violent conflicts, global instability and financial crises. In conclusion a stable health systems policy framework would greatly enhance success. However, such organisational framework dries out if not linked to public debates channelling fresh thoughts and controversial proposals: the structural stabilisation is essential but has to serve not to dominate bottom-up activities. In other words a horizontal management is required, a balanced equilibrium between bottom-up initiative and top-down support. Last not least rewarding voluntary and charity work by public acknowledgement is essential.

Cleanup Summary Report for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Fiscal Year 2007, Task 6.7, U12u-Tunnel (Legacy Site), Nevada Test Site, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

This letter serves as notice of completion for cleanup of the U12u-Tunnel (Legacy Site) as specified in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Fiscal Year 2007 Statement of Work, Task 6.7. The U12u-Tunnel Legacy Site is located near the intersection of the U12u-Tunnel access road and the U12n-Tunnel access road in Area 12 of the Nevada Test Site (see Figure 1). The site encompasses 1.2 acres and was used to store miscellaneous mining equipment and materials that were used to support DTRA testing in Area 12. Field activities commenced February 11, 2008, and were completed February 20, 2008. Radiological surveys were performed on a drill jumbo and all material stored at the site. The drill jumbo was relocated to U12p-Tunnel portal and consolidated with other critical mining equipment for future use or storage. Ten truck loads of solid waste (53 tons) were shipped to the Nevada Test Site, Area 9 U10c Sanitary Landfill for disposal. No hazardous or radiological waste was generated at this site

Energy globalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tierno Andres

1997-01-01

Toward the future, the petroleum could stop to be the main energy source in the world and the oil companies will only survive if they are adjusted to the new winds that blow in the general energy sector. It will no longer be enough to be the owner of the resource (petroleum or gas) so that a company subsists and be profitable in the long term. The future, it will depend in great measure of the vision with which the oil companies face the globalization concept that begins to experience the world in the energy sector. Concepts like globalization, competition, integration and diversification is something that the companies of the hydrocarbons sector will have very present. Globalization means that it should be been attentive to what happens in the world, beyond of the limits of its territory, or to be caught by competitive surprises that can originate in very distant places. The search of cleaner and friendlier energy sources with the means it is not the only threat that it should fear the petroleum. Their substitution for electricity in the big projects of massive transport, the technology of the communications, the optic fiber and the same relationships with the aboriginal communities are aspects that also compete with the future of the petroleum

Concern over Zika virus outbreak: another alarming global threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hafiz MY

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Muhammad Yusuf Hafiz,1 Syed Uzair Mahmood,2 Maria Shoaib,1 Farah Hafiz Yusuf1 1Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, 2Sindh Medical College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan Abstract: Zika virus, as highlighted by the World Health Organization in February 2016, has emerged as a public health emergency of international concern. Zika virus is enveloped and icosahedral, and has a nonsegmented, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome. It belongs to Flaviviridae family. Aedes aegypticus mosquito is the known vector. Transmission is anthroponotic (human to vector to human during outbreaks, or occurs perinatally in utero, sexually, and via transfusion of infected blood. Zika virus is turning out to be a major public health concern. Not only has it shown dramatic teratogenic association and caused serious neurological concerns but it has also spread around the globe. Countries that have not yet been affected by Zika virus should adopt proper preventive methods to limit its spread in the population. Keywords: Zika virus, global spread, teratogenic, neurological anomalies, public health emergency

Modeling and simulation of botnet based cyber-threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kasprzyk Rafał

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an analysis of cyber-threats, with particular emphasis on the threats resulting from botnet activity. Botnets are the most common types of threats and often perceived as crucial in terms of national security. Their classification and methods of spreading are the basis for creating cyberspace model including the presence of different types of cyber-threats. A well-designed cyberspace model enables to construct an experimental environment that allows for the analysis of botnet characteristics, testing its resistance to various events and simulation of the spread and evolution. For this purpose, dedicated platforms with capabilities and functional characteristics to meet these requirements have been proposed.

Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Owen Lo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Insider threats are a considerable problem within cyber security and it is often difficult to detect these threats using signature detection. Increasing machine learning can provide a solution, but these methods often fail to take into account changes of behaviour of users. This work builds on a published method of detecting insider threats and applies Hidden Markov method on a CERT data set (CERT r4.2 and analyses a number of distance vector methods (Damerau–Levenshtein Distance, Cosine Distance, and Jaccard Distance in order to detect changes of behaviour, which are shown to have success in determining different insider threats.

The opportunity-threat theory of decision-making under risk

OpenAIRE

Mohan Pandey

2018-01-01

A new theory of decision-making under risk, the Opportunity-Threat Theory is proposed. Analysis of risk into opportunity and threat components allows description of behavior as a combination of opportunity seeking and threat aversion. Expected utility is a special case of this model. The final evaluation is an integration of the impacts of opportunity and threat with this expectation. The model can account for basic results as well as several ``new paradoxes'' that refuted c...

Globalizing animal care and use: making the dream a reality

Science.gov (United States)

Bielitzki, J. T.

1999-01-01

What will drive the globalization of animal care in the 21st century? Will targeted concerns from privately funded groups be the motivating factors? Will the threat of disease, and the concomitant hue and cry from a threatened public, be responsible for bringing nations together to collaborate on rules and regulations? The author, who is responsible for the animal use protocols on NASA's space station, explains why globalization on Planet Earth may be guided by what happens in outer space.

Pervasive competition between threat and reward in the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Spechler, Philip; Pessoa, Luiz

2014-06-01

In the current functional MRI study, we investigated interactions between reward and threat processing. Visual cues at the start of each trial informed participants about the chance of winning monetary reward and/or receiving a mild aversive shock. We tested two competing hypothesis: according to the 'salience hypothesis', in the condition involving both reward and threat, enhanced activation would be observed because of increased salience; according to the 'competition hypothesis', the processing of reward and threat would trade-off against each other, leading to reduced activation. Analysis of skin conductance data during a delay phase revealed an interaction between reward and threat processing, such that the effect of reward was reduced during threat and the effect of threat was reduced during reward. Analysis of imaging data during the same task phase revealed interactions between reward and threat processing in several regions, including the midbrain/ventral tegmental area, caudate, putamen, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, our findings reveal conditions during which reward and threat trade-off against each other across multiple sites. Such interactions are suggestive of competitive processes and may reflect the organization of opponent systems in the brain. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Charlotte R; Kaye, Linda K; McCann, Joseph J

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target) or gender group's ability (group-as-target) or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control). In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source) or males (out-group source), or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control). Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte R Pennington

Full Text Available Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target or gender group's ability (group-as-target or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control. In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source or males (out-group source, or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control. Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

A comparability analysis of global burden sharing GHG reduction scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciscar, Juan-Carlos; Saveyn, Bert; Soria, Antonio; Szabo, Laszlo; Van Regemorter, Denise; Van Ierland, Tom

2013-01-01

The distribution of the mitigation burden across countries is a key issue regarding the post-2012 global climate policies. This article explores the economic implications of alternative allocation rules, an assessment made in the run-up to the COP15 in Copenhagen (December 2009). We analyse the comparability of the allocations across countries based on four single indicators: GDP per capita, GHG emissions per GDP, GHG emission trends in the recent past, and population growth. The multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium model of the global economy, GEM-E3, is used for that purpose. Further, the article also compares a perfect carbon market without transaction costs with the case of a gradually developing carbon market, i.e. a carbon market with (gradually diminishing) transaction costs. - Highlights: ► Burden sharing of global mitigation efforts should consider equity and efficiency. ► The comparability of allocations across countries is based on four indicators. ► The four indicators are GDP/capita, GHG/GDP, population growth, and GHG trend. ► Any possible agreement on effort comparability needs a combination of indicators. ► We analyse the role played by the degree of flexibility in global carbon trading

Fish fauna of the Brahmaputra River, Bangladesh: richness, threats and conservation needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shams Muhammad Galib

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The Brahmaputra River is one of the largest rivers in the world as well as in Bangladesh. The present study was carried out for a period of one year from January to December 2013 with a view to assessing the availability of fishes in the river with species emphasis on species richness, existing threats and conservation issues. Daytime and night sampling were carried out in three sites located along the upstream to downstream course of the river on a monthly basis. Three fishing gears including cast net, seine net and drag net and one fishing trap were employed to collect fishes. A total of 67 finfish species including 63 indigenous and 4 exotic/alien species have been recorded belonging to 46 genera, 24 families and 8 orders. Cypriniformes and Cyprinidae were the most dominating order (21 species family (15 species of native fishes. A small portion (2% of native fishes was globally threatened. Over one third of total species (38% were considered threatened to extinct species in Bangladesh. Population trend of over two third of total fish species was Declining in the river. Major threats were alien/invasive species, banned fishing gears and loss of habitats.

Population structure, behavior, and current threats to the sarus crane (Grus antigone antigone in Nepal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamal Raj Gosai

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The sarus crane (Grus antigone antigone is listed as “vulnerable” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Sarus cranes are distributed in the lowlands, but most live outside protected areas, especially in agricultural areas and wetlands of Nepal. The continuous expansion of agricultural land and the reduction of wetland habitats pose the greatest threats to the conservation of the species. We studied the sarus crane in the Rupandehi District of Nepal to understand their population structure, behavior, and current threats. We used the line (i.e., road transect method from August 2013 to February 2014. The study area contained 147 sarus cranes. Agricultural land and wetland areas contained the highest number of sarus cranes. Our analysis showed that the population of sarus crane in the area has declined since 2007. Most sarus cranes lived in pairs. A single flock contained 13 cranes at maximum. Sarus crane behavior was not significantly different before and after the breeding seasons. Human–sarus crane conflict began when cranes started utilizing agricultural areas. The main threats to the hatching success and survival of sarus cranes in the Rupendehi District are egg theft and the hunting of cranes for meat. The findings of this study establish baseline information on the overall conservation status, habitat availability, and ecological behavior of sarus cranes in the district. We propose regular surveys to monitor sarus crane population levels in the face of multiple anthropogenic threats to their survival.

One health security: an important component of the global health security agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Gronvall, Gigi; Boddie, Crystal; Knutsson, Rickard; Colby, Michelle

2014-01-01

The objectives of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) will require not only a "One Health" approach to counter natural disease threats against humans, animals, and the environment, but also a security focus to counter deliberate threats to human, animal, and agricultural health and to nations' economies. We have termed this merged approach "One Health Security." It will require the integration of professionals with expertise in security, law enforcement, and intelligence to join the veterinary, agricultural, environmental, and human health experts essential to One Health and the GHSA. Working across such different professions, which occasionally have conflicting aims and different professional cultures, poses multiple challenges, but a multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach is necessary to prevent disease threats; detect them as early as possible (when responses are likely to be most effective); and, in the case of deliberate threats, find who may be responsible. This article describes 2 project areas that exemplify One Health Security that were presented at a workshop in January 2014: the US government and private industry efforts to reduce vulnerabilities to foreign animal diseases, especially foot-and-mouth disease; and AniBioThreat, an EU project to counter deliberate threats to agriculture by raising awareness and implementing prevention and response policies and practices.

Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary.

Science.gov (United States)

Tellhed, Una; Björklund, Fredrik

2011-04-01

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reservation salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex-differences in motivation. © 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

The 800 Pound Gorilla: The Threat and Taming of Global Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Jim

2008-01-01

This article provides two case studies that examine the current and future consequences of continued global warming at the current business-as-usual pace and at a decreased (new alternative forms of energy) level. Cause and effect relationships, such as the varying levels of CO[subscript 2] (carbon dioxide) emissions and the effect it has on…

Insider threat to secure facilities: data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

Three data sets drawn from industries that have experienced internal security breaches are analyzed. The industries and the insider security breaches are considered analogous in one or more respects to insider threats potentially confronting managers in the nuclear industry. The three data sets are: bank fraud and embezzlement (BF and E), computer-related crime, and drug theft from drug manufacturers and distributors. A careful analysis by both descriptive and formal statistical techniques permits certain general conclusions on the internal threat to secure industries to be drawn. These conclusions are discussed and related to the potential insider threat in the nuclear industry. 49 tabs

A combined emitter threat assessment method based on ICW-RCM

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Hongwei; Guo, Xiaotao; Wang, Yubing

2017-08-01

Considering that the tradition al emitter threat assessment methods are difficult to intuitively reflect the degree of target threaten and the deficiency of real-time and complexity, on the basis of radar chart method(RCM), an algorithm of emitter combined threat assessment based on ICW-RCM (improved combination weighting method, ICW) is proposed. The coarse sorting is integrated with fine sorting in emitter combined threat assessment, sequencing the emitter threat level roughly accordance to radar operation mode, and reducing task priority of the low-threat emitter; On the basis of ICW-RCM, sequencing the same radar operation mode emitter roughly, finally, obtain the results of emitter threat assessment through coarse and fine sorting. Simulation analyses show the correctness and effectiveness of this algorithm. Comparing with classical method of emitter threat assessment based on CW-RCM, the algorithm is visual in image and can work quickly with lower complexity.

Improving Global Multi-target Tracking with Local Updates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Milan, Anton; Gade, Rikke; Dick, Anthony

2014-01-01

-target tracker, if they result in a reduction in the global cost function. Since tracking failures typically arise when targets become occluded, we propose a local data association scheme to maintain the target identities in these situations. We demonstrate a reduction of up to 50% in the global cost function...

Left-Wing Extremism: The Current Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karl A. Seger

2001-04-30

Left-wing extremism is ''alive and well'' both in the US and internationally. Although the current domestic terrorist threat within the U. S. is focused on right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists are also active and have several objectives. Leftist extremists also pose an espionage threat to U.S. interests. While the threat to the U.S. government from leftist extremists has decreased in the past decade, it has not disappeared. There are individuals and organizations within the U.S. who maintain the same ideology that resulted in the growth of left-wing terrorism in this country in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the leaders from that era are still communicating from Cuba with their followers in the U.S., and new leaders and groups are emerging.

Emerging and Future Cyber Threats to Critical Systems

OpenAIRE

Djambazova , Edita; Almgren , Magnus; Dimitrov , Kiril; Jonsson , Erland

2010-01-01

Part 2: Adversaries; International audience; This paper discusses the emerging and future cyber threats to critical systems identified during the EU/FP7 project ICT-FORWARD. Threats were identified after extensive discussions with both domain experts and IT security professionals from academia, industry, and government organizations. The ultimate goal of the work was to identify the areas in which cyber threats could occur and cause serious and undesirable consequences, based on the character...

Active3 noise reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holzfuss, J.

1996-01-01

Noise reduction is a problem being encountered in a variety of applications, such as environmental noise cancellation, signal recovery and separation. Passive noise reduction is done with the help of absorbers. Active noise reduction includes the transmission of phase inverted signals for the cancellation. This paper is about a threefold active approach to noise reduction. It includes the separation of a combined source, which consists of both a noise and a signal part. With the help of interaction with the source by scanning it and recording its response, modeling as a nonlinear dynamical system is achieved. The analysis includes phase space analysis and global radial basis functions as tools for the prediction used in a subsequent cancellation procedure. Examples are given which include noise reduction of speech. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Designing a Physical Security System for Risk Reduction in a Hypothetical Nuclear Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saleh, A.A.; Abd Elaziz, M.

2017-01-01

Physical security in a nuclear facility means detection, prevention and response to threat, the ft, sabotage, unauthorized access and illegal transfer involving radioactive and nuclear material. This paper proposes a physical security system designing concepts to reduce the risk associated with variant threats to a nuclear facility. This paper presents a study of the unauthorized removal and sabotage in a hypothetical nuclear facility considering deter, delay and response layers. More over, the study involves performing any required upgrading to the security system by investigating the nuclear facility layout and considering all physical security layers design to enhance the weakness for risk reduction

Geopolitical transformations and military calls in the modern globalized world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. F. Zagurska­Antoniuk

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The geopolitical development in globalized modern systems is analyzed in the article. Global problems have planetary nature. They relate to the interests of all the nations of the world, they pose a threat of degradation and end of civilization, they require immediate decision making, collective efforts and cooperation of all the nations. A number of problems in relationships between societies are examined, and the real ways of their solving are suggested. Some of them are connected to the relationships inside the world community: prevention of the nuclear conflict, overcoming the backwardness of the developing countries; the others reflect the crisis in the relationships between the society and the nature (demographic crisis, food crisis, resource crisis, ecological crisis, energy crisis and others. Some of the most difficult global threats of the XXI century – local armed conflicts and hybrid wars on geopolitical and territorial grounds (eg. between Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russian Federation etc. are considered in the article. These confrontations have become challenges for the whole world because they threaten with complete destabilization of the world order. Geopolitical development of modern societies has changed the priorities in the global problems. Some specialists consider energy and raw­materials problem as the priority, and the others – geopolitical division of territories and spheres of influence in the world. That is why, the problems of peace and disarmament, ecological, food, demographic, energy and raw­materials problems, overcoming of poverty and backwardness are among the most often mentioned global problems of the recent twenty years’ period.

Game Theoretic Risk Analysis of Security Threats

CERN Document Server

Bier, Vicki M

2008-01-01

Introduces reliability and risk analysis in the face of threats by intelligent agents. This book covers applications to networks, including problems in both telecommunications and transportation. It provides a set of tools for applying game theory TO reliability problems in the presence of intentional, intelligent threats

Greenhouse gas emission reduction policies in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halsnaes, K.

2001-01-01

The chapter begins with an introduction of the main arguments for why global cost-effectiveness in GHG emission reduction policies will suggest that an international collaboration about the policies is established such as initiated by the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A general conceptual overview is given on the cost concepts that are relevant to apply to the evaluation of GHG emission reduction policies, and the methodological framework of GHG emission reduction cost studies for developing countries are introduced. The studies have in particular focussed on GHG emission reduction options in the energy sector, and a number of costing results are reported for this sector. Finally, the chapter considers potential local side-impacts on development, the local environment, and social policy objectives of GHG emission reduction projects seen from the perspective of developing countries. It is concluded that there is a potential for combining global cost-effectiveness principles for GHG emission reduction policies, and local policy objectives of developing countries. (LN)

Advanced Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Edmunds, Tom [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2009-02-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt and protracted theft of nuclear materials. This particular set of materials is an update of a January 2008 version to add increased emphasis on Material Control and Accounting and its role with respect to protracted insider nuclear material theft scenarios. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat. The postulated threat includes both abrupt and protracted theft scenarios. Presentation is envisioned to be through classroom instruction and discussion. Several practical and group exercises are included for demonstration and application of the analysis approach contained in the lecture/discussion sessions as applied to a hypothetical nuclear facility.

Implicit self-esteem compensation: automatic threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudman, Laurie A; Dohn, Matthew C; Fairchild, Kimberly

2007-11-01

Four experiments demonstrated implicit self-esteem compensation (ISEC) in response to threats involving gender identity (Experiment 1), implicit racism (Experiment 2), and social rejection (Experiments 3-4). Under conditions in which people might be expected to suffer a blow to self-worth, they instead showed high scores on 2 implicit self-esteem measures. There was no comparable effect on explicit self-esteem. However, ISEC was eliminated following self-affirmation (Experiment 3). Furthermore, threat manipulations increased automatic intergroup bias, but ISEC mediated these relationships (Experiments 2-3). Thus, a process that serves as damage control for the self may have negative social consequences. Finally, pretest anxiety mediated the relationship between threat and ISEC (Experiment 3), whereas ISEC negatively predicted anxiety among high-threat participants (Experiment 4), suggesting that ISEC may function to regulate anxiety. The implications of these findings for automatic emotion regulation, intergroup bias, and implicit self-esteem measures are discussed. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Making sense of the global economy: 10 resources for health promoters.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohindra, K S; Labonté, Ronald

2010-09-01

Population health is shaped by more than local or national influences-the global matters. Health promotion practitioners and researchers increasingly are challenged to engage with upstream factors related to the global economy, such as global prescriptions for national macroeconomic policies, debt relief and international trade. This paper identifies 10 books (A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, The World is Not Flat: Inequality and Injustice in Our Global Economy, Globalization and its Discontents, The Debt Threat: How Debt is Destroying the Developing World, Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, A Race Against Time, Globalization and Health: An Introduction, Global Public Goods for Health: Health Economics and Public Health Perspectives, Trade and Health: Seeking Common Ground) and several key reports that we found to be particularly useful for understanding the global economy's effects on people's health. We draw attention to issues helpful in understanding the present global financial crisis.

Stereotype threat can both enhance and impair older adults' memory.

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Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-12-01

Negative stereotypes about aging can impair older adults' memory via stereotype threat; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear. In two experiments, we tested competing predictions derived from two theoretical accounts of stereotype threat: executive-control interference and regulatory fit. Older adults completed a working memory test either under stereotype threat about age-related memory declines or not under such threat. Monetary incentives were manipulated such that recall led to gains or forgetting led to losses. The executive-control-interference account predicts that stereotype threat decreases the availability of executive-control resources and hence should impair working memory performance. The regulatory-fit account predicts that threat induces a prevention focus, which should impair performance when gains are emphasized but improve performance when losses are emphasized. Results were consistent only with the regulatory-fit account. Although stereotype threat significantly impaired older adults' working memory performance when remembering led to gains, it significantly improved performance when forgetting led to losses.

The consequences of chronic stereotype threat: domain disidentification and abandonment.

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Woodcock, Anna; Hernandez, Paul R; Estrada, Mica; Schultz, P Wesley

2012-10-01

Stereotype threat impairs performance across many domains. Despite a wealth of research, the long-term consequences of chronic stereotype threat have received little empirical attention. Beyond the immediate impact on performance, the experience of chronic stereotype threat is hypothesized to lead to domain disidentification and eventual domain abandonment. Stereotype threat is 1 explanation why African Americans and Hispanic/Latino(a)s "leak" from each juncture of the academic scientific pipeline in disproportionately greater numbers than their White and Asian counterparts. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the stereotype threat-disidentification hypothesis across 3 academic years with a national longitudinal panel of undergraduate minority science students. Experience of stereotype threat was associated with scientific disidentification, which in turn predicted a significant decline in the intention to pursue a scientific career. Race/ethnicity moderated this effect, whereby the effect was evident for Hispanic/Latino(a) students but not for all African American students. We discuss findings in terms of understanding chronic stereotype threat.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Its Partners' Contributions to Global Health Security.

Science.gov (United States)

Tappero, Jordan W; Cassell, Cynthia H; Bunnell, Rebecca E; Angulo, Frederick J; Craig, Allen; Pesik, Nicki; Dahl, Benjamin A; Ijaz, Kashef; Jafari, Hamid; Martin, Rebecca

2017-12-01

To achieve compliance with the revised World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), countries must be able to rapidly prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Most nations, however, remain unprepared to manage and control complex health emergencies, whether due to natural disasters, emerging infectious disease outbreaks, or the inadvertent or intentional release of highly pathogenic organisms. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works with countries and partners to build and strengthen global health security preparedness so they can quickly respond to public health crises. This report highlights selected CDC global health protection platform accomplishments that help mitigate global health threats and build core, cross-cutting capacity to identify and contain disease outbreaks at their source. CDC contributions support country efforts to achieve IHR 2005 compliance, contribute to the international framework for countering infectious disease crises, and enhance health security for Americans and populations around the world.

41 CFR 60-741.22 - Direct threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Discrimination Prohibited § 60-741.22 Direct threat defense. The contractor may... individual or others in the workplace. (See § 60-741.2(y) defining direct threat.) ...

Gauging U.S. Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to respond to pandemic influenza using a threat- and efficacy-based assessment framework.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel J Barnett

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to report to duty in an influenza pandemic is essential to healthcare system surge amidst a global threat. Application of Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM has shown utility for revealing influences of perceived threat and efficacy on non-EMS public health providers' willingness to respond in an influenza pandemic. We thus propose using an EPPM-informed assessment of EMS workers' perspectives toward fulfilling their influenza pandemic response roles.We administered an EPPM-informed snapshot survey about attitudes and beliefs toward pandemic influenza response, to a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 1,537 U.S. EMS workers from May-June 2009 (overall response rate: 49%. Of the 586 respondents who met inclusion criteria (currently active EMS providers in primarily EMS response roles, 12% indicated they would not voluntarily report to duty in a pandemic influenza emergency if asked, 7% if required. A majority (52% indicated their unwillingness to report to work if risk of disease transmission to family existed. Confidence in personal safety at work (OR = 3.3 and a high threat/high efficacy ("concerned and confident" EPPM profile (OR = 4.7 distinguished those who were more likely to voluntarily report to duty. Although 96% of EMS workers indicated that they would probably or definitely report to work if they were guaranteed a pandemic influenza vaccine, only 59% had received an influenza immunization in the preceding 12 months.EMS workers' response willingness gaps pose a substantial challenge to prehospital surge capacity in an influenza pandemic. "Concerned and confident" EMS workers are more than four times as likely to fulfill pandemic influenza response expectations. Confidence in workplace safety is a positively influential modifier of their response willingness. These findings can inform insights into interventions for enhancing EMS workers' willingness to respond

Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015

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Van Boeckel, Thomas P.; Martinez, Elena M.; Pant, Suraj; Gandra, Sumanth; Levin, Simon A.; Goossens, Herman

2018-01-01

Tracking antibiotic consumption patterns over time and across countries could inform policies to optimize antibiotic prescribing and minimize antibiotic resistance, such as setting and enforcing per capita consumption targets or aiding investments in alternatives to antibiotics. In this study, we analyzed the trends and drivers of antibiotic consumption from 2000 to 2015 in 76 countries and projected total global antibiotic consumption through 2030. Between 2000 and 2015, antibiotic consumption, expressed in defined daily doses (DDD), increased 65% (21.1–34.8 billion DDDs), and the antibiotic consumption rate increased 39% (11.3–15.7 DDDs per 1,000 inhabitants per day). The increase was driven by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where rising consumption was correlated with gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) growth (P = 0.004). In high-income countries (HICs), although overall consumption increased modestly, DDDs per 1,000 inhabitants per day fell 4%, and there was no correlation with GDPPC. Of particular concern was the rapid increase in the use of last-resort compounds, both in HICs and LMICs, such as glycylcyclines, oxazolidinones, carbapenems, and polymyxins. Projections of global antibiotic consumption in 2030, assuming no policy changes, were up to 200% higher than the 42 billion DDDs estimated in 2015. Although antibiotic consumption rates in most LMICs remain lower than in HICs despite higher bacterial disease burden, consumption in LMICs is rapidly converging to rates similar to HICs. Reducing global consumption is critical for reducing the threat of antibiotic resistance, but reduction efforts must balance access limitations in LMICs and take account of local and global resistance patterns. PMID:29581252

Threat evaluation for impact assessment in situation analysis systems

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Roy, Jean; Paradis, Stephane; Allouche, Mohamad

2002-07-01

Situation analysis is defined as a process, the examination of a situation, its elements, and their relations, to provide and maintain a product, i.e., a state of situation awareness, for the decision maker. Data fusion is a key enabler to meeting the demanding requirements of military situation analysis support systems. According to the data fusion model maintained by the Joint Directors of Laboratories' Data Fusion Group, impact assessment estimates the effects on situations of planned or estimated/predicted actions by the participants, including interactions between action plans of multiple players. In this framework, the appraisal of actual or potential threats is a necessary capability for impact assessment. This paper reviews and discusses in details the fundamental concepts of threat analysis. In particular, threat analysis generally attempts to compute some threat value, for the individual tracks, that estimates the degree of severity with which engagement events will potentially occur. Presenting relevant tracks to the decision maker in some threat list, sorted from the most threatening to the least, is clearly in-line with the cognitive demands associated with threat evaluation. A key parameter in many threat value evaluation techniques is the Closest Point of Approach (CPA). Along this line of thought, threatening tracks are often prioritized based upon which ones will reach their CPA first. Hence, the Time-to-CPA (TCPA), i.e., the time it will take for a track to reach its CPA, is also a key factor. Unfortunately, a typical assumption for the computation of the CPA/TCPA parameters is that the track velocity will remain constant. When a track is maneuvering, the CPA/TCPA values will change accordingly. These changes will in turn impact the threat value computations and, ultimately, the resulting threat list. This is clearly undesirable from a command decision-making perspective. In this regard, the paper briefly discusses threat value stabilization

Global initiatives to prevent nuclear terrorism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

The fight against nuclear and radiological terrorism - someone to blow up a nuclear weapon or spread radioactive material as a 'dirty bomb' that act of terrorism - is one of the most serious threats to international security. The Global Initiative to prevent nuclear terrorism is a Norwegian-sponsored initiative that is aimed directly at combating terrorism by non-state actors. NRPA follow up Norwegian measures, including in Kazakhstan, and verifies that they are implemented and functioning as intended. (AG)

Globalization and Land-Use Transitions in Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Ricardo. Grau

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Current socioeconomic drivers of land-use change associated with globalization are producing two contrasting land-use trends in Latin America. Increasing global food demand (particularly in Southeast Asia accelerates deforestation in areas suitable for modern agriculture (e.g., soybean, severely threatening ecosystems, such as Amazonian rain forests, dry forests, and subtropical grasslands. Additionally, in the coming decades, demand for biofuels may become an emerging threat. In contrast, high yields in modern agricultural systems and rural-urban migration coupled with remittances promote the abandonment of marginal agricultural lands, thus favoring ecosystem recovery on mountains, deserts, and areas of poor soils, while improving human well-being. The potential switch from production in traditional extensive grazing areas to intensive modern agriculture provides opportunities to significantly increase food production while sparing land for nature conservation. This combination of emerging threats and opportunities requires changes in the way the conservation of Latin American ecosystems is approached. Land-use efficiency should be analyzed beyond the local-based paradigm that drives most conservation programs, and focus on large geographic scales involving long-distance fluxes of products, information, and people in order to maximize both agricultural production and the conservation of environmental services.

Identifying key conservation threats to Alpine birds through expert knowledge

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Pedrini, Paolo; Brambilla, Mattia; Rolando, Antonio; Girardello, Marco

2016-01-01

Alpine biodiversity is subject to a range of increasing threats, but the scarcity of data for many taxa means that it is difficult to assess the level and likely future impact of a given threat. Expert opinion can be a useful tool to address knowledge gaps in the absence of adequate data. Experts with experience in Alpine ecology were approached to rank threat levels for 69 Alpine bird species over the next 50 years for the whole European Alps in relation to ten categories: land abandonment, climate change, renewable energy, fire, forestry practices, grazing practices, hunting, leisure, mining and urbanization. There was a high degree of concordance in ranking of perceived threats among experts for most threat categories. The major overall perceived threats to Alpine birds identified through expert knowledge were land abandonment, urbanization, leisure and forestry, although other perceived threats were ranked highly for particular species groups (renewable energy and hunting for raptors, hunting for gamebirds). For groups of species defined according to their breeding habitat, open habitat species and treeline species were perceived as the most threatened. A spatial risk assessment tool based on summed scores for the whole community showed threat levels were highest for bird communities of the northern and western Alps. Development of the approaches given in this paper, including addressing biases in the selection of experts and adopting a more detailed ranking procedure, could prove useful in the future in identifying future threats, and in carrying out risk assessments based on levels of threat to the whole bird community. PMID:26966659