Developed Countries 2020 Pledges Fall Short of IPCC Target What can we do

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guerin, E.; Colombier, M

2009-07-01

With the recent announcement by President Obama of the US emission reduction target, the map of developed countries pledges is now full. The US will come to Copenhagen with a -17% target in 2020 compared to 2005 levels that translates into a -4% compared to 1990 levels (together with a -42% target in 2030 that translates into a -33% compared to 1990. Some countries have put forward multiple pledges. They will only commit to the highest pledge if the Copenhagen agreement is deemed satisfactory. For example, the European Union (EU) stated it would move from -20% (the lower pledge) to -30% (the higher pledge) in 2020 compared to 1990 levels if developed countries undertake comparable emission cuts and if major developing countries undertake adequate mitigation actions. Countries also choose different base years in quantifying their pledges. These mitigation pledges by developed countries result in aggregate emissions of -14 to -19% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels, which fall well below the range established by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change). According to the IPCC, developed countries need to reduce their emissions by -25 to -40% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels to have approximately a 50% chance to limit the temperature increase to 2 deg. C above pre-industrial levels. It should be noted that some targets presented here (such as EU and US pledges) account for international offsets. To be consistent with IPCC figures, this fraction of expected reductions should not be accounted for. Only the domestic component should be considered. But as specified now, certain pledges are expected to fall further below target. For example, the EU's -20% target translates into -15%, with offsets excluded. This is quite problematic. First, from a climate point of view: developed countries are not making the emission reduction commitments necessary for stabilizing global temperatures at a level that averts dangerous climate change. Second, from a negotiation

Developed Countries 2020 Pledges Fall Short of IPCC Target What can we do

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerin, E.; Colombier, M.

2009-01-01

With the recent announcement by President Obama of the US emission reduction target, the map of developed countries pledges is now full. The US will come to Copenhagen with a -17% target in 2020 compared to 2005 levels that translates into a -4% compared to 1990 levels (together with a -42% target in 2030 that translates into a -33% compared to 1990. Some countries have put forward multiple pledges. They will only commit to the highest pledge if the Copenhagen agreement is deemed satisfactory. For example, the European Union (EU) stated it would move from -20% (the lower pledge) to -30% (the higher pledge) in 2020 compared to 1990 levels if developed countries undertake comparable emission cuts and if major developing countries undertake adequate mitigation actions. Countries also choose different base years in quantifying their pledges. These mitigation pledges by developed countries result in aggregate emissions of -14 to -19% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels, which fall well below the range established by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change). According to the IPCC, developed countries need to reduce their emissions by -25 to -40% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels to have approximately a 50% chance to limit the temperature increase to 2 deg. C above pre-industrial levels. It should be noted that some targets presented here (such as EU and US pledges) account for international offsets. To be consistent with IPCC figures, this fraction of expected reductions should not be accounted for. Only the domestic component should be considered. But as specified now, certain pledges are expected to fall further below target. For example, the EU's -20% target translates into -15%, with offsets excluded. This is quite problematic. First, from a climate point of view: developed countries are not making the emission reduction commitments necessary for stabilizing global temperatures at a level that averts dangerous climate change. Second, from a negotiation point of

Food companies' calorie-reduction pledges to improve U.S. diet.

Science.gov (United States)

Slining, Meghan M; Ng, Shu Wen; Popkin, Barry M

2013-02-01

Heretofore, corporate voluntary pledges to improve the health of Americans have been linked neither to explicit measurable commitments nor to a framework for an independent evaluation. The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), whose members include 16 of the nation's leading consumer packaged goods food and beverage manufacturers, voluntarily pledged to collectively remove 1 trillion calories from their products by 2012 (against a 2007 baseline), and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015. The pledge is designed to reduce the calorie gap commensurate with the HWCF companies' role in the U.S. diet. To date, no system exists for documenting the nutritional and public health impacts of industry-led changes in the food supply on individual diets. The current study represents a unique opportunity to understand how the consumer packaged goods food and beverage sector is changing and how these changes are associated with changes in the American diet. It presents data on national caloric sales from this sector, purchases of these goods by various subpopulations, and methods linking these to individual intakes of Americans. Findings show that HWCF companies accounted for approximately 25% of calories consumed in the U.S. in 2007 and that the 1.5 trillion-calorie pledge (about 14 calories/day/capita) accounts for 0.8% of the calories sold across all consumer packaged goods food and beverage brands in 2007. The authors hope that this evaluation will continue to create models and methods for demonstrating the effects of changes in the food supply on individual diets, particularly among those from vulnerable subpopulations. Copyright © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Service Pledge for Breast Cancer – Improving services through patient involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freeman, Shauna; Kester, Ross; Greenbrook, Sally; O’Connor, Ruairi; Rawlings, Sarah

2012-01-01

A guiding principle for today’s National Health Service is for services to reflect the needs and choices of patients and carers. There is evidence that meaningful patient involvement and engagement of people in their own care supports relationships with NHS professionals, and improves the quality and experience of healthcare. This paper reviews the Service Pledge for Breast Cancer, developed by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer as a tried and tested route to delivering effective patient involvement and examines some implications for radiotherapy services. The Service Pledge, which has benefitted an estimated 19,000 patients across the UK, is a tool that enables healthcare professionals and patients to work in partnership to improve local breast cancer services. Based on the results of a patient survey and in depth interviews to determine to what extent standards of care are being met at each participating hospital, improvement goals are identified helping turn the patient voice into constructive action. Improvement goals resulting from the Service Pledge range from small changes that make a real difference to patients, through to much larger changes to local breast services. To date, there has been limited involvement of radiotherapy staff in the Service Pledge, yet radiographers play an important role in the treatment of breast cancer as most patients will be offered radiotherapy. However, radiotherapy services have been criticised for not being patient -centred and for not providing enough information, psychological and emotional support before, during and after treatment. It is contended that radiographers are ideally placed to address many of these concerns and engage further with patients through projects such as the Service Pledge, empowering their patients to voice what is most important to them and driving the quality improvements that emerge.

"Under God" and the Pledge of Allegiance: Examining a 1954 Sermon and Its Meaning

Science.gov (United States)

Groce, Eric C.; Heafner, Tina; Bellows, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

A lesson exploring the Pledge of Allegiance, its history, and the addition of the phrase "under God," can serve as a jumping off point into major themes of U.S. history and First Amendment freedoms. Although the Pledge is ubiquitous in contemporary America, educators and students are often uninformed about the history and meaning of the…

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-09-01

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

The Antibiotic Guardian campaign: a qualitative evaluation of an online pledge-based system focused on making better use of antibiotics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kesten, Joanna May; Bhattacharya, Alex; Ashiru-Oredope, Diane; Gobin, Maya; Audrey, Suzanne

2017-07-11

The Antibiotic Guardian Campaign was developed to increase commitment to reducing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), change behaviour and increase knowledge through an online pledge system for healthcare professionals and members of the public to become Antibiotic Guardians (AG). This qualitative evaluation aimed to understand AG experiences of the campaign and perceived impact on behaviour. Ninety-four AGs (48 via a survey and 46 who had agreed to future contact) were invited to participate in a telephone semi-structured interview. The sample was based on self-identification as a healthcare professional or a member of the public, pledge group (e.g. adults, primary care prescribers etc.), pledge and gender. Interviews explored how participants became aware of the campaign, reasons for joining, pledge choices, responses to joining and views about the campaign's implementation. Interviews were analysed using the Framework Method. Twenty-two AGs (10 healthcare professionals and 12 members of the public) were interviewed. AGs became aware of the campaign through professional networks and social media, and were motivated to join by personal and professional concern for AMR. Choice of pledge group and pledge were attributed to relevance and potential impact on AMR and the behaviour of others through pledge enactment and promotion of the campaign. Most AGs could not recall their pledge unprompted. Most felt they fulfilled their pledge, although this reflected either behaviour change or the pledge reinforcing pre-existing behaviour. The campaign triggered AGs to reflect on AMR related behaviour and reinforced pre-existing beliefs. Several AGs promoted the campaign to others. Responding collectively as part of the campaign was thought to have a greater impact than individual action. However, limited campaign visibility was observed and the campaign was perceived to have restricted ability to reach those unaware of AMR. AGs were motivated to reduce AMR and most felt they

High Court Hesitant to Bar Pledge in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrie, Caroline

2004-01-01

This article reports on a lawsuit filed by Michael A. Newdow, a California atheist, on behalf of his daughter, against inclusion of the words "under God" in public schools' recitals of the United States Pledge of Allegiance. He said that the words "under God" represent "religious dogma" that is needlessly divisive.…

Are major economies on track to achieve their pledges for 2020? An assessment of domestic climate and energy policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roelfsema, Mark; Elzen, Michel den; Höhne, Niklas; Hof, Andries F.; Braun, Nadine; Fekete, Hanna; Böttcher, Hannes; Brandsma, Ruut; Larkin, Julia

2014-01-01

Many of the major greenhouse gas emitting countries have planned and/or implemented domestic mitigation policies, such as carbon taxes, feed-in tariffs, or standards. This study analyses whether the most effective national climate and energy policies are sufficient to stay on track for meeting the emission reduction proposals (pledges) that countries made for 2020. The analysis shows that domestic policies of India, China and Russia are projected to lead to lower emission levels than the pledged levels. Australia's and the EU's nationally legally binding policy framework is likely to deliver their unconditional pledges, but not the conditional ones. The situation is rather unclear for Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia. We project that policies of Canada and the USA will reduce 2020 emission levels, but additional policies are probably needed to deliver their pledges in full. The analysis also shows that countries are implementing policies or targets in various areas to a varying degree: all major countries have set renewable energy targets; many have recently implemented efficiency standards for cars, and new emission trading systems are emerging. - Highlights: • Many countries have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. • There are upward revisions of greenhouse gas emission projections in many developing countries. • Higher emissions expected from pledged mitigation action plans of developing countries. • Achieving the 2 °C climate goal becomes more difficult. • The expected emission levels resulting from the pledges are surrounded with large uncertainties

Pledge Stays Intact as Justices Dismiss Atheist's Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

Hendrie, Caroline

2004-01-01

This article reports on the fiery California atheist who lost his bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to get "under God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance. Dr. Michael A. Newdow, an emergency-room physician with a law degree who represented himself before the Supreme Court in the high-profile case against the Elk Grove, California, school…

THE ACCOUNTING OF THE PLEDGED ASSETS PASSED TO THE LICENSED BANKS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA FOR THE REPAYMENT OF THE GRANTED LOAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana ŞEVCIUC

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In banking practice the pledge plays an important role, it is often used to denote the pledge agreement, as well asthe real right that is the result of the pledge agreement conclusion and the good that is the object of the pledge. Thepledge is the only real security interest in the range of bank guarantees. Actually, each obligation can beguaranteed by the pledging. Assets diversification and trade needs have led to the development of a new pledgeform. Anyway, regardless of the number and content of the economic material, the licensed banks from the Republicof Moldova attach importance to the correctness of pledge accounting taking into account the deadline. Thus, thisresearch aims to present the accounting of the pledged assets passed to the licensed banks from the Republic ofMoldova for the repayment of the granted loan, taking into account the enforcement of the obligation secured by thepledge deadline, the right to possession of the pledged asset and not the least of its value. In the research there wasmainly used the method of monographic study applying elements of observation, selection, induction and deduction.

Health information on alcoholic beverage containers: has the alcohol industry's pledge in England to improve labelling been met?

Science.gov (United States)

Petticrew, Mark; Douglas, Nick; Knai, Cécile; Durand, Mary Alison; Eastmure, Elizabeth; Mays, Nicholas

2016-01-01

In the United Kingdom, alcohol warning labels are the subject of a voluntary agreement between industry and government. In 2011, as part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal in England, the industry pledged to ensure that 80% of products would have clear, legible health warning labelling, although an analysis commissioned by Portman found that only 57.1% met best practice. We assessed what proportion of alcohol products now contain the required health warning information, and its clarity and placement. Survey of alcohol labelling data. United Kingdom. Analysis of the United Kingdom's 100 top-selling alcohol brands (n = 156 individual products). We assessed the product labels in relation to the presence of five labelling elements: information on alcohol units, government consumption guidelines, pregnancy warnings, reference to the Drinkaware website and a responsibility statement. We also assessed the size, colour and placement of text, and the size and colouring of the pregnancy warning logo. The first three (required) elements were present on 77.6% of products examined. The mean font size of the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) unit guidelines (usually on the back of the product) was 8.17-point. The mean size of pregnancy logos was 5.95 mm. The pregnancy logo was on average smaller on wine containers. The UK Public Health Responsibility Deal alcohol labelling pledge has not been fully met. Labelling information frequently falls short of best practice, with font and logos smaller than would be accepted on other products with health effects. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

The Effect of a "Class Smoke Free Pledge" on Breath Carbon Monoxide in Arabic Male Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sheyab, Nihaya A; Khader, Yousef S; Shah, Smita; Roydhouse, Jessica K; Gallagher, Robyn

2018-04-02

Arabic male adolescents have a high smoking prevalence. Introduction of "Class smoke-free" pledges have been successful amongst European adolescents but have not been evaluated using objective valid measures. We tested the impact of adding a smoke free pledge strategy to a proven peer-led asthma and smoking prevention program on breath carbon monoxide level (BCO) in male high-school students in Jordan. We enrolled male students from four high-schools in Irbid, Jordan. Schools were randomly assigned to receive either TAJ (Triple A in Jordan, n = 218) or TAJ-Plus (with added class smoke-free pledge, n = 215). We hypothesized that students receiving TAJ-Plus would have greater reduction in BCO levels than those only receiving the TAJ intervention. Asthma and smoking status were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. Smoking outcomes were collected using a BCO Monitor. Both groups had significant reductions in BCO levels post-intervention (p smoking status (p = .085), asthma status (p = .602), or a combination of the two (p = .702). An added smoke-free pledge strategy to a proven peer-led asthma education program appears to be a promising approach to motivate adolescents to abstain from smoking in Jordan. Future research is required to determine if these results can be extended to Jordanian adolescent females. A commitment by students via a "class smoke-free" pledge can be an added incentive to motivate adolescents in Arabic-speaking countries to abstain from smoking. Social influence approaches in schools can be useful in countering the aggressive tobacco marketing campaigns targeting Jordanian and other Arabic-speaking youth. The combination of "class smoke-free" pledges and an evidence-based peer-led asthma and smoking education can be implemented in schools to influence adolescents with asthma to abstain from smoking.

Environmental and economic effects of the Copenhagen pledges and more ambitious emission reduction targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, Everett B.; Schleich, Joachim; Duscha, Vicki

2011-01-01

A multi-region, multi-sector dynamic computable general equilibrium model is applied to explore the economic and welfare effects of the pledges submitted by developed countries (Annex I countries) and major developing (non-Annex I) countries for 2020 under the Copenhagen Accord. In addition to analyzing scenarios reflecting the upper and lower bounds of the Copenhagen Pledges, one additional policy scenario where Annex I countries as a group reduce CO 2 -emissions by 30% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and where major non-Annex I countries reduce CO 2 emissions 15% below baseline, is also analyzed. Economic effects are measured as changes in GDP compared to baseline and welfare effects are measured via the equivalent variation. Assuming that countries with emission targets may trade certificates, average reductions in GDP for countries with targets range between 0.1% and 0.7% in 2020 for the policy scenarios. While the GDP losses are larger for major non-Annex I countries with emission targets compared to Annex I countries, this is not the case for the changes in welfare. With the exception of Mexico, the welfare losses for the major non-Annex I regions, as a percentage of projected GDP in 2020, are lower than for the large Annex I countries. - Highlights: → Copenhagen pledges are not ambitious in terms of global CO 2 -emission reductions. → Copenhagen pledges are not costly in terms of global GDP or welfare losses. → Reductions in GDP and welfare in 2020 are not evenly distributed across regions.→ Major non-Annex I countries face relatively larger reductions in GDP compared with Annex I countries.→ Copenhagen pledges do not result in large amounts of carbon leakage.

Shared pledge shared vision

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boussaha, Ali; Diatta, Christian Sina

2005-01-01

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is a pledge by African leaders to eradicate poverty and to promote sustainable growth and development. NEPAD is a 'new framework of interaction with the rest of the world, including the industrialised countries and multilateral organizations.' The agenda is based on regional priorities and development plans and its implementation relies on African ownership and management. As a UN system organisation, the IAEA strongly supports the priorities identified in the Millennium Declaration and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. As a technical agency, the IAEA shares its recognized core competencies and technical expertise in support of NEPAD goals. Efforts aim at strengthening institutional capacity building in nuclear sciences and technology and promoting the sustainable application of nuclear techniques for social and economic development. The IAEA has a membership of 34 African countries. The Agency supports them under its technical cooperation programme through provision of expertise, training opportunities and equipment in priority areas identified by the countries themselves. For many African Member States, meeting basic human needs through the implementation of poverty alleviation strategies remains the top priority on the agenda for national development plans and international cooperation programmes. In the context of sustainable development, special attention is being paid to enlarging the contribution of isotopes and nuclear techniques in major areas of economic and social significance and to promoting regional cooperation in nuclear science and technology related fields. As a partner in development, the Agency has promoted and undertaken programmes to support African countries' efforts to address priority development issues particularly in the areas of health care, food and agriculture and water resources development. The IAEA technical cooperation mechanism includes support to the African Regional

Integrity Pledge (to be taken by all employees) ------------------- I ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

standards of honesty and integrity at all times and support the fight against corruption. I therefore, pledge: To follow probity and rule of law in all walks of life;. To neither take nor offer bribe;. To perform all tasks in an honest and transparent manner;. To act in public interest;. To lead by example exhibiting integrity in personal ...

Analysis of the Copenhagen Accord pledges and its global climatic impacts-a snapshot of dissonant ambitions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogelj, Joeri; Chen, Claudine; Nabel, Julia; Hare, William; Markmann, Kathleen; Meinshausen, Malte; Macey, Kirsten; Schaeffer, Michiel; Hoehne, Niklas; Krogh Andersen, Katrine

2010-01-01

This analysis of the Copenhagen Accord evaluates emission reduction pledges by individual countries against the Accord's climate-related objectives. Probabilistic estimates of the climatic consequences for a set of resulting multi-gas scenarios over the 21st century are calculated with a reduced complexity climate model, yielding global temperature increase and atmospheric CO 2 and CO 2 -equivalent concentrations. Provisions for banked surplus emission allowances and credits from land use, land-use change and forestry are assessed and are shown to have the potential to lead to significant deterioration of the ambition levels implied by the pledges in 2020. This analysis demonstrates that the Copenhagen Accord and the pledges made under it represent a set of dissonant ambitions. The ambition level of the current pledges for 2020 and the lack of commonly agreed goals for 2050 place in peril the Accord's own ambition: to limit global warming to below 2 deg. C, and even more so for 1.5 deg. C, which is referenced in the Accord in association with potentially strengthening the long-term temperature goal in 2015. Due to the limited level of ambition by 2020, the ability to limit emissions afterwards to pathways consistent with either the 2 or 1.5 deg. C goal is likely to become less feasible.

The effect of updated pledges and business-as-usual projections, and new agreed rules on expected global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hof, Andries F.; Elzen, Michel G.J. den; Roelfsema, Mark

2013-01-01

Highlights: • This study compares 2020 emission levels from pledges to those consistent with 2 °C. • For a likely chance of 2 °C, we find an emission gap of 8.7–12.6 GtCO 2 equiv. by 2020. • The pledges could achieve 24–54% of the mitigation effort consistent with 2 °C. • The effect of accounting rules is lower than in the UNEP (2012) emission gap report. • An emission gap does not imply that the 2 °C target is definitely out of reach. -- Abstract: The Copenhagen Accord of 2009 refers to a 2 °C target and encouraged countries to submit emission reduction proposals and actions (pledges) for the year 2020, which many did. Several studies determined the effect of these pledges on the global emission level in 2020, and analysed the gap between this emission level and the level consistent with least-cost emission pathways for achieving the 2 °C target. These studies were summarised in the UNEP emission gap reports. Since the UNFCCC climate negotiations in Cancún, 2010, business-as-usual emission projections have been updated and some countries submitted new pledges or clarified existing pledges. Furthermore, new accounting rules for land use and the use of surplus units were agreed in Durban (2011) and Doha (2012). This paper shows that together, these developments have led to an increase in the emission level resulting from the pledges of about 4 GtCO 2 equiv. compared to our assessment before Cancún, mainly due to increased business-as-usual projections. According to our projections, the pledges lead to an emission level of 52.7–56.5 GtCO 2 equiv. by 2020, which implies an emission gap of 8.7–12.6 GtCO 2 equiv. for a likely chance (greater than 66% likelihood) and from 6.7 to 10.6 GtCO 2 equiv. for a medium chance (50–66% likelihood) of achieving 2 °C. This does not imply that achieving 2 °C is out of reach with the current pledges, but it will require higher reduction rates beyond 2020 and will depend more heavily on future technological

No-first-use pledge is a key step for progress in nuclear disarmament

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Jun

1999-01-01

At present, nuclear weapons play a less important role globally. People know that nuclear war cannot happen, because no one could win since no one could make a nuclear attack without experiencing a retaliatory strike. But the US strategy has changed little since the Cold War era. The Nuclear Posture Review undertaken by the Clinton Administration concluded that all three legs of the strategic triad should continue to operate, but did not address the future and utility of the nuclear force in the long term. In 1996, the five nuclear weapon states separately pledged that they will not use nuclear weapons to attack the nonnuclear weapon countries. But this is only the first step of Non-first-use Pledge (NFUP)

Analysing the emission gap between pledged emission reductions under the Cancun Agreements and the 2C climate target

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Den Elzen, M. G.J.; Roelfsema, M.; Hof, A. F. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL, Den Haag (Netherlands); Boettcher, H. [Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg (Austria); Grassi, G. [Joint Research Centre JRC, European Commission, Ispra (Italy)

2012-04-15

In the Cancun Agreements, Annex I Parties (industrialised countries) and non-Annex I Parties (developing countries) made voluntary pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also state a long-term target of limiting temperature increase to a maximum of 2C above pre-industrial levels. This report is an update of the PBL report 'Evaluation of the Copenhagen Accord', which similar to earlier studies showed that there is a possible gap in emissions between the emission level resulting from the pledges and the level necessary to achieve the 2C target. The updates involve new information on many topics that have become available over the last two years, including updated national business-as-usual emission projections as provided by the countries themselves, and more information on uncertainties and on factors influencing the size of the emission gap. In this context, the main objective of this report can be formulated as follows: This report analyses the effect of the pledges put forward by the Parties in the Cancun Agreements on the emission gap, taking into account all the new information available. It pays specific attention to uncertainties and risks and describes in more detail the emission implications of the pledges and actions of the 12 largest emitting countries or regions.

Analysing the emission gap between pledged emission reductions under the Cancun Agreements and the 2C climate target

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Den Elzen, M.G.J.; Roelfsema, M.; Hof, A.F. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL, Den Haag (Netherlands); Boettcher, H. [Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg (Austria); Grassi, G. [Joint Research Centre JRC, European Commission, Ispra (Italy)

2012-04-15

In the Cancun Agreements, Annex I Parties (industrialised countries) and non-Annex I Parties (developing countries) made voluntary pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The Cancun Agreements also state a long-term target of limiting temperature increase to a maximum of 2C above pre-industrial levels. This report is an update of the PBL report 'Evaluation of the Copenhagen Accord', which similar to earlier studies showed that there is a possible gap in emissions between the emission level resulting from the pledges and the level necessary to achieve the 2C target. The updates involve new information on many topics that have become available over the last two years, including updated national business-as-usual emission projections as provided by the countries themselves, and more information on uncertainties and on factors influencing the size of the emission gap. In this context, the main objective of this report can be formulated as follows: This report analyses the effect of the pledges put forward by the Parties in the Cancun Agreements on the emission gap, taking into account all the new information available. It pays specific attention to uncertainties and risks and describes in more detail the emission implications of the pledges and actions of the 12 largest emitting countries or regions.

13 CFR 120.434 - What are SBA's requirements for loan pledges?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... satisfactory SBA performance, as determined by SBA in its discretion. The Lender's Risk Rating, among other... BUSINESS LOANS Lenders Other Conveyances § 120.434 What are SBA's requirements for loan pledges? (a) Except... 7(a) loan, which consent SBA may withhold in its sole discretion; (b) The Lender must be in good...

Emerging economies. Potentials, pledges and fair shares of greenhouse gas reduction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fekete, Hanna; Hoehne, Niklas; Hagemann, Markus [Ecofys Germany GmbH, Koeln (Germany); Wehnert, Timon; Mersmann, Florian [Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy GmbH (Germany); Vieweg, Marion; Rocha, Marcia; Schaeffer, Michiel; Hare, William [Climate Analytics gGmbH, Berlin (Germany)

2013-04-15

Greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease substantially to limit global average temperature to a maximum of 2 C warming above the preindustrial level in 2100. Emerging economies are of increasing importance in this global effort. In this report we assess how ambitious emission reduction pledges of emerging economies are compared to business as usual emissions, the countries' mitigation potential and respective efforts based on different equity principles. We also compare the pledges and the identified mitigation potential of emerging economies to a global emissions pathway needed to limit global temperature increase to 2 C. Our assessment includes Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. We find that emerging economies have a substantial impact on future global emission levels. This is due to high current levels and high projected growth rates. Also, in most of the countries a large emission reduction potential is available. Action needs to be taken soon to enable the full use of the potential until 2020 and most emerging economies will need significant support from developed countries to implement those.

Is a Breakthrough on Climate Change Governance on the Horizon?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Figueroa, Maria Josefina

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

The emissions gap report. Are the Copenhagen accord pledges sufficient to limit global warming to 2 deg. C or 1.5 deg. C?. A preliminary assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2010-11-15

This report addresses many of the key issues raised by the Copenhagen Accord. For example, the emission pathways consistent with temperature limits and the expected emissions in 2020 based on current pledges. Furthermore, it examines whether there is a gap between emission levels consistent with temperature limits and expected emissions, and furthermore, the increases in temperature consistent with such a gap in emissions. Outside the scope of the report are issues related to the comparability and equity of pledges. Chapter 2 focuses on the likelihood of various emission pathways staying within temperature limits. For these pathways we identify the period in which emissions peak, the level of emissions in 2020, and the corresponding emission reduction rates after 2020. Results include emission pathways from integrated assessment models (IAM) and carbon cycle and climate models. Also discussed are current views about the feasibility of emission reductions and negative emissions, as well as factors determining long-term temperature, including cumulative emissions. Chapter 3 reviews estimates of global emission levels in 2020 based on country emission pledges. Among the factors influencing these estimates are whether pledges are independent of, or conditional on, other countries' actions, financing or technological support. For industrialized countries, key factors include: the accounting procedures for emissions or uptake of carbon from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF); the potential for international climate finance, as agreed in the Copenhagen Accord to enable further emission reductions; the carry-over of emission reduction units from the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012); and the potential double counting of offsets with emission reductions from non-Annex I countries' actions. Emission estimates are also influenced by the uncertainty of base year emissions and by assumptions needed for filling in sectoral or other

31 CFR 380.4 - What collateral may I pledge instead of a surety bond under 31 CFR part 225, and what value will...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What collateral may I pledge instead..., DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT COLLATERAL ACCEPTABILITY AND VALUATION Acceptable Collateral and Its Valuation § 380.4 What collateral may I pledge instead of a surety bond under 31 CFR part...

Government can't do it all. Over 250 million people in the developing world benefit from NGO support.

Science.gov (United States)

1993-09-01

Throughout the world, citizens are attempting to improve living conditions using direct participatory measures. Trade unions provide some of the clearest examples of citizens' groups which are challenging the power structure and encouraging democratization. In Chile, Korea, Zambia, Mali, and Poland, unions have been responsible for impressive governmental changes. People have also been working to improve living conditions through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which have expanded their beneficial influence from 100 million people in the early 1980s to 250 million today. Donors unhappy with official channels for aid have funneled funds between the North and the South in amounts which have increased from US $1 billion in 1970 to $5 billion 1990. NGOs help the poorest of the poor to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency (for example, an NGO provides small loans to landless people in Bangladesh). They also have the flexibility to respond to emergencies with an immediacy denied official channels (for example Oxfam chartered a boatload of food and supplies for Cambodia in 1979), and they remain to provide aid when officialdom has deserted the field (for example, the Red Cross, Save the Children, CARE, Concern, and Medicins Sans Frontieres have been a constant presence in Somalia). By helping marginalized groups claim their rights (for example, land rights for Indians in Ecuador), NGOs empower citizens to improve their lives in countless arenas. NGOs also provide advocacy for the powerless; Amnesty International contributed to the release of 1,296 political prisoners in 1990. Despite the important role of these groups, NGOs operate on a very small scale and can never assume the role of governments. In fact, one of the most important tasks ahead for NGOs may be to act as an intermediary between governments and their citizens. With more aid and partnership support, NGOs will be able to continue to expand their positive influence in the world.

Carleton to oversee $40 million lab grant

CERN Multimedia

Singer, Zev

2003-01-01

"Carleton University got a major gift yesterday, as the federal government announced the university will oversee a $40-million grant to run the world's deepest underground lab at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Five other universities are partners in the project" (1/2 page).

Empty pledges: A content analysis comparing Belgian and Dutch child-targeting food websites

OpenAIRE

Neyens, Evy; Smits, Tim

2015-01-01

Background: In the EU Pledge, the food industry has vowed to retain from unhealthy food promotion to children under the age of twelve. Nonetheless, food brands increasingly lure children to branded websites packed with unhealthy food and beverage advertising. This study first explores the prevalence of online marketing strategies on 49 Belgian and Dutch child-targeting food websites. Second, it examines the nutrient content of the advertised foods. Third, it scrutinizes whether Belgian and Du...

78 FR 37946 - Loan Participations; Purchase, Sale and Pledge of Eligible Obligations; Purchase of Assets and...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-25

... purchasing credit union may have years of experience dealing with only one or a few originators. These credit...; Purchase, Sale and Pledge of Eligible Obligations; Purchase of Assets and Assumption of Liabilities AGENCY... reorganize the loan participation rule and focus on the purchase side of loan participation transactions. The...

Discrepancies in historical emissions point to a wider 2020 gap between 2 deg. C benchmarks and aggregated national mitigation pledges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rogelj, Joeri; Hare, William; Chen, Claudine; Meinshausen, Malte

2011-01-01

Aggregations of greenhouse gas mitigation pledges by countries are frequently used to indicate whether resulting global emissions in 2020 will be 'on track' to limit global temperature increase to below specific warming levels such as 1.5 or 2 deg. C. We find that historical emission levels aggregated from data that are officially reported by countries to the UNFCCC are lower than independent global emission estimates, such as the IPCC SRES scenarios. This discrepancy in historical emissions could substantially widen the gap between 2020 pledges and 2020 benchmarks, as the latter tend to be derived from scenarios that share similar historical emission levels to IPCC SRES scenarios. Three methods for resolving this discrepancy, here called 'harmonization', are presented and their influence on 'gap' estimates is discussed. Instead of a 3.4-9.2 GtCO 2 eq shortfall in emission reductions by 2020 compared with the 44 GtCO 2 eq benchmark, the actual gap might be as high as 5.4-12.5 GtCO 2 eq (a 22-88% increase of the gap) if this historical discrepancy is accounted for. Not applying this harmonization step when using 2020 emission benchmarks could lead to an underestimation of the insufficiency of current mitigation pledges.

Environmental and economic effects of the Copenhagen pledges and more ambitious emission reduction targets. Interim report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schleich, Joachim; Duscha, Vicki; Peterson, Everett B. [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer System- und Innovationsforschung, Karlsruhe (Germany); Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics

2010-06-15

Global carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced by at least 50 to 85 % in 2050 compared to 2000 levels to limit global surface temperature increase to 2 C compared to preindustrial levels (IPCC 2007). As an intermediate greenhouse gas emission reduction target for industrialized countries in 2020 the IPCC (2007) confirmed a range of 25 % to 40 % compared to 1990, together with a substantial deviation from baseline in some developing regions, which was quantified as reductions in the range of 15 % to 30 % below baseline (den Elzen and Hoehne 2008). This report explores the environmental and economic effects of the pledges submitted by industrialized and major developing countries for 2020 under the Copenhagen Accord as quantifiable emission reductions or as NAMAs. Two scenarios reflect the lower (''weak'') and upper (''ambitious'') bounds of the Copenhagen pledges leading to emission reductions of 17 % below 1990 levels for Annex I countries and 13 % below reference levels for Non-Annex I countries. Both scenarios do not reach the level of ambition indicated as necessary by science to keep temperature increase below 2 C. In addition, two scenarios in accordance with the IPCC range for reaching a 2 C target are analyzed with industrialized countries in aggregate reducing their CO{sub 2}-emissions by 30 % and by 40 % in 2020 compared to 1990 levels, respectively. For all four policy scenarios the effects of emission paths leading to a global reduction target of 50 % below 1990 levels in 2050 are also simulated for 2030. In the scenarios for 2030 all but the least developed countries are assumed to take on emission targets, but emission caps are considerably less stringent for developing countries than for developed countries. In addition, a separate scenario is carried out which estimates the costs of an unconditioned EU 30 % emission reduction target. The analyses are carried out with the dynamic Computable General

Implications of the international reduction pledges on long-term energy system changes and costs in China and India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, Paul L.; Shukla, P.R.; Chen, Wenying; Ruijven, Bas J. van; Dhar, Subash; Elzen, Michel G.J. den; Vuuren, Detlef P. van

2013-01-01

This paper analyses the impact of postponing global mitigation action on abatement costs and energy systems changes in China and India. It compares energy-system changes and mitigation costs from a global and two national energy-system models under two global emission pathways with medium likelihood of meeting the 2 °C target: a least-cost pathway and a pathway that postpones ambitious mitigation action, starting from the Copenhagen Accord pledges. Both pathways have similar 2010–2050 cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis shows that postponing mitigation action increases the lock-in in less energy efficient technologies and results in much higher cumulative mitigation costs. The models agree that carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear energy are important mitigation technologies, while the shares of biofuels and other renewables vary largely over the models. Differences between India and China with respect to the timing of emission reductions and the choice of mitigation measures relate to differences in projections of rapid economic change, capital stock turnover and technological development. Furthermore, depending on the way it is implemented, climate policy could increase indoor air pollution, but it is likely to provide synergies for energy security. These relations should be taken into account when designing national climate policies. - highlights: • We analyze long-term impacts of the international pledges for China and India. • We compare a least-cost pathway with a pathway starting from the Copenhagen pledges. • Postponing mitigation action implies much higher cumulative mitigation costs. • Postponing increases fossil fuel dependence and requires deeper long-term reductions. • Countries differ mainly due to different periods of rapid economic change

Treaty Series No. 60 (1985) - Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China for Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy with exchange of letters - London, 3 June 1985

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

The Agreement covers in particular co-operation in civil nuclear research, including reactor safety, radioactive waste management and radiation protection. Co-operation between the two Parties shall be for exclusively peaceful purposes and the transfer to third parties of any nuclear material, equipment or facilities supplied in the context of the present Agreement may not take place without prior consultation between the two Governments. In the event of such a transfer, the two Governments shall ensure that the third state pledges peaceful use only and accepts IAEA safeguards. (NEA) [fr

Saudis map $450 million gulf spill cleanup

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on Saudi Arabia which has earmarked about $450 million to clean up Persian Gulf beaches polluted by history's worst oil spills, created during the Persian Gulf crisis. Details of the proposed cleanup measures were outlined by Saudi environmental officials at a seminar on the environment in Dubai, OPEC News Agency reported. The seminar was sponsored by the Gulf Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organization, an environmental cooperative agency set up by Persian Gulf governments. Meantime, a Saudi government report has outlined early efforts designed to contain the massive oil spills that hit the Saudi coast before oil could contaminate water intakes at the huge desalination plants serving Riyadh and cooling water facilities at Al Jubail

Million Hearts: Key to Collaboration to Reduce Heart Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Brinkman, Patricia

2016-01-01

Extension has taught successful classes to address heart disease, yet heart disease remains the number one killer in the United States. The U.S. government's Million Hearts initiative seeks collaboration among colleges, local and state health departments, Extension and other organizations, and medical providers in imparting a consistent message…

Institutional framework of state property pledge in nizhniy Novgorod Rregion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tat'yana Nikolaevna Danilova

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Collateral legal relations are an important factor of the investment process development. They reduce opportunistic loan risks and increase partners’ confidence within the transaction. The mortgage fund of Nizhniy Novgorod region is nowadays involved in the implementation of investment and innovation projects up to 70%. Although theinstitutionalenvironment of regional collateral relation has drastically improved in the last 11 years, the current status is far away from the ideal. Imperfect legal framework of collateral legal relations with the public property leads not only to information asymmetry, but also to a reduced states’ incomefrom thesetransactions. The paper analyzes the current legislative pledge of state property, describes the main steps of its modernization, identifies the positive aspects and trends, as well as deficiencies, provides and gives a proof of necessary legal framework changes aimed at collateral financial relations efficiency improvement in the region

Beyond primary: Lessons learnt from a ‘successful’ country in Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Altinyelken, H.K.; Verhoeven, J.

2008-01-01

Uganda, the pearl of Africa, takes great pride in its Universal Primary Education (UPE) system. In 1996, the government pledged to pay the tuition fees of four children per family, later extending this pledge to all children enrolled at government-aided schools. Over the following decade, dramatic

Volle klaslokalen zijn ook niet alles [Beyond primary: Lessons learnt from a ‘successful’ country in Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Altinyelken, H.K.; Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken,

2008-01-01

Uganda, the pearl of Africa, takes great pride in its Universal Primary Education (UPE) system. In 1996, the government pledged to pay the tuition fees of four children per family, later extending this pledge to all children enrolled at government-aided schools. Over the following decade, dramatic

'Practice what you preach': Nurses' perspectives on the Code of Ethics and Service Pledge in five South African hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Janine; Phakoe, Maureen; Rispel, Laetitia C

2015-01-01

A recent focus of the global discourse on the health workforce has been on its quality, including the existence of codes of ethics. In South Africa, the importance of ethics and value systems in nursing was emphasised in the 2011 National Nursing Summit. The study explored hospital nurses' perceptions of the International Code of Ethics for Nurses; their perceptions of the South African Nurses' Pledge of Service; and their views on contemporary ethical practice. Following university ethics approval, the study was done at a convenience sample of five hospitals in two South African provinces. In each hospital, all day duty nurses in paediatric, maternity, adult medical, and adult surgical units were requested to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on their perceptions of the Code of Ethics and the Pledge, using a seven-point Likert scale. STATA(®) 13 and NVIVO 10 were used to analyse survey data and open-ended responses, respectively. The mean age of survey participants (n=69) was 39 years (SD=9.2), and the majority were female (96%). The majority agreed with a statement that they will promote the human rights of individuals (98%) and that they have a duty to meet the health and social needs of the public (96%). More nuanced responses were obtained for some questions, with 60% agreeing with a statement that too much emphasis is placed on patients' rights as opposed to nurses' rights and 32% agreeing with a statement that they would take part in strike action to improve nurses' salaries and working conditions. The dilemmas of nurses to uphold the Code of Ethics and the Pledge in face of workplace constraints or poor working conditions were revealed in nurses' responses to open-ended questions. Continuing education in ethics and addressing health system deficiencies will enhance nurses' professional development and their ethical decision-making and practice.

Pledge Of The Land Plot Under The Law Of Continental Europe Countries And The Republic Of Kazakhstan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavel A. Byshkov

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In the article the legal regulation and institutional features of mortgage of land in various European countries, that has developed legislation and transitional economies are researched. The processes of securing various types of these rights for land in modern law are analyzed. The order of occurrence, termination, as well as contents of this law is researched. Pledge (mortgage of land is by it’s nature is the inherently limited real right, regulated by laws of modern countries. This land title applies to the land owned by individuals and entities and can be set in relation to land, which is in different forms of ownership. Mortgages are usually registered without the transfer of this property into the possession of the creditor. The subject of mortgage, in addition to real estate, may be land rights, for example, usufruct. It should also be noted that variety of mortgage forms in different countries exists, what is primarily related to the development of law in these countries. Meanwhile, it should be emphasized that the holder of mortgage is given the authority to prevent decrease in the value of real estate. Record of pledge (mortgage of land is mandatorily placed into the special register in order to ensure its publicity.

An analysis of the implementation of PEPFAR's anti-prostitution pledge and its implications for successful HIV prevention among organizations working with sex workers

Science.gov (United States)

Ditmore, Melissa Hope; Allman, Dan

2013-01-01

Introduction Since 2003, US government funding to address the HIV and AIDS pandemic has been subject to an anti-prostitution clause. Simultaneously, the efficacy of some HIV prevention efforts for sex work in areas receiving US government funding has diminished. This article seeks to explain why. Methods This analysis utilizes a case story approach to build a narrative of defining features of organizations in receipt of funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other US funding sources. For this analysis, multiple cases were compiled within a single narrative. This helps show restrictions imposed by the anti-prostitution clause, any lack of clarity of guidelines for implementation and ways some agencies, decision-making personnel, and staff on the ground contend with these restrictions. Results Responses to PEPFAR's anti-prostitution clause vary widely and have varied over time. Organizational responses have included ending services for sex workers, gradual phase-out of services, cessation of seeking US government HIV funds and increasing isolation of sex workers. Guidance issued in 2010 did not clarify what was permitted. Implementation and enforcement has been dependent in part on the interpretations of this policy by individuals, including US government representatives and organizational staff. Conclusions Different interpretations of the anti-prostitution clause have led to variations in programming, affecting the effectiveness of work with sex workers. The case story approach proved ideal for working with information like this that is highly sensitive and vulnerable to breach of anonymity because the method limits the potential to betray confidences and sources, and limits the potential to jeopardize funding and thereby jeopardize programming. This method enabled us to use specific examples without jeopardizing the organizations and individuals involved while demonstrating unintended consequences of PEPFAR's anti

Port Blair declaration pledged to establish and develop Andaman and Nicobar Ocean Biogeographic Information System - Meeting report

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Chavan, V.S.; Achuthankutty, C.T.; Nazar, A.K.A.

to implement such an inform a tion system, and monitor the progress of ANOBIS. The task force would comprise of techn i cal and da ta - management representatives from pa r - ticipating institutions, and would ensure seamless establishment and development... Declaration pledged to establish and develop Andaman and Nicobar Ocean Biogeographic Information Sy s tem* T he Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) I s- lands are located in the Indian Ocean, in the southern reaches of the Bay of Be n gal. The Andaman Sea...

MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecology Symposium March 5-6, 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika S. Svendsen

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The MillionTreesNYC Subcommittee on Research and Evaluation was formed shortly following the 2007 launch of MillionTreesNYC, a citywide, public-private initiative with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across New York City’s five boroughs by 2017. Members of this committee are comprised of academics, government researchers and local practitioners with experience in the fields of natural resource management and community development.On March 5-6, 2010, over two hundred researchers and practitioners came together at The New School to showcase scientific innovation in the field of urban forestry and greening. The MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecology Research Symposium engaged professionals from a broad range of disciplines including sociology, planning, epidemiology, earth sciences, hydrology, forestry, ecology, and design who were uniquely positioned to discuss new ideas.

‘Practice what you preach’: Nurses’ perspectives on the Code of Ethics and Service Pledge in five South African hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janine White

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Background: A recent focus of the global discourse on the health workforce has been on its quality, including the existence of codes of ethics. In South Africa, the importance of ethics and value systems in nursing was emphasised in the 2011 National Nursing Summit. Objective: The study explored hospital nurses’ perceptions of the International Code of Ethics for Nurses; their perceptions of the South African Nurses’ Pledge of Service; and their views on contemporary ethical practice. Methods: Following university ethics approval, the study was done at a convenience sample of five hospitals in two South African provinces. In each hospital, all day duty nurses in paediatric, maternity, adult medical, and adult surgical units were requested to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on their perceptions of the Code of Ethics and the Pledge, using a seven-point Likert scale. STATA® 13 and NVIVO 10 were used to analyse survey data and open-ended responses, respectively. Results: The mean age of survey participants (n=69 was 39 years (SD=9.2, and the majority were female (96%. The majority agreed with a statement that they will promote the human rights of individuals (98% and that they have a duty to meet the health and social needs of the public (96%. More nuanced responses were obtained for some questions, with 60% agreeing with a statement that too much emphasis is placed on patients’ rights as opposed to nurses’ rights and 32% agreeing with a statement that they would take part in strike action to improve nurses’ salaries and working conditions. The dilemmas of nurses to uphold the Code of Ethics and the Pledge in face of workplace constraints or poor working conditions were revealed in nurses’ responses to open-ended questions. Conclusion: Continuing education in ethics and addressing health system deficiencies will enhance nurses’ professional development and their ethical decision-making and

‘Practice what you preach’: Nurses’ perspectives on the Code of Ethics and Service Pledge in five South African hospitals

Science.gov (United States)

White, Janine; Phakoe, Maureen; Rispel, Laetitia C.

2015-01-01

Background A recent focus of the global discourse on the health workforce has been on its quality, including the existence of codes of ethics. In South Africa, the importance of ethics and value systems in nursing was emphasised in the 2011 National Nursing Summit. Objective The study explored hospital nurses’ perceptions of the International Code of Ethics for Nurses; their perceptions of the South African Nurses’ Pledge of Service; and their views on contemporary ethical practice. Methods Following university ethics approval, the study was done at a convenience sample of five hospitals in two South African provinces. In each hospital, all day duty nurses in paediatric, maternity, adult medical, and adult surgical units were requested to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on their perceptions of the Code of Ethics and the Pledge, using a seven-point Likert scale. STATA® 13 and NVIVO 10 were used to analyse survey data and open-ended responses, respectively. Results The mean age of survey participants (n=69) was 39 years (SD=9.2), and the majority were female (96%). The majority agreed with a statement that they will promote the human rights of individuals (98%) and that they have a duty to meet the health and social needs of the public (96%). More nuanced responses were obtained for some questions, with 60% agreeing with a statement that too much emphasis is placed on patients’ rights as opposed to nurses’ rights and 32% agreeing with a statement that they would take part in strike action to improve nurses’ salaries and working conditions. The dilemmas of nurses to uphold the Code of Ethics and the Pledge in face of workplace constraints or poor working conditions were revealed in nurses’ responses to open-ended questions. Conclusion Continuing education in ethics and addressing health system deficiencies will enhance nurses’ professional development and their ethical decision-making and practice. PMID:25971398

Hibernia project gets another government boost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that Canadian governments will provide a financial backstop for development of Hibernia oil field off Newfoundland while a new partner i sought. Ottawa and Newfoundland will pay as much as $127 million or 75% of development costs incurred by the companies from May 15 to Nov. 1, 192. That figure could rise to $185 million if an agreement is extended to Jan. 1, 1993, by mutual consent. The governments will pay only if the project on the Grand Banks is suspended or terminated and buyers can't be found for Gulf's 25% interest. The federal government agreed to pay two thirds of the indemnity, Newfoundland one third. A federal spokesman the Ottawa does not expect to have to pay the funds. The agreement represents an insurance policy for participating companies

31 CFR 380.3 - What collateral may I pledge if I am a Treasury Tax and Loan depositary under 31 CFR part 203...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What collateral may I pledge if I am a Treasury Tax and Loan depositary under 31 CFR part 203, and what value will you assign to it? 380...) FISCAL SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT COLLATERAL ACCEPTABILITY AND...

International Perspective on Government Nanotechnology Funding in 2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roco, M. C.

2005-01-01

The worldwide investment in nanotechnology research and development (R and D) reported by national government organizations and EC has increased approximately 9-fold in the last 8 years - from $432 million in 1997 to about $4,100 million in 2005. The proportion of national government investments for: academic R and D and education are between 20% (Korea, Taiwan) and 65% (US), industrial R and D - between 5% (US) and 60% (Korea, Taiwan), and core facilities and government laboratories - about 20-25% in all major contributing economies. This evaluation uses the NNI definition of nanotechnology (that excludes MEMS or microelectronics), and is based on direct information and analysis with managers of nanotechnology R and D programs in the respective countries

International Perspective on Government Nanotechnology Funding in 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Roco, M. C.

2005-12-01

The worldwide investment in nanotechnology research and development (R&D) reported by national government organizations and EC has increased approximately 9-fold in the last 8 years - from 432 million in 1997 to about 4,100 million in 2005. The proportion of national government investments for: academic R&D and education are between 20% (Korea, Taiwan) and 65% (US), industrial R&D - between 5% (US) and 60% (Korea, Taiwan), and core facilities and government laboratories - about 20-25% in all major contributing economies. This evaluation uses the NNI definition of nanotechnology (that excludes MEMS or microelectronics), and is based on direct information and analysis with managers of nanotechnology R&D programs in the respective countries.

Samson Cree lawsuit costs Ottawa more than $45 million in legal fees so far

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon

2005-01-01

Some $45 million has been spent by the federal government in a continuing legal fight against two Alberta native bands. The fight is about oil and gas royalties. The Samson and Emineskin bands on the Hobbema reserve north of Red Deer, Alberta are accusing the federal government of having mismanaged their oil and gas royalties for five decades. According to a spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the case is a costly evidence of Ottawa's wrong-headed approach to aboriginal assets

Dutch chemical producers pledge emissions cuts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chynoweth, E.; Schoenmakers, J.

1993-01-01

Dutch chemical producers have negotiated a long-term agreement with government ministries to reduce emissions of a wide range of chemicals. Industry association Vereniging van de Nederlandse Chemische Industrie (VNCI; Leidschendam) says implementing the commitment will cost companies Dfl 10 billion ($5.4 billion) between 1993 and 2000. VNCI technical director Wim Quik welcomes the accord, which he describes as a management contract, saying, Rather than have legislation, there is a certain adjustment available. Peter Santen, managing director of midsized chemicals player Cindu Chemicals (Uithoorn, the Netherlands) voices some concern about the details of the accord, but adds, we are flexible in trying to agree with the contents of the covenant [it] is better than having new rules from law. The Dutch government, traditionally eager for consensus, has struck a number of such deals with Dutch industries - including packaging, metal, and tire - to reduce emissions and set up environmental management programs. The effort is based on the government's National Environmental Policy Plans - NMP and NMP Plus. Targets for emissions reduction by the chemical industry were provided by a government-funded environmental research institute

Mandatory e-government has arrived

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berger, Jesper Bull

2014-01-01

The value of e-government, services to citizens by public institutions through the internet, is dependent on the mutual adoption of e-government by both the public institution and the citizens. This paper describes a longitudinal study of e-government adoption by municipalities and citizens....... The adoption patterns among citizens were less distinct. We calculated the realized savings to only 20% of the anticipated savings, leading to a deficit of nearly €5 million in 2013. Municipal funding was reduced according to the anticipated savings. In addition, the variation in adoption by municipal staff...

Ebola in West Africa: an international medical emergency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasir Waheed

2014-09-01

Full Text Available West Africa is facing the worst Ebola outbreak with 3 685 cases and 1 841 deaths reported from Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leona and Nigeria. There is no vaccine or direct treatment available to treat the patients with Ebola. World Health Organization (WHO has approved the use of experimental drugs for Ebola patients. Health workers are at high risk. The governments and WHO are responsible to provide necessary protective equipment to health workers dealing with Ebola. There is a strong need to identify the invisible chains of virus transmission. World Bank pledges $200 million to fight against Ebola, while WHO said $430 million are needed to control the Ebola outbreak. Ebola can be contained by early detection and isolation of case, contact tracing, monitoring of contacts and adaptation of rigorous procedures for virus control.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World: A news brief from Food ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In the developing world, 790 million people do not have enough to eat, according to the most recent estimates (1995/97). That represents a decline of 40 million compared to 1990/92. At the World Food Summit in 1996, world leaders pledged to reduce the number of hungry people to around 400 million by 2015. At the ...

The Effect of IFRS, Information Asymmetry and Corporate Governance on the Quality of Accounting Information

OpenAIRE

Hui-Sung, Kao; Tzu-Han Wei

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the relationship between the information asymmetry, the ownership structure, the pledge of directors-supervisor, respectively, and the quality of accounting information under different accounting standards. By considering A and B stock market of China, which apply China GAAP and IFRS, we discuss whether IFRS can reduce negative effects of the information asymmetry, the ownership structure, the pledge of directors, and furthermore promote the quality of accounting infor...

Government Advertising and Media Coverage of Corruption Scandals

OpenAIRE

Di Tella, Rafael M.; Franceschelli, Ignacio

2011-01-01

We construct measures of the extent to which the 4 main newspapers in Argentina report government corruption in their front page during the period 1998-2007 and correlate them with the extent to which each newspaper is a recipient of government advertising. The correlation is negative. The size is considerable: a one standard deviation increase in monthly government advertising (0.26 million pesos of 2000) is associated with a reduction in the coverage of the government's corruption scandals ...

Funds made available for nuclear research and development by the Federal Government and the Laender Governments 1977 to 1979

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-01-01

In 1977, funds of about 2,000 million DM were made available for nuclear research and development by the Federal and Laender governments, i.e. 5% more than in 1976. About 30% of this money went to basic research in nuclear research centres and other institutions, in particular universities. For 1978, the Bund und Laender budget for nuclear research and development amounts to about 2.2 thousand million DM; for 1979, this value is about 2.5 thousand million DM. (orig./HP) 891 HP/orig.- 892 RDG [de

Citizens Integrity Pledge ######################### I believe

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Administrator

I believe that all stakeholders such as governrnent , citizens and the private sector need to work together to eradicate corruption. I realise that ... maintaining highest standards of integrity, transparency and good governance in all aspects of our.

Trade partners UK in Europe Leaf lands 2.5 million pound CERN deal

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

"Leaf Technologies of Newtownabbey, County Antrim, has won a 2.5 million pound contract to supply electronic modules to CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics) in Geneva, one of the world's most advanced scientific research projects, which is funded by the UK and 19 other European governments. Leaf will develop sophisticated circuit boards for the high precision controls of the Large Hadron Collider" (1 page)

EEI will begin funding TMI-2 cleanup activities by January 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1984-01-01

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) will make the first of six annual payments to the Three Mile Island cleanup trust fund by January 1, 1985 even though individual utility pledges are $19 million short of the preset condition of $100 million. The EEI board also learned that surveys of customer opinions show an improvement in public relations during the year and that future energy needs will require the increase use of nuclear power. Various speakers at the board meeting challenged member utilities to improve their entrepreneurial approach, spoke on the need for better government support of industry's economic growth programs by fostering a climate that encourages research and development, estimated that 75% of US goods will be actively competing with foreign-made goods for sale, and noted the need to replace traditional utility high-growth strategies with efforts to help customers become more efficient in their use of energy

Provision of information to consumers about the calorie content of alcoholic drinks: did the Responsibility Deal pledge by alcohol retailers and producers increase the availability of calorie information?

Science.gov (United States)

Petticrew, M; Douglas, N; Knai, C; Maani Hessari, N; Durand, M A; Eastmure, E; Mays, N

2017-08-01

Alcohol is a significant source of dietary calories and is a contributor to obesity. Industry pledges to provide calorie information to consumers have been cited as reasons for not introducing mandatory ingredient labelling. As part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) in England, alcohol retailers and producers committed to providing consumers with information on the calorie content of alcoholic drinks. This study examines what was achieved following this commitment and considers the implications for current industry commitments to provide information on alcohol calories. Analysis of RD pledge delivery plans and progress reports. Assessment of calorie information in supermarkets and in online stores. (i) Analysis of the content of pledge delivery plans and annual progress reports of RD signatories to determine what action they had committed to, and had taken, to provide calorie information. (ii) Analysis of the availability of calorie information on product labels; in UK supermarkets; and on online shopping sites and websites. No information was provided in any of 55 stores chosen to represent all the main UK supermarkets. Calorie information was not routinely provided on supermarkets' websites, or on product labels. One of the stated purposes of the RD was to provide consumers with the information to make informed health-related choices, including providing information on the calorie content of alcoholic drinks. This study indicates that this did not take place to any significant extent. The voluntary implementation of alcohol calorie labelling by industry needs to continue to be carefully monitored to determine whether and how it is done. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fighting poverty and exclusion through social investment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kvist, Jon

The fight against poverty and social exclusion is at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. With more than 120 million people in the EU at risk of poverty or social exclusion, EU leaders have pledged to bring at least 20 million people out of poverty an...

Penerapan Pakta Integritas pada Pengadaan Barang/Jasa untuk Mewujudkan Tata Kelola Pemerintah yang Bersih

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Insa Ansari

2016-12-01

ABSTRACT. Integrity Pact is an affidavit which contains a pledge to prevent and not collusion, corruption and nepotism in the Procurement of Goods / Services. Integrity Pact on Procurement of Goods / Services introduced in Presidential Decree Number 80 Year 2003 concerning Procurement of Government Goods / Services. After the Presidential Decree Number 80 Year 2003 concerning Procurement of Government Goods / Services revoked by Indonesian Presidential Regulation Number 54 Year 2010 concerning Procurement of Government Goods / Services, the integrity pact is still maintained in the presidential decree. Setting the integrity pact in procurement of government goods / services is one of the efforts to achieve good governance and clean government. But more important is the application of the material and does not pledge to prevent collusion, corruption and nepotism as stated in the integrity pact. The implementation of integrity pacts in procurement of government goods / services is one of the government's efforts in order to realize Good Governance and Clean Government.

Phil Knight and the Public Purposes of Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Barrett; Morphew, Christopher

2017-01-01

Philip H. Knight, co-founder of Nike, Inc., pledged $400 million to Stanford University last year (Gioia, 2016; Stanford University, 2016a). The gift will partially endow a $750 million fund intended to support 100 graduate students per year, with awards typically lasting for three years. The resulting Knight-Hennessy Scholars program will be the…

Redeeming Financial Pledges for Africa's Implementation of the NEPAD Initiative: An Appraisal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edwin Ijeoma

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD and challenges of its foreign technical and capital flow need to be appraised after many years of the establishment of the NEPAD initiative and the role out of its African development agenda. The NEPAD’s strategies for implementation of projects and programmes within the foreign technical and capital flow expectations were considered important in taking the initiative forward. NEPAD sought both technical and capital flow support from the international community especially the United Nations agencies and the G8 countries - the United States of America, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Russian Federation and many other development partners. But the high expectations of accelerated implementation of the NEPAD projects and programmes based on the G8 promises dropped following the low pace of fulfilling those promises in spite the perceived acceptance of the NEPAD initiative by the international community. As an Africa’s own agenda towards fast-tracking development, little or no impact has been recorded within the foreign technical and capital flow component of the NEPAD initiative. In the NEPAD 2012 business plan, it was also eluded that redemption of these pledged remains a huge challenge for the organization hence the need for this appraisal.

Effective Communication as Catalyst of Developmental Local Government and Rural Development amid Threats of Overpopulation

OpenAIRE

Naledzani Rasila; John Mudau

2012-01-01

South Africa’s population has risen from 40.5 million in 1996  to 44.8 million in 2001 and to 51.77 in 2011. Africans are in majority making 79.2% of the whole population. About 22.3% of blacks have received no schooling with the unemployment rate of the blacks at 28.1%. Most of these unemployed and uneducated blacks are found in rural areas. This compelled government to introduce Developmental Local government. Developmental Local government refers to the layer of public service that has the...

Afghanistan: Post Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-26

2011, attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul; a September 10, 2011, truck bombing in Wardak Province (which injured 77 U.S. soldiers); and...The trafficking generates an estimated $70 million-$100 million per year for insurgents—perhaps about 25% of the insurgents’ budgets that is...2013. U.S. officials say the government is increasingly able to execute parts of its budget and deliver basic goods and services. Donor aid already

Government's nuclear draft budget for fiscal 1995 totals 480 billion yen, up 5.2%

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The Japanese government's nuclear draft budget for fiscal 1995 totals 480,756 million yen (excluding the nuclear-related budget for universities under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science), 5.2% increase from the last year. The figure can be broken down into 194,793 million yen general account mainly assigned to research and development projects, and 295,963 million yen special account for power resource development. The total nuclear-related draft budget can be broken down into 344,201 million yen (6.2% increase) for the Science and Technology Agency which governs the various projects on the research and utilization of nuclear energy, and 133,430 million yen (4.6% increase) for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry which controls the development of and the regulation concerning commercial nuclear power plants. As for other ministries, 3,909 million yen for the contribution to IAEA and 283 million yen for OECD/NEA are allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The nuclear draft budget of other ministries and agencies than STA and MITI totals 5,443 million yen (3.8% increase over fiscal 1994). The details of the nuclear-related draft budget of STA and MITI are listed. (K.I.)

The 50 million missing women.

Science.gov (United States)

Allahbadia, Gautam N

2002-09-01

The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are "missing" in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to five million. This review from India attempts to summarize all the currently available methods of sex selection and also highlights the current medical practice regards the subject in south-east Asia.

Factors Affecting the Productivity of Government Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerry P. Haenisch

2012-01-01

Full Text Available While there have been a variety of studies concerning government worker motivation and productivity, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on state government workers’ perceptions about what factors affect their productivity. With more than 5 million workers employed by state governments in the United States, any improvement in state workplace productivity could have significant financial and service impact for society. In this study, state government workers identified those factors perceived as most affecting their workplace productivity. Data were collected through a survey offered to state government workers in the state of Wyoming. Factor analysis was used to derive key productivity factors from survey responses. The results indicate that state government workers appreciate having freedom and autonomy, like their jobs and the sense of achievement, and welcome teamwork, but feel limited by poor supervision and management, poor communications, and insufficient budgets and staffing. To improve productivity, the workers would eliminate bureaucracy, supervise better, and improve communication.

Airborne geophysics in Australia: the government contribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denham, D.

1997-01-01

Airborne geophysical data sets provide important cost-effective information for resource exploration and land management. Improved techniques, developed recently, now enable high-resolution aeromagnetic and gamma-ray surveys to be used extensively by the resource industries to improve the cost effectiveness of exploration and by governments to encourage resource development and sustainable management of natural resources. Although airborne geophysical techniques have been used extensively and are now used almost routinely by mineral explorers, it is only in the last few years that governments have been involved as major players in the acquisition of data. The exploration industry pioneered the imaging of high-resolution airborne geophysical data sets in the early 1980s and, at the same time, the Northern Territory Government started a modest program of flying the Northern Territory, at 500 m flight-line spacing, to attract mineral exploration. After the start of the National Geoscience Mapping Accord in 1990, the then BMR and its State/Territory counterparts used the new high-resolution data as an essential ingredient to underpin mapping programs. These new data sets proved so valuable that, starting in 1992/93, the annual expenditure by the Commonwealth and States/Northern Territory increased from roughly $2 million per year to a massive $10 million per year. These investments by governments, although unlikely to be permanently sustainable, have been made to encourage and expand exploration activity by providing new high-quality data sets in industry at very low cost. There are now approximately 11 million line-km of airborne geophysical data available in databases held by the Commonwealth, States and Northern Territory. The results so far have seen a significant increase in exploration activity in States that have embarked on this course (e.g. South Australia and Victoria), and the information provided from these surveys is proving crucial to understanding the

Mexico: new president pledges economic liberalisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grayson, G.

1994-01-01

This article focuses on the commitment of the new Mexican president to economic reforms, and the state petroleum industry Fremex. The influence of the government and the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) on the development of Fremex, the four subsidiary companies, options for the future, privatisation, the benefits of modernisation, and upstream opportunities for private companies are discussed. (UK)

Science.gov: gateway to government science information.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzpatrick, Roberta Bronson

2010-01-01

Science.gov is a portal to more than 40 scientific databases and 200 million pages of science information via a single query. It connects users to science information and research results from the U.S. government. This column will provide readers with an overview of the resource, as well as basic search hints.

State and Local Government Partnership

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barton, Alexander; Rinebold, Joel; Aresta, Paul

2012-03-30

The State and Local Government Partnership project has built relationships between the Department of Energy (DOE), regional states, and municipalities. CCAT implemented this project using a structure that included leadership by the DOE. Outreach was undertaken through collaborative meetings, workshops, and briefings; the development of technical models and local energy plans; support for state stakeholder groups; and implementation of strategies to facilitate the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The final guidance documents provided to stakeholders consisted of individual strategic state “Roadmaps” to serve as development plans. These “Roadmaps” confirm economic impacts, identify deployment targets, and compare policies and incentives for facility development in each of the regional states. The partnerships developed through this project have improved the exchange of knowledge between state and local government stakeholders and is expected to increase the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in early market applications, consistent with the DOE’s market transformation efforts. Technically accurate and objective information was, and continues to be, provided to improve public and stakeholder perceptions regarding the use of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Based on the “Roadmaps” and studies conducted for this project, there is the potential to generate approximately 10.75 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity annually from hydrogen and fuel cell technologies at potential host sites in the Northeast regional states, through the development of 1,364 to 1,818 megawatts (MW) of fuel cell electric generation capacity. Currently, the region has approximately 1,180 companies that are part of the growing hydrogen and fuel cell industry supply chain in the region. These companies are estimated to have over $1 billion in annual revenue and investment, contribute more than $51 million in annual state and local tax revenue

With Strings Attached: Chinas Economic Policy in the South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

10 million toward the relief efforts. The Swedish corporation Ikea even pledged $2.7 million through a customer-match campaign.140 China’s initial...142 Associated Press, “Typhoon Haiyan: China Gives Less Aid to Philippines than Ikea ,” The Guardian, November 14, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com...world/2013/nov/14/typhoon-haiyan-china- aid-philippines- ikea . 143 Daniel Baltrusaitis, “China’s Revealing Typhoon Haiyan Response,” The Diplomat

When pro-Gay means anti-Muslim

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shield, Andrew DJ

2017-01-01

The right-wing government claims that LGBTQ rights are fundamental. Simultaneously, it pledges to uphold border policing so as to prevent refugees from entering the country, while supporting policies that implicitly target ethnic-minority Danes. So is the government's claim to support LGBTQ right...

Collaboration or Contention? Decentralised marine Governance in Berau

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kusumawati, R.; Visser, L.E.

2014-01-01

Conservation of marine space is a new frontier in environmentalists’ involvement with resource governance in Indonesia. The coastal and marine area of Berau was established as a District Marine Conservation Area (MCA) based on District Head Regulation No. 31/2005. The total MCA of 1.27 million ha

Models of governance in multihospital systems. Implications for hospital and system-level decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Morlock, L L; Alexander, J A

1986-12-01

This study utilizes data from a national survey of 159 multihospital systems in order to describe the types of governance structures currently being utilized, and to compare the policy making process for various types of decisions in systems with different approaches to governance. Survey results indicate that multihospital systems most often use one of three governance models. Forty-one percent of the systems (including 33% of system hospitals) use a parent holding company model in which there is a system-wide corporate governing board and separate governing boards for each member hospital. Twenty-two percent of systems in the sample (but 47% of all system hospitals) utilize what we have termed a modified parent holding company model in which there is one system-wide governing board, but advisory boards are substituted for governing boards at the local hospital level. Twenty-three percent of the sampled systems (including 11% of system hospitals) use a corporate model in which there is one system-wide governing board but no other governing or advisory boards at either the divisional, regional or local hospital levels. A comparison of systems using these three governance approaches found significant variation in terms of system size, ownership and the geographic proximity of member hospitals. In order to examine the relationship between alternative approaches to governance and patterns of decision-making, the three model types were compared with respect to the percentages of systems reporting that local boards, corporate management and/or system-wide corporate boards have responsibility for decision-making in a number of specific issue areas. Study results indicate that, regardless of model type, corporate boards are most likely to have responsibility for decisions regarding the transfer, pledging and sale of assets; the formation of new companies; purchase of assets greater than $100,000; changes in hospital bylaws; and the appointment of local board members. In

The 50 Million Missing Women

OpenAIRE

Allahbadia, Gautam N.

2002-01-01

The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are “missing” in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to fi...

Will they deliver treatment access?: WTO rules and Canada's law on generic medicine exports.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Richard

2006-12-01

More than two years since Canada enacted the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa, no generic medication produced under compulsory license has yet been exported from Canada. In this feature article, Richard Elliott describes attempts by two Canadian generic pharmaceutical companies to navigate the complicated and unwieldy processes established under the Act, and, noting the government's pledge to review the law and fix it to make it work, prescribes a number of ways in which the process should be streamlined.

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2008 Appropriations

Science.gov (United States)

2007-12-14

and social reforms. The President initially pledged $5 billion annually by FY2006, although funds requested and appropriated have never reached this...to Cuba. The BBG is planning to eliminate several VOA services including Uzbek, Greek, and Cantonese as well as the RFE/RL Macedonia service. BBG also...increased to $230.0 million. The increase of $195 million is entirely for social services to Iraqi refugees. FY2007 Supplemental Request. On April 25

The impact of rotavirus vaccination on discounted net tax revenue in Egypt: a government perspective analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, Mark P; Topachevskyi, Oleksandr; Standaert, Baudouin; Ortega, Omayra; Postma, Maarten

2012-08-01

We evaluated national rotavirus (RV) immunization programme costs to estimate how resulting changes in morbidity and mortality will influence government fiscal accounts over time. The assumption was that increased childhood survival in vaccinated cohorts leads to increased numbers of children consuming government resource, and an increased number of future tax payers. Our objective was to evaluate the difference in lifetime discounted net tax revenue generated by RV vaccinated and unvaccinated cohorts from the Egyptian government perspective. The model framework adopts the Egyptian government perspective for RV immunization costs (year 2009 values) and all government transfers (e.g. education costs, health costs, pensions). To reflect the government tax revenue, we applied a fixed income tax burden to earnings over the lifetime of vaccinated and unvaccinated cohorts. At each year of the model, we derive net taxes (gross taxes less transfers) discounted to the immunization year to reflect the present value of RV vaccination investment costs. Projected incremental net present values of the vaccinated cohort versus the unvaccinated cohort are $US6.1 million, $US58.1 million and $US55.7 million at 25-, 50- and 72-year time horizons, respectively. The internal rate of return for the government based on RV vaccination at years 25, 50 and 72 was 10.8%, 15.1% and 14.9, respectively. Within the first 5 years of vaccination, 76% of vaccine acquisition costs were offset due to direct and indirect cost savings attributed to a reduction in RV-related disease burden. Investments in RV vaccination in a single year are entirely offset when the vaccinated cohort of newborns reach 22 years of age. The government perspective is useful for evaluating investments in RV vaccination because of ongoing government transfers and tax receipts attributed to changes in RV-attributed morbidity and mortality. The analysis described here illustrates that investing in RV offers tangible long

Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance with Excerpts from Saudi Ministry of Education Textbooks for Islamic Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Shea, Nina; Al-Ahmed, Ali

2006-01-01

After September 11, 2001, complaints were voiced around the world, including by the U.S. government, that Saudi Arabian schools demonize the West and the "other." Senior Saudi government spokesmen also acknowledged this as a problem, and have repeatedly pledged that reform is underway or completed. This report was written in response to…

A chain reaction: the Fourth World Conference on Women and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, D

1995-01-01

The UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, held in September 1995 in Beijing, China, fostered international dialogue on complex issues related to women. The Platform of Action maps the boundaries that confine women and recommends actions to redress key concerns, including poverty, violence, education health, the environment, and political and social status. National and regional studies throughout the world show that a great number of women are pushed into prostitution, are sexually abused, raped, forcibly sterilized, and coerced into having abortions. In the US, nearly 4 million women are physically abused every year, according to a 1994 US Department of State report on the status of women. The 1995 UN Human Development Report estimates that one American woman in six is raped in her lifetime. The Beijing document underscores education as a way to empower women and help to break patterns of violence and discrimination. It is estimated that women perform 60% of the world's work but earn only 10% of the world's income and own less that 1% of the world's assets. Governments, institutions, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) pledged monetary support to develop programs that are favorable toward women. The US announced that a 6-year $1.5 billion program will fight domestic violence, and additional proposals include increasing resources to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, decrease smoking and breast cancer, improve wages and conditions for women in the workplace, expand financial credit for women, and promote their participation in the political process. In addition, the World Bank has pledged to spend $5 billion of its $20 billion annual lending to address the particular concerns of women and to target $200 million for miniloans to help women start their own businesses. Throughout the world, education and family planning projects have helped women make informed choices about their families, resulting in improved reproductive health and lower fertility rates.

Clustering Millions of Faces by Identity.

Science.gov (United States)

Otto, Charles; Wang, Dayong; Jain, Anil K

2018-02-01

Given a large collection of unlabeled face images, we address the problem of clustering faces into an unknown number of identities. This problem is of interest in social media, law enforcement, and other applications, where the number of faces can be of the order of hundreds of million, while the number of identities (clusters) can range from a few thousand to millions. To address the challenges of run-time complexity and cluster quality, we present an approximate Rank-Order clustering algorithm that performs better than popular clustering algorithms (k-Means and Spectral). Our experiments include clustering up to 123 million face images into over 10 million clusters. Clustering results are analyzed in terms of external (known face labels) and internal (unknown face labels) quality measures, and run-time. Our algorithm achieves an F-measure of 0.87 on the LFW benchmark (13 K faces of 5,749 individuals), which drops to 0.27 on the largest dataset considered (13 K faces in LFW + 123M distractor images). Additionally, we show that frames in the YouTube benchmark can be clustered with an F-measure of 0.71. An internal per-cluster quality measure is developed to rank individual clusters for manual exploration of high quality clusters that are compact and isolated.

Philippines: Population: USAID loan.

Science.gov (United States)

The Philippines and the United States Agency for International Development signed an agreement on Christmas Day for a US $5.7 million loan and a US $6 million grant for the country's population program. The loan, which matures in 40 years, carries a 2% interest per year for the first 10 years, and 3% thereafter. A 10-year grace period is provided. The US $11.7 million loan and grant package is the first part of USAID's pledge of US $26.9 million in loan and US $29.8 million in grants for the population project. The agreement was signed by Finance Minister Cesar Virata and USAID director Anthony Schwarzwalder. The total loan package of US $57.7 million will be given in the next 5 years.

AREVA net income: 649 million euros

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-03-15

This document presents the financial statements for 2006 of Areva group: net income: 649 million euros; backlog up by 24.6% to 25.6 billion euros; steady growth of sales revenue: + 7.3%1 to 10.863 billion euros; operating income of 407 million euros: excellent divisional performance and constitution of a significant provision for the OL3 project in Finland; dividend proposed to Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: 8.46 euros per share.

AREVA net income: 649 million euros

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-03-01

This document presents the financial statements for 2006 of Areva group: net income: 649 million euros; backlog up by 24.6% to 25.6 billion euros; steady growth of sales revenue: + 7.3%1 to 10.863 billion euros; operating income of 407 million euros: excellent divisional performance and constitution of a significant provision for the OL3 project in Finland; dividend proposed to Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: 8.46 euros per share

Post-War Iraq: Foreign Contributions to Training, Peacekeeping, and Reconstruction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sharp, Jeremy M; Blanchard, Christopher M

2007-01-01

.... policymakers since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. This report tracks important changes in financial and personnel pledges from foreign governments since the August 19, 2003 bombing of the U.N...

Post-War Iraq: Foreign Contributions to Training, Peacekeeping, and Reconstruction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sharp, Jeremy M; Blanchard, Christopher M

2005-01-01

.... policymakers since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. This report tracks important changes in financial and personnel pledges from foreign governments since the August 19, 2003 bombing of the U.N...

Philanthro-metrics: Mining multi-million-dollar gifts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Una O Osili

Full Text Available The Million Dollar List (MDL, online at http://www.milliondollarlist.org is a compilation of publicly announced charitable donations of $1 million or more from across the United States since 2000; as of December 2016, the database contains close to 80,000 gifts made by U.S. individuals, corporations, foundations, and other grant-making nonprofit organizations. This paper discusses the unique value of the Million Dollar List and provides unique insights to key questions such as: How does distance affect giving? How do networks impact million-dollar-plus gifts? Understanding the geospatial and temporal dimensions of philanthropy can assist researchers and policymakers to better understand the role of private funding in innovation and discovery. Moreover, the results from the paper emphasize the importance of philanthropy for fueling research and development in science, the arts, environment, and health. The paper also includes the limitations of the presented analyses and promising future work.

Post-War Iraq: Foreign Contributions to Training, Peacekeeping, and Reconstruction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sharp, Jeremy M; Blanchard, Christopher M

2007-01-01

.... policy makers since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. This report tracks important changes in financial and personnel pledges from foreign governments since the August 19, 2003 bombing of the U.N...

29 CFR 780.708 - A country elevator is located near and serves farmers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... or pledged to the Government under a price-support program. Country elevators customarily receive.... Kan.) 14 WH Cases 269; Tobin v. Flour Mills, 185 F. 2d 596; Holt v. Barnesville Elevator Co., 145 F...

EMBL pay settlement will cost millions

CERN Multimedia

Abott, A

1999-01-01

A labour dispute at EMBL, Heidelberg, was settled last week at a cost of at least DM4 million for the organisation's 16 member states. The lab has asked for clarification on whether the ruling from the IL0 refers simply to a salary adjustment from 1995 or also to a backdated implementation of higher salary scales. This second option would cost considerably more - 8 percent of the budget in back pay and DM3.5 million per annum (1/2 page).

Tools at Work: Facebook's March on Privacy

Science.gov (United States)

Rethlefsen, Melissa L.

2010-01-01

May 31, 2010, was Quit Facebook Day. But although only around 35,000 of the 500 million Facebook users pledged to quit Facebook on Memorial Day, there's a sense of unease stirring with the social network's strategy. Congress has called for Facebook to explain its stance on the collection and sharing of user information (see…

Ashland outlines $261 million in refinery unit construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that Ashland Petroleum Co. has spelled out $261 million in projects completed, under way, or planned to produce cleaner fuel and further reduce emissions at two U.S. refineries. The company: Started up at $13 million pollution control system at its 213,400 b/cd Catlettsburg, Ky., plant. Started construction on six projects at its 67,100 b/cd St. Paul Park, Minn., refinery that will cost about $114 million and enable the plant to produce cleaner burning diesel fuel and further reduce emissions

Alcohol industry and government revenue derived from underage drinking by Australian adolescents 2005.

Science.gov (United States)

Doran, Christopher M; Shakeshaft, Anthony P; Hall, Wayne; Petrie, Dennis

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to estimate the revenue gained from consumption of alcohol by adolescents for each beverage type for the year 2005. Secondary analysis of self-reported alcohol use in the 2005 Australian Secondary School Surveys Alcohol and Drug Use. Australia. Over 506,000 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years (29% of all Australian adolescents) consumed approximately 175.69 million standard drinks in 2005. The total revenue generated by the consumption of these beverages was estimated to be $218 million, of which the government received approximately $107 million or 49% in taxation revenue. Total revenue per underage drinker is estimated at $430.84 with revenue increasing with age. Males tend to spend more on spirits and beer while females spend more on pre-mixed spirits. Females aged 12-15 years spend around $121 per year (or 50% of total expenditure) on pre-mixed spirits compared to females aged 16-17 years old that spend around $257 per year (or 62% of total expenditure) on pre-mixed spirits. The Australian government and the alcohol industry receive substantial financial benefit from the sale of alcoholic beverages to under age drinkers.

Pipeline, utilities to spend $127 million on scada systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

Spending for new or upgraded supervisory control and data acquisition (scada) systems and for additional remote-terminal units (RTUs) by North American pipelines and utilities will exceed $165 million through February 1996. New and updated scada systems will total 122 at a cost of more than $127 million; 143 RTU add-on projects will cost more than $38 million. Pipelines and combined utilities/pipelines will spend $89.5 million for 58 scada-system projects and $30.2 million for RTU add-on projects. Scada systems are computerized hardware and software systems that perform monitoring and control functions. In gas utilities, these systems perform functions normally associated with gas transmission and distribution as well as production-plant process control. In gas and oil pipelines, the systems perform these functions as well as such specialized functions as batch tracking, leak detection, and gas load flow

Sandmining - government rules confuse industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grayson, R.

1989-01-01

Australia is the world's largest supplier of the mineral sands rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite. A combined total of two million tonnes are mined annually, most of which is exported. Western Australia accounts for about 75% of Australia's mineral sands production, worth about $343 million. The remainder is mined along an eastern coastal strip between the New South Wales central coast and Fraser Island in southern Queensland where there has been a revival of past controversies over environmental and radiation concerns. The NSW Government has approved a proposal by Australmin Holdings to mine mineral sands at Newrybar on the far north coast. It has also issued draft guidelines which will exclude sand mining from national parks, nature reserves, sites designated as coastal wetlands and littoral rainforest, beaches and frontal dunes. These guidelines which miners say will make about 50% of east coast reserves, an estimated $6 billion worth of mineral sands untouchable, have been attacked by the mining industry which argues that sand mining and environmental protection are not incompatible and which warns of a loss of economic opportunities for NSW

Government, utilities, industry and universities: partners for nuclear development in Canada and abroad

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hurst, D.G.; Woolston, J.E.

1971-09-01

In Canada, eleven power reactors installed or committed at four sites will provide 5 520 MW(e) for an investment of $1 800 million. Uranium production during the decade 1958-1967 totalled 79 700 tonnes U 3 O 8 worth $1 621 million. For nuclear research, development and control, the federal government employs about 6 000 people and spends about $80 million/year which includes the cost of operating three major research reactors (> 30 MW each). Aggregate commercial isotope production has reached 14 megacuries, and Canada has about 3 000 licensed users. Three power and two research reactors of Canadian design are or will be installed in developing countries overseas. Legislation in 1946 made atomic energy a federal responsibility and established an Atomic Energy Control Board. The Board's regulations, which deal primarily with health, safety and security, are administered with the co-operation of appropriate departments of the federal and provincial governments. Large-scale nuclear research began in 1941 and continued under the National Research Council until 1952 when the federal government created a public corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, to take over both research and the exploitation of atomic energy. Another public corporation, Eldorado Nuclear Limited, conducts research and development on the processing of uranium and operates Canada's only uranium refinery, but prospecting and mining is undertaken largely by private companies. The publicly owned electrical utilities of Ontario and Quebec operate nuclear power stations and participate, with governments, in their financing. Private industry undertakes extensive development and manufacturing, mainly under contract to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and the utilities, and industry has formed its own Canadian Nuclear Association. Canadian universities undertake nuclear research, and receive significant government support; one has operated a research reactor since 1959. Canada's nuclear program is

Million trees Los Angeles canopy cover and benefit assessment

Science.gov (United States)

E.G. McPherson; J.R. Simpson; Q. Xiao; C. Wu

2011-01-01

The Million Trees LA initiative intends to improve Los Angeles’s environment through planting and stewardship of 1 million trees. The purpose of this study was to measure Los Angeles’s existing tree canopy cover (TCC), determine if space exists for 1 million additional trees, and estimate future benefits from the planting. High-resolution QuickBird remote sensing data...

International cooperative initiatives in global climate governance: Raising the ambition level or delegitimizing the UNFCCC?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Widerberg, O.E.; Pattberg, P.H.

2015-01-01

To close the gap between existing country pledges and the necessary ambition level to limit anthropogenic climate change to not more than 2°C average global temperature increase above pre-industrial levels, decision makers from both the public and private domain have started to explore a number of

Jobs for Two Million Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

VocEd, 1982

1982-01-01

The outlook for jobs in the computer industry is excellent for people with appropriate training. The shortage of computer personnel is expected to continue, resulting in higher wages, more job mobility, increasing job security and generally greater opportunities for two million Americans by 1990. (CT)

Ethiopia and its steps to mobilize resources to achieve 2020 elimination and control goals for neglected tropical diseases webs joined can tie a lion.

Science.gov (United States)

Mengitsu, Belete; Shafi, Oumer; Kebede, Biruck; Kebede, Fikreab; Worku, Dagemlidet T; Herero, Merce; French, Michael; Kebede, Biruk; Mackenzie, Charles; Martindale, Sarah; Kebede, Zeyede; Hirpa, Tigist; Frawley, Hannah; Crowley, Kathryn; O'Neil, Maggie; McPherson, Scott

2016-03-01

In June 2013, at the launch of its National Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Master Plan, the Ethiopian government pledged to achieve WHO NTD elimination and control targets by 2020. With an estimated 80 million people living in areas where one or more NTDs are endemic, this goal presented an enormous challenge for the Federal Ministry of Health. However, as of September 2015, the Federal Ministry of Health has managed to mobilize support to implement mass drug administration in 84% of the trachoma endemic districts and 100% of the endemic districts for onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, soil-transmitted helminthes and schistosomiasis. The national program still is facing large gaps in its podoconiosis and leishmaniasis programs, and it faces significant other challenges to stay on track for 2020 targets. However, this unprecedented scale-up in support was achieved through significant government investment in NTD interventions and creative coordination between donors and implementing partners, which may provide valuable lessons for other national NTD programs trying to achieve nationwide coverage. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effective Communication as Catalyst of Developmental Local Government and Rural Development amid Threats of Overpopulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naledzani Rasila

2012-09-01

Full Text Available South Africa’s population has risen from 40.5 million in 1996  to 44.8 million in 2001 and to 51.77 in 2011. Africans are in majority making 79.2% of the whole population. About 22.3% of blacks have received no schooling with the unemployment rate of the blacks at 28.1%. Most of these unemployed and uneducated blacks are found in rural areas. This compelled government to introduce Developmental Local government. Developmental Local government refers to the layer of public service that has the capacity to deliver and account to the people in a responsive, accountable, and efficient manner. It is also described as a sphere that encourages community participation in matters of governance and developmental initiatives. However, Developmental Local government is hindered by continuous growth of population which is likely to lead to overpopulation. Overpopulation is characterised by lack of basic resources such as water and  food. Developmental Local government on the other hand is expected to deliver on these needs. Lack of fulfilment of goals of Developmental Local government is attributed to lack of effective communication between local government and community members. Although population growth is not attributed only to high birth rate, governments around the continent have introduced measures to encourage healthy reproductive life. However, this needs community members that are self-motivated to be active participants in government initiatives. This is not achievable as there is an indication of lack of effective communication. This paper’s main focus is the provision of effective communication model at local sphere which will see community members working together with government on matters of their own development including initiatives  to preserve limited resources amid the challenges of overpopulation. This paper is based on the qualitative study on effectiveness of communication in Mutale local municipality on the enhancement of

Shift Happens: The 2008 Australian Government Summer School for Teachers of English

Science.gov (United States)

Durrant, Cal

2008-01-01

This article talks about the Australian Government "Summer School for Teachers" programme which was announced as part of the 2007-08 Budget Package: "Realising Our Potential." Funds earmarked for this initiative totalled some $102 million over four years, and it was sold to the Australian public as something that would both…

Understanding the challenges of municipal tree planting

Science.gov (United States)

E.G. McPherson; R. Young

2010-01-01

Nine of the twelve largest cities in the U.S. have mayoral tree planting initiatives (TPIs), with pledges to plant nearly 20 million trees. Although executive-level support for trees has never been this widespread, many wonder if this support will endure as administrations change and budgets tighten. In an effort to share lessons learned from successes and setbacks, a...

Tenneco raises $75 million for independents' E and P

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Land, R.

1992-01-01

Tenneco Gas's ventures group, Houston, has raised $75 million to invest in gas exploration and production by independent operations on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Institutional investors committed $50 million to the fund and a group of industrial investors $25 million. Tenneco the the fund will expand to accommodate additional investors through this year. This paper reports that the company's ventures group is evaluating acquisition and drilling opportunities with independents. Ventures group capital will be invested in independent exploratory, development, and producing properties

Los Angeles 1-Million tree canopy cover assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory E. McPherson; James R. Simpson; Qingfu Xiao; Wu Chunxia

2008-01-01

The Million Trees LA initiative intends to chart a course for sustainable growth through planting and stewardship of trees. The purpose of this study was to measure Los Angeles's existing tree canopy cover (TCC), determine if space exists for 1 million additional trees, and estimate future benefits from the planting. High resolution QuickBird remote sensing data,...

The Internet and Increased Citizen Participation in Government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael E. Milakovich

2010-04-01

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

ESCO Project for Buildings of Government Agencies in Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prukvilailert Monchai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In Thailand, Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE have organized the ESCO project to promote and encourage the use of machinery, materials and equipment having high efficiency for government buildings. ESCO company provides the invest and management for changing equipments in the buildings. In this paper, the evaluation of the project has been presented. The potential of electricity savings is about 77 million kwhr/year. It can reduce imports of crude oil about 6.58 thousand tons of crude oil (Ktoe/year. The budget to invest is BHT 1,504 million, with an average payback period of 4.85. However, we found that the establishment of the budget is the barriers. The recommendations and solutions using legal process have been presented to proceed the project in the future.

Mineral waste: the required governance environment to enable re-use

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Godfrey, Linda K

2007-05-01

Full Text Available extraction (adapted from Pearce and Turner 1990...................................................................................................................................14 Figure 10: Use of a tax to internalise environmental externalities (adapted... to account for 221 million tons or 47% of all mineral waste produced in South Africa (Table 4). Mineral waste is therefore the largest, single source of waste in South Africa, much of which is considered hazardous by government. Mining 87.7% Power...

Sulphur guidelines cost $50 million

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1974-01-21

Nearly all gas processing plants requiring remedial work on their sulfur recovery facilities have had applications filed for approval of new construction or modifications. Several jobs have been completed, but some of the largest have not received final approvals from the ERCB and the Alberta department of the environment. It is probable that toal capital expenditures for remedial work will be less than the original forecasts when the guide lines were proclaimed 3 yr ago. Several projects have been rolled in with plant expansions and installation of other new facilities. Even if a portion of these costs is attributed specifically to meeting sulfur guide lines, the total industry investment will probably not exceed $50 million. The principal item in this calculation is the $15 million project for Shell Canada Ltd. at its Waterton plant. This involves installation of a SCOT tail gas cleanup unit and related facilities, to be completed early in 1975. Among the operators of the 6 largest gas plants not meeting specifications in the top size category, Shell was the only one which elected not to apply for exemption.

Extended Deterrence and Allied Assurance: Key Concepts and Current Challenges for U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

members of the alliance noted their “ satisfaction … for the close Alliance consultation which has been conducted throughout the course of the Strategic...and national security matters. In 1984, however, New Zealand elected a Labour government whose campaign platform included a pledge to make the

The Delivery of an Effective Collective Security Mechanism in West Africa: It Is Long Overdue

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-13

China and Brazil , who are interested in Africa’s natural resources and transnational corporations and the impact of their 34 international...peaceful end to the crisis without any preconditions and pledged that he would lift a blockade of the hotel where the Ouatarra government was housed

Accounting Standards: What Do They Mean?

Science.gov (United States)

Farley, Jerry B.

1992-01-01

Four recent and proposed changes in national school accounting standards have significant policy implications for colleges and universities. These changes address (1) standards regarding postemployment benefits other than pensions, (2) depreciation, (3) financial report format, and (4) contributions and pledges made to the school. Governing boards…

General Assembly pledges support for war against AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

1988-03-01

At a special meeting held in October 1987, the World Health Organization called for a concerted, international response to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Announced was the creation of a WHO Global Commission on AIDS comprised of experts in health, social, economic, legal, ethical, and biomedical fields who will advise WHO officials of developments in various aspects of the disease. Member States were united in terms of the need for open communication and support of WHO efforts to combat AIDS. By December 1987, 129 countries had reported 73,747 AIDS cases to WHO and another 3 million new cases are likely to develop by 1982. The WHO strategy is based on several concepts: 1) even in the absence of a vaccine, AIDS is controllable through widespread education; 2) longterm commitment to eradication is necessary; 3) AIDS prevention and control must be integrated into national health systems; and 4) international cooperation, coordination, and leadership is vital. National AIDS committees have been established in over 100 countries.

Eldorado's Beaverlodge operations get $33 million facelift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watson, L.M.

1979-01-01

Strong demand and a good price for high grade uranium is responsible for a $33 million facelift at Eldorado Nuclear's Beaverlodge operation, near Uranium City, Sask., designed to reduce costs and make the operation more competitive with other open pit mines. Rehabilitation has resulted in the installation of a new oxygen plant, office building, laboratory, dry and warehouse. A new carbonation plant is scheduled for completion by year end. Production comes from two connected underground mines - the Fay and Verna - and two shallow mines - the Eagle and the Bolger. Official ore reserves at the end of 1978 were estimated at 4.19 million tons averaging 0.20 percent U 3 O 8 , sufficient for another 20 to 25 years of production. Reported production of uranium oxide in 1978 was 1.2 million pounds. It is expected to reach 1.6 million pounds in 1979. The Verna mine was closed because of a lack of market, but reopened in 1977. Eldorado crews are installing a massive ventilation system. Other development work is proceeding at the Dubyna 31 Zone where an underground satellite ramp operation is being installed. Proposed method of mining is via the access ramp with lateral development drifts into the ore zone. A small open pit, concurrently being developed in the Dubyna 31 Zone, will be mined by 3 m benches. Waste material will be dumped into the mine site disposal area for later use in restoration. Major changes to the processing operation are also being carried out. Changes to the plant in 1979 will include the addition of new offices, a laboratory and shower facilities for the employees. (LL)

'Good Governance' dan 'Governability'

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

- Pratikno

2005-03-01

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

Comparison of USDA Forest Service and stakeholder motivations and experiences in collaborative federal forest governance in the Western United States

Science.gov (United States)

Emily Jane Davis; Eric M. White; Lee K. Cerveny; David Seesholtz; Meagan L. Nuss; Donald R. Ulrich

2017-01-01

In the United States, over 191 million acres of land is managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, a federal government agency. In several western U.S. states, organized collaborative groups have become a de facto governance approach to providing sustained input on management decisions on much public land. This is most extensive in Oregon,...

SME perception of government assistance within South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Gopaul

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Small and medium enterprises (SMEs play a vital role in the economies of countries throughout the world. They contribute to the creation of jobs, economic upliftment as well as the gross domestic product (GDP. It is of great concern however to note that the majority of SMEs fail within their first few years of operation which could be due to many factors such as management skills, finance, access to markets and appropriate technology. With the National Development Plan’s objective to create 11 million jobs by 2030, it is crucial that the government provides assistance needed by SMEs to achieve this goal. Although government assistance may be evident, SMEs and their perceptions regarding this assistance is unclear. The purpose of this paper was therefore to investigate the perception of SME owners of the various government assistance and initiatives that are offered to them. The authors feel that the findings will be universally applicable to SMEs in most countries. The study followed a quantitative research approach, whereby a self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect primary data. The results indicate that SMEs feel that local government and municipalities are not doing enough to support and assist them

Counting 15 million more poor in India, thanks to tobacco.

Science.gov (United States)

John, Rijo M; Sung, Hai-Yen; Max, Wendy B; Ross, Hana

2011-09-01

To quantify the impact of tobacco use and the related medical expenditure on poverty in India. Tobacco expenditure and associated medical expenditure attributable to tobacco use were subtracted from the household monthly consumption expenditure in order to derive an appropriate measure of household disposable income. The 2004 National Sample Survey, a nationally representative survey of Indian households, was used to estimate the true level of poverty. Our estimates indicate that accounting for direct expenditure on tobacco would increase the rural and the urban poverty rates by 1.5% (affecting 11.8 million people) and 0.72% (affecting 2.3 million people), respectively. Similarly, the out-of-pocket costs of tobacco-attributable medical care result in 0.09% higher poverty rates in rural areas (affecting 0.7 million people) and in 0.07% higher poverty rates in urban locations (affecting 0.23 million people). Tobacco consumption impoverishes roughly 15 million people in India. Hence tobacco control measures would not only improve public health, but would also reduce poverty in India.

Million TreesNYC: the integration of research and practice

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay K. Campbell; Morgan Monaco; Nancy Falxa-Raymond; Jacqueline Lu; Andrew Newman; Ruth A. Rae; Erika S. Svendsen

2014-01-01

MillionTreesNYC is an ambitious campaign to plant and care for one million new trees in New York City. Implemented by the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation and the nonprofit New York Restoration Project, this innovative, citywide effort crosses property jurisdictions and physical sites. The goal is to enhance the entire 'green matrix' of...

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Boer, Yvon

2014-01-01

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

Energy- and climate policy of the USA. Goals of the new government

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schiffer, Hans-Wilhelm

2009-01-01

US president Barack Obama and vice president Joe Biden announced a detailed new political agenda on 20 January 2009 when they took over from the Bush government. The internet pages of the White House list 24 items, including an action plan for energy and environment. This ''New Energy for America Plan'' comprises the following goals: Creation of 5 million new jobs by supporting private efforts for clean energy supply with strategic investments of 150 thousand million US dollars for the next decade; Savings of petroleum that are higher than the volume currently imported from the Middle East and Venezuela within the next decade; Ensuring that about 1 million US-made plug-in hybrid cars are on the roads by 2015; Achieving a share of 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025 for renewable energy sources; Implementation of a ''cap-and-trade system'' for the whole US economy in order to reduce climate-relevant gaseous emissions by 80 percent until 2050. (orig.)

Gas priority users consultation : government response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

This consultation document presents the results of an updated analysis of gas priority users comments on the UK government's proposals for updating the current priority lists, amending the eligibility criteria for priority user status, and simplifying the administration of the scheme. The extension of Category C priority users to include sites where interruption of gas supplies would lead to damage exceeding fifty million pounds to a plant at another site is discussed. It is acknowledged that there is a preference for a reduction of gas demand as opposed to a cessation in the case of an emergency gas supply deficit and details are given of a Task Group set up to examine options for reducing demand rather than cessation for large industrial gas users. The role of the Network Emergency Co-ordinator, support for a more flexible approach, pre-agreed rota interruption, a long-duration emergency, demand reduction, and the establishment of a Government/Industry Gas/Electricity Task Group are discussed, and the raising of the load shedding threshold of 25,000 therms/yr is considered

Maintenance of reactor safety and control computers at a large government facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brady, H.G.

1985-01-01

In 1950 the US Government contracted the Du Pont Company to design, build, and operate the Savannah River Plant (SRP). At the time, it was the largest construction project ever undertaken by man. It is still the largest of the Department of Energy facilities. In the nearly 35 years that have elapsed, Du Pont has met its commitments to the US Government and set world safety records in the construction and operation of nuclear facilities. Contributing factors in achieving production goals and setting the safety records are a staff of highly qualified personnel, a well maintained plant, and sound maintenance programs. There have been many ''first ever'' achievements at SRP. These ''firsts'' include: (1) computer control of a nuclear rector, and (2) use of computer systems as safety circuits. This presentation discusses the maintenance program provided for these computer systems and all digital systems at SRP. An in-house computer maintenance program that was started in 1966 with five persons has grown to a staff of 40 with investments in computer hardware increasing from $4 million in 1970 to more than $60 million in this decade. 4 figs

Higher Education Reform in South Korea: Perspectives on the New University for Regional Innovation Program

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Sheena; Yeom, Minho

2010-01-01

The New University for Regional Innovation (NURI) is one of the South Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development's key projects supporting regional universities. NURI aims to develop areas of specialization in regional universities and link universities to local industries. In 2004, the South Korean government pledged to invest…

Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Zhenling; Zhang, Hongyan; Chen, Xinping; Zhang, Chaochun; Ma, Wenqi; Huang, Chengdong; Zhang, Weifeng; Mi, Guohua; Miao, Yuxin; Li, Xiaolin; Gao, Qiang; Yang, Jianchang; Wang, Zhaohui; Ye, Youliang; Guo, Shiwei; Lu, Jianwei; Huang, Jianliang; Lv, Shihua; Sun, Yixiang; Liu, Yuanying; Peng, Xianlong; Ren, Jun; Li, Shiqing; Deng, Xiping; Shi, Xiaojun; Zhang, Qiang; Yang, Zhiping; Tang, Li; Wei, Changzhou; Jia, Liangliang; Zhang, Jiwang; He, Mingrong; Tong, Yanan; Tang, Qiyuan; Zhong, Xuhua; Liu, Zhaohui; Cao, Ning; Kou, Changlin; Ying, Hao; Yin, Yulong; Jiao, Xiaoqiang; Zhang, Qingsong; Fan, Mingsheng; Jiang, Rongfeng; Zhang, Fusuo; Dou, Zhengxia

2018-03-15

Sustainably feeding a growing population is a grand challenge, and one that is particularly difficult in regions that are dominated by smallholder farming. Despite local successes, mobilizing vast smallholder communities with science- and evidence-based management practices to simultaneously address production and pollution problems has been infeasible. Here we report the outcome of concerted efforts in engaging millions of Chinese smallholder farmers to adopt enhanced management practices for greater yield and environmental performance. First, we conducted field trials across China's major agroecological zones to develop locally applicable recommendations using a comprehensive decision-support program. Engaging farmers to adopt those recommendations involved the collaboration of a core network of 1,152 researchers with numerous extension agents and agribusiness personnel. From 2005 to 2015, about 20.9 million farmers in 452 counties adopted enhanced management practices in fields with a total of 37.7 million cumulative hectares over the years. Average yields (maize, rice and wheat) increased by 10.8-11.5%, generating a net grain output of 33 million tonnes (Mt). At the same time, application of nitrogen decreased by 14.7-18.1%, saving 1.2 Mt of nitrogen fertilizers. The increased grain output and decreased nitrogen fertilizer use were equivalent to US$12.2 billion. Estimated reactive nitrogen losses averaged 4.5-4.7 kg nitrogen per Megagram (Mg) with the intervention compared to 6.0-6.4 kg nitrogen per Mg without. Greenhouse gas emissions were 328 kg, 812 kg and 434 kg CO 2 equivalent per Mg of maize, rice and wheat produced, respectively, compared to 422 kg, 941 kg and 549 kg CO 2 equivalent per Mg without the intervention. On the basis of a large-scale survey (8.6 million farmer participants) and scenario analyses, we further demonstrate the potential impacts of implementing the enhanced management practices on China's food security and

Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Zhenling; Zhang, Hongyan; Chen, Xinping; Zhang, Chaochun; Ma, Wenqi; Huang, Chengdong; Zhang, Weifeng; Mi, Guohua; Miao, Yuxin; Li, Xiaolin; Gao, Qiang; Yang, Jianchang; Wang, Zhaohui; Ye, Youliang; Guo, Shiwei; Lu, Jianwei; Huang, Jianliang; Lv, Shihua; Sun, Yixiang; Liu, Yuanying; Peng, Xianlong; Ren, Jun; Li, Shiqing; Deng, Xiping; Shi, Xiaojun; Zhang, Qiang; Yang, Zhiping; Tang, Li; Wei, Changzhou; Jia, Liangliang; Zhang, Jiwang; He, Mingrong; Tong, Yanan; Tang, Qiyuan; Zhong, Xuhua; Liu, Zhaohui; Cao, Ning; Kou, Changlin; Ying, Hao; Yin, Yulong; Jiao, Xiaoqiang; Zhang, Qingsong; Fan, Mingsheng; Jiang, Rongfeng; Zhang, Fusuo; Dou, Zhengxia

2018-03-01

Sustainably feeding a growing population is a grand challenge, and one that is particularly difficult in regions that are dominated by smallholder farming. Despite local successes, mobilizing vast smallholder communities with science- and evidence-based management practices to simultaneously address production and pollution problems has been infeasible. Here we report the outcome of concerted efforts in engaging millions of Chinese smallholder farmers to adopt enhanced management practices for greater yield and environmental performance. First, we conducted field trials across China’s major agroecological zones to develop locally applicable recommendations using a comprehensive decision-support program. Engaging farmers to adopt those recommendations involved the collaboration of a core network of 1,152 researchers with numerous extension agents and agribusiness personnel. From 2005 to 2015, about 20.9 million farmers in 452 counties adopted enhanced management practices in fields with a total of 37.7 million cumulative hectares over the years. Average yields (maize, rice and wheat) increased by 10.8–11.5%, generating a net grain output of 33 million tonnes (Mt). At the same time, application of nitrogen decreased by 14.7–18.1%, saving 1.2 Mt of nitrogen fertilizers. The increased grain output and decreased nitrogen fertilizer use were equivalent to US$12.2 billion. Estimated reactive nitrogen losses averaged 4.5–4.7 kg nitrogen per Megagram (Mg) with the intervention compared to 6.0–6.4 kg nitrogen per Mg without. Greenhouse gas emissions were 328 kg, 812 kg and 434 kg CO2 equivalent per Mg of maize, rice and wheat produced, respectively, compared to 422 kg, 941 kg and 549 kg CO2 equivalent per Mg without the intervention. On the basis of a large-scale survey (8.6 million farmer participants) and scenario analyses, we further demonstrate the potential impacts of implementing the enhanced management practices on China’s food security and

A Million Cancer Genome Warehouse

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-20

of a national program for Cancer Information Donors, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has proposed a rapid learning system for...or Scala and Spark; “scrum” organization of small programming teams; calculating “velocity” to predict time to develop new features; and Agile...2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A Million Cancer Genome Warehouse 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

IRM National Reference Series: Japan: An evaluation of government-sponsored energy conservation research and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Howard, C.D.

1987-07-01

Despite the recent drop in world oil prices, the Japanese government is continuing to stress energy conservation, because Japan relies on imports for 85% of its total energy requirements and virtually 100% of its petroleum. Japan stresses long-term developments and sees conservation as an integral part of its 50- to 100-year transition from fossil fuels to nuclear and renewable sources of energy. The Japanese government is targeting new materials, biotechnology, and electronics technologies as the foundation of Japan's economy in the 21st century. Most government research programs in Japan are governed by aggressive timetables and fixed technical goals and are usually guaranteed funding over a 5- to 10-year period. Of the major energy conservation research programs, the best known is the Moonlight Project, administered by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), and oriented towards end-use technologies such as Stirling engines and advanced heat pumps. Parts of MITI's Basic Technologies for Future Industries Program involve research in new materials and bioreactors. The Science and Technology Agency's Exploratory Research in Advanced Technologies (ERATO) Program is also investigating these technologies while emphasizing basic research. Other ministries supporting research related to energy conservation are the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture and the Ministry of Construction. For 1985, government spending for energy conservation research was at least $50 million. Private sector funding of energy conservation research was $500 million in 1984. A brief outline of major programs and key participants is included for several of the most relevant technologies. An overview of Japan's experience in international scientific collaboration is also included.

Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Maurício; Peres, Carlos A

2015-01-01

Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970's, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration.

Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970’s, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration. PMID:26247467

27 CFR 17.114 - Release of collateral.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Release of collateral. 17... PRODUCTS Bonds and Consents of Sureties Termination of Bonds § 17.114 Release of collateral. The release of collateral security pledged and deposited to satisfy the bond requirement of this part is governed by the...

L130-million cut to grants hits UK physical scientists

CERN Multimedia

Cressey, Daniel

2008-01-01

"UK physicists, still reeling from massive funding cuts announced earlier this year, have learnt of worse to come. Roughly L130 million (US$260 million)is being slashed from research grants awarded by the Engineering and Physical Scienes Research Council (EPSRC), it announced on 17 March." (2 pages)

Government of Canada Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

In this first National Climate Change Business Plan the Government of Canada affirms its intention to invest up to $500 million over five years on specific actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This sum is in addition to the action plans being put forward by the provincial and territorial governments and in addition to the $625 million investment over five years announced in Budget 2000. Action Plan 2000 targets key sectors, and the measures announced are expected to take Canada one third of the way to achieving the target established in the Kyoto Protocol by reducing Canada's GHG emissions by 65 megatonnes per year during the 2008-2012 commitment period. The key sectors targeted include the areas of transportation, oil, gas and electricity production, industry, buildings, forestry and agriculture, i. e. sectors that together account for over 90 per cent of Canada's GHG emissions.The Action Plan focuses on reducing GHG emissions in a cost effective way; draws extensively on the best ideas put forward by the provinces, territories and other stakeholders; encourages action by industry and consumers; complements measures and actions by the provinces and territories to address regional issues; and sets the stage for long-term behavioural, technological and economic changes. The remainder of Canada's Kyoto commitments will be addressed by actions in future plans which are currently in the process of being developed, together with the development of further details of this first National Climate Change Business Plan

Counter Piracy In The Gulf Of Guinea: A Whole-Of-Government Approacch

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-13

consumers, insurance premiums for shipping companies, purchases of security details to protect merchant ships transiting through the region, and the...who benefited from the oil industry “make down payments for the purchase of influential ministerial positions” which the industry then fills with “oil...the WILBROS company, bribed the Nigerian government and some of its top leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) millions of dollars in

India-Japan Strategic Cooperation and Implications for U.S. Strategy in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

operationalized with the help of Japanese ODA have changed the way of living and urban landscape of Indian cities . Infrastructure development has led...the region . From late 2014, Japan has placed special emphasis on the development of India’s northeast. Japan has pledged about US$854 million in...2016.3 <Andhra Pradesh> (P*) The Project for Future Researchers at IITH to Enhance Network Development with Scholarship of Japan/2012.1-2020.3 (L

MillionTreesNYC, Green infrastructure, and urban ecology: building a research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Jacqueline W.T. Lu; Megan Shane; Erika Svendsen; Lindsay Campbell; Cristiana Fragola; Marianne Krasny; Gina Lovasl; David Maddox; Simon McDonnell; P. Timon McPhearson; Franco Montalto; Andrew Newman; Ellen Pehek; Ruth A. Rae; Richard Stedman; Keith G. Tidball; Lynne Westphal; Tom Whitlow

2009-01-01

MillionTreesNYC is a citywide, public-private initiative with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across New York City's five boroughs by 2017. The Spring 2009 workshop MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure, and Urban Ecology: Building a Research Agenda brought together more than 100 researchers, practitioners and New York City...

Analyzing the Diffusion of Chinese Rice Farming Technologies in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

During the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006, the Chinese government pledged to build 10 agro-technology demonstration centres across Africa. Since then, the figure has increased to 25 and it will likely increase again in the future. One of the main goals of the demonstration centres is to ...

THE GREAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHAKEOUT: Earthquake Science for 22 Million People

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, L.; Cox, D.; Perry, S.; Hudnut, K.; Benthien, M.; Bwarie, J.; Vinci, M.; Buchanan, M.; Long, K.; Sinha, S.; Collins, L.

2008-12-01

Earthquake science is being communicated to and used by the 22 million residents of southern California to improve resiliency to future earthquakes through the Great Southern California ShakeOut. The ShakeOut began when the USGS partnered with the California Geological Survey, Southern California Earthquake Center and many other organizations to bring 300 scientists and engineers together to formulate a comprehensive description of a plausible major earthquake, released in May 2008, as the ShakeOut Scenario, a description of the impacts and consequences of a M7.8 earthquake on the Southern San Andreas Fault (USGS OFR2008-1150). The Great Southern California ShakeOut was a week of special events featuring the largest earthquake drill in United States history. The ShakeOut drill occurred in houses, businesses, and public spaces throughout southern California at 10AM on November 13, 2008, when southern Californians were asked to pretend that the M7.8 scenario earthquake had occurred and to practice actions that could reduce the impact on their lives. Residents, organizations, schools and businesses registered to participate in the drill through www.shakeout.org where they could get accessible information about the scenario earthquake and share ideas for better reparation. As of September 8, 2008, over 2.7 million confirmed participants had been registered. The primary message of the ShakeOut is that what we do now, before a big earthquake, will determine what our lives will be like after. The goal of the ShakeOut has been to change the culture of earthquake preparedness in southern California, making earthquakes a reality that are regularly discussed. This implements the sociological finding that 'milling,' discussing a problem with loved ones, is a prerequisite to taking action. ShakeOut milling is taking place at all levels from individuals and families, to corporations and governments. Actions taken as a result of the ShakeOut include the adoption of earthquake

Saudi production capacity climbing to 10 million b/d

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1994-01-01

Saudi Arabia this year is completing its expansion of production capacity and developing recent discoveries to enhance export flexibility. The 3 million b/d capacity expansion to 10 million b/d, announced in 1989, is on target for completion by year end 1994. Most of the effort involves restoration of mothballed production equipment and installation of several gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs) in existing fields. But Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) also this year will start up production of extra-light oil from a new field in the central part of the kingdom. Start-up of Hawtah area production demonstrates success of an oil search Aramco began after receiving exclusive exploration rights to nearly all of Saudi Arabia's prospective area in 1986. From new fields and traditional producing areas, therefore, Saudi Arabia has the potential to expand production capacity beyond 10 million b/d. The paper describes the development of the extra capacity

New CLGF Four-Year Grant to Help Local Government Service Delivery and Boost CLGF’s Research Capacity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy Slack

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The UK Department for International Development (UK AID has agreed £4.5 million funding for a four-year CLGF programme to improve governance and service delivery at local level in several areas of the Commonwealth including Africa and Asia from 2012-16. It will also help to support national policy frameworks for local government service delivery, and increase engagement of local government in regional policy planning and implementation. CLGF will continue to work with its members, UN partners and others to mobilise more resources towards the support of local government in the Commonwealth. The new programme will focus on local government pilot projects in LED, supporting ministries and local government associations in strengthening their national policy making for local government, and establish regional forums to enable local government to engage in and influence regional policy making to reflect the needs and priorities of local government. It will also boost CLGF’s research capacity with targeted research to strengthen CLGF’s policy making and advocacy, including more sustained engagement in international policy debates on key issues affecting local government, such as climate change.

Export strategy risks and governance in the clothing industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arthur Mapanga

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the export strategy implementation risks in Zimbabwe’s clothing sector with a view to build a framework for improving strategy implementation and governance. The government of Zimbabwe has formulated a five year export strategic blue-print to resuscitate the clothing value chain. However, to date, no visible movement towards implementing the export strategy has materialised. The sector is on the brink of collapse putting the welfare and livelihood of over two million people dependent on the sector at risk. A desk research and key informant interviews were conducted to understand the barriers causing inertia in the implementation of the export strategy. Cotton farmers’ unions’ representatives, the cotton ginners association members, the spinning industry members and garment manufacturers representatives, clothing retailers’ representatives, workers’ unions’ members and government officials were important sources of information towards the discovery of the risks. From the research, six of the strategy implementation risks were linked to human elements. Leadership, consensus and commitment deficiencies militated against the implementation of the export strategy in the clothing value chain. There is also a lack of trust among the value chain actors leading to the dislocation of efforts to resuscitate the sector

The emissions gap report 2013: A UNEP synthesis report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Puig, D.; Olhoff, A. [Technical Univ. of Denmark. DTU Management Engineering, UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development, DTU Risoe Campus, Roskilde (Denmark); Alcamo, J.; Demkine, V. [UNEP, Nairobi (Kenya); Metz, B. [European Climate Foundation, The Hague (Netherlands)

2013-11-01

With this fourth assessment of the gap between ambitions and needs, the United Nations Environment Programme seeks to inform governments and the wider public on how far the response to climate change has progressed over the past year, and thus whether the world is on track to meet the 2 deg. C target. In addition to reviewing national pledges and actions, this year's assessment, for the first time, also reviews international cooperative initiatives which, while potentially overlapping, serve to complement national pledges and actions. From a technical standpoint, meeting the 2 deg. C target remains possible: it will take a combination of full implementation of current national pledges and actions, a scaling up of the most effective international cooperative initiatives, and additional mitigation efforts at the country level. All these efforts will require strengthened policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Crucially, they also require the promotion of development pathways that can concomitantly reduce emissions. As in the previous assessment, this year's report provides updated analyses of a number of tried and tested sector-specific policy options to achieve this goal. Specifically, we show that actions taken in the agricultural sector can lower emissions and boost the overall sustainability of food production. Replicating these successful policies, and scaling them up, would provide one option for countries to go beyond their current pledges and help close the 'emissions gap'. (LN)

Understanding Title V of the Social Security Act: A Guide to the Provisions of the Federal Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

Science.gov (United States)

Health Resources and Services Administration (DHHS/PHS), Washington, DC. Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant (Title V of the Social Security Act) has operated as a federal-state partnership since the Social Security Act was passed in 1935. Through Title V, the federal government pledged its support of state efforts to extend health and welfare services for mothers and children. Title V has been…

Over 10 million seawater temperature records for the United Kingdom Continental Shelf between 1880 and 2014 from 17 Cefas (United Kingdom government) marine data systems

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, David J.; Pinnegar, John K.; Maxwell, David L.; Dye, Stephen R.; Fernand, Liam J.; Flatman, Stephen; Williams, Oliver J.; Rogers, Stuart I.

2018-01-01

The datasets described here bring together quality-controlled seawater temperature measurements from over 130 years of departmental government-funded marine science investigations in the UK (United Kingdom). Since before the foundation of a Marine Biological Association fisheries laboratory in 1902 and through subsequent evolutions as the Directorate of Fisheries Research and the current Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, UK government marine scientists and observers have been collecting seawater temperature data as part of oceanographic, chemical, biological, radiological, and other policy-driven research and observation programmes in UK waters. These datasets start with a few tens of records per year, rise to hundreds from the early 1900s, thousands by 1959, and hundreds of thousands by the 1980s, peaking with > 1 million for some years from 2000 onwards. The data source systems vary from time series at coastal monitoring stations or offshore platforms (buoys), through repeated research cruises or opportunistic sampling from ferry routes, to temperature extracts from CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) profiles, oceanographic, fishery and plankton tows, and data collected from recreational scuba divers or electronic devices attached to marine animals. The datasets described have not been included in previous seawater temperature collation exercises (e.g. International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set, Met Office Hadley Centre sea surface temperature data set, the centennial in situ observation-based estimates of sea surface temperatures), although some summary data reside in the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) archive, the Marine Environment Monitoring and Assessment National (MERMAN) database and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data centre. We envisage the data primarily providing a biologically and ecosystem-relevant context for regional assessments of changing hydrological conditions

Palaeoart at Two Million Years Ago? A Review of the Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James B. Harrod

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Current archaeological evidence supports the claim that symbolic behavior, including palaeoart, first emerged in human evolution around 1 million years ago. The purpose of this article is to review archaeological studies that might support the hypothesis that the earliest palaeoart actually is evident around 2 million years ago. This review identifies nine Oldowan artifacts that have been proposed as possible non-utilitarian and possibly symbolic behavior. Among seven stone tools, the three strongest candidates are the Olduvai Gorge, the FLK North grooved and pecked cobble, ~1.80 million years ago, and MNK Main subspheroid with hexagon shape framing an apparent natural dot-and-undulating-line motif, ~1.5–1.6 million years ago, both initially reported and described by Mary Leakey; and the curated Koobi Fora FxJj1 “broken core” with inner rhomboid shape, ~1.87 million years ago. All six stone tools from Olduvai Gorge need scientific re-examination to determine their chaîne opératoire and assess non-utilitarian features. If even one of the Olduvai Gorge artifacts were validated as symbolic behavior this would indicate the emergence of palaeoart one million years earlier than current proposals. It would also suggest that Homo habilis/rudolfensis or a very early Homo erectus had substantially more advanced cognitive, design and symbolic competencies than inferred in current theories. It would constitute a challenge to develop more advanced cognitive semiotic and art-theoretic analytical tools for illuminating the role of such palaeoart in hominin cultural evolution.

Geomagnetic dipole strength and reversal rate over the past two million years.

Science.gov (United States)

Valet, Jean-Pierre; Meynadier, Laure; Guyodo, Yohan

2005-06-09

Independent records of relative magnetic palaeointensity from sediment cores in different areas of the world can be stacked together to extract the evolution of the geomagnetic dipole moment and thus provide information regarding the processes governing the geodynamo. So far, this procedure has been limited to the past 800,000 years (800 kyr; ref. 3), which does not include any geomagnetic reversals. Here we present a composite curve that shows the evolution of the dipole moment during the past two million years. This reconstruction is in good agreement with the absolute dipole moments derived from volcanic lavas, which were used for calibration. We show that, at least during this period, the time-averaged field was higher during periods without reversals but the amplitude of the short-term oscillations remained the same. As a consequence, few intervals of very low intensity, and thus fewer instabilities, are expected during periods with a strong average dipole moment, whereas more excursions and reversals are expected during periods of weak field intensity. We also observe that the axial dipole begins to decay 60-80 kyr before reversals, but rebuilds itself in the opposite direction in only a few thousand years.

Health policy. Who's got the master card?

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Ray

2002-09-26

The last decade has seen huge shifts away from the command and control model which dominated health policy since the foundation of the NHS. The current Labour government Initially favoured a system based on collaboration and partnership working but the incentives to achieve this were not sufficiently strong. Competition is now once again openly cited as a driver for improved performance. Political demands mean that command and control are likely to remain key features of government health policy. But this, in turn, is likely to place major limitations on the local autonomy pledged by the government.

Development assistance for health: donor commitment as a critical success factor.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Franklin

2011-01-01

In 1970, led by Canada, the world's richest nations pledged 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA). Although this pledge has been renewed several times, with the exception of only five countries, ODA allocations have lagged chronically behind this commitment. Put more bluntly, our rhetoric outpaces our actions. For example, spending only 0.3% GNI on development, Canada performs at about 40% of its pledge. The good news is that development assistance for health has improved over the past two decades, mostly due to private development assistance (PDA) and favourable shifts within bilateral and multilateral funding, but clearly more must be done to enhance this effort. Actions in support of the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness should make a difference, subject to monitoring and evaluation, and Canada's Muskoka Initiative also is a step in the right direction. However, while success in meeting international development and global health goals depends on donor and recipient nations working as partners through such mechanisms, the relevance of the developed world as a force for global health will be measured in part by how well its governments keep their development commitments.

Interactive Graph Layout of a Million Nodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Mi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Sensemaking of large graphs, specifically those with millions of nodes, is a crucial task in many fields. Automatic graph layout algorithms, augmented with real-time human-in-the-loop interaction, can potentially support sensemaking of large graphs. However, designing interactive algorithms to achieve this is challenging. In this paper, we tackle the scalability problem of interactive layout of large graphs, and contribute a new GPU-based force-directed layout algorithm that exploits graph topology. This algorithm can interactively layout graphs with millions of nodes, and support real-time interaction to explore alternative graph layouts. Users can directly manipulate the layout of vertices in a force-directed fashion. The complexity of traditional repulsive force computation is reduced by approximating calculations based on the hierarchical structure of multi-level clustered graphs. We evaluate the algorithm performance, and demonstrate human-in-the-loop layout in two sensemaking case studies. Moreover, we summarize lessons learned for designing interactive large graph layout algorithms on the GPU.

Evaluating e-Government and Good Governance Correlation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suhardi Suhardi

2016-03-01

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

Million-degree plasma pervading the extended Orion Nebula.

Science.gov (United States)

Güdel, Manuel; Briggs, Kevin R; Montmerle, Thierry; Audard, Marc; Rebull, Luisa; Skinner, Stephen L

2008-01-18

Most stars form as members of large associations within dense, very cold (10 to 100 kelvin) molecular clouds. The nearby giant molecular cloud in Orion hosts several thousand stars of ages less than a few million years, many of which are located in or around the famous Orion Nebula, a prominent gas structure illuminated and ionized by a small group of massive stars (the Trapezium). We present x-ray observations obtained with the X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite XMM-Newton, revealing that a hot plasma with a temperature of 1.7 to 2.1 million kelvin pervades the southwest extension of the nebula. The plasma flows into the adjacent interstellar medium. This x-ray outflow phenomenon must be widespread throughout our Galaxy.

Outlines for energy policy. Government bill 1980/81:90

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-01-01

Proposals for energy policy are made on to 1990. The essential thing is to reduce oil dependence. The program will be brought up under reconsideration in about 1985. The use of energy is calculated to be 400-430 TWh for 1990 and the substitute for oil to be about 9 million ton. An additional contribution to the capital of Svenska Petroleum AB by 225 million SEK and increase of government guarantees to 4000 million SEK for oil extraction are proposed. A cautious introduction of coal is recommended. Another proposal concerns the construction of plants which yearly use 180 TJ so that they can be fired with solid fuels. The use of domestic fuels is recommended and the supply of heat to the metropolitan areas is dealt with. The requirements of electric power in the year 1990 are calculated to be 134 TWh with 65 TWh as hydroelectric power. The establishment of a new authority for management of used nuclear fuel is suggested. An outline for the reorganisation of the energy authorities is given. The new organisation should come into action by 1st of July 1982. A three year program of energy research is presented for the years 1981 to 1984 amounting to 1400 million SEK. The financing of the research is to be covered by a special charge on oil products of 19 SEK per m/sup 3/. The security of nuclear power plants has to be improved and the measures of protection in case of accidents are dealt with. A revision of the program of oil storage is proposed to be carried out.

Restructuring brain drain: strengthening governance and financing for health worker migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Liang, Bryan A

2013-01-15

Health worker migration from resource-poor countries to developed countries, also known as ''brain drain'', represents a serious global health crisis and a significant barrier to achieving global health equity. Resource-poor countries are unable to recruit and retain health workers for domestic health systems, resulting in inadequate health infrastructure and millions of dollars in healthcare investment losses. Using acceptable methods of policy analysis, we first assess current strategies aimed at alleviating brain drain and then propose our own global health policy based solution to address current policy limitations. Although governments and private organizations have tried to address this policy challenge, brain drain continues to destabilise public health systems and their populations globally. Most importantly, lack of adequate financing and binding governance solutions continue to fail to prevent health worker brain drain. In response to these challenges, the establishment of a Global Health Resource Fund in conjunction with an international framework for health worker migration could create global governance for stable funding mechanisms encourage equitable migration pathways, and provide data collection that is desperately needed.

Fortifying baladi bread in Egypt: reaching more than 50 million people through the subsidy program.

Science.gov (United States)

Elhakim, Nadine; Laillou, Arnaud; El Nakeeb, Anwar; Yacoub, Rukia; Shehata, Magdy

2012-12-01

Micronutrient deficiencies, especially iron-deficiency anemia, are a public health problem in Egypt, where anemia rates almost doubled in the years from 2000 to 2005. In 2008, the Government of Egypt began implementation of a 5-year national program to fortify with iron and folic acid the wheat flour used in baking subsidized baladi bread, the staple food consumed by a majority of low- income groups. To project the achievements of this national Wheat Flour Fortification Program. This paper describes the program, estimates the production of fortified flour and consumption of fortified bread, and identifies program challenges and sustainability issues. Through the national Wheat Flour Fortification Program, ferrous sulfate and folic acid are now added to all wheat flour produced under the national Food Subsidy Program. Up to 50 million Egyptians nationwide are now consuming quality-assured fortified baladi bread on a daily basis. In 2011, 6.5 million MT of fortified wheat flour was produced by 143 participating public- and private-sector mills. Political changes in Egypt in 2011 did not seem to affect the program; the new leadership in the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade remains committed to fortification of wheat flour. The daily intake of approximately 12 mg of iron and 600 microg of folic acid through the consumption of baladi bread suggests that the impact of the program on the prevention and reduction of iron and folate deficiencies among the Egyptian population could be significant; the results of an end-line survey are pending.

A perspective on 10-years HTS experience at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research - eighteen million assays and counting.

Science.gov (United States)

Lackovic, Kurt; Lessene, Guillaume; Falk, Hendrik; Leuchowius, Karl-Johan; Baell, Jonathan; Street, Ian

2014-03-01

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) is Australia's longest serving medical research institute. WEHI's High Throughput Screening (HTS) Facility was established in 2003 with $5 million of infrastructure funds invested by WEHI, and the Victorian State Government's Strategic Technology Initiative through Bio21 Australia Ltd. The Facility was Australia's first truly academic HTS facility and was one of only a handful operating in publicly funded institutions worldwide at that time. The objectives were to provide access to enabling HTS technologies, such as assay design, liquid handling automation, compound libraries and expertise to promote translation of basic research in a national setting that has a relatively young biotech sector and does not have a big Pharma research presence. Ten years on and the WEHI HTS Facility has participated in over 92 collaborative projects, generated over 18 million data points, and most importantly, projects that began in the Facility have been commercialized successfully (due to strong ties with Business Development and emphasis on intellectual property management) and now have molecules progressing in clinical trials.

Argentina's chemical makers seek government support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salles, F.

1993-01-01

Argentina's chemical industry association, Camara de la Industria Quimica y Petroquimica (CIQYP; Buenos Aires), has started negotiations with the government aiming to stem industry-wide losses, which reached $236 million during the past 18 months. CIQYP blames the poor performance on worldwide over-supply and falling prices, which have curbed exports, and low tariffs, which have spurred imports. It is calling for higher import tariffs and export incentives. The talks will also focus on a possible bond issue that would support companies willing to restructure and modernize operations. The main factor hindering competitiveness is what CIQYP president Alejandro Achaval calls Argentinean cost, including high energy costs, high provincial and federal taxes, and high financing charges. Since 1988, the industry has cut prices by 30%, formed mergers and joint ventures, closed 11 plants and started five new ones, slashed the workforce by 27%, and engaged in the government's privatization program. Meanwhile, plans to privatize 64% of aromatics producer Petroquimica General Mosconi(PGM) were derailed when potential bidders Diamond Shamrock, Shell, and Perez Companc refused for the second time to make offers on February 2. Jorge Olazabal, planning secretary of the Ministry of Defense, says PGM will be put up for sale again by March

Teaching about the Big Three-O (300 Million) Using the Internet

Science.gov (United States)

Risinger, C. Frederick

2006-01-01

Most researchers and the Census Bureau expect the U.S. population to hit the 300 million mark sometime in October. This will make the United States the world's third most populous nation--behind China and India. In this article, the author found several websites dealing with the specific 300 million target, population growth in general, and…

LHC collars - 12 million high technology gems

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

Some 12 million steel collars will keep the LHC dipole magnet structures rigid. Their production has just begun. A huge job began last week: the high speed manufacturing of twelve million steel collars for the 1250 dipole magnets of the future Large Hadron Collider, LHC. The challenge is not only a matter of quantity: these collars are very high technology components because of the important role they play in the way the collider works. One of the main difficulties with the accelerator is that the magnetic field that keeps particles in orbit must have the same configuration and intensity in all the dipoles. But when the 8.33 tesla magnetic field is on -100.000 times the earth magnetic field - it produces a very strong force that can deform the 'soft' parts of the magnets, such as superconducting coils. The force loading one metre of dipole is almost comparable with the weight of a Boeing 747 - about 400 tonnes - so a huge deformation would occur without a mechanical component to keep the whole structure rigid...

Over 10 million seawater temperature records for the United Kingdom Continental Shelf between 1880 and 2014 from 17 Cefas (United Kingdom government marine data systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. J. Morris

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The datasets described here bring together quality-controlled seawater temperature measurements from over 130 years of departmental government-funded marine science investigations in the UK (United Kingdom. Since before the foundation of a Marine Biological Association fisheries laboratory in 1902 and through subsequent evolutions as the Directorate of Fisheries Research and the current Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science, UK government marine scientists and observers have been collecting seawater temperature data as part of oceanographic, chemical, biological, radiological, and other policy-driven research and observation programmes in UK waters. These datasets start with a few tens of records per year, rise to hundreds from the early 1900s, thousands by 1959, and hundreds of thousands by the 1980s, peaking with  >  1 million for some years from 2000 onwards. The data source systems vary from time series at coastal monitoring stations or offshore platforms (buoys, through repeated research cruises or opportunistic sampling from ferry routes, to temperature extracts from CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth profiles, oceanographic, fishery and plankton tows, and data collected from recreational scuba divers or electronic devices attached to marine animals. The datasets described have not been included in previous seawater temperature collation exercises (e.g. International Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set, Met Office Hadley Centre sea surface temperature data set, the centennial in situ observation-based estimates of sea surface temperatures, although some summary data reside in the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC archive, the Marine Environment Monitoring and Assessment National (MERMAN database and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES data centre. We envisage the data primarily providing a biologically and ecosystem-relevant context for regional assessments of changing

E-Government Partnerships Across Levels of Government

OpenAIRE

Charbit, Claire; Michalun, Varinia

2009-01-01

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

Limited emission reductions from fuel subsidy removal except in energy-exporting regions

Science.gov (United States)

Jewell, Jessica; McCollum, David; Emmerling, Johannes; Bertram, Christoph; Gernaat, David E. H. J.; Krey, Volker; Paroussos, Leonidas; Berger, Loïc; Fragkiadakis, Kostas; Keppo, Ilkka; Saadi, Nawfal; Tavoni, Massimo; van Vuuren, Detlef; Vinichenko, Vadim; Riahi, Keywan

2018-02-01

Hopes are high that removing fossil fuel subsidies could help to mitigate climate change by discouraging inefficient energy consumption and levelling the playing field for renewable energy. In September 2016, the G20 countries re-affirmed their 2009 commitment (at the G20 Leaders’ Summit) to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and many national governments are using today’s low oil prices as an opportunity to do so. In practical terms, this means abandoning policies that decrease the price of fossil fuels and electricity generated from fossil fuels to below normal market prices. However, whether the removal of subsidies, even if implemented worldwide, would have a large impact on climate change mitigation has not been systematically explored. Here we show that removing fossil fuel subsidies would have an unexpectedly small impact on global energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions and would not increase renewable energy use by 2030. Subsidy removal would reduce the carbon price necessary to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration at 550 parts per million by only 2-12 per cent under low oil prices. Removing subsidies in most regions would deliver smaller emission reductions than the Paris Agreement (2015) climate pledges and in some regions global subsidy removal may actually lead to an increase in emissions, owing to either coal replacing subsidized oil and natural gas or natural-gas use shifting from subsidizing, energy-exporting regions to non-subsidizing, importing regions. Our results show that subsidy removal would result in the largest CO2 emission reductions in high-income oil- and gas-exporting regions, where the reductions would exceed the climate pledges of these regions and where subsidy removal would affect fewer people living below the poverty line than in lower-income regions.

Limited emission reductions from fuel subsidy removal except in energy-exporting regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jewell, Jessica; McCollum, David; Emmerling, Johannes; Bertram, Christoph; Gernaat, David E H J; Krey, Volker; Paroussos, Leonidas; Berger, Loïc; Fragkiadakis, Kostas; Keppo, Ilkka; Saadi, Nawfal; Tavoni, Massimo; van Vuuren, Detlef; Vinichenko, Vadim; Riahi, Keywan

2018-02-07

Hopes are high that removing fossil fuel subsidies could help to mitigate climate change by discouraging inefficient energy consumption and levelling the playing field for renewable energy. In September 2016, the G20 countries re-affirmed their 2009 commitment (at the G20 Leaders' Summit) to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and many national governments are using today's low oil prices as an opportunity to do so. In practical terms, this means abandoning policies that decrease the price of fossil fuels and electricity generated from fossil fuels to below normal market prices. However, whether the removal of subsidies, even if implemented worldwide, would have a large impact on climate change mitigation has not been systematically explored. Here we show that removing fossil fuel subsidies would have an unexpectedly small impact on global energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions and would not increase renewable energy use by 2030. Subsidy removal would reduce the carbon price necessary to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration at 550 parts per million by only 2-12 per cent under low oil prices. Removing subsidies in most regions would deliver smaller emission reductions than the Paris Agreement (2015) climate pledges and in some regions global subsidy removal may actually lead to an increase in emissions, owing to either coal replacing subsidized oil and natural gas or natural-gas use shifting from subsidizing, energy-exporting regions to non-subsidizing, importing regions. Our results show that subsidy removal would result in the largest CO 2 emission reductions in high-income oil- and gas-exporting regions, where the reductions would exceed the climate pledges of these regions and where subsidy removal would affect fewer people living below the poverty line than in lower-income regions.

Financial return for government support of large-scale thin-film solar photovoltaic manufacturing in Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Branker, K.; Pearce, J.M.

2010-01-01

As the Ontario government has recognized that solar photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion is a solution to satisfying energy demands while reducing the adverse anthropogenic impacts on the global environment that compromise social welfare, it has begun to generate policy to support financial incentives for PV. This paper provides a financial analysis for investment in a 1 GW per year turnkey amorphous silicon PV manufacturing plant. The financial benefits for both the provincial and federal governments were quantified for: (i) full construction subsidy, (ii) construction subsidy and sale, (iii) partially subsidize construction, (iv) a publicly owned plant, (v) loan guarantee for construction, and (vi) an income tax holiday. Revenues for the governments are derived from: taxation (personal, corporate, and sales), sales of panels in Ontario, and saved health, environmental and economic costs associated with offsetting coal-fired electricity. Both governments enjoyed positive cash flows from these investments in less than 12 years and in many of the scenarios both governments earned well over 8% on investments from 100 s of millions to $2.4 billion. The results showed that it is in the financial best interest of both the Ontario and Canadian federal governments to implement aggressive fiscal policy to support large-scale PV manufacturing.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Nick J; Ward, Katie J

2008-09-01

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

Restructuring brain drain: strengthening governance and financing for health worker migration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tim K. Mackey

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Health worker migration from resource-poor countries to developed countries, also known as ‘‘brain drain’’, represents a serious global health crisis and a significant barrier to achieving global health equity. Resource-poor countries are unable to recruit and retain health workers for domestic health systems, resulting in inadequate health infrastructure and millions of dollars in healthcare investment losses. Methods: Using acceptable methods of policy analysis, we first assess current strategies aimed at alleviating brain drain and then propose our own global health policy based solution to address current policy limitations. Results: Although governments and private organizations have tried to address this policy challenge, brain drain continues to destabilise public health systems and their populations globally. Most importantly, lack of adequate financing and binding governance solutions continue to fail to prevent health worker brain drain. Conclusions: In response to these challenges, the establishment of a Global Health Resource Fund in conjunction with an international framework for health worker migration could create global governance for stable funding mechanisms encourage equitable migration pathways, and provide data collection that is desperately needed.

Technology collaboration by means of an open source government

Science.gov (United States)

Berardi, Steven M.

2009-05-01

The idea of open source software originally began in the early 1980s, but it never gained widespread support until recently, largely due to the explosive growth of the Internet. Only the Internet has made this kind of concept possible, bringing together millions of software developers from around the world to pool their knowledge. The tremendous success of open source software has prompted many corporations to adopt the culture of open source and thus share information they previously held secret. The government, and specifically the Department of Defense (DoD), could also benefit from adopting an open source culture. In acquiring satellite systems, the DoD often builds walls between program offices, but installing doors between programs can promote collaboration and information sharing. This paper addresses the challenges and consequences of adopting an open source culture to facilitate technology collaboration for DoD space acquisitions. DISCLAIMER: The views presented here are the views of the author, and do not represent the views of the United States Government, United States Air Force, or the Missile Defense Agency.

Zooniverse - Real science online with more than a million people. (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, A.; Lynn, S.; Lintott, C.; Whyte, L.; Borden, K. A.

2013-12-01

The Zooniverse (zooniverse.org) began in 2007 with the launch of Galaxy Zoo, a project in which more than 175,000 people provided shape analyses of more than 1 million galaxy images sourced from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These galaxy 'classifications', some 60 million in total, have since been used to produce more than 50 peer-reviewed publications based not only on the original research goals of the project but also because of serendipitous discoveries made by the volunteer community. Based upon the success of Galaxy Zoo the team have gone on to develop more than 25 web-based citizen science projects, all with a strong research focus in a range of subjects from astronomy to zoology where human-based analysis still exceeds that of machine intelligence. Over the past 6 years Zooniverse projects have collected more than 300 million data analyses from over 1 million volunteers providing fantastically rich datasets for not only the individuals working to produce research from their project but also the machine learning and computer vision research communities. This talk will focus on the core 'method' by which Zooniverse projects are developed and lessons learned by the Zooniverse team developing citizen science projects across a range of disciplines.

International safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The system of international safeguards carried out by the IAEA is designed to verify that governments are living up to pledges to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes under the NPT (Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons) and similar agreements. The film illustrates the range of field inspections and analytical work involved. It also shows how new approaches are helping to strengthen the system

Spotlight. China. Part II.

Science.gov (United States)

Brophy, G

1989-04-01

China's 1-child policy was promulgated in 1979. Those couples who pledged to have 1 child could receive monetary bonuses, preferential treatment for housing, plot and grain allocation, health care, education, and job opportunities. The precise value of the package varied substantially. By 1981 47.3% of births were 1st births; in 1970, 21% were 1st births. Couples' renouncement of the 1-child pledge varied by province from less than 5% to 34%; 12.5% of holders who had had a girl renounced their pledge, compared to 6.7% who had had a boy. Despite a 1950 law designed to improve women's status,inequalities persist, and privileges accorded to 1-child certificate children, who are more likely to be male, may inadvertently perpetuate inequality. A provision of the 1980 Marriage Law making daughters as well as sons responsible for old age support and the development of handicraft and sideline occupations in rural areas may increase perception of daughters as economic assets. Although fertility may have declined, it remains a fundamentally important Chinese institution. Fertility is concentrated among women in the 20s, with urban fertility more compressed into shorter age interval than is the case in rural areas. There were campaigns to encourage abortion, sterilization, and IUD insertion in late 1982 and early 1983. The number of sterilizations/year increased from 5.1 million in 1982 to 20.8 million in 1983. As of 1983, the mix of contraceptive methods ranged as follows: 50% sterilization, 41% IUD, and 9% others. From 1984-85, the proportion of 1st births declined from 56% to 50%, with 2nd births absorbing the increase. In 1986-88, following a period of relative leniency, family planning goal became somewhat more stringent, and to responsibility systems, such as goal management in which couples together with multiple administrative levels must guarantee compliance with program objectives, are being emphasized. At the same time, several pilot programs allowing a 2nd child

The influence of corporate governance on project governance

OpenAIRE

Gonda, Pavel

2011-01-01

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

Food Service Guideline Policies on State Government-Controlled Properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaganjor, Hatidza; Bishop Kendrick, Katherine; Warnock, Amy Lowry; Onufrak, Stephen; Whitsel, Laurie P; Ralston Aoki, Julie; Kimmons, Joel

2016-09-13

Food service guideline (FSG) policies can impact millions of daily meals sold or provided to government employees, patrons, and institutionalized persons. This study describes a classification tool to assess FSG policy attributes and uses it to rate FSG policies. Quantitative content analysis. State government facilities in the United States. Participants were from 50 states and District of Columbia in the United States. Frequency of FSG policies and percentage alignment to tool. State-level policies were identified using legal research databases to assess bills, statutes, regulations, and executive orders proposed or adopted by December 31, 2014. Full-text reviews were conducted to determine inclusion. Included policies were analyzed to assess attributes related to nutrition, behavioral supports, and implementation guidance. A total of 31 policies met the inclusion criteria; 15 were adopted. Overall alignment ranged from 0% to 86%, and only 10 policies aligned with a majority of the FSG policy attributes. Western states had the most FSG policies proposed or adopted (11 policies). The greatest number of FSG policies were proposed or adopted (8 policies) in 2011, followed by the years 2013 and 2014. The FSG policies proposed or adopted through 2014 that intended to improve the food and beverage environment on state government property vary considerably in their content. This analysis offers baseline data on the FSG landscape and information for future FSG policy assessments. © The Author(s) 2016.

Food Service Guideline Policies on State Government Controlled Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Zaganjor, Hatidza; Bishop Kendrick, Katherine; Warnock, Amy Lowry; Onufrak, Stephen; Whitsel, Laurie P.; Ralston Aoki, Julie; Kimmons, Joel

2017-01-01

Purpose Food service guidelines (FSG) policies can impact millions of daily meals sold or provided to government employees, patrons, and institutionalized persons. This study describes a classification tool to assess FSG policy attributes and uses it to rate FSG policies. Design Quantitative content analysis. Setting State government facilities in the U.S. Subjects 50 states and District of Columbia. Measures Frequency of FSG policies and percent alignment to tool. Analysis State-level policies were identified using legal research databases to assess bills, statutes, regulations, and executive orders proposed or adopted by December 31, 2014. Full-text reviews were conducted to determine inclusion. Included policies were analyzed to assess attributes related to nutrition, behavioral supports, and implementation guidance. Results A total of 31 policies met inclusion criteria; 15 were adopted. Overall alignment ranged from 0% to 86%, and only 10 policies aligned with a majority of FSG policy attributes. Western States had the most FSG policy proposed or adopted (11 policies). The greatest number of FSG policies were proposed or adopted (8 policies) in 2011, followed by the years 2013 and 2014. Conclusion FSG policies proposed or adopted through 2014 that intended to improve the food and beverage environment on state government property vary considerably in their content. This analysis offers baseline data on the FSG landscape and information for future FSG policy assessments. PMID:27630113

Engineering governance: introducing a governance meta framework.

OpenAIRE

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

2011-01-01

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

Hearing focuses on price of Norplant; Wyeth pledges discount for public sector.

Science.gov (United States)

1993-11-23

In November 1993, Democratic US Representative Ron Wyden held a hearing on the cost of the contraceptive implant Norplant. Its US distributor, Wyeth-Ayerst, informed the US House Subcommittee on Regulation, Business Opportunities and Technology that it would offer the public sector a discounted price for Norplant 5 years after it had been on the US market. Public funds contributed to the development of Norplant. USAID provided $17.2 million of the $41.3 million that the Population Council spent on developing Norplant. Wyeth provided the Council levonorgestrel, the drug used in Norplant, thereby holding the right to market Norplant in the US and Canada. USAID buys Norplant from the distributor for all other countries for $23, while Wyeth sells Norplant in a package of insertion and educational materials for $365. This large gap infuriates groups providing family planning services to low-income women. Medicaid pays for Norplant and its insertion for the poorest women. Wealthier women either pay for Norplant themselves, or their health insurance pays for it. This leaves low-income women with no access to Norplant. Wyeth has formed the Norplant Foundation to provide Norplant to low-income women whom Medicaid will not cover. It also trains most providers in insertion and removal procedures. The law requires Wyeth to reimburse qualified public health clinics 15% of costs. The reason Wyeth does not yet give the public sector a discounted price is that it wants Norplant to become firmly entrenched in the private sector first. Other panelists commented on how Norplant's success may encourage other companies to return to contraception research. Liability and political controversy are still concerns, however. Another panelist expressed concern that consumers have become too dependent on pharmaceutical companies and their commercial interests.

Oilsands stress : Wood Buffalo municipality, provincial government hope to manage growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaremko, D.

2005-01-01

An estimated $45 billion will be spent building and expanding oilsands projects in the next 5 years, driving Fort McMurray's present population of 60,000 to 80,000 in 2010. The high level of growth is straining the city's infrastructure and causing concern, as a significant infrastructure shortfall already exists. The Athabasca Regional Issues Working Group (ARIWG) has presented a business case to the government of Alberta in an effort to outline urgent public infrastructure needs. Significant additional funding is needed to support requirements for roads, sewers and housing. The government has recently announced funding to accelerate housing and road development, as well as planned improvements to water and waste water treatment facilities. The average home in Fort McMurray is selling for $420,540 and renters pay an average of $1,093 per month for a 1 bedroom apartment. The province hopes to alleviate high costs by releasing almost 1000 acres of Crown land in order to stimulate construction. The lack of housing exacerbates current difficulties with employment shortages, and many people are currently living in tents or at the Salvation Army. The province has also recently added $200 million to the previously announced $530 million to improve highways in the Wood Buffalo region. By 2008, the province expects to have completed twinning of 2 busy areas of Highway 63. Highway improvements are a concern as vehicles often have to share the roads with giant vessels headed for the oilsands projects, moving as slowly as 10 kilometres an hour. Suggestions to alleviate the financial difficulties associated with the boom have included increasing taxes on oilsands producers. The Alberta government could also examine reworking the oilsands royalty regime to help the municipality, which is already close to its borrowing capacity. However, the expectation is that the town will adjust to the influx and that the province, as well as the entire country, has much to gain from oilsands

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

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Faokunla, Olumide Adegboyega

2012-01-01

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

Interactive governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

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

Missing billions. How the Australian government's climate policy is penalising farmers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riguet, T.

2006-10-01

The Climate Institute analysis suggests ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and implementing a national emissions trading scheme today could provide Australian farmers with an income of $1.8 billion over the period 2008-2012, due to the emissions saved by limiting land clearing. Separately, a report to the National Farmers Federation by the Allen Consulting Group earlier this year concluded that a carbon emission trading system which recognised Kyoto Protocol rules could create an additional income stream of $0.7-0.9 billion over a five year period from revenue to farmers from forestry sinks. These two studies suggest that ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the introduction of a national emissions trading scheme could provide farmers an income stream in the order of $2.5 billion. A central tenet of the Federal Government's greenhouse policy for over a decade has been to not ratify Kyoto, but to meet its Kyoto target - a national emissions increase of 8% from 1990 levels, in the period 2008-2012. Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Accounts show that farmers, by reducing land clearing rates since 1990, have offset substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors, mainly energy. Official Federal Government projections show that without land clearing reductions, Australia's greenhouse emissions would be 30% above 1990 levels by 2010. Australia's farmers have been responsible for virtually the entire share of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions reductions, but their efforts, worth around $2 billion, have not been recognised or financially rewarded by the Government. By reducing land clearing, farmers have already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by about 75 million tonnes since 1990. By 2010, the savings are projected to be about 83 million tonnes. This level of emissions reductions is equivalent to eliminating the total annual emissions of New Zealand or Ireland. Over that same period, emissions from energy and transport have and continue to sky

MILLION BOOK UNIVERSAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROJECTS: INDIA

OpenAIRE

Waghmode, S. S.

2009-01-01

Digital Library of India is a digital library of books, which is free-to-read, searchable, predominantly in India languages, available to everyone over the Internet. Very soon it is expected that this portal would provide a gateway to Indian Digital Libraries in Science, Arts, Culture, Music, Movies, Traditional Medicine, Palm Leaves and many more. This project is collaboration between Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Universities and Carnegie Mellon University under MILLION BOOK UNIVE...

Interactive Graph Layout of a Million Nodes

OpenAIRE

Peng Mi; Maoyuan Sun; Moeti Masiane; Yong Cao; Chris North

2016-01-01

Sensemaking of large graphs, specifically those with millions of nodes, is a crucial task in many fields. Automatic graph layout algorithms, augmented with real-time human-in-the-loop interaction, can potentially support sensemaking of large graphs. However, designing interactive algorithms to achieve this is challenging. In this paper, we tackle the scalability problem of interactive layout of large graphs, and contribute a new GPU-based force-directed layout algorithm that exploits graph to...

'Between one and three million': towards the demographic reconstruction of a decade of Cambodian history (1970-79).

Science.gov (United States)

Heuveline, P

1998-03-01

Estimates of mortality in Camabodia during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79) range from 20,000 deaths according to former Khmer Rouge sources, to over three million victims according to Vietnamese government sources. This paper uses an unusual data source - the 1992 electoral lists registered by the United Nations - to estimate the population size after the Khmer Rouge regime and the extent of "excess" mortality in the 1970s. These data also provide the first breakdown of population by single year of age, which allows analysis of the age structure of "excess" mortality and inference of the relative importance of violence as a cause of death in that period. The estimates derived here are more comparable with the higher estimates made in the past. In addition, the analysis of likely causes of death that could have generated the age pattern of "excess" mortality clearly shows a larger contribution of direct or violent mortality than has been previously recognized.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-05-01

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

The Syrian public health and humanitarian crisis: A 'displacement' in global governance?

Science.gov (United States)

Akbarzada, Sumaira; Mackey, Tim K

2018-07-01

Ongoing failure by the international community to resolve the Syrian conflict has led to destruction of critical infrastructure. This includes the collapse of the Syrian health system, leaving millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in urgent need of healthcare services. As the conflict intensifies, IDP populations are suffering from infectious and non-communicable disease risks, poor maternal and child health outcomes, trauma, and mental health issues, while healthcare workers continually exit the country. Healthcare workers who remain face significant challenges, including systematic attacks on healthcare facilities and conditions that severely inhibit healthcare delivery and assistance. Within this conflict-driven public health crisis, the most susceptible population is arguably the IDP. Though the fundamental 'right to health' is a recognised international legal principle, its application is inadequate due to limited recognition by the UN Security Council and stymied global governance by the broader international community. These factors have also negatively impacted other vulnerable groups other than IDPs, such as refugees and ethnic minorities, who may or may not be displaced. Hence, this article reviews the current Syrian conflict, assesses challenges with local and global governance for IDPs, and explores potential governance solutions needed to address this health and humanitarian crisis.

The Million Dollar Bowl. OSHA in the Office.

Science.gov (United States)

Swartz, Carl

Accidents to office workers add up to 40,000 injuries and more than 200 deaths a year, amounting to expenses from medical assistance and loss of productivity of $100 million. Leading types of accidents are falling caused by slipping on slick or wet floors, tripping over file drawers, slipping on debris on stairs, injuries from poor lighting,…

Engineering governance: introducing a governance meta framework.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2011-01-01

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

Government and governance strategies in medical tourism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ormond, M.E.; Mainil, T.

2015-01-01

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

Which type of government revenue leads government expenditure?

OpenAIRE

Abdi, Zeinab; Masih, Mansur

2014-01-01

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

Poweo - 2007 revenue of 363 million euro, up 48%; Poweo - Chiffre d'affaires 2007 de 363 millions euro, en hausse de 48%

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-02-15

Poweo, the leading independent energy operator in France, presents its key activity indicators for the 4. quarter 2007 and the overall 2007 year (non-audited data): electricity and gas sales, energy and service supplies, revenue, margin and income. The main results are summarized thereafter: 129.8 million euro revenue for the 4. quarter (67.1% of positive growth with respect to 2006); 363.1 million euro revenue for 2007 (48.5% increase with respect to 2006); 91431 active client sites on December 31, 2007 (80300 on December 31, 2006); 13000 new residential client sites registered since the beginning of 2008; more than 3800 MW of fossil fuel power plant projects and 1200 MW of renewable power plant projects (500 MW in offshore wind power) with 30 to 100% estimated rates of success; a 41 MW wind power capacity already in operation. (J.S.)

Tracking development assistance and government health expenditures for 35 malaria-eliminating countries: 1990-2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Shretta, Rima; Zelman, Brittany; Birger, Maxwell L; Haakenstad, Annie; Singh, Lavanya; Liu, Yingying; Dieleman, Joseph

2017-07-14

Donor financing for malaria has declined since 2010 and this trend is projected to continue for the foreseeable future. These reductions have a significant impact on lower burden countries actively pursuing elimination, which are usually a lesser priority for donors. While domestic spending on malaria has been growing, it varies substantially in speed and magnitude across countries. A clear understanding of spending patterns and trends in donor and domestic financing is needed to uncover critical investment gaps and opportunities. Building on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's annual Financing Global Health research, data were collected from organizations that channel development assistance for health to the 35 countries actively pursuing malaria elimination. Where possible, development assistance for health (DAH) was categorized by spend on malaria intervention. A diverse set of data points were used to estimate government health budgets expenditure on malaria, including World Malaria Reports and government reports when available. Projections were done using regression analyses taking recipient country averages and earmarked funding into account. Since 2010, DAH for malaria has been declining for the 35 countries actively pursuing malaria elimination (from $176 million in 2010 to $62 million in 2013). The Global Fund is the largest external financier for malaria, providing 96% of the total external funding for malaria in 2013, with vector control interventions being the highest cost driver in all regions. Government expenditure on malaria, while increasing, has not kept pace with diminishing DAH or rising national GDP rates, leading to a potential gap in service delivery needed to attain elimination. Despite past gains, total financing available for malaria in elimination settings is declining. Health financing trends suggest that substantive policy interventions will be needed to ensure that malaria elimination is adequately financed and that

Air quality plans unveiled at Toronto's first Smog Summit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

2000-06-23

New federal and provincial initiatives to improve air quality were announced at the recent first-ever Toronto Smog Summit. An initial one million dollars have been pledged by the federal Minister of the Environment to support a framework for extending daily air quality forecasting across Canada, to begin within the next year. The funding will be used to increase the information base of existing air quality advisory programs in Ontario, and to create a daily air quality index immediately in other areas of the country most affected by smog. Existing air quality assessment programs will be expanded to include air quality models incorporating measurement and reporting of particulate matter levels. A second federal initiative also announced at the is meeting will be a corporate smog action plan, led by the Ontario regional offices of the federal departments of the Environment, Health Canada, and Public Works and Government Services. This program will include rapid response by federal government departments during Smog Alerts Days and measures to reduce the federal government's contribution to causing smog through encouragement of low or no emission options for employees, educational programs on best practices at home and at the office, reduction of employee travel through flextime and telecommuting, conversion of government vehicles to natural gas and other alternatives, and retrofitting government buildings for greater energy and water efficiency. A federal commitment of at least $200,000 was also announced by the Minister of Transport to support six sustainable transportation projects. The provincial Minister of the Environment announced the membership of the province's Anti-Smog Action Plan, which involves some 50 partners from industry associations, companies, government agencies and non-government organizations to help Ontario to meet its commitment to reduces nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emissions by 45 per cent by 2015. A strategy for

Enova results and activities report 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2008-07-01

Enova's primary task is to utilise the Norwegian Energy Fund to contribute to environmentally friendly restructuring of energy consumption and generation. Enova's management of the Energy Fund is governed by an agreement between the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and Enova. Restructuring national energy consumption is a comprehensive task, which includes identifying barriers and fine-tuning policy instruments to achieve changes in the market. In 2007, Enova achieved contractual commitments for an energy result of about 2.4 TWh, while 10.1 TWh was contracted in the period 2001-2007. A 28 million euro wind power project received support in 2007, and counting this project, Enova has granted subsidies totalling 100 million euros for 11 different windmill parks located around Norway. A significant commitment was made in the heating area in 2007. An energy result of 751 GWh in renewable heating energy was contracted, distributed among 69 projects with total funding amounting to 40 million euros. Bio fuel processing projects received 0.6 million euros, divided among four projects totalling 163 GWh. From 2008, three new heating programs will replace the existing heating program, and the solid bio fuel production program will be discontinued. In 2007, Enova received 30 applications for the new technology program, of which 21 were connected to the joint effort with the Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway. A total of ten projects have received pledges of support from Enova in 2007, totalling 10 million euros. The program for energy consumption in buildings achieved a contractual energy result of 365 GWh in 2007. An evaluation was carried out in 2007 that will be used as a basis for tailoring the program activities to the market. The work aimed at energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy carriers in industry has contributed a total contracted energy result of 814 GWh in 2007. The main program has been confirmed and maintained in 2007. The program

Modeling a Million-Node Slim Fly Network Using Parallel Discrete-Event Simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wolfe, Noah; Carothers, Christopher; Mubarak, Misbah; Ross, Robert; Carns, Philip

2016-05-15

As supercomputers close in on exascale performance, the increased number of processors and processing power translates to an increased demand on the underlying network interconnect. The Slim Fly network topology, a new lowdiameter and low-latency interconnection network, is gaining interest as one possible solution for next-generation supercomputing interconnect systems. In this paper, we present a high-fidelity Slim Fly it-level model leveraging the Rensselaer Optimistic Simulation System (ROSS) and Co-Design of Exascale Storage (CODES) frameworks. We validate our Slim Fly model with the Kathareios et al. Slim Fly model results provided at moderately sized network scales. We further scale the model size up to n unprecedented 1 million compute nodes; and through visualization of network simulation metrics such as link bandwidth, packet latency, and port occupancy, we get an insight into the network behavior at the million-node scale. We also show linear strong scaling of the Slim Fly model on an Intel cluster achieving a peak event rate of 36 million events per second using 128 MPI tasks to process 7 billion events. Detailed analysis of the underlying discrete-event simulation performance shows that a million-node Slim Fly model simulation can execute in 198 seconds on the Intel cluster.

Senior governments asked to return half of gasoline taxes collected in GTA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

The Greater Toronto Services Board addressed a submission to the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons in Ottawa and to the Legislature of the Province of Ontario, requesting the federal and provincial governments to earmark half the money they collect in gasoline taxes from motorists in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for local transportation spending, and by so doing help to end traffic gridlock in the GTA. In its submission the GTSB claims that as a result of 'pervasive traffic congestion' the GTA is quickly losing competitive ground to US cities that are enjoying substantial financial support from their federal government. The GTSB calculates that motorists throughout the GTA paid more than $1.7 billion to the federal and provincial governments in gasoline taxes; if half that amount, $863 million, were returned to the GTA and earmarked for transportation improvements, that would cover the GTA's shortfall on capital spending on roads and public transit, currently estimated at $800 million. The GTSB points out that the GTA generates about 18 per cent of the country's and 45 per cent of the province's gross domestic product; it would be false economy to neglect the needs of a region that is such a major producer of the country's and the province's wealth. The submission also points out the recommendation of a federal panel recently reviewing the Canada Transportation Act, that federal gasoline tax revenues should be reinvested in roads and public transit rather than going into general revenue. The submission emphasizes as the one inescapable reality of the global economy that financial and human resources flow to places where they see advantage, and avoid places where they see problems. City-regions with efficient roads and public transit systems and a healthy environment are bound to be in a better position to attract global businesses and their employees to their region than city-regions which are constantly mired in gridlock

Interactive Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Henrik

2016-01-01

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

Pressurised water reactor. A critique of the Government's nuclear power programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flood, M; Chudleigh, R; Conroy, C

1981-01-01

The subject is covered in sections, entitled: energy forecasts - their decline and fall (Department of Energy; electricity supply industry; the writing on the wall); nuclear economics - how the dream dissolved (Britain's programme - off to a bad start; the government's programme -a catastrophe about to be repeated; the cost of a British PWR; a new choice - nuclear power versus insulation); PWR safety - the unresolvable problem (one in a million (query); fundamental weaknesses; consequences of an accident; unresolved safety problems; the select committee's findings); a new energy strategy - catering for our needs (energy efficiency; district heating/combined heat and power; solar heating; liquid fuels; the international context); conclusions.

The Danish Rejsekortet (Smart Card for Public Transportation); Project Governance for Failure or Success?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harboe, Peter Georg; Riis, Eva

The authors examine a project regarded as a major failure in Danish public investments: The Smart Card for Public Transportation whose introduction was delayed for 9 years with an estimated cost overrun of 125 million EURO. After 3 years of operation, the Smart Card system only covers seven...... of the nine Danish regions and the discussion about giving up the system is continuing. The authors explore the overall conditions set up for these types of projects in the project governance - how project governance conditions a major public IT project and forms the success evaluation. The focus...... is on the whole cycle from project initiation to long-term use of the project results. Data collection is through documentation as governmental reports and evaluations, for example (Rigsrevisionen, 2011; The Comptroller and Auditor General, 2006; Transport Committee, 2011)and semi-structured interviews...

The Danish Rejsekortet ( Smart Card for Public Transportation ): Project Governance for Failure or Success ?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harboe, Peter Georg; Riis, Eva

The authors examine a project regarded as a major failure in Danish public investments: The Smart Card for Public Transportation whose introduction was delayed for 9 years with an estimated cost overrun of 125 million EURO. After 3 years of operation, the Smart Card system only covers seven...... of the nine Danish regions and the discussion about giving up the system is continuing. The authors explore the overall conditions set up for these types of projects in the project governance - how project governance conditions a major public IT project and forms the success evaluation. The focus...... is on the whole cycle from project initiation to long-term use of the project results. Data collection is through documentation as governmental reports and evaluations, for example (Rigsrevisionen, 2011; The Comptroller and Auditor General, 2006; Transport Committee, 2011)and semi-structured interviews...

Organ donation in Muslim countries: the case of Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tumin, Makmor; Noh, Abdillah; Mohd Satar, Nurulhuda; Chin-Sieng, Chong; Soo-Kun, Lim; Abdullah, Nawi; Kok-Peng, Ng

2013-12-09

The aim of this paper is to look into the factors influencing Malaysian Muslims' decision to become deceased organ donors in Malaysia. We approached 900 Malaysian Muslims and 779 participated in our survey, conducted in Kuala Lumpur and its suburb. We examined their willingness to become donors and the willing donors were asked why they did not pledge to become donors. Non-donors were asked why they refuse to become donors. The survey found the main reason for Malaysian Muslims not pledging their organs was due to their lack of information on organ donation and/or their lack of confidence in the government's ability to properly administer organ donation procedures. Another interesting finding is that religion is not a main deterrent to organ donation. The survey suggests that Malaysia can explore many ways to encourage organ donation without having to resort to the highly controversial financial incentive option. A key to Malaysia's success or failure to increase organ donation rate lies in its ability to persuade its Muslim population (its largest population) to donate organs. This can be done by adopting a segmented, focused, and highly localized form of public education and by leveraging on existing networks involving local religious and community leaders as well as government and non-governmental institutions.

A life cycle carbon dioxide inventory of the Million Trees Los Angeles Program

Science.gov (United States)

E. Gregory McPherson; Alissa Kendall

2014-01-01

PurposeThis study seeks to answer the question, “Will the Million Trees LA (Million Trees Los Angeles, MTLA) program be a carbon dioxide (CO2) sink or source?” Because there has never been a full accounting of CO2 emissions, it is unclear if urban tree planting initiatives (TPIs) are likely to be...

Program governance

CERN Document Server

Khan, Muhammad Ehsan

2014-01-01

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

Alignment between business process governance and IT governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rahimi, Fatemeh; Møller, Charles; Hvam, Lars

2014-01-01

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

Reaching 50 million nanostores : retail distribution in emerging megacities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fransoo, J.C.; Blanco, E.E.; Mejia Argueta, C.

2017-01-01

Millions of small, family operated nanostores are the main source of consumer packaged goods in many neighborhoods of large cities across the developing world. In many of these countries, well over half of consumer goods are sold via the nanostore channel. Understanding this channel is critical for

Real-Time Million-Synapse Simulation of Rat Barrel Cortex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas eSharp

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Simulations of neural circuits are bounded in scale and speed by available computing resources, and particularly by the differences in parallelism and communication patterns between the brain and high-performance computers. SpiNNaker is a computer architecture designed to address this problem by emulating the structure and function of neural tissue, using very many low-power processors and an interprocessor communication mechanism inspired by axonal arbors. Here we demonstrate that thousand-processor SpiNNaker prototypes can simulate models of the rodent barrel system comprising fifty thousand neurons and fifty million synapses. We use the PyNN library to specify models, and the intrinsic features of Python to control experimental procedures and analysis. The models reproduce known thalamocortical response transformations, exhibit known, balanced dynamics of excitation and inhibition, and show a spatiotemporal spread of activity though the superficial cortical layers. These demonstrations are a significant step towards tractable simulations of entire cortical areas on the million-processor SpiNNaker machines in development.

Real-time million-synapse simulation of rat barrel cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharp, Thomas; Petersen, Rasmus; Furber, Steve

2014-01-01

Simulations of neural circuits are bounded in scale and speed by available computing resources, and particularly by the differences in parallelism and communication patterns between the brain and high-performance computers. SpiNNaker is a computer architecture designed to address this problem by emulating the structure and function of neural tissue, using very many low-power processors and an interprocessor communication mechanism inspired by axonal arbors. Here we demonstrate that thousand-processor SpiNNaker prototypes can simulate models of the rodent barrel system comprising 50,000 neurons and 50 million synapses. We use the PyNN library to specify models, and the intrinsic features of Python to control experimental procedures and analysis. The models reproduce known thalamocortical response transformations, exhibit known, balanced dynamics of excitation and inhibition, and show a spatiotemporal spread of activity though the superficial cortical layers. These demonstrations are a significant step toward tractable simulations of entire cortical areas on the million-processor SpiNNaker machines in development.

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years.

Science.gov (United States)

Liow, Lee Hsiang; Di Martino, Emanuela; Krzeminska, Malgorzata; Ramsfjell, Mali; Rust, Seabourne; Taylor, Paul D; Voje, Kjetil L

2017-08-01

Competition is an important biotic interaction that influences survival and reproduction. While competition on ecological timescales has received great attention, little is known about competition on evolutionary timescales. Do competitive abilities change over hundreds of thousands to millions of years? Can we predict competitive outcomes using phenotypic traits? How much do traits that confer competitive advantage and competitive outcomes change? Here we show, using communities of encrusting marine bryozoans spanning more than 2 million years, that size is a significant determinant of overgrowth outcomes: colonies with larger zooids tend to overgrow colonies with smaller zooids. We also detected temporally coordinated changes in average zooid sizes, suggesting that different species responded to a common external driver. Although species-specific average zooid sizes change over evolutionary timescales, species-specific competitive abilities seem relatively stable, suggesting that traits other than zooid size also control overgrowth outcomes and/or that evolutionary constraints are involved. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

IODP Site 1476: 7.5 Million Year Record of Southeast African Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Cantu, K.; Norris, R. D.

2017-12-01

The primary focus of IODP Expedition 361 was Southeast African Climate. Site 1476 in the northern Mozambique Channel yielded a sediment record going back roughly 7.6 million years, a time frame particularly interesting due to its relevance to hominid evolution. Previous paleoclimate studies from the region have included lake sediments and soil carbonate isotopes, which have been interpreted as showing a long-term trend toward increasing aridity. Lake Malawi records from the last 1.3 million years show a change during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) from high frequency variability and generally lower lake levels to higher amplitude variability and higher lake levels punctuated by long, severe droughts resulting in extreme and long-lasting low-stands. Site 1476 cores were scanned using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), which gives semi-quantitative elemental abundances. Elemental abundance ratios are used as proxies for a variety of climate-related signals, such as changes in weathering rates, the nature of terrigenous material, and grain size. Looking at the site's Fe/Ca, K/Ca, and Rb/Zr ratios, the period of 4.5 to about 1.5 million years ago shows higher terrigenous flux, higher clay flux, and a smaller grain size respectively than most of the previous 3 million years, followed by a steep decline before the MPT, before transitioning to a pattern of high amplitude oscillations post-MPT. These higher amplitude oscillations seem to correspond to Lake Malawi low stands in the post-MPT period, suggesting that the higher flux of terrigenous material to site 1476 is due to higher aridity resulting in lower vegetative cover. This data also point to high climate variability in the last million years, likely contributing to the evolution and ecological adaptability of our species.

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

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

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

Signing of CERN's 300 million EUR loan from the EIB in December 2002. From left to right : Philippe Busquin, European Research Commissioner, Philippe Maystadt, EIB President and Luciano Maiani, Director General of CERN

CERN Document Server

2003-01-01

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 300 million to finance the final phase of construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The EIB loan will also help to finance the instrumentation to record and analyse the high-energy particle collisions at the LHC. A loan to enable construction of this major project was foreseen by CERN's governing Council when it approved the LHC in 1996.

Become One In A Million: Partnership Updates. Million Solar Roofs and Interstate Renewable Energy Council Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., October 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tombari, C.

2005-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's Million Solar Roofs Initiative (MSR) is a unique public-private partnership aimed at overcoming market barriers for photovoltaics (PV), solar water heating, transpired solar collectors, solar space heating and cooling, and pool heating. This report contains annual progress reports from 866 partners across the United States.

Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Jenny Perlman; Winthrop, Rebecca

2016-01-01

"Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries" tells the story of where and how quality education has scaled in low- and middle-income countries. The story emerges from wide-ranging research on scaling and learning, including 14 in-depth case studies from around the globe. Ultimately, "Millions…

Million Dollar Baby (2004 and Palliative Care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Elías García Sánchez

2008-10-01

Full Text Available The worst misfortune that can befall an old, tormented and fearful boxing trainer is that the pupil he is training and of whom he is very fond should have a lesion as serious as a quadriplegia. This is the crux of the plot in Million Dollar Baby. A person who suffers a quadriplegia sees how most of her physical and sensorial abilities disappear and habitually suffers psychological disturbances requiring palliative medical care. Relatives are subjected to great stress and suffering. All these aspects are reflected, in general accurately, in the film.

Cuba: Issues for the 111th Congress

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-25

Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliacion Nacional, “Cuba a Inicios del 2010: Continúa empeorando la situación de derechos humanos,” January 19...market-based economy. The report also outlined a series of preparatory steps in the areas of government organization, electoral preparation, and...Policy During the electoral campaign, President Obama had pledged to lift restrictions on family travel to Cuba as well as restrictions on Cuban

Estudo sobre a fidelidade à palavra empenhada entre os estudantes A study on the faithfullness to the pledged word among students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelson Pedro Silva

2004-08-01

Full Text Available Apresentamos resultados de pesquisa cujo propósito foi investigar a influência da fidelidade à palavra empenhada entre escolares. Adotamos o referencial piagetiano e o da teoria dos valores. Utilizamos 186 informantes de ambos os sexos, de diferentes idades e nível socioeconômico desfavorecido. Mediante seis historietas, confrontamos a fidelidade ao furto e à mentira. Os resultados indicaram que a idade e o envolvimento interpessoal não interferem nos julgamentos; há predomínio de uma visão circunscrita ao universo masculino e outra ao feminino e a maioria dos escolares opta pela ética da justiça. Isto ocorreu, acreditamos, pelo fato de os entrevistados priorizarem valores privados e ligados à glória.We present results of a research whose purpose was to investigate the influence of the faithfulness to the pledged word among students. We have adopted the Piagetian framework and the theory of values. We have used 186 informers of both sexes, from different ages and from unfavorable social and economical level. By means of six little stories, we have contrasted faithfulness to theft and lies. The results have indicated that age and interpersonal involvement do not interfere in judgments; there is a predominance of a view circumscribed to the male universe and another to the female universe and most of the students choose the ethics of justice. We believe that it has happened because the interviewees prioritized private values related to glory.

Project governance: selected South African government experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. van der Walt

2008-07-01

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

Political drivers of epidemic response: foreign healthcare workers and the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Science.gov (United States)

Nohrstedt, Daniel; Baekkeskov, Erik

2018-01-01

This study demonstrates that countries responded quite differently to calls for healthcare workers (HCWs) during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. Using a new dataset on the scale and timing of national pledges and the deployment of HCWs to states experiencing outbreaks of the virus disease (principally, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone), it shows that few foreign nations deployed HCWs early, some made pledges but then fulfilled them slowly, and most sent no HCWs at all. To aid understanding of such national responses, the paper reviews five theoretical perspectives that offer potentially competing or complementary explanations of foreign government medical assistance for international public health emergencies. The study systematically validates that countries varied greatly in whether and when they addressed HCW deployment needs during the Ebola crisis of 2014, and offers suggestions for a theory-driven inquiry to elucidate the logics of foreign interventions in critical infectious disease epidemics. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

PRACTICE OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bălăceanu Cristina

2010-12-01

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

Kaun Banega Crorepati - A Million Dollars for a Mathematician

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

after a long journey with his left and right hands interchanged as with the swimmer in the Moebius band. I can now state the million dollar question - the Poincare conjecture. Is any compact simply connected 3-manifold homeomorphic to the 3-sphere? This question can be suitably generalised to higher dimensions.

Governance or Governing – the Missing Link?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luminiţa Maria Crăciun

2010-07-01

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

Plural Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mols, Niels Peter; Menard, Claude

2014-01-01

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

Ex-ante evaluation of profitability and government's subsidy policy on vehicle-to-grid system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Junhee; Koo, Yoonmo; Jeong, Gicheol; Lee, Jongsu

2012-01-01

Abstact: Although the electric vehicle reduces pollutant emissions and results in reduced energy costs, lack of battery charging infrastructure and relatively high vehicle prices create challenges to the automobile industry and affect government support policies. To create a battery charging infrastructure, such as a vehicle-to-grid system, stakeholders need a quantitative analysis that decreases profitability uncertainty. The high cost of an electric vehicle can be offset by government subsidies that promote early marketing efforts, but an ex-ante evaluation of consumer demand is needed to analyze the effectiveness of any policy. This study provides information about optimal pricing based on consumer demand as well as the social welfare change effected by possible government subsidy polices for electric vehicles. Results show that the maximum profit for a vehicle-to-grid service provider will be 1.27 trillion Korean won/year with an annual subscription fee of 0.65 million Korean won. The government subsidy of 1 trillion Korean won, given annually, will increase social welfare by 1.94 trillion won and also boost the profit of vehicle-to-grid service provider to 1.98 trillion won. - Highlights: ▶ We evaluate consumer preference on electric vehicle and V2G service. ▶ Based on the consumer preference, we calculate profitability of V2G service. ▶ Also, the effect of government subsidy on electric vehicle market is analyzed. ▶ The empirical results will be useful to the V2G service providers and policy makers

Methods for preparation of mixtures of gases in air at the parts-per-billion to parts-per-million concentration range for calibration of monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karpas, Z.; Melloul, S.; Pollevoy, Y.; Matmor, A.

1992-05-01

Static and dynamic methods for generating mixture of gases and vapors in air at the parts-per-billion (ppb) to parts-per-million (ppm) concentration range were surveyed. The dynamic methods include: a dynamic flow and mixing system; injection of samples into large volumes of air; exponential dilution; permeation and diffusion tubes; and generation of the target gas by chemical reaction or electrolysis. The static methods include preparation of mixtures by weighing the components, by volumetric mixing and by partial pressure method. The principles governing the utilization of these methods for the appropriate applications were discussed, and examples in which they were used to calibrate an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) were given. (authors)

L'Europe prête 300 millions d'euros au CERN

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

The BEI (Banque Européenne d'Investissement) will lent to CERN 300 millions of Euros, not only to build the new accelerator, but also to help to set up and european programm of research (1 paragraph)

Health problems in Iraq.

Science.gov (United States)

Acheson, E D

1992-02-22

Iraq is faced with large scale public health problems that have been caused by the destruction to their infrastructure during the Gulf war. Humanitarian aid is needed in order to avoid a large scale human disaster. In 1988 73% of Iraq's population lived in urban areas. The loss of electrical generating capacity has affected hospitals, water purification and sewage treatment. Iraq had made great strides int he health of their people with an infant mortality rate of 42/1000 in 1990 and 52./1000 for children under 5. The international study team's survey of over 9000 households revealed surprising evidence of widespread chronic malnutrition. Based on accepted mortality as a baseline, data suggests that mortality among Iraqi infants and children under 5 doubled in 1991. The current food ration provides only half of the energy requirement and with rapidly accelerating inflation, the cost of food while only make the situation worse. The UN Disaster Relief Office has received $1.059 billion from donor countries; but, only half of the requested $14 million has been funded through Unicef. This money is needed to meet basic requirements for water, sanitation, antibiotics, and vaccines. The UN Security Council approved resolutions 706 and 712 which would have allowed Iraq to sell $1.6 billion for foodstuffs, medicines, and materials and supplies necessary to civilian needs subject to monitoring and supervision to ensure equitable distribution. The Iraqi government has not met the requirements of 706 and 712 because of the monitoring conditions, so no money has been issued. More money is needed if humanitarian organizations are to do their work. Only $29 million of the $145 million needed for the 1st half of this year has been pledged.

Governing Forest Ecosystem Services for Sustainable Environmental Governance: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shankar Adhikari

2018-05-01

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

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2017-01-01

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

The cause of 50 million-year-old colour.

OpenAIRE

Parker, Andrew R; McKenzie, David R

2003-01-01

Multilayer reflectors cause structural, 'metallic' colours in a diversity of animals today, yet are unknown in extinct species. We identify a multilayer reflector, causing structural colour, in a 50-million-year-old beetle from Messel, Germany. It is proposed that the original material of this reflector has been preserved, although this is not a precondition for determining original colours from ancient multilayer reflectors. Therefore, the potential exists to reveal the original colours of o...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-01-01

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

Million Trees Los Angeles: Carbon dioxide sink or source?

Science.gov (United States)

E.G. McPherson; A. Kendall; S. Albers

2015-01-01

This study seeks to answer the question, 'Will the Million Trees LA (MTLA) programme be a CO2 sink or source?' Using surveys, interviews, field sampling and computer simulation of tree growth and survival over a 40-year period, we developed the first process-based life cycle inventory of CO2 for a large tree...

EIB lends EUR 300 million for CERN's major collider

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

"The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 300 million to finance the final phase of construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The EIB loan will also help to finance the instrumentation to record and analyse the high-energy particle collisions at the LHC" (1 page).

Who governs energy? The challenges facing global energy governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florini, Ann; Sovacool, Benjamin K.

2009-01-01

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

Who governs energy? The challenges facing global energy governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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

2009-12-15

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

A 38 Million Words Dutch Text Corpus and its Users

African Journals Online (AJOL)

part of speech, was made accessible via Internet (Kruyt 1995a, b). A 27 Million ..... corpora yet, and that 16 user accounts are reserved for students of the Free ... are from Norway, Denmark, Austria, Slovenia, Latvia, Malaysia and Korea.

THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Yashchuk

2017-01-01

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

E-Government Dimension

OpenAIRE

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

2007-01-01

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

First quarter 2006: sales up by 13.3% to euros 2,476 million

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-04-01

The AREVA group's first quarter 2006 sales was euros 2,476 million, compared with euros 2,186 million for the same period in 2005, representing 13.3% growth in terms of reported data. Organic growth was 13.0%. Nuclear operations posted sales of euros 1,660 million, up 11.5% (up 11.6% like-for-like), and buoyant business volume marked by: net growth for the Front End Division (+20.4%), with 60% coming from volume-product mix effects and 40% from favorable price effects, especially for uranium supply and enrichment services; the contribution from the OL3 (Finland), Ling Ao-Phase II (China) and Flamanville 3 EPR (France) reactor projects, which boosted the Reactors and Services Division's sales by 13.2%; a slight decrease in the Back End Division (-2.5%). The Transmission and Distribution Division posted sales of euros 817 million, representing strong organic growth (up 16.6%), consistent with the increase in orders recorded in 2005. Orders booked in the first quarter of 2006 were up by 15.4% like-for-like (up 25.4% in reported data) compared with the first quarter of 2005. For 2006, the Group expects net growth in sales, like-for-like, although not at the particularly high levels of the first quarter

The Evaluation of a Regional Faith Community Network's Million Hearts Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Jennifer; Zimmerman, Wendy

2016-01-01

The goal of the Million Hearts initiative is to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Maryland was one state in the Association of State and Territorial Health Official's Million Hearts State Learning Collaborative. Washington County, Maryland formed a collaboration between the County Health Department, Meritus Health System, and the Meritus Health Parish Nurse Coordinator to address hypertension in the county. Within a regional network of 52 faith communities, the Parish Nurse Coordinator recruited 25 faith community nurses to participate in a three-month program. Nurses were trained on proper blood pressure measurement and 22 nurses identified 58 participants engaged in blood pressure self-monitoring and coaching for lifestyle changes. Additionally, nurses took 1,729 blood pressures and provided health education to individuals within their congregations. Fifty-one participants participated in blood pressure self-monitoring and lifestyle coaching with faith community nurses. There was improvement in six out of seven lifestyle areas. Eight-two percent of participants (N = 42) decreased their systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure over three months. Coaching provided by faith community nurses can create an environment of sustained support to promote improved lifestyle and blood pressure changes over time. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Leadership, Governance

Science.gov (United States)

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

The cause of 50 million-year-old colour.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Andrew R; McKenzie, David R

2003-11-07

Multilayer reflectors cause structural, 'metallic' colours in a diversity of animals today, yet are unknown in extinct species. We identify a multilayer reflector, causing structural colour, in a 50-million-year-old beetle from Messel, Germany. It is proposed that the original material of this reflector has been preserved, although this is not a precondition for determining original colours from ancient multilayer reflectors. Therefore, the potential exists to reveal the original colours of other (particularly arthropod) extinct species.

Russia to invest 200 million Swiss Francs in international accelerator

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

Russia will invest 200 million CHF in the LHC project, according to first deputy industry, science and technologies minister. The results of scientific research in the center will be use in various industries, enabling new Russian technologies to enter the world market.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Siahaan, AY

2017-01-01

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

Energy Metrics for State Government Buildings

Science.gov (United States)

Michael, Trevor

Measuring true progress towards energy conservation goals requires the accurate reporting and accounting of energy consumption. An accurate energy metrics framework is also a critical element for verifiable Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Energy conservation in government can reduce expenditures on energy costs leaving more funds available for public services. In addition to monetary savings, conserving energy can help to promote energy security, air quality, and a reduction of carbon footprint. With energy consumption/GHG inventories recently produced at the Federal level, state and local governments are beginning to also produce their own energy metrics systems. In recent years, many states have passed laws and executive orders which require their agencies to reduce energy consumption. In June 2008, SC state government established a law to achieve a 20% energy usage reduction in state buildings by 2020. This study examines case studies from other states who have established similar goals to uncover the methods used to establish an energy metrics system. Direct energy consumption in state government primarily comes from buildings and mobile sources. This study will focus exclusively on measuring energy consumption in state buildings. The case studies reveal that many states including SC are having issues gathering the data needed to accurately measure energy consumption across all state buildings. Common problems found include a lack of enforcement and incentives that encourage state agencies to participate in any reporting system. The case studies are aimed at finding the leverage used to gather the needed data. The various approaches at coercing participation will hopefully reveal methods that SC can use to establish the accurate metrics system needed to measure progress towards its 20% by 2020 energy reduction goal. Among the strongest incentives found in the case studies is the potential for monetary savings through energy efficiency. Framing energy conservation

Renewing governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Loos, Gregory P

2003-01-01

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

First half 2006: sales revenue up by 5.7% to euros 5,036 million

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

The AREVA group reports first half 2006 sales revenue of 5,036 million euros, up from 4,764 million euros for the same period in 2005, representing 5.7% growth in terms of reported data. Organic growth was 5.1%. In the second quarter 2006 the group had revenue of 2,560 million euros, down 0.7% from second quarter 2005 sales (-1.6% like-for-like). Nuclear operations reported first half 2006 revenue of 3,334 million euros, up 1.6% from the first half of 2005 (+1.3% like-for-like), marked by: net growth of 12.9% for the Front End Division, mainly attributable to uranium deliveries and enrichment services; the contribution from reactor projects in Finland (OL3), China (Ling Ao-Phase II) and France (Flamanville 3 EPR), which boosted sales for the Reactors and Services Division by 2.7%, despite the downturn in sales of reactor services; a 14.4% drop in the Back End Division, primarily in the used fuel treatment business. The Transmission and Distribution Division recorded sales revenue of 1,701 million euros, representing strong organic growth of 13.8%, consistent with the increase in orders booked in the second half of 2005. Orders for the first half of 2006 were up by 17.5% like-for-like compared with those of the first half of 2005. The group is targeting a net increase in revenue for 2006, like-for-like

Open government and municipalities: Beyond e-governement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Cruz Meléndez

2017-11-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazrul Hisyam Ab Razak

2014-07-01

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

Electronic Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

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

WHY DOES GOVERNMENT GROW?THE SOURCESOF GOVERNMENT GROWTHFROM PUBLIC CHOICEPERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coskun Can Aktan, PhD

2017-01-01

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

First half 2006: sales revenue up by 5.7% to euros 5,036 million; 1. semestre 2006: chiffre d'affaires en hausse de 5,7% a 5,036 million d'euros

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2006-07-01

The AREVA group reports first half 2006 sales revenue of 5,036 million euros, up from 4,764 million euros for the same period in 2005, representing 5.7% growth in terms of reported data. Organic growth was 5.1%. In the second quarter 2006 the group had revenue of 2,560 million euros, down 0.7% from second quarter 2005 sales (-1.6% like-for-like). Nuclear operations reported first half 2006 revenue of 3,334 million euros, up 1.6% from the first half of 2005 (+1.3% like-for-like), marked by: net growth of 12.9% for the Front End Division, mainly attributable to uranium deliveries and enrichment services; the contribution from reactor projects in Finland (OL3), China (Ling Ao-Phase II) and France (Flamanville 3 EPR), which boosted sales for the Reactors and Services Division by 2.7%, despite the downturn in sales of reactor services; a 14.4% drop in the Back End Division, primarily in the used fuel treatment business. The Transmission and Distribution Division recorded sales revenue of 1,701 million euros, representing strong organic growth of 13.8%, consistent with the increase in orders booked in the second half of 2005. Orders for the first half of 2006 were up by 17.5% like-for-like compared with those of the first half of 2005. The group is targeting a net increase in revenue for 2006, like-for-like.

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

OpenAIRE

International Finance Corporation; U.S. Department of Commerce

2004-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bambang Sutopo

2017-12-01

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

Why Governments Intervene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Jette Steen; Brown, Dana

2015-01-01

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

Transitions governance: Towards a new governance paradigm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2009-01-01

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

Gobernanza Versus Gobierno Governance Versus Government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dany-Robert Dufour

2009-06-01

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

Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world.

Science.gov (United States)

Engle, Patrice L; Black, Maureen M; Behrman, Jere R; Cabral de Mello, Meena; Gertler, Paul J; Kapiriri, Lydia; Martorell, Reynaldo; Young, Mary Eming

2007-01-20

This paper is the third in the Child Development Series. The first paper showed that more than 200 million children under 5 years of age in developing countries do not reach their developmental potential. The second paper identified four well-documented risks: stunting, iodine deficiency, iron deficiency anaemia, and inadequate cognitive stimulation, plus four potential risks based on epidemiological evidence: maternal depression, violence exposure, environmental contamination, and malaria. This paper assesses strategies to promote child development and to prevent or ameliorate the loss of developmental potential. The most effective early child development programmes provide direct learning experiences to children and families, are targeted toward younger and disadvantaged children, are of longer duration, high quality, and high intensity, and are integrated with family support, health, nutrition, or educational systems and services. Despite convincing evidence, programme coverage is low. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and ensuring primary school completion for both girls and boys, governments and civil society should consider expanding high quality, cost-effective early child development programmes.

Governing Towards Sustainability-Conceptualizing Modes of Governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2013-01-01

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

Sufficient oxygen for animal respiration 1,400 million years ago

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shuichang; Wang, Xiaomei; Wang, Huajian

2016-01-01

The Mesoproterozoic Eon [1,600-1,000 million years ago (Ma)] is emerging as a key interval in Earth history, with a unique geochemical history that might have influenced the course of biological evolution on Earth. Indeed, although this time interval is rather poorly understood, recent chromium i...

Towards a Typology of Adaptive Governance in the Digital Government Context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Cancan; Medaglia, Rony; Zheng, Lei

2018-01-01

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

Epidemiologic Study of One Million U.S. Radiation Workers and Veterans

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boice, John D. [National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Bethesda, MD (United States)

2017-12-14

The single most important question in radiation epidemiology is determining the level of health risks associated with radiation exposures that occur gradually over time. The study of one million early U.S. radiation workers and veterans has been designed to provide information on risk following chronic exposures by focusing on occupational groups with differing radiation exposure patterns, including intakes of radionuclides. The cost-efficient study builds on the investments made and foundations laid by investigators and government agencies over the past 30-40 years, which have established early worker cohorts that can now provide answers to questions on the lifetime human health risks associated with low-level radiation exposures. Within the overall goal of the epidemiologic study of one million U.S. radiation workers and veterans, this project had a total of nine specific aims which included studies of six populations for multiple endpoints including cancer overall mortality, leukemia and non-cancer mortality. The six populations included: Mound, Ohio, workers exposed to polonium, tritium and plutonium; nuclear power plant workers within the Landauer dosimetry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission data files; industrial radiographers; Mallinckrodt uranium workers; uranium workers who linked with the US Renal Data System; and nuclear weapons test participants. Over 400,000 workers and atomic veterans are included in these populations, with vital status being determined and analyses of all causes of death undertaken. A critical, integral component of the studies has been comprehensive evaluations of dosimetry involving, in many cases, complex dose reconstructions, and assessments of uncertainties. The work has also involved development of state-of-the art statistical approaches and modeling. All nine aims were accomplished successfully, resulting in publication of two NCRP documents, 13 literature papers, numerous Boice Reports in Health Physics News and many

Governance of private forests in Eastern and Central Europe: An analysis of forest harvesting and management rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bouriaud

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A property rights-based approach is proposed in the paper to underlinethe common characteristics of the forest property rights specificationin ten ECE countries, the specific patterns governing the harvesting of timber in private forestry and the role of the forest management planning in determining the content of the property rights. The analysis deals with the private forests of the individuals (non industrial ownership from ten countries, covering 7.3 million ha and producing yearly some 25 million timber. The study shows that the forest management rights in private forests belong to the State and that the withdrawal rights on timber, yet recognized in the forest management plans, are in reality strongly restricted from aneconomic viewpoint. The forest management planning is the key instrument of the current forest governance system, based on top-down, hierarchically imposed and enforced set of compulsory rules on timber harvesting. With few exceptions, the forest owners’ have little influence in the forest planning and harvesting. The rational and State-lead approach of the private forest management has serious implications not only on the economic content of the property rights, but also on the learning and adaptive capacity of private forestry to cope with current challenges such the climate change, the increased industry needs for wood as raw material, or the marketingof innovative non wood forest products and services. The study highlights that understanding and comparing the regime of the forest ownership require a special analysis of the economic rights attached to each forest attribute; and that the evolution towards more participatory decision-making in the local forest governance can not be accurately assessed in ECE region without a proper understanding of the forest management planning process.

Governance of private forests in Eastern and Central Europe: An analysis of forest harvesting and management rights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bouriaud

2013-07-01

Full Text Available A property rights-based approach is proposed in the paper to underline the common characteristics of the forest property rights specification in ten ECE countries, the specific patterns governing the harvesting of timber in private forestry and the role of the forest management planning in determining the content of the property rights. The analysis deals with the private forests of the individuals (non industrial ownership from ten countries, covering 7.3 million ha and producing yearly some 25 million m3 timber. The study shows that the forest management rights in private forests belong to the State and that the withdrawal rights on timber, yet recognised in the forest management plans, are in reality strongly restricted from an economic viewpoint. The forest management planning is the key instrument of the current forest governance system, based on top-down, hierarchically imposed and enforced set of compulsory rules on timber harvesting. With few exceptions, the forest owners’ have little influence in the forest planning and harvesting. The rational and State-lead approach of the private forest management has serious implications not only on the economic content of the property rights, but also on the learning and adaptive capacity of private forestry to cope with current challenges such the climate change, the increased industry needs for wood as raw material, or the marketing of innovative non wood forest products and services. The study highlights that understanding and comparing the regime of the forest ownership require a special analysis of the economic rights attached to each forest attribute; and that the evolution towards more participatory decision-making in the local forest governance can not be accurately assessed in ECE region without a proper understanding of the forest management planning process. 

Re-launching the production of green electricity in the United States: Prometheus meets Keynes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magaud, M.; Ochoa, D.

2009-01-01

During his campaign, Barack Obama insisted on the close tie between the recession, climate change and national security in matters of energy, given the country's excessive dependence on oil imports. He outlined the development of a low-carbon economy that would, in 2050, emit only 20% as much greenhouse gas as in 1990. He pledged to devote, over a ten-year period, 150 billion dollars to research and development on renewable energy, either through direct funding (grants, loan guarantees, purchases by the federal government, etc.) or tax incentives. He also spoke about the potential creation of five million jobs in environmental-friendly technology. Given his first official declarations on climate change and the importance of the theme of energy in the first measures taken by his administration, the new president has reflected the same level of concern as the candidate. Since his election, Obama has pursued the same policy line by orienting his massive economic stimulus plan (787 billion dollars) toward creating 'green jobs', especially in energy (85 billion dollars). In the stimulus package, research and development for new sources of low-carbon energy - stocking CO 2 underground, solar and geothermal energy, wind power, second-generation bio-fuels, etc. - are among the top priorities. (authors)

Re-launching the production of green electricity in the United States: Prometheus meets Keynes;la relance de la production d'electricite verte aux Etats-Unis: une rencontre entre Promethee... et Keynes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Magaud, M. [Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis, Mission pour la Science et la Technologie (United States); Ochoa, D. [Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines, Dir. de l' Innovation et du Developpement 42 - Saint-Etienne (France)

2009-11-15

During his campaign, Barack Obama insisted on the close tie between the recession, climate change and national security in matters of energy, given the country's excessive dependence on oil imports. He outlined the development of a low-carbon economy that would, in 2050, emit only 20% as much greenhouse gas as in 1990. He pledged to devote, over a ten-year period, 150 billion dollars to research and development on renewable energy, either through direct funding (grants, loan guarantees, purchases by the federal government, etc.) or tax incentives. He also spoke about the potential creation of five million jobs in environmental-friendly technology. Given his first official declarations on climate change and the importance of the theme of energy in the first measures taken by his administration, the new president has reflected the same level of concern as the candidate. Since his election, Obama has pursued the same policy line by orienting his massive economic stimulus plan (787 billion dollars) toward creating 'green jobs', especially in energy (85 billion dollars). In the stimulus package, research and development for new sources of low-carbon energy - stocking CO{sub 2} underground, solar and geothermal energy, wind power, second-generation bio-fuels, etc. - are among the top priorities. (authors)

Transformative environmental governance

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-01-01

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

Stakeholder Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flak, Leif Skiftenes; Rose, Jeremy

2005-01-01

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

WHY DOES GOVERNMENT GROW?THE SOURCESOF GOVERNMENT GROWTHFROM PUBLIC CHOICEPERSPECTIVE

OpenAIRE

Coskun Can Aktan, PhD

2017-01-01

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

Selaginella and 400 million years of separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Jo Ann

2009-01-01

Selaginella (spikemoss) is an enigma in the plant kingdom. Although a fascination to botanists at the turn of the twentieth century, members of this genus are unremarkable in appearance, never flower, and are of no agronomic value. However, members of this genus are relicts from ancient times, and one has to marvel at how this genus has survived virtually unchanged in appearance for hundreds of millions of years. In light of the recent completion of the Selaginella moellendorffii genome sequence, this review is intended to survey what is known about Selaginella, with a special emphasis on recent inquiries into its unique biology and importance in understanding the early evolution of vascular plants.

Cost of privatisation versus government alcohol retailing systems: Canadian example.

Science.gov (United States)

Popova, Svetlana; Patra, Jayadeep; Sarnocinska-Hart, Anna; Gnam, William H; Giesbrecht, Norman; Rehm, Jürgen

2012-01-01

Alcohol retail monopolies have been established in many countries to restrict alcohol availability and thus, minimise alcohol-related harm.The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of the privatisation of alcohol sales on the burden and direct health-care, law enforcement costs and indirect costs (lost productivity due to disability or premature mortality) in Canada. Simulation modelling. International Guidelines for the Estimation of the Avoidable Costs of Substance Abuse were used. All burden and costs were compared with the baseline taken from the aggregate Cost Study on Substance Abuse in Canada 2002. If all Canadian provinces and territories were to privatise alcohol sales we assume that consumption would increase from 10% to 20% based on available Canadian literature. Under the 10% scenario the costs would increase from 6% ($828 million) and under the 20% scenario costs would increase 12% ($1.6 billion).This increase is substantially greater than the tax and mark-up revenue gained from increased sales,and represents a net loss. Alcohol-attributable burden and associated costs will increase markedly if all Canadian provinces and territories gave up the government alcohol retailing systems.For public health and economic reasons, governments should continue to have a strong role in alcohol retailing.

7 CFR 1435.103 - Availability, disbursement, and maturity of loans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... information as prescribed by CCC of the commodity to be pledged as collateral; (4) Pay CCC a loan service fee... on sugar or in-process sugar pledged as loan collateral, obtain waivers that fully protect CCC's... produced and are otherwise established as being eligible to be pledged as loan collateral. (c)(1) A...

Forms of global governence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxim V. Kharkevich

2014-01-01

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

Leisure, Government and Governance: A Swedish Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, Lisbeth

2011-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-10-17

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

Transforming Government Service

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Keld

2017-01-01

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

Poweo 2006 consolidated revenue at euro 244 million, up 121%; Poweo chiffre d'affaires 2006 de 244 millions euro, en hausse de 121%

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-01-15

POWEO, the leading independent energy operator in France, presents in this document its key business indicators for the 4. quarter of 2006 and the full year: POWEO records again a strong rise of its annual revenue, exceeding its euro 220 million target. This progression relates to all the business components. The particularly soft climatic conditions recorded in France at the end of the year did not result in a significant fall of revenue compared to initial forecasts. The number of customer sites amounts to 80.300 at December 31, 2006, in progression of 23% compared to the end of 2005. The customer base remained overall stable during the second half of 2006, POWEO limiting voluntarily the acquisition of customers in electricity during the preparation of the opening to competition of the residential market due to take place on July 1, 2007. The gas customer base for its part more than doubled compared to end June 2006, with more than 5.000 customer sites transferred as at December 31, 2006. The Energy Management net margin, realised or un-realised, amounted to euro 49.7 million in 2006, recognised as revenue under IFRS standards. This includes the euro 22 million exceptional capital gain mentioned in previous financial releases in 2006, as well as a euro 7.9 million un-realised capital gain resulting from the transfer of some contracts into the Energy Management portfolio further to the capacity swap agreement with EDF announced publicly on January 3, 2007. The services provided by POWEO to its customers enjoy a high level of acceptance and represented revenue of euro 2.9 million in 2006. As from 2007, the revenue realised through these services will be presented separately from other components of revenue in order to better reflect its expected growth. The services offering will be indeed a key element of the marketing strategy of POWEO in the years to come, with a potentially significant impact on the results taking into account their level of gross margin which

Energy- and climate policy of the USA. Goals of the new government; Energie- und Klimapolitik der USA. Zielsetzungen der neuen Regierung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schiffer, Hans-Wilhelm [RWE AG, Essen (Germany). Abt. Allgemeine Wirtschaftspolitik/Wissenschaft

2009-04-06

US president Barack Obama and vice president Joe Biden announced a detailed new political agenda on 20 January 2009 when they took over from the Bush government. The internet pages of the White House list 24 items, including an action plan for energy and environment. This ''New Energy for America Plan'' comprises the following goals: Creation of 5 million new jobs by supporting private efforts for clean energy supply with strategic investments of 150 thousand million US dollars for the next decade; Savings of petroleum that are higher than the volume currently imported from the Middle East and Venezuela within the next decade; Ensuring that about 1 million US-made plug-in hybrid cars are on the roads by 2015; Achieving a share of 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025 for renewable energy sources; Implementation of a ''cap-and-trade system'' for the whole US economy in order to reduce climate-relevant gaseous emissions by 80 percent until 2050. (orig.)

Corporate Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragoș-Mihail Daghie

2011-05-01

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

7 CFR 1427.10 - Approved storage.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... § 1427.10 Approved storage. (a) Eligible cotton may be pledged as collateral for loans only if stored at... receipt for any bale or bales of cotton pledged as collateral for a CCC loan must include the dates that... cotton pledged as collateral for a CCC loan that are stored outside, and (ii) Through their electronic...

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LJ Kotze

2006-05-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Chanturidze, Tata; Obermann, Konrad

2016-05-17

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Kamel Alomari

2014-10-01

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

Re-examining the provisions for climate protection. Tightrope walk of the Federal Government

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuermann, H.J.

1996-01-01

The federal government assigns priority to a concept of small steps in climate protection. At the Environmental Summit in Berlin in the Spring of 1995, Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised a 25% decrease of German carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions between 1990 and 2005. Even though considerable progress has been made in this country since the early nineties, the CO 2 reduction level envisaged for political reasons remains threatened. Compared to 1990 as the base line year, CO 2 emissions in the Federal Republic by the middle of this decade have been reduced by more than 130 million tons, i.e. 13%. However, this decrease is due to the drastic decline in particularly CO 2 -intensive production processes in the new German federal states. In Eastern Germany, especially the use of lignite, with its relatively high carbon dioxide fractions, has been reduced. A number of aspects need to be taken into account. The reductions promised in voluntary agreements for cooperation between industry and the federal government are an important step in the right direction. Energy taxes based on emissions should be introduced only on the basis of a calculable schedule, in small steps and, if possible, in an internationally harmonized approach in order to protect long-term investments. In this way, longer-term incentives could be offered in the interest of environmentally benign innovations and investments already at the stage of industrial planning. Should nuclear power, which produces no CO 2 emissions, be abandoned on political grounds, the national costs of such a switch would be likely to reach amounts in the double or three-digit billions. The operation of German nuclear power plants at present allows some 150 million tons of CO 2 to be avoided annually. If new reactors could be built in the future without any political obstacles, additional CO 2 savings potentials could be mobilized. (orig./DG)

Talking dirty: how to save a million lives.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, V

2003-06-01

Infectious diseases are still the number one threat to public health in developing countries. Diarrhoeal diseases alone are responsible for the deaths of at least 2 million children yearly - hygiene is paramount to resolving this problem. The function of hygienic behaviour is to prevent the transmission of the agents of infection. The most effective way of stopping infection is to stop faecal material getting into the child's environment by safe disposal of faeces and washing hands with soap once faecal material has contaminated them in the home. A review of the literature on handwashing puts it top in a list of possible interventions to prevent diarrhoea. Handwashing with soap has been calculated to save a million lives. However, few people do wash their hands with soap at these critical times. Obtaining a massive increase in handwashing worldwide requires a sea-change in thinking. Initial results from a new programme led by the World Bank, with many partner organisations, suggest that health is low on people's list of motives, rather, hands are washed to remove dirt, to rinse food off after eating, to make hands look and smell good, and as an act of motherly caring. Professional consumer and market research agencies are being used to work with the soap industry to design professional communications programmes to reach whole populations in Ghana and India. Tools and techniques for marketing handwashing and for measuring the actual impact on behaviour will be applied in new public-private handwashing programmes, which are to start up soon in Nepal, China, Peru and Senegal.

Enova results and activities report 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2008-07-01

Enova's primary task is to utilise the Norwegian Energy Fund to contribute to environmentally friendly restructuring of energy consumption and generation. Enova's management of the Energy Fund is governed by an agreement between the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and Enova. Restructuring national energy consumption is a comprehensive task, which includes identifying barriers and fine-tuning policy instruments to achieve changes in the market. In 2007, Enova achieved contractual commitments for an energy result of about 2.4 TWh, while 10.1 TWh was contracted in the period 2001-2007. A 28 million euro wind power project received support in 2007, and counting this project, Enova has granted subsidies totalling 100 million euros for 11 different windmill parks located around Norway. A significant commitment was made in the heating area in 2007. An energy result of 751 GWh in renewable heating energy was contracted, distributed among 69 projects with total funding amounting to 40 million euros. Bio fuel processing projects received 0.6 million euros, divided among four projects totalling 163 GWh. From 2008, three new heating programs will replace the existing heating program, and the solid bio fuel production program will be discontinued. In 2007, Enova received 30 applications for the new technology program, of which 21 were connected to the joint effort with the Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway. A total of ten projects have received pledges of support from Enova in 2007, totalling 10 million euros. The program for energy consumption in buildings achieved a contractual energy result of 365 GWh in 2007. An evaluation was carried out in 2007 that will be used as a basis for tailoring the program activities to the market. The work aimed at energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy carriers in industry has contributed a total contracted energy result of 814 GWh in 2007. The main program has been confirmed and maintained in 2007. The

Toward Millions of File System IOPS on Low-Cost, Commodity Hardware.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Da; Burns, Randal; Szalay, Alexander S

2013-01-01

We describe a storage system that removes I/O bottlenecks to achieve more than one million IOPS based on a user-space file abstraction for arrays of commodity SSDs. The file abstraction refactors I/O scheduling and placement for extreme parallelism and non-uniform memory and I/O. The system includes a set-associative, parallel page cache in the user space. We redesign page caching to eliminate CPU overhead and lock-contention in non-uniform memory architecture machines. We evaluate our design on a 32 core NUMA machine with four, eight-core processors. Experiments show that our design delivers 1.23 million 512-byte read IOPS. The page cache realizes the scalable IOPS of Linux asynchronous I/O (AIO) and increases user-perceived I/O performance linearly with cache hit rates. The parallel, set-associative cache matches the cache hit rates of the global Linux page cache under real workloads.

More than 500 million Chinese urban residents (14% of the global urban population) are imperiled by fine particulate hazard.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Chunyang; Han, Lijian; Zhang, Robin Q

2016-11-01

China's urbanization and the subsequent public vulnerability to degenerated environment is important to global public health. Among the environmental problems, fine particulate (PM 2.5 ) pollution has become a serious hazard in rapidly urbanizing China. However, quantitative information remains inadequate. We thus collected PM 2.5 concentrations and population census records, to illustrate the spatial patterns and changes in the PM 2.5 hazard levels in China, and to quantify public vulnerability to the hazard during 2000-2010, following the air quality standards of World Health Organization. We found that 28% (2.72 million km 2 ) of China's territory, including 78% of cities (154 cities) with a population of >1 million, was exposed to PM 2.5 hazard in 2010; a 15% increase (1.47 million km 2 ) from 2000 to 2010. The hazards potentially impacted the health of 72% of the total population (942 million) in 2010, including 70% of the young (206 million) and 76% of the old (71 million). This was a significant increase from the 42% of total the population (279 million) exposed in 2000. Of the total urban residents, 76% (501 million) were affected in 2010. Along with PM 2.5 concentration increase, massive number of rural to urban migration also contributed greatly to China's urban public health vulnerability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DISPOSSESSION OF ASSETS IN THE NEW ROMANIAN CIVIL CODE. COMPARATIVE LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Cristea

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article deals with the legal status of pledge, in view of the new romanian civil code. Besides regulation, definition and subject collateral (section 1,2 and 3, the focus of the analysis is on the institution dispossession of assets, which marks the time difference between pledge and mortgage (section 4.Original in the doctrinal approach is the analysis of pledge in different systems of law (French law and Canadian law, in section 5. If the purpose of the legislature was that the Roman civil pledge without dispossession come under the regulation of mortgage securities and dispossession remain at the borders of the Civil Code, we believe that achievement is threatened by the expansion of civilian collateral objectof pledge to the marketable securities, especially over the nominative one (forms synthesized in the conclusions of the article.

Governance, Government, and the Search for New Provider Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard B. Saltman

2016-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Saltman, Richard B; Duran, Antonio

2015-11-03

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

Government and Governance of Regional Triple Helix Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Danson, Mike; Todeva, Emanuela

2016-01-01

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

GOVERNMENT SIZE VERSUS GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY IN A MODEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisca Guedes de Oliveira

2016-04-01

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

Transformative environmental governance

Science.gov (United States)

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-09-01

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

Poweo 2006 consolidated revenue at euro 244 million, up 121%

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

POWEO, the leading independent energy operator in France, presents in this document its key business indicators for the 4. quarter of 2006 and the full year: POWEO records again a strong rise of its annual revenue, exceeding its euro 220 million target. This progression relates to all the business components. The particularly soft climatic conditions recorded in France at the end of the year did not result in a significant fall of revenue compared to initial forecasts. The number of customer sites amounts to 80.300 at December 31, 2006, in progression of 23% compared to the end of 2005. The customer base remained overall stable during the second half of 2006, POWEO limiting voluntarily the acquisition of customers in electricity during the preparation of the opening to competition of the residential market due to take place on July 1, 2007. The gas customer base for its part more than doubled compared to end June 2006, with more than 5.000 customer sites transferred as at December 31, 2006. The Energy Management net margin, realised or un-realised, amounted to euro 49.7 million in 2006, recognised as revenue under IFRS standards. This includes the euro 22 million exceptional capital gain mentioned in previous financial releases in 2006, as well as a euro 7.9 million un-realised capital gain resulting from the transfer of some contracts into the Energy Management portfolio further to the capacity swap agreement with EDF announced publicly on January 3, 2007. The services provided by POWEO to its customers enjoy a high level of acceptance and represented revenue of euro 2.9 million in 2006. As from 2007, the revenue realised through these services will be presented separately from other components of revenue in order to better reflect its expected growth. The services offering will be indeed a key element of the marketing strategy of POWEO in the years to come, with a potentially significant impact on the results taking into account their level of gross margin which

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefania Munaretto

2014-06-01

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

Practice of good governance and corporate governance

OpenAIRE

Bălăceanu Cristina; Predonu Andreea – Monica

2010-01-01

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

Energy Efficiency Governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongliang; Qiu, Aichao

2017-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huicong Li

2017-10-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jude Okafor

2010-07-01

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

Extreme ecosystem instability suppressed tropical dinosaur dominance for 30 million years.

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteside, Jessica H; Lindström, Sofie; Irmis, Randall B; Glasspool, Ian J; Schaller, Morgan F; Dunlavey, Maria; Nesbitt, Sterling J; Smith, Nathan D; Turner, Alan H

2015-06-30

A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10-15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO2 data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ(13)Corg and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic.

The politics of meta-governance in transnational private sustainability governance

OpenAIRE

Fransen, L.

2015-01-01

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

Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

Science.gov (United States)

Fritz, Susanne A.; Eronen, Jussi T.; Schnitzler, Jan; Hof, Christian; Janis, Christine M.; Mulch, Andreas; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Graham, Catherine H.

2016-01-01

At global and regional scales, primary productivity strongly correlates with richness patterns of extant animals across space, suggesting that resource availability and climatic conditions drive patterns of diversity. However, the existence and consistency of such diversity–productivity relationships through geological history is unclear. Here we provide a comprehensive quantitative test of the diversity–productivity relationship for terrestrial large mammals through time across broad temporal and spatial scales. We combine >14,000 occurrences for 690 fossil genera through the Neogene (23–1.8 Mya) with regional estimates of primary productivity from fossil plant communities in North America and Europe. We show a significant positive diversity–productivity relationship through the 20-million-year record, providing evidence on unprecedented spatial and temporal scales that this relationship is a general pattern in the ecology and paleo-ecology of our planet. Further, we discover that genus richness today does not match the fossil relationship, suggesting that a combination of human impacts and Pleistocene climate variability has modified the 20-million-year ecological relationship by strongly reducing primary productivity and driving many mammalian species into decline or to extinction. PMID:27621451

Theoretical Ideas of Local Government and State Government Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolay I. Churinov

2016-03-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hery Harjono Muljo

2014-05-01

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

Pamplin College receives $1 million gift for program on capitalism and freedom

OpenAIRE

Ho, Sookhan

2007-01-01

Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business has received a $1 million gift from BBandT Charitable Foundation to establish a teaching program in the college's finance department that explores the foundations of capitalism and freedom.

Experimentalist governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2012-01-01

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

Remaking Governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Carver, John

2000-01-01

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

Tackling the global NCD crisis: innovations in law and governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Bryan; Gostin, Lawrence O

2013-01-01

35 million people die annually of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries - representing a marked epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases and from richer to poorer countries. The total number of NCDs is projected to rise by 17% over the coming decade, absent significant interventions. The NCD epidemic poses unique governance challenges: the causes are multifactorial, the affected populations diffuse, and effective responses require sustained multi-sectorial cooperation. The authors propose a range of regulatory options available at the domestic level, including stricter food labeling laws, regulation of food advertisements, tax incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, changes to the built environment, and direct regulation of food and drink producers. Given the realities of globalization, such interventions require global cooperation. In 2011, the UN General Assembly held a High-level meeting on NCDs, setting a global target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025. Yet concrete plans and resource commitments for reaching this goal are not yet in the offing, and the window is rapidly closing for achieving these targets through prevention - as opposed to treatment, which is more costly. Innovative global governance for health is urgently needed to engage private industry and civil society in the global response to the NCD crisis. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Digital Government and Public Health

OpenAIRE

Fountain, Jane E.

2004-01-01

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

Good governance and budget reform in Lesotho Public Hospitals: performance, root causes and reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Vian, Taryn; Bicknell, William J

2014-09-01

Lesotho has been implementing financial management reforms, including performance-based budgeting (PBB) since 2005 in an effort to increase accountability, transparency and effectiveness in governance, yet little is known about how these efforts are affecting the health sector. Supported by several development partners and $24 million in external resources, the PBB reform is intended to strengthen government capacity to manage aid funds directly and to target assistance to pressing social priorities. This study designed and tested a methodology for measuring implementation progress for PBB reform in the hospital sector in Lesotho. We found that despite some efforts on the national level to promote and support reform implementation, staff at the hospital level were largely unaware of the purpose of the reform and had made almost no progress in transforming institutions and systems to fully realize reform goals. Problems can be traced to a complex reform design, inadequate personnel and capacity to implement, professional boundaries between financial and clinical personnel and weak leadership. The Lesotho reform experience suggests that less complex designs for budget reform, better adapted to the context and realities of health sectors in developing countries, may be needed to improve governance. It also highlights the importance of measuring reform implementation at the sectoral level. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2013; all rights reserved.

Governance of Higher Education--Implementation of Project Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Macheridis, Nikos

2017-01-01

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

Ocean commitments under the Paris Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Gallo, Natalya D.; Victor, David G.; Levin, Lisa A.

2017-11-01

Under the Paris Agreement nations made pledges known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which indicate how national governments are evaluating climate risks and policy opportunities. We find that NDCs reveal important systematic patterns reflecting national interests and capabilities. Because the ocean plays critical roles in climate mitigation and adaptation, we created a quantitative marine focus factor (MFF) to evaluate how governments address marine issues. In contrast to the past, when oceans received minimal attention in climate negotiations, 70% of 161 NDCs we analysed include marine issues. The percentage of the population living in low-lying areas--vulnerable to rising seas--positively influences the MFF, but negotiating group (Annex 1 or small island developing states) is equally important, suggesting political motivations are crucial to NDC development. The analysis reveals gaps between scientific and government attention, including on ocean deoxygenation, which is barely mentioned. Governments display a keen interest in expanding marine research on climate priorities.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rose B Namara

2016-02-01

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

Data governance implementation concept

OpenAIRE

Ullrichová, Jana

2016-01-01

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

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – WAY OF GOVERNANCE FOR MODERN COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alina HAGIU

2016-05-01

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

Smart governance for smart city

Science.gov (United States)

Mutiara, Dewi; Yuniarti, Siti; Pratama, Bambang

2018-03-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry N. Bang

2013-02-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2011-01-01

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

Commander manipulator scoops prestigious mulit-million pound BNFL contract

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, Andrew.

1997-01-01

Twenty-one Commander robotic arms are on order from INBIS (formerly Ricardo Hitec) and BNFL Engineering Limited (''BEL'', the engineering arm of parent company BNFL). The multi-million pound contract was won amid fierce competition from other well-known names in robotic engineering. The specially designed Commander manipulators will be engaged in remotely handling Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) in a suite of four BNFL ILW plants, which are currently either under construction or planned at Sellafield. The first Commander will delivered to BNFL's Sellafield Silo Emptying Project in January 1998. (Author)

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

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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

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

OpenAIRE

Mizushima, Tadashi; Tadashi, Mizushima

2014-01-01

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

Governance and organizational theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos E. Quintero Castellanos

2017-07-01

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

Nuclear power goes to the polls

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cross, Michael.

1990-01-01

Grass roots opposition to nuclear power is growing in Japan. The number of protesters, especially female protesters, has come as a surprise to Japanese politicians in the Liberal Democratic party which has ruled Japan for the last thirty years. With elections close government policy on nuclear power is coming under review, with opposition parties pledged to scrap it. The Japanese nuclear industry thus faces a variety of problems and can no longer be sure of government support. Japan has no fossil fuels of its own, which has meant a variety of nuclear reactors being installed. Reprocessing of spent fuel, currently done at Sellafield, may be undertaken at a new Japanese plant at Tokkasho on Honshu island, if protests about geological instability and other problems are overcome. (UK)

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2014-01-01

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

Reply by the Federal Government to a question concerning new primary energy sources raised in the Bundestag

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matthoefer, H [Bundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (F.R. Germany)

1976-06-01

A question raised in the Bundestag concerning new primary energy sources was answered by the Federal Minister for Science and Technology in his letter dated June 2, 1976; the letter called attention to the Federal Government's energy program of September 1973 which, instead of promoting research almost exclusively on the nuclear sector as used to be the case, aims at a purposeful and comprehensive promotion by the state of non-nuclear energy research as well in the FRG. Solar energy seems to have the best chance in the FRG of being utilized in an industrial way, applying low-temperature collectors to recover heat for heating and hot water preparation; 28 million DM have been invested so far. Despite the fact that the technical potential of wind power in the FRG would cover almost 75% of the present electricity demand, only plants with a small kW range are being developed at the moment as the question of energy storage is still open; 0.3 million DM have been granted so far. The utilization of geothermal power can only be of interest for the FRG on the basis of the hot-dry-rock method; drilling work is carried out in the Eifel district investigating geothermal gradients: 1.25 million DM have been granted so far. In 1976 the projects mentioned above have been allotted research funds amounting to 20 million DM. Energy from running/tidal waters is utilized in the FRG to 90% so far, but this only accounts for 6.7% of the gross electricity generation. Therefore, its importance for the energy supply of the FRG will decrease when the energy demand increases.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-02-01

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

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2016-01-01

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

Managing, profiling and analyzing a library of 2.6 million compounds gathered from 32 chemical providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Monge, Aurélien; Arrault, Alban; Marot, Christophe; Morin-Allory, Luc

2006-08-01

The data for 3.8 million compounds from structural databases of 32 providers were gathered and stored in a single chemical database. Duplicates are removed using the IUPAC International Chemical Identifier. After this, 2.6 million compounds remain. Each database and the final one were studied in term of uniqueness, diversity, frameworks, 'drug-like' and 'lead-like' properties. This study also shows that there are more than 87 000 frameworks in the database. It contains 2.1 million 'drug-like' molecules among which, more than one million are 'lead-like'. This study has been carried out using 'ScreeningAssistant', a software dedicated to chemical databases management and screening sets generation. Compounds are stored in a MySQL database and all the operations on this database are carried out by Java code. The druglikeness and leadlikeness are estimated with 'in-house' scores using functions to estimate convenience to properties; unicity using the InChI code and diversity using molecular frameworks and fingerprints. The software has been conceived in order to facilitate the update of the database. 'ScreeningAssistant' is freely available under the GPL license.

A 3D photograph with 92 million pixels for tagging particles

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso

2013-01-01

Where was a given particle born? How can we tag it precisely enough to be able to then follow it along its track and through its decays? This is the job of the pixel detector installed at the heart of the ATLAS detector, only centimeters away from the LHC collisions. In order to improve its identification and tagging capabilities, the ATLAS collaboration has recently taken a big step towards the completion of the upgrade of its Pixel detector, which will include the insertion of a brand-new layer of 12 million pixels.   The 7 metre long beryllium beam pipe inserted in the carbon-fibre positioning tool is being prepared ready for the new innermost layer of the Pixel detector to be mounted. Photo: ATLAS Collaboration. With its three layers and 80 million channels concentrated in 2.2 square metres, the ATLAS pixel detector was already the world’s largest pixel-based system used in particle physics. Its excellent performance was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson in July ...

Hotel guest's $14.5 million jury verdict set aside on appeal.

Science.gov (United States)

1999-08-20

A Missouri Court of Appeals judge reversed a $14.5 million judgement against [name removed] Inc., which had been held liable for the beating and sexual assault of a guest in its hotel. The guest, identified as [name removed], had requested an upgrade to a concierge room, to increase her safety, but the hotel did not fill her request. When [name removed] opened her hotel room door the next morning, an assailant attacked, beat and raped her. The assailant escaped hotel security, but was later apprehended. The initial case against [name removed] and the assailant resulted in a $22.5 million judgement for [name removed] Both parties appealed. [Name removed] prevailed in its argument that the initial trial judge misinstructed the jury, and that [name removed] was unable to show clear and convincing evidence that the hotel's willful or conscious disregard for guest safety caused the situation. However, the court ruled against [name removed] on the basis of [name removed]'s fear-of-AIDS claim, because of her exposure to the virus.

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Li, Yanwei; Koppenjan, Joop; Verweij, Stefan

2016-01-01

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

Public management and governance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bovaird, A. G; Löffler, Elke

2009-01-01

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

Hard and Soft Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moos, Lejf

2009-01-01

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

Interoperability, Enterprise Architectures, and IT Governance in Government

OpenAIRE

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

2011-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tata Chanturidze

2016-08-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Chinitz, David P

2016-05-31

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

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Lucia, Lorenzo

2013-01-01

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

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Humrich, Christoph

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

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

OpenAIRE

Peyman Mohammadi; Saeed Kheradmandi

2014-01-01

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

Cloud Computing Governance Lifecycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soňa Karkošková

2016-06-01

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

Poweo 1. quarter 2007 revenue up 7% at 85 million euro. Energy supply to end-customers up 137%

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-05-01

POWEO, the leading independent electricity and gas operator in France, presents in this document its key business indicators for the first quarter of 2007. For the first time since its creation, POWEO achieved a quarterly sales turnover in excess of 100 million euro excluding the Energy Management activity. The implementation of commercial resources dedicated to the acquisition of large accounts in industry and services indeed enabled the Group to develop significantly the sales on this segment, in particular to a French large industrial group. POWEO intends to materialize in the coming months some opportunities with large accounts thanks to the implementation of the transitory regulated adjustment to market tariff (TARTAM), as decided by the government last fall 2006 and recently further defined. The professional customers segment started gradually to grow again. Before the launch of the residential offering, the acquisition of new professional customers during the past quarter compensated for usual erosion. The number of active sites customers amounts to 80.500 as at March 31, 2007, overall stable compared to the end of 2006. The electricity customer base represents 75.000 active sites as at March 31, 2007, the gas customer base further grew to reach 5.500 active sites at March 31, 2007. In addition, the commercial partners network has been streamlined in order to preserve only a reduced number of them, in view of the forthcoming launch of a new web site which will enable to market directly to the professional and residential customers POWEO's offering in energy and services. Within the framework of the capacity swap with EDF announced on January 3, 2007, part of the forward procurement contracts and call options initially dedicated to supply the end-customers had been re-classified in the Energy Management portfolio as of December 31, 2006. According to IFRS standards, this portfolio must be valued at market prices. The energy sector faced during the first

Integrative environmental governance: enhancing governance in the era of synergies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visseren-Hamakers, I.J.

2015-01-01

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

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

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Seifert, Jeffrey W

2003-01-01

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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pusp Raj Joshi

2018-06-01

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

The politics of meta-governance in transnational private sustainability governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fransen, L.

2015-01-01

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

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

CERN Document Server

Soares, Sunil

2015-01-01

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

Innovation in City Governments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lewis, Jenny M; Ricard, Lykke Margot; Klijn, Erik Hans

Innovation has become an important focus for governments around the world over the last decade, with greater pressure on governments to do more with less, and expanding community expectations. Some are now calling this ‘social innovation’ – innovation that is related to creating new services...... that have value for stakeholders (such as citizens) in terms of the social and political outcomes they produce. Innovation in City Governments: Structures, Networks, and Leadership establishes an analytical framework of innovation capacity based on three dimensions: Structure - national governance...... project in Copenhagen, Barcelona and Rotterdam. The book provides major new insights on how structures, networks and leadership in city governments shape the social innovation capacity of cities. It provides ground-breaking analyses of how governance structures and local socio-economic challenges...

Governing Knowledge: The Formalization Dilemma in the Governance of the Public Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Woelert, Peter

2015-01-01

This paper offers a conceptually novel contribution to the understanding of the distinctive governance challenges arising from the increasing reliance on formalized knowledge in the governance of research activities. It uses the current Australian research governance system as an example--a system which exhibits a comparatively strong degree of…

Voluntary Environmental Governance Arrangements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, J.

2012-01-01

Voluntary environmental governance arrangements have focal attention in studies on environmental policy, regulation and governance. The four major debates in the contemporary literature on voluntary environmental governance arrangements are studied. The literature falls short of sufficiently

Beyond Good Governances: Lesson from Forest and Cultural Governance in Pelalawan, Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Novi Paramita Dewi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The shift in government concept into governance takes the consequence of changes in public governance including in the forestry sector. Good forest governance becomes a great hope for managing the forest condition so that sustainable forest management can be realized. However, in its implementation, it contains a big challenge for the forest in Indonesia which is mostly identical with indigenous people. Meanwhile, the development becomes a necessity that cannot be inhibited in which business corporation as the actor who plays in the forest governance is considered as a major threat to the environment and indigenous people. To achieve good forest governance, it is necessary to have a synergy with cultural governance that is hoped to be able to accommodate the indigenous people interests. This paper is a case study related to the practice as an effort to achieve good forest governance in the indigenous people of Pelalawan that are followed by the cultural governance effort so that the indigenous people culture of Pelalawan that is closely related to the forest can still be maintained.

Digital government and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Fountain, Jane E

2004-10-01

Digital government is typically defined as the production and delivery of information and services inside government and between government and the public using a range of information and communication technologies. Two types of government relationships with other entities are government-to-citizen and government-to-government relationships. Both offer opportunities and challenges. Assessment of a public health agency's readiness for digital government includes examination of technical, managerial, and political capabilities. Public health agencies are especially challenged by a lack of funding for technical infrastructure and expertise, by privacy and security issues, and by lack of Internet access for low-income and marginalized populations. Public health agencies understand the difficulties of working across agencies and levels of government, but the development of new, integrated e-programs will require more than technical change - it will require a profound change in paradigm.

Systems approach to waste governance: unpacking the challenges facing local government

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Godfrey, Linda K

2008-09-01

Full Text Available and Tourism (DEAT, 2007) highlighted the obstacles that are faced by local government in achieving service delivery for waste. The three identified obstacles included Financial Capacity; Institutional Capacity; Technical Capacity. 2 Opportunity cost... the systems diagrams show (Figure 2), is that without intervention by national government departments, e.g. National Treasury, Department of Provincial and Local Government, or Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, municipalities will be unable...

Developing digital forensic governance

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Grobler, M

2010-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a Digital Forensic (DF) governance framework and its mapping on the SANS ISO/IEC 38500:2009 Corporate governance of information technology structure. DF governance assists organisations in guiding the management team...

Government management and implementation of national real-time energy monitoring system for China large-scale public building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Na Wei; Wu Yong; Song Yan; Dong Zhongcheng

2009-01-01

The supervision of energy efficiency in government office buildings and large-scale public buildings (GOBLPB) is the main embodiment for government implementation of Public Administration in the fields of resource saving and environmental protection. It is significant for China government to achieve the target: reducing building energy consumption by 11 million ton standard coal before 2010. In the framework of a national demonstration project concerning the energy management system, Shenzhen Municipality has been selected for the implementation of the system. A data acquisition system and a methodology concerning the energy consumption of the GOBLPB have been developed. This paper summarizes the various features of the system incorporated into identifying the building consumes and energy saving potential. This paper also defines the methods to achieve the real-time monitoring and diagnosis: the meters installed at each building, the data transmitted through internet to a center server, the analysis and unification at the center server and the publication through web. Furthermore, this paper introduces the plans to implement the system and to extend countrywide. Finally, this paper presents some measurements to achieve a common benefit community in implementation of building energy efficiency supervisory system on GOBLPB in its construction, reconstruction or operation stages.

Federalism and multilevel governance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wusten, H.; Agnew, J.; Mamadouh, V.; Secor, A.J.; Sharp, J.

2015-01-01

Federalism and multilevel governance both emphasize polycentricity in governing arrangements. With their different intellectual pedigrees, these concepts are discussed in two separate sections. Fragments are now increasingly mixed up in hybrid forms of governance that also encompass originally

Regulatory Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjær, Poul F.; Vetterlein, Antje

2018-01-01

Regulatory governance frameworks have become essential building blocks of world society. From supply chains to the regimes surrounding international organizations, extensive governance frameworks have emerged which structure and channel a variety of social exchanges, including economic, political...... by the International Transitional Administrations (ITAs) in Kosovo and Iraq as well as global supply chains and their impact on the garment industry in Bangladesh....

A thirty million year-old inherited heteroplasmy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincent Doublet

Full Text Available Due to essentially maternal inheritance and a bottleneck effect during early oogenesis, newly arising mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA mutations segregate rapidly in metazoan female germlines. Consequently, heteroplasmy (i.e. the mixture of mtDNA genotypes within an organism is generally resolved to homoplasmy within a few generations. Here, we report an exceptional transpecific heteroplasmy (predicting an alanine/valine alloacceptor tRNA change that has been stably inherited in oniscid crustaceans for at least thirty million years. Our results suggest that this heteroplasmy is stably transmitted across generations because it occurs within mitochondria and therefore escapes the mtDNA bottleneck that usually erases heteroplasmy. Consistently, at least two oniscid species possess an atypical trimeric mitochondrial genome, which provides an adequate substrate for the emergence of a constitutive intra-mitochondrial heteroplasmy. Persistence of a mitochondrial polymorphism on such a deep evolutionary timescale suggests that balancing selection may be shaping mitochondrial sequence evolution in oniscid crustaceans.

Osteopathology in Rhinocerotidae from 50 Million Years to the Present.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelsey T Stilson

Full Text Available Individual elements of many extinct and extant North American rhinocerotids display osteopathologies, particularly exostoses, abnormal textures, and joint margin porosity, that are commonly associated with localized bone trauma. When we evaluated six extinct rhinocerotid species spanning 50 million years (Ma, we found the incidence of osteopathology increases from 28% of all elements of Eocene Hyrachyus eximius to 65-80% of all elements in more derived species. The only extant species in this study, Diceros bicornis, displayed less osteopathologies (50% than the more derived extinct taxa. To get a finer-grained picture, we scored each fossil for seven pathological indicators on a scale of 1-4. We estimated the average mass of each taxon using M1-3 length and compared mass to average pathological score for each category. We found that with increasing mass, osteopathology also significantly increases. We then ran a phylogenetically-controlled regression analysis using a time-calibrated phylogeny of our study taxa. Mass estimates were found to significantly covary with abnormal foramen shape and abnormal bone textures. This pattern in osteopathological expression may reflect a part of the complex system of adaptations in the Rhinocerotidae over millions of years, where increased mass, cursoriality, and/or increased life span are selected for, to the detriment of long-term bone health. This work has important implications for the future health of hoofed animals and humans alike.

Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Malaysia

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2012-01-01

This report assesses Ghana s corporate governance policy framework. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Ghana. It is an update of the 2005 Corporate Governance ROSC. Good corporate governance enhances investor trust, helps to protects mino...

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David P Chinitz

2016-09-01

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

Adopting service governance governing portfolio value for sound corporate citzenship

CERN Document Server

AXELOS, AXELOS

2015-01-01

Adopting Service Governance provides a useful umbrella for a number of frameworks including ITIL®, TOGAF®, COBIT®, ITSM, BSM, Business Analysis, Programme Management, Management of Value, Management of Portfolios and Management of Risk by establishing the top-down governance of an organisation through services.

RE-ENGINEERING GOVERNANCE; E-GOVERNMENT AS A TOOL FOR DECENTRALIZATION; GHANA AS A CASE STUDY

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gyaase, Patrick Ohemeng Kwadwo

This research was undertaken to study the diffusion of E-government as a tool for decentralization, using Ghana as a case study. E-governance has been credited with the potency of facilitating good governance in countries with appreciable level of E-government maturity. Much attention is being...... espoused by E-government. This research therefore assesses the diffusion of E-government as a tool for decentralization in Ghana. The research was carried out using mixed-methods and was approached from four theoretical perspectives namely Innovation Diffusion theory the TOE framework for technological....... Qualitative data was used to assess the factors affecting the diffusion of e-government as a tool for decentralization and the results pointed to vendor and donor led diffusion as affecting E-government implementation. There is also the absence of convergence between the E-government, the decentralization...

Government and Business

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Campbell, John L.

2015-01-01

There is a vast literature about the relationships between government and business in advanced capitalist societies.......There is a vast literature about the relationships between government and business in advanced capitalist societies....

The Knowledge Governance Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Nicolai J.

with diverse capabilities of handling these transactions. Various open research issues that a knowledge governance approach may illuminate are sketched. Although knowledge governance draws clear inspiration from organizational economics and `rational' organization theory, it recognizes that knowledge......An attempt is made to characterize a `knowledge governance approach' as a distinctive, emerging field that cuts across the fields of knowledge management, organisation studies, strategy and human resource management. Knowledge governance is taken up with how the deployment of administrative...

Pathological Corporate Governance Deficiencies in South Africa's State-Owned Companies: A Critical Reflection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tebello

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Globally, states use state-owned companies (SOCs or public corporations to provide public goods, limit private and foreign control of the domestic economy, generate public funds for the fiscus, increase service delivery and encourage economic development and industrialisation. Particularly given its unique socio-political and economic dynamics, a country such as South Africa clearly needs this type of strategic enterprise. Yet, that does not mean that everything at our SOCs is as it should be. The beleaguered South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC has recently seen the resignation of board members, shareholder interference in its operational affairs, and a high turnover of chief accounting officers and other executive management members. Due to non-performance, it has also received several cash injections from its shareholder to enable it to continue to deliver its services. In addition, the shareholder minister took it upon herself to amend the SABC's memorandum of incorporation, conferring upon herself the authority to appoint, suspend or even dismiss key executive members. South African Airways (SAA, in turn, has had seven CEOs in less than four years, has had to be bailed out at a cost of R550 million, and has in addition been granted a R5 billion guarantee by the shareholder for a restructuring exercise. Other SOCs such as Eskom, the Post Office and Telkom have also experienced high board and executive management turnover, perennial underperformance necessitating regular bailouts, and challenges regarding the division of power between their boards and the various shareholder ministers. Another issue that seems to plague South Africa's SOCs is the appointment of board members and executive officials with questionable qualifications. By critically examining the corporate governance challenges besetting the SABC, SAA and Eskom in particular, this article seeks to explore the root causes of the corporate governance deficiencies of SOCs

'Governance' sebagai Pengelolaan Konflik

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riza Noer Arfani

2005-03-01

Full Text Available The article explores the notion of understanding governance as part of conflict management, or vice versa, of undustanding conflict management aspects as benefiting from governance concepts and practices. Governance, with its much broader meaning than government, suggests diverse relevant and significant clues, hints and ideas in the context of conflict management endeavors. one of which is the idea to involve larger audiences and stakeholders –beyond the conventional institutions such as governmental bodies– in policy making processes and public discourses. Such comprehension and appreciation of governance concepts and practices is certainly parallel with the conflict management philosophies, concepis and practices which based on and oriented toward integrative, non-formal and non-litigative mechanisms.

Foresight as an e-Government Development Planning Component: Proposed e-Government Foresight Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rokas Grincevičius

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that e-government is developed by a country which is making the first steps in this area, or state, seeking to increase effectiveness of the existing e-government tools, it is necessary to have the methodology to create a basis for the formation of strategic e-government decisions, whose implementation will meet existing citizen needs and emerged challenges which appear during continuous information communication technology transformation processes.One of the ways to respond to these requirements is the application of foresight exercises as a component of strategic e-government planning. Nevertheless in Lithuania and many other Eastern European countries, the planning process is still centralized, based on the five-year planning context. Ex communist states are behind other regions with the number of research based on the foresight methodology, so these conditions determine the lack of information in this domain and this article is a small part of the attempt to fill the existing vacuum.The main aim of this article is to analyse the foresight impact on the electronic government strategic planning process, its role in the political decision formation process and by identifying contact points of different foresight research components, in the context of e-government foresight methodology framework creation processes, to form a deeper perception on how foresight works as a system.This aim is determined by the following objectives—to analyse foresight concept, circumstances and causes of its origin, main guidelines, methods used during foresight exercises and reasons, which determine its application; also, to analyse different suggested foresight exercise approaches and according to the results of the analysis, to form a distinctive e-government foresight methodology, which can be used for already performed foresight analysis or for prototyping a planned one.Thus, the first part of the article covers the most important theoretical

A 38 million words Dutch text corpus and its users | Kruyt | Lexikos

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In August 1996, the 38 Million Words Corpus was available for consultation by the international research community. The present paper reports on the characteristics of this corpus (design, text classification, linguistic annotation) and on its use, both in dictionary projects and in linguistic research. In spite of limitations with ...

Tax Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boll, Karen; Brehm Johansen, Mette

to wider international trends within tax administration, especially concerning the development of risk assessments and internal control in the corporations and a greater focus on monitoring of these elements by the tax authorities. Overall, the working paper concludes that Tax Governance as a model......This working paper presents an analysis of the experiences of Cooperative Compliance in Denmark. Cooperative Compliance denotes a specific kind of collaborative program for the regulation of large corporate taxpayers by the tax authorities. Cooperative Compliance programs have been implemented...... in several countries worldwide. In Denmark the program is called Tax Governance. Tax Governance has been studied using qualitative method and the analyses of the working paper build on an extensive base of in-depth interviews – primarily with tax directors from corporations participating in the program...

The Public Health Responsibility Deal: making the workplace healthier?

Science.gov (United States)

Knai, Cécile; Scott, Courtney; D'Souza, Preethy; James, Lesley; Mehrotra, Anushka; Petticrew, Mark; Eastmure, Elizabeth; Durand, Mary Alison; Mays, Nicholas

2017-06-01

The Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) in England is a public-private partnership which aims to improve public health by addressing issues such as health at work. This paper analyses the RD health at work pledges in terms of their likely effectiveness and added value. A review of evidence on the effectiveness of the RD 'health at work' pledges to improve health in the workplace; analysis of publically available data on signatory organizations' plans and progress towards achieving the pledges; and assessment of the likelihood that workplace activities pledged by signatories were brought about by participating in the RD. The 'health at work' pledges mostly consist of information sharing activities, and could be more effective if made part of integrated environmental change at the workplace. The evaluation of organizations' plans and progress suggests that very few actions (7%) were motivated by participation in the RD, with most organizations likely (57%) or probably (36%) already engaged in the activities they listed before joining the RD. The RD's 'health at work' pledges are likely to contribute little to improving workplace health as they stand but could contribute more if they were incorporated into broader, coherent workplace health strategies. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A magnified young galaxy from about 500 million years after the Big Bang.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Wei; Postman, Marc; Zitrin, Adi; Moustakas, John; Shu, Xinwen; Jouvel, Stephanie; Høst, Ole; Molino, Alberto; Bradley, Larry; Coe, Dan; Moustakas, Leonidas A; Carrasco, Mauricio; Ford, Holland; Benítez, Narciso; Lauer, Tod R; Seitz, Stella; Bouwens, Rychard; Koekemoer, Anton; Medezinski, Elinor; Bartelmann, Matthias; Broadhurst, Tom; Donahue, Megan; Grillo, Claudio; Infante, Leopoldo; Jha, Saurabh W; Kelson, Daniel D; Lahav, Ofer; Lemze, Doron; Melchior, Peter; Meneghetti, Massimo; Merten, Julian; Nonino, Mario; Ogaz, Sara; Rosati, Piero; Umetsu, Keiichi; van der Wel, Arjen

2012-09-20

Re-ionization of the intergalactic medium occurred in the early Universe at redshift z ≈ 6-11, following the formation of the first generation of stars. Those young galaxies (where the bulk of stars formed) at a cosmic age of less than about 500 million years (z ≲ 10) remain largely unexplored because they are at or beyond the sensitivity limits of existing large telescopes. Understanding the properties of these galaxies is critical to identifying the source of the radiation that re-ionized the intergalactic medium. Gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters allows the detection of high-redshift galaxies fainter than what otherwise could be found in the deepest images of the sky. Here we report multiband observations of the cluster MACS J1149+2223 that have revealed (with high probability) a gravitationally magnified galaxy from the early Universe, at a redshift of z = 9.6 ± 0.2 (that is, a cosmic age of 490 ± 15 million years, or 3.6 per cent of the age of the Universe). We estimate that it formed less than 200 million years after the Big Bang (at the 95 per cent confidence level), implying a formation redshift of ≲14. Given the small sky area that our observations cover, faint galaxies seem to be abundant at such a young cosmic age, suggesting that they may be the dominant source for the early re-ionization of the intergalactic medium.

Governance, resource curse and donor

OpenAIRE

Wiig, Arne

2008-01-01

Plan Part 1. Governance What is good governance? Why is it important? How can we measure good governance? Part 2. The resource curse and the importance of governance in resource rich countries Focus on political economy (PE) models of the resource curse Policy implications Some donor initiatives Transparency and the EITI Petroleum related aid - Window dressing initiatives or research based? Conclusion Governance, resource curse and donor

Cities, Europeanization and Multi-level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kern, K.; Bulkeley, H.

2009-01-01

This article focuses on a variant of multi-level governance and Europeanization, i.e. the transnational networking of local authorities. Focusing on local climate change policy, the article examines how transnational municipal networks (TMNs) govern in the context of multi-level European governance.

Result-Based Public Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boll, Karen

Within the public sector, many institutions are either steered by governance by targets or result-based governance. The former sets up quantitative internal production targets, while the latter advocates that production is planned according to outcomes which are defined as institution-produced ef......Within the public sector, many institutions are either steered by governance by targets or result-based governance. The former sets up quantitative internal production targets, while the latter advocates that production is planned according to outcomes which are defined as institution......-produced effects on individuals or businesses in society; effects which are often produced by ‘nudging’ the citizenry in a certain direction. With point of departure in these two governance-systems, the paper explores a case of controversial inspection of businesses’ negative VAT accounts and it describes...... explores how and why this state of affairs appears and problematizes the widespread use of result-based governance and nudging-techniques by public sector institutions....

One million served: Rhode Island`s recycling facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malloy, M.G.

1997-11-01

Rhode Island`s landfill and adjacent materials recovery facility (MRF) in Johnston, both owned by the quasi-public Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. (RIRRC, Johnston), serve the entire state. The $12-million recycling facility was built in 1989 next to the state`s sole landfill, the Central Landfill, which accepts only in-state trash. The MRF is operated for RIRRC by New England CRInc. (Hampton, N.H.), a unit of Waste Management, Inc. (WMI, Oak Brook, Ill.). It handles a wide variety of materials, from the usual newspaper, cardboard, and mixed containers to new streams such as wood waste, scrap metal, aseptic packaging (milk and juice boxes), and even textiles. State municipalities are in the process of adding many of these new recyclable streams into their curbside collection programs, all of which feed the facility.

[The Six Million Dollar Man: from fiction to reality].

Science.gov (United States)

Langeveld, C H Kees

2013-01-01

The term 'bionic' has been in existence since 1958, but only gained general recognition from the television series 'The Six Million Dollar Man'. Following a crash, the central figure in this series - test pilot Steve Austin - has an eye, an arm and both legs replaced by prostheses which make him stronger and faster than a normal person. This story is based on the science fiction book 'Cyborg' by Martin Caidin. In the world of comic books and films there are a number of examples of people who are given superhuman powers by having technological gadgets built in. Although the latter is not yet possible, the bionic human has now become reality.

Enhanced governance committees in South Africa’s national government departments: A conceptual exploration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tankiso Moloi

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that almost all other non-governmental institutions for instance banks and pension funds, in addition to the risk and audit committees, have credit committees in respect of banks and investment committees in respect of pension funds. These committees provide oversight on the core businesses of these institutions. In a similar manner, national government departments should not only have universal governance committees such as the audit and risk committees, instead the study envisions governance committees modelled around the idea parliamentary portfolio committees. The envisaged committees will remain governance committees with defined roles and responsibilities similar to the audit and risk committees that are already in existence in the national government departments.

The economics of greenhouse gas mitigation in developing Asia

OpenAIRE

Aleluia Reis, Lara; Emmerling, Johannes; Tavoni, Massimo; Raitzer, David

2016-01-01

Developing Asia has the world's fastest greenhouse gas emissions growth. This study uses an economy-energy-climate model to assess the effects of Paris Agreement pledges on Asia, in comparison with business as usual (BAU) and more ambitious scenarios. Results confirm that pledges must be strongly increased in ambition to achieve the Paris Agreement's goal of less than 2 degrees Celsius (2êC) warming. The policy costs of Asia's pledges are found to be less than 1% of gross domestic product (GD...

15 million preterm births annually: what has changed this year?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kinney Mary V

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Each year, more than 1 in 10 of the world’s babies are born preterm, resulting in 15 million babies born too soon. World Prematurity Day, November 17, is a global effort to raise awareness about prematurity. This past year, there has been increased awareness of the problem, through new data and evidence, global partnership and country champions. Actions to improve care would save hundreds of thousands of babies born too soon from death and disability. Accelerated prevention requires urgent research breakthroughs.

Climate change governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knieling, Joerg [HafenCity Univ. Hamburg (Germany). Urban Planning and Regional Development; Leal Filho, Walter (eds.) [HAW Hamburg (Germany). Research and Transfer Centre Applications of Life Science

2013-07-01

Climate change is a cause for concern both globally and locally. In order for it to be tackled holistically, its governance is an important topic needing scientific and practical consideration. Climate change governance is an emerging area, and one which is closely related to state and public administrative systems and the behaviour of private actors, including the business sector, as well as the civil society and non-governmental organisations. Questions of climate change governance deal both with mitigation and adaptation whilst at the same time trying to devise effective ways of managing the consequences of these measures across the different sectors. Many books have been produced on general matters related to climate change, such as climate modelling, temperature variations, sea level rise, but, to date, very few publications have addressed the political, economic and social elements of climate change and their links with governance. This book will address this gap. Furthermore, a particular feature of this book is that it not only presents different perspectives on climate change governance, but it also introduces theoretical approaches and brings these together with practical examples which show how main principles may be implemented in practice.

Ambidextrous IT Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Peter; Svejvig, Per; Tordrup Heeager, Lise

2017-01-01

Through a case study at a global technology company, we investigate how organizations can adapt their IT governance approach to the information system at hand. This is done by considering the degree of information system integration and whether the system is related to supporting operational...... efficiency (exploitation) or innovation (exploration). Based on the findings of the case study, we introduce the concept of ambidextrous IT governance to describe how IT governance can be adapted to fit the dual needs of both exploration and exploitation through the use of IS....

Institutionalizing Global Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasche, Andreas; Gilbert, Dirk Ulrich

2012-01-01

The United Nations Global Compact – which is a Global Public Policy Network advocating 10 universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anticorruption – has turned into the world's largest corporate responsibility initiative. Although the Global...... Compact is often characterized as a promising way to address global governance gaps, it remains largely unclear why this is the case. To address this problem, we discuss to what extent the initiative represents an institutional solution to exercise global governance. We suggest that new governance modes...

Dawn of e-government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Helle Zinner; Damsgaard, Jan

2007-01-01

Most countries have defined strategies for e-government. The objectives for implementing e-government are often defined but the means for fuelling the adoption and diffusion of e-government are typically less well clear in the policy statements. The present study assesses the impact of latest...... internally and externally. The e-Day initiative represents a drastic change in the former policy statements concerning IT adoption and diffusion in Danish government. The policy statements had previously been based on voluntary adoption focusing on visions and pedagogical intervention in governmental...

Exploring Knowledge Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Nicolai Juul; Mahoney, Joseph T

Knowledge governance is characterized as a distinctive research subject, the understanding of which cuts across diverse fields in management. In particular, it represents an intersection of knowledge management, strategic management, and theories of the firm. Knowledge governance considers how de...

Making Government Liquid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

du Gay, Paul; Millo, Yuval; Tuck, Penelope

2012-01-01

The financialised character of contemporary rationalities of public governance has been the subject of increased attention within a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. With this paper we propose a particular analytical framework, focused on the notion of 'governance devices', for ...

Local Government Internal Audit Compliance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greg Jones

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Local government councils (LGC rely on a number of funding sources including state and federal governments as well as their community constituents to enable them to provide a range of public services. Given the constraints on these funding sources councils need to have in place a range of strategies and policies capable of providing good governance and must appropriately discharge their financial accountabilities. To assist LGC with meeting their governance and accountability obligations they often seek guidance from their key stakeholders. For example, in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW, the Office of Local Government has developed a set of guidelines, the Internal Audit Guidelines. In 2010 the NSW Office of Local Government issued revised guidelines emphasising that an internal audit committee is an essential component of good governance. In addition, the guidelines explained that to improve the governance and accountability of the councils, these committees should be composed of a majority of independent members. To maintain committee independence the guidelines indicated that the Mayor should not be a member of the committee. However these are only guidelines, not legislated requirements and as such compliance with the guidelines, before they were revised, has been demonstrated to be quite low (Jones & Bowrey 2013. This study, based on a review of NSW Local Government Councils’ 2012/2013 reports, including Annual Reportsrelation to internal audit committees, to determine if the guidelines are effective in improving local government council governance.

Born Too Soon: Accelerating actions for prevention and care of 15 million newborns born too soon

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Preterm birth complication is the leading cause of neonatal death resulting in over one million deaths each year of the 15 million babies born preterm. To accelerate change, we provide an overview of the comprehensive strategy required, the tools available for context-specific health system implementation now, and the priorities for research and innovation. There is an urgent need for action on a dual track: (1) through strategic research to advance the prevention of preterm birth and (2) improved implementation and innovation for care of the premature neonate. We highlight evidence-based interventions along the continuum of care, noting gaps in coverage, quality, equity and implications for integration and scale up. Improved metrics are critical for both burden and tracking programmatic change. Linked to the United Nation's Every Women Every Child strategy, a target was set for 50% reduction in preterm deaths by 2025. Three analyses informed this target: historical change in high income countries, recent progress in best performing countries, and modelling of mortality reduction with high coverage of existing interventions. If universal coverage of selected interventions were to be achieved, then 84% or more than 921,000 preterm neonatal deaths could be prevented annually, with antenatal corticosteroids and Kangaroo Mother Care having the highest impact. Everyone has a role to play in reaching this target including government leaders, professionals, private sector, and of course families who are affected the most and whose voices have been critical for change in many of the countries with the most progress. Declaration This article is part of a supplement jointly funded by Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives programme through a grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and March of Dimes Foundation and published in collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the World Health Organization (WHO). The original article was

A new corporate governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion Bucur

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of corporate governance has become increasingly important as globalisation has begun to accelerate and the economic and financial turmoil have intensified. Post-crisis context has imposed the need to expand the prospects for analysis over governance and companies, as well as the need to identify new ways of administration and resource management. From this perspective, the author aims to highlight the conditions, factors and events that have generated profound changes within the business environment, while the analysis is focusing on contemporary changes in the systems of corporate governance and economic mutations, especially in terms of the companies. The establishment of new governance rules is demanding a theoretical approach based on new methodological requirements which are needed to reform theoretical foundations and to promote creative and effective shapes and governance systems.

26 CFR 301.7209-1 - Unauthorized use or sale of stamps.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

..., transfers, takes or gives in exchange, or pledges or gives in pledge, except as authorized in the Code or in regulations made pursuant thereto, any stamp, coupon, ticket, book, or other device prescribed by the...

Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, Gavin L; Royer, Dana L; Lunt, Daniel J

2017-04-04

The evolution of Earth's climate on geological timescales is largely driven by variations in the magnitude of total solar irradiance (TSI) and changes in the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere. Here we show that the slow ∼50 Wm -2 increase in TSI over the last ∼420 million years (an increase of ∼9 Wm -2 of radiative forcing) was almost completely negated by a long-term decline in atmospheric CO 2 . This was likely due to the silicate weathering-negative feedback and the expansion of land plants that together ensured Earth's long-term habitability. Humanity's fossil-fuel use, if unabated, risks taking us, by the middle of the twenty-first century, to values of CO 2 not seen since the early Eocene (50 million years ago). If CO 2 continues to rise further into the twenty-third century, then the associated large increase in radiative forcing, and how the Earth system would respond, would likely be without geological precedent in the last half a billion years.

DOD Open Government

Science.gov (United States)

increase transparency and openness. We encourage you to explore other information on our website to learn Defense Search DOD Open Government: Home Open Government @ DoD Transparency Congressional Inquiries IT Dashboard.gov Regulations.gov Challenge.gov Performance.gov ForeignAssistance.gov Transparency

Government Risk-Bearing

CERN Document Server

1993-01-01

The u.s. government bulks large in the nation's financial markets. The huge volume of government-issued and -sponsored debt affects the pricing and volume ofprivate debt and, consequently, resource allocation between competing alternatives. What is often not fully appreciated is the substantial influence the federal government wields overresource allocation through its provisionofcreditandrisk-bearing services to the private economy. Because peopleand firms generally seekto avoid risk, atsomeprice they are willing to pay another party to assume the risk they would otherwise face. Insurance companies are a class of private-sector firms one commonly thinks of as providing these services. As the federal government has expanded its presence in the U.S. economy during this century, it has increasingly developed programs aimed at bearing risks that the private sector either would not take on at any price, or would take on but atapricethoughtto besogreatthatmostpotentialbeneficiarieswouldnotpurchase the coverage. To...

Project governance: "Schools of thought"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michiel Christiaan Bekker

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The terminology, definition and context of project governance have become a focal subject for research and discussions in project management literature. This article reviews literature on the subject of project governance and categorise the arguments into three schools of thought namely the single-firm school, multi-firm school and large capital school. The single-firm school is concerned with governance principles related to internal organisational projects and practice these principles at a technical level. The multi-firm school address the governance principles concerned with two of more organisations participating on a contractual basis on the same project and focus their governance efforts at the technical and strategic level. The large capital school consider projects as temporary organisations, forming their own entity and establishing governance principles at an institutional level. From these schools of thought it can be concluded that the definition of project governance is dependent on the type of project and hierarchical positioning in the organisation. It is also evident that further research is required to incorporate other governance variables and mechanisms such as transaction theory, social networks and agency theory. The development of project governance frameworks should also consider the complexity of projects spanning across international companies, across country borders and incorporating different value systems, legal systems, corporate governance guidelines, religions and business practices.

Responsibility with accountability: A FAIR governance framework for performance accountability of local governments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anwar Shah

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the role of local governments in bringing about fair, accountable, incoorruptible and responsive (FAIR governance. Local governments around the world have done important innovations to earn the trust of their residents and their comparative performance is of great interest yet a comprehensive framework to provide such benchmarking is not available. This paper attempts to fill this void, by developing a general framework for performance accountability of local governments and by relating real world practices to aspects of this framework. The proposed rating framework requires several types of assessments: (a their compliance with due process and law; (b monitoring of fiscal health for sustainability; (c monitoring of service delivery ; and (d citizens’ satisfaction with local services. The approach yields key indicators useful for benchmarking performance that can be used in selfevaluation and improvement of performance. t From an analysis of practices in local government performance monitoring and evaluation, the paper concludes that ad hoc ad-on self standing monitoring and evaluation systems are more costly and less useful than built-in tools and mechanisms for government transparency, self–evaluation and citizen based accountability such as local government output budgeting and output based fiscal transfers to finance local services.

E-Governance Frameworks - Agenda Ahead

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nityesh BHATT

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Electronic governance may be defined as the delivery of the government services and information to the public using electronic means. Use of IT in the government facilitates an efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public and other agencies, and for performing the government administration activities.

Banner hacked-3.7 million at risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robbins RA

2016-08-01

Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. A large-scale computer cyberattack at Banner Health compromised the records of up to 3.7 million patients, health-insurance-plan members, food and drink customers, and doctors according to the an Arizona Republic article by Ken Alltucker (1. Banner Health discovered unusual activity on its computer servers in late June and uncovered evidence of two attacks, with hackers accessing both patient records and payment-card records of food and beverage customers. The Phoenix-based health-care provider said it will mail letters to those affected notifying them about details of the cyberattack and steps they can take to protect themselves. Banner employees, many of whom are patients and covered by Banner Health insurance plans, also are believed to be victims of the attack. The Banner Health attack is the largest among 32 known data breaches involving Arizona-based health and medical providers since 2010 according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services list. The breech ...

Governing through standards

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brøgger, Katja

This abstract adresses the ways in which new education standards have become integral to new modes of education governance. The paper explores the role of standards for accelerating the shift from national to transnational governance in higher education. Drawing on the case of higher education...

Governance, Trust and Taxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weihe, Guri; Joensen, E. Juanna Schröter

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

Multiproject wafers: not just for million-dollar mask sets

Science.gov (United States)

Morse, Richard D.

2003-06-01

With the advent of Reticle Enhancement Technologies (RET) such as Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) and Phase Shift Masks (PSM) required to manufacture semiconductors in the sub-wavelength era, the cost of photomask tooling has skyrocketed. On the leading edge of technology, mask set prices often exceed $1 million. This shifts an enormous burden back to designers and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software vendors to create perfect designs at a time when the number of transistors per chip is measured in the hundreds of millions, and gigachips are on the drawing boards. Moore's Law has driven technology to incredible feats. The prime beneficiaries of the technology - memory and microprocessor (MPU) manufacturers - can continue to fit the model because wafer volumes (and chip prices in the MPU case) render tooling costs relatively insignificant. However, Application-Specific IC (ASIC) manufacturers and most foundry clients average very small wafer per reticle ratios causing a dramatic and potentially insupportable rise in the cost of manufacturing. Multi-Project wafers (MPWs) are a way to share the cost of tooling and silicon by putting more than one chip on each reticle. Lacking any unexpected breakthroughs in simulation, verification, or mask technology to reduce the cost of prototyping, more efficient use of reticle space becomes a viable and increasingly attractive choice. It is worthwhile therefore, to discuss the economics of prototyping in the sub-wavelength era and the increasing advantages of the MPW, shared-silicon approach. However, putting together a collection of different-sized chips during tapeout can be challenging and time consuming. Design compatibility, reticle field optimization, and frame generation have traditionally been the biggest worries but, with the advent of dummy-fill for planarization and RET for resolution, another layer of complexity has been added. MPW automation software is quite advanced today, but the size of the task

GOVERNANCE FROM BELOW A Theory of Local Government With Two Empirical Tests

OpenAIRE

Jean-Paul Faguet

2005-01-01

I examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics that it unleashes. The national effects of decentralization are simply the sum of its local-level effects. Hence to understand decentralization we must first understand how local government works. This paper proposes a theory of local government as the confluence of two quasi-markets and one organizational dynamic. Good government results when these three elements - political, economic and civil - are in rough balance, and acto...

Lean government: Critical success factors for XBRL-based business-to-government reporting

OpenAIRE

Bharosa, N.; De Winne, C.P.I.; Van Wijk, R.; Janssen, M.F.W.H.A.

2012-01-01

Lean government is all about doing better with less through the use of ICT and the realisation of process improvements. The recently introduced eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has shown some initial success in realising lean government. Once data is stored in XBRL format, businesses can transmit it electronically to government for reporting purposes. For businesses, XBRL will increase both corporate accountability and transparency by reducing the time needed to collect, structur...

A Million Steps: Developing a Health Promotion Program at the Workplace to Enhance Physical Activity.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Dominguez, María Eugenia; Romero-Sánchez, José Manuel; Ares-Camerino, Antonio; Marchena-Aparicio, Jose Carlos; Flores-Muñoz, Manuel; Infantes-Guzmán, Inés; León-Asuero, José Manuel; Casals-Martín, Fernando

2017-11-01

The workplace is a key setting for the prevention of occupational risks and for promoting healthy activities such as physical activity. Developing a physically active lifestyle results in many health benefits, improving both well-being and quality of life. This article details the experience of two Spanish companies that implemented a program to promote physical exercise in the workplace, called "A Million Steps." This program aimed to increase the physical activity of participants, challenging them to reach at least a million steps in a month through group walks. Participant workers reached the set goal and highlighted the motivational and interpersonal functions of the program.

Harmonization of domestic legislation in the field of civil law with the European Union law: Securing of claims by means of fiduciary agreements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pajtić Bojan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses fiduciary agreements, which, as a form of contract, that is the means of securing obligation and legal claims, are regulated by provisions of specific laws and codifications in some of the European Union countries. Even the Montenegrin legislator enacted a special law governing these legal matters, however in the Serbian law fiduciary agreements fall into the category of innominate contracts. Fiducia originates in the Roman Law and constitutes the first common form of the pledge law. The Latin term fiducia means 'trust', since these legal matters were, first of all, based on the trust between contractual parties. This paper addresses the institution of 'trust' as it is the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of the fiduciary agreement. Etymologically, 'trust' has the same meaning as the term fiducia - trust. Due to their advantages, fiduciary agreements are not even uncommon in the domestic legal practice, while there are certain, as we have already announced, theoretical, but also practical concerns arguing admissibility of this legal matter. These arguments mainly come down to the thesis (mentioned above that entering into the fiduciary agreement results in violation of the ban on performance of contract lex commissoria in the pledge law. Nevertheless, I provided explanation that differences between contracts of pledge and fiduciary agreements clearly point to the conclusion that fiduciary agreements may not be treated as a pledge, hence they are admissible, that is, they are concluded on the principle of contractual freedom as an imperative norm of the Law on Obligations. Fiduciary agreements (in relation to the realistic means of security offer to the creditor a higher level of security, reduce the period of payment of his claims, also providing practical benefits for the debtor himself. The paper presents the reasons supporting the view that it would be advantageous for the Serbian legislator, in the process of harmonization of the

Poweo positive net income of 7.4 million euro in 2006. First time in the black since the company's creation; Poweo benefice net de 7,4 millions euro en 2006. 1. exercice beneficiaire depuis la creation de Poweo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-03-15

POWEO, leading independent operator of electricity and gas, presents in this document the principal elements of its consolidated results and its highlights for 2006: - Sales turnover reaches 244.4 M euro, multiplied by 2.2 compared to 2005; - Operational result amounts to 9.3 M euro, against a loss of 8.4 M euro in 2005; - Consolidated net income group share reaches 7.4 M euro, against a loss of 4.9 M euro in 2005. The 2006 consolidated revenue amounted to 244.4 million euro against 243.7 million euro announced on January 31, taking into account a revaluation of 0.7 million euro of the Energy Management's performance. The number of transferred customer sites amounted to 80,300 as at December 31, 2006, in progression of 23% compared to the end of 2005. Gross margin reached 33.6 euro million, in strong progression compared to 2005, reflecting the effectiveness of the Energy Management activity which has allowed to very appreciably reduce the cost price for POWEO of the energy delivered to its customers, within the framework of its global sourcing strategy. Operating costs increased in line with the development plan, under the effect in particular of the strengthening of operational teams, the Group head-count having reached 90 people as at December 31, 2006. EBITDA reached 8.1 million euro in 2006, against a negative amount of 5.3 million euro in 2005, allowing POWEO to meet its objective of a positive EBITDA as announced in September 2006. The EBIT amounted to 9.3 million euro, taking into account a profit of dilution of 7.6 million euro related to the issuance premium recognized on POWEO Production by Verbund, the Austrian national electricity operator and reference shareholder of POWEO, within the framework of the partnership announced in January 2006. With a consolidated net income group share of 7.4 million euro, 2006 thus constitutes the first fiscal year in the black since the Company's creation in 2002. The consolidated net equity amounted to 103

Institutional analysis of health system governance.

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-11-01

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

Comparative Study of Government and Non Government College Teachers in Relation to Job Satisfaction and Job Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Kaur, Sarbjit; Kumar, Dinesh

2008-01-01

They studied on the government non government college teachers in relation to job satisfaction and job stress. They collected the sample from 200 college teacher from government and non government from bathinda district (Punjab) to discover the difference between government and non government male and female college teachers in relation to job…

Corporate Governance and Shareholder Litigation

OpenAIRE

Kalchev, Georgi

2009-01-01

The probability for shareholder litigation is studied and how corporate governance characteristics and other factors explain it. Shareholder litigation results from failure of corporate governance. Thus a better quality of corporate governance is hypothesized to decrease the litigation probability. Corporate governance index is constructed based on principal components. It is found to be a significant predictor of shareholder litigation.

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gavrea Corina

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Corporate governance is a key element of today’s economic reality being more and more present in many countries around the world. This paper has two main objectives. The first one is to offer more insight into the concept of corporate governance by a thorough literature review and by presenting and analyzing a framework of corporate governance. The second objective of this paper is to investigate the corporate governance situation in three developing economies (Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development published a series of reports on corporate governance. The present study uses data from these reports in order to illustrate how these developing economies are dealing with corporate governance. Based on ROSC Reports a corporate governance score was calculated. As this score shows, there is room for improvement for all three developing economies. This study is important because it shows the differences in corporate governance among developing economies and the need to study these nations at the individual country level. Corporate governance has many benefits for developing economies. It helps developing economies to register sustainable growth rates, to increases investors’ confidence in the national economy, and to increase the ability of capital markets to mobilize savings.

Putting E-government to work in healthcare environment: a multiregional project funded by the Italian Innovation & Technology Ministry.

Science.gov (United States)

Ballardini, Luigi; Germagnoli, Fabio; Pagani, Marco; Picchi, Marco; Stoppini, Andrea; Cristiani, Paolo

2004-01-01

In 2002, the Italian Ministry of Innovation promoted a national bid for e-government projects. Specifically it allocated a budget of 120 M euro. One of the four project approved in healthcare sector was the "Information, Care ("Assistenza" in Italian) and healthcare Education by the Web" (IAEW), with a global budget of 2580 k euro, partially financed by Ministry with a quota of 830 k euro. The project involves 12 medical structures (both national excellences centers and local regional hospitals) located in two different Region of North Italy, dealing with two different healthcare regional systems (Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna), with potentially 3 millions of users.

The democratizing impact of governance networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

2018-01-01

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

A comparative analysis between France and Japan on local governments' involvement in nuclear safety governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugawara, Shin-etsu; Shiroyama, Hideaki

2011-01-01

This paper shows a comparative analysis between France and Japan on the way of the local governments' involvement in nuclear safety governance through some interviews. In France, a law came into force that requires related local governments to establish 'Commision Locale d'Information' (CLI), which means the local governments officially involve in nuclear regulatory activity. Meanwhile, in Japan, related local governments substantially involve in the operation of nuclear facilities through the 'safety agreements' in spite of the lack of legal authority. As a result of comparative analysis, we can point out some institutional input from French cases as follows: to clarify the local governments' roles in the nuclear regulation system, to establish the official channels of communication among nuclear utilities, national regulatory authorities and local governments, and to stipulate explicitly the transparency as a purpose of safety regulation. (author)

Digital governance and institutional change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schlæger, Jesper

2010-01-01

Coal allocation in China is a seminal case of e-government in the political economy. The empirical phenomenon of market supporting e-government has not been systematically analysed. By developing and applying a digital governance model this article examines institutional change in a case of coal...... allocation reform in China. The case shows how the central state used e-government to get rid of planning overload. Coal allocation meetings were abolished in favour of an ecology of online market solutions. The findings suggest that further research on Chinese e-government would benefit from attention...

The Marketplace and Electronic Government Information.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, James P.

1992-01-01

Discusses the economic impact of government-produced electronic information. Examples of government prices for electronic information products are given; the debate over the privatization of government information dissemination is addressed, including examples from various government agencies; government bulletin board services are described; and…

'Pop-Up' Governance: developing internal governance frameworks for consortia: the example of UK10K.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaye, Jane; Muddyman, Dawn; Smee, Carol; Kennedy, Karen; Bell, Jessica

2015-01-01

Innovations in information technologies have facilitated the development of new styles of research networks and forms of governance. This is evident in genomics where increasingly, research is carried out by large, interdisciplinary consortia focussing on a specific research endeavour. The UK10K project is an example of a human genomics consortium funded to provide insights into the genomics of rare conditions, and establish a community resource from generated sequence data. To achieve its objectives according to the agreed timetable, the UK10K project established an internal governance system to expedite the research and to deal with the complex issues that arose. The project's governance structure exemplifies a new form of network governance called 'pop-up' governance. 'Pop-up' because: it was put together quickly, existed for a specific period, was designed for a specific purpose, and was dismantled easily on project completion. In this paper, we use UK10K to describe how 'pop-up' governance works on the ground and how relational, hierarchical and contractual governance mechanisms are used in this new form of network governance.

Privacy and Open Government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Scassa

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The public-oriented goals of the open government movement promise increased transparency and accountability of governments, enhanced citizen engagement and participation, improved service delivery, economic development and the stimulation of innovation. In part, these goals are to be achieved by making more and more government information public in reusable formats and under open licences. This paper identifies three broad privacy challenges raised by open government. The first is how to balance privacy with transparency and accountability in the context of “public” personal information. The second challenge flows from the disruption of traditional approaches to privacy based on a collapse of the distinctions between public and private sector actors. The third challenge is that of the potential for open government data—even if anonymized—to contribute to the big data environment in which citizens and their activities are increasingly monitored and profiled.

Carbon Neutral by 2021: The Past and Present of Costa Rica’s Unusual Political Tradition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia A. Flagg

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Costa Rica has pledged to become the first nation to become carbon neutral. This event raises the important question of how to understand this contemporary form of climate politics, given that Costa Rica has made an almost negligible contribution to the problem of global climate change. To understand this pledge, a case study spanning about 200 years situates the pledge within the country’s unique historical profile. An analysis of interview data, archival research, and secondary data reveals that the pledge is the latest instance in Costa Rica’s unusual political tradition. This political tradition dates back to the area’s experience as a Spanish colony and as a newly independent nation. Several events, including the abolition of the army, the work on green development, and being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize were all foundational in forming Costa Rica’s tradition as a place that leads by example and stands for peace and protection of nature. The carbon neutral pledge extends the political tradition that has been established through these earlier events. This case highlights the importance of understanding contemporary environmental politics through an analysis of long-term, historical data.

THE SEMANTICS OF GOVERNANCE. (The common thread running through corporate, public, and global governance.)

OpenAIRE

Rodolfo Apreda

2003-01-01

This paper argues that the semantics of governance illustrates connections and provides a unifying view from which to understand much better its natural branches: corporate, public and global governance. In this regard, governance is presented from the point of view of a distinctive field of learning and practice. Further, three levels of analysis are carried out to drive the subject home. Firstly, it highlights the extent of corporate governance within an institutional framework, and also gi...

Governing the Nexus for Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marx Sina

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This report summarizes the challenges of and requirements for effective governance of the water, energy and food nexus. With global dynamics such as climate change, urbanization and changing consumption patterns, governing resources in a coherent manner becomes both more complex and more relevant for sustainable development. Governance challenges include nexus economics (costs and benefits of different approaches to resource management, institutional design (like questions of how decision-making should be best distributed and good governance (how to make sure that nexus governance adheres to certain agreed upon principles and values. In terms of economics, a balance between sector specific actions and nexus governance is required. For effective decision-making it is important that power among different institutions is both distributed and coordinated. Good nexus governance requires targets that can be monitored to make sure that basic principles are followed and to examine whether progress toward sustainable development is being made.

Bringing the Net Effect to 700 million Rural Indians

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A Kiosk Owner/Operator · Kiosk: Bouquet of Services (besides telephony) · Slide 26 · E-government services at a Village · The Dream · Rural Micro-Enterprises are the Wealth Creators · Operations Project Summary & Plans · Technologies & people behind n-Logue · Technologies in Use · corDECT Wireless in Local Loop.

Corporate Governance Scorecards : Assessing and Promoting the Implementation of Codes of Corporate Governance

OpenAIRE

International Finance Corporation

2014-01-01

This is a supplement to second IFC's toolkit: developing Corporate Governance codes of best practice. The focus of second toolkit is the development of codes of corporate governance. This supplement focuses narrowly on how to use scorecards to measure the observance and implementation of such codes. It does not cover the full panoply of governance assessment tools. This supplement provides...

Tension-filled Governance?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Celik, Tim Holst

on the statesituated tension-filled functional relationship between legitimation and accumulation, the study both historically and theoretically reworks this approach and reapplies it for the post-1970s/1990s governance period. It asks whether and to what extent governance has served as a distinctive post- 1970s/1990s...

Using IT Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Brobst, Jan; Council, Chip

2005-01-01

The discussion in this article is intended to provide an examination of why top management, IT management, and internal auditors should be interested in IT governance. Some aspects of IT management will be described including implementation, auditing, availability, security, and alignment. One governance framework, COBIT, will be utilized as a…

Laying the Foundation for a Solar America: The Million Solar Roofs Initiative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strahs, G.; Tombari, C.

2006-10-01

As the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technology Program embarks on the next phase of its technology acceptance efforts under the Solar America Initiative, there is merit to examining the program's previous market transformation effort, the Million Solar Roofs Initiative. Its goal was to transform markets for distributed solar technologies by facilitating the installation of solar systems.

Regulation, Governance and Adaptation. Governance transformations in the Dutch and French liberalizing electricity industries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Niesten, E.M.M.I.

2009-06-11

For more than a decade, the European governments have focused their energy policies on creating one European competitive electricity market. Several regulations are introduced into the European electricity industries for this purpose: the energy firms have to unbundle the electricity networks from electricity generation and retail, and the consumers should be able to choose their electricity retailer. This thesis analyses which new governance structures emerged in the Dutch and French electricity industries as a result of these regulations for four types of electricity transactions: the network connection, network access, balancing and switching transactions. The parties in these electricity industries did not adopt a market, but hybrid forms of governance that remained extensively regulated. The efficiency of these new governance structures cannot be explained with the attributes of the transactions, as is proposed by transaction cost economics. This thesis therefore introduces the concept of adaptation into transaction cost economics. Adaptation is the adjustment by economic actors from one governance structure to another, and is characterized by three attributes: the identity of the future contracting party, the laterality of the adaption, and the type of response in the adaptation process. These attributes explain the governance transformations and the new governance structures in the two industries. Regulation continues to play a pervasive role in the liberalized electricity industries. It influences the attributes of the transactions, the new governance structures and the adaptation process.

Regulation, Governance and Adaptation. Governance transformations in the Dutch and French liberalizing electricity industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niesten, E.M.M.I.

2009-01-01

For more than a decade, the European governments have focused their energy policies on creating one European competitive electricity market. Several regulations are introduced into the European electricity industries for this purpose: the energy firms have to unbundle the electricity networks from electricity generation and retail, and the consumers should be able to choose their electricity retailer. This thesis analyses which new governance structures emerged in the Dutch and French electricity industries as a result of these regulations for four types of electricity transactions: the network connection, network access, balancing and switching transactions. The parties in these electricity industries did not adopt a market, but hybrid forms of governance that remained extensively regulated. The efficiency of these new governance structures cannot be explained with the attributes of the transactions, as is proposed by transaction cost economics. This thesis therefore introduces the concept of adaptation into transaction cost economics. Adaptation is the adjustment by economic actors from one governance structure to another, and is characterized by three attributes: the identity of the future contracting party, the laterality of the adaption, and the type of response in the adaptation process. These attributes explain the governance transformations and the new governance structures in the two industries. Regulation continues to play a pervasive role in the liberalized electricity industries. It influences the attributes of the transactions, the new governance structures and the adaptation process.

Governance and Media Attention: A Research Agenda About How Media Affect (Network) Governance Processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klijn, Erik Hans; Korthagen, Iris

2017-01-01

This article looks at the influence of media attention on governance processes and explores some new thoughts to incorporate in our theory building on governance. It systematically discusses recent theories about mediatization and connects them to what we know about governance in the field of Public

Governance of Governance in Higher Education: Practices and Lessons Drawn from the Portuguese Case

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-01-01

The implementation of the governance reform of Portuguese higher education has been developed under the influence of "new public management" resulting in the loss of collegial governance. Additionally, the need for meta-governance of the higher education system and institutions to monitor institutional performance against policy…

An analysis of the declining support for the ANC during the 2011 South African local government elections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C Twala

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Local government elections are notorious for low voter turnout, but the May 2011 elections in South Africa showed a record 58 percent of the 24 million registered voters. In South Africa, local government matters and not just because it provides a pointer to what might happen in the provincial and national elections due in 2014, but helps in determining the readiness of the African Nation Congress in providing basic services to the different communities. Interestingly, these elections were preceded by service delivery protests against the ANC. The article is an analysis of the decreased support for the ANC during the 2011 local government elections. The multifaceted reasons behind the boiling cauldron of this decline in support for the ANC are scrutinised. Underpinning this decline in support often lie deep and complex factors which can be uncovered through a careful analysis of the ANC’s campaigning strategies ahead of these elections; the media which has been accused of rampant sensationalism; service delivery protests and mudslinging from other political parties. However, it is not the author’s intention in this article to deal with how other parties fared during these elections, but to highlight their impact on the declined support received by the ANC in the elections. The discussion is presented in four parts: the first presents an exploratory discussion on the theory of local government in the sphere of governance. The second part discusses some key strategies and tactics used by the ANC in attempts to galvanise support, as well as the challenges encountered. The third deals with the opposition parties’ machinery in preventing the ANC from getting a majority vote during the election. Lastly, the article concludes by highlighting the lessons learnt by the ANC during these elections within the framework of electoral politics in South Africa. Keywords: local election 2011, African National Congress (ANC, local government.  Disciplines

Legitimacy and the Cost of Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berggren, Niclas; Bjørnskov, Christian; Lipka, David

2015-01-01

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

Corporate Governance in Crisis? The Politics of EU Corporate Governance Regulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Horn, Laura

2012-01-01

on the transformation of company law and corporate governance in the last decade. Here, the article illustrates how company law has become increasingly focused on the rights of shareholders, while worker rights have been relegated to the area of social policies and labour law. The study also traces the shift from...... a legislative programme centred on company law harmonisation towards a regulatory approach based on minimum requirements and mutual recognition, increasingly geared at adjusting the governance of corporations to the demands of liberalised capital markets. The second section then reflects on the current...... developments in corporate governance regulation in the context of financial and economic crisis....

Performance Government: Activating and Regulating the Self-Governing Capacities of Teachers and School Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Peter C.

2015-01-01

This article analyses "performance government" as an emergent form of rule in advanced liberal democracies. It discloses how teachers and school leaders in Australia are being governed by the practices of performance government which centre on the recently established Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and…

Measuring interoperability maturity in government networks.

OpenAIRE

Huijsman, K.L.L.G.; Plomp, M.G.A.; Batenburg, R.S.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to create a model that describes the development of interorganisational collaboration in government networks that apply eGovernment. Contrary to several models that describe eGovernment from a government-to-citizen perspective, and primarily emphasise on the front office of eGovernment services, this paper focuses on the collaboration that takes place in the back office to enable successful eGovernment services. A maturity model was developed to describe and asses...

The onset of star formation 250 million years after the Big Bang

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, Takuya; Laporte, Nicolas; Mawatari, Ken; Ellis, Richard S.; Inoue, Akio K.; Zackrisson, Erik; Roberts-Borsani, Guido; Zheng, Wei; Tamura, Yoichi; Bauer, Franz E.; Fletcher, Thomas; Harikane, Yuichi; Hatsukade, Bunyo; Hayatsu, Natsuki H.; Matsuda, Yuichi; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Okamoto, Takashi; Ouchi, Masami; Pelló, Roser; Rydberg, Claes-Erik; Shimizu, Ikkoh; Taniguchi, Yoshiaki; Umehata, Hideki; Yoshida, Naoki

2018-05-01

A fundamental quest of modern astronomy is to locate the earliest galaxies and study how they influenced the intergalactic medium a few hundred million years after the Big Bang1-3. The abundance of star-forming galaxies is known to decline4,5 from redshifts of about 6 to 10, but a key question is the extent of star formation at even earlier times, corresponding to the period when the first galaxies might have emerged. Here we report spectroscopic observations of MACS1149-JD16, a gravitationally lensed galaxy observed when the Universe was less than four per cent of its present age. We detect an emission line of doubly ionized oxygen at a redshift of 9.1096 ± 0.0006, with an uncertainty of one standard deviation. This precisely determined redshift indicates that the red rest-frame optical colour arises from a dominant stellar component that formed about 250 million years after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of about 15. Our results indicate that it may be possible to detect such early episodes of star formation in similar galaxies with future telescopes.

Theoretical interpretation of e-government implementation challenges in South Africa: A case study of a selected provincial government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Twum-Darko

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses factors influencing e-Government initiatives by African Governments to improve services to their citizens, businesses and their constituent. It further discusses, as a socially constructed phenomenon, the degree of readiness of governments to implement e-Government initiatives to improve services. The discussion uses Actor Network Theory (ANT and in particular the concepts of moments of translation and irreversibility as a lens through which to understand and interpret the social phenomenon. Although a number of e-Government researchers have argued that strong leadership and clear vision is required to implement e-Government initiatives, the view is that Governments have continuously failed to achieve the intended results. E-Government potentials and benefits which are well documented in Information Systems and e-Government research literature have not been realised by governments due to limited capabilities in the administration of the public service. The study applied a deductive approach where semi-structured interviews were used for data collection in a selected Provincial Government in South Africa. The outcome is a general framework to determine the readiness of South Africa government and generally, African governments for e-Government initiatives to achieve the intended results.

Decentralization and Governance in Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holzhacker, Ronald; Wittek, Rafael; Woltjer, Johan

2016-01-01

I. Theoretical Reflections on Decentralization and Governance for Sustainable Society 1. Decentralization and Governance for Sustainable Society in Indonesia Ronald Holzhacker, Rafael Wittek and Johan Woltjer 2. Good Governance Contested: Exploring Human Rights and Sustainability as Normative Goals

Mobilizing Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Cancan; Medaglia, Rony; Jensen, Tina Blegind

2016-01-01

The nature of inter-organizational collaboration between government and other stakeholders is rapidly changing with the introduction of open social media (OSM) platforms. Characterized by a high degree of informality as well as a blurred personal/professional nature, OSM can potentially introduce...... changes and tensions in the well-established routines of the public sector. This paper aims at shedding light on such changes, presenting findings from a study on the use of an OSM platform, WeChat, in an interorganizational collaboration project between government, university, and industry stakeholders...

Corporate Governance Quality in Selected Transition Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danila Djokic

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Important questions that concern the notion of good corporate governance focus on what good corporate governance is, who benefits from good corporate governance, and how corporate governance quality can be measured. The aim of our study was to broaden our understanding of the role of standards and codes of good corporate governance in improving governance practices.We found that not only formal regulations, standards, and governance codes, but also corporate governance indices-which make the assessment of companies’ governance practices possible-are important in measuring and improving governance quality. The results of the research based on the SEECGAN Index methodology indicated that mandatory requirements and voluntary recommendations of high governance standards had a positive impact on the corporate governance practice in Slovenia.

Global health justice and governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruger, Jennifer Prah

2012-01-01

While there is a growing body of work on moral issues and global governance in the fields of global justice and international relations, little work has connected principles of global health justice with those of global health governance for a theory of global health. Such a theory would enable analysis and evaluation of the current global health system and would ethically and empirically ground proposals for reforming it to more closely align with moral values. Global health governance has been framed as an issue of national security, human security, human rights, and global public goods. The global health governance literature is essentially untethered to a theorized framework to illuminate or evaluate governance. This article ties global health justice and ethics to principles for governing the global health realm, developing a theoretical framework for global and domestic institutions and actors.

Local Government System in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir V. Redko

2016-12-01

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

MillionTreesNYC, green infrastructure and urban ecology symposium March 5-6, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Erika S. Svendsen; Jacqueline W.T. Lu

2010-01-01

On March 5-6, 2010, over two hundred researchers and practitioners came together at The New School to showcase scientific innovation in the field of urban forestry and greening. The MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecology Research Symposium engaged professionals from a broad range of disciplines including sociology, planning,...

Trialogue model for ecosystem governance.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Hattingh, J

2007-01-01

Full Text Available form and timescale to ensure good governance. In essence, good governance promotes democratic management of ecosystems and, by inference, prudentwater resourcemanagement. Consequently, it is likely that the type of governance that occurs most often... that, unless the imperative for civic science to support democratic governance is institutionalised through policy and strategy, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient human and financial investment in civic science as a means to promote...

Theoretical Framework for Corporate Governance

OpenAIRE

Georgescu Cristina Elena

2012-01-01

History has revealed that there is a never-ending evolution of theories or models of corporate governance. Companies are trying to instill the sense of governance into their corporate structure. This article is a review of literature on the range of theories in corporate governance. The fundamental theories in corporate governance began with the agency theory, expanded into stewardship theory and stakeholder theory and evolved to transaction cost theory. However, these theories address the ca...

Student Government and Student Participation in Junior College Governance--Models for the 1970's.

Science.gov (United States)

Deegan, William L.

It is the author's contention that student government revitalization will come only when student government begins to play a substantive role in policy making and implementation. The purpose of this paper is to consider, criticize, and propose a number of models for student participation in junior college governance. The first, a traditional…

Enacting Governance through Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandtner, Christof; Höllerer, Markus A.; Meyer, Renate E.

2017-01-01

of strategy documents in city administration addresses these challenges. Our central claim is that strategy documents can be understood as a distinct discursive device through which local governments enact aspired governance configurations. We illustrate our argument empirically using two prominent examples...... that, while showing similar features and characteristics, are anchored in different administrative traditions and institutional frameworks: the city administrations of Sydney, Australia, and Vienna, Austria. The contribution of the paper is to show how strategy documents enact governance configurations...... along four core dimensions: the setting in space and time, the definition of the public, the framing of the res publica and legitimacy issues. Moreover, our comparative analysis of Sydney and Vienna gives evidence of differences in governance configurations enacted through strategy documents....

The Danish government's climate plan. Towards a society without greenhouse gases; Regeringens klimaplan. Pae vej mod et samfund uden drivhusgasser

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

The Danish government's goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with 40% by the year 2020, compared to 1990 levels. A major step towards reaching that goal was accomplished in March 2012, with the political agreement on energy policy. The remaining reductions to achieve the goal will come primarily from the transportation, agriculture and construction sectors, and from waste management. In order to reach the government's goal, we must eliminate the equivalent of approximately four million tonnes of CO{sub 2} emissions by 2020. Reaching the goal in 2020 also depends on factors such as the economy as we progress toward 2020, as well as on EU climate policy. The government will continue to work proactively to ensure that ambitious climate and energy policies are pursued by the EU. The EU policies will contribute significantly in order to achieve the national objectives. The government will engage in a dialogue with parliament, business society and civil society to discuss what kind of national policy initiatives to be decided on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The government will introduce a climate change bill during the upcoming session of parliament. The purpose of this upcoming bill is to ensure progress and transparency in the climate policy development. The bill will include requirements for an annual climate policy progress report to show whether Denmark is on track to meet the goal of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. As part of its work on the climate policy plan, an inter-ministerial working group has developed a catalogue of about 80 possible climate policy initiatives to address climate change. These policy proposals, along with the proposed legislation, will be the government's main instruments in the coming years in order to continuously monitor and adjust its climate policy. (Author)

A New Decade of Vaccines

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Murphy, JFA

2011-09-01

The call for a new decade of vaccines was made in December 2010. The aims are to secure the further discovery, development and delivery of vaccination. The first challenge is the acquisition of funds for the research and development of 20 new vaccines1. The Gates Foundation has pledged $10 billion for this venture. The other major players are WHO, UNICEF and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The top priorities are TB, AIDS and Malaria. It is hoped that a Malaria vaccine will available in 3 years. The ambitious target of saving the lives of over 7 million children has been set. The programme must also address the need for vaccines in insulin dependent diabetes, cancers and degenerative diseases2.

Energy Efficiency Governance: Handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

This handbook has been written to assist EE practitioners, government officials and stakeholders to establish effective EE governance structures for their country. The handbook provides readers with relevant information in an accessible format that will help develop comprehensive and effective governance mechanisms. For each of the specific topics dealt with (see Figure 1 in the Handbook), the IEA offers guidelines for addressing issues, or directs readers to examples of how such issues have been dealt with by specific countries.

Codes of Good Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck Jørgensen, Torben; Sørensen, Ditte-Lene

2013-01-01

Good governance is a broad concept used by many international organizations to spell out how states or countries should be governed. Definitions vary, but there is a clear core of common public values, such as transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and the rule of law. It is quite likely......, transparency, neutrality, impartiality, effectiveness, accountability, and legality. The normative context of public administration, as expressed in codes, seems to ignore the New Public Management and Reinventing Government reform movements....

Virtual Team Governance: Addressing the Governance Mechanisms and Virtual Team Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Yihong; Bai, Yu; Liu, Ziheng

As technology has improved and collaborative software has been developed, virtual teams with geographically dispersed members spread across diverse physical locations have become increasingly prominent. Virtual team is supported by advancing communication technologies, which makes virtual teams able to largely transcend time and space. Virtual teams have changed the corporate landscape, which are more complex and dynamic than traditional teams since the members of virtual teams are spread on diverse geographical locations and their roles in the virtual team are different. Therefore, how to realize good governance of virtual team and arrive at good virtual team performance is becoming critical and challenging. Good virtual team governance is essential for a high-performance virtual team. This paper explores the performance and the governance mechanism of virtual team. It establishes a model to explain the relationship between the performance and the governance mechanisms in virtual teams. This paper is focusing on managing virtual teams. It aims to find the strategies to help business organizations to improve the performance of their virtual teams and arrive at the objectives of good virtual team management.

Model Penguatan Kapasitas Pemerintah Desa dalam Menjalankan Fungsi Pemerintahan Berbasis Electronic Government (E-Government menuju Pembangunan Desa Berdaya Saing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sulismadi Sulismadi

2017-06-01

Full Text Available One aspect that needs to be studied more deeply about the village administration in the era of village autonomy is the ability of the human resources in the management of village government in accordance village governance objectives and the demands of, “Undang – undang no 06 Tahun 2014 about the village. The capacity of the village government deemed not qualified to run the authority possessed by law the village. Weak capacity of rural government impact on law implementation failure that led to the poor rural village development. This study examines these issues. This study used qualitative research methods. The unit of analysis of this research that the village government Landungsari Dau District of Malang, East Java. This study was conducted over three years (2016, 2017, 2018. The findings of the research during the last four months in the first year of the study is Landungsari village administration showed a good performance in governance at the village of village autonomy era (the era of the Village Law. The village government is able to carry out rural development planning, village administrative governance, and the financial management of the village properly. Nevertheless, the village government also faces serious problems is the lack of human resource capacity of the village administration, village very less quantity, and village officials do not understand the duties of each. To address these issues, the village government seeks to organize village governance based on information technology (e-government, but the effort has not worked well because the village government does not have a human resources professional in the field of information technology and the village government does not have enough budget to develop the e-government program. Therefore, the research team conducting FGD on the development of e-government program. FGD village government resulted in an agreement in cooperation with governmental science labs and e-government

Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Jale

2018-01-01

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

The European debate on governance networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

2014-01-01

This paper aims to take stock of the European debate on governance networks in order to assess whether or not it has succeeded to develop a new a viable paradigm based on clear concepts, sound theories and methods and an expansive research agenda. The political and institutional conditions...... for the emergence of the Europe governance debate are analyzed and the notions of ‘governance’ and ‘governance networks’ are critically examined and defined. A brief assessment of the empirical significance of governance networks at different levels of governing is followed by a presentation and comparison...... development, the European debate on governance networks provides a new and important paradigm for understanding the emerging forms of multilateral action and pluricentric governance....

Changes of Changes: Personal Life Strategy in the Context of Regional Social and Labour Policy: Purchase of Accommodation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadezhda Sergeevna Zemlyanukhina

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This is the first of three articles in cycle that is dedicated to the regional aspect of change of Russians life strategy in solving the important personal problems like provision of housing, acquisition of income in terms of the profession and merited pension maintenance in the context of the current and prospective changes. The first article concentrates on the solution of housing problem by young Russians and young families. The methods, which are accessible for the citizens of Saratov, were analyzed in terms of the hardest ways without privileges and government support: pledge, housing rent and deposit. The authors presented the digital data on comparison between the popular pledge of OJSC Sberbank and similar ones at the start conditions of housing rent and deposits. Theyve specified the possibility of the reducing time and the amount of payment of the purchased apartment from 20 years, where is the amount of overpayment is 1 850 498, to 4.5-7 years, altogether without overpayments. The basic risks when using discussed ways of the accommodation purchase were demonstrated and specific examples of risks in Saratov were given. There are no absolute priorities when choosing the way of the accommodation purchase, there are examples in the article of a sharp increase of the efficiency within the pledge, and the rent on condition that only one factor has changed. Besides, there are examples of mixed ways including social housing and service housing. Nowadays there is a psychological aspect of the underestimate of the cost-effectively housing rent. As a result we made a conclusion that in spite of the real impossibility to plan and predict the changes, the success of individual strategy of life in solving housing and other important problems depends on the perception and understanding of the changes, on the early use for practical purposes and on the existing life stereotypes.

Economic tools to promote transparency and comparability in the Paris Agreement

Science.gov (United States)

Aldy, Joseph; Pizer, William; Tavoni, Massimo; Reis, Lara Aleluia; Akimoto, Keigo; Blanford, Geoffrey; Carraro, Carlo; Clarke, Leon E.; Edmonds, James; Iyer, Gokul C.; McJeon, Haewon C.; Richels, Richard; Rose, Steven; Sano, Fuminori

2016-11-01

The Paris Agreement culminates a six-year transition towards an international climate policy architecture based on parties submitting national pledges every five years. An important policy task will be to assess and compare these contributions. We use four integrated assessment models to produce metrics of Paris Agreement pledges, and show differentiated effort across countries: wealthier countries pledge to undertake greater emission reductions with higher costs. The pledges fall in the lower end of the distributions of the social cost of carbon and the cost-minimizing path to limiting warming to 2 °C, suggesting insufficient global ambition in light of leaders’ climate goals. Countries’ marginal abatement costs vary by two orders of magnitude, illustrating that large efficiency gains are available through joint mitigation efforts and/or carbon price coordination. Marginal costs rise almost proportionally with income, but full policy costs reveal more complex regional patterns due to terms of trade effects.

Practice Governance 101, v. 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, David F

2013-03-01

Consensus governance is a principal weakness leading to group malfunction and failure. Inadequate group governance produces inadequate decisions, leading to inconsistent patient care, inadequate responses to marketplace challenges, and disregard for customers and strategic partners. The effectiveness of consensus management is limited by the pervasive incomplete knowledge and personal biases of partners. Additional structural weaknesses of group behavior include information cascade, the wisdom of the crowd, groupthink, pluralistic ignorance, analysis paralysis, peer pressure, and the herding instinct. Usual corporate governance is, by necessity, the governance model of choice. Full accountability of the decider(s) is the defining requirement of all successful governance models. Copyright © 2013 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Manajemen Perubahan, Tantangan Implementasi E-government

OpenAIRE

Prayitno, Edy

2008-01-01

Kegagalan implementasi e-government tidak lepas dari kesalahan manusia, para pelaku e-government, dalam menyikapi Perubahan sistem, dari sistem sebelumnya ke sistem e-government yang baru. Makalah ini mencoba menyampaikan hal-hal yang bisa dilakukan untuk mengantisipasi resistensi yang muncul akibat ketidaksiapan para pelaku e-government terhadap Perubahan sistem. Ini penting karena ketidaksiapan menerima Perubahan sistem seringkali menjadi penyebab ditolaknya implementasi e-government. Tidak...

The governance of hybrid organisations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spear, Roger; Cornforth, Chris

2010-01-01

The focus of this chapter is on the governance of third sector organizations (TSOs) and the challenges that are raised by hybridity. In particular it will focus on the question how does hybridity affect governance structures and processes and the challenges that governing bodies face?...

Human-centred Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bason, Christian

2017-01-01

Design approaches are now being applied all over the world as a powerful approach to innovating public policies and services. Christian Bason, author of Leading public design: Discovering human-centred governance, argues that by bringing design methods into play, public managers can lead change...... with citizens at the centre, and discover a new model for steering public organisations: human-centred governance....

Partnerships and Governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damgaard, Bodil

Three models of cooperation are outlined and their consequences for governance discussed, using case studies of local multisectoral collaboration on labour market related social policy - active social policy - in Denmark.......Three models of cooperation are outlined and their consequences for governance discussed, using case studies of local multisectoral collaboration on labour market related social policy - active social policy - in Denmark....

Managing e-government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rose, Jeremy; Persson, John Stouby; Heeager, Lise Tordrup

2015-01-01

Public sector managers take much of the responsibility for selecting, commissioning, implementing and realising benefits from information technology (IT) projects. However, e-Government initiatives often suffer from complexity, vision failure, lack of goal clarity and insufficient commitment....... These problems may stem from value traditions that are deeply ingrained in managers' cultural environments but not always in harmony with each other. A first step towards working with value complexity is to understand it; we synthesise a model of value positions for e-Government derived from major traditions...... in the public administration literature. Four value positions relevant to e-Government together with their IT assumptions are identified; they reflect the ideals of professionalism, efficiency, service and engagement. A qualitative investigation of Danish local authority managers displays both value congruence...

Australian greenhouse governance; the twilight zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, B. J.

1999-01-01

Australia is committed to limit greenhouse gas emissions in nine years' time to no more than 8% higher than an uncertain 1990 baseline. This will require a cut of 25 % points or some 100 millions tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from the Business-as-Usual expected growth by 2010. Meeting the target will directly reduce global warming in about 50 years time by 0.001 degrees Celsius, at an opportunity cost estimated by ABARE as about 1% of GDP unless an emissions trading scheme is established. The author indicates that, if one accepts the Kyoto commitment, emissions trading and other flexibility mechanisms should be set up to minimise but not eliminate its negative impacts, while other beneficial returns from greenhouse governance, such as increased energy efficiency and improved technologies, must be developed driven in part by public enthusiasms for 'greenhouse' but mostly by economic returns. Even so, Australia with a greenhouse limit and already world-leader in efficiency in many areas, is faced by international competitors without such limits or efficiencies, so investments in energy-intensive value-adding industries may move offshore even though global emissions will increase. Australia may thus revert to a 'quarry' economy unless it can minimise the impacts of Kyoto and offset emissions against substantial new carbon 'sinks', and be given credit by way of emissions trading and other flexibility mechanisms. Australia cannot make a sensible decision about ratification without a comprehensive National Interest Analysis

Government Services Information Infrastructure Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cavallini, J.S.; Aiken, R.J.

1995-04-01

The Government Services Information Infrastructure (GSII) is that portion of the NII used to link Government and its services, enables virtual agency concepts, protects privacy, and supports emergency preparedness needs. The GSII is comprised of the supporting telecommunications technologies, network and information services infrastructure and the applications that use these. The GSII is an enlightened attempt by the Clinton/Gore Administration to form a virtual government crossing agency boundaries to interoperate more closely with industry and with the public to greatly improve the delivery of government services. The GSII and other private sector efforts, will have a significant impact on the design, development, and deployment of the NII, even if only through the procurement of such services. The Federal Government must adopt new mechanisms and new paradigms for the management of the GSII, including improved acquisition and operation of GSII components in order to maximize benefits. Government requirements and applications will continue to evolv. The requirements from government services and users of form affinity groups that more accurately and effectively define these common requirements, that drive the adoption and use of industry standards, and that provide a significant technology marketplace.

Artificial brains. A million spiking-neuron integrated circuit with a scalable communication network and interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Merolla, Paul A; Arthur, John V; Alvarez-Icaza, Rodrigo; Cassidy, Andrew S; Sawada, Jun; Akopyan, Filipp; Jackson, Bryan L; Imam, Nabil; Guo, Chen; Nakamura, Yutaka; Brezzo, Bernard; Vo, Ivan; Esser, Steven K; Appuswamy, Rathinakumar; Taba, Brian; Amir, Arnon; Flickner, Myron D; Risk, William P; Manohar, Rajit; Modha, Dharmendra S

2014-08-08

Inspired by the brain's structure, we have developed an efficient, scalable, and flexible non-von Neumann architecture that leverages contemporary silicon technology. To demonstrate, we built a 5.4-billion-transistor chip with 4096 neurosynaptic cores interconnected via an intrachip network that integrates 1 million programmable spiking neurons and 256 million configurable synapses. Chips can be tiled in two dimensions via an interchip communication interface, seamlessly scaling the architecture to a cortexlike sheet of arbitrary size. The architecture is well suited to many applications that use complex neural networks in real time, for example, multiobject detection and classification. With 400-pixel-by-240-pixel video input at 30 frames per second, the chip consumes 63 milliwatts. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.