WorldWideScience

Sample records for growth coalition development

  1. Advocacy coalitions and wind power development: Insights from Quebec

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jegen, Maya; Audet, Gabriel

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses the issue of wind energy acceptance in the Canadian province of Quebec and, in particular, the impact of different models of wind power development on the degree of social acceptance. We show that the dominant advocacy coalition, which favors a hard path energy development in general, enforces a large-scale development of wind energy. Two other coalitions - a soft path coalition and a nationalist coalition - oppose this development, but not wind energy per se. We argue that difference in belief systems explains their opposition rather than planning issues or NIMBY concerns. We also contend that, despite its predominance over (wind) energy policy, the hard path coalition is willing to learn and make concessions towards the soft path coalition, but not towards the nationalist coalition. - Highlights: → We address social acceptance of wind energy. → We illustrate the interaction of advocacy coalitions. → Different advocacy coalitions support different models of wind energy development. → Models of wind energy development influence the degree of social acceptance. → Opposition is not aimed at wind energy per se, but at the hard path model.

  2. Feasible climate targets. The roles of economic growth, coalition development and expectations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanford, Geoffrey J.; Richels, Richard G.; Rutherford, Thomas F.

    2009-01-01

    The analysis presented here follows the design specified by the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) Transition Scenarios study on achieving climate stabilization goals with delayed participation by developing countries. We use the MERGE model to evaluate the core EMF scenarios for both the international and the US-specific studies. Our results indicate that a radiative forcing target equivalent to 450 ppmv CO 2 -e cannot be met even allowing for full participation and overshoot during the entire 21st century. With delayed participation of developing countries, a target of 550 ppmv CO 2 -e is only attainable with pessimistic assumptions about economic growth, and even then only at very high cost. A target of 650 ppmv CO 2 -e can be met with delayed participation for a more affordable cost. We highlight sensitivities to the core scenarios in two key dimensions: (1) the effect of the unfolding global financial crisis on the rate of economic growth and (2) the willingness of initially non-participating countries to agree at the beginning of the next commitment period (i.e. 2012) to join the coalition at a pre-specified date in the future. We find that while the recession does not fundamentally change the crucial role of developing country involvement, advance agreement on their part to future targets could substantially reduce costs for all countries. (author)

  3. Coalitional negotiation

    OpenAIRE

    Mauleon, Ana; Vannetelbosch, Vincent

    1999-01-01

    We develop a two-stage negotiation model to study the impact of costly inspections on both the coalition formation outcome and the per-member payoffs. In the first stage, the players are forming coalitions and inside each coalition formed the members share the coalition benefits. We adopt the largest consistent set (LCS) to predict which coalition structures are possibly stable. We also introduce a refinement,the largest cautious consistent set (LCCS). In the second stage, the inspection game...

  4. Developing and maintaining state-wide adolescent pregnancy prevention coalitions: a preliminary investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nezlek, J B; Galano, J

    1993-09-01

    This paper presents the results of a study of state-wide adolescent pregnancy prevention coalitions. Key informants in five states throughout the southern United States were given semi-structured interviews regarding the adolescent pregnancy prevention coalitions in their states. From these interviews and other documents, conclusions were drawn regarding the nature and importance of the environments within which these coalitions operate, the universe of activities in which coalitions engage, and the stages of development of these coalitions. Katz and Kahn's model of social organizations served as the basis for understanding coalitions in terms of these three considerations. Future research should consider the utility of organizational models that can explain more fully the organization--committee hybrid structure that tends to characterize these coalitions.

  5. Local Self-Government as an Architect of Coalitions for Local Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Gąsior-Niemiec

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper addresses the new role played by local self-government units in Poland. Main factors that determine the public authorities’ capacity to become architects of coalitions for local development are identified. Coalitions are defined as partnerships linking and mobilizing stakeholders anchored in three sectors: public, economic and non-governmental. The coalition-making role of the public organs is investigated on the basis of Local Action Groups (LAGs, which are pro-developmental cross-sector organizations established in rural areas of the Podkarpackie (Sub-Carpathian Voivodesh ip, Poland. Findings are presented that draw on quantitative and qualitative results of the research project that investigated mechanisms involved in the operation of the cross-s ector coalitions. The dominant role of the public authorities in those coalitions is demonstrated. The Community-led Local Development model is referred to as the future framework for LAGs.

  6. Organizational Member Involvement in Physical Activity Coalitions across the United States: Development and Testing of a Novel Survey Instrument for Assessing Coalition Functioning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bornstein, Daniel B.; Pate, Russell R.; Beets, Michael W.; Saunders, Ruth P.; Blair, Steven N.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: Coalitions are often composed of member organizations. Member involvement is thought to be associated with coalition success. No instrument currently exists for evaluating organizational member involvement in physical activity coalitions. This study aimed to develop a survey instrument for evaluating organizational member involvement…

  7. Growing but not transforming: Fragmented ruling coalitions and economic developments in Uganda

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjær, Anne Mette; Katusiimeh, Mesharch

    been stable enough to maintain macro-economic stability, attract aid and ensure the one-off gains from introducing peace. However, the fact that it has proved so challenging to hold the ruling coalition together has hindered the ruling elite in implementing initiatives to support transformation......In spite of decades of GDP growth, Uganda remains an agricultural economy still awaiting an economic transformation. Sustained state initiatives to promote such a transformation have been lacking. We find that the explanation for this is to be found in the nature of the ruling coalition, which has...... is to use state resources to hold the ruling coalition together. This, however, is not likely to result in an economic transformation and hence in job creation for the poor majority of Ugandans....

  8. Institutional Support : Advocates Coalition for Development and ...

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

    Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) is an independent policy research and advocacy organization based in Kampala, Uganda, with a reputation for producing good quality research to underpin its advocacy work. To date, the organization has relied on project-specific funds for its operation, ...

  9. Legislative coalitions with incomplete information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dragu, Tiberiu; Laver, Michael

    2017-03-14

    In most parliamentary democracies, proportional representation electoral rules mean that no single party controls a majority of seats in the legislature. This in turn means that the formation of majority legislative coalitions in such settings is of critical political importance. Conventional approaches to modeling the formation of such legislative coalitions typically make the "common knowledge" assumption that the preferences of all politicians are public information. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework to investigate which legislative coalitions form when politicians' policy preferences are private information, not known with certainty by the other politicians with whom they are negotiating over what policies to implement. The model we develop has distinctive implications. It suggests that legislative coalitions should typically be either of the center left or the center right. In other words our model, distinctively, predicts only center-left or center-right policy coalitions, not coalitions comprising the median party plus parties both to its left and to its right.

  10. Measuring coalition functioning: refining constructs through factor analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Louis D; Feinberg, Mark E; Greenberg, Mark T

    2012-08-01

    Internal and external coalition functioning is an important predictor of coalition success that has been linked to perceived coalition effectiveness, coalition goal achievement, coalition ability to support evidence-based programs, and coalition sustainability. Understanding which aspects of coalition functioning best predict coalition success requires the development of valid measures of empirically unique coalition functioning constructs. The goal of the present study is to examine and refine the psychometric properties of coalition functioning constructs in the following six domains: leadership, interpersonal relationships, task focus, participation benefits/costs, sustainability planning, and community support. The authors used factor analysis to identify problematic items in our original measure and then piloted new items and scales to create a more robust, psychometrically sound, multidimensional measure of coalition functioning. Scales displayed good construct validity through correlations with other measures. Discussion considers the strengths and weaknesses of the refined instrument.

  11. International Clean Energy Coalition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Erin Skootsky; Matt Gardner; Bevan Flansburgh

    2010-09-28

    In 2003, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and National Energy Technology Laboratories (NETL) collaboratively established the International Clean Energy Coalition (ICEC). The coalition consisting of energy policy-makers, technologists, and financial institutions was designed to assist developing countries in forming and supporting local approaches to greenhouse gas mitigation within the energy sector. ICEC's work focused on capacity building and clean energy deployment in countries that rely heavily on fossil-based electric generation. Under ICEC, the coalition formed a steering committee consisting of NARUC members and held a series of meetings to develop and manage the workplan and define successful outcomes for the projects. ICEC identified India as a target country for their work and completed a country assessment that helped ICEC build a framework for discussion with Indian energy decisionmakers including two follow-on in-country workshops. As of the conclusion of the project in 2010, ICEC had also conducted outreach activities conducted during United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Ninth Conference of Parties (COP 9) and COP 10. The broad goal of this project was to develop a coalition of decision-makers, technologists, and financial institutions to assist developing countries in implementing affordable, effective and resource appropriate technology and policy strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Project goals were met through international forums, a country assessment, and in-country workshops. This project focused on countries that rely heavily on fossil-based electric generation.

  12. Business Coalitions in the Us and Their Role in Advancing a Regional Agenda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdana NEAMTU

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available The analysis herein explores the topic of business coalitions and focuses on the role they may play in advancing a regional agenda. The structure of the paper is threefold: (1 in the introductory section I briefly explain the meaning of the concept and how it relates to other similar concepts such as public-private partnerships or growth coalitions; (2 the second part focuses on analyzing the characteristics that best define contemporary business coalitions and stresses the implications of these characteristics for the structuring or restructuring of traditional local and regional political entities; (3 the last section focuses on how planners and other public officials could use or partner with business coalitions in order to advance their own regional agenda. In the conclusion section I argue that though business coalitions are important for the development of a regional economy and regional identity, it would be a mistake to think that they alone can determine the success of a region. Regional government should continue to be pursued as it represents the only solution to problems such as social and environmental justice, tax sharing, education, and inner city redevelopment.

  13. Minority coalition governance in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Flemming Juul; Pedersen, Helene Helboe

    2014-01-01

    in this share of coalition agreement-based laws. The analyses are based on unique data on legislative as well as governmental coalition agreements entered by three Danish governments with varying parliamentary strength. This study brings the blooming literature on coalition agreements one step further......Coalition governance is a challenge for political parties because it involves cooperation and compromises between parties that have different political goals and are competitors in political elections. Coalition coordination is crucial for the intra-coalitional cooperation of the governing parties....... A key element in coalition coordination is coalition agreements, which to a varying degree constrain the behaviour of the coalition partners. This article explores the share of laws that were precisely defined in government agreements and/or legislative agreements, and sets out to explain variation...

  14. Lessons Learned and Challenges in Building a Filipino Health Coalition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguilar, David E.; Abesamis-Mendoza, Noilyn; Ursua, Rhodora; Divino, Lily Ann M.; Cadag, Kara; Gavin, Nicholas P.

    2010-01-01

    In recent years, community-based coalitions have become an effective channel to addressing various health problems within specific ethnic communities. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to describe the process involved in building the Kalusugan Coalition (KC), a Filipino American health coalition based in New York City, and (b) to highlight the lessons learned and the challenges from this collaborative venture. The challenges described also offer insights on how the coalition development process can be greatly affected by the partnership with an academic institution on a community-based research project. Because each cultural group has unique issues and concerns, the theoretical framework used by KC offers creative alternatives to address some of the challenges regarding coalition infrastructures, leadership development, unexpected change of coalition dynamics, and cultural nuances. PMID:19098260

  15. A 2040 Vision for the I-95 Coalition Region : Supporting Economic Growth in a Carbon-Constrained Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-12-01

    The I-95 Corridor Coalitions Vision project is a departure from the Coalitions historic role that focused primarily on shorter-term operational improvements in the corridor. In the past, most of the day-to-day issues confronting the Coalition m...

  16. Advocacy coalitions involved in California's menu labeling policy debate: Exploring coalition structure, policy beliefs, resources, and strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payán, Denise D; Lewis, LaVonna B; Cousineau, Michael R; Nichol, Michael B

    2017-03-01

    Advocacy coalitions often play an important role in the state health policymaking process, yet little is known about their structure, composition, and behavior. In 2008, California became the first state to enact a menu labeling law. Using the advocacy coalition framework, we examine different facets of the coalitions involved in California's menu labeling policy debate. We use a qualitative research approach to identify coalition members and explore their expressed beliefs and policy arguments, resources, and strategies by analyzing legislative documents (n = 87) and newspaper articles (n = 78) produced between 1999 and 2009. Between 2003 and 2008, six menu labeling bills were introduced in the state's legislature. We found the issue received increasing media attention during this period. We identified two advocacy coalitions involved in the debate-a public health (PH) coalition and an industry coalition. State organizations acted as coalition leaders and participated for a longer duration than elected officials. The structure and composition of each coalition varied. PH coalition leadership and membership notably increased compared to the industry coalition. The PH coalition, led by nonprofit PH and health organizations, promoted a clear and consistent message around informed decision making. The industry coalition, led by a state restaurant association, responded with cost and implementation arguments. Each coalition used various resources and strategies to advance desired outcomes. PH coalition leaders were particularly effective at using resources and employing advocacy strategies, which included engaging state legislators as coalition members, using public opinion polls and information, and leveraging media resources to garner support. Policy precedence and a local policy push emerged as important policymaking strategies. Areas for future research on the state health policymaking process are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. A Resolution Prover for Coalition Logic

    OpenAIRE

    Nalon, Cláudia; Zhang, Lan; Dixon, Clare; Hustadt, Ullrich

    2014-01-01

    We present a prototype tool for automated reasoning for Coalition Logic, a non-normal modal logic that can be used for reasoning about cooperative agency. The theorem prover CLProver is based on recent work on a resolution-based calculus for Coalition Logic that operates on coalition problems, a normal form for Coalition Logic. We provide an overview of coalition problems and of the resolution-based calculus for Coalition Logic. We then give details of the implementation of CLProver and prese...

  18. Advocacy Coalitions involved in California’s Menu Labeling Policy Debate: Exploring Coalition Structure, Policy Beliefs, Resources, and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payán, Denise D.; Lewis, LaVonna B.; Cousineau, Michael R.; Nichol, Michael B.

    2017-01-01

    Advocacy coalitions often play an important role in the state health policymaking process, yet little is known about their structure, composition, and behavior. In 2008, California became the first state to enact a menu labeling law. Using the advocacy coalition framework, we examine different facets of the coalitions involved in California’s menu labeling policy debate. We use a qualitative research approach to identify coalition members and explore their expressed beliefs and policy arguments, resources, and strategies by analyzing legislative documents (n=87) and newspaper articles (n=78) produced between 1999 and 2009. Between 2003 and 2008, six menu labeling bills were introduced in the state’s legislature. We found the issue received increasing media attention during this period. We identified two advocacy coalitions involved in the debate—a public health (PH) coalition and an industry coalition. State organizations acted as coalition leaders and participated for a longer duration than elected officials. The structure and composition of each coalition varied. PH coalition leadership and membership notably increased compared to the industry coalition. The PH coalition, led by nonprofit PH and health organizations, promoted a clear and consistent message around informed decision making. The industry coalition, led by a state restaurant association, responded with cost and implementation arguments. Each coalition used various resources and strategies to advance desired outcomes. PH coalition leaders were particularly effective at using resources and employing advocacy strategies, which included engaging state legislators as coalition members, using public opinion polls and information, and leveraging media resources to garner support. Policy precedence and a local policy push emerged as important policymaking strategies. Areas for future research on the state health policymaking process are discussed. PMID:28161674

  19. A Resolution Prover for Coalition Logic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cláudia Nalon

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available We present a prototype tool for automated reasoning for Coalition Logic, a non-normal modal logic that can be used for reasoning about cooperative agency. The theorem prover CLProver is based on recent work on a resolution-based calculus for Coalition Logic that operates on coalition problems, a normal form for Coalition Logic. We provide an overview of coalition problems and of the resolution-based calculus for Coalition Logic. We then give details of the implementation of CLProver and present the results for a comparison with an existing tableau-based solver.

  20. Complexity in Coalition Operations: The Campaign of the Sixth Coalition Against Napoleon

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Turner, Kenneth

    2003-01-01

    The Campaign of the Sixth Coalition, from the Summer of 1813 until the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814, offers some important and valid insights into the successful execution of coalition warfare...

  1. Developmental Stages and Work Capacities of Community Coalitions: How Extension Educators Address and Evaluate Changing Coalition Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols, Allison; Riffe, Jane; Peck, Terrill; Kaczor, Cheryl; Nix, Kelly; Faulkner-Van Deysen, Angela

    2014-01-01

    Extension educators provide resources to community coalitions. The study reported here adds to what is known about community coalitions and applies an assessment framework to a state-level coalition-based Extension program on healthy relationships and marriages. The study combines the Internal Coalition Outcome Hierarchy (ICOH) framework with four…

  2. Progress in Promoting Research Reactor Coalitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldman, Ira; Adelfang, Pablo; Alldred, Kevin; Mote, Nigel

    2008-01-01

    This presentation treats of the IAEA's role in Promoting Research Reactor (RR) coalitions, presents the strategic view, the types of coalitions, the 2007-2008 activities and Results, and the upcoming activities. The RR Coalitions Progress is presented first (Initial discussions, project design, approval of NTI grant request, informal consultations and development of 'national' proposals, Number of 'models' identified, exploratory missions/meetings, initial implementation of several coalitions, IAEA coordination, ideas/proposals/ventures, initial support. Some countries, institutes, or users want access to reactor capabilities without, or in advance of, building a domestic facility. Some countries, institutes, or users need access to alternative capabilities to permit the closure/consolidation of marginal facilities. Cooperative arrangements will result in increased utilization for each participant. The results from the reactor view are as follows: cover increases in order levels or scientific research; cover facility outages (planned or un-planned); delegate 'less profitable' products and services; access capacity for new products and services; reduce transport needs by geographical optimization; reduce investment needs by contracting for complementary capabilities; reduce costs of medical radio-isotope for R and D; share best practices in operations and safety. The results from the stakeholder View are: Better information on what reactors can offer/provide; greater range of services; more proactive product and service support; greater reliability in supplies of products and services. The types of coalitions are of different forms to meet needs, capabilities, objectives of members. In general they start small, evolve, change form, expand as confidence grows. The role of the Scientific consortium is to: distribute excess demand, test new concepts for implementation at high-flux reactors, direct requests for access to most appropriate RR, share best practices

  3. The Influence of Community Context on How Coalitions Achieve HIV-Preventive Structural Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Sarah J.; Miller, Robin Lin; Francisco, Vincent T.

    2014-01-01

    Community coalition action theory (CCAT) depicts the processes and factors that affect coalition formation, maintenance, institutionalization, actions, and outcomes. CCAT proposes that community context affects coalitions at every phase of development and operation. We analyzed data from 12 "Connect to Protect" coalitions using inductive…

  4. Sustainability in a state comprehensive cancer control coalition: lessons learned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desmond, Renee A; Chapman, Kathryn; Graf, Gavin; Stanfield, Bret; Waterbor, John W

    2014-03-01

    The Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition (ACCCC) has developed an integrated and coordinated approach to reducing cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and to improving the quality of life for cancer survivors, their families, and their caregivers. The ACCCC is currently in a maintenance phase and a formal plan for sustainability of the coalition was needed to keep the members engaged and productive. A training session in coalition sustainability conducted in 2013 identified the following elements as essential to success: (1) increased marketing of the coalition by simplifying its mission; (2) improved networking including flexibility in coalition meeting location and attendance; (3) increased membership satisfaction through transformational leadership; (4) revision of the working structure of committees and improved accountability; and (5) enhancement of partner satisfaction with coalition activities designed to recruit and retain new partners. A self-administered membership satisfaction survey was given to assess coalition mission, meeting logistics, organization, capacity building, and coalition goals. Results indicated that the subcategories of communication, mission, and meeting logistics were rated satisfied to very satisfied on a five-point scale. Although the ACCCC had clearly written goals, improvement could be made in leadership participation and new member orientation could be improved. Most members rated their parent organization as highly involved with the ACCCC and many offered suggestions on capacity building. Results of the sustainability training have clarified the ACCCC's plans to ensure coalition viability and improve strategies to inform stakeholders of the benefits of participation in the coalition.

  5. Strategies for sustainable regional development and conditions for vital coalitions in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horlings, L.G.

    2011-01-01

    The question that is addressed in this chapter is how processes can be stimulated in rural–urban areas which contribute to sustainable development? How can capacity to act be realized? Our hypothesis is: Specific informal networks in the form of vital coalitions between private and public actors can

  6. Religious coalition opposes gene patents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, J S

    1995-05-19

    The biotechnology industry is concerned about a coalition of mainstream religious leaders, working with Jeremy Rifkin of the Foundation of Economic Trends, who oppose the patenting of human and animal life forms, body parts, and genes. The coalition called a press conference on May 18 to ask the government to prohibit the current patenting practices for genetic engineering. The biotechnology industry argues that patents indicate that a company's research tool has significant value, and encourages capitalists to invest their dollars in the development of new treatments for diseases. They also argue that the 29 biotech drugs that are on the market have been developed as a result of patents on genes. Although most business leaders are united in opposing restrictions, many scientists are divided, citing both religious and scientific reasons.

  7. Hospital-Based Coalition to Improve Regional Surge Capacity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James M. Learning

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Surge capacity for optimization of access to hospital beds is a limiting factor in response to catastrophic events. Medical facilities, communication tools, manpower, and resource reserves exist to respond to these events. However, these factors may not be optimally functioning to generate an effective and efficient surge response. The objective was to improve the function of these factors.Methods: Regional healthcare facilities and supporting local emergency response agencies developed a coalition (the Healthcare Facilities Partnership of South Central Pennsylvania; HCFP¬SCPA to increase regional surge capacity and emergency preparedness for healthcare facilities. The coalition focused on 6 objectives: (1 increase awareness of capabilities and assets, (2 develop and pilot test advanced planning and exercising of plans in the region, (3 augment written medical mutual aid agreements, (4 develop and strengthen partnership relationships, (5 ensure National Incident Management System compliance, and (6 develop and test a plan for effective utilization of volunteer healthcare professionals.Results: In comparison to baseline measurements, the coalition improved existing areas covered under all 6 objectives documented during a 24-month evaluation period. Enhanced communications between the hospital coalition, and real-time exercises, were used to provide evidence of improved preparedness for putative mass casualty incidents.Conclusion: The HCFP-SCPA successfully increased preparedness and surge capacity through a partnership of regional healthcare facilities and emergency response agencies.

  8. Coalition Within a Coalition: The Baltics in the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina M. Busygina

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This article gives an overview of small power problem focusing on the behav­iour of small power states within coalitions and their proneness to free riding. To pursue an independent agenda and increase their significance within large associa­tions, the authors argue, small powers tend to create ‘coalitions within coalitions’, essentially acting as free riders and transferring costs and political responsibility for decision-making to larger players. Such an asymmetric strategy makes it possi­ble for small powers to advance their interests within alliances and save resources. The authors test this hypothesis on the behaviour of the Baltics in the European Union. It is demonstrated that Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have created a stable small coalition within the EU and actively form ad hoc alliances with the leading states to push union-level decisions, as it was the case with settling the migrant issue. In other areas, these states tend to benefit from the free rider behaviour.

  9. Extension Professionals and Community Coalitions: Professional Development Opportunities Related to Leadership and Policy, System, and Environment Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smathers, Carol A.; Lobb, Jennifer M.

    2015-01-01

    Community coalitions play an important role in community-wide strategies to promote health and wellbeing, and Extension professionals may provide leadership, technical assistance, and other support to coalitions. Extension professionals across a Midwestern state were invited to participate in an online survey about their coalition involvement and…

  10. Learning from Iraq and Afghanistan: Four Lessons for Building More Effective Coalitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    White Nathan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Despite many tactical and operational successes by brave military and civilian personnel, post-9/11 operations by U.S. led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan did not achieve their intended outcomes. Although many efforts are underway by discrete organizations within coalition countries to identify and learn their own lessons from these conflicts, comparatively less attention is paid to broader lessons for successful coalitions. Given that the U.S. and its allies will most certainly form coalitions in the future for a range of different contingency scenarios, these lessons are equally deserving of close examination. This article identifies four interrelated lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan that can be utilized to inform more effective coalition development and employment.

  11. Coalition Building for Health: A Community Garden Pilot Project with Apartment Dwelling Refugees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eggert, Lynne K; Blood-Siegfried, Jane; Champagne, Mary; Al-Jumaily, Maha; Biederman, Donna J

    2015-01-01

    Refugees often experience compromised health from both pre- and post-migration stressors. Coalition theory has helped guide the development of targeted programs to address the health care needs of vulnerable populations. Using the Community Coalition Action Theory as a framework, a coalition was formed to implement a community garden with apartment-dwelling refugees. Outcomes included successful coalition formation, a community garden, reported satisfaction from all gardeners with increased vegetable intake, access to culturally meaningful foods, and evidence of increased community engagement. The opportunity for community health nurses to convene a coalition to affect positive health for refugees is demonstrated.

  12. Coalitions: Organizational, Political, Command & Control Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-05-01

    coalitions, leur histoire récente, les caractéristiques et les défis des coalitions militaires et, enfin, les obstacles rencontrés par les...caractéristiques générales. Une brève histoire des coalitions militaires du 20ième siècle est présentée, suivie d’une évaluation de leur évolution

  13. On the nature of voters' coalition preferences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plescia, Carolina; Aichholzer, Julian

    2017-07-03

    An expanding literature indicates that in multiparty systems with coalition governments, citizens consider the post-electoral bargaining process among parties when casting their vote. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the nature of voters' coalition preferences. This paper uses data from the Austrian National Election Study to examine the determinants as well as the independence of preferences for coalitions as political object. We find that coalition preferences are strongly informed by spatial considerations; but additional non-ideological factors, such as party and leader preferences, also play a fundamental role. We also find that coalitions enjoy a certain degree of independence from other objects of vote choice and they do not always represent a simple average score on the feeling thermometer of the constituent parties. There are, however, substantial differences among voters, with party identifiers and those with extreme ideology being less likely to consider coalitions as separate entities from their component parties.

  14. On the nature of voters’ coalition preferences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plescia, Carolina; Aichholzer, Julian

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT An expanding literature indicates that in multiparty systems with coalition governments, citizens consider the post-electoral bargaining process among parties when casting their vote. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the nature of voters’ coalition preferences. This paper uses data from the Austrian National Election Study to examine the determinants as well as the independence of preferences for coalitions as political object. We find that coalition preferences are strongly informed by spatial considerations; but additional non-ideological factors, such as party and leader preferences, also play a fundamental role. We also find that coalitions enjoy a certain degree of independence from other objects of vote choice and they do not always represent a simple average score on the feeling thermometer of the constituent parties. There are, however, substantial differences among voters, with party identifiers and those with extreme ideology being less likely to consider coalitions as separate entities from their component parties. PMID:28824702

  15. Building successful coalitions for promoting advance care planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchand, Lucille; Fowler, Kathryn J; Kokanovic, Obrad

    2006-01-01

    Advance care planning (ACP) has had few successful initiatives. This qualitative study explores the challenges and successes of an advance care planning coalition in Wisconsin called Life Planning 2000 using key informant interviews (n = 24) and grounded theory. Major themes included: commitment (the need for leadership, recruitment of key members, and funding); cohesiveness (disparate groups collaborating toward a common purpose), and outcomes (shift in paradigm from signing documents to process of advanced care planning, new-found collaborative relationships, and educational tool development). Coalitions need to define short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals that result in measurable outcomes and an evaluation process. Resources must be commensurate with goals. Strong leadership, paid staff adequate funding, and the collaboration of diverse groups working toward common goals are the basic requirements of a successful coalition.

  16. Conservative treatment of patients with tarsal coalitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Sapogoosky

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Tarsal coalition is a pathological condition with abnormal fusion between two or more tarsal bones. The aim of the study was to evaluate effectiveness of conservative treatment in patients with tarsal coalitions. The treatment included reducing the intensity of physical activity, medication, orthotics, physiotherapy. For evaluation of effectiveness of the treatment, we used the AOFAS scale. The results of the study demonstrated that conservative treatment in patients with tarsal coalitions was focused onon temporary pain release. Conservative treatment has limited efficacy for patients with symptomatic tarsal coalitions because of short pain release in the majority of children (98 %. The indications for conservative treatment in patients with symptomatic tarsal coalitions should be pain and hindfoot valgus less than 15°. In other cases, conservative treatment should be considered as preoperative preparation.

  17. The DELTA PREP Initiative: Accelerating Coalition Capacity for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zakocs, Ronda; Freire, Kimberley E.

    2018-01-01

    Background The DELTA PREP Project aimed to build the prevention capacity of 19 state domestic violence coalitions by offering eight supports designed to promote prevention integration over a 3-year period: modest grant awards, training events, technical assistance, action planning, coaching hubs, the Coalition Prevention Capacity Assessment, an online workstation, and the online documentation support system. Objectives Using quantitative and qualitative data, we sought to explain how coalitions integrated prevention within their structures and functions and document how DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions’ integration process. Results We found that coalitions followed a common pathway to integrate prevention. First, coalitions exhibited precursors of organizational readiness, especially having prevention champions. Second, coalitions engaged in five critical actions: engaging in dialogue, learning about prevention, forming teams, soliciting input from the coalition, and action planning. Last, by engaging in these critical actions, coalitions enhanced two key organizational readiness factors—developing a common understanding of prevention and an organizational commitment to prevention. We also found that DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions’ abilities to integrate prevention by supporting learning about prevention, fostering a prevention team, and engaging in action planning by leveraging existing opportunities. Two DELTA PREP supports—coaching hubs and the workstation—did not work as initially intended. From the DELTA PREP experience, we offer several lessons to consider when designing future prevention capacity-building initiatives. PMID:26245934

  18. Clean air renewable energy (CARE) coalition : a case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambert, G.; Pollock, D.

    2002-01-01

    This paper highlights the opportunity for new partnerships between business and non-governmental organizations in the field of sustainable development through the growing convergence of interests. The authors also briefly describe both Suncor Energy and the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development stances on sustainable development. Since 1990, both organizations have collaborated on the future of the emerging renewable energy industry. Renewable energy represents an energy source diversification through the regional creation of jobs and improved air quality and associated benefits resulting from the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition (Coalition) was established in December 2000 in order to assess the barriers to capital investment in the renewable energy industry. It was revealed that the international community as a whole was further ahead than Canada in terms of renewable support, production and export of technology and services. Some of the challenges facing the industry are: low demand for renewables and low supply. The coalition allowed for the joint identification of desired policy changes, such as new tax incentives for renewable energy supply and demand. Efforts were made in inviting the support of industry, municipalities and environmental non governmental organizations. The list of members that have joined the coalition to date was shown. The coalition is asking for consumer green energy credit, designed for the creation of demand and the education of the general public, and producer incentives to increase supply. The proposals were explained, as well as the strategic principles underlying them. A new tax incentive was announced in the December 2001 Canadian federal budget. The authors concluded by mentioning some future opportunities and the lessons learned on the importance of the right partners, of broad-based advocacy, of targeted and focuses messages, and of evolutionary change

  19. Clean air renewable energy (CARE) coalition : a case study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lambert, G. [Suncor Energy, Fort McMurray, AB (Canada); Pollock, D. [Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development, Drayton Valley, AB (Canada)

    2002-07-01

    This paper highlights the opportunity for new partnerships between business and non-governmental organizations in the field of sustainable development through the growing convergence of interests. The authors also briefly describe both Suncor Energy and the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development stances on sustainable development. Since 1990, both organizations have collaborated on the future of the emerging renewable energy industry. Renewable energy represents an energy source diversification through the regional creation of jobs and improved air quality and associated benefits resulting from the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition (Coalition) was established in December 2000 in order to assess the barriers to capital investment in the renewable energy industry. It was revealed that the international community as a whole was further ahead than Canada in terms of renewable support, production and export of technology and services. Some of the challenges facing the industry are: low demand for renewables and low supply. The coalition allowed for the joint identification of desired policy changes, such as new tax incentives for renewable energy supply and demand. Efforts were made in inviting the support of industry, municipalities and environmental non governmental organizations. The list of members that have joined the coalition to date was shown. The coalition is asking for consumer green energy credit, designed for the creation of demand and the education of the general public, and producer incentives to increase supply. The proposals were explained, as well as the strategic principles underlying them. A new tax incentive was announced in the December 2001 Canadian federal budget. The authors concluded by mentioning some future opportunities and the lessons learned on the importance of the right partners, of broad-based advocacy, of targeted and focuses messages, and of evolutionary change.

  20. From local development policies to strategic planning-Assessing continuity in institutional coalitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzeo Rinaldi, Francesco

    2016-06-01

    In the last two decades, EU policies have had a fundamental role in orienting regional/local development. The objective of this work is set in this context as it intends to analyze the local development programs activated in Sicily in the last three programming periods. The main aim is to explore whether the EU partnership principle influenced cooperation among local actors, assessing the continuity of local institutional coalition in managing different local development programs within the regional development policy system. We focus, in particular, on Strategic Plans (SP) promoted in Sicily in the transition phase between the 2000-2006 and the 2007-2013 periods. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. The Fiscal Politics of Big Governments: Do Coalitions Matter?

    OpenAIRE

    Lambertini, Luisa; Azariadis, Costas

    2003-01-01

    This paper uses a closed voting rule to explain how gradual changes in the socio-economic structure of developed societies shift political coalitions and lead to rapid expansions of transfer programs. Equilibria in a lifecycle economy with three homogeneous groups of voters (retirees, skilled young workers, unskilled young workers) have three properties. One, if income inequality is sufficiently high, unskilled workers and retirees will form a dominant coalition which raises both intragenerat...

  2. Subtalar Coalition: A Case Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CG Chua

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Subtalar coalition is an uncommon condition that usually manifests in early adolescence(1. Frequently, this condition is missed. Delayed diagnosis may result in osteoarthritis requiring triple arthrodesis. Here, we report two patients with subtalar coalition. The first patient is a 12 year old boy who presented with right ankle pain for one year and was treated with excision of the coalition and bone wax insertion at the excision site. We followed up the patient for two years and the result was excellent with full range of movement of his right ankle and subtalar joint attained within two months. He returned to athletic activity by six months and was discharged with no complications after two years. The second patient is a 15 year old girl who presented with bilateral ankle pain and swelling for three years and was treated with excision of the coalition and subtalar interpositional arthroplasty bilaterally. She defaulted follow up after seven months as she was very satisfied with the result. We wish to highlight this condition which may be misdiagnosed as flexible flat foot or ankle sprain.

  3. An empirical test of new developments in coalition theory for the design of international environmental agreements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Finus, M.; Sáiz Pérez, M.E.; Hendrix, E.M.T.

    2009-01-01

    We consider new developments in coalition theory for the design of international environmental agreements (IEAs). Applying an empirical model on climate change that comprises benefit and cost estimates from abatement for 12 world regions, we analyze how the design of an agreement affects the success

  4. Coalitions to engineer the climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Cruz, J. B.; Ricke, K.; Caldeira, K.

    2012-12-01

    Solar geoengineering is the deliberate reduction of the amount of incoming solar radiation absorbed by Earth's climate system with the aim of reducing impacts of anthropogenic climate change. The international politics of solar geoengineering differ markedly from those of greenhouse-gas emissions reductions. A central question is who will decide whether and how much solar geoengineering will be deployed. It is unlikely that a single small actor could implement and sustain global-scale geoengineering that harms much of the world without intervention from harmed world powers. Thus, in practice, some minimum amount of aggregate power would be needed to successfully impose will upon the rest of the world. Here we formulate a series of games, calibrated with physical and economic models of climate change, to evaluate how international coalitions to implement geoengineering may form. In the scenarios examined, climate models are assumed to correctly predict the future and damage is parameterized in terms of regional temperature and precipitation changes only, and do not consider other, possibly formidable, risks. The coalitions set the "global thermostat" to maximize benefit to coalition members. As a result, non-members would be better off under a global optimum solution, but would be worse off with no geoengineering at all. Nonetheless, it appears unlikely that solar geoengineering could be implemented by actors who are perceived in advance to be harming the interests of a majority of the world's powers.; Comparison of results under a globally optimal versus >50% military-spending power coalition over 6 decades of solar geoengineering implementation. (a) shows how the amount of solar geoengineering (in units of stratospheric aerosol optical depth, AOD) implemented by a Power Proportionate Distribution coalition under a military-spending-weighted power scheme (dotted), compared to the amount that minimizes net global damages (thick grey) (the population and GDP

  5. The regenerative medicine coalition. Interview with Frank-Roman Lauter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauter, Frank-Roman

    2012-11-01

    Frank-Roman Lauter, Secretary General of the recently launched Regenerative Medicine Coalition, explains how the coalition was formed and what they hope to achieve. Frank-Roman Lauter has served as Secretary General of the Regenerative Medicine Coalition since 2012, and as Head of Business Development at Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies since 2007. Frank-Roman Lauter's interest is the organization of academic infrastructures to promote efficient translation of research findings into new therapies. He co-organizes joined strategy development for regenerative medicine clusters from seven European countries (FP7-EU Project) and has initiated cooperation between the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the German Federal Ministry for Education & Research, resulting in a joined funding program. Recently, he cofounded the international consortium of Regenerative Medicine translational centers (RMC; www.the-rmc.org ). Trained as a molecular biologist at the Max-Planck Institute in Berlin-Dahlem and at Stanford, he has 16 years of experience as an entrepreneur and life science manager in Germany and the USA.

  6. Wind energy aggregation: A coalitional game approach

    KAUST Repository

    Baeyens, E.

    2011-12-01

    In this paper we explore the extent to which a group of N wind power producers can exploit the statistical benefits of aggregation and quantity risk sharing by forming a willing coalition to pool their variable power to jointly offer their aggregate power output as single entity into a forward energy market. We prove that wind power generators will always improve their expected profit when they aggregate their generated power and use tools from coalitional game theory to design fair sharing mechanisms to allocate the payoff among the coalition participants. We show that the corresponding coalitional game is super-additive and has a nonempty core. Hence, there always exists a mechanism for profit-sharing that makes the coalition stable. However, the game is not convex and the celebrated Shapley value may not belong to the core of the game. An allocation mechanism that minimizes the worst-case dissatisfaction is proposed. © 2011 IEEE.

  7. The paradoxes and promise of community coalitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavis, D M

    2001-04-01

    Community coalitions, as they are currently applied, are unique organizations whose ability to promote community change is different from other types of community organizations. This article explores those differences and elaborates how community coalitions can use those differences to transform conflict into greater capacity, equity, and justice. Concerns are also raised in this article about how community coalitions can intentionally and unintentionally protect the status quo and contain the empowerment of grassroots leadership and those of marginalized groups. There is a need for more theory, research, and discourse on how community coalitions can transform conflict into social change and how they can increase the power of grassroots and other citizen-lead organizations.

  8. Incentives and stability of international climate coalitions: An integrated assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bosetti, Valentina; Carraro, Carlo; De Cian, Enrica; Massetti, Emanuele; Tavoni, Massimo

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyses the incentives to participate in an international climate agreement and the stability of the resulting climate coalition using the integrated assessment model WITCH. Coalition stability is assessed under alternative assumptions concerning the pure rate of time preference, the aggregation of social welfare, and the severity of climate damages. The profitability, stability, and strong potential internal stability of a number of coalitions, those potentially effective in reducing GHG emissions, is explored in the paper. The main conclusion is that only the grand coalition, i.e. a coalition where all world regions cooperate to reduce emissions, can maintain GHG concentration below 550 ppm CO 2 -eq. However, this coalition is not internally stable, even when allowing for monetary transfers across world regions. Nonetheless, the paper also shows that strongly potentially internally stable coalitions exist, though of smaller size, which can mitigate global warming and limit GHG concentrations to 600 ppm CO 2 -eq. - Highlights: ► We analyse climate coalitions with an integrated assessment model. ► Coalitions’ profitability and stability is analysed under alternative assumptions. ► Effective coalitions should include larger emitters (such as India and China). ► A coalition that achieves 550 ppm CO 2 -eq is not internally stable. ► A stable coalition can achieve around 518 ppme in 2050 and 600 ppme in 2100

  9. Marching toward reproductive justice: coalitional (re) framing of the March for Women's Lives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luna, Zakiya T

    2010-01-01

    This article examines how coalition frames develop and what happens to that frame after the formal coalition ends. To that end, I analyze the frame shift around the 2004 March for Women's Lives (March). The March initially focused on established ideas of reproductive rights around which the four national mainstream co-sponsors previously organized. However, after a newer reproductive justice organization joined the coalition, material and organizing reflected a shift in framing to reproductive justice. How did this change happen? What are the impacts of this event for the women's movement? Through document analysis and interviews, I trace the negotiations that facilitated this framing shift. I argue that this new coalition frame translated into positive lasting changes in organizing for women's reproductive health even as the coalition dissolved and some of the tensions within the larger women's movement remain.

  10. Immunization Action Coalition

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... IAC | Contact | A-Z Index | Donate | Shop | SUBSCRIBE Immunization Action Coalition Favorites ACIP Recommendations Package Inserts Additional Immunization Resources Photos Adult Vaccination Screening Checklists Ask the ...

  11. Coparenting and toddler's interactive styles in family coalitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fivaz-Depeursinge, Elisabeth; Lopes, Francesco; Python, Maryline; Favez, Nicolas

    2009-12-01

    The current study examined the coparenting and toddler's interactive styles in family coalitions. According to structural family theory, boundaries between generations are clear in alliances, but disturbed in coalitions: the parents look to the child to regulate their conflictual relationship and the child attempts to meet this need. In a normative sample studied longitudinally during the Lausanne Trilogue Play situation (LTP, N=38), 15 coalition cases were detected. Styles of coparenting and of child's interactions were determined and compared in coalition and alliance cases at 18 months. Findings confirm the structural family model by showing the specific ways in which the coparenting and the toddler's interactive styles are associated in 3 different patterns of coalitions: binding, detouring, and triangulation. They illustrate how the child's triangular capacity, or her ability to simultaneously communicate with both parents, is used to regulate the parents' relationship. They suggest that the LTP observational paradigm is a promising assessment method of early family interactions. They point to the importance of assessing early the child's contribution to family coalitions.

  12. Examining Capacity and Functioning of Bicycle Coalitions: A Descriptive Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa Bopp

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundBicycle coalitions represent a strong partner in creating bike-friendly communities through advocacy for physical infrastructure, encouragement for biking, or education about safety. Despite their versatility, little is known about their functioning. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine capacity, strengths, and weaknesses of these organizations.MethodsBicycle coalitions/advocacy groups from English-speaking countries were recruited to take part in an online survey via email invitation. The survey addressed basic information about the coalition (community demographics, location, leadership, communication strategies, coalition priorities, barriers to programming/activities, and partners.ResultsCoalitions (n = 56 from four countries completed the survey. Most coalitions operated as a non-profit (n = 44, 95.7%, 45% (n = 21 have paid staff as leaders, while 37% (n = 17 have volunteers as leaders. The following skills were represented in coalitions’ leadership: fundraising (n = 31, 53.4%, event planning (n = 31, 53.4%, urban planning (n = 26, 44%, and policy/legislation expertise (n = 26, 44.8%. Education (n = 26, 63.4% and encouragement (n = 25, 61.6% were viewed as top priorities and the safety of bicyclists (n = 21, 46.7% and advocacy for infrastructure and policy (n = 22, 48.9% is the focus of most activities. A lack of financial resources (n = 36, 81.8% and capable personnel (n = 25, 56.8% were significant barriers to offering programming in the community and that the availability of grants to address issues (n = 38, 86.4% would be the top motivator for improvements.ConclusionBike coalitions represent a critical partner in creating activity-friendly environments and understanding their capacity allows for creating skill/capacity building intervention programs, development of effective toolkits and fostering strong collaborations to address physical inactivity.

  13. Continued benefits of a technical assistance web site to local tobacco control coalitions during a state budget shortfall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buller, David B; Young, Walter F; Bettinghaus, Erwin P; Borland, Ron; Walther, Joseph B; Helme, Donald; Andersen, Peter A; Cutter, Gary R; Maloy, Julie A

    2011-01-01

    A state budget shortfall defunded 10 local tobacco coalitions during a randomized trial but defunded coalitions continued to have access to 2 technical assistance Web sites. To test the ability of Web-based technology to provide technical assistance to local tobacco control coalitions. Randomized 2-group trial with local tobacco control coalitions as the unit of randomization. Local communities (ie, counties) within the State of Colorado. Leaders and members in 34 local tobacco control coalitions funded by the state health department in Colorado. Two technical assistance Web sites: A Basic Web site with text-based information and a multimedia Enhanced Web site containing learning modules, resources, and communication features. Use of the Web sites in minutes, pages, and session and evaluations of coalition functioning on coalition development, conflict resolution, leadership satisfaction, decision-making satisfaction, shared mission, personal involvement, and organization involvement in survey of leaders and members. Coalitions that were defunded but had access to the multimedia Enhanced Web site during the Fully Funded period and after defunding continued to use it (treatment group × funding status × period, F(3,714) = 3.18, P = .0234). Coalitions with access to the Basic Web site had low Web site use throughout and use by defunded coalitions was nearly zero when funding ceased. Members in defunded Basic Web site coalitions reported that their coalitions functioned worse than defunded Enhanced Web site coalitions (coalition development: group × status, F(1,360) = 4.81, P = .029; conflict resolution: group × status, F(1,306) = 5.69, P = .018; leadership satisfaction: group × status, F(1,342) = 5.69, P = .023). The Enhanced Web site may have had a protective effect on defunded coalitions. Defunded coalitions may have increased their capacity by using the Enhanced Web site when fully funded or by continuing to use the available online resources after defunding

  14. Towards a Formal Model of Privacy-Sensitive Dynamic Coalitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Bab

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The concept of dynamic coalitions (also virtual organizations describes the temporary interconnection of autonomous agents, who share information or resources in order to achieve a common goal. Through modern technologies these coalitions may form across company, organization and system borders. Therefor questions of access control and security are of vital significance for the architectures supporting these coalitions. In this paper, we present our first steps to reach a formal framework for modeling and verifying the design of privacy-sensitive dynamic coalition infrastructures and their processes. In order to do so we extend existing dynamic coalition modeling approaches with an access-control-concept, which manages access to information through policies. Furthermore we regard the processes underlying these coalitions and present first works in formalizing these processes. As a result of the present paper we illustrate the usefulness of the Abstract State Machine (ASM method for this task. We demonstrate a formal treatment of privacy-sensitive dynamic coalitions by two example ASMs which model certain access control situations. A logical consideration of these ASMs can lead to a better understanding and a verification of the ASMs according to the aspired specification.

  15. Coalition Formation and Spectrum Sharing of Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Participants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhensheng Jiang; Wei Yuan; Leung, Henry; Xinge You; Qi Zheng

    2017-05-01

    In cognitive radio networks, self-interested secondary users (SUs) desire to maximize their own throughput. They compete with each other for transmit time once the absence of primary users (PUs) is detected. To satisfy the requirement of PU protection, on the other hand, they have to form some coalitions and cooperate to conduct spectrum sensing. Such dilemma of SUs between competition and cooperation motivates us to study two interesting issues: 1) how to appropriately form some coalitions for cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) and 2) how to share transmit time among SUs. We jointly consider these two issues, and propose a noncooperative game model with 2-D strategies. The first dimension determines coalition formation, and the second indicates transmit time allocation. Considering the complexity of solving this game, we decompose the game into two more tractable ones: one deals with the formation of CSS coalitions, and the other focuses on the allocation of transmit time. We characterize the Nash equilibria (NEs) of both games, and show that the combination of these two NEs corresponds to the NE of the original game. We also develop a distributed algorithm to achieve a desirable NE of the original game. When this NE is achieved, the SUs obtain a Dhp-stable coalition structure and a fair transmit time allocation. Numerical results verify our analyses, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm.

  16. Pressures on TV Programs: Coalition for Better Television's Case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shipman, John M., Jr.

    In 1981, the conservative Coalition for Better Television (CBTV) threatened an economic boycott against advertisers who marketed their wares on programs that the coalition felt had excessive sex and violence. Because television networks are dependent on advertising, the coalition believed economic pressure on advertisers would force a…

  17. Complexities of coalition building: leaders' successes, strategies, struggles, and solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizrahi, T; Rosenthal, B B

    2001-01-01

    Government and private funding initiatives are promoting coalitions, collaborations, and other interorganizational approaches to address complex community, social services, and health issues. Social work organizers and administrators are increasingly leading coalitions themselves or representing their organizations in collaborative planning and problem solving, often without understanding how to manage the complexities involved in interorganizational relationships. This article reports on aspects of a larger quantitative and qualitative research project that studied coalition dynamics, operations, and outcomes. Coalition leaders interviewed defined success in multiple ways. Competent leadership was the factor most often identified with coalition success.

  18. An assessment of the Pacific Regional Cancer Coalition: outcomes and implications of a regional coalition internal and external assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sy, Angela U; Heckert, Karen A; Buenconsejo-Lum, Lee; Hedson, Johnny; Tamang, Suresh; Palafox, Neal

    2011-11-01

    The Pacific Regional Cancer Coalition (PRCC) provides regional leadership in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI) to implement the Regional Comprehensive Control Plan: 2007-2012, and to evaluate its coalition and partnerships. The Pacific Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities (CEED), aims to reduce cancer disparities and conducts evaluation activities relevant to cancer prevention and control in the USAPI. The PRCC Self (internal) and Partner (external) Assessments were conducted to assess coalition functioning, regional and national partnerships, sustainability, and the role of regionalism for integrating all chronic disease prevention and control in the Pacific. Self-administered questionnaires and key informant telephone interviews with PRCC members (N=20), and representatives from regional and national partner organizations were administered (N=26). Validated multi item measures using 5-point scales on coalition and partnership characteristics were used. Chronbach's alphas and averages for the measures were computed. Internal coalition measures: satisfaction (4.2, SD=0.48) communication (4.0, SD=0.56), respect (4.0, SD=0.60) were rated more highly than external partnership measures: resource sharing (3.5, SD=0.74), regionalism (3.9, SD=0.47), use of findings (3.9, SD=0.50). The PRCC specifically identified its level of "collaboration" with external partners including Pacific CEED. External partners identified its partnership with the PRCC in the "coalition" stage. PRCC members and external partners are satisfied with their partnerships. All groups should continue to focus on building collaboration with partners to reflect a truly regional approach to sustain the commitment, the coalitions and the programming to reduce cancer in the USAPI. PRCC and partners should also work together to integrate all chronic disease prevention and control efforts in the Pacific.

  19. Arthroscopic Talocalcaneal Coalition Resection in Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knörr, Jorge; Soldado, Francisco; Menendez, Mariano E; Domenech, Pedro; Sanchez, Mikel; Sales de Gauzy, Jérôme

    2015-12-01

    To present the technique and outcomes of arthroscopic talocalcaneal coalition (TCC) resection in pediatric patients. We performed a prospective study of 16 consecutive feet with persistent symptomatic TCCs in 15 children. The mean age was 11.8 years (range, 8 to 15 years), and the mean follow-up period was 28 months (range, 12 to 44 months). A posterior arthroscopic TCC resection was performed. The plantar footprint, subtalar motion, pain, and the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Ankle-Hindfoot scale score were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) scans were used to classify the coalition according to the Rozansky classification, to measure the percentage of involvement of the surface area, and to determine the degree of hindfoot valgus. Postoperative CT scans at 1 year (n = 15) and 3 years (n = 5) were used to assess recurrences. Patient satisfaction was also evaluated. The TCC distribution according to the Rozansky classification was type I in 7 cases, type II in 3, type III in 3, and type IV in 3. In all cases the arthroscopic approach enabled complete coalition resection. All patients increased by at least 1 stage in the footprint classification and showed clinical subtalar mobility after surgery. All patients showed a statistically significant improvement in pain after surgery except for 1 patient in whom complex regional pain syndrome developed (P < .001). The mean American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society score was 56.8 (range, 45 to 62) preoperatively versus 90.9 (range, 36 to 100) postoperatively, showing a statistically significant increase (P < .001). Preoperative CT scans showed that all TCCs involved the medial subtalar joint facet, with mean involvement of 40.8% of the articular surface. All postoperative CT scans showed complete synostosis resections with no recurrences at final follow-up. At final follow-up, all patients were either satisfied (n = 4 [27%]) or extremely satisfied (n = 10 [67

  20. Management and governance processes in community health coalitions: a procedural justice perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiner, Bryan J; Alexander, Jeffrey A; Shortell, Stephen M

    2002-12-01

    Community-based coalitions are a popular strategy for promoting community health despite the fact that coalitions often fail to achieve measurable results. Using a procedural justice framework, this study seeks to advance knowledge about the relationship between coalition governance and management processes and indicators of coalition functioning. Member survey data from 25 coalitions participating in the Community Care Network Demonstration Program were analyzed using two-stage least squares regression. Results show that personal influence in decision making. decision process clarity, and collaborative conflict resolution were significantly associated with procedural fairness perceptions. Procedural fairness perceptions, in turn, were positively associated with member satisfaction with coalition decisions, but not personal engagement in the coalition or organizational integration of coalition goals and activities. Personal influence in decision making and collaborative conflict resolution also exhibited direct relationships with all three indicators of coalition functioning examined in the study.

  1. Maritime Coalitions: When is Unity of Command Required

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Gahlinger, Gregory J

    2007-01-01

    .... The concepts of Unity of Command, Unity of Effort and Parallel, Lead Nation, or Integrated coalition command structures are viable across a broad spectrum of maritime coalition operations but do have...

  2. The Bigger, the Better: Coalitions in the GATT/WTO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Cepaluni

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available What does it take to make a coalition successful? Bigger coalitions are more likely to be successful because the GATT/WTO is a consensus-based institution and countries are informally penalized if they isolate themselves. Through a Bayesian statistical analysis, the article corroborates the above hypothesis. To further investigate the research question, qualitative case studies of the G-10 in the Uruguay Round and the Public Health Coalition in the Doha Round are conducted. These cases show that the more convincing the framing of a position, the better are the chances of coalitions keeping a large number of followers and supporters, thereby affecting their odds of success. By building a unique database and applying a new research design to the topic, the study rigorously tests theories about coalitions that had previously only been proposed but not empirically analyzed.

  3. Coalition-based multimedia peer matching strategies for P2P networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hyunggon; van der Schaar, Mihaela

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the problem of matching users for multimedia transmission in peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and identify strategies for fair resource division among the matched multimedia peers. We propose a framework for coalition formation, which enables users to form a group of matched peers where they can interact cooperatively and negotiate resources based on their satisfaction with the coalition, determined by explicitly considering the peer's multimedia attributes. In addition, our proposed approach goes a step further by introducing the concept of marginal contribution, which is the value improvement of the coalition induced by an incoming peer. We show that the best way for a peer to select a coalition is to choose the coalition that provides the largest division of marginal contribution given a deployed value-division scheme. Moreover, we model the utility function by explicitly considering each peer's attributes as well as the cost for uploading content. To quantify the benefit that users derive from a coalition, we define the value of a coalition based on the total utility that all peers can achieve jointly in the coalition. Based on this definition of the coalition value, we use an axiomatic bargaining solution in order to fairly negotiate the value division of the upload bandwidth given each peer's attributes.

  4. The coalition of industrialists and environmentalists in the climate change issue

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brandt, U.S.; Tinggaard Svendsen, G.

    2003-07-01

    The political economy idea developed by Ackerman and Hassler (1981) is the starting point of this paper. It suggested that a coalition of environmentalists and industrialists successfully lobbied the US Congress. More strict technology-based standards for new sources than existing sources was the resulting policy outcome serving the common interest of the coalition because it both offered a barrier to entry for new firms and improved environmental quality. Wc focus both on cases from air and water pollution in the US confirming which seem to confirm this suggestion and the case of international climate negotiations and the promotion of wind-based energy. In the line of the Ackerman and Hassler approach wc suggest that the reason for EU eagerness to push forward ambitious reduction target levels (and thereby promote new green industries) is a similar coalition between industrialists and environmentalists. Such a strategy can be seen in the context of the Bootleggers and Baptist theory developed by Yandle (1983), where the Baptists (in our case the environmentalists) demand changes in behaviour on moral reasons. In contrast, the Bootleggers (the producers of renewable energy), who profit from the very regulation, keep a low profile. The actual heavy subsidisation of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, can be viewed as a successful policy outcome for the coalition of industrialists and environmentalists offering both market protection and improved environmental quality. Solving the current dead-lock in international climate negotiations across the Atlantic may well imply fighting the strong coalition of industrialists and environmentalists. Such a political battle may turn out to be just as tough as fighting windmills if not clearly investigated in future research. (au)

  5. The coalition of industrialists and environmentalists in the climate change issue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brandt, U.S.; Tinggaard Svendsen, G.

    2003-01-01

    The political economy idea developed by Ackerman and Hassler (1981) is the starting point of this paper. It suggested that a coalition of environmentalists and industrialists successfully lobbied the US Congress. More strict technology-based standards for new sources than existing sources was the resulting policy outcome serving the common interest of the coalition because it both offered a barrier to entry for new firms and improved environmental quality. Wc focus both on cases from air and water pollution in the US confirming which seem to confirm this suggestion and the case of international climate negotiations and the promotion of wind-based energy. In the line of the Ackerman and Hassler approach wc suggest that the reason for EU eagerness to push forward ambitious reduction target levels (and thereby promote new green industries) is a similar coalition between industrialists and environmentalists. Such a strategy can be seen in the context of the Bootleggers and Baptist theory developed by Yandle (1983), where the Baptists (in our case the environmentalists) demand changes in behaviour on moral reasons. In contrast, the Bootleggers (the producers of renewable energy), who profit from the very regulation, keep a low profile. The actual heavy subsidisation of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, can be viewed as a successful policy outcome for the coalition of industrialists and environmentalists offering both market protection and improved environmental quality. Solving the current dead-lock in international climate negotiations across the Atlantic may well imply fighting the strong coalition of industrialists and environmentalists. Such a political battle may turn out to be just as tough as fighting windmills if not clearly investigated in future research. (au)

  6. Coalition Cooperation Defines Roadmap for E85 and Biodiesel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2007-06-01

    This Clean Cities success story relates how Colorado's Colorado Biofuels Coalition was formed and provides guidance on forming other such coalitions. This Colorado's coalition sucessfully increase the number of fueling stations providing biofuels and has goals to the number even more. Plans also include assisting with financing infrastructure, making alternative fuels available to more fleets, and educating about E85 and biodiesel use.

  7. Inter-Party Conflict Management in Coalition Governments: Analyzing the Role of Coalition Agreements in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Moury

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we focus on manifest interparty conflict over policy issues and the role of coalition agreements in solving these conflicts. We present empirical findings on the characteristics of coalition agreements including deals over policy controversy and on inter-party conflict occurring during the lifetime of governments in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. We analyze the ways in which parties in government were or were not constrained by written deals over disputed issues. Coalition agreements from all four countries include specific policy deals, one third of which are precisely defined. These policy deals concern both consensual and controversial issues. Our central finding is that, in the case of intra-party conflict, parties almost always fall back on the initial policy deals when these exist. As such, policy statements of the coalition agreement facilitate decision making in each of the countries studied.

  8. Rethinking the Factors of Success: Social Support and Community Coalitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haithcox-Dennis, Melissa; DeWeese, Amanda; Goodman, Jessica

    2013-01-01

    Background: Coalitions are often the strategy of choice when needs are great, resources are few, and individual efforts have proven unsuccessful in addressing serious health issues. Despite the widespread use of coalitions and extensive research, no definitive list of factors predicting coalition success has been identified. One factor, social…

  9. The Effectiveness of the Multilateral Coalition to Develop a Green Agricultural Products Market in China Based on a TU Cooperative Game Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingjun Deng

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Green agriculture can improve biodiversity, increase farmers’ income, reduce agricultural non-point source pollution, solve food safety issues, and will be an important way to promote sustainable development in China. At present, the green transformation of China’s agriculture has encountered a bottleneck in the development of a green agricultural product market. How to develop a green agricultural product market has become an issue worthy of in-depth study in the academia. Previous studies have already given persuasive explanations for the inability to form a green agricultural product market, but few have explored its development path from the angle of cooperation. By employing the method of a Transferable Utilities (TU cooperative game, and based on theoretical analyses and hypothetical data, this thesis aims to prove the effectiveness of the multilateral coalition to develop the green agricultural product market in China. The results show the effectiveness of the developed model of the green agricultural product market in which producers, consumers, food safety inspection departments, and e-commerce platforms cooperate with each other. This model meets the objective needs of the times and that of the market economy. According to the marginal contribution value of participants in different coalition orders, this thesis finds 6 kinds of coalition orders. When producers and consumers of green agricultural products enter the coalition in the last place, the marginal contribution value is maximized, which reflects the importance of the supply side and demand side of green agricultural products. In other words, the development of the green agricultural product market is a dynamic process—determined by consumers and promoted by producers—in which both sides promote and restrict each other. Finally, this article presents two policy recommendations: at the national level, to clearly proposes a strategy to build a green agricultural product e

  10. [Synostosis and tarsal coalitions in children. A study of 68 cases in 47 patients].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rouvreau, P; Pouliquen, J C; Langlais, J; Glorion, C; de Cerqueira Daltro, G

    1994-01-01

    The authors report their experience with tarsal coalitions in children. The purpose of this study was to discuss the origins of the of the calcaneum, and to propose a simple therapeutic strategy for diagnosis and treatment. The study included 47 children (68 feet), with one or more idiopathic tarsal coalitions. All patients had physical examinations to record symptoms, morphology of the foot, mobility of the foot, gait analysis, standard radiographs, and in some cases CT scans or MRI. The average age of the patients was 11.5 years old, 7 patients had a positive family history for tarsal coalitions. 66 per cent of the patients had mild tarsal pain or a history of repeated ankle sprains. The conservative treatment concerned 28 feet: 3 casts, 2 injections of corticosteroids into the subtalar joint, insole-shoes in 3 cases, and abstention in 20 cases. The operative treatment (40 feet) consisted of resection of calcaneonavicular coalitions (24 feet) resection of talocalcaneal coalitions (3 feet), mediotarsal and subtalar arthrodesis (8 feet), resection of calcaneonavicular coalition combined with the "Cavalier'' procedure described by Judet (3 feet), calcaneal osteotomy (2 feet). The mean follow-up was 42 months. The morphology of the involved foot was normal in 33 cases, flat foot was seen in 24 cases (4 peroneal spastic flat feet), pes cavus in 3 cases, club foot in 2 cases, pes varus in 4 cases, "Z'' shaped feet in 2 cases. The radiological examination was demonstrative of tarsal coalition in 61 feet. 7 tarsal coalitions were seen during operative procedures. The location or the coalition was calcaneonavicular (57), talocalcaneal (16), talo-navicular (8), calcaneo-cuboid (7), naviculo-cuneiform (4). The secondary radiographic signs were studied for each foot. In the conservative group, 2 patients degraded their clinical status, one developed a spastic flat foot. In the surgical group, all except 2 patients had good clinical and functional results. One patient had

  11. Agile Coalition Environment (ACE)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    McGuire, Michele; Daniel, Dale

    2004-01-01

    .... Interoperability is achieved across all applications, platforms, and security domains. ACE is presented as a network capability that can be applied to the Coalition Enterprise Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS...

  12. Skill improvement among coalition members in the California Healthy Cities and Communities Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kegler, Michelle C; Norton, Barbara L; Aronson, Robert

    2007-06-01

    Community-driven, collaborative approaches to health promotion have the potential to enhance skills among community members and, in turn, increase community capacity. This study uses data from an evaluation of the California Healthy Cities and Communities (CHCC) Program to examine whether, and how, community problem-solving and collaboration skills are improved among coalition members and local coordinators in 20 participating communities. Methods include semi-structured interviews with coordinators and mailed surveys with coalition members (n=330 in planning phase and n=243 in implementation phase). The largest number of coordinators reported skill improvement in defining health broadly and assessing needs and assets. Similarly, coalition members reported greatest skill improvement for defining health broadly, assessing needs and assets and setting priorities and developing action plans. Modest correlations were observed between number of roles played in the local healthy cities and communities project and each skill area assessed. Time committed to the local CHCC coalition and its activities was not meaningfully correlated with any of the skills. Types of skill-building opportunities may be more important than number of hours devoted to meetings and activities in strengthening community problem-solving and collaboration skills among coalition members.

  13. Evolution of fairness and coalition formation in three-person ultimatum games.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishimura, Takeshi; Okada, Akira; Shirata, Yasuhiro

    2017-05-07

    We consider the evolution of fairness and coalition formation in a three-person ultimatum game in which the coalition value depends on its size. Traditional game theory, which assumes selfish and rational players, predicts the largest and efficient coalition with a proposer exploiting most of the total value. In a stochastic evolutionary model (the frequency-dependent Moran process with mutations) where players make errors in estimating the payoffs and strategies of others, evolutionary selection favors the formation of a two-person subcoalition under weak selection and in the low mutation limit if and only if its coalition value exceeds a high proportion (0.7) of that of the largest coalition. Proposers offer 30-35% of the subcoalition value to a coalition member, excluding a non-member. Multilateral bargaining is critically different from the bilateral one. Coalition-forming behavior may cause economic inefficiency and social exclusion. Stochastic evolutionary game theory thus provides theoretical support to explain the behavior of human subjects in economic experiments of a three-person ultimatum game. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Northeast Solar Energy Market Coalition (NESEMC)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rabago, Karl R. [Pace Energy and Climate Center Pace University School of Law

    2018-03-31

    The Northeast Solar Energy Market Coalition (NESEMC) brought together solar energy business associations and other stakeholders in the Northeast to harmonize regional solar energy policy and advance the solar energy market. The Coalition was managed by the Pace Energy and Climate Center, a project of the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law. The NESEMC was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative as a cooperative agreement through 2017 as part of Solar Market Pathways.

  15. A critical evaluation of subtalar joint arthrosis associated with middle facet talocalcaneal coalition in 21 surgically managed patients: a retrospective computed tomography review. Investigations involving middle facet coalitions-part III.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kernbach, Klaus J; Barkan, Howard; Blitz, Neal M

    2010-01-01

    Symptomatic middle facet talocalcaneal coalition is frequently associated with rearfoot arthrosis that is often managed surgically with rearfoot fusion. However, no objective method for classifying the extent of subtalar joint arthrosis exists. No study has clearly identified the extent of posterior facet arthrosis present in a large cohort treated surgically for talocalcaneal coalition through preoperative computerized axial tomography. The authors conducted a retrospective review of 21 patients (35 feet) with coalition who were surgically treated over a 12-year period for coalition on at least 1 foot. Using a predefined original staging system, the extent of the arthrosis was categorized into normal or mild (Stage I), moderate (Stage II), and severe (Stage III) arthrosis. The association of stage and age is statistically significant. All of the feet with Stage III arthrosis had fibrous coalitions. No foot with osseous coalition had Stage III arthrosis. The distribution of arthrosis staging differs between fibrous and osseous coalitions. Only fibrous coalitions had the most advanced arthrosis (Stage III), whereas osseous coalitions did not. This suggests that osseous coalitions may have a protective effect in the prevention of severe degeneration of the subtalar joint. Concomitant subtalar joint arthrosis severity progresses with age; surgeons may want to consider earlier surgical intervention to prevent arthrosis progression in patients with symptomatic middle facet talocalcaneal coalition.

  16. Creation of the Quebrada Arriba Community and Academic Partnership: An Effective Coalition for Addressing Health Disparities in Older Puerto Ricans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orellano-Colón, Elsa M; González-Laboy, Yolanda; De Jesús-Rosario, Amarelis

    2017-06-01

    The objective of this project was to develop a community-academic coalition partnership to conduct community-based participatory research (CBPR) to address health disparities in older adults with chronic conditions living in the Quebrada Arriba community. We used the 'Developing and Sustaining CPPR Partnerships: A Skill-Building Curriculum', to create the Quebrada Arriba Community-Academic Partnership (QACAP). We assessed the meetings effectiveness and the CBPR experiences of the coalition members in the community-academic partnership. The stepwise process resulted in: the development of The Coalition for the Health and Wellbeing of Older People of Quebrada Arriba; the partnership's mission and vision; the operating procedures; the formulation of the research question, and; the action plan for obtaining funding resources. The mean levels of satisfaction for each of the items of the Meeting Effectiveness Evaluation tool were 100%. The mean agreement rating scores on variables related to having a positive experience with the coalition, members' representativeness of community interest, respectful contacts between members, the coalition's vision and mission, the participation of the members in establishing the prioritized community problem, and sharing of resources between the members was 100%. The steps used to build the QACAP provided an effective structure to create the coalition and captured the results of coalition activities. Partners' time to build trust and developing a sufficient understanding of local issues, high interest of the community members, flexibility of the partners, capitalization on the partners' strengths, and the shared decision building process were key contributors of this coalition's success.

  17. Impact of coalition interoperability on PKI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krall, Edward J.

    2003-07-01

    This paper examines methods for providing PKI interoperability among units of a coalition of armed forces drawn from different nations. The area in question is tactical identity management, for the purposes of confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation in such a dynamic coalition. The interoperating applications under consideration range from email and other forms of store-and-forward messaging to TLS and IPSEC-protected real-time communications. Six interoperability architectures are examined with advantages and disadvantages of each described in the paper.

  18. Posteromedial subtalar coalition: imaging appearances in three cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNally, E.G.

    1999-01-01

    Objective. To define the imaging appearances in three cases of posteromedial subtalar coalition.Design. Three patients who presented with hindfoot pain were found to have non-osseous coalition involving the posteromedial hindfoot. This entity is distinct from conventional middle facet coalition as the sustentaculum is uninvolved.Results. Plain radiographs, available in two cases, demonstrated subtle irregularity of the posterior facet. MRI (three cases) demonstrated a mixed bony and cartilaginous mass lying posterior to the sustentaculum. There was trabecular oedema within the mass and adjacent talus, and narrowing of the space between the middle and posterior facets. Prominence and dilatation of the posterior tibial veins with tenosynovitis of the adjacent tibialis posterior tendon was seen. CT demonstrated the bony mass but did not detect the adjacent bony oedema.Conclusion. Posteromedial subtalar coalition may present with hindfoot pain and stiffness. The presence of a pseudarthrosis posterior to a normal middle facet is characteristic. The abnormality can be difficult to detect on plain radiographs. (orig.)

  19. Posteromedial subtalar coalition: imaging appearances in three cases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McNally, E.G. [Dept. of Radiology, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford (United Kingdom)

    1999-12-01

    Objective. To define the imaging appearances in three cases of posteromedial subtalar coalition.Design. Three patients who presented with hindfoot pain were found to have non-osseous coalition involving the posteromedial hindfoot. This entity is distinct from conventional middle facet coalition as the sustentaculum is uninvolved.Results. Plain radiographs, available in two cases, demonstrated subtle irregularity of the posterior facet. MRI (three cases) demonstrated a mixed bony and cartilaginous mass lying posterior to the sustentaculum. There was trabecular oedema within the mass and adjacent talus, and narrowing of the space between the middle and posterior facets. Prominence and dilatation of the posterior tibial veins with tenosynovitis of the adjacent tibialis posterior tendon was seen. CT demonstrated the bony mass but did not detect the adjacent bony oedema.Conclusion. Posteromedial subtalar coalition may present with hindfoot pain and stiffness. The presence of a pseudarthrosis posterior to a normal middle facet is characteristic. The abnormality can be difficult to detect on plain radiographs. (orig.)

  20. A coalition formation game for transmitter cooperation in OFDMA uplink communications

    KAUST Repository

    Chelli, Ali; Tembine, Hamidou; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    the nodes is modelled using coalitional game theory. In this game, each coalition tries to maximize its utility in terms of rate. In the absence of cooperation cost, it can be shown that the grand coalition is sum-rate optimal and stable, i.e., the mobile

  1. Crisis and Policy Reformcraft: Advocacy Coalitions and Crisis-induced Change in Swedish Nuclear Energy Policy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nohrstedt, Daniel

    2007-04-15

    This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays examining the role of crisis events in Swedish nuclear energy policymaking. The study takes stock of the idea of 'crisis exceptionalism' raised in the literature, which postulates that crisis events provide openings for major policy change. In an effort to explain crisis-induced outcomes in Swedish nuclear energy policy, each essay explores and develops theoretical assumptions derived from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The introduction discusses the ACF and other theoretical perspectives accentuating the role of crisis in policymaking and identifies three explanations for crisis-induced policy outcomes: minority coalition mobilization, learning, and strategic action. Essay 1 analyzes the nature and development of the Swedish nuclear energy subsystem. The results contradict the ACF assumption that corporatist systems nurture narrow subsystems and small advocacy coalitions, but corroborate the assumption that advocacy coalitions remain stable over time. While this analysis identifies temporary openings in policymaking venues and in the advocacy coalition structure, it is argued that these developments did not affect crisis policymaking. Essay 2 seeks to explain the decision to initiate a referendum on nuclear power following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Internal government documents and other historical records indicate that strategic considerations superseded learning as the primary explanation in this case. Essay 3 conducts an in-depth examination of Swedish policymaking in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in an effort to explain the government's decision not to accelerate the nuclear power phaseout. Recently disclosed government documents show that minority coalition mobilization was insufficient to explain this decision. In this case, rational learning and strategic action provided a better explanation. The main theoretical contribution derived from the three

  2. Crisis and Policy Reformcraft: Advocacy Coalitions and Crisis-induced Change in Swedish Nuclear Energy Policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nohrstedt, Daniel

    2007-04-01

    This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays examining the role of crisis events in Swedish nuclear energy policymaking. The study takes stock of the idea of 'crisis exceptionalism' raised in the literature, which postulates that crisis events provide openings for major policy change. In an effort to explain crisis-induced outcomes in Swedish nuclear energy policy, each essay explores and develops theoretical assumptions derived from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The introduction discusses the ACF and other theoretical perspectives accentuating the role of crisis in policymaking and identifies three explanations for crisis-induced policy outcomes: minority coalition mobilization, learning, and strategic action. Essay 1 analyzes the nature and development of the Swedish nuclear energy subsystem. The results contradict the ACF assumption that corporatist systems nurture narrow subsystems and small advocacy coalitions, but corroborate the assumption that advocacy coalitions remain stable over time. While this analysis identifies temporary openings in policymaking venues and in the advocacy coalition structure, it is argued that these developments did not affect crisis policymaking. Essay 2 seeks to explain the decision to initiate a referendum on nuclear power following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Internal government documents and other historical records indicate that strategic considerations superseded learning as the primary explanation in this case. Essay 3 conducts an in-depth examination of Swedish policymaking in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in an effort to explain the government's decision not to accelerate the nuclear power phaseout. Recently disclosed government documents show that minority coalition mobilization was insufficient to explain this decision. In this case, rational learning and strategic action provided a better explanation. The main theoretical contribution derived from the three essays is to posit

  3. Coincidence of role expectations between staff and volunteer members of drug free community coalitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Marc B; Sapere, Heather; Daviau, John

    2017-08-01

    Community coalitions have proliferated as a means of addressing a range of complex community problems. Such coalitions often consist of a small paid staff and volunteer members. The present study examines one likely contributor to coalition effectiveness: the degree of agreement on role expectations between paid staff and volunteer members. Role confusion occurs when paid staff and volunteers differ in their expectations of who is responsible for accomplishing specific tasks. Staff and volunteer members from 69 randomly selected Drug Free Coalitions in the United States as well as 21 Drug Free Coalitions in Connecticut were asked to respond to an online survey asking about 37 specific coalition tasks critical for effective coalition functioning and the degree to which paid staff and/or voluntary members should be responsible for accomplishing each. Our final sample consisted of 476 individuals from 35 coalitions. Using coalitions as the unit of analysis, we found significant differences between paid staff and volunteer coalition members on nine tasks reflecting four domains: meeting leadership and participation, (2) planning and implementation leadership, (3) publicity/media relations, and (4) logistical functions. Implications of these differences and ways that evaluators could help coalitions deal with differing role expectations were discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A CONCEPTUAL TOOL FOR ASSESSING CLIENT PERFORMANCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT COALITION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gary D. Holt

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the significant impact of client performance on overall project performance and the interdependence of participant%5C%27s performance in the construction project coalition %28i.e. clients%2C designers and constructors%29%2C there is a need to establish client performance measures. Based on data collected from in-depth interviews with nineteen UK architects and nine UK contractors%2C a generic tool for the on-going formal assessment of client performance is presented. It was found that this approach to performance assessment %28i.e. from the view point of other%2C non-client coalition participants%29 should lead to improved project relationships. Data analysis showed that in addition to %5C%27harder%5C%27 measures such as understanding of project requirements and finance%2C other%2C %5C%27softer%5C%27 measures of client performance %28e.g. attitude%29 were worthy of consideration since they determine the quality of participant relationships. It is recommended that the tool be used to promote more effective client performance and thus enhance coalition relationships%2C enabling continuous improvement. The ultimate aim is to develop similar tools for the assessment of all coalition participants based on a culture of openness and trust. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : assessment+tool%2C+coalition+participants%2C+client+performance%2C+perceptions%2C+performance+measures%2C+satisfaction.

  5. Mapping one strong 'Ohana: using network analysis and GIS to enhance the effectiveness of a statewide coalition to prevent child abuse and neglect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardazone, Gina; U Sy, Angela; Chik, Ivan; Corlew, Laura Kate

    2014-06-01

    Network analysis and GIS enable the presentation of meaningful data about organizational relationships and community characteristics, respectively. Together, these tools can provide a concrete representation of the ecological context in which coalitions operate, and may help coalitions identify opportunities for growth and enhanced effectiveness. This study uses network analysis and GIS mapping as part of an evaluation of the One Strong 'Ohana (OSO) campaign. The OSO campaign was launched in 2012 via a partnership between the Hawai'i Children's Trust Fund (HCTF) and the Joyful Heart Foundation. The OSO campaign uses a collaborative approach aimed at increasing public awareness of child maltreatment and protective factors that can prevent maltreatment, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of the HCTF Coalition. This study focuses on three elements of the OSO campaign evaluation: (1) Network analysis exploring the relationships between 24 active Coalition member organizations, (2) GIS mapping of responses to a randomized statewide phone survey (n = 1,450) assessing awareness of factors contributing to child maltreatment, and (3) Combined GIS maps and network data, illustrating opportunities for geographically-targeted coalition building and public awareness activities.

  6. Theories of coalition formation: An empirical test using data from Danish local government

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skjæveland, Asbjørn; Serritzlew, Søren; Blom-Hansen, Jens

    2007-01-01

    Theories of coalition formation represent a diverse set of arguments about why some government coalitions form while others do not. In this article, the authors present a systematic empirical test of the relative importance of the various arguments. The test is designed to avoid a circularity...... problem present in many coalition studies - namely that the theories are tested on data of national government coalitions in postwar Europe: the very data that gave rise to the theories in the first place. Instead, the authors focus on government coalitions at the municipal level. They base their analysis...... on office and policy motives. At the same time, the analysis raises the question of whether actors really seek minimal coalitions....

  7. Coalitions in the quantum Minority game: Classical cheats and quantum bullies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flitney, Adrian P.; Greentree, Andrew D.

    2007-01-01

    In a one-off Minority game, when a group of players agree to collaborate they gain an advantage over the remaining players. We consider the advantage obtained in a quantum Minority game by a coalition sharing an initially entangled state versus that obtained by a coalition that uses classical communication to arrive at an optimal group strategy. In a model of the quantum Minority game where the final measurement basis is randomized, quantum coalitions outperform classical ones when carried out by up to four players, but an unrestricted amount of classical communication is better for larger coalition sizes

  8. Rivalry of Advocacy Coalitions in the Czech Pension Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Potůček Martin

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The Czech Republic, as many other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, faced and is still facing a pension-reform challenge. The diversification of pension pillars led to the massive displacements of participant contributions from the public PAYG pension pillars to the newly constructed private, defined-contribution, fully-funded pillars. In the Czech Republic, the adoption of the relevant law was preceded by serious political conflict between supporters and opponents of this step (both among different political actors and among professionals. In an analysis of the conflict we critically apply the Advocacy Coalition Framework. We work mainly with the analysis of policy documents, public statements of the individual actors and an analysis of voting on the relevant law in both chambers of the Czech Parliament towards the identification of the crystallization process of two clear-cut coalitions between actors from both sides of the spectrum. The Advocacy Coalition Framework in exploring the dynamics of the public-policy process proved to be able to explain situations where there is sharp political conflict. Through the lens of the devil-shift of both camps (advocacy coalitions with different beliefs, each fell into extreme positions within the coalition to affirm the correctness of their arguments and positions.

  9. International Land Coalition: Women's access to land

    OpenAIRE

    International Land Coalition (ILC)

    2008-01-01

    Metadata only record The International Land Coalition (ILC) started as the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty. This is a global alliance of intergovernmental, governmental and civil-society organizations committed to rural poverty eradication. On their website, (on the left click on documents) the link presents a list of resources related to the role of women and access to land. There are case studies and country reports in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Nepal, as wel...

  10. Community Coalitions' Gender-Aware Policy and Systems Changes to Improve the Health of Women and Girls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kowalczyk, Shelly; Randolph, Suzanne M; Oravecz, Linda

    2017-10-17

    Addressing environmental barriers and community conditions through policy and systems change provides the foundation for creating sustainable public health change at the population level. In an effort to influence population-level change that is gender aware, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health funded the Coalition for a Healthier Community initiative supporting 10 grantees in the implementation of gender-based, public health systems approaches to improve women and girls' health. A national evaluation assessed the extent to which these gender-aware public health systems approaches result in programs and policies that are sustainable and cost effective in addressing health disparities in women and girls. For this paper, a review of policies reported on in grantees' quarterly progress reports was conducted, and policies were categorized based on each policy's status, level, sector affected, and whether it was gender aware. The review revealed 77 policies at varying stages of development or implementation intended to facilitate systems-level change at the coalition, school, organizational, local, or state level. Fifty-one percent of these policies were identified as being gender aware, because they were intended to reduce barriers to or increase facilitators of gender equity. Community coalitions, like the Coalition for a Healthier Community coalitions, can be valuable channels for promoting policy change, as demonstrated by the many policies developed and/or supported by the Coalition for a Healthier Community grantees in their attempt to meet the needs of women and girls. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  11. TTI Phase 2 Institutional Support: Advocates Coalition for ...

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

    Le financement contribuera à renforcer le rôle de l'Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) en tant qu'organisme crédible de recherche sur les politiques publiques en Ouganda, en améliorant sa capacité à fournir des recherches de qualité supérieure, influentes et utiles en matière de politiques.

  12. Intermediary Organizations in Charter School Policy Coalitions: Evidence from New Orleans

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBray, Elizabeth; Scott, Janelle; Lubienski, Christopher; Jabbar, Huriya

    2014-01-01

    This article develops a framework for investigating research use, using an "advocacy coalition framework" and the concepts of a "supply side" (mainly organizations) and "demand side" (policymakers). Drawing on interview data and documents from New Orleans about the charter school reforms that have developed there…

  13. Fighting Windmills: The Coalition of Industrialists and Environmentalists in the Climate Change Issue

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brandt, Urs Steiner; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

    2004-01-01

    environmental quality. We focus on the case of international climate negotiations and the promotion of wind-based energy. Along the lines of the Ackerman and Hassler approach, we suggest that one reason for EU eagerness to push forward ambitious reduction target levels (and thereby promote new green industries......) could be a similar coalition between industrialists and environmentalists. Such a strategy can be seen in the context of the Bootleggers and Baptist theory developed by Yandle [‘Bootleggers and Baptists: the Education of a Regulatory Economist,’ Regulation, 7, 12–16], where the Baptists (in our case...... for the coalition of industrialists and environmentalists offering both market protection and improved environmental quality. Solving the current deadlock in international climate negotiations may well imply fighting the strong coalition of industrialists and environmentalists. Such a political battle may turn out...

  14. CFCC: A Covert Flows Confinement Mechanism for Virtual Machine Coalitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Ge; Jin, Hai; Zou, Deqing; Shi, Lei; Ohoussou, Alex K.

    Normally, virtualization technology is adopted to construct the infrastructure of cloud computing environment. Resources are managed and organized dynamically through virtual machine (VM) coalitions in accordance with the requirements of applications. Enforcing mandatory access control (MAC) on the VM coalitions will greatly improve the security of VM-based cloud computing. However, the existing MAC models lack the mechanism to confine the covert flows and are hard to eliminate the convert channels. In this paper, we propose a covert flows confinement mechanism for virtual machine coalitions (CFCC), which introduces dynamic conflicts of interest based on the activity history of VMs, each of which is attached with a label. The proposed mechanism can be used to confine the covert flows between VMs in different coalitions. We implement a prototype system, evaluate its performance, and show that our mechanism is practical.

  15. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Continues Support of National Campaign to End Veteran Homelessness Nov. 14, 2017 This Veterans Day, Harbor Freight ... support of the national campaign to end veteran homelessness through generous contributions to the National Coalition for ...

  16. 45 CFR 1370.4 - State domestic violence coalition grants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false State domestic violence coalition grants. 1370.4 Section 1370.4 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SERVICES PROGRAMS FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SERVICES...

  17. The bone scan in tarsal coalition: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Lima, R.T.; Mishkin, F.S.

    1996-01-01

    Tarsal coalition is abnormal fusion of two or more tarsal bones. The union may be fibrous, cartilaginous, or osseous and can be congenital or acquired in response to infection, articular disorders, trauma, or surgery. We report a case of fibrous talocalcaneal coalition in a 15-year-old boy in whom bone scintigraphy employing pinhole lateral views confirmed the clinical diagnosis when plain radiographs showed minimal changes and computed tomography was equivocal. The diagnosis of symptomatic tarsal coalition is important in that it is a common remediable cause of peroneal spastic flat foot, a frequently encountered condition. Scintigraphy provides important information about the presence and localization of this condition. (orig.). With 3 figs

  18. The bone scan in tarsal coalition: a case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Lima, R.T. [Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA (United States); Mishkin, F.S. [Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA (United States)

    1996-10-01

    Tarsal coalition is abnormal fusion of two or more tarsal bones. The union may be fibrous, cartilaginous, or osseous and can be congenital or acquired in response to infection, articular disorders, trauma, or surgery. We report a case of fibrous talocalcaneal coalition in a 15-year-old boy in whom bone scintigraphy employing pinhole lateral views confirmed the clinical diagnosis when plain radiographs showed minimal changes and computed tomography was equivocal. The diagnosis of symptomatic tarsal coalition is important in that it is a common remediable cause of peroneal spastic flat foot, a frequently encountered condition. Scintigraphy provides important information about the presence and localization of this condition. (orig.). With 3 figs.

  19. Intercell scheduling: A negotiation approach using multi-agent coalitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Yunna; Li, Dongni; Zheng, Dan; Jia, Yunde

    2016-10-01

    Intercell scheduling problems arise as a result of intercell transfers in cellular manufacturing systems. Flexible intercell routes are considered in this article, and a coalition-based scheduling (CBS) approach using distributed multi-agent negotiation is developed. Taking advantage of the extended vision of the coalition agents, the global optimization is improved and the communication cost is reduced. The objective of the addressed problem is to minimize mean tardiness. Computational results show that, compared with the widely used combinatorial rules, CBS provides better performance not only in minimizing the objective, i.e. mean tardiness, but also in minimizing auxiliary measures such as maximum completion time, mean flow time and the ratio of tardy parts. Moreover, CBS is better than the existing intercell scheduling approach for the same problem with respect to the solution quality and computational costs.

  20. Friends Indeed? Coalition Burden Sharing and the War In Iraq. Volume 1

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Baltrusaitis, Daniel F

    2008-01-01

    .... This research examines the conditions that influence state burden sharing behavior for ad hoc security coalitions and examines the decision making model developed by Andrew Bennett, Joseph Lepgold, and Danny...

  1. Strongly Essential Coalitions and the Nucleolus of Peer Group Games

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brânzei, R.; Solymosi, T.; Tijs, S.H.

    2003-01-01

    Most of the known efficient algorithms designed to compute the nucleolus for special classes of balanced games are based on two facts: (i) in any balanced game, the coalitions which actually determine the nucleolus are essential; and (ii) all essential coalitions in any of the games in the class

  2. Coalition contract management as a systems change strategy for HIV prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darrow, William W; Montanea, Julie E; Sánchez-Braña, Elizabeth

    2010-11-01

    Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 provided a unique opportunity for minority community-based organizations (CBOs) to work together to eliminate disparities in HIV disease. A coalition was formed in Broward County to respond to the REACH 2010 program announcement, a university was chosen to coordinate efforts, and contracts were negotiated with CBO partners to develop, implement, and evaluate a community action plan. Contract management provided stability, focus, and a mechanism for coalition partners to measure progress toward achieving project objectives. By emphasizing documentation as well as the delivery of services, however, contract conditions also placed a heavy burden on educational outreach workers, restricted the reimbursable activities of member organizations, and created friction between minority agencies and university staff. Although the coalition met many of its objectives, the introduction and enforcement of a mutually agreed on set of rules and obligations as a way of promoting systems change in Broward County failed to make a lasting impact among community partners. CBOs continued to compete with one another for HIV prevention project funding and stopped collaborating as closely with another when federal support for our REACH 2010 community demonstration project ran out.

  3. Towards a New Theory of Feminist Coalition: Accounting for the Heterogeneity of Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality through an Exploration of Power and Responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly Jeanine Boux

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper develops a novel theory of feminist coalition that centers and redefines the concepts of power and responsibility. After outlining several key ways in which feminist coalition work has been addressed by both theorists and practitioners, it goes on to explore how accounting for the complex experiences of identity rooted in factors such as race, class, gender, and sexuality continues to complicate the process of coalition building and theorizing. From these foundations, the article develops a theory of feminist coalition that speaks to how such a movement—or organizations within such a movement—can drive the political will for transformation and turn this will into political action without glossing over vital differences in people’s daily experiences of gender as it intersects with other systems of domination and oppression. The key argument made herein is that an explicit focus on power and responsibility can help us develop more functional answers to critical and still pressing questions, such as: Who is included—explicitly or implicitly—in feminist coalitions? And what issues, or agendas, are we working towards changing through these coalitions?

  4. Can state-supported interprofessional coalitions cure preceptor shortages?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodall, Lesli; Smith, Gigi; Garr, David; Hopla, Deborah; Kern, Donna

    2018-06-01

    The shortage of clinical preceptors compromises the current and future supply of healthcare providers and patient access to primary care. This article describes how an interprofessional coalition in South Carolina formed and sought government support to address the preceptor shortage. Some states have legislated preceptor tax credits and/or deductions to support the clinical education of future primary care healthcare providers. As a result of the coalition's work, a bill to establish similar incentives is pending in the South Carolina legislature.

  5. United we stand : Corporate Monitoring by Shareholder Coalitions in the UK

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Crespi, R.; Renneboog, L.D.R.

    2000-01-01

    This paper investigates whether voting coalitions are formed by shareholders in order to discipline incumbent management. Shapley values capturing the relative power of shareholder coalitions by category of owner, outperform models with percentage ownership stakes and models measuring the relative

  6. Competitive Outcomes and Endogenous Coalition Formation in an n-Person Game

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sun, N.; Trockel, W.; Yang, Z.F.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we study competitive outcomes and endogenous coalition formation in a cooperative n-person transferable utility (TU) game from the viewpoint of general equilibrium theory.For any given game, we construct a competitive exchange coalition production economy corresponding to the game.

  7. KSCO 2002: Second International Conference on Knowledge Systems for Coalition Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-05-01

    based on selected classic coalition theories is, for example, COALA (Klusch & Vielhak, 1997). 94 unique for any 3-agent game (A,v), assigns...1997) COALA - Simulation Environment for Coalition Formation Among Autonomous Information Agents. http://www.dfki.de/~klusch/ COALA / Kraus, S

  8. Subtalar coalition: usefulness of the C sign on lateral radiographs of the ankle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Seong Hyun; Ahn, Joong Mo; Lee, Min Hee; Yoon, Hye Kyung; Kim, Sung Moon; Shin, Myung Jin; Kang, Heung Sik

    2001-01-01

    To assess the usefulness of the talocalcaneal C sign in the diagnosis of subtalar coalition, as seen on lateral radiographs of the ankle. Lateral radiographs of 12 ankles in 11 patients were included in this study. Twelve subtalar coalitions were confirmed by surgery (n=6), or by CT and/or MR (n=6). The presence of the talocalcaneal C sign on lateral ankle radiographs was determined. The C sign was continuous in six feet and interrupted in the remaining six. Subtalar coalition occurred simultaneously inthe middle and posterior subtalar joints in two cases, the posterior subtalar joint only in six, and in the middle subtalar joint only in four. In six cases confirmed at surgery, subtalar coalitions consisted of both synostosis and non-osseous fusion (synchondrosis and/or syndesmosis) and in one case of middle subtalar coalition, there was a bony bridge. The remaining six cases. confirmed at CT or MRI, involved both synostosis and non-osseous fusion (n=1) or non-osseous fusion only (n=5). In the diagnosis of subtalar coalition, the talocalcaneal C sign, seen on lateral radiographs of the ankle, is a useful indicator

  9. Multidisciplinary and multisectoral coalitions as catalysts for action against antimicrobial resistance: Implementation experiences at national and regional levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Mohan P; Chintu, Chifumbe; Mpundu, Mirfin; Kibuule, Dan; Hazemba, Oliver; Andualem, Tenaw; Embrey, Martha; Phulu, Bayobuya; Gerba, Heran

    2018-03-20

    The multi-faceted complexities of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) require consistent action, a multidisciplinary approach, and long-term political commitment. Building coalitions can amplify stakeholder efforts to carry out effective AMR prevention and control strategies. We have developed and implemented an approach to help local stakeholders kick-start the coalition-building process. The five-step process is to (1) mobilise support, (2) understand the local situation, (3) develop an action plan, (4) implement the plan, and (5) monitor and evaluate. We first piloted the approach in Zambia in 2004, then used the lessons learned to expand it for use in Ethiopia and Namibia and to the regional level through the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network [EPN]. Call-to-action declarations and workshops helped promote a shared vision, resulting in the development of national AMR action plans, revision of university curricula to incorporate relevant topics, infection control activities, engagement with journalists from various mass media outlets, and strengthening of drug quality assurance systems. Our experience with the coalition-building approach in Ethiopia, Namibia, Zambia, and with the EPN shows that coalitions can form in a variety of ways with many different stakeholders, including government, academia, and faith-based organisations, to organise actions to preserve the effectiveness of existing antimicrobials and contain AMR.

  10. Two hardness results for core stability in hedonic coalition formation games

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Deineko, V.G.; Woeginger, G.J.

    2013-01-01

    We establish NP-completeness of two problems on core stable coalitions in hedonic games. In the first problem every player has only two acceptable coalitions in his preference list, and in the second problem the preference structures arise from the distances in an underlying metric space.

  11. A block chain based architecture for asset management in coalition operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Dinesh; Desai, Nirmit; Preece, Alun; Taylor, Ian

    2017-05-01

    To support dynamic communities of interests in coalition operations, new architectures for efficient sharing of ISR assets are needed. The use of blockchain technology in wired business environments, such as digital currency systems, offers an interesting solution by creating a way to maintain a distributed shared ledger without requiring a single trusted authority. In this paper, we discuss how a blockchain-based system can be modified to provide a solution for dynamic asset sharing amongst coalition members, enabling the creation of a logically centralized asset management system by a seamless policy-compliant federation of different coalition systems. We discuss the use of blockchain for three different types of assets in a coalition context, showing how blockchain can offer a suitable solution for sharing assets in those environments. We also discuss the limitations in the current implementations of blockchain which need to be overcome for the technology to become more effective in a decentralized tactical edge environment.

  12. Gait analysis with an integrated system for functional assessment of talocalcaneal coalition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giacomozzi, Claudia; Benedetti, Maria Grazia; Leardini, Alberto; Macellari, Velio; Giannini, Sandro

    2006-01-01

    There is little knowledge of the functional performance of patients with talocalcaneal coalition because of the marginal quantitative information accessible using current motion-analysis and plantar pressure-measurement techniques. A novel system was developed for comprehensively measuring foot-floor interaction during the stance phase of gait that integrates instrumentation for simultaneously measuring bony segment position, ground reaction force, and plantar pressure with synchronization of spatial and temporal variables. An advanced anatomically based analysis of foot joint rotations was also applied. Tracking of numerous anatomical landmarks allowed accurate selection of three footprint subareas and reliable estimation of relevant local forces and moments. Eight patients (11 feet) with talocalcaneal coalition were analyzed. Major impairment of the rearfoot was found in nonsurgical patients, with an everted attitude, limited plantarflexion, and overloading in all three components of ground reaction force. Surgical patients showed more normal loading patterns in each footprint subarea. This measuring system allowed for accurate inspection of the effects of surgical treatment in the entire foot and at several footprint subareas. Surgical treatment of talocalcaneal coalition seems to be effective in restoring more physiologic subtalar and forefoot motion and loading patterns.

  13. A Qualitative Examination of the Implementation of a Community-Academic Coalition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boydell, Katherine M.; Volpe, Tiziana

    2004-01-01

    Many recent grant initiatives have mandated coalition building as a key component of their health promotion efforts. Health service leaders are increasingly representing their organizations on coalitions and need to better understand the complexities involved in their creation and management. In this paper we focus on the implementation of a…

  14. The C sign: more specific for flatfoot deformity than subtalar coalition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, R.R.; Rosenberg, Z.S.; Thornhill, B.A.

    2001-01-01

    Objective. To assess the sensitivity and specificity of the C sign, a C-shaped line created by the outline of the talar dome and the inferior margin of the sustentaculum tali on lateral ankle radiographs, for patients with both flatfoot deformity and specifically talocalcaneal (TC) coalition.Design and patients. All patients in this retrospective study were under 35 years of age and had a lateral ankle radiograph and follow-up CT scan for a non-traumatic indication. Forty-eight cases over the past 5 years fulfilled these criteria. Two masked musculoskeletal radiologists determined the presence or absence of the C sign for each lateral radiograph by consensus. Each CT study was then assessed by a third musculoskeletal radiologist for the presence of tarsal coalition. Observations were correlated with clinical history regarding presence or absence of flatfoot deformity.Results. Ten cases of TC coalition were diagnosed, four of which demonstrated a C sign (40%). Eight cases with a C sign were encountered, four of which had TC coalition (50%) and four did not. All patients with a positive C sign had a flatfoot clinically (100%), while only eight of 24 flatfooted patients had a C sign (33%).Conclusion. The C sign is specific, but not sensitive, for flatfoot deformity, and is neither sensitive nor specific for subtalar coalition. (orig.)

  15. A coalition formation game for transmitter cooperation in OFDMA uplink communications

    KAUST Repository

    Chelli, Ali

    2014-12-01

    The SC-FDMA (single-carrier frequency division multiple access) is the access scheme that has been adopted by 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) for the LTE (long term evolution) uplink. The SC-FDMA is an attractive alternative to OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access) especially on the uplink owing to its low peak-to-average power ratio. This fact increases the power efficiency and reduces the cost of the power amplifiers at the mobile terminals. The use of SC-FDMA on the uplink implies that for highly loaded cells the base station allocates a single subcarrier to each user. This results in the limitation of the achievable rate on the uplink. In this work, we propose a coalition game between mobile terminals that allows them to improve their performance by sharing their subcarriers without creating any interference to each other. The proposed scheme allows a fair use of the subcarriers and leads to a significant capacity gain for each user. The cooperation between the nodes is modelled using coalitional game theory. In this game, each coalition tries to maximize its utility in terms of rate. In the absence of cooperation cost, it can be shown that the grand coalition is sum-rate optimal and stable, i.e., the mobile terminals have no incentive to leave the grand coalition.

  16. Joint Real-Time Energy and Demand-Response Management using a Hybrid Coalitional-Noncooperative Game

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    He, Fulin; Gu, Yi; Hao, Jun; Zhang, Jun Jason; Wei, Jiaolong; Zhang, Yingchen

    2015-11-11

    In order to model the interactions among utility companies, building demands and renewable energy generators (REGs), a hybrid coalitional-noncooperative game framework has been proposed. We formulate a dynamic non-cooperative game to study the energy dispatch within multiple utility companies, while we take a coalitional perspective on REGs and buildings demands through a hedonic coalition formation game approach. In this case, building demands request different power supply from REGs, then the building demands can be organized into an ultimate coalition structure through a distributed hedonic shift algorithm. At the same time, utility companies can also obtain a stable power generation profile. In addition, the interactive progress among the utility companies and building demands which cannot be supplied by REGs is implemented by distributed game theoretic algorithms. Numerical results illustrate that the proposed hybrid coalitional-noncooperative game scheme reduces the cost of both building demands and utility companies compared with the initial scene.

  17. Advancing Immigrant Worker Rights through Labor-Community Coalition: Comparative Case Studies of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Mindy Minyi

    2017-01-01

    Since 2008, a coalition known as the CLEAN Carwash Campaign has been organizing car wash workers in Los Angeles. How did CLEAN manage the divergent interests of its coalition members and strategize? What is it about CLEAN that led the labor-community coalition to achieve gains for carwasheros when conventional wisdom dictates that low wage immigrant workers were too vulnerable to be unionized? Given the dearth of empirical research into how social movement coalitions strategize and how campai...

  18. Core stability in hedonic coalition formation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Woeginger, G.J.

    2012-01-01

    In many economic, social and political situations individuals carry out activities in groups (coalitions) rather than alone and on their own. Examples range from households and sport clubs to research networks, political parties and trade unions. The underlying game theoretic framework is known as

  19. Improving Organisational Effectiveness of Coalition Operations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bisig, E.; Ann-Renée; Hof, T.; Seiler, S.; Yanakiev, Y.

    2010-01-01

    Transformation of military operations demands new tools to support the performance of coalition forces in multinational operations. This paper contributes to one of the fundamental objectives of SAS-081/RSY, namely to the objective to share experience from the implementation of methods and tools and

  20. Course of Action Analysis for Coalition Operations

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Wagenhals, Lee W; Reid, Tom; Smillie, Robert J; Levis, Alexander H

    2001-01-01

    ...) of the Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Command. The goal of DSCCO is to apply and integrate organizational design concepts and decision support technologies in planning and executing multi-national coalition operations...

  1. Negotiating Rights : Building Coalitions for Improving Maternal ...

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

    Negotiating Rights : Building Coalitions for Improving Maternal Health Services ... the state of maternal health in the country reflects poorly on public health priorities. ... A number of international agencies and civil society organizations are ...

  2. Albert Sabin and the Coalition to Eliminate Polio from the Americas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hampton, Lee

    2009-01-01

    Albert B. Sabin, MD, developer of the oral polio vaccine, was also a major proponent of its use in annual vaccination campaigns aimed at the elimination of polio. Sabin argued that administering his vaccine simultaneously to every child in a country would break polio's chains of transmission. Although he was already promoting mass vaccination by the 1960s, Sabin's efforts expanded considerably when he became an adviser to groups fighting polio in the Americas in the 1980s. Sabin's experiences provide a window into both the formation of the coalition that eliminated poliomyelitis from the Western Hemisphere and what can happen when biomedical researchers become public health policy advisers. Although the polio elimination coalition succeeded in part because member groups often accommodated each other's priorities, Sabin was often limited by his indifference to the interests of those he was advising and to the shortcomings of his vaccine.

  3. A Cross-Layer Optimization Approach for Energy Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks: Coalition-Aided Data Aggregation, Cooperative Communication, and Energy Balancing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qinghai Gao

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available We take a cross-layer optimization approach to study energy efficient data transport in coalition-based wireless sensor networks, where neighboring nodes are organized into groups to form coalitions and sensor nodes within one coalition carry out cooperative communications. In particular, we investigate two network models: (1 many-to-one sensor networks where data from one coalition are transmitted to the sink directly, and (2 multihop sensor networks where data are transported by intermediate nodes to reach the sink. For the many-to-one network model, we propose three schemes for data transmission from a coalition to the sink. In scheme 1, one node in the coalition is selected randomly to transmit the data; in scheme 2, the node with the best channel condition in the coalition transmits the data; and in scheme 3, all the nodes in the coalition transmit in a cooperative manner. Next, we investigate energy balancing with cooperative data transport in multihop sensor networks. Built on the above coalition-aided data transmission schemes, the optimal coalition planning is then carried out in multihop networks, in the sense that unequal coalition sizes are applied to minimize the difference of energy consumption among sensor nodes. Numerical analysis reveals that energy efficiency can be improved significantly by the coalition-aided transmission schemes, and that energy balancing across the sensor nodes can be achieved with the proposed coalition structures.

  4. Influencing the political process through coalitions: the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holm, R S; Shaheen, P N

    1995-08-01

    Building a coalition with others is an effective tool for increasing influence at the state level of the political process. It allows for the hiring of a staff who are able to maintain a constant presence in the ever-changing state political arena, which individual physicians and other caregivers simply cannot do. It allows for the development of increased sophistication among its members, which likewise increases the ability to affect the political process. It should be done with a philosophical set of standards that preserves its integrity and focuses on its goals, which must be carefully delineated from the inception. Coalitions are an effective way to deal with public issues of maternal and child health.

  5. Wind energy aggregation: A coalitional game approach

    KAUST Repository

    Baeyens, E.; Bitar, E.Y.; Khargonekar, P.P.; Poolla, K.

    2011-01-01

    power output as single entity into a forward energy market. We prove that wind power generators will always improve their expected profit when they aggregate their generated power and use tools from coalitional game theory to design fair sharing

  6. CADRE Quick-Look: Homeland Security-NORTHCOM's Coalition War

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Conway, John L

    2005-01-01

    .... Coalition warfare has many facets: it involves the blending of different cultures, multiple languages dialects, and disparate weapon systems, as well as differing perceptions of end states and how to...

  7. 78 FR 69660 - Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity, Coalition of Miso Transmission Customers...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-20

    ... Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity, Coalition of Miso Transmission Customers, Illinois Industrial Energy... LLC, Duke Energy Business Services, LLC, Entergy Arkansas, Inc., Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC....206 (2013), Association of Businesses Advocating Tariff Equity, Coalition of Miso Transmission...

  8. Model-Checking an Alternating-time Temporal Logic with Knowledge, Imperfect Information, Perfect Recall and Communicating Coalitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cătălin Dima

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available We present a variant of ATL with distributed knowledge operators based on a synchronous and perfect recall semantics. The coalition modalities in this logic are based on partial observation of the full history, and incorporate a form of cooperation between members of the coalition in which agents issue their actions based on the distributed knowledge, for that coalition, of the system history. We show that model-checking is decidable for this logic. The technique utilizes two variants of games with imperfect information and partially observable objectives, as well as a subset construction for identifying states whose histories are indistinguishable to the considered coalition.

  9. Endangered Species Case - Washington Toxics Coalition v. EPA

    Science.gov (United States)

    This Web page provides information on the Washington Toxics Coalition v. EPA case, related to protection of Pacific salmon and steelhead, and links to the biological opinions issued by the NMFS and EPA’s responses.

  10. Power and Politics in the Global Health Landscape: Beliefs, Competition and Negotiation Among Global Advocacy Coalitions in the Policy-Making Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougall, Lori

    2016-01-01

    Background: Advocacy coalitions play an increasingly prominent role within the global health landscape, linking actors and institutions to attract political attention and resources. This paper examines how coalitions negotiate among themselves and exercise hidden forms of power to produce policy on the basis of their beliefs and strategic interests. Methods: This paper examines the beliefs and behaviours of health advocacy coalitions using Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as an informal theoretical lens. Coalitions are further explored in relation to the concept of transnational advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink) and of productive power (Shiffman). The ACF focuses on explaining how policy change takes place when there is conflict concerning goals and technical approaches among different actors. This study uses participant observation methods, self-reported survey results and semi-structured qualitative interviews to trace how a major policy project of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era, the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, was constructed through negotiations among maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy coalitions. Results: The Global Strategy represented a new opportunity for high-level political attention. Despite differing policy beliefs, MNCH and SRHR actors collaborated to produce this strategy because of anticipated gains in political attention. While core beliefs did not shift fundamentally and collaboration was primarily a short-term tactical response to a time-bound opportunity, MNCH actors began to focus more on human rights perspectives and SRHR actors adopted greater use of quantifiable indicators and economic argumentation. This shift emphasises the inherent importance of SRHR to maternal and child health survival. Conclusion: As opportunities arise, coalitions respond based on principles and policy beliefs, as well as to perceptions of

  11. Power and Politics in the Global Health Landscape: Beliefs, Competition and Negotiation Among Global Advocacy Coalitions in the Policy-Making Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougall, Lori

    2016-01-30

    Advocacy coalitions play an increasingly prominent role within the global health landscape, linking actors and institutions to attract political attention and resources. This paper examines how coalitions negotiate among themselves and exercise hidden forms of power to produce policy on the basis of their beliefs and strategic interests. This paper examines the beliefs and behaviours of health advocacy coalitions using Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as an informal theoretical lens. Coalitions are further explored in relation to the concept of transnational advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink) and of productive power (Shiffman). The ACF focuses on explaining how policy change takes place when there is conflict concerning goals and technical approaches among different actors. This study uses participant observation methods, self-reported survey results and semi-structured qualitative interviews to trace how a major policy project of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era, the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, was constructed through negotiations among maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocacy coalitions. The Global Strategy represented a new opportunity for high-level political attention. Despite differing policy beliefs, MNCH and SRHR actors collaborated to produce this strategy because of anticipated gains in political attention. While core beliefs did not shift fundamentally and collaboration was primarily a short-term tactical response to a time-bound opportunity, MNCH actors began to focus more on human rights perspectives and SRHR actors adopted greater use of quantifiable indicators and economic argumentation. This shift emphasises the inherent importance of SRHR to maternal and child health survival. As opportunities arise, coalitions respond based on principles and policy beliefs, as well as to perceptions of advantage. Global health policy-making is an arena of

  12. The coalitional value theory of antigay bias

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Winegard, Bo; Reynolds, Tania; Baumeister, Roy F.; Plant, E. Ashby

    2016-01-01

    Research indicates that antigay bias follows a specific pattern (and probably has throughout written history, at least in the West): (a) men evince more antigay bias than women; (b) men who belong to traditionally male coalitions evince more antigay bias than those who do not; (c) antigay bias is

  13. Modeling Multi-Mobile Agents System Based on Coalition Signature Mechanism Using UML

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SUNZhixin; HUANGHaiping; WANGRuchuan

    2004-01-01

    With the development of electronic commerce and agent techniques, multi-mobile agents cooperation can not only improve the efficiency of electronic business trade, but more importantly, it has a comprehensive applicative value in solving the security issues of mobile agent system. This paper firstly describes the mechanism of multi-mobile agents coalition signature aiming at the system security. Subsequently it brings forward a basic architecture of Multi-mobile agents system (MMAS) based on the design pattern of multi-mobile agents. The paper uses the diagrs_rn of UML, such as use case diagram, class diagram and sequence diagram to build the detailed model of the coalition signature and multi-mobile agents cooperation results. Through security analysis, we find that multimobile agents cooperation and interaction can solve some security problems of mobile agents in transfer, and also it can improve the efficiency of business trade. These results indicate that MMAS has a high security performance and can be widely used in E-commerce trade.

  14. Tarsal tunnel disease and talocalcaneal coalition: MRI features

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    FitzGerald Alaia, Erin; Rosenberg, Zehava Sadka; Bencardino, Jenny T.; Ciavarra, Gina A.; Petchprapa, Catherine N. [New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY (United States); Rossi, Ignacio [New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY (United States); Centro de Diagnostico Dr. Enrique Rossi, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

    2016-11-15

    To assess, utilizing MRI, tarsal tunnel disease in patients with talocalcaneal coalitions. To the best of our knowledge, this has only anecdotally been described before. Sixty-seven ankle MRIs with talocalcaneal coalition were retrospectively reviewed for disease of tendons and nerves of the tarsal tunnel. Interobserver variability in diagnosing tendon disease was performed in 30 of the 67 cases. Tarsal tunnel nerves were also evaluated in a control group of 20 consecutive ankle MRIs. Entrapment of the flexor hallucis longus tendon (FHL) by osseous excrescences was seen in 14 of 67 cases (21 %). Attenuation, split tearing, tenosynovitis, or tendinosis of the FHL was present in 26 cases (39 %). Attenuation or tenosynovitis was seen in the flexor digitorum longus tendon (FDL) in 18 cases (27 %). Tenosynovitis or split tearing of the posterior tibial tendon (PT) was present in nine cases (13 %). Interobserver variability ranged from 100 % to slight depending on the tendon and type of disease. Intense increased signal and caliber of the medial plantar nerve (MPN), indicative of neuritis, was seen in 6 of the 67 cases (9 %). Mildly increased T2 signal of the MPN was seen in 15 (22 %) and in 14 (70 %) of the control group. Talocalcaneal coalitions may be associated with tarsal tunnel soft tissue abnormalities affecting, in decreasing order, the FHL, FDL, and PT tendons, as well as the MPN. This information should be provided to the referring physician in order to guide treatment and improve post-surgical outcome. (orig.)

  15. Tarsal tunnel disease and talocalcaneal coalition: MRI features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    FitzGerald Alaia, Erin; Rosenberg, Zehava Sadka; Bencardino, Jenny T.; Ciavarra, Gina A.; Petchprapa, Catherine N.; Rossi, Ignacio

    2016-01-01

    To assess, utilizing MRI, tarsal tunnel disease in patients with talocalcaneal coalitions. To the best of our knowledge, this has only anecdotally been described before. Sixty-seven ankle MRIs with talocalcaneal coalition were retrospectively reviewed for disease of tendons and nerves of the tarsal tunnel. Interobserver variability in diagnosing tendon disease was performed in 30 of the 67 cases. Tarsal tunnel nerves were also evaluated in a control group of 20 consecutive ankle MRIs. Entrapment of the flexor hallucis longus tendon (FHL) by osseous excrescences was seen in 14 of 67 cases (21 %). Attenuation, split tearing, tenosynovitis, or tendinosis of the FHL was present in 26 cases (39 %). Attenuation or tenosynovitis was seen in the flexor digitorum longus tendon (FDL) in 18 cases (27 %). Tenosynovitis or split tearing of the posterior tibial tendon (PT) was present in nine cases (13 %). Interobserver variability ranged from 100 % to slight depending on the tendon and type of disease. Intense increased signal and caliber of the medial plantar nerve (MPN), indicative of neuritis, was seen in 6 of the 67 cases (9 %). Mildly increased T2 signal of the MPN was seen in 15 (22 %) and in 14 (70 %) of the control group. Talocalcaneal coalitions may be associated with tarsal tunnel soft tissue abnormalities affecting, in decreasing order, the FHL, FDL, and PT tendons, as well as the MPN. This information should be provided to the referring physician in order to guide treatment and improve post-surgical outcome. (orig.)

  16. Assessing Community Coalition Capacity and its Association with Underage Drinking Prevention Effectiveness in the Context of the SPF SIG.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flewelling, Robert L; Hanley, Sean M

    2016-10-01

    Community coalitions are a prominent organizational structure through which community-based substance abuse prevention efforts are implemented. There is little empirical evidence, however, regarding the association between coalition attributes and success in achieving community-level reductions in substance abuse behaviors. In this study, we assessed the relationship between coalition capacity, based on coalition coordinator responses to 16 survey items, and reductions in underage drinking prevalence rates. The coalitions were funded through the federally sponsored Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG). We first examined whether coalition capacity increased over the life of the projects. Mean capacity scores increased for all 16 capacity items examined (N = 318 coalitions), the majority of which were statistically significant. Analysis of the associations between capacity and reductions in underage drinking was limited to coalitions that targeted underage drinking and provided usable outcome measures based on student survey data for either past 30-day alcohol use (N = 129) or binge drinking (N = 100). Bivariate associations between the capacity items and prevalence reductions for each outcome were consistently positive, although many were not statistically significant. Composite measures of correlated items were then created to represent six different capacity constructs, and included in multivariate models to predict reductions in the targeted outcomes. Constructs that significantly predicted reductions in one or both outcome measures included internal organization and structure, community connections and outreach, and funding from multiple sources. The findings provide support for the expectation that high functioning community coalitions can be effective agents for producing desirable community-level changes in targeted substance abuse behaviors.

  17. Talocalcaneal Joint Middle Facet Coalition Resection With Interposition of a Juvenile Hyaline Cartilage Graft.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tower, Dyane E; Wood, Ryan W; Vaardahl, Michael D

    2015-01-01

    Talocalcaneal joint middle facet coalition is the most common tarsal coalition, occurring in ≤2% of the population. Fewer than 50% of involved feet obtain lasting relief of symptoms after nonoperative treatment, and surgical intervention is commonly used to relieve symptoms, increase the range of motion, improve function, reconstruct concomitant pes planovalgus, and prevent future arthrosis from occurring at the surrounding joints. Several approaches to surgical intervention are available for patients with middle facet coalitions, ranging from resection to hindfoot arthrodesis. We present a series of 4 cases, in 3 adolescent patients, of talocalcaneal joint middle facet coalition resection with interposition of a particulate juvenile hyaline cartilaginous allograft (DeNovo(®) NT Natural Tissue Graft, Zimmer, Inc., Warsaw, IN). With a mean follow-up period of 42.8 ± 2.9 (range 41 to 47) months, the 3 adolescent patients in the present series were doing well with improved subtalar joint motion and decreased pain, and 1 foot showed no bony regrowth on a follow-up computed tomography scan. The use of a particulate juvenile hyaline cartilaginous allograft as interposition material after talocalcaneal middle facet coalition resection combined with adjunct procedures to address concomitant pes planovalgus resulted in good short-term outcomes in 4 feet in 3 adolescent patients. Copyright © 2015 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Halftime - a balance in matters nuclear of the grand coalition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heller, W.

    2007-01-01

    On November 11, 2005, the coalition partners, CDU/CSU and SPD, signed the agreement establishing a coalition in the German federal parliament under the heading of ''Together for Germany''. Among other things, this raised the question of what would happen in the fields of energy policy and nuclear power. After 2 years of a grand coalition, it is time to draw some interim conclusions. The coalition agreement contains statements to the effect that energy policy means fundamental economic, structural and climate policies, and that secure, low-cost, non-polluting energy supplies are elementary prerequisites of a modern, capable national economy. A sustainable overall energy policy concept should be based on a balanced energy mix. This overall concept, one of the results of ''energy summit'' talks with Federal Chancellor Merkel, was announced for the end of 2007. The 3 energy summit discussions with Federal Chancellor Merkel deliberately avoided the subject of nuclear power. There is no debate about the implications of nuclear energy. This in no way improved the status of nuclear power in Germany. What remains is hope for the second half of this government's term of office. The beginning of that term is marked by the McKinsey study, initiated by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), on ''Cost and Potential of Avoiding Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Germany,'' which says that operating German nuclear power plants for 60 or even 45 years would result in a CO2 avoidance potential for 2020 which would be approximately 90 million tons higher, and in avoidance costs lower by 4.5 billion euro per year. (orig.)

  19. Forming Social Justice Projects: Student Activists Reflect on Coalition-Building

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darren E. Lund

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Student activists share their experiences with racism and more specifically, their attempts to form school diversity initiatives. The author outlines a problematic lack of engagement of student activists in the scholarly literature on social justice, particularly related to their undervalued role as leaders in school-based antiracist coalitions. Excerpts from in-depth interviews with seven student participants in western Canadian schools offer new understandings on the potential of school-based activists. They explain the challenges and successes in building and sustaining activist coalitions and in pursuing their social justice efforts beyond school. Their contributions represent new voices to join the ongoing conversation in educational research and community activism.

  20. Patterns of interventions and the effect of coalitions and sociality on male fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulik, Lars; Muniz, Laura; Mundry, Roger; Widdig, Anja

    2012-02-01

    In group living animals, especially among primates, there is consistent evidence that high-ranking males gain a higher reproductive output than low-ranking males. Primate studies have shown that male coalitions and sociality can impact male fitness; however, it remains unclear whether males could potentially increase their fitness by preferentially supporting and socializing with females. Here we investigate patterns of male interventions and the effect of coalitions and sociality on male fitness in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) with particular focus on male-female interactions. We combined behavioural observations collected on Cayo Santiago with genetic data analysed for male reproductive output and relatedness. Our results revealed that the ten top-ranking males provided the majority of all male support observed. In contrast to other primates, male rhesus macaques mainly formed all-down coalitions suggesting that coalitions are less likely used to enhance male dominance. Males supporting females during and before their likely conception were not more likely to fertilize those females. We also found no evidence that males preferably support their offspring or other close kin. Interestingly, the most important predictor of male support was sociality, since opponents sharing a higher sociality index with a given male were more likely to be supported. Furthermore, a high sociality index of a given male-female dyad resulted in a higher probability of paternity. Overall, our results strengthen the evidence that sociality affects fitness in male primates, but also suggest that in species in which males queue for dominance, it is less likely that males derive fitness benefits from coalitions. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  1. Coalitional game theory as a promising approach to identify candidate autism genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Anika; Sun, Min Woo; Paskov, Kelley Marie; Stockham, Nate Tyler; Jung, Jae-Yoon; Wall, Dennis Paul

    2018-01-01

    Despite mounting evidence for the strong role of genetics in the phenotypic manifestation of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the specific genes responsible for the variable forms of ASD remain undefined. ASD may be best explained by a combinatorial genetic model with varying epistatic interactions across many small effect mutations. Coalitional or cooperative game theory is a technique that studies the combined effects of groups of players, known as coalitions, seeking to identify players who tend to improve the performance--the relationship to a specific disease phenotype--of any coalition they join. This method has been previously shown to boost biologically informative signal in gene expression data but to-date has not been applied to the search for cooperative mutations among putative ASD genes. We describe our approach to highlight genes relevant to ASD using coalitional game theory on alteration data of 1,965 fully sequenced genomes from 756 multiplex families. Alterations were encoded into binary matrices for ASD (case) and unaffected (control) samples, indicating likely gene-disrupting, inherited mutations in altered genes. To determine individual gene contributions given an ASD phenotype, a "player" metric, referred to as the Shapley value, was calculated for each gene in the case and control cohorts. Sixty seven genes were found to have significantly elevated player scores and likely represent significant contributors to the genetic coordination underlying ASD. Using network and cross-study analysis, we found that these genes are involved in biological pathways known to be affected in the autism cases and that a subset directly interact with several genes known to have strong associations to autism. These findings suggest that coalitional game theory can be applied to large-scale genomic data to identify hidden yet influential players in complex polygenic disorders such as autism.

  2. Coalitions and family problem solving with preadolescents in referred, at-risk, and comparison families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vuchinich, S; Wood, B; Vuchinich, R

    1994-12-01

    This study tested the hypothesis that the mother-father coalition, parent-child coalitions, and parental warmth expressed toward the child are associated with family problem solving in families with a preadolescent child referred for treatment of behavior problems (n = 30), families with a child at-risk for conduct disorder (n = 68), and a sample of comparison families (n = 90). Referred and at-risk families displayed less effective problem solving. A regression analysis, which controlled for gender of the child, family structure, family income, marital satisfaction, and severity of child problems, showed that strong parental coalitions were linked to low levels of family problem solving in at-risk and referred families. Parent-child coalitions had little apparent impact while parental warmth was highly correlated with better family problem solving. The results may be interpreted as evidence for a tendency for parents in at-risk and referred families to "scapegoat" a preadolescent during family problem-solving sessions. This may undermine progress on family problem solutions and may complicate family-based prevention and treatment programs that use family problem-solving sessions.

  3. Overlapping coalition formation games in wireless communication networks

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, Tianyu; Saad, Walid; Han, Zhu

    2017-01-01

    This brief introduces overlapping coalition formation games (OCF games), a novel mathematical framework from cooperative game theory that can be used to model, design and analyze cooperative scenarios in future wireless communication networks. The concepts of OCF games are explained, and several algorithmic aspects are studied. In addition, several major application scenarios are discussed. These applications are drawn from a variety of fields that include radio resource allocation in dense wireless networks, cooperative spectrum sensing for cognitive radio networks, and resource management for crowd sourcing. For each application, the use of OCF games is discussed in detail in order to show how this framework can be used to solve relevant wireless networking problems. Overlapping Coalition Formation Games in Wireless Communication Networks provides researchers, students and practitioners with a concise overview of existing works in this emerging area, exploring the relevant fundamental theories, key techniqu...

  4. Connecting and Reconnecting: Outfitting the Figure of the Cyborg for Transnational Coalition-building

    OpenAIRE

    Jessica E. Brophy

    2016-01-01

    This work attempts to rehabilitate Donna Haraway’s (1991) figure of the cyborg to increase the possibilities of alliances between transnational feminism and cyborg or technoscience feminism. Haraway’s cyborg offers little impetus for political investment and coalition building. This work develops an optional prosthesis of responseability for the cyborg figuration, one that enables the cyborg to invest locally. This ethic of response-ability is developed via the work of Mary Strine (1989), Ad...

  5. Tamarisk coalition - native riparian plant materials program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stacy Kolegas

    2012-01-01

    The Tamarisk Coalition (TC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to riparian restoration in the western United States, has created a Native Plant Materials Program to address the identified need for native riparian plant species for use in revegetation efforts on the Colorado Plateau. The specific components of the Native Plant Materials Program include: 1) provide seed...

  6. Smart transactive energy framework in grid-connected multiple home microgrids under independent and coalition operations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marzband, Mousa; Azarinejadian, Fatemeh; Savaghebi, Mehdi

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents a smart Transactive energy (TE) framework in which home microgrids (H-MGs) can collaborate with each other in a multiple H-MG system by forming coalitions for gaining competitiveness in the market. Profit allocation due to coalition between H-MGs is an important issue...

  7. More Fragmented, and yet More Networked: Analysing the Responses of Two Local Authorities in England to the Coalition's "Self-Improving School-Led System" Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greany, Toby

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores school reform in England under the Conservative-led Coalition government, elected in 2010, through a focus on the changing roles and status of Local Authorities (LAs). The Coalition's stated aim was the development of a "self-improving, school-led" system in which LAs should become "champions for children."…

  8. Structural and Community Change Outcomes of the Connect-to-Protect Coalitions: Trials and Triumphs Securing Adolescent Access to HIV Prevention, Testing, and Medical Care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Robin Lin; Reed, Sarah J; Chiaramonte, Danielle; Strzyzykowski, Trevor; Spring, Hannah; Acevedo-Polakovich, Ignacio D; Chutuape, Kate; Cooper-Walker, Bendu; Boyer, Cherrie B; Ellen, Jonathan M

    2017-09-01

    Connect to Protect (C2P), a 10-year community mobilization effort, pursued the dual aims of creating communities competent to address youth's HIV-related risks and removing structural barriers to youth health. We used Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) to examine the perceived contributions and accomplishments of 14 C2P coalitions. We interviewed 318 key informants, including youth and community leaders, to identify the features of coalitions' context and operation that facilitated and undermined their ability to achieve structural change and build communities' capability to manage their local adolescent HIV epidemic effectively. We coded the interviews using an a priori coding scheme informed by CCAT and scholarship on AIDS-competent communities. We found community mobilization efforts like C2P can contribute to addressing the structural factors that promote HIV-risk among youth and to community development. We describe how coalition leadership, collaborative synergy, capacity building, and local community context influence coalitions' ability to successfully implement HIV-related structural change, demonstrating empirical support for many of CCAT's propositions. We discuss implications for how community mobilization efforts might succeed in laying the foundation for an AIDS-competent community. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  9. Power and Politics in the Global Health Landscape: Beliefs, Competition and Negotiation Among Global Advocacy Coalitions in the Policy-Making Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lori McDougall

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Background Advocacy coalitions play an increasingly prominent role within the global health landscape, linking actors and institutions to attract political attention and resources. This paper examines how coalitions negotiate among themselves and exercise hidden forms of power to produce policy on the basis of their beliefs and strategic interests. Methods This paper examines the beliefs and behaviours of health advocacy coalitions using Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF as an informal theoretical lens. Coalitions are further explored in relation to the concept of transnational advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink and of productive power (Shiffman. The ACF focuses on explaining how policy change takes place when there is conflict concerning goals and technical approaches among different actors. This study uses participant observation methods, self-reported survey results and semistructured qualitative interviews to trace how a major policy project of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG era, the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, was constructed through negotiations among maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR advocacy coalitions. Results The Global Strategy represented a new opportunity for high-level political attention. Despite differing policy beliefs, MNCH and SRHR actors collaborated to produce this strategy because of anticipated gains in political attention. While core beliefs did not shift fundamentally and collaboration was primarily a short-term tactical response to a time-bound opportunity, MNCH actors began to focus more on human rights perspectives and SRHR actors adopted greater use of quantifiable indicators and economic argumentation. This shift emphasises the inherent importance of SRHR to maternal and child health survival. Conclusion As opportunities arise, coalitions respond based on principles and policy beliefs, as well as to perceptions

  10. Frequency Resource Sharing and Allocation Scheme Based on Coalition Formation Game in Hybrid D2D-Cellular Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qing Ou

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A distributed cooperation scheme on frequency resource sharing is proposed to improve the quality of service (QoS in device-to-device (D2D communications underlaying cellular networks. Specifically, we formulate the resource allocation problem as a coalition formation game with transferable utility, in which all users have the incentive to cooperate with some others and form a competitive group to maximize the probability of obtaining their favorite spectrum resources. Taking the cost for coalition formation into account, such as the path loss for data sharing, we prove that the core of the proposed game is empty, which shows the impossibility of grand coalition. Hence, we propose a distributed merge-and-split based coalition formation algorithm based on a new defined Max-Coalition order to effectively solve the coalition game. Compared with the exhaustive search, our algorithm has much lower computer complexity. In addition, we prove that stability and convergence of the proposed algorithm using the concept of a defection function. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a suboptimal performance in terms of network sum rate compared with the centralized optimal resource allocation scheme obtained via exhaustive search.

  11. The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply project: An introduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swanson, J C; Mench, J A; Karcher, D

    2015-03-01

    In the United States, empirical information on the sustainability of commercial-scale egg production is lacking. The passage of state regulations specific to hen housing created urgency to better understand the effects of different housing systems on the sustainability of the egg supply, and stimulated the formation of a coalition, the Coalition for a Sustainable Egg Supply (CSES), to conduct research on this topic. The CSES is a multi-stakeholder group with 27 members, including food manufacturers, research institutions, scientists, restaurants, food service, retail food companies, egg suppliers, and nongovernmental organizations. A commercial-scale study was developed to better understand the effect of 3 housing systems (conventional cage, enriched colony, and cage-free aviary) on 5 areas related to a sustainable egg supply. These 5 sustainability areas represent effects on people, animals, and the environment: animal health and well-being, environment, food safety, worker health and safety, and food affordability. Five teams of scientists, each associated with a sustainability area, conducted an integrated field study at a commercial site in the upper Midwest through 2 flock cycles in 3 housing systems. This paper provides a brief overview of the CSES project to serve as an introduction for the papers that follow in this volume of Poultry Science. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Poultry Science Association.

  12. Slow Growth and Urban Sprawl: Support for a New Regional Agenda?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gainsborough, Juliet F.

    2002-01-01

    Assessed the possibilities for coalition building around growth related concerns, exploring support for slowing growth in New York City and Los Angeles. Analyzed data from surveys of urban and suburban dwellers regarding support for growth control measures. Suburbanites were much more receptive to slow growth policies than were urbanites, though…

  13. Air cargo in the Mid-America Freight Coalition region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-01

    This report contains a contextual review of air cargo transportation in the 10-state Mid-America Freight Coalition (MAFC) region including the industrys recent history, security implications, and integration within the greater MAFC economy. The re...

  14. Research Reactors Coalitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borio, Andrea; Bradley, E.; Vyshniauskas, Judy; Ridikas, Danas

    2013-01-01

    When considering the potential role of an existing RR or possibly the construction of a new RR, it is clear that a nuclear science and technology programme (including nuclear power) could benefit provided the RR is safely and competently managed, well utilised and adequately funded. Based on MSs experience, a domestic RR may not be required to develop a nuclear power programme, provided the decision takes advantage of foreign expertise, including access to foreign RRs facilities and RRs regional/international networks. If a country decides to gain access to a foreign research reactor, it may need considering the potential risk of change in the political relationship with the host country that could compromise the achievement of its national relevant objectives. This risk may be offset by availability of many options within one or more regional/international RRs networks and coalitions. Examples include the use of existing RRs in vendor, non-vendor countries and, in some cases non-nuclear power countries, to develop human resources in support of the introduction of nuclear power elsewhere. International RR networking trends are most evident with high flux, higher capability, and more complex fuel and material testing RRs being shared through international partnerships. However, networks involving low-medium power RRs for education and training purposes are also gaining a more prominent role to support nuclear capacity building in newcomer MSs. Networking through the internet seems also to be a promising way to support, as complementary offer to direct access to RRs facilities, MSs nuclear capacity building objectives (e.g. the IRL project)

  15. Online Air-Conditioning Energy Management under Coalitional Game Framework in Smart Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Fan

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by the potential ability of air conditioning (A/C units in demand response, this paper explores how to utilize A/C units to increase the profit of a smart community. A coalitional game between the households and the load serving entity (LSE in a smart community is studied, where the LSE joins by selling renewable energy to householders and providing an energy saving service to them through an A/C controller. The A/C controller is designed to reduce the amount of electricity purchased from the main grid by controlling A/C units. An online A/C energy management algorithm is developed, based on Lyapunov optimization, that considers both the A/C energy consumption and the thermal comfort level of consumers. In order to quantify the contribution of A/C units, the Shapley value is adopted for distribution of the reward among the participating householders and the LSE, based on their contribution. The simulation result verifies the effectiveness of the proposed coalitional game for a smart community and the algorithm for A/C.

  16. Detecting and Mitigating Smart Insider Jamming Attacks in MANETs Using Reputation-Based Coalition Game

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashraf Al Sharah

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Security in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs is challenging due to the ability of adversaries to gather necessary intelligence to launch insider jamming attacks. The solutions to prevent external attacks on MANET are not applicable for defense against insider jamming attacks. There is a need for a formal framework to characterize the information required by adversaries to launch insider jamming attacks. In this paper, we propose a novel reputation-based coalition game in MANETs to detect and mitigate insider jamming attacks. Since there is no centralized controller in MANETs, the nodes rely heavily on availability of transmission rates and a reputation for each individual node in the coalition to detect the presence of internal jamming node. The nodes will form a stable grand coalition in order to make a strategic security defense decision, maintain the grand coalition based on node reputation, and exclude any malicious node based on reputation value. Simulation results show that our approach provides a framework to quantify information needed by adversaries to launch insider attacks. The proposed approach will improve MANET’s defense against insider attacks, while also reducing incorrect classification of legitimate nodes as jammers.

  17. Values for graph-restricted games with coalition structure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Khmelnitskaya, Anna Borisovna

    We consider a new model for TU games with both coalition and cooperation structures that applies to different network situations, in particular, to sharing an international river with multiple users without international firms. Our approach to the value for such a game is close to that of Myerson

  18. Vocational Home Economics Education. Coalition Statement. Second Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Home Economics Education Association, Gainesville, VA.

    This pamphlet contains the statement of the Coalition of the American Home Economics Association, American Vocational Association, and Home Economics Education Association regarding the scope and definition of vocational home economics education. It is intended to serve as a basis for professional action. Sections of this statement address the…

  19. Cohesion and Coalition Formation in the European Parliament: Roll-Call Votes and Twitter Activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherepnalkoski, Darko; Karpf, Andreas; Mozetič, Igor; Grčar, Miha

    2016-01-01

    We study the cohesion within and the coalitions between political groups in the Eighth European Parliament (2014-2019) by analyzing two entirely different aspects of the behavior of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the policy-making processes. On one hand, we analyze their co-voting patterns and, on the other, their retweeting behavior. We make use of two diverse datasets in the analysis. The first one is the roll-call vote dataset, where cohesion is regarded as the tendency to co-vote within a group, and a coalition is formed when the members of several groups exhibit a high degree of co-voting agreement on a subject. The second dataset comes from Twitter; it captures the retweeting (i.e., endorsing) behavior of the MEPs and implies cohesion (retweets within the same group) and coalitions (retweets between groups) from a completely different perspective. We employ two different methodologies to analyze the cohesion and coalitions. The first one is based on Krippendorff's Alpha reliability, used to measure the agreement between raters in data-analysis scenarios, and the second one is based on Exponential Random Graph Models, often used in social-network analysis. We give general insights into the cohesion of political groups in the European Parliament, explore whether coalitions are formed in the same way for different policy areas, and examine to what degree the retweeting behavior of MEPs corresponds to their co-voting patterns. A novel and interesting aspect of our work is the relationship between the co-voting and retweeting patterns.

  20. A medium-term coalition-forming model of heterogeneous DERs for a commercial virtual power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shabanzadeh, Morteza; Sheikh-El-Eslami, Mohammad-Kazem; Haghifam, Mahmoud-Reza

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A medium-term coalition-forming scheme is proposed for commercial VPPs. • Decision making on the optimal selection of VPP coalition members, bilateral and forward contracting, and pool involvement. • VPP acts as an arbitrageur by exercising arbitrage between diverse energy trading floors. • Stochastic programming approach applied to characterize the uncertainty and to derive informed decisions. - Abstract: Within a medium-term market horizon, this research work provides a methodology that allows a commercial virtual power plant (CVPP) to form an optimal coalition of heterogeneous distributed energy resources (DERs) based on weekly bilateral contracting, futures-market involvement, and pool participation. The established model aims at composing an optimal portfolio of available DERs and jointly takes into account the risk associated with the energy trading strategy of the CVPP. Perceiving the fact that pool prices have highly uncertain nature, a framework based on stochastic programming approach is utilized to model this decision-making problem. The proposed framework consists of two stages. The first stage deals with decisions regarding DERs optimal selection for the VPP coalition, the amount of agreed quantity in the bilateral negotiation, and the type and quantity selection of futures-market contracts as well. In the second stage, decisions are made based on the most plausible realizations of the stochastic prices in the day-ahead market. For a given pre-specified risk level on profit volatility, the main objective is to maximize the expected profit for the VPP manager over the planning horizon. The efficiency and applicability of the developed model is illustrated and analyzed by its implementation in a system with few heterogeneous DERs and through different scenarios, and finally thereby meaningful conclusions are duly drawn.

  1. Analysis of the environmental and nature impacts of 'Building Bridges'. Coalition VVD-PvdA, October 29, 2012. A quick scan; Analyse van de milieu- en natuureffecten van 'Bruggen slaan'. Regeerakkoord VVD-PvdA d.d. 29 oktober 2012. Een quick-scan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dietz, F. (ed.)

    2012-11-15

    The coalition between the political parties VVD (liberals) and PvdA (socialists) connects the transition to a sustainable economy and green growth to strengthening the competitive capacity of the Dutch economy. The role of the Dutch government in the coalition aims at creating a framework and to provide facilities to realize the transition. In this memo the results of an analysis of the impacts of the coalition are given for the themes Energy and Climate, Nature, Transport and Traffic, and Green Growth [Dutch] Het Regeerakkoord VVD-PvdA koppelt de transitie naar een duurzame economie en groene groei aan het versterken van het concurrentievermogen van de Nederlandse economie. De rol van de rijksoverheid wordt in het regeerakkoord met name ingevuld als kaderstellend en faciliterend. De PBL-notitie analyseert de effecten van het regeringsakkoord voor de thema's Energie en Klimaat, Natuur, Verkeer en Vervoer, en Groene groei.

  2. The Vermont transportation energy report : Vermont Clean Cities Coalition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-01

    The mission of the Vermont Clean Cities Coalition (VCCC) is to reduce the states reliance on : fossil fuels for transportation. This annual report provides policy makers with relevant and : timely data on the status of fuel consumption, vehicle pu...

  3. Long-Term Sustainability of Evidence-Based Prevention Interventions and Community Coalitions Survival: a Five and One-Half Year Follow-up Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Knowlton; Collins, David; Shamblen, Steve; Kenworthy, Tara; Wandersman, Abraham

    2017-07-01

    This study examines (1) coalition survival, (2) prevalence of evidence-based prevention interventions (EBPIs) to reduce substance abuse implemented as part of the Tennessee Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) State Incentive Grant (SIG), (3) EBPI sustainability, and (4) factors that predict EBPI sustainability. Secondary data were collected on 27 SPF SIG-funded coalitions and 88 EBPI and non-EBPI implementations. Primary data were collected by a telephone interview/web survey five and one-half years after the SPF SIG ended. Results from secondary data show that 25 of the 27 coalitions survived beyond the SPF SIG for one to five and one-half years; 19 coalitions (70%) were still active five and one-half years later. Further, 88 EBPIs and non-EBPIs were implemented by 27 county SPF SIG coalitions. Twenty-one (21) of 27 coalitions (78%) implemented one to three EBPIs, totaling 37 EBPI implementations. Based on primary survey data on 29 of the 37 EBPI implementations, 28 EBPIs (97%) were sustained between two and five and one-half years while 22 EBPI implementations (76%) were sustained for five and one-half years. When controlling for variability among coalitions (nesting of EBPIs in coalitions), increases in data resources (availability of five types of prevention data) was a strong predictor of length of EBPI sustainability. Positive change in extramural funding resources and level of expertise during SPF SIG implementation, as well as level of coalition formalization at the end of the SPF SIG predicted EBPI sustainability length. One intervention attribute (trialability) also predicted length of sustainability. Implications are discussed.

  4. Core of Coalition Games on MV-algebras

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kroupa, Tomáš

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 21, č. 3 (2011), s. 479-492 ISSN 0955-792X R&D Projects: GA MŠk 1M0572; GA ČR GA102/08/0567 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : coalition game * core * MV-algebra Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.611, year: 2011 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2011/MTR/kroupa-0359839.pdf

  5. 2. Coalition Collapse in the Context of Negotiation and Inter-Party Cooperation Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Biira, Catherine Promise

    2013-01-01

    Although most negotiators are primarily focused on reaching an agreement, the case of the opposition Inter-Party Cooperation coalition in Uganda demonstrates that “getting to yes” is not enough. The IPC collapsed just five months before it could participate in the very election it had been formed to commonly contest. As suggested in the previous section, while disagreement as to whether the coalition should participate in the 2011 election was publicly stated as the cause of the IPC collapse,...

  6. Evaluation of DELTA PREP: A Project Aimed at Integrating Primary Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence Within State Domestic Violence Coalitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, Kimberley E.; Zakocs, Ronda; Le, Brenda; Hill, Jessica A.; Brown, Pamela; Wheaton, Jocelyn

    2018-01-01

    Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized as a public health problem since the late 20th century. To spur IPV prevention efforts nationwide, the DELTA PREP Project selected 19 state domestic violence coalitions to build organizational prevention capacity and catalyze IPV primary prevention strategies within their states. Objective DELTA PREP’s summative evaluation addressed four major questions: (1) Did coalitions improve their prevention capacity during the project period? (2) Did coalitions serve as catalysts for prevention activities within their states during the project period? (3) Was initial prevention capacity associated with the number of prevention activity types initiated by coalitions by the end of the project? (4) Did coalitions sustain their prevention activities 6 months after the end of the project period? Results DELTA PREP achieved its capacity-building goal, with all 19 participant coalitions integrating prevention within their organizations and serving as catalysts for prevention activities in their states. At 6 months follow up, coalitions had sustained almost all prevention activities they initiated during the project. Baseline prevention capacity (Beginner vs. Intermediate) was not associated with the number of prevention activity types coalitions implemented by the end of the project. Conclusion Service and treatment organizations are increasingly asked to integrate a full spectrum of prevention strategies. Selecting organizations that have high levels of general capacity and readiness for an innovation like integrating a public health approach to IPV prevention will likely increase success in building an innovation-specific capacity, and in turn implementing an innovation. PMID:26245932

  7. Building Coalitions for a Diversified and Sustainable Tourism: Two Case Studies from Hungary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoltán Lakner

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The development of the tourism sector has been a question of strategic importance for Hungary, a small, open economy with limited natural resources. At the same time, these efforts often generate considerable environmental conflicts, decreasing the sustainability of the environment. To understand the potential methods of sustainable tourism development, and to develop the optimal policy, it is essential to clarify the actors, their systems of interest and the potential ways of forging coalitions between them. The article presents an analysis of two case studies of rural tourism development: the “softening” of tourism at the most important touristic attraction in Hungary, Lake Balaton; and the conflicts arising from wine tourism development. Based on institutional economics, principle–agent theory and strategic management, and applying the MACTOR method, the authors identify the key actors, present the network of their mutual influences and goals, determine the most important conflicts and highlight the potential coalitions between them from the point of view of sustainable rural tourism development, as well as ways to further develop the regulatory environment. Based on this analysis, the article proves: (1 the importance of the modernization and re-organization of the public administration structure, focusing on optimal utilization of resources, as opposed to attaching to traditions; (2 the importance of forming clusters of different partners; (3 the strengthening of the knowledge base of decisions concerning sustainable tourism management; and (4 increasing conscious planning, based on the inclusion of different interest groups and long-term prognoses in local decision making, minimises the environmental burden of tourism.

  8. Set-Theoretic Inequalities in Stochastic Noncooperative Games with Coalition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ailada Treerattrakoon

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available We model and analyze antagonistic stochastic games of three players, two of whom form a coalition against the third one. The actions of the players are modeled by random walk processes recording the cumulative damages to each player at any moment of time. The game continues until the single player or the coalition is defeated. The defeat of any particular player takes place when the associated process (representing the collateral damage crosses a fixed threshold. Once the threshold is exceeded at some time, the associated player exits the game. All involved processes are being “observed by a third party process” so that the information regarding the status of all players is restricted to those special epochs. Furthermore, all processed are modulated (with their parameters being modified in due course of the game. We obtain a closed form joint functional of the named processes at key reference points.

  9. Coalitions of things: supporting ISR tasks via internet of things approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preece, Alun; Taylor, Ian; Dawson, Andrew; Braines, Dave; O'Leary, Nick; Thomas, Anna; Tomsett, Richard; La Porta, Tom; Bakdash, Jonathan Z.; Zaroukian, Erin

    2017-05-01

    In the wake of rapid maturing of Internet of Things (IoT) approaches and technologies in the commercial sector, the IoT is increasingly seen as a key `disruptive' technology in military environments. Future operational environments are expected to be characterized by a lower proportion of human participants and a higher proportion of autonomous and semi-autonomous devices. This view is reflected in both US `third offset' and UK `information age' thinking and is likely to have a profound effect on how multinational coalition operations are conducted in the future. Much of the initial consideration of IoT adoption in the military domain has rightly focused on security concerns, reflecting similar cautions in the early era of electronic commerce. As IoT approaches mature, this initial technical focus is likely to shift to considerations of interactivity and policy. In this paper, rather than considering the broader range of IoT applications in the military context, we focus on roles for IoT concepts and devices in future intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks, drawing on experience in sensor-mission resourcing and human-computer collaboration (HCC) for ISR. We highlight the importance of low training overheads in the adoption of IoT approaches, and the need to balance proactivity and interactivity (push vs pull modes). As with sensing systems over the last decade, we emphasize that, to be valuable in ISR tasks, IoT devices will need a degree of mission-awareness in addition to an ability to self-manage their limited resources (power, memory, bandwidth, computation, etc). In coalition operations, the management and potential sharing of IoT devices and systems among partners (e.g., in cross-coalition tactical-edge ISR teams) becomes a key issue due heterogeneous factors such as language, policy, procedure and doctrine. Finally, we briefly outline a platform that we have developed in order to experiment with human-IoT teaming on ISR tasks, in both

  10. Career advancement opportunities and the ACVP/STP Coalition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cockerell, Gary

    2014-07-01

    A new service to facilitate career advancement opportunities has been implemented by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP)/Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP) Coalition for Veterinary Pathology Fellows. This service will allow rapid communication of these opportunities between veterinary pathologists in academia, industry, and government, and will be useful to trainees as well as established pathologists. © 2014 by The Author(s).

  11. Role-Based Access Control for Coalition Partners in Maritime Domain Awareness

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    McDaniel, Christopher R; Tardy, Matthew L

    2005-01-01

    The need for Shared Situational Awareness (SSA) in accomplishing joint missions by coalition militaries, law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the private sector creates a unique challenge to providing access control...

  12. An alternative model of the formation of political coalitions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Rijt, J.W.

    Most models of the formation of political coalitions use either Euclidean spaces or rely purely on game theory. This limits their applicability. In this article, a single model is presented which is more broadly applicable. In principle any kind of set can be used as a policy space. The model is

  13. Discourse coalitions in Swiss waste management: gridlock or winds of change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duygan, Mert; Stauffacher, Michael; Meylan, Grégoire

    2018-02-01

    As a complex socio-technical system, waste management is crucially important for the sustainable management of material and energy flows. Transition to better performing waste management systems requires not only determining what needs to be changed but also finding out how this change can be realized. Without understanding the political context, insights from decision support tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) are likely to be lost in translation to decision and policy making. This study strives to provide a first insight into the political context and address the opportunities and barriers pertinent to initiating a change in Swiss waste management. For this purpose, the discourses around a major policy process are analysed to uncover the policy beliefs and preferences of actors. Discourse coalitions are delineated by referring to the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier, 1998) and using the Discourse Network Analysis (Leifeld and Haunss, 2012) method. The results display an incoherent regime (Fuenfschilling and Truffer, 2014) with divergent belief clusters on core issues in waste management. Yet, some actors holding different beliefs appear to have overlapping interests on secondary issues such as the treatment of biogenic waste or plastics. Although the current political context hinders a system-wide disruptive change, transitions can be initiated at local or regional scale by utilizing the shared interest across different discourse coalitions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. An Incidental Finding of a Talonavicular and Talocalcaneal Joint Coalition After a Tibial Pilon Fracture: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godoy, Heidi M; Micciche, Mark J

    It has been proposed that patients with talocalcaneal and talonavicular coalitions have decreased ankle joint range of motion. It has also been reported that rotational forces regularly absorbed by the talocalcaneal joint are transferred to the ankle joint in patients with coalitions, increasing the stress on the ankle joint after trauma. To the best of our knowledge, only 1 reported study has detailed the increased stress placed on the ankle joint secondary to a coalition. We present a case study of a 53-year-old female who experienced a traumatic fall and subsequent right ankle fracture. Advanced imaging studies revealed a comminuted tibial pilon fracture and talocalcaneal and talonavicular joint coalitions. She underwent open reduction and internal fixation for treatment of the fracture, and the coalitions were not treated because they were asymptomatic. She was kept non-weightbearing for 6 weeks postoperatively and was returned to a regular sneaker at 10 weeks postoperatively. The postoperative films revealed stable intact fixation and pain-free gait with no increased restriction in her ankle joint range of motion. The hardware was removed at 13 months postoperatively. She had not experienced increased pain or arthritic changes at 15 months postoperatively. Copyright © 2017 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Dynamic and adaptive policy models for coalition operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Dinesh; Calo, Seraphin; Chakraborty, Supriyo; Bertino, Elisa; Williams, Chris; Tucker, Jeremy; Rivera, Brian; de Mel, Geeth R.

    2017-05-01

    It is envisioned that the success of future military operations depends on the better integration, organizationally and operationally, among allies, coalition members, inter-agency partners, and so forth. However, this leads to a challenging and complex environment where the heterogeneity and dynamism in the operating environment intertwines with the evolving situational factors that affect the decision-making life cycle of the war fighter. Therefore, the users in such environments need secure, accessible, and resilient information infrastructures where policy-based mechanisms adopt the behaviours of the systems to meet end user goals. By specifying and enforcing a policy based model and framework for operations and security which accommodates heterogeneous coalitions, high levels of agility can be enabled to allow rapid assembly and restructuring of system and information resources. However, current prevalent policy models (e.g., rule based event-condition-action model and its variants) are not sufficient to deal with the highly dynamic and plausibly non-deterministic nature of these environments. Therefore, to address the above challenges, in this paper, we present a new approach for policies which enables managed systems to take more autonomic decisions regarding their operations.

  16. Self-Organizing Coalitions for Conflict Evaluation and Resolution in Femtocells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garcia, Luis Guilherme Uzeda; Da Costa, Gustavo Wagner Oliveira; Cattoni, Andrea Fabio

    2010-01-01

    consists of a set of distributed and scalable rules for building coalitions; these rules essentially resolve the conflicts among avid femtocells competing for a limited amount of resources. The proposed scheme has been designed by targeting localized reconfigurations, thus avoiding reconfiguration storms...

  17. Challenge and threat responses to anger communication in coalition formation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Beest, I.; Scheepers, D.

    2013-01-01

    Research on multiparty negotiation has investigated how parties form coalitions to secure payoffs but has not assessed the underlying self-regulatory and physiological principles. Integrating insights from research on the social functions of emotions and the bio-psychosocial model as proposed by

  18. Connecting and Reconnecting: Outfitting the Figure of the Cyborg for Transnational Coalition-building

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica E. Brophy

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This work attempts to rehabilitate Donna Haraway’s (1991 figure of the cyborg to increase the possibilities of alliances between transnational feminism and cyborg or technoscience feminism. Haraway’s cyborg offers little impetus for political investment and coalition building. This work develops an optional prosthesis of responseability for the cyborg figuration, one that enables the cyborg to invest locally. This ethic of response-ability is developed via the work of Mary Strine (1989, Adrienne Rich (1984 and Aimee Carillo Rowe (2005. This supplementary ethic grafts a “collectivist conscience” onto the permeable being of the cyborg, encouraging alliance- and coalitionbuilding.

  19. [Contribution of the Peruvian Multisectorial Coalition against Cancer].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinillos-Ashton, Luis; Limache-García, Abel

    2013-03-01

    Cancer is a public health problem due to its high incidence and mortality, its high social and economic cost, and the lack of intra and intersectorial strategies resulting in failure to access information and screening tests. For this reason, it is necessary to address this problem with a comprehensive and sustainable approach. After performing a diagnosis of the human and material resources at the national level, and after having observed the attitude of healthcare decisors, the Multisector Coalition against Cancer was created with the participation of the public and nonpublic sector. A strategic plan was developed, followed by a national plan for strengthening cancer prevention and control. As a result, intersectorial work and health promotion oriented to cancer prevention through information, education and communication were strengthened. Service supply was improved and optimized through decentralization of oncological care.

  20. Green Growth and Low Carbon Society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Müller, Anders Riel; Tonami, Aki

    This paper ask the question of what makes Low Carbon and Green Growth and Low Carbon Society policy concepts that have not only gained foothold in their countries of origin, but also globally. Autobiography analysis is employed to discover the stories that these concepts tell about developmental...... challenges in East Asia and beyond. By building on narratives of national progress, overcoming of adversity, and societal harmony, the concepts seek to bypass the gridlock between economic growth and planetary degradation by developing new metanarratives. The paper also analyze on the fact...... that the international coalitions build around the concepts differ significantly, which we argue can be explained, in part, by their differing metanarratives. We argue that, this autobiographical and narrative approach contributes to our understanding of why these concepts have managed to spread internationally....

  1. When’s the Party (or Coalition? Agenda-Setting in a Highly Fragmented, Decentralized Legislature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mónica Pachón

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines committee behavior in Colombia to determine whether parties or coalitions exert agenda-setting powers despite the fact that the formal rules seemingly create little incentive for cooperation. Colombia’s party system is extremely fragmented, electoral volatility is high, and there is a long history of candidate-centered electoral rules, all of which suggests that party and coalition leaders have few tools to control the legislative agenda. Additionally, chairs do not directly control committee reports as in other presidential cases. However, the naming of ponentes (rapporteurs to write ponencias (bill reports for the committee may give leaders the opportunity to set the agendas in committees. Hence, we test whether committee chairs strategically name ponentes to control the agenda and favor their partisan or coalition interests. We test these ideas using a unique dataset covering two complete legislative sessions and thousands of bills. Overall, we find that committee chairs use the ponente process to set the agenda and privilege legislation sponsored by allies, especially the executive.

  2. Blockchain-based framework for ontology-oriented robots’ coalition formation in cyberphysical systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teslya Nikolay

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The creation and functioning of intelligent robots coalition is impossible without the organization of an information interaction environment between them. To solve this problem, it is proposed to use the concept of cyberphysical framework, which involves the unification of physical and cyber (virtual environments. Intelligent robots can interact with each of the environments. The paper proposes methodology of the cyber physical smart space creation for the intelligent robots’ coalition formation and functioning, based on the concept of the “blackboard” with the support of smart contracts over the blockchain technology. It provides a new approach to the distribution of sensory, computational, information-control and service tasks between intelligent robots, embedded devices, fixed service equipment, cloud computing and information resources.

  3. Strategies to prevent and reduce diabetes and obesity in Sacramento, California: the African American Leadership Coalition and University of California, Davis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziegahn, Linda; Styne, Dennis; Askia, Joyce; Roberts, Tina; Lewis, Edward T; Edwards, Whitney

    2013-11-14

    Diabetes is one of the leading causes of illness and death for African Americans and people of African descent throughout the United States and in the city and county of Sacramento, California. The involvement of families and communities in developing prevention strategies can increase the likelihood that behavioral changes will be sustained. Three member organizations of the African American Leadership Coalition (AALC) entered into a partnership with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) to engage families in developing a process to identify barriers to diabetes and obesity prevention and reduction, exchange strategies, and create action plans for prevention. The intervention comprised 3 phases: 1) coalition formation and training; 2) data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results; and 3) development of family and community action plans. Academic and community partners planned and implemented all project phases together. Sources of information about diabetes and obesity were primarily doctors and the Internet; barriers were related to lack of time needed to prepare healthy meals, high food costs, transportation to fresh markets, motivation around healthy habits, and unsafe environments. Action plans addressed behavioral change and family cohesion. The group discussion format encouraged mutual support and suggestions for better eating and physical exercise habits. This collaborative partnership model can strengthen existing group relationships or promote new affiliations that form the basis for future action coalitions. Participants worked both within and across groups to exchange information, stories of success and challenges, and specific health improvement strategies.

  4. Denmark’s participation in the coalition against IS reflects the country’s commitment to ‘ethical militarism’

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schouenborg, Laust

    2014-01-01

    The United States has put together a coalition of several western and Arab states to support military action against Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq and Syria. Laust Schouenborg writes on the participation of Denmark in this coalition. He argues that the decision to take part reflects a principle...... of ‘ethical militarism’ which the country has adopted in previous conflicts over the last 25 years....

  5. Modal extensions of Lukasiewicz logic for modelling coalitional power

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kroupa, Tomáš; Teheux, B.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 27, č. 1 (2017), s. 129-154 ISSN 0955-792X R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP402/12/1309 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Coalition Logic * Lukasiewicz modal logic * effectivity function Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Pure mathematics Impact factor: 0.909, year: 2016 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2017/MTR/kroupa-0471671.pdf

  6. Sustaining Physics Teacher Education Coalition Programs in Physics Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scherr, Rachel E.; Plisch, Monica; Goertzen, Renee Michelle

    2017-01-01

    Understanding the mechanisms of increasing the number of physics teachers educated per year at institutions with thriving physics teacher preparation programs may inspire and support other institutions in building thriving programs of their own. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC), led by the American Physical Society (APS) and the…

  7. Optimal sharing of quantity risk for a coalition of wind power producers facing nodal prices

    KAUST Repository

    Bitar, E. Y.; Baeyens, E.; Khargonekar, P. P.; Poolla, K.; Varaiya, P.

    2012-01-01

    It is widely accepted that aggregation of geographically diverse wind energy resources offers compelling potential to mitigate wind power variability, as wind speed at different geographic locations tends to decorrelate with increasing spatial separation. In this paper, we explore the extent to which a coalition of wind power producers can exploit the statistical benefits of aggregation to mitigate the risk of quantity shortfall with respect to forward contract offerings for energy. We propose a simple augmentation of the existing two-settlement market system with nodal pricing to permit quantity risk sharing among wind power producers by affording the group a recourse opportunity to utilize improved forecasts of their ensuing wind energy production to collectively modify their forward contracted positions so as to utilize the projected surplus in generation at certain buses to balance the projected shortfall in generation at complementary buses. Working within this framework, we show that the problem of optimally sizing a set of forward contracts for a group of wind power producers reduces to convex programming and derive closed form expressions for the set of optimal recourse policies. We also asses the willingness of individual wind power producers to form a coalition to cooperatively offer contracts for energy. We first show that the expected profit derived from coalitional contract offerings with recourse is greater than that achievable through independent contract offerings. And, using tools from coalitional game theory, we show that the core for our game is non-empty.

  8. Optimal sharing of quantity risk for a coalition of wind power producers facing nodal prices

    KAUST Repository

    Bitar, E. Y.

    2012-06-01

    It is widely accepted that aggregation of geographically diverse wind energy resources offers compelling potential to mitigate wind power variability, as wind speed at different geographic locations tends to decorrelate with increasing spatial separation. In this paper, we explore the extent to which a coalition of wind power producers can exploit the statistical benefits of aggregation to mitigate the risk of quantity shortfall with respect to forward contract offerings for energy. We propose a simple augmentation of the existing two-settlement market system with nodal pricing to permit quantity risk sharing among wind power producers by affording the group a recourse opportunity to utilize improved forecasts of their ensuing wind energy production to collectively modify their forward contracted positions so as to utilize the projected surplus in generation at certain buses to balance the projected shortfall in generation at complementary buses. Working within this framework, we show that the problem of optimally sizing a set of forward contracts for a group of wind power producers reduces to convex programming and derive closed form expressions for the set of optimal recourse policies. We also asses the willingness of individual wind power producers to form a coalition to cooperatively offer contracts for energy. We first show that the expected profit derived from coalitional contract offerings with recourse is greater than that achievable through independent contract offerings. And, using tools from coalitional game theory, we show that the core for our game is non-empty.

  9. Implementing change in health professions education: stakeholder analysis and coalition building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, Karyn D; Resnik, Cheryl D; Wu, Jennifer J; Roey, Steven C

    2007-01-01

    The challenges facing the health sciences education fields are more evident than ever. Professional health sciences educators have more demands on their time, more knowledge to manage, and ever-dwindling sources of financial support. Change is often necessary to either keep programs viable or meet the changing needs of health education. This article outlines a simple but powerful three-step tool to help educators become successful agents of change. Through the application of principles well known and widely used in business management, readers will understand the concepts behind stakeholder analysis and coalition building. These concepts are part of a powerful tool kit that educators need in order to become effective agents of change in the health sciences environment. Using the example of curriculum change at a school of veterinary medicine, we will outline the three steps involved, from stakeholder identification and analysis to building and managing coalitions for change.

  10. Coalitional Games, Excessive Competition and a Lack of Trust: an Experimental Aproach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dawid Ners

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article tackles the issues of the effectiveness and rationality of making choices in the conditions of competition and cooperation. It confronts the economic theory of rational choice with the empirical results from an experiment. The aim of the article is to show that excessive competition and a lack of trust cause limitation of rational choice in coalitional games. In the experiment conducted for this study purposes, a public good was used to construct a situation in which making a huge coalition is the winning strategy. Despite this fact, the research proves that under competition supported by uncertainty, which results from the lack of trust, the decision making entities behave far less rationally than the game theory would suggest. People competing with each other often take decisions irrationally.

  11. Toward Community Research and Coalitional Literacy Practices for Educational Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campano, Gerald; Ghiso, María Paula; Yee, Mary; Pantoja, Alicia

    2013-01-01

    Community-based research can provide an avenue for understanding the complexities of students' and families' lives and working together for educational justice through what we refer to as coalitional literacy practices. In this article, we share a critical incident about a student's absence from school as an illustrative case of the grass-roots…

  12. Adding Reports to Coalition Battle Management Language for NATO MSG-048

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pullen, J.M.; Corner, D.; Singapogo, S.S.; Clarc, N.; Cordonnier, N.; Menane, M.; Khimeche, L.; Mevassvik, O.M.; Alstad, A.; Schad, U.; Frey, M.; Reus, N. M. de; Krom, P.P.J. de; Grand, N.P. le; Brook, A.

    2009-01-01

    The NATO Modeling and Simulation Group Technical Activity 48 (MSG-048) was chartered in 2006 to investigate the potential of a Coalition Battle Management Language for multinational and NATO interoperation of command and control systems with modeling and simulation. Its initial work in defining and

  13. A case study of conflict management in bonobos: how does a bonobo (Pan paniscus) mother manage conflicts between her sons and her female coalition partner?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legrain, L; Stevens, J; Alegria Iscoa, J; Destrebecqz, A

    2011-01-01

    Female coalitions are an important part of the social organization of bonobos. The strength of the mother-son relationship is another essential part of this social structure. A bonobo mother is therefore facing a dilemma when a conflict arises between her sons and her female coalition partners. Will she take her coalition partner's side and favour the social organization of the group or support her son in order to defend her offspring? In order to address this issue, we performed an observational study of the captive group at Planckendael (Belgium) and used social grooming and proximity to assess the relationship between individuals. As a case study, we focused on the relationships between Hortense, one of the group's mothers, her 3 sons Redi, Vifijo and Zamba, and her coalition partner Hermien. Surprisingly, we observed that Hortense preferentially supported her female coalition partner. For Hortense's social status in the group, it may be more important to maintain the strong relationship with her higher-ranking female coalition partner than to support her sons. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  14. Building and Maintaining an Effective Campus-Wide Coalition for Suicide Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaslow, Nadine J.; Garcia-Williams, Amanda; Moffitt, Lauren; McLeod, Mark; Zesiger, Heather; Ammirati, Rachel; Berg, John P.; McIntosh, Belinda J.

    2012-01-01

    Preventing suicide is a commonly shared priority among college administrators, faculty, staff, students, and family members. Coalitions are popular health promotion mechanisms for solving community-wide problems and are valuable in campus-wide suicide prevention efforts. This article provides an example of an effective suicide prevention…

  15. Understanding the outcomes of advocacy coalitions in education: a comparative perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verger, A.; Novelli, M.; Verger, A.; Novelli, M.

    2012-01-01

    In this chapter, we use comparative analysis lenses to better understand the nature of civil society coalitions and their impact in the educational field. The arguments provide a synthesis of core issues that have emerged from the case studies presented in earlier chapters. In particular, this

  16. Coalition Logistics: A Case Study in Operation Restore Hope

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-06-03

    prerequisites forbid the intake of certain foods include Israel (no pork, Kosher prepared), Muslim nations (no pork, Halal prepared), and Hindu nations (no beef...communications. The critical life support supplies, such as food , water, and medicine, were pushed into the theater along with the transportation and...dictates a common sense burden-sharing philosophy.ś In a coalition operation, countries share common resources such as food , water, blood, transportation

  17. Education Policy and Governance in England under the Coalition Government (2010-15): Academies, the Pupil Premium, and Free Early Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Anne

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores the governance of school-based and early education in England under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government (2010-15). It draws on three prominent Coalition policy areas--the academies programme, the pupil premium, and free part-time early education--and focuses on changes to the role played by central government…

  18. Tobacco Control and Health Advocacy in the European Union: Understanding Effective Coalition-Building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weishaar, Heide; Collin, Jeff; Amos, Amanda

    2016-02-01

    Coalitions of supporters of comprehensive tobacco control policy have been crucial in achieving policy success nationally and internationally, but the dynamics of such alliances are not well understood. Qualitative semi-structured, narrative interviews with 35 stakeholders involved in developing the European Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments. These were thematically analyzed to examine the dynamics of coalition-building, collaboration and leadership in the alliance of organizations which successfully called for the development of comprehensive European Union (EU) smoke-free policy. An alliance of tobacco control and public health advocacy organizations, scientific institutions, professional bodies, pharmaceutical companies, and other actors shared the goal of fighting the harms caused by second-hand smoke. Alliance members jointly called for comprehensive EU smoke-free policy and the protection of the political debates from tobacco industry interference. The alliance's success was enabled by a core group of national and European actors with long-standing experience in tobacco control, who facilitated consensus-building, mobilized allies and synchronized the actions of policy supporters. Representatives of Brussels-based organizations emerged as crucial strategic leaders. The insights gained and identification of key enablers of successful tobacco control advocacy highlight the strategic importance of investing into tobacco control at European level. Those interested in effective health policy can apply lessons learned from EU smoke-free policy to build effective alliances in tobacco control and other areas of public health. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.

  19. Coalitions and the Decision making Process on the Common Flexicurity Principles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simonsen, Mikkel Mailand

    than the regimes and cut to some extent across the usual division of countries, in that Scandinavian and the Anglo-Saxon countries form the core of one of the coalitions, whereas a number of continental countries - Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece and Spain - are now found in the core of the other...

  20. Report on the operation of incineration plant of the Coalite Chemical Works, Bolsover, Derbyshire, from commissioning to closure and the subsequent prosecution of the last operator Coalite Products Ltd by H M Inspectorate of Pollution under Section 5 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-09-01

    In June 1991 elevated concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were reported in cows` milk on farms in the Bolsover area in Derbyshire, UK. Monitoring by the HMIP showed that PCDDs and PCDFs were present in flue gases emitted from a chemical waste incinerator at the Coalite Chemical Works and to a lesser extent from the Coalite smokeless fuel works nearby. A soil survey and further sampling of vegetation showed the Coalite Chemical Works to be the major source of PCDDs and PCDFs. Coalite Products Ltd., pleaded guilty to operating the incinerator in breach of the Health and Safety Act in a case brought against then by HMIP on 20 February 1996. This report describes the investigation undertaken to establish the conditions of operation of the incinerator from its commissioning in 1978 to closure in November 1991. 12 refs., 8 figs., 6 tabs., 3 apps.

  1. Coalitions in Primary Triads: Reexamining the Theoretical Constructs From A Feminist Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milstein, Kaylene; Baldwin, Cynthia

    1997-01-01

    Examines the theoretical constructs about the effects of coalitions in the father-mother-child triad from a family systems perspective. How this triadic view interacts with the historical patriarchal structure and with issues of power is addressed from a feminist perspective. (Author/MKA)

  2. Severe Hallux Valgus With Coalition of the Hallux Sesamoids Treated With Modified Lapidus Procedure: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurashige, Toshinori; Suzuki, Seiichi

    2017-12-01

    Coalition of the hallux sesamoids is an extremely rare condition. To our knowledge, only 1 case report has been published. We report a case of severe hallux valgus deformities with coalitions of the hallux sesamoids. The coalitions themselves were asymptomatic; however, this severe hallux valgus deformity needed to be surgically treated. The hallux sesamoids in both feet appeared to be fused and heart shaped on anteroposterior radiographs and dumbbell shaped on axial radiographs. It is known that postoperative incomplete reduction of the medial sesamoids can be a risk factor for the recurrence of hallux valgus. The computed tomography scan demonstrated a groove in the bottom of the center of the heart-shaped sesamoid. The flexor hallucis longus tendon was located in the groove. Therefore, a modified Lapidus procedure was performed considering the medial half of the heart-shaped sesamoid as the medial sesamoid. Although delayed union occurred, successful correction of the deformity was achieved. Level IV.

  3. Actor coalitions and implementation in strategic delta planning: Opening the Haringvliet sluices in the Netherlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vermoolen, Myrthe; Hermans, Leon

    2016-04-01

    The sustained development of urbanizing deltas is influenced by natural and societal processes. These processes are characterized by their long time span, in which conflicting interests of different stakeholders have to be reconciled. Reaching consent between actors is a challenge itself, but maintaining this consent throughout different stages of strategic planning - from advocacy and agenda setting to implementation - over these long periods of time is even more difficult. The implementation stage still includes many different actors involved, some of which are different than the ones who agreed before, due to both the long run of the strategic delta planning, and to a shift of tasks and responsibilities. Thus, implementation of strategic plans often features delays, deviations of agreed plans and unintended outcomes. A key question therefore is how coalition dynamics in (pre-)planning stages influence and are influenced by the coalition dynamics during implementation. The different stages in strategic planning are often studied from either a plan formulation or an implementation perspective, but the connection between the two proves an important bottleneck for strategic planning in deltas. For instance, many building with nature solutions are still in their pilot-phase, and their upscaling can profit from lessons concerning past implementation efforts. The proposed contribution will use the case of the management of the Dutch Haringvliet sluices and the decision ('Kierbesluit') in 2000 to put these sluices ajar, to study the link between the different strategic delta planning stages and the role of the formation and change of actor coalitions herein. With the completion of the Haringvliet dam with outlet sluices in 1970, the Haringvliet estuary of the rivers Rhine and Meuse was closed off from the sea, creating a fresh water lake. This was done to make the Dutch Southwest delta safe from flooding, and had positive effects for agricultural water supply and

  4. Comparative Experience Factors among Black, Asian, and Hispanic Americans: Coalitions or Conflicts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Talmadge

    1992-01-01

    Compares the culture, sociology, politics, and economics of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans in the United States. Describes increased racial-ethnic national pluralism, the increased possibility of conflict between groups, and the need for dialogue and work toward coalition among these groups. (JB)

  5. Advancing Strategies for Agenda Setting by Health Policy Coalitions: A Network Analysis of the Canadian Chronic Disease Prevention Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGetrick, Jennifer Ann; Raine, Kim D; Wild, T Cameron; Nykiforuk, Candace I J

    2018-06-11

    Health in all policies can address chronic disease morbidity and mortality by increasing population-level physical activity and healthy eating, and reducing tobacco and alcohol use. Both governmental and nongovernmental policy influencers are instrumental for health policy that modifies political, economic, and social environments. Policy influencers are informed and persuaded by coalitions that support or oppose changing the status quo. Empirical research examining policy influencers' contact with coalitions, as a social psychological exposure with health policy outcomes, can benefit from application of health communication theories. Accordingly, we analyzed responses to the 2014 Chronic Disease Prevention Survey for 184 Canadian policy influencers employed in provincial governments, municipalities, large workplaces, school boards, and the media. In addition to contact levels with coalitions, respondents' jurisdiction, organization, and ideology were analyzed as potential moderators. Calculating authority score centrality using network analysis, we determined health policy supporters to be more central in policy influencer networks, and theorized their potential to impact health policy public agenda setting via priming and framing processes. We discuss the implications of our results as presenting opportunities to more effectively promote health policy through priming and framing by coordinating coalitions across risk behaviors to advance a societal imperative for chronic disease prevention.

  6. A brief history of Forging New Frontiers, the annual conference of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Estell Lenita; Barlow, Barbara

    2016-10-01

    The Injury Free Coalition for Kids Annual Conference has contributed to the dissemination of information pertaining to the development of the field of injury prevention. A content analysis was completed using conference agendas used during the span of 2005-2015, finding that more than 398 presentations covering a wide variety of injuries have taken place. Published work has appeared in the Journal of Trauma and there has been recognition of people who have contributed to the development of the field. Forging New Frontiers is a valuable tool for attendees to exchange information about injury prevention.

  7. If we work together, i will have greater power: Coalitions in networked innovation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sie, Rory; Sloep, Peter; Bitter-Rijpkema, Marlies

    2018-01-01

    The present article uses agent-based social simulation to study rational behaviour in networked innovation. A simulation model that includes network characteristics and network participant’s characteristics is run using parameter sweeping, yielding 1450 simulation cases. The notion of coalitions was

  8. Cyborg Dreams in Asian American Transnationality: Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition

    OpenAIRE

    Song, Mary

    2012-01-01

    By deploying a cyberculture theory of cyborg politics in my literary analyses of Asian American literature, I deconstruct Asian American subjectivity through the trope of transnationality. In the Asian American transnational, I locate four prominent traits of Donna Haraway's socialist feminist cyborg: boundary transgression, the recognition and re-scripting of myth, simulations of identity, and coalitions of affinity. By adopting the language of cyberculture, I envision Asian American literat...

  9. Sustaining Physics Teacher Education Coalition programs in physics teacher education

    OpenAIRE

    Rachel E. Scherr; Monica Plisch; Renee Michelle Goertzen

    2017-01-01

    Understanding the mechanisms of increasing the number of physics teachers educated per year at institutions with thriving physics teacher preparation programs may inspire and support other institutions in building thriving programs of their own. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC), led by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), has supported transformation of physics teacher preparation programs at a number of institutions aro...

  10. Introduction to linear programming: Coalitional game experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lucas, W.

    1994-12-31

    Many solution notions in the multiperson cooperative games (in characteristic function form) make use of linear programming (LP). The popular concept of the {open_quotes}core{close_quotes} of a coalitional game is a special type of LP. It can be introduced in a very simple and quite exciting manner by means of a group experiment. A total of fifty dollars will be given to three randomly selected attendees who will take part in an experiment during this talk, presuming they behave in a Pareto optimal manner. Furthermore, the dual of the particular LP for the core gives rise to the idea of {open_quotes}balanced sets{close_quotes} which is an interesting combinatorial structure in its own right.

  11. Culture and Inter-Group Relations Theory as a Pathway to Improve Decision Making in Coalition Operations

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    O'Mara, William J; Heacox, Nancy J; Gwynne, John W; Smillie, Robert J

    2000-01-01

    The U.S. military frequently participates in coalitions involving foreign military organizations as well as domestic and foreign civilian groups, such as governmental organizations, private volunteer...

  12. The Dynamic VPN Controller. Secure Information Sharing in a Coalition Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-03-01

    coalitionName=" COALA "> <Security>Class A</Security> <Site siteName="SITE1"> <Remote> <Hostname>dvc.site1.com</Hostname> <IPAddress...34 COALA "> <Security>Class A</Security> <Site siteName="SITE1"> <Remote> <Hostname>dvc.site1.com</Hostname> <IPAddress>10.1.1.1

  13. The political economy of local government in Croatia: winning coalitions, corruption, and taxes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vuk Vukovic

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper represents the first comprehensive effort to provide a theoretical and empirical explanation of systemic corruption in Croatian local government. It follows the logic of the selectorate theory, according to which staying in power for long periods of time depends on creating a small group of loyal but powerful supporters (the winning coalition. Mayors that exist within such environments not only maximize their chances of staying in power; they also engage in greater corruption and set higher taxes. Its citizens are stuck in a negative spiral of corruption, high taxes, and a politician that regardless of this keeps winning elections. The paper makes two main contributions to the current literature. First it provides a theoretical extension of the selectorate theory to Croatian local government by explicitly modeling the link between corruption and winning coalitions, and second, it empirically verifies the theoretical findings using a novel matching approach called entropy balancing.

  14. Combating Youth Violence Through Anti-Violence Coalitions in Three West Virginia Counties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronda Sturgill

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Kids Win was funded by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for Cabell, Mason and Wayne Counties in West Virginia. The goal of the project was to develop anti-violence coalitions in the three counties and to develop a strategic plan for a pilot program combating youth violence. The pilot program was designed to use the Second Step and Hazelden Anti-Bullying curricula at the three middle schools. Evaluation methods included a survey of teachers, a survey of students, and a comparison of results of a state mandated school discipline report. All three data sources support the conclusion that violence was reduced significantly because of the Kids Win Program. Kids Win has demonstrated what can be accomplished by teaching students the behavioral skills needed to resolve problems without escalating violence. This program merits replication and expansion and can serve as a model for other programs.

  15. Culture and Inter-Group Relations Theory as a Pathway to Improve Decision Making in Coalition Operations

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    O'Mara, William J; Heacox, Nancy J; Gwynne, John W; Smillie, Robert J

    2000-01-01

    ... organizations, and special interest groups. Due to the wide cultural and organizational diversity of the participant groups, coalition operations pose significant challenges to the U.S. military...

  16. 75 FR 56651 - ITS Joint Program Office; Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition Annual Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ITS Joint Program Office; Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology... Transportation. ACTION: Notice. The Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition (TIMTC) Annual [[Page 56652...: Beating Gridlock with a Smart Grid; U.S. DOT Truck Technology Initiatives; and State and Federal...

  17. Solving the Upper Valley's housing needs: how a coalition of public and private organizations joined forces to develop housing in a region with inadequate stock and prohibitive prices

    OpenAIRE

    Dan French

    2004-01-01

    Like many communities, New Hampshire and Vermont's Upper Valley region is facing a serious housing shortage. Dan French reveals how an innovative housing coalition is working to find solutions that provide housing and protect the area's quality of life.

  18. COalitions in COOperation Networks (COCOON): Social Network Analysis and Game Theory to Enhance Cooperation Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sie, Rory

    2012-01-01

    Sie, R. L. L. (2012). COalitions in COOperation Networks (COCOON): Social Network Analysis and Game Theory to Enhance Cooperation Networks (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). September, 28, 2012, Open Universiteit in the Netherlands (CELSTEC), Heerlen, The Netherlands.

  19. Normal growth and development

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002456.htm Normal growth and development To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. A child's growth and development can be divided into four periods: ...

  20. Aid, growth, and development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arndt, Channing; Jones, Edward Samuel; Tarp, Finn

    2010-01-01

    The micro-macro paradox has been revived. Despite broadly positive evaluations at the micro- and meso-levels, recent literature doubts the ability of foreign aid to foster economic growth and development. This paper assesses the aid-growth literature and, taking inspiration from the program...... evaluation literature, we re-examine key hypotheses. In our findings, aid has a positive and statistically significant causal effect on growth over the long run, with confidence intervals conforming to levels suggested by growth theory. Aid remains a key tool for enhancing the development prospects of poor...

  1. Member and Affiliate Contact Directory. Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education. Second Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education, College Park, MD.

    This directory is designed to assist local action groups (existing local alliances; science mathematics, and technology teachers; superintendents, principals, and supervisors; guidance counselors and resource specialists; and university and college professors) in making contact with the local structure of the Triangle Coalition for Science and…

  2. Bringing Psychological Science to the Forefront of Educational Policy: Collaborative Efforts of the American Psychological Association's Coalition for Psychology in the Schools and Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rollin, Stephen A.; Subotnik, Rena F.; Bassford, Maya; Smulson, Jennifer

    2008-01-01

    The following article details the work of the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Coalition for Psychology in the Schools and Education (CPSE). First, a brief history of the background and creation of the coalition is described. The article then details the projects, completed and ongoing, of the CPSE. Those projects include a Teacher…

  3. Business Incubation in Chile: Development, Financing and Financial Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aruna Chandra

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Business incubation in Chile is still in its nascent stages, with approximately 27 incubators supported primarily by a coalition of government and universities. Chilean business incubators tend to capitalize on regional resource strengths and have a strategic focus on high growth, high innovation, high impact businesses as a result of a government mandate to focus on developing business with high potential for economic development and job creation. The government’s efforts to create the framework conditions for entrepreneurship by investing in business incubators, organizing risk capital for early stage ventures to fill capital market gaps and support for angel networks as well as incubator funding are discussed. Policy implications for the continued growth of the incubation industry are provided.

  4. Smart transactive energy framework in grid-connected multiple home microgrids under independent and coalition operations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marzband, Mousa; Azarinejadian, Fatemeh; Savaghebi, Mehdi

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents a smart Transactive energy (TE) framework in which home microgrids (H-MGs) can collaborate with each other in a multiple H-MG system by forming coalitions for gaining competitiveness in the market. Profit allocation due to coalition between H-MGs is an important issue...... for ensuring the optimal use of installed resources in the whole multiple H-MG system. In addition, considering demand fluctuations, energy production based on renewable resources in the multiple H-MG can be accomplished by demand-side management strategies that try to establish mechanisms to allow...... for a flatter demand curve. In this regard, demand shifting potential can be tapped through shifting certain amounts of energy demand from some time periods to others with lower expected demand, typically to match price values and to ensure that existing generation will be economically sufficient. It is also...

  5. Captive-housed male cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) form naturalistic coalitions: measuring associations and calculating chance encounters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chadwick, Carly L; Rees, Paul A; Stevens-Wood, Barry

    2013-01-01

    Cheetahs are known to reproduce poorly in captivity and research suggests that the reasons for this are behavioral, rather than physiological. In the wild, male cheetahs remain in stable groups, or coalitions, throughout their lifetime. Appropriate social group housing is important in enhancing welfare and reproductive success in captivity and this study examined the effect of changes in social group composition on the behavior of four male cheetahs: two siblings and two half siblings. During the study, the cheetahs were housed both in pairs and as a group of four, before one male was relocated. The remaining cheetahs were then housed in a trio. Affiliative behaviors were frequently shown within pairs and overt aggression was seldom observed. Association indices were calculated for each cheetah pair and corrected for chance encounters based on data generated from a Monte Carlo simulation. The indices showed that two coalitions existed before the relocated male departed. Following the relocation of one of the half siblings, the remaining cheetahs appeared to form a coalition of three, as the indices of association between the unrelated male and the siblings increased and allogrooming between unrelated individuals was observed. The findings of this study indicate that natural social groupings of male cheetahs can be successfully replicated in captivity, which could potentially improve the chances of reproductive success when they are introduced to female cheetahs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Halftime - a balance in matters nuclear of the grand coalition; Halbzeit - Bilanz der Grossen Koalition in Sachen Kernenergie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heller, W.

    2007-10-15

    On November 11, 2005, the coalition partners, CDU/CSU and SPD, signed the agreement establishing a coalition in the German federal parliament under the heading of ''Together for Germany''. Among other things, this raised the question of what would happen in the fields of energy policy and nuclear power. After 2 years of a grand coalition, it is time to draw some interim conclusions. The coalition agreement contains statements to the effect that energy policy means fundamental economic, structural and climate policies, and that secure, low-cost, non-polluting energy supplies are elementary prerequisites of a modern, capable national economy. A sustainable overall energy policy concept should be based on a balanced energy mix. This overall concept, one of the results of ''energy summit'' talks with Federal Chancellor Merkel, was announced for the end of 2007. The 3 energy summit discussions with Federal Chancellor Merkel deliberately avoided the subject of nuclear power. There is no debate about the implications of nuclear energy. This in no way improved the status of nuclear power in Germany. What remains is hope for the second half of this government's term of office. The beginning of that term is marked by the McKinsey study, initiated by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), on ''Cost and Potential of Avoiding Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Germany,'' which says that operating German nuclear power plants for 60 or even 45 years would result in a CO2 avoidance potential for 2020 which would be approximately 90 million tons higher, and in avoidance costs lower by 4.5 billion euro per year. (orig.)

  7. Inclusive growth versus pro-poor growth: Implications for tourism development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, Martine; Messerli, H.R.

    2017-01-01

    Inclusive growth and pro-poor growth are terms embraced but not fully understood in the tourism community. This paper discusses the main concepts of inclusive growth and their implication for tourism development across the developing world. Is inclusive growth simply another term for pro-poor in

  8. Toddler Growth and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... the AAP Schedule of Well-Child Care Visits . ​​ Toddler Growth & Development Physical Skills Walks alone Pulls toys behind when ... 18 to 23 Month Old Language Delays in Toddlers: Information for Parents ... Physical Appearance and Growth: Your 1 Year Old Physical Appearance and Growth: ...

  9. Excellent Companies and Coalition-Building among the Fortune 500: A Value- and Relationship-Based Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Laurie J.

    1994-01-01

    Discusses ways a revolution in business management emphasizing people, values, integrity, and communication should also change the approach to public relations. Reviews research to demonstrate that coalition companies possess the characteristics of excellent companies. Argues that perhaps this community relations function will lead from the…

  10. 78 FR 21928 - Demand Response Coalition v. PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.; Notice of Complaint

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. EL13-57-000] Demand Response... Demand Response Coalition \\1\\ (Complainant) filed a formal complaint against the PJM Interconnection, L.L... Plan Enhancements'') violate section 205 of the FPA and are therefore unenforceable. \\1\\ The Demand...

  11. Advanced dendritic web growth development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkins, R. H.

    1985-01-01

    A program to develop the technology of the silicon dendritic web ribbon growth process is examined. The effort is being concentrated on the area rate and quality requirements necessary to meet the JPL/DOE goals for terrestrial PV applications. Closed loop web growth system development and stress reduction for high area rate growth is considered.

  12. Three-body interactions in sociophysics and their role in coalition forming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naumis, Gerardo G.; Samaniego-Steta, F.; del Castillo-Mussot, M.; Vázquez, G. J.

    2007-06-01

    An study of the effects of three-body interactions in the process of coalition formation is presented. In particular, we modify a spin glass model of bimodal propensities and also a Potts model in order to include a particular three-body Hamiltonian that reproduces the main features of the required interactions. The model can be used to study conflicts, political struggles, political parties, social networks, wars and organizational structures. As an application, we analyze a simplified model of the Iraq war.

  13. Corporate coalitions and policy making in the European Union: how and why British American Tobacco promoted "Better Regulation".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Katherine Elizabeth; Fooks, Gary; Gilmore, Anna B; Collin, Jeff; Weishaar, Heide

    2015-04-01

    Over the past fifteen years, an interconnected set of regulatory reforms, known as Better Regulation, has been adopted across Europe, marking a significant shift in the way that European Union policies are developed. There has been little exploration of the origins of these reforms, which include mandatory ex ante impact assessment. Drawing on documentary and interview data, this article discusses how and why large corporations, notably British American Tobacco (BAT), worked to influence and promote these reforms. Our analysis highlights (1) how policy entrepreneurs with sufficient resources (such as large corporations) can shape the membership and direction of advocacy coalitions; (2) the extent to which "think tanks" may be prepared to lobby on behalf of commercial clients; and (3) why regulated industries (including tobacco) may favor the use of "evidence tools," such as impact assessments, in policy making. We argue that a key aspect of BAT's ability to shape regulatory reform involved the deliberate construction of a vaguely defined idea that could be strategically adapted to appeal to diverse constituencies. We discuss the theoretical implications of this finding for the Advocacy Coalition Framework, as well as the practical implications of the findings for efforts to promote transparency and public health in the European Union. Copyright © 2015 by Duke University Press.

  14. California: Environmental Health Coalition Clean Ports, Healthy Communities in San Diego (A Former EPA CARE Project)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) is a recipient of a CARE Level II cooperative agreement grant. The Clean Ports, Healthy Communities in San Diego targets the Barrio Logan and Old Town National City areas located along San Diego Bay.

  15. 77 FR 42738 - Patient Safety Organizations: Voluntary Relinquishment From the Coalition for Quality and Patient...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Organizations: Voluntary Relinquishment From the Coalition for Quality and Patient Safety of Chicagoland (CQPS.... SUMMARY: The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act), Public Law 109-41,42...

  16. Towards Sustainable Growth Business Models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kamp-Roelands, N.; Balkenende, J.P.; Van Ommen, P.

    2012-03-15

    The Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC) has the following objectives: The DSGC aims to pro-actively drive sustainable growth business models along three lines: (1) Shape. DSGC member companies aim to connect economic profitability with environmental and social progress on the basis of integrated sustainable growth business models; (2) Share. DSGC member companies aim for joint advocacy of sustainable growth business models both internationally and nationally; and (3) Stimulate. DSGC member companies aim to stimulate and influence the policy debate on enabling sustainable growth - with a view to finding solutions to the environmental and social challenges we are facing. This is their first report. The vision, actions and mission of DSGC are documented in the Manifesto in Chapter 2 of this publication. Chapter 3 contains an overview of key features of an integrated sustainable growth business model and the roadmap towards such a model. In Chapter 4, project examples of DSGC members are presented, providing insight into the hands-on reality of implementing the good practices. Chapter 5 offers an overview of how the Netherlands provides an enabling environment for sustainable growth business models. Chapter 6 offers the key conclusions.

  17. Coalitions and Competition in Malaysia – Incremental Transformation of a Strong-party System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meredith L. Weiss

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The seeming entrenchment of a two-coalition system in Malaysia solidifies the centrality of strongly institutionalised parties in the polity. The primary parties in Malaysia reach deeply into society and nest within dense networks of both intra-party and external organisations. Given this order – which differentiates Malaysia from its neighbours in the region – political liberalisation, if it happens, should be expected largely via electoral politics, and, specifically, through inter-party challenges. Indeed, the ideological and material premises of the emergent Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance differ substantially from those of the long-standing Barisan Nasional (National Front, even as both pursue the same broad swathe of voters. This distinction reflects and furthers transformation in Malaysian politics, including not just a shift in the salience of communal identities and in policy proposals and issues, but also in patterns of political engagement both within and outside of parties, regardless of which coalition controls parliament.

  18. Municipal property acquisition patterns in a shrinking city: Evidence for the persistence of an urban growth paradigm in Buffalo, NY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Mark Silverman

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to examine municipal property acquisition patterns in shrinking cities. We use data from the City of Buffalo’s municipal property auction records to analyze the spatial distribution of properties offered for sale in its annual tax foreclosure auction. In addition to these data, we examine demolition and building permit records. Our analysis suggests that cities like Buffalo follow strategies based on an urban growth paradigm when responding to abandonment. This paradigm operates under the assumption that growth is a constant and urban development is only limited by fiscal constraints, underdeveloped systems of urban governance, environmental degradation, and resistance by anti-growth coalitions. We recommend that planners in shrinking cities de-emphasize growth-based planning and focus on rightsizing strategies. These strategies are based on the assumption that growth is not a constant. Consequently, urban revitalization is concentrated in a smaller urban footprint.

  19. A Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allison, L.; Hehn, J.; Kass, J.; O'Grady, R.; Scotchmoor, J.; Stucky, R.

    2006-12-01

    For many of the problems facing contemporary societies, such as potential impacts of climate change, coastal degradation, reductions of fisheries stocks, volcanic and earthquake hazards in densely populated areas, quality and availability of water, and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources and development of alternative energy sources, formulation of wise public policy depends on evaluation of the state of geoscientific research in the relevant areas. In a democratic society, public discourse about and input to policy decisions on key issues affecting the public welfare requires a public that understands the scientific research process, values the contribution of science to society, and has a working knowledge of what science can and cannot yet say about specific issues. Arguably, that ideal falls short in contemporary American society. Disturbing trends in science education, low public scientific literacy, and increasing alarms about U.S. competitiveness have all been prominent national news topics in recent years. (1) A recent National Science Board report indicated that two-thirds of Americans do not understand what science is, how it is conducted, and what one can expect from it. (2) A recent Gallup poll reports widespread and increasingly prevalent belief in pseudoscience. (3) There is a growing public complacency about and disengagement from science at the very moment when the impact of science on public life is greater than ever. (4) The Business Roundtable of major U.S. companies notes that the scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength. In response, a Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science COPUS has been initiated. Essential to COPUS is the premise that public understanding of science and the scientific process and an awareness of the impacts of scientific advancements on our quality of life are necessary to increase student interest in science as a

  20. Democracy in Brazil: presidentialism, party coalitions and the decision making process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Limongi

    Full Text Available There is no reason to treat the Brazilian political system as singular. Coalitions obey and are governed by party principles. The president, whose institutional power was enhanced by the 1988 Constitution, has a monopoly over legislative initiative, which approximates the Brazilian system to the European parliamentary democracies. Even though it is based upon empirical data, this essay formulates theoretical problems, such as the importance of institutional choices and how these impact on relations between the majority and minority in democratic governments.

  1. When culture does not matter: Experimental evidence from coalition formation ultimatum games in Austria and Japan

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Okada, A.; Riedl, A.M.

    1999-01-01

    This paper reports the results of a cross-country comparison between Austria andJapan for an experimental 3-personcoalition formation ultimatum game. The experimental design allows thecomparison with respect to three decisions. (i)The coalition decision, (ii) proposers' demand behavior in 2- and

  2. Political Appointments and Coalition Management in Brazil, 2007-2010 Nominaciones Partidárias e Coaliciones en Brasil, 2007-2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sérgio Praça

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Studies on coalition management in presidential systems usually focus on two types of goods used by the president and formateur party to hold together coalitions: exchange goods (such as individual budget amendments and coalition goods (such as ministries. This research note analyzes, with an original dataset of party members and political appointees in Brazil, a different type of good: presidential political appointments. Our study shows that partisan political appointees vary greatly among Brazilian ministries and within them. We also found that there is a disconnect between how many seats a political party holds in Congress and the number of political appointment offices it controls. This has implications for the literature on bureaucracy and politics and the literature on coalition management.La investigación sobre el manejo de coaliciones en sistemas presidenciales normalmente se concentra en dos tipos de bienes utilizados por el presidente y su partido para formar coaliciones: intercambio de bienes (a modo de enmiendas presupuestarias individuales y los bienes propios de la coalición (a través de gabinetes ministeriales. En base a un banco de datos original sobre afiliación y nombramientos partidários para cargos de confianza en el poder ejecutivo brasileño, este artículo analiza un tipo diferente de bien de intercambio: los nombramientos presidenciales. Nuestro estudio demuestra que los patrones de nombramientos partidarios varían horizontalmente (de ministerio a ministerio y verticalmente (dentro de un ministerio específico. El análisis también muestra que no hay relación entre el número de legisladores que pertenecen a un partido y la capacidad de este de efectuar nombramientos políticos.

  3. Grassroots Responsiveness to Human Rights Abuse: History of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Laura; Martinez, Ramiro; Harner, Margaret; Harner, Melanie; Horner, Pilar; Delva, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to discuss how a community agency based in Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights (WICIR), emerged in response to increasing punitive immigration practices and human rights abuses toward the Latino community. The article discusses how WICIR is engaged in advocacy, community…

  4. Practical Child Safety Education in England: A National Survey of the Child Safety Education Coalition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulvaney, Caroline A.; Watson, Michael C.; Walsh, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To examine the provision of practical safety education by Child Safety Education Coalition (CSEC) organizations in England. Design: A postal survey. Setting: Providers of child practical safety education who were also part of CSEC. Methods: In February 2010 all CSEC organizations were sent a self-completion postal questionnaire which…

  5. Human Development and Economic Growth

    OpenAIRE

    Ranis, Gustav

    2004-01-01

    Recent literature has contrasted Human Development, described as the ultimate goal of the development process, with economic growth, described as an imperfect proxy for more general welfare, or as a means toward enhanced human development. This debate has broadened the definitions and goals of development but still needs to define the important interrelations between human development (HD) and economic growth (EG). To the extent that greater freedom and capabilities improve economic performan...

  6. Coalitions and Competition in Malaysia – Incremental Transformation of a Strong-party System

    OpenAIRE

    Meredith L. WEISS

    2013-01-01

    "The seeming entrenchment of a two-coalition system in Malaysia solidifies the centrality of strongly institutionalised parties in the polity. The primary parties in Malaysia reach deeply into society and nest within dense networks of both intra-party and external organisations. Given this order - which differentiates Malaysia from its neighbours in the region - political liberalisation, if it happens, should be expected largely via electoral politics, and, specifically, through inter-party c...

  7. From ‘Good’ to ‘Growth-Enhancing’ Governance: Emerging Research Agendas on Africaʼs Political-Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjær, Anne Mette

    2014-01-01

    application of pre-defined good governance institutions in African states. Rather, it argues that there is a need for understanding the political feasibility of possible alternative growth-enhancing governance initiatives. The paper argues that growth-enhancing governance will always be context dependent...... need to research the organisation of ruling coalitions and how they are financed, and we need to know more about the role of elections in shaping policies and their implementation....

  8. Coalition Warfare Program Presentation to: 2009 EUCOM/AFRICOM Science and Technology Conference

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-06-01

    compac an nexpens ve m cro- fluxgate magnetometer for use in multiple COCOMs. To continue T&E with joint services and apply lessons learned to...Partners in EUCOM/AFRICOM FY08 Starts • Advanced Dynamic Magnetometer FY09 Starts • ADNS Coalition Network FY10 New Starts • Clip-on Night Vision...Partner 2008 New Starts Advanced Dynamic Magnetometer for Static and Moving Applications T d l t d i i i US Navy (SPAWAR) Italy, Sweden o eve op a a

  9. How guiding coalitions promote positive culture change in hospitals: a longitudinal mixed methods interventional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, Elizabeth H; Brewster, Amanda L; McNatt, Zahirah; Linnander, Erika L; Cherlin, Emily; Fosburgh, Heather; Ting, Henry H; Curry, Leslie A

    2018-03-01

    Quality collaboratives are widely endorsed as a potentially effective method for translating and spreading best practices for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care. Nevertheless, hospital success in improving performance through participation in collaboratives varies markedly. We sought to understand what distinguished hospitals that succeeded in shifting culture and reducing 30-day risk-standardised mortality rate (RSMR) after AMI through their participation in the Leadership Saves Lives (LSL) collaborative. We conducted a longitudinal, mixed methods intervention study of 10 hospitals over a 2-year period; data included surveys of 223 individuals (response rates 83%-94% depending on wave) and 393 in-depth interviews with clinical and management staff most engaged with the LSL intervention in the 10 hospitals. We measured change in culture and RSMR, and key aspects of working related to team membership, turnover, level of participation and approaches to conflict management. The six hospitals that experienced substantial culture change and greater reductions in RSMR demonstrated distinctions in: (1) effective inclusion of staff from different disciplines and levels in the organisational hierarchy in the team guiding improvement efforts (referred to as the 'guiding coalition' in each hospital); (2) authentic participation in the work of the guiding coalition; and (3) distinct patterns of managing conflict. Guiding coalition size and turnover were not associated with success (p values>0.05). In the six hospitals that experienced substantial positive culture change, staff indicated that the LSL learnings were already being applied to other improvement efforts. Hospitals that were most successful in a national quality collaborative to shift hospital culture and reduce RSMR showed distinct patterns in membership diversity, authentic participation and capacity for conflict management. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the

  10. POLITICAL MONETARY CYCLES IN COALITION AND SINGLE PARTY GOVERNMENT PERIODS: A CASE STUDY ON TURKEY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AHMET EMRAH TAYYAR

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available According to the theory of political monetary cycles, the government manipulates monetary policy during election periods in order to be re-elected. According to the said theory, expansionary monetary policies are implemented before the elections with opportunistic objective, while the contractionary monetary policies are implemented to stabilize the economy immediately after the elections. The use of monetary policy instruments for political purposes depends on the presence of a non-autonomous central bank, flexible exchange rate regime in the country, and the coordination between fiscal and monetary policies. Thus, the changes in the monetary policy indicators in election periods during coalition and single party governments in Turkey between 1990 and 2016 were examined in the present study. The money in circulation (M0, M1 money supply, domestic loans and inflation series were analyzed with the seasonal Box-Jenkins method for the above mentioned periods. Based on the findings of the study, political monetary cycles were not observed during the 1990-2000 coalition governments. It was determined that there were political monetary cycles during the single party government period between 2000 and 2016.Furthermore, although it could be expected that the political monetary cycles would be removed with the liberalization of the Turkish central bank on 25 April 2001, the existence of political monetary cycles during the period of 2000-2016 indicates that central bank independence was not fully achieved in Turkey. Based on another finding of the present study, the lack of political monetary cycles during the coalition government periods could lead to the failure in financing the budget deficit that increase due to political reasons with monetary policies. However, due to the existence of political monetary cycles during the single party government period, it could be argued that politically induced budget deficits changed in consistence with the

  11. Financial Development, Environmental Quality and Economic Growth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shushu Li

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the relationships between financial development, environmental quality and economic growth are studied based on data from 102 countries over the period 1980–2010 using the generalized method of moments (GMM estimation. The econometric results show the following three basic conclusions: First, both financial development and environmental quality have a significant impact on economic growth and should be included in the production function of the economic growth model as important variables. Second, there is a significant and robust “inverted U-shaped” relationship between financial development and economic growth; with the improvement of the level of financial development, economic growth would first increase and then decrease, which is consistent with the results of previous studies. Third, there is also a significant and robust “inverted U-shaped” relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions, indicating that there exists a “critical point” at which achieving economic growth comes at the expense of environmental quality, and after passing the critical point, the deterioration of environmental quality will lead to a significant slowdown in economic growth. In addition, the econometric analysis in this paper also shows that there was a mutually promoting and strengthening relationship between financial development and environmental quality. Specifically, the degree of financial development can further strengthen the promoting effect of environmental quality on economic growth; meanwhile, an improvement in environmental quality can also strengthen the promoting effect of financial development on economic growth. Financial development and environmental quality could influence economic growth through strengthening the marginal product effects of capital and labor, which further indicates the that both financial and environmental factors play an important role in modern economic development.

  12. The Social Construction of Young People within Education Policy: Evidence from the UK's Coalition Government

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Rachel

    2013-01-01

    Since assuming power in May 2010, the UK's Coalition government has devoted considerable energy to formulating its policies with respect to young people. Evidence of this can be found in "Positive for youth: a new approach to cross-government policy for young people aged 13-19", a policy text that outlines a wide range of measures to be…

  13. Advocating for schools to provide effective HIV and sexuality education: a case study in how social service organizations working in coalition can (and should) affect sustained policy change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogusky, Jeremy; Tenner, Adam

    2010-05-01

    Advocates believed that to slow an expanding HIV/ AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., a local effort could ensure that HIV prevention was brought to scale. Schools were chosen as the focus and a new coalition advocated for the city government to pass new academic standards for health education. HIV and sex education policies had not been revised in more than 12 years and HIV education in D.C. public schools varied greatly in quality. Metro TeenAIDS (MTA), a traditional social service organization with no real history of advocacy work, reached only 10% of D.C. adolescents with critical HIV/AIDS prevention information. Clearly, to make a sustained impact, system change was necessary. After deciding to pursue a campaign focused on updating health education policy and creating standards, MTA convened a variety of reproductive health, adolescent medicine, and other organizations to establish the DC Healthy Youth Coalition. The Coalition used three complementary strategies to achieve campaign goals: mobilizing grassroots community support, involving parents in the discussion, and educating city leaders. By building an alliance of social service organizations and influencing critical public policy, the coalition ensured that new educational standards were passed.

  14. IAEA support to the sustainability of nuclear research institutions through networking and coalitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Videnovic, I.R.; Goldman, I.N.; Bradley, E.E.; Ridikas, D.; Adelfang, P.; Acuna, O.E.; )

    2009-01-01

    Full text: The research reactor community has had a long and successful history of both productive and safe operations, with important contributions to scientific and technical research, production of isotopes for medical and industrial purposes, and important support to nuclear power programmes. However, most of the research reactors operating in the European region are now over 30 years old, although many of them have been refurbished to meet today's technological standards and safety requirements. Many research reactors are underutilized and faced with critical issues regarding their sustainability and important decisions concerning their future operation. These include challenges associated with the ageing of staff, reactor components, materials and spent fuel. Another significant challenge is securing adequate financial support - through public subsidies or income generation - to offset operational costs and the level of political and/or public support. Additional attention should be focused on the serious erosion at the level of government support, management commitment and available resources for the infrastructure necessary for effective research reactor operations. Such challenges are also occurring in the context of increased concerns over global non-proliferation and nuclear material safety and security, as a result of which research reactor operators are increasingly compelled to substantially improve their physical security arrangements and to convert their reactors to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. In addition, some of the products of research reactors, such as medical radioisotopes, are increasingly subject to transport security restrictions, delays and added costs, making it even more difficult for research reactors to develop potential revenue sources. These factors create a complex environment for research reactors and one in which underutilized and therefore usually poorly funded facilities invoke different concerns. In this context, greatly

  15. An Analysis of the United States-Led Coalition Air Campaign Conducted During the 1991 War with IRAQ: Desert Storm

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Murphy, John

    2002-01-01

    Evaluation of the 1991 United States led coalition Persian Gulf War (DESERT STORM) Air Campaign is performed to measure its adherence to basic principles of war and to determine the potential implications for the future conduct of war...

  16. Blockchain-Oriented Coalition Formation by CPS Resources: Ontological Approach and Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey Kashevnik

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Cyber-physical systems (CPS, robotics, Internet of Things, information and communication technologies have become more and more popular over the last several years. These topics open new perspectives and scenarios that can automate processes in human life. CPS are aimed at interaction support in information space for physical entities communicated in physical space in real time. At the same time the blockchain technology that becomes popular last years allows to organize immutable distributed database that store all significant information and provide access for CPS participants. The paper proposes an approach that is based on ontology-based context management, publish/subscribe semantic interoperability support, and blockchain techniques. Utilization of these techniques provide possibilities to develop CPS that supports dynamic, distributed, and stable coalition formation of the resources. The case study presented has been implemented for the scenario of heterogeneous mobile robots’ collaboration for the overcoming of obstacles. There are two types of robots and an information service participating in the scenario. Evaluation shows that the proposed approach is applicable for the presented class of scenarios.

  17. Mobilizing Communities around HIV Prevention for Youth: How Three Coalitions Applied Key Strategies to Bring about Structural Changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chutuape, Kate S.; Willard, Nancy; Sanchez, Kenia; Straub, Diane M.; Ochoa, Tara N.; Howell, Kourtney; Rivera, Carmen; Ramos, Ibrahim; Ellen, Jonathan M.

    2010-01-01

    Increasingly, HIV prevention efforts must focus on altering features of the social and physical environment to reduce risks associated with HIV acquisition and transmission. Community coalitions provide a vehicle for bringing about sustainable structural changes. This article shares lessons and key strategies regarding how three community…

  18. Financial development, uncertainty and economic growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lensink, B.W.

    By performing a cross-country growth regression for the 1970-1998 period this paper finds evidence for the fact that the impact of policy uncertainty on economic growth depends on the development of the financial sector. It appears that a higher level of financial development partly mitigates the

  19. Analysing growth and development of plants jointly using developmental growth stages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dambreville, Anaëlle; Lauri, Pierre-Éric; Normand, Frédéric; Guédon, Yann

    2015-01-01

    Plant growth, the increase of organ dimensions over time, and development, the change in plant structure, are often studied as two separate processes. However, there is structural and functional evidence that these two processes are strongly related. The aim of this study was to investigate the co-ordination between growth and development using mango trees, which have well-defined developmental stages. Developmental stages, determined in an expert way, and organ sizes, determined from objective measurements, were collected during the vegetative growth and flowering phases of two cultivars of mango, Mangifera indica. For a given cultivar and growth unit type (either vegetative or flowering), a multistage model based on absolute growth rate sequences deduced from the measurements was first built, and then growth stages deduced from the model were compared with developmental stages. Strong matches were obtained between growth stages and developmental stages, leading to a consistent definition of integrative developmental growth stages. The growth stages highlighted growth asynchronisms between two topologically connected organs, namely the vegetative axis and its leaves. Integrative developmental growth stages emphasize that developmental stages are closely related to organ growth rates. The results are discussed in terms of the possible physiological processes underlying these stages, including plant hydraulics, biomechanics and carbohydrate partitioning. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Rise and Fall of a Coalition: The Supreme War Council and Marshal Foch, 1917-1919

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-05-26

    Britain and France During the First World War ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009), 169. 5 World Peace Foundation, “The Supreme War Council...Second World War conflict. It illustrated how unified policies as a coalition from the First World War served a reminder for strategists and operational...France During the First World War ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009); Elizabeth Greenhalgh, Foch in Command: The Forging of a First World

  1. Coalition of distributed generation units to virtual power players - a game theory approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morais, Hugo; Sousa, Tiago M; Santos, Gabriel

    2015-01-01

    and the existence of new management players such as several types of aggregators. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the coalition between distributed generation units originating Virtual Power Players (VPP) considering a game theory approach. The proposed approach consists in the analysis...... strategies, size and goals, each parameter has different importance. VPP can also manage other type of energy resources, like storage units, electric vehicles, demand response programs or even parts of the MV and LV distribution network. A case study with twelve VPPs with different characteristics and one...

  2. How Stock Markets Development Affect Endogenous Growth Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Najeb Masoud

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper can bedescribed as a significant exploratory study that will provide a significantcontribution to knowledge to consider crucial issues which need to be barriersto understanding or a temptation/ requirement to judge some practices as‘better’ than others for stock market development effective approach andimplement successful stock market performance and economic growth. Recentanalysis of the link between financial development and growth, gained frominsights acquired as a result of using the technique of endogenous growthmodels, has illustrated that growth without exogenous technical progress andthat growth rates could be related to technology, income distribution andinstitutional arrangements. This provides the theoretical background thatempirical studies have lacked; illustrating that financial intermediationaffects the level of economic growth. Resulting models have provided newimpetus to empirical research of the effects of financial development. Thebirth of the new endogenous growth theory has facilitated the development ofimproved growth models where the long-term rate could be affected by a numberof elements. These included technology, education and health policies in theprocess of economic development, capital accumulation, government policies andinstitutional activities in the role of financial development in economicgrowth.

  3. Do Technological Developments and Financial Development Promote Economic Growth: Fresh Evidence from Romania

    OpenAIRE

    Ur Rehman, Ijaz; Shahbaz, Muhammad; Kyophilavong, Phouphet

    2013-01-01

    We study the relationship between financial development, technological development and economic growth in Romania. We construct aggregate indices of financial development and technological development using principal component analysis. The ARDL bounds testing approach shows the presence of cointegration between financial development, technological development and economic growth. Financial development and technological development contribute to economic growth. Moreover, financial developmen...

  4. Stable structures of coalitions in competitive and altruistic military teams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aurangzeb, M.; Mikulski, D.; Hudas, G.; Lewis, F. L.; Gu, Edward

    2013-05-01

    In heterogeneous battlefield teams, the balance between team and individual objectives forms the basis for the internal topological structure of teams. The stability of team structure is studied by presenting a graphical coalitional game (GCG) with Positional Advantage (PA). PA is Shapley value strengthened by the Axioms of value. The notion of team and individual objectives is studied by defining altruistic and competitive contribution made by an individual; altruistic and competitive contributions made by an agent are components of its total or marginal contribution. Moreover, the paper examines dynamic team effects by defining three online sequential decision games based on marginal, competitive and altruistic contributions of the individuals towards team. The stable graphs under these sequential decision games are studied and found to be structurally connected, complete, or tree respectively.

  5. Renewable energy policy and wind energy development in Germany

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zitzer, Suzanne E [UFZ - Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH, Leipzig (Germany). Department Urban Ecology, Environmental Planing and Transport

    2009-07-15

    The author of the contribution under consideration reports on the renewable energy policy and wind energy development in the Federal Republic of Germany. First of all, the author describes the historical development of the renewable energy policy since the 1970ies. Then, the environmental policies of the Red-Green Coalition (till to 2005) and of the Grand Coalition (since 2005) as well as the Renewable Energy Sources Act are described. The next section of this contribution is concern to the development of wind energy in the Federal Republic of Germany under consideration of onshore wind energy and offshore wind energy.

  6. The influence of interdisciplinary collaboration on decision making: a framework to analyse stakeholder coalitions, evolution and learning in strategic delta planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vermoolen, Myrthe; Hermans, Leon

    2015-04-01

    The sustained development of urbanizing deltas requires that conflicting interests are reconciled, in an environment characterized by technical complexity and knowledge limitations. However, integrating ideas and establishing cooperation between actors with different backgrounds and roles still proves a challenge. Agreeing on strategic choices is difficult and implementation of agreed plans may lead to unanticipated and unintended outcomes. How can individual disciplinary perspectives come together and establish a broadly-supported and well-informed plan, the implementation of which contributes to sustainable delta development? The growing recognition of this need to bring together different stakeholders and different disciplinary perspectives runs parallel to a paradigm shift from 'hard' hydrological engineering to multi-functional and more 'soft' hydrological engineering in water management. As a result, there is now more attention for interdisciplinary collaboration that not only takes the physical characteristics of water systems into account, but also the interaction between physical and societal components of these systems. Thus, it is important to study interdisciplinary collaboration and how this influences decision-making. Our research looks into this connection, using a case in delta planning in the Netherlands, where there have been several (attempts for) integration of spatial planning and flood risk/ water management, e.g. in the case of the Dutch Delta Programme. This means that spatial designers and their designs play an important role in the strategic delta planning process as well, next to civil engineers, etc. This study explores the roles of stakeholders, experts and policy makers in interdisciplinary decision-making in dynamic delta planning processes, using theories and methods that focus on coalitions, learning and changes over time in policy and planning processes. This requires an expansion of the existing frameworks to study

  7. Advocating for Change? How a Civil Society-led Coalition Influences the Implementation of the Forest Rights Act in India

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Barnes, Clare; van Laerhoven, Frank; Driessen, Peter P J

    2016-01-01

    Forest policy implementation is a political endeavor involving both state and non-state actors. We observe that civil society organizations (CSOs) often federate into civil society-led coalitions (CSCs) in order to shape forest policies in their favor. They appear to be successful in doing this

  8. School nurse summer institute: a model for professional development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neighbors, Marianne; Barta, Kathleen

    2004-06-01

    The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and spring. Coalition building is an important tool to enhance the influence of the school nurse in improving the health of individuals, families, and communities. School nurses and nursing educators with expertise in the specialty of school nursing could replicate this model in their own regions.

  9. Normative Bias and Adaptive Challenges: A Relational Approach to Coalitional Psychology and a Critique of Terror Management Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos David Navarrete

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Adherence to ingroup ideology increases after exposure to death-related stimuli, a reaction that proponents of terror management theory (TMT explain as a psychological defense against the uniquely human existential fear of death. We argue that existential concerns are not the relevant issue; rather, such concepts can be subsumed under a larger category of adaptive challenges that prime coalitional thinking. We suggest that increases in adherence to ingroup ideology in response to adaptive challenges are manifestations of normative mental representations emanating from psychological systems designed to enhance coordination and membership in social groups. In providing an alternative to TMT, we (1 explain why the theory is inconsistent with contemporary evolutionary biology, (2 demonstrate that mortality-salience does not have the unique evocative powers ascribed to it by TMT advocates, and (3 discuss our approach to coalitional psychology, a framework consistent with modern evolutionary theory and informed by a broad understanding of cultural variation, can be employed to help account for both the corpus of results in TMT research and the growing body of findings inconsistent with TMT's predictions.

  10. Human dynamics of spending: Longitudinal study of a coalition loyalty program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yi, Il Gu; Jeong, Hyang Min; Choi, Woosuk; Jang, Seungkwon; Lee, Heejin; Kim, Beom Jun

    2014-09-01

    Large-scale data of a coalition loyalty program is analyzed in terms of the temporal dynamics of customers' behaviors. We report that the two main activities of a loyalty program, earning and redemption of points, exhibit very different behaviors. It is also found that as customers become older from their early 20's, both male and female customers increase their earning and redemption activities until they arrive at the turning points, beyond which both activities decrease. The positions of turning points as well as the maximum earned and redeemed points are found to differ for males and females. On top of these temporal behaviors, we identify that there exists a learning effect and customers learn how to earn and redeem points as their experiences accumulate in time.

  11. The Content of Our Cooperation, Not the Color of Our Skin: An Alliance Detection System Regulates Categorization by Coalition and Race, but Not Sex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietraszewski, David; Cosmides, Leda; Tooby, John

    2014-01-01

    Humans in all societies form and participate in cooperative alliances. To successfully navigate an alliance-laced world, the human mind needs to detect new coalitions and alliances as they emerge, and predict which of many potential alliance categories are currently organizing an interaction. We propose that evolution has equipped the mind with cognitive machinery that is specialized for performing these functions: an alliance detection system. In this view, racial categories do not exist because skin color is perceptually salient; they are constructed and regulated by the alliance system in environments where race predicts social alliances and divisions. Early tests using adversarial alliances showed that the mind spontaneously detects which individuals are cooperating against a common enemy, implicitly assigning people to rival alliance categories based on patterns of cooperation and competition. But is social antagonism necessary to trigger the categorization of people by alliance—that is, do we cognitively link A and B into an alliance category only because they are jointly in conflict with C and D? We report new studies demonstrating that peaceful cooperation can trigger the detection of new coalitional alliances and make race fade in relevance. Alliances did not need to be marked by team colors or other perceptually salient cues. When race did not predict the ongoing alliance structure, behavioral cues about cooperative activities up-regulated categorization by coalition and down-regulated categorization by race, sometimes eliminating it. Alliance cues that sensitively regulated categorization by coalition and race had no effect on categorization by sex, eliminating many alternative explanations for the results. The results support the hypothesis that categorizing people by their race is a reversible product of a cognitive system specialized for detecting alliance categories and regulating their use. Common enemies are not necessary to erase important

  12. Fresh whole blood transfusions in coalition military, foreign national, and enemy combatant patients during Operation Iraqi Freedom at a U.S. combat support hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spinella, Philip C; Perkins, Jeremy G; Grathwohl, Kurt W; Repine, Thomas; Beekley, Alec C; Sebesta, James; Jenkins, Donald; Azarow, Kenneth; Holcomb, John B

    2008-01-01

    United States military doctrine permits the use of fresh whole blood (FWB), donated by U.S. military personnel on site, for casualties with life-threatening injuries at combat support hospitals. U.S. Military Medical Department policy dictates that all patients treated at military facilities during combat (coalition military personnel, foreign nationals, and enemy combatants) are to be treated equally. The objectives of this study were to describe admission vital signs and laboratory values and injury location for patients transfused with FWB, and to determine if FWB was employed equally among all patient personnel categories at a combat support hospital. This retrospective cohort study evaluated admission vital signs and laboratory values, injury location, and personnel category for all patients receiving FWB at a U.S. Army combat support hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, between January and December 2004. Eighty-seven patients received 545 units of FWB. Upon admission, the average (+/-S.D.) heart rate was 144 bpm (+/-25); systolic blood pressure, 106 mmHg (+/-33); base deficit, 9 (+/-6.5); hemoglobin, 9.0 g/dl (+/-2.6); platelet concentration, 81.9 x 10(3)/mm(3) (+/-81); international normalized ratio (INR), 2.0 (+/-1.1); and temperature 95.7 degrees F (+/-2.6). The percentages of intensive care patients who received FWB by personnel category were as follows: coalition soldiers, 51/592 (8.6%); foreign nationals, 25/347 (7.2%); and enemy combatants, 11/128 (8.5% (p = 0.38). The amount of FWB transfused by personnel category was as follows: coalition soldier, 4 units (1-35); foreign national, 4 units (1-36); and enemy combatant, 4 units (1-11) (p = 0.9). Fresh whole blood was used for anemic, acidemic, hypothermic, coagulopathic patients with life-threatening traumatic injuries in hemorrhagic shock, and it was transfused in equal percentages and amounts for coalition soldiers, foreign nationals, and enemy combatants.

  13. The content of our cooperation, not the color of our skin: an alliance detection system regulates categorization by coalition and race, but not sex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Pietraszewski

    Full Text Available Humans in all societies form and participate in cooperative alliances. To successfully navigate an alliance-laced world, the human mind needs to detect new coalitions and alliances as they emerge, and predict which of many potential alliance categories are currently organizing an interaction. We propose that evolution has equipped the mind with cognitive machinery that is specialized for performing these functions: an alliance detection system. In this view, racial categories do not exist because skin color is perceptually salient; they are constructed and regulated by the alliance system in environments where race predicts social alliances and divisions. Early tests using adversarial alliances showed that the mind spontaneously detects which individuals are cooperating against a common enemy, implicitly assigning people to rival alliance categories based on patterns of cooperation and competition. But is social antagonism necessary to trigger the categorization of people by alliance--that is, do we cognitively link A and B into an alliance category only because they are jointly in conflict with C and D? We report new studies demonstrating that peaceful cooperation can trigger the detection of new coalitional alliances and make race fade in relevance. Alliances did not need to be marked by team colors or other perceptually salient cues. When race did not predict the ongoing alliance structure, behavioral cues about cooperative activities up-regulated categorization by coalition and down-regulated categorization by race, sometimes eliminating it. Alliance cues that sensitively regulated categorization by coalition and race had no effect on categorization by sex, eliminating many alternative explanations for the results. The results support the hypothesis that categorizing people by their race is a reversible product of a cognitive system specialized for detecting alliance categories and regulating their use. Common enemies are not necessary to

  14. The content of our cooperation, not the color of our skin: an alliance detection system regulates categorization by coalition and race, but not sex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietraszewski, David; Cosmides, Leda; Tooby, John

    2014-01-01

    Humans in all societies form and participate in cooperative alliances. To successfully navigate an alliance-laced world, the human mind needs to detect new coalitions and alliances as they emerge, and predict which of many potential alliance categories are currently organizing an interaction. We propose that evolution has equipped the mind with cognitive machinery that is specialized for performing these functions: an alliance detection system. In this view, racial categories do not exist because skin color is perceptually salient; they are constructed and regulated by the alliance system in environments where race predicts social alliances and divisions. Early tests using adversarial alliances showed that the mind spontaneously detects which individuals are cooperating against a common enemy, implicitly assigning people to rival alliance categories based on patterns of cooperation and competition. But is social antagonism necessary to trigger the categorization of people by alliance--that is, do we cognitively link A and B into an alliance category only because they are jointly in conflict with C and D? We report new studies demonstrating that peaceful cooperation can trigger the detection of new coalitional alliances and make race fade in relevance. Alliances did not need to be marked by team colors or other perceptually salient cues. When race did not predict the ongoing alliance structure, behavioral cues about cooperative activities up-regulated categorization by coalition and down-regulated categorization by race, sometimes eliminating it. Alliance cues that sensitively regulated categorization by coalition and race had no effect on categorization by sex, eliminating many alternative explanations for the results. The results support the hypothesis that categorizing people by their race is a reversible product of a cognitive system specialized for detecting alliance categories and regulating their use. Common enemies are not necessary to erase important social

  15. Beyond Brazilian Coalition Presidentialism: the Appropriation of the Legislative Agenda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Silveira e Silva

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Even though they possess several power resources, Brazilian Presidents also elaborate their legislative proposals based upon bills already being processed in Congress through a phenomenon called Appropriation of the legislative agenda. In this paper I examine the conditions under which this phenomenon occurs by means of a typology and a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA. I conclude that Appropriation provides the President with the expansion of the formal support base by controlling the agenda of allied and opposition parties as well as obtaining the "paternity" of several policies already in motion in Congress, thus enabling a public association of the President's actions and his or her party with the possibility of social benefits. Be it in the pursuit of promising agendas or for the maintenance of their own dominance, Appropriation shows that Brazilian Presidents must go beyond coalition presidentialism.

  16. Effect of young maternal age and skeletal growth on placental growth and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayward, C E; Greenwood, S L; Sibley, C P; Baker, P N; Jones, R L

    2011-12-01

    Teenagers are susceptible to delivering small-for-gestational-age infants. Previous studies implicate continued skeletal growth as a contributory factor, and impaired placental development was the primary cause of fetal growth restriction in growing adolescent sheep. The aims of this study were to examine the impact of young maternal age and growth on placental development. Placentas were collected from 31 teenagers, of which 12 were growing and 17 non-growing based on knee height measurements. An adult control group (n = 12) was included. Placental weight and morphometric measurements of villous, syncytiotrophoblast, fibrin and vessel areas, as well as indices of proliferation and apoptosis, were analysed in relation to maternal growth and age. Growing teenagers had a higher birthweight:placental weight ratio than non-growing teenagers (p adult and teenage pregnancies. Maternal smoking, a potential confounding factor, did not exert a major influence on the placental parameters examined, except for a stimulatory effect on placental proliferation (p development, and is consistent with our recent observations that maternal growth was not detrimental to fetal growth. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Epidemiology of modern battlefield colorectal trauma: a review of 977 coalition casualties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glasgow, Sean C; Steele, Scott R; Duncan, James E; Rasmussen, Todd E

    2012-12-01

    Traumatic injuries to the lower gastrointestinal tract occur in up to 15% of all injured combatants, with significant morbidity (up to 75%) and mortality. The incidence, etiology, associated injuries, and overall mortality related to modern battlefield colorectal trauma are poorly characterized. Using data from the Joint Theater Trauma Registry and other Department of Defense electronic health records, the ongoing Joint Surgical Transcolonic Injury or Ostomy Multi-theater Assessment project quantifies epidemiologic trends in colon injury, risk factors for prolonged or perhaps unnecessary fecal diversion, and quality of life in US military personnel requiring colostomies. In the current study, all coalition troops with colon or rectal injuries as classified by DRG International Classification of Diseases-9th Rev. diagnosis and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) codes in the Joint Theater Trauma Registry were included. During 8 years, 977 coalition military personnel with colorectal injury were identified, with a mean (SD) Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 22.2 (13.2). Gunshot wounds remain the primary mechanism of injury (57.6%). Compared with personnel with colon injuries, those with rectal trauma sustained greater injury to face and extremities but fewer severe thoracic and abdominal injuries (p colon trauma. There was little difference in diversion rates between theaters for rectal injuries (59.6% vs. 50%, p colon or rectal trauma continue to have elevated mortality rates, even after reaching surgical treatment facilities. Furthermore, associated serious injuries are commonly encountered. Fecal diversion in these patients may lead to reduced mortality, although prospective selection criteria for diversion do not currently exist. Future research into risk factors for colostomy creation, timing of diversion in relation to damage-control laparotomy, and quality of life in veterans with stomas will produce useful insights and help guide therapy. Epidemiologic study, level

  18. The Intermediate Set and Limiting Superdi erential for Coalition Games: Between the Core and the Weber Set

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Adam, Lukáš; Kroupa, T.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 46, č. 4 (2017), s. 891-918 ISSN 0020-7276 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-00735S Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : coalition game * limiting superdi erential * intermediate set * core * Weber set Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Statistics and probability Impact factor: 0.713, year: 2016 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2016/MTR/adam-0467365.pdf

  19. Taking a Regional Healthcare Coalition Approach to Mitigating Surge Capacity Needs of Mass Casualty or Pandemic Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-01

    gaining motivation for employees or, as exemplified in this case, coalition participants.59 The theory posits that there are two factors that... Motivation -Hygiene/Satisfiers Two-Factor Theory outline from the 1959 book; The Motivation to Work by Frederick Hertzberg; NetMBA web search 2/24/12; http...www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/ motivation / herzberg / 43 of the work of the group, individual responsibility given to members, achievements of the

  20. Evaluation of DELTA PREP: A Project Aimed at Integrating Primary Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence within State Domestic Violence Coalitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, Kimberley E.; Zakocs, Ronda; Le, Brenda; Hill, Jessica A.; Brown, Pamela; Wheaton, Jocelyn

    2015-01-01

    Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized as a public health problem since the late 20th century. To spur IPV prevention efforts nationwide, the DELTA PREP Project selected 19 state domestic violence coalitions to build organizational prevention capacity and catalyze IPV primary prevention strategies within their states.…

  1. Electricity, growth and development in India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Debeir, Jean-Claude

    2014-01-01

    In India, the revenue generated by rapid economic growth have been used neither to relieve the enormous social injustices affecting the oppressed, nor to develop the physical-and especially electric power-infrastructure in a determined and planned way. This growth has not reduced poverty, and it has caused huge ecological degradations

  2. Growth and development after hematopoietic cell transplant in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, J E

    2008-01-01

    Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) following high-dose chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for children with malignant or nonmalignant hematologic disorders has resulted in an increasing number of long-term disease-free survivors. The preparative regimens include high doses of alkylating agents, such as CY with or without BU, and may include TBI. These agents impact the neuroendocrine system in growing children and their subsequent growth and development. Children receiving high-dose CY or BUCY have normal thyroid function, but those who receive TBI-containing regimens may develop thyroid function abnormalities. Growth is not impacted by chemotherapy-only preparative regimens, but TBI is likely to result in growth hormone deficiency and decreased growth rates that need to be treated with synthetic growth hormone therapy. Children who receive high-dose CY-only have normal development through puberty, whereas those who receive BUCY have a high incidence of delayed pubertal development. Following fractionated TBI preparative regimens, approximately half of the patients have normal pubertal development. These data demonstrate that the growth and development problems after HCT are dependent upon the preparative regimen received. All children should be followed for years after HCT for detection of growth and development abnormalities that are treatable with appropriate hormone therapy.

  3. Growth & development of Indian children adopted in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proos, Lemm A

    2009-11-01

    More than 6800 children from India have been adopted in Sweden over the last four decades. At arrival many were undernourished and suffered from infectious diseases. Catch-up growth was common. Unexpectedly, cases of early pubertal development were subsequently reported. In order to investigate the growth and development of adopted children more in detail we studied 114 children adopted from India prospectively during two years. The majority were stunted at arrival and caught up in height and weight after two years. Psychomotor retardation and common infections diminished fairly soon. Those that were stunted did not attain the higher catch-up levels of those not stunted at arrival. Low birthweight also limited the degree of catch-up growth. 107 girls were analysed retrospectively in another study. The median menarcheal age was 11.6 yr (range 7.3-14.6 yr) which is significantly earlier than the mean in Swedish and privileged Indian girls (13.0 and 12.4-12.9 yr, respectively). The pubertal linear growth component was normal in duration and magnitude but likewise started 1.5 yr earlier. The final height/age was 154 cm (-1.4 SDS) and the weight/age 46.9 kg (-1.1 SDS) 8 per cent were 145 cm or shorter. Stunting limited catch-up growth and final height. Those that were most stunted at arrival, and had the fastest catch-up growth, had the earliest menarche. Good maternal and child nutrition is necessary for full expression of a child's growth potential. What is lost in growth early in life can only partially be recovered by catch-up growth. Such growth is associated with risk for early pubertal development which abbreviates the childhood growth period and limits final height. The mechanism underlying the early pubertal development, and the optimal management of nutrition rehabilitation after chronic malnutrition, need to be clarified by further studies.

  4. GROWTH ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: WHAT SHOULD DEVELOPMENT ECONOMISTS LEARN (IF ANYTHING) FROM THE NEW GROWTH THEORY?

    OpenAIRE

    Ruttan, Vernon W.

    1998-01-01

    Since their emergence as a distinct fields of inquiry in the early post World War II period there has been an uneasy relationship between growth economics and development economics. The emergence of a richer new growth economics' has opened up the possibilities of a more fruitful dialogue between the two subdisciplines. In spite of recent advances, particularly with respect to the human capital, and understanding of differences in growth rates and income levels across countries remains elusiv...

  5. Does globalization contribute to economic growth in developing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper examines empirically whether or not globalization contributes to economic growth in developing countries, drawing empirical lessons from Nigeria. The globalization – growth link, is anchored on Husain Schematic representation, Solow model, and the new growth (endogenous growth) theory. The paper adopts ...

  6. Financial development and economic growth in Ghana: Does the measure of financial development matter?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Adu

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to investigate the long-run growth effects of financial development in Ghana. We find that the growth effect of financial development is sensitive to the choice of proxy. Both the credit to the private sector as ratios to GDP and total domestic credit are conducive for growth, while broad money stock to GDP ratio is not growth-inducing. The indexes created from principal component analysis confirmed the sensitivity of the effect to the choice of proxy. The findings here suggest that whether financial development is good or bad for growth depends on the indicator used to proxy for financial development.

  7. Insulin-like growth factors in embryonic and fetal growth and skeletal development (Review).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrogiannis, Georgios D; Sifakis, Stavros; Patsouris, Efstratios S; Konstantinidou, Anastasia E

    2014-08-01

    The insulin-like growth factors (IGF)-I and -II have a predominant role in fetal growth and development. IGFs are involved in the proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of fetal cells in vitro and the IGF serum concentration has been shown to be closely correlated with fetal growth and length. IGF transcripts and peptides have been detected in almost every fetal tissue from as early in development as pre‑implantation to the final maturation stage. Furthermore, IGFs have been demonstrated to be involved in limb morphogenesis. However, although ablation of Igf genes in mice resulted in growth retardation and delay in skeletal maturation, no impact on outgrowth and patterning of embryonic limbs was observed. Additionally, various molecular defects in the Igf1 and Igf1r genes in humans have been associated with severe intrauterine growth retardation and impaired skeletal maturation, but not with truncated limbs or severe skeletal dysplasia. The conflicting data between in vitro and in vivo observations with regard to bone morphogenesis suggests that IGFs may not be the sole trophic factors involved in fetal skeletal growth and that redundant mechanisms may exist in chondro- and osteogenesis. Further investigation is required in order to elucidate the functions of IGFs in skeletal development.

  8. Domestic coalitions in the FTAA negotiations: the Brazilian case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Castelan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper proposes an explanation to the domestic coalitions organised in Brazil around the FTAA negotiations, which stand as a hard case for the existing theories on political cleavages: industrialists and trade unions, albeit having shared common interests in the negotiations, did not adopt a joint strategy to foster their positions. The hypothesis to explain the political alignments in the FTAA is that the opening of the Brazilian market, which had advanced a lot in the years of negotiations, altered the priorities of workers and employers, as well as their preferences in foreign trade policy, hindering the reconciliation of class interests. Both agreed that the U.S. proposal for the FTAA was undesirable, but they completely disagreed on other issues that emerged in the political agenda during the reforms period, such as the role of the State in an open economy, the scope of labour and social rights and the social security system, the structure of taxation, etc. Some of the controversial issues were not new, but the international trade liberalisation intensified the dispute over them.

  9. Band of Brothers or Dysfunctional Family? A Military Perspective on Coalition Challenges During Stability Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    the army, there were lots of examples of NGOs [that] were quite happy on a working level to meet for coffee in Pristina and sit over a map and...coalition units for a visit and found that the units would have the coffee brewing . . . and we’d lay out where we are going . . . and they’d go off and...our obsession with this curious taxonomy, in a world of our own, where we talk about “supporting effects” and “end states”—it just isn’t how these

  10. Ihh signaling regulates mandibular symphysis development and growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugito, H; Shibukawa, Y; Kinumatsu, T; Yasuda, T; Nagayama, M; Yamada, S; Minugh-Purvis, N; Pacifici, M; Koyama, E

    2011-05-01

    Symphyseal secondary cartilage is important for mandibular development, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its formation remain largely unknown. Here we asked whether Indian hedgehog (Ihh) regulates symphyseal cartilage development and growth. By embryonic days 16.5 to 18.5, Sox9-expressing chondrocytes formed within condensed Tgfβ-1/Runx2-expressing mesenchymal cells at the prospective symphyseal joint site, and established a growth-plate-like structure with distinct Ihh, collagen X, and osteopontin expression patterns. In post-natal life, mesenchymal cells expressing the Ihh receptor Patched1 were present anterior to the Ihh-expressing secondary cartilage, proliferated, differentiated into chondrocytes, and contributed to anterior growth of alveolar bone. In Ihh-null mice, however, symphyseal development was defective, mainly because of enhanced chondrocyte maturation and reduced proliferation of chondroprogenitor cells. Proliferation was partially restored in dual Ihh;Gli3 mutants, suggesting that Gli3 is normally a negative regulator of symphyseal development. Thus, Ihh signaling is essential for symphyseal cartilage development and anterior mandibular growth.

  11. Financial Development Following Economic Growth: The Chinese Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chan il Park

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial development and economic growth based on Chinese experiences during the period of 1979~2000. This study places more emphasis on the causality running from economic growth to financThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial development and economic growth based on Chinese experiences during the period of 1979~2000. This study places more emphasis on the causality running from economic growth to financial development contrary to the mainstream view, which asserts that the well-functioning financial systems exert a large positive impact on economic growth via two channels- capital accumulation and technological innovations. The reverse causality is postulated by considering two factors in developments of the country's financial system. Firstly, this paper argues that the rapid accumulation of financial assets and the remarkable expansion of the financial system during the examined period are due primarily to income rises and changes in industrial structures rather than inefficient financial reforms. Secondly, it is recognized in this study that various financial reform measures undertaken by the state since 1994 are emerged endogenously in response to Chinese financial disorders and macroeconomic imbalances built up during the 1979~93 period. This line of thinking is not following the mainstream view in which financial reforms are regarded as policy variables (or exogenous variables in promoting economic growth. These two factors imply that the causality may run from economic growth to financial development at least in China.

  12. Development of the Young Brain

    Medline Plus

    Full Text Available ... Mental Illnesses Clinical Trials Outreach Outreach Home Stakeholder Engagement Outreach Partnership Program Alliance for Research Progress Coalition ... development of the adolescent brain. Decades of imaging work have led to remarkable insight and a more ...

  13. POVERTY, GROWTH AND INEQUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guiga Housseima

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to assess the position of some developing countries in relation to different theories about the relationship between poverty, growth and inequality. We conducted an econometric analysis through a study using panel data from 52 developing countries over the period 1990-2005, to determine the main sources of poverty reduction and show the interdependence between poverty, inequality and growth by using a system of simultaneous equations. This method is rarely applied econometric panel data and especially in the case studies on poverty. Our results indicate that the state investment in social sectors such as education and health and improving the living conditions of the rural population can promote economic growth and reducing inequality. Therefore, the Kuznets hypothesis is based on a relationship between economic growths to income inequality is most appropriate.

  14. Growth and development rates have different thermal responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forster, Jack; Hirst, Andrew G; Woodward, Guy

    2011-11-01

    Growth and development rates are fundamental to all living organisms. In a warming world, it is important to determine how these rates will respond to increasing temperatures. It is often assumed that the thermal responses of physiological rates are coupled to metabolic rate and thus have the same temperature dependence. However, the existence of the temperature-size rule suggests that intraspecific growth and development are decoupled. Decoupling of these rates would have important consequences for individual species and ecosystems, yet this has not been tested systematically across a range of species. We conducted an analysis on growth and development rate data compiled from the literature for a well-studied group, marine pelagic copepods, and use an information-theoretic approach to test which equations best describe these rates. Growth and development rates were best characterized by models with significantly different parameters: development has stronger temperature dependence than does growth across all life stages. As such, it is incorrect to assume that these rates have the same temperature dependence. We used the best-fit models for these rates to predict changes in organism mass in response to temperature. These predictions follow a concave relationship, which complicates attempts to model the impacts of increasing global temperatures on species body size.

  15. The role of advocacy coalitions in a project implementation process: the example of the planning phase of the At Home/Chez Soi project dealing with homelessness in Montreal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Marie-Josée; Grenier, Guy; Vallée, Catherine; Hurtubise, Roch; Lévesque, Paul-André

    2014-08-01

    This study analyzed the planning process (summer 2008 to fall 2009) of a Montreal project that offers housing and community follow-up to homeless people with mental disorders, with or without substance abuse disorders. With the help of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), advocacy groups that were able to navigate a complex intervention implementation process were identified. In all, 25 people involved in the Montreal At Home/Chez Soi project were surveyed through interviews (n=18) and a discussion group (n=7). Participant observations and documentation (minutes and correspondence) were also used for the analysis. The start-up phase of the At Home/Chez may be broken down into three separate periods qualified respectively as "honeymoon;" "clash of cultures;" and "acceptance & commitment". In each of the planning phases of the At Home/Chez Soi project in Montreal, at least two advocacy coalitions were in confrontation about their specific belief systems concerning solutions to address the recurring homelessness social problem, while a third, more moderate one contributed in rallying most key actors under specified secondary aspects. The study confirms the importance of policy brokers in achieving compromises acceptable to all advocacy coalitions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Financing Human Development for Sectorial Growth: A Time Series Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shobande Abdul Olatunji

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The role which financing human development plays in fostering the sectorial growth of an economy cannot be undermined. It is a key instrument which can be utilized to alleviate poverty, create employment and ensure the sustenance of economic growth and development. Thus financing human development for sectorial growth has taken the center stage of economic growth and development strategies in most countries. In a constructive effort to examine the in-depth relationship between the variables in the Nigerian space, this paper provides evidence on the impact of financing human development and sectorial growth in Nigeria between 1982 and 2016, using the Johansen co-integration techniques to test for co-integration among the variables and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM to ascertain the speed of adjustment of the variables to their long run equilibrium position. The analysis shows that a long and short run relationship exists between financing human capital development and sectorial growth during the period reviewed. Therefore, the paper argues that for an active foundation for sustainable sectorial growth and development, financing human capital development across each unit is urgently required through increased budgetary allocation for both health and educational sectors since they are key components of human capital development in a nation.

  17. Ecological network analysis for economic systems: growth and development and implications for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jiali; Ulanowicz, Robert E

    2014-01-01

    The quantification of growth and development is an important issue in economics, because these phenomena are closely related to sustainability. We address growth and development from a network perspective in which economic systems are represented as flow networks and analyzed using ecological network analysis (ENA). The Beijing economic system is used as a case study and 11 input-output (I-O) tables for 1985-2010 are converted into currency networks. ENA is used to calculate system-level indices to quantify the growth and development of Beijing. The contributions of each direct flow toward growth and development in 2010 are calculated and their implications for sustainable development are discussed. The results show that during 1985-2010, growth was the main attribute of the Beijing economic system. Although the system grew exponentially, its development fluctuated within only a small range. The results suggest that system ascendency should be increased in order to favor more sustainable development. Ascendency can be augmented in two ways: (1) strengthen those pathways with positive contributions to increasing ascendency and (2) weaken those with negative effects.

  18. Growth and development of children with congenital heart disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chi-Wen; Li, Chung-Yi; Wang, Jou-Kou

    2004-08-01

    Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) commonly experience delayed growth. Because growth and development are closely related, both should be considered when a child's progress is examined. This paper reports a study to evaluate and compare the growth and development of preschool children with CHD to those of normal preschool children. The heights and weights of 42 preschool children with CHD and 116 normal preschool children were compared with standard growth curves. Differences in development of personal and social skills, fine motor skills and adaptability, language, and gross motor skills were evaluated. Developmental skills were assessed using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II. A significant difference was found in both body height (P motor sections (P development. Learning about the growth and developmental differences between children with CHD and normal children may help parents of the former to detect problems associated with delayed growth and development earlier. These children and their families should have the opportunity to participate in a long-term, follow-up programme that provides information and encourages developmental progress. The results could serve as a reference for those in both clinical and community workers who provide nursing care to children with CHD.

  19. In Preparation or Response: Examining Health Care Coalitions Amid a Changing Economic and Political Landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dornauer, Mark E

    2015-12-01

    The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the US Department of Health and Human Services leads the nation in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies, in part through formal collaborations between hospitals, health systems, community health centers, public health departments, and community organizations via health care coalitions (HCCs). HCCs endeavor to meet the medical surge demands inherent to disasters and to improve health outcomes before, during, and after public health emergencies. Nevertheless, significant changes in health economics and policy can impact the operations, capabilities, and scope of HCCs. Specifically, hospital consolidation and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are altering the national health care landscape, as well as the emergency preparedness sector, and are challenging HCCs to adapt to large-scale, industry-wide transformations. This article examines HCCs in the context of the developments of hospital consolidation and the ACA in order to facilitate future discourse regarding the strategy and policy of HCCs amid a changing economic and political landscape.

  20. Periconceptional growth hormone treatment alters fetal growth and development in lambs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, J M; Wilmoth, T A; Wilson, M E

    2010-05-01

    Research in the area of fetal programming has focused on intrauterine growth restriction. Few studies have attempted to examine programming mechanisms that ultimately lead to lambs with a greater potential for postnatal growth. We previously demonstrated that treatment of ewes with GH at the time of breeding led to an increase in birth weight. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of a single injection of sustained-release GH given during the periconceptional period on fetal growth and development and to determine if the GH axis would be altered in these offspring. Estrus was synchronized using 2 injections of PGF(2alpha); at the time of the second injection, ewes assigned to treatment were also given an injection of sustained-release GH. A maternal jugular vein sample was taken weekly to analyze IGF-I as a proxy for GH to estimate the duration of the treatment effect. In ewes treated with GH, IGF-I increased (P brain weights were obtained, as well as left and right ventricular wall thicknesses. On postnatal d 100, a subset of ewe lambs were weighed and challenged with an intravenous injection of GHRH. Lambs from treated ewes had increased (P left ventricular wall was thinner (P development. Lambs born to ewes treated with GH were larger at birth and had altered organ development, which may indicate that early maternal GH treatment may lead to permanent changes in the developing fetus. The ewe lambs maintained their growth performance to at least 100 d of postnatal life and appeared to have an altered GH axis, as demonstrated by the altered response to GHRH.

  1. Advocacy Coalition for Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry: The Case of Los Angeles County's Measure B.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Adam Carl; Tavrow, Paula; McGrath, Mark Roy

    2018-05-01

    Performers in the adult film industry are routinely exposed to bloodborne pathogens. In 2012, public health advocates in Los Angeles County convinced voters to pass a ballot initiative-Measure B-to mandate condom use on adult film sets. This article presents a case study of the advocacy coalition's strategies used to achieve greater workplace safety using the advocacy coalition framework. The authors were given access to all memoranda, market research, and campaign tools used to promote Measure B. To reconstruct adult film industry counterefforts, the authors reviewed trade publications, social media, and blog posts. When legislative efforts failed, advocates engaged in a step-by-step strategy built around voters to achieve passage of a ballot initiative mandating condom use for all adult films produced in Los Angeles County. Although the industry immediately filed a lawsuit after passage of Measure B, its constitutionality has been upheld. Measure B passed because public health advocates were able to assemble scientific evidence, build public support, counter false claims, and maintain consistent messages throughout the campaign. The adult film industry lacked social capital, cohesion, and nimbleness. To bolster regulatory efforts, appealing to voters to favor safe workplaces may be an effective advocacy strategy for other industries.

  2. Evidence on Economic Growth and Financial Development in Montenegro

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milena Lipovina-Bozovic

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Macroeconomic development must be supported by a stable and efficient financial system. There are many different measures of financial development that are suggested when the relationship between growth and financial system is analyzed. In this paper we will identify the most important indicators of the financial development in Montenegro. Due to the fact that in the last decade Montenegrin financial market has been developing, we want to see if that fact had an influence on the economic growth, as well as if there is significant positive relationship between the growth and financial development. The intention of this article is to use principal components in order to examine correlation among indicators and find means or main components. This technique has the advantage of giving more general measures of financial development rather than individual variables for bank or stock market development. It could be concluded that it is difficult to identify the specific components of the financial system most associated with the economic growth.

  3. Employment growth and regional development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Rikard; Hansen, Høgni Kalsø; Winther, Lars

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the potential drivers behind uneven regional development in the context of employment growth in Denmark and Sweden. In particular, we are interested in the roles of urbanization, industrial change and the rise of the new economy as manifested in the growth of the two economies...... in 2002–2007. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to analyse the impact of a number of key industrial sectors on regional employment growth in the two countries. The empirical analysis is based on longitudinal matched employer–employee data retrieved from official registers in each economy from 2002...... economies, we find that, although in general these economies react relatively similarly to changes, embarking on a narrower analysis of the individual sectors reveals marked national differences. This indicates that context matters in the analysis of regional economic dynamics in terms of structure, system...

  4. Grassroots responsiveness to human rights abuse: history of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Laura; Martinez, Ramiro; Harner, Margaret; Harner, Melanie; Horner, Pilar; Delva, Jorge

    2013-04-01

    The purpose of this article is to discuss how a community agency based in Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights (WICIR), emerged in response to increasing punitive immigration practices and human rights abuses toward the Latino community. The article discusses how WICIR is engaged in advocacy, community education on immigration issues, and political action toward a more humane immigration reform. Detailed examples of human rights abuses and the WICIR activities described in response to the abuses serve as illustrations of social work advocacy, education, and policy formulation that affect the general public, policymakers, and law enforcement officials.

  5. The value of Network Neutrality for the Internet of Tomorrow : Report of the Dynamic Coalition on Network Neutrality

    OpenAIRE

    Belli , Luca; De Filippi , Primavera

    2013-01-01

    The report explores some of the most crucial facets of Network Neutrality, underscoring its close relationship with the full enjoyment of end-users fundamental rights. The report also includes a proposal for a Model Framework on Network Neutrality that has been elaborated by the Dynamic Coalition through an open, inclusive and multi-stakeholder effort, in order to promote an efficient safeguard of the Net Neutrality principle in accordance with international human rights standards.

  6. Growth and development studies Hiroshima and Nagasaki: research plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Finch, S C; Jablon, S; Hrubec, Zdenek

    1962-03-21

    This report summarizes the research plan for prospective evaluation of growth and development in those exposed to varying amounts of ionizing radiation during childhood or while in utero in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Some experimental observations are briefly presented to provide background information, and the results of previous studies of growth and development at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) are reviewed. Procedures have been described for determining the top of the growth curve for the in utero exposed and the maximum growth and development of those exposed during childhood in comparison to their nonexposed counterparts. Differences in growth and development found between exposed and nonexposed individuals will be analysed in relation to radiation dose, age at time of exposure, sex, and socioeconomic factors. Attempts will be made to determine whether or not abnormalities in visual acuity are increased in those exposed while in utero or during childhood as compared to nonexposed or comparable ages. 23 references, 2 tables.

  7. The role of population on economic growth and development: evidence from developing countries

    OpenAIRE

    Atanda, Akinwande A.; Aminu, Salaudeen B.; Alimi, Olorunfemi Y.

    2012-01-01

    The precise relationship between population growth and per capita income has been inconclusive in the literature and the nexus has been found not clearly explain the determinants of rapid population growth in developing countries that lacks fertility control and management framework. This forms the rationale for this study to access the trend of factors that influence rapid population growth in developing countries between 1980 and 2010. This paper examined the comparative trend review of pop...

  8. How do mean division shares affect growth and development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shao Liang Frank

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The Gini coefficient is widely used in academia to discuss how income inequality affects development and growth. However, different Lorenz curves may provide different development and growth outcomes while still leading to the same Gini coefficient. This paper studies the development effects of “mean division shares”, i.e., the share of income (mean income share held by people whose household disposable income per capita is below the mean income and the share of the population (mean population share with this income, using panel data. Our analysis explores how this income share and population share impact development and growth. It shows that the income and population shares affect growth in significantly different ways and that an analysis of these metrics provides substantial value compared to that of the Gini coefficient.

  9. BANKING SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH INPALESTINE; 1995-2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaber H. Abugamea

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This study uses both OLS regression estimation and Granger Causality test toinvestigate the relationship between the banking sector development andeconomic growth in Palestine over the period 1995-2014.OLS results show asignificant impact of banking size with a negative sign, insignificant impact ofcredit lending with a marginal one for lag credit andinsignificant impact ofefficiency on economic growth, respectively.Granger Causality testresultsshowone way causality runningfrom banking size to(GDPeconomic growthandfrom banking efficiency to(GDP per capitaeconomic growth one. Overall resultsreveals a weak nexus between banking sector development and economic growth.In specific, it recommends more improving in banking lending policy to beeffective in promoting economic growth.

  10. Growth and development and their environmental and biological determinants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly da Rocha Neves

    2016-05-01

    Conclusion: The results showed a high prevalence of stunting and below‐average results for cognitive/language development among the participating children. Both environmental and biological factors were related to growth and development. However, biological variables showed a greater association with growth, whereas environmental variables were associated with development.

  11. Population Growth and Poverty in the Developing World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birdsall, Nancy

    1980-01-01

    The link between rapid population growth and the absolute poverty which currently afflicts 780 million people in developing countries (excluding China and other centrally planned economies) is examined. As a result of rapid population growth, many countries suffer slow per capita income growth, a lack of progress in reducing income inequality, and…

  12. Population growth, human development, and deforestation in biodiversity hotspots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jha, S; Bawa, K S

    2006-06-01

    Human population and development activities affect the rate of deforestation in biodiversity hotspots. We quantified the effect of human population growth and development on rates of deforestation and analyzed the relationship between these causal factors in the 1980s and 1990s. We compared the averages of population growth, human development index (HDI, which measures income, health, and education), and deforestation rate and computed correlations among these variables for countries that contain biodiversity hotspots. When population growth was high and HDI was low there was a high rate of deforestation, but when HDI was high, rate of deforestation was low, despite high population growth. The correlation among variables was significant for the 1990s but not for the 1980s. The relationship between population growth and HDI had a regional pattern that reflected the historical process of development. Based on the changes in HDI and deforestation rate over time, we identified two drivers of deforestation: policy choice and human-development constraints. Policy choices that disregard conservation may cause the loss of forests even in countries that are relatively developed. Lack of development in other countries, on the other hand, may increase the pressure on forests to meet the basic needs of the human population. Deforestation resulting from policy choices may be easier to fix than deforestation arising from human development constraints. To prevent deforestation in the countries that have such constraints, transfer of material and intellectual resources from developed countries may be needed. Popular interest in sustainable development in developed countries can facilitate the transfer of these resources.

  13. [Growth and development of children in Cuba].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordán Rodríguez, J; Bebel Agua, A; Rubén, M; Hernández, J

    1980-01-01

    During the years 1972 to 1974, a great scale study was carried out on development and growth taking at random a stratified sample of multiple stages of 50,311 children from birth to 20 years. Fifteen anthropometric dimensions were considered and evaluation was made of sexual development in both sexes. In girls, the age of menarche was registered. An X-ray of the hand was taken to 10% of the sample. One year later, 30% of the sample was X-rayed again to determine speed of growth. Response of the population was close to 94%. The importance of a national system of growth is recognized, together with the colaboration of the orgaism of masses to achieve these purposes. Information related with some of measurements reported is offered and comments related with these findings are made.

  14. Search Results | Page 78 | IDRC - International Development ...

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

    Results 771 - 780 of 1804 ... International Lawyers and Economists against Poverty (ILEAP) is an ... (STI) are critical elements in economic and social development. ... is a coalition of 18 Canadian environmental, social justice, church, first nations ...

  15. Growth charts of human development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Buuren, Stef

    2014-01-01

    This article reviews and compares two types of growth charts for tracking human development over age. Both charts assume the existence of a continuous latent variable, but relate to the observed data in different ways. The D-score diagram summarizes developmental indicators into a single aggregate

  16. Aliens in the promised land? Keynote address for the 1986 National Gathering of the United Church of Christ's Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comstock, G D

    The following article is a condensed version of the keynote address given at the 1986 National Gathering of the Lesbian/Gay Coalition of the United Church of Christ (UCC). Problems encountered by lesbians and gay men in organized religion, especially within the liberal tradition, are identified by a method of inquiry developed by Christian educator John Westerhoff for assessing egalitarianism within institutions. The story of Queen Vashti from the Book of Esther in Hebrew scripture, and the emerging tradition of coming-out experiences by lesbians and gay men; provide the norm and model for declaring independence from denominations that neglect the concerns of lesbians and gay men and for constructing religious alternatives.

  17. Growth and development and their environmental and biological determinants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Rocha Neves, Kelly; de Souza Morais, Rosane Luzia; Teixeira, Romero Alves; Pinto, Priscilla Avelino Ferreira

    2016-01-01

    To investigate child growth, cognitive/language development, and their environmental and biological determinants. This was a cross-sectional, predictive correlation study with all 92 children aged 24-36 months who attended the municipal early childhood education network in a town in the Vale do Jequitinhonha region, in 2011. The socioeconomic profile was determined using the questionnaire of the Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa. The socio-demographicand maternal and child health profiles were created through a self-prepared questionnaire. The height-for-age indicator was selected to represent growth. Cognitive/language development was assessed through the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development. The quality of educational environments was assessed by Infant/Toddler Environment Scale; the home environment was assessed by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. The neighborhood quality was determined by a self-prepared questionnaire. A multivariate linear regression analysis was performed. Families were predominantly from socioeconomic class D, with low parental education. The prevalence of stunted growth was 14.1%; cognitive and language development were below average at 28.6% and 28.3%, respectively. Educational institutions were classified as inadequate, and 69.6% of homes were classified as presenting a risk for development. Factors such as access to parks and pharmacies and perceived security received the worst score regarding neighborhood environment. Biological variables showed a greater association with growth and environmental variables with development. The results showed a high prevalence of stunting and below-average results for cognitive/language development among the participating children. Both environmental and biological factors were related to growth and development. However, biological variables showed a greater association with growth, whereas environmental variables were associated with development

  18. Growth and development and their environmental and biological determinants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly da Rocha Neves

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Objective To investigate child growth, cognitive/language development, and their environmental and biological determinants. Methods This was a cross-sectional, predictive correlation study with all 92 children aged 24-36 months who attended the municipal early childhood education network in a town in the Vale do Jequitinhonha region, in 2011. The socioeconomic profile was determined using the questionnaire of the Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa. The socio-demographicand maternal and child health profiles were created through a self-prepared questionnaire. The height-for-age indicator was selected to represent growth. Cognitive/language development was assessed through the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development. The quality of educational environments was assessed by Infant/Toddler Environment Scale; the home environment was assessed by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. The neighborhood quality was determined by a self-prepared questionnaire. A multivariate linear regression analysis was performed. Results Families were predominantly from socioeconomic class D, with low parental education. The prevalence of stunted growth was 14.1%; cognitive and language development were below average at 28.6% and 28.3%, respectively. Educational institutions were classified as inadequate, and 69.6% of homes were classified as presenting a risk for development. Factors such as access to parks and pharmacies and perceived security received the worst score regarding neighborhood environment. Biological variables showed a greater association with growth and environmental variables with development. Conclusion The results showed a high prevalence of stunting and below-average results for cognitive/language development among the participating children. Both environmental and biological factors were related to growth and development. However, biological variables showed a greater association with growth, whereas

  19. Taxes and Economic Growth in Developing Countries : A Dynamic Panel Approach

    OpenAIRE

    NANTOB, N'Yilimon

    2014-01-01

    This paper looks at the effects of taxes increase on economic growth of 47 developing countries. In developing countries, there is no magic tax strategy to encourage economic growth. Some countries with high tax burdens have high growth rates and some countries with low tax burdens have low growth rates. Despite much theoretical and empirical inquiry as well as political and policy controversy, no simple answer exists concerning the relationship of taxes on economic growth in developing count...

  20. Remittances, financial development and economic growth: Empirical evidence from Lesotho

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Athenia Bongani Sibindi

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Increasingly remittances now constitute a great source of foreign currency inflows for many developing countries. In some instances remittances have outpaced the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI. Amongst others, remittances can be used as a vehicle of savings mobilisation as well as fostering the supply of credit by providing liquidity to the market. In this article we investigate the causal relationship between the remittances, financial development and economic growth in Lesotho for the period 1975 to 2010. We make use of per capita remittances, real per capita broad money supply and real per capita growth domestic product as the proxies for remittances, financial development and economic growth respectively. We then test for cointegration amongst the variables by applying the Johansen procedure and then test for Granger causality based on the vector error correction model (VECM. Our results confirm the existence of at least one cointegrating relationship and also indicate that the direction of causality runs from remittances to the economy without feedback. The results also suggest that financial development Granger causes economic growth without feedback which is consistent with ‘supply-leading’ growth hypothesis. The results also confirm a causal relationship running from financial development to remittances without feedback. The results also lend credence to the “complementarity’ hypothesis in that, remittances complement rather than substitute financial development in bringing about economic growth.

  1. Steel syndrome: dislocated hips and radial heads, carpal coalition, scoliosis, short stature, and characteristic facial features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, John M; Ramirez, Norman; Betz, Randal; Mulcahey, Mary Jane; Pino, Franz; Herrera-Soto, Jose A; Carlo, Simon; Cornier, Alberto S

    2010-01-01

    A syndrome of children with short stature, bilateral hip dislocations, radial head dislocations, carpal coalitions, scoliosis, and cavus feet in Puerto Rican children, was reported by Steel et al in 1993. The syndrome was described as a unique entity with dismal results after conventional treatment of dislocated hips. The purpose of this study is to reevaluate this patient population with a longer follow-up and delineate the clinical and radiologic features, treatment outcomes, and the genetic characteristics. This is a retrospective cohort study of 32 patients in whom we evaluated the clinical, imaging data, and genetic characteristics. We compare the findings and quality of life in patients with this syndrome who have had attempts at reduction of the hips versus those who did not have the treatment. Congenital hip dislocations were present in 100% of the patients. There was no attempt at reduction in 39% (25/64) of the hips. In the remaining 61% (39/64), the hips were treated with a variety of modalities fraught with complications. Of those treated, 85% (33/39) remain dislocated, the rest of the hips continue subluxated with acetabular dysplasia and pain. The group of hips that were not treated reported fewer complaints and limitation in daily activities compared with the hips that had attempts at reduction. Steel syndrome is a distinct clinical entity characterized by short stature, bilateral hip and radial head dislocation, carpal coalition, scoliosis, cavus feet, and characteristic facial features with dismal results for attempts at reduction of the hips. Prognostic Study Level II.

  2. Uncertainty, financial development and economic growth : an empirical analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lensink, Robert

    1999-01-01

    This paper examines whether financial sector development may partly undo growth-reducing effects of policy uncertainty. By performing a cross-country growth regression for the 1970-1995 period I find evidence that countries with a more developed financial sector are better able to nullify the

  3. Disturbances of bone growth and development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ledesma-Medina, J.; Newman, B.; Oh, K.S.

    1988-01-01

    ''What is growth anyway? Can one talk about positive growth in childhood, neutral growth in maturity, and negative growth in old age? Our goal is to help promote normal positive growth in infants and children. To achieve this, we must be cognizant of the morphologic changes of both normal and abnormal bone formation as they are reflected in the radiographic image of the skeleton. The knowledge of the various causes and the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the disturbances of bone growth and development allows us to recognize the early radiographic manifestations. Endocrine and metabolic disorders affect the whole skeleton, but the early changes are best seen in the distal ends of the femurs, where growth rate is most rapid. In skeletal infections and in some vascular injuries two-or three-phase bone scintigraphy supercedes radiography early in the course of the disease. MRI has proved to be very helpful in the early detection of avascular bone necrosis, osteomyelitis, and tumor. Some benign bone tumors and many bone dysplasias have distinct and diagnostic radiographic findings that may preclude further studies. In constitutional diseases of bone, including chromosomal aberrations, skeletal surveys of the patient and all family members together with biochemical and cytogenetic studies are essential for both diagnosis and genetic counseling. Our role is to perform the least invasive and most informative diagnostic imaging modalities that corroborate the biochemical and histologic findings to establish the definitive diagnosis. Unrecognized, misdiagnosed, or improperly treated disturbance of bone growth can result in permanent deformity usually associated with disability. 116 references

  4. Growth and project finance in the least developed countries

    OpenAIRE

    Lisbeth F. la Cour; Jennifer Müller

    2014-01-01

    This article examines the effects of project finance on economic growth in the least developed countries (LDC). Inspired by the neoclassical growth model we set up an econometric model to estimate the effects of project finance for a sample consisting of 38 of the least developed countries using data from the period 1994-2007. The results of our study suggest, that project finance has a significant positive effect on economic growth and therefore constitute an important source of ...

  5. Cooperation or Localization in European Capacity Markets? A Coalitional Game over Graph Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giorgos Stamtsis

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Capacity markets, as a means to address the capacity adequacy issue, are constantly becoming an important part of the European internal electricity market. The debate focuses on how the capacity markets will be smoothly integrated in one Pan-European power market, without resulting in multiple national fragmentations and consequently in economic efficiency losses. Cross-border participation and regional cooperation are considered as two sine qua non conditions in this respect. The present paper provides a coalitional game theoretical approach aiming to facilitate the cooperation of neighboring countries, when it comes to the security of electricity supply and the necessity of establishing a capacity market. Such an approach can support respective decisions about capacity markets cooperation as well as stress-test the benefits considering all cooperation possibilities.

  6. Life insurance, financial development and economic growth in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Athenia Bongani Sibindi

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The life insurance sector may contribute to economic growth by its very mechanism of savings mobilisation and thereby performing an intermediation role in the economy. This ensures that capital is provided to deficient units who are in need of capital to finance their working capital requirements and invest in technology thereby resulting in an increase in output. In this way, it could be argued that life insurance development spurs financial development. In this article we investigate the causal relationship between the life insurance sector, financial development and economic growth in South Africa for the period 1990 to 2012. We make use of life insurance density as the proxy for life insurance development, real per capita growth domestic product as the proxy for economic growth and real broad money per capita as the proxy for financial development. We test for cointegration amongst the variables by applying the Johansen procedure and then proceed to test for Granger causality based on the vector error correction model (VECM. Our results confirm the existence of at least one cointegrating relationship amongst the variables. The results indicate that the direction of causality runs from the economy to the life insurance sector which is consistent with the “demand-following” insurance-growth hypothesis. There is also evidence of causality running from the economy to financial development which is consistent with the “demand following” finance-growth hypothesis. The results also reveal that life insurance complements economic growth in bringing about financial development further lending credence to the “complementarity” hypothesis

  7. Auxin-BR Interaction Regulates Plant Growth and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Huiyu; Lv, Bingsheng; Ding, Tingting; Bai, Mingyi; Ding, Zhaojun

    2018-01-01

    Plants develop a high flexibility to alter growth, development, and metabolism to adapt to the ever-changing environments. Multiple signaling pathways are involved in these processes and the molecular pathways to transduce various developmental signals are not linear but are interconnected by a complex network and even feedback mutually to achieve the final outcome. This review will focus on two important plant hormones, auxin and brassinosteroid (BR), based on the most recent progresses about these two hormone regulated plant growth and development in Arabidopsis, and highlight the cross-talks between these two phytohormones. PMID:29403511

  8. Financial Development and Inclusive Growth in Nigeria: A Threshold Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taofeek Olusola Ayinde

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between financial development and inclusive growth in Nigeria for the period 1980 – 2013. The technique of analysis is the quantile regression; which is to obtain a threshold for which the former impacts on the latter. The result shows a threshold level of 90th percentile. Interestingly, the study also found that the impact of financial development on inclusive growth depends on the measure of the former up to the threshold level and not beyond. Through a granger causality test, the direction of causality is through the inclusive growth rather than through financial development; through the financial deepening measure. While the study found that either a low level or high level of openness on trade and capital investment are desirable for inclusive growth in Nigeria, the results also reveal that government involvement in the workings of the Nigeria economy and financial openness are sensitive to the pattern of financial development. With financial deepening, both are negatively related to inclusive growth but positively related to inclusive growth when financial widening is considered. This suggests that government intervention in the activities of the private sector is detrimental when the latter are to drive financial development process. However, the involvement of government in ensuring the appropriate level of financial widening, through the central bank operations, produces a positive impact on growth.

  9. Financial Development and Inclusive Growth in Nigeria: A Threshold Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taofeek Olusola Ayinde

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between financial development and inclusive growth in Nigeria for the period 1980 – 2013. The technique of analysis is the quantile regression; which is to obtain a threshold for which the former impacts on the latter. The result shows a threshold level of 90th percentile. Interestingly, the study also found that the impact of financial development on inclusive growth depends on the measure of the former up to the threshold level and not beyond. Through a granger causality test, the direction of causality is through the inclusive growth rather than through financial development; through the financial deepening measure. While the study found that either a low level or high level of openness on trade and capital investment are desirable for inclusive growth in Nigeria, the results also reveal that government involvement in the workings of the Nigeria economy and financial openness are sensitive to the pattern of financial development. With financial deepening, both are negatively related to inclusive growth but positively related to inclusive growth when financial widening is considered. This suggests that government intervention in the activities of the private sector is detrimental when the latter are to drive financial development process. However, the involvement of government in ensuring the appropriate level of financial widening, through the central bank operations, produces a positive impact on growth.

  10. Tactical Wireless Networking in Coalition Environments: Implementing an IEEE 802.20 Wireless End-User Network Utilizing FLASH-OFDM to Provide a Secure Mobile Extension to Existing WAN

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Parrish, William J; Tovar, Daniel R

    2005-01-01

    This thesis will focus on the area of 802.20 wireless networking as a feasible "last mile" solution to wireless access in a tactical coalition environment and will be implemented into a series of experiments...

  11. Innovative tools for business coalitions in B2B applications how negotiation, auction and game theory can support small- and medium-sized business in e-business

    CERN Document Server

    Argoneto, Pierluigi

    2011-01-01

    Discussion of how to implement innovative tools makes the book relevant to both researchers and managers The simulation environment allows the reader to evaluate the performance of the approaches proposed Includes methodologies to improve e-marketplace performances through coalition

  12. Development of regional growth centres and impact on regional growth: A case study of Thailand’s Northeastern region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nattapon Sang-arun

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the spatial economic structure and inequality in Thailand at the national and regional levels, with a particular focus on the Northeastern region in the period from 1987 to 2007. The study has three main points: 1 examination of the economic structure and inequality at the national level and in the Northeastern region according to the Theil index, 2 determination of regional growth centres and satellite towns by using growth pole theory as a conceptual framework and incorporating spatial interaction analysis and 3 analysis of the relationship between regional growth centres and satellite towns with regard to the impact on growth and inequality. The results show that the Northeastern region is definitely the lagging region in the nation, by both gross domestic product (GDP and gross regional product (GRP per capita. It was therefore selected for a case study. Spatial analysis identified Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani as regional growth centres. Each of them has its own sphere of influence (or satellite towns, and the total area of regional growth centres and satellite towns are classified as sub-regions. The development of regional growth centres has a direct impact on sub-regional economic growth through economic and social relationships: urbanisation, industrial development, per capita growth, the number of higher educational institutes and so on. However, such growth negatively correlates with economic equality among the provinces in a sub-region. The inequality trend is obviously on an upswing. This study suggests that industrial links between regional growth centres and their satellite towns should be improved in order for regional growth centre development to have a consistently desirable effect on both economic growth and equality. Such a strong process means that the growth of regional growth centres will spread, leading to the development of their surrounding areas.

  13. Information-communication technology impact on labor productivity growth of EU developing countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ljiljana Lovrić

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the ICT impact on labor productivity growth of EU developing countries. Empirical studies of the role of ICT as one of the main determinants of productivity growth, for developing countries have produced disagreement. To help clear up the subject, this paper employs a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM through a dynamic panel data approach on the sample of 25 European developed and developing countries over the period of 2001-2010. The results indicate a positive and significant impact of ICT on labor productivity growth in developed and developing countries, but the terms of impact in developing countries rely on human capital, a contribution of a higher educational level, advanced research qualifications and development activity. Comparing to developed countries, the growth accounting approach indicate that developing countries have similar relative ICT contribution to labor productivity growth, but their average growth rate of labor productivity is 6.8 times higher. The main conclusion is that education, especially of higher levels, is the critical factor of productivity and growth of EU developing countries and that must be taken as development policy implication in these countries.

  14. Large-area sheet task: Advanced dendritic-web-growth development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, C. S.; Seidensticker, R. G.; Mchugh, J. P.; Schruben, J.

    1983-01-01

    Thermally generated stresses in the growing web crystal were reduced. These stresses, which if too high cause the ribbon to degenerate, were reduced by a factor of three, resulting in the demonstrated growth of high-quality web crystals to widths of 5.4 cm. This progress was brought about chiefly by the application of thermal models to the development of low-stress growth configurations. A new temperature model was developed which can analyze the thermal effects of much more complex lid and top shield configurations than was possible with the old lumped shield model. Growth experiments which supplied input data such as actual shield temperature and melt levels were used to verify the modeling results. Desirable modifications in the melt level-sensing circuitry were made in the new experimental web growth furnace, and this furnace has been used to carry out growth experiments under steady-state conditions. New growth configurations were tested in long growth runs at Westinghouse AESD which produced wider, lower stress and higher quality web crystals than designs previously used.

  15. Stages of growth in economic development

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kejak, Michal

    2003-01-01

    Roč. 27, č. 5 (2003), s. 771-800 ISSN 0165-1889 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z7085904 Keywords : growth * human capital * development Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.690, year: 2003

  16. Oxygen-sensitive regulation and neuroprotective effects of growth hormone-dependent growth factors during early postnatal development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Susan; Boie, Gudrun; Doerr, Helmuth-Guenther; Trollmann, Regina

    2017-04-01

    Perinatal hypoxia severely disrupts metabolic and somatotrophic development, as well as cerebral maturational programs. Hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs) represent the most important endogenous adaptive mechanisms to hypoxia, activating a broad spectrum of growth factors that contribute to cell survival and energy homeostasis. To analyze effects of systemic hypoxia and growth hormone (GH) therapy (rhGH) on HIF-dependent growth factors during early postnatal development, we compared protein (using ELISA) and mRNA (using quantitative RT PCR) levels of growth factors in plasma and brain between normoxic and hypoxic mice (8% O 2 , 6 h; postnatal day 7 , P7) at P14. Exposure to hypoxia led to reduced body weight ( P controls and was associated with significantly reduced plasma levels of mouse GH ( P controls. In addition, rhGH treatment increased cerebral IGF-1, IGF-2, IGFBP-2, and erythropoietin mRNA levels, resulting in significantly reduced apoptotic cell death in the hypoxic, developing mouse brain. These data indicate that rhGH may functionally restore hypoxia-induced systemic dysregulation of the GH/IGF-1 axis and induce upregulation of neuroprotective, HIF-dependent growth factors in the hypoxic developing brain. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  17. ‘Who Said It Was Simple!’ Third-Wave Feminist Coalition and Audre Lorde's Intersectionalist Hybrid Poetics of Difference

    OpenAIRE

    Yomna Saber

    2015-01-01

    Third-Wave Feminism digs its roots in intersectionality and coalition, which were not fully realised in Second-Wave Feminism. However, the movement is usually under attack for lacking a clear agenda. Recent scholarship strongly suggests that third wavers get back to third-world writers, like Audre Lorde, to realise an anti-racist and inclusive feminism.  Lorde occupies a distinctive position in feminist literature; a poet who resides in too many margins being black, female and lesbian. This e...

  18. Endogenous growth theory and regional development policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cvetanović Slobodan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The numerous versions of endogenous explanations of economic growth emphasize the importance of technological change driving forces, as well as the existence of appropriate institutional arrangements. Endogenous growth theory contributes to a better understanding of various experiences with long-term growth of countries and regions. It changes the key assumptions of the Neoclassical growth theory and participates in the modern regional development physiology explanation. Based on these conclusions, the paper: a explicates the most important theoretical postulates of the theory, b explains the most important factors of economic growth in the regions in light of the Endogenous growth theory messages and c emphasizes the key determinants of regional competitiveness which in our view is conceptually between the phenomena of micro- and macro-competitiveness and represents their necessary and unique connection. First of all, micro-competitiveness is transformed into a regional competitiveness; then regional competitiveness is transformed into a macro-competitiveness. In turn, macro - influences the microeconomic competitiveness, and the circle is closed. After that, the process starts over again.

  19. Foreign aid, governance quality, and economic growth in developing countries : foreign aid and growth

    OpenAIRE

    Biboh, Nkoumboh Henrietta

    2007-01-01

    Most poor developing countries, especially those with limited natural resources, low savings and investment levels, natural disaster stricken, need help from the affluent nations in order to meet some of their development objectives. Still, some that are rich in natural resources equally depend on some form of aid. Though most growth theories stress on investment as an important step to steady economic growth, they are mostly silent on the importance of aid as a component of in vestment and...

  20. Why higher economic growth cannot always enhance human development

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmed, Md Montasir

    2017-01-01

    This paper studies why higher economic growth cannot always enhance human development. In general, these two dimensions have a strong and positive relationship, but some countries appear unable to balance this relationship. As a consequence, there are some countries with high economic growth but sluggish human development progress. This paper studies how other factors besides GDP – women labor force participation, urbanization, and inequality - are correlated to human development. I construct...

  1. Growth and Project Finance in the Least Developed Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    la Cour, Lisbeth F.; Müller, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    for economic growth in LDCs. We find that a higher regulatory quality, lower government consumption and a higher level of education helps increase growth. The significance of these variables are, however, not as consistently robust as the results for project finance.......This article examines the effects of project finance on economic growth in the least developed countries (LDC). Inspired by the neoclassical growth model we set up an econometric model to estimate the effects of project finance for a sample consisting of 38 of the least developed countries using...... data from the period 1994-2007. The results of our study suggest, that project finance has a significant positive effect on economic growth and therefore constitute an important source of financing in the selected set of countries. Additionally, the project sheds light on other factors of importance...

  2. Political Parties and Government Coalitions in the Americas Partidos políticos y gobiernos de coalición en las Américas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Alemán

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the process of coalition formation in presidential systems. It shows that party positions and institutions influence the formation of government coalitions. We argue that presidents will tend to include parties positioned close to their policy positions in their cabinets, and will be more inclined to do it when relative institutional authority is more advantageous to congress. We corroborate our arguments with data from 13 presidential countries in the Americas.Este artículo se centra en el proceso de formación de coaliciones en sistemas presidenciales. El artículo demuestra que las posiciones de los partidos y las instituciones influencian la formación de coaliciones gubernamentales. Argumentamos que los presidentes tienden a incluir dentro del gabinete a aquellos partidos que tienen posiciones cercanas, y que esta tendencia es más fuerte cuando la autoridad institucional es relativamente más favorable al congreso. Corroboramos nuestros argumentos con data de 13 países con sistemas presidenciales en las Américas.

  3. Conflicts in Coalitions: A Stability Analysis of Robust Multi-City Regional Water Supply Portfolios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, D.; Trindade, B. C.; Reed, P. M.; Characklis, G. W.

    2017-12-01

    Regional cooperation among water utilities can improve the robustness of urban water supply portfolios to deeply uncertain future conditions such as those caused by climate change or population growth. Coordination mechanisms such as water transfers, coordinated demand management, and shared infrastructure, can improve the efficiency of resource allocation and delay the need for new infrastructure investments. Regionalization does however come at a cost. Regionally coordinated water supply plans may be vulnerable to any emerging instabilities in the regional coalition. If one or more regional actors does not cooperate or follow the required regional actions in a time of crisis, the overall system performance may degrade. Furthermore, when crafting regional water supply portfolios, decision makers must choose a framework for measuring the performance of regional policies based on the evaluation of the objective values for each individual actor. Regional evaluations may inherently favor one actor's interests over those of another. This work focuses on four interconnected water utilities in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina for which robust regional water supply portfolios have previously been designed using multi-objective optimization to maximize the robustness of the worst performing utility across several objectives. This study 1) examines the sensitivity of portfolio performance to deviations from prescribed actions by individual utilities, 2) quantifies the implications of the regional formulation used to evaluate robustness for the portfolio performance of each individual utility and 3) elucidates the inherent regional tensions and conflicts that exist between utilities under this regionalization scheme through visual diagnostics of the system under simulated drought scenarios. Results of this analysis will help inform the creation of future regional water supply portfolios and provide insight into the nature of multi-actor water supply systems.

  4. Financial Development and Output Growth: A Panel Study for Asian Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangjoon Jun

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the relationship between financial markets and output growth for a panel of 27 Asian countries over 1960-2009. It utilizes the recently-developed panel cointegration techniques to test and estimate the long-run equilibrium relationship between real GDP and financial development proxies. Real GDP and financial development variables are found to have unit roots and to be cointegrated, based on various panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests. We find that there is a statistically significant positive bi-directional cointegrating relationship between financial development and output growth by three distinct methods of panel cointegration estimation. Empirical findings suggest that financial market development promotes output growth and in turn output growth stimulates further financial development.

  5. Development of disease-specific growth charts in Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsuyoshi Isojima

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Many congenital diseases are associated with growth failure, and patients with these diseases have specific growth patterns. As the growth patterns of affected individuals differ from those of normal populations, it is challenging to detect additional conditions that can influence growth using standard growth charts. Disease-specific growth charts are thus very useful tools and can be helpful for understanding the growth pattern and pathogenesis of congenital diseases. In addition, disease-specific growth charts allow doctors to detect deviations from the usual growth patterns for early diagnosis of an additional condition and can be used to evaluate the effects of growth-promoting treatment for patients. When developing these charts, factors that can affect the reliability of the charts should be considered. These factors include the definition of the disease with growth failure, selection bias in the measurements used to develop the charts, secular trends of the subjects, the numbers of subjects of varying ages and ethnicities, and the statistical method used to develop the charts. In this review, we summarize the development of disease-specific growth charts for Japanese individuals with Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome and evaluate the efforts to collect unbiased measurements of subjects with these diseases. These charts were the only available disease-specific growth charts of Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome for Asian populations and were developed using a Japanese population. Therefore, when these charts are adopted for Asian populations other than Japanese, different growth patterns should be considered.

  6. Development of disease-specific growth charts in Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isojima, Tsuyoshi; Yokoya, Susumu

    2017-12-01

    Many congenital diseases are associated with growth failure, and patients with these diseases have specific growth patterns. As the growth patterns of affected individuals differ from those of normal populations, it is challenging to detect additional conditions that can influence growth using standard growth charts. Disease-specific growth charts are thus very useful tools and can be helpful for understanding the growth pattern and pathogenesis of congenital diseases. In addition, disease-specific growth charts allow doctors to detect deviations from the usual growth patterns for early diagnosis of an additional condition and can be used to evaluate the effects of growth-promoting treatment for patients. When developing these charts, factors that can affect the reliability of the charts should be considered. These factors include the definition of the disease with growth failure, selection bias in the measurements used to develop the charts, secular trends of the subjects, the numbers of subjects of varying ages and ethnicities, and the statistical method used to develop the charts. In this review, we summarize the development of disease-specific growth charts for Japanese individuals with Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome and evaluate the efforts to collect unbiased measurements of subjects with these diseases. These charts were the only available disease-specific growth charts of Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome for Asian populations and were developed using a Japanese population. Therefore, when these charts are adopted for Asian populations other than Japanese, different growth patterns should be considered.

  7. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRASOV GROWTH POLE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida CATANA

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The demographic dynamics analysed in the context of the relationship between economic development and social inclusion presents an image of the sustainable development of a community as well as the manner how the financial resources have been used. With an allocation of 74.3 million euro in the programming period 2007-2013, the Brasov Growth Pole has pursued the contribution to the achievement of sustainable development since 2005 by the participation in the Agenda 21. The implementation of projects with European financing in areas such as transport, social and educational infrastructure or tourism have generated changes/demographic movements, which this paper proposes to present. The evolution of the stable population, its dynamics at the level of each locality that is part of the Brasov growth pole as well as the dynamics of the number of employees or the development of the unemployment rate are presented by the cluster analysis. The effects of the European financing obtained from Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 are thus reflected in the sustainable development of the Brasov growth pole from the point of view of the dynamics of the population

  8. Symbiotic regulation of plant growth, development and reproduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell J. Rodriguez; D. Carl Freeman; E. Durant McArthur; Yong Ok Kim; Regina S. Redman

    2009-01-01

    The growth and development of rice (Oryzae sativa) seedlings was shown to be regulated epigenetically by a fungal endophyte. In contrast to un-inoculated (nonsymbiotic) plants, endophyte colonized (symbiotic) plants preferentially allocated resources into root growth until root hairs were well established. During that time symbiotic roots expanded at...

  9. Teaching child growth and development: the Christmas shoebox.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epp, Sheila M; McAulay, Judy E

    2008-01-01

    Teaching growth and development to nursing students can be dry, uninteresting, and labor-intensive. Engaging students in learning this material was the challenge of a short, 4-week pediatric experience. Students use growth and development knowledge to select toys and activities that fit in a shoebox and explain to their classmates the rationale for their selection. The Christmas shoebox activity increases their ability to transfer knowledge to both the examination questions and the clinical setting and provides a charitable service to the community.

  10. Evaluation Of Growth And Development In Mango Fruits Cvs. Julie ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Evaluation Of Growth And Development In Mango Fruits Cvs. Julie And Peter To Determine Maturity. ... Two mango cultivars viz., Julie and Peter, were studied for growth and development of fruits in 2001 and 2002 ... HOW TO USE AJOL.

  11. Economic Growth of a Rapidly Developing Economy: Theoretical Formulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleg Sergeyevich Sukharev

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The subject matter of the article is the description of economic growth. Modern economy is characterized by a high rate of changes. These changes are the limiting parameters of modern development, which requires a modification of the basic models of growth, the substantiation of the expediency and necessity of a rapid development strategy. In a simple mathematical form, the statement of the problem of economic growth in the “green economy” is examined, in which the costs of environmental measures are not considered a priori as hampering economic development (as it is common for a number of modern neoclassical and neo-Keynesian growth models. The methodological basis of the article are the econometric approach and modelling method. The article has a theoretical character. The main hypothesis supposes that the rapid development strategy cannot make an adequate development strategy under certain conditions, but may be acceptable in other its specific conditions. In this sense, the important growth conditions are the availability of resources, the effectiveness of institutions and the current economic structure, the technological effectiveness of economy, as well as the conditions of technological development (“green economy” and the path of such development. In the article, on the theoretical level of analysis, the substantiation of the adequacy of the rapid development strategy for an economic system is given, whose goal is to achieve the standard of living of the countryleader. Based on the assumptions introduced, the period for which the rapid development strategy might be implemented and the economic lag of the country might be reduced from the country-leader is determined. The conditions that ensure the impact of innovations on the rate of economic development are summarized. The introduced range of dependencies and relations can be useful for the elaboration of the theory of innovation development and for the formation of a new

  12. Fiscal Policy and Growth in Developing Asia

    OpenAIRE

    Abdon, Arnelyn May; Estrada, Gemma Esther; Lee, Minsoo; Park, Donghyun

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we empirically explore the relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth in developing Asia. The region's overall level of taxes and government spending are substantially lower than those prevailing in advanced economies. Nevertheless, there are conceptual grounds why fiscal policy, including the composition of taxes and government spending, can have a significant effect on growth, as our empirical analysis shows. In line with economic theory, property taxes have a more...

  13. Lung growth and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Suchita; Kotecha, Sailesh

    2007-12-01

    Human lung growth starts as a primitive lung bud in early embryonic life and undergoes several morphological stages which continue into postnatal life. Each stage of lung growth is a result of complex and tightly regulated events governed by physical, environmental, hormonal and genetic factors. Fetal lung liquid and fetal breathing movements are by far the most important determinants of lung growth. Although timing of the stages of lung growth in animals do not mimic that of human, numerous animal studies, mainly on sheep and rat, have given us a better understanding of the regulators of lung growth. Insight into the genetic basis of lung growth has helped us understand and improve management of complex life threatening congenital abnormalities such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia and pulmonary hypoplasia. Although advances in perinatal medicine have improved survival of preterm infants, premature birth is perhaps still the most important factor for adverse lung growth.

  14. Interrelationship between growth and development in low and middle income countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martorell, Reynaldo; Nguyen, Phuong

    2010-01-01

    Early childhood growth failure is a significant public health problem in developing countries. We examine relationships between low birthweight and stunting with child development. Compared to children born with normal birthweight, low birth-weight children have substantially poorer cognitive and schooling outcomes later in life. Linear growth failure leading to stunting mostly occurs before age 2 years, with stunting in older children reflecting growth failure in early life. Many studies show that stunting is associated with poor mental and motor development in infants and with low scores in cognitive tests, increased frequency of behavioral problems and poor school achievement in older children. Very few studies have assessed the relative importance for development of prenatal vs. postnatal growth failure and even fewer have done so using appropriate statistical techniques. The limited evidence to date suggests growth during the first 2 years of life is more important than growth at any other time, including the prenatal period, for predicting later cognitive development, schooling and educational achievement. In conclusion, children in settings of poverty who experience growth failure prior to age 2 years have reduced potential to succeed in school and to be productive members of society. Copyright (c) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  15. FDI and Economic Growth — Does the Quality of Banking Development Matter?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nor Hakimah Haji Mohd

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the role of banking development quality in the FDI-growth nexus from 1998 to 2009. Banking development quality is measured using two standardized intermediation  cost indicators and an index of banking development quality that is constructed based on the following indicators: overhead costs to total assets and net interest margin. The results for developed countries show that, on its own, FDI is negatively related to economic growth. However, when FDI is interacted with a banking development quality index, the quality of banking development is found to play a positive role in influencing the effects of FDI on economic growth. This suggests that the quality of banking development serves as an absorptive capacity that allows developed countries to benefit from the positive growth effects of FDI. On the contrary, for emerging countries, the findings indicate that banking development quality plays no role in influencing the impact of FDI on economic growth. This implies that the quality of banking development in emerging countries has yet to reach a level that allows it to importantly influence the growth effects of FDI.

  16. Regional industrial policy and the new agenda for growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gjerding, Allan Næs

    2005-01-01

    Even though the structural reform of the Danish administrative three-tier system in general implies a centralisation of the policy decision-making process, centralisation may not apply entirely to the field of industrial policy as the result of the implementation of the new national law on indust......Even though the structural reform of the Danish administrative three-tier system in general implies a centralisation of the policy decision-making process, centralisation may not apply entirely to the field of industrial policy as the result of the implementation of the new national law...... on industrial development. Describing the implications of the law in terms of the changes of the regional setting for industrial policy and the ensuing focus on a new agenda for growth, the paper devotes its attention to the region of North Jutland that has been designated as a test case for the organisational...... coalitions rather than centralising the decision mak-ing power. However, since the political bodies involved in industrial policy will become fewer, more powerful and more focussed on industrial policy, goal conflicts are likely to oc-cur in the future....

  17. Population growth and economic development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbridge, S

    1989-01-01

    The Malthusian and neo-Malthusian approaches to the role of population growth in economic development and resource depletion are briefly outlined. Three arguments are then presented that emphasize demographic determinism, empirical evidence, and cause and effect. The author concludes that non-coercive family planning programs may have a role to play in countries that are unable to reduce inequalities, particularly for the poor and for women.

  18. Africa's Growth and Development Strategies: A Critical Review ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    At independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were high hopes about the growth prospects of the new politically independent. African states. Economic conditions, such as per capita real income, were comparable to other developing countries like South Korea and. Taiwan. By the mid-1970s, the growth profile ...

  19. Energy consumption, economic growth and prices: A reassessment using panel VECM for developed and developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahadevan, Renuka; Asafu-Adjaye, John

    2007-01-01

    This paper reinvestigates the energy consumption-GDP growth nexus in a panel error correction model using data on 20 net energy importers and exporters from 1971 to 2002. Among the energy exporters, there was bidirectional causality between economic growth and energy consumption in the developed countries in both the short and long run, while in the developing countries energy consumption stimulates growth only in the short run. The former result is also found for energy importers and the latter result exists only for the developed countries within this category. In addition, compared to the developing countries, the developed countries' elasticity response in terms of economic growth from an increase in energy consumption is larger although its income elasticity is lower and less than unitary. Lastly, the implications for energy policy calling for a more holistic approach are discussed

  20. Financial Development, Growth and Equity in Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Armando Castelar Pinheiro; Regis Bonelli

    2015-01-01

    Financial markets help to foster growth and productivity through their role in mobilizing savings to finance investment and production, selecting and monitoring investment projects, diversifying risks, and allowing investment and production to be carried out in the most productive scale and time frame. This paper examines the links between financial development, growth and equity. The focus is on the Brazilian case, but we also aim at contributing to a broader discussion on the role of financ...

  1. Attracting Foreign Direct Investment for Growth and Development in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays an important role in fostering economic growth ... growth and development efforts, it also brings with it skills and new technology. ... Malaysia, Thailand and China, FDI inflows into sub-Saharan Africa pale.

  2. Ethylene production throughout growth and development of plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, Raymond M.; Peterson, Barbara V.; Stutte, Gary W.

    2004-01-01

    Ethylene production by 10 or 20 m2 stands of wheat, soybean, lettuce, potato, and tomato was monitored throughout growth and development in an atmospherically closed plant chamber. Chamber ethylene levels varied among species and rose during periods of canopy expansion and rapid growth for all species. Following this, ethylene levels either declined during seed fill and maturation for wheat and soybean, or remained relatively constant for potato and tomato (during flowering and early fruit development). Lettuce plants were harvested during rapid growth and peak ethylene production. Chamber ethylene levels increased rapidly during tomato ripening, reaching concentrations about 10 times that measured during vegetative growth. The highest ethylene production rates during vegetative growth ranged from 1.6 to 2.5 nmol m-2 d-1 during rapid growth of lettuce and wheat stands, or about 0.3 to 0.5 nmol g-1 fresh weight per hour. Estimates of stand ethylene production during tomato ripening showed that rates reached 43 nmol m-2 d-1 in one study and 93 nmol m-2 d-1 in a second study with higher lighting, or about 50x that of the rate during vegetative growth of tomato. In a related test with potato, the photoperiod was extended from 12 to 24 hours (continuous light) at 58 days after planting (to increase tuber yield), but this change in the environment caused a sharp increase in ethylene production from the basal rate of 0.4 to 6.2 nmol m-2 d-1. Following this, the photoperiod was changed back to 12 h at 61 days and ethylene levels decreased. The results suggest three separate categories of ethylene production were observed with whole stands of plants: 1) production during rapid vegetative growth, 2) production during climacteric fruit ripening, and 3) production from environmental stress.

  3. Domestic Violence and Pregnancy: A CBPR Coalition Approach to Identifying Needs and Informing Policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bright, Candace Forbes; Bagley, Braden; Pulliam, Ivie; Newton, Amy Swetha

    2018-01-01

    Community engagement-the collaborative process of addressing issues that impact the well-being of a community-is a strategic effort to address community issues. The Gulf States Health Policy Center (GS-HPC) formed the Hattiesburg Area Health Coalition (HAHC) in November 2014 for the purpose of addressing policies impacting the health of Forrest and Lamar counties in Mississippi. To chronicle the community-based participatory research (CBPR) process used by HAHC's identification of infant and maternal health as a policy area, domestic violence in pregnancy as a priority area within infant and maternal health, and a community action plan (CAP) regarding this priority area. HAHC reviewed data and identified infant and maternal health as a priority area. They then conducted a policy scan of local prenatal health care to determine the policy area of domestic violence in pregnancy. HAHC developed a CAP identifying three goals with regard to domestic violence and pregnancy that together informed policy. Changes included the development of materials specific to resources available in the area. The materials and recommended changes will first be implemented by Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative (SeMRHI) through a screening question for all pregnant patients, and the adoption of policies for providing information and referrals. The lack of community-level data was a challenge to HAHC in identifying focus and priority areas, but this was overcome by shared leadership and community engagement. After completion of the CAP, 100% of expecting mothers receiving prenatal care in the area will be screened for domestic violence.

  4. Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions statement of principles for a made in Canada solution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions has come up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that includes immediate actions with a realistic time frame. The plan addresses air quality as a whole and is not limited to greenhouse gases alone. The plan keeps capital in Canada to invest in new environmental technologies. It also negotiates agreements with economic sectors on emissions performance targets, and it implements energy conservation awareness campaigns that promote the reduction of energy consumption.The plan considers trade relationships with the United Sates and recognizes Canada's role as an important energy exporter. Under the proposed plan, both generators and consumers of renewable energy would receive incentives for their efforts in addressing the climate change challenge

  5. Eye growth and myopia development: Unifying theory and Matlab model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hung, George K; Mahadas, Kausalendra; Mohammad, Faisal

    2016-03-01

    The aim of this article is to present an updated unifying theory of the mechanisms underlying eye growth and myopia development. A series of model simulation programs were developed to illustrate the mechanism of eye growth regulation and myopia development. Two fundamental processes are presumed to govern the relationship between physiological optics and eye growth: genetically pre-programmed signaling and blur feedback. Cornea/lens is considered to have only a genetically pre-programmed component, whereas eye growth is considered to have both a genetically pre-programmed and a blur feedback component. Moreover, based on the Incremental Retinal-Defocus Theory (IRDT), the rate of change of blur size provides the direction for blur-driven regulation. The various factors affecting eye growth are shown in 5 simulations: (1 - unregulated eye growth): blur feedback is rendered ineffective, as in the case of form deprivation, so there is only genetically pre-programmed eye growth, generally resulting in myopia; (2 - regulated eye growth): blur feedback regulation demonstrates the emmetropization process, with abnormally excessive or reduced eye growth leading to myopia and hyperopia, respectively; (3 - repeated near-far viewing): simulation of large-to-small change in blur size as seen in the accommodative stimulus/response function, and via IRDT as well as nearwork-induced transient myopia (NITM), leading to the development of myopia; (4 - neurochemical bulk flow and diffusion): release of dopamine from the inner plexiform layer of the retina, and the subsequent diffusion and relay of neurochemical cascade show that a decrease in dopamine results in a reduction of proteoglycan synthesis rate, which leads to myopia; (5 - Simulink model): model of genetically pre-programmed signaling and blur feedback components that allows for different input functions to simulate experimental manipulations that result in hyperopia, emmetropia, and myopia. These model simulation programs

  6. Redefining Individual Growth and Development Indicators: Oral Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradfield, Tracy A.; Besner, Amanda C.; Wackerle-Hollman, Alisha K.; Albano, Anthony D.; Rodriguez, Michael C.; McConnell, Scott R.

    2014-01-01

    Language skills developed during preschool contribute strongly to later reading and academic achievement. Effective preschool assessment and intervention should focus on core components of language development, specifically oral language skills. The Early Language and Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are a set of…

  7. Neuropsychological development in preschool children born with asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction and impact of postnatal head growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klaric, Andrea Simić; Galić, Slavka; Kolundzić, Zdravko; Bosnjak, Vlatka Mejaski

    2013-07-01

    Neuropsychological development and the impact of postnatal head growth were studied in preschool children with asymmetrical intrauterine growth restriction. Examinees born at term with a birth weight below the 10th percentile were matched to the control group according to chronological and gestational age, gender, and maternal education. Fifty children were in each group, with a mean age of 6 years, 4 months. The Touwen neurological examination, the Čuturić developmental test, an imitative hand positions test, and a visual attention test were performed. There were significant differences (Pmotor variables, the developmental quotient, and the imitative hand positions test. Fine motor skills had the most discriminative power. Relative growth of the head in relation to weight gain was positively correlated to neurocognitive outcome. Intrauterine growth-restricted children with a current head circumference ≤10th percentile had poorer outcomes. Conclusively, intrauterine growth restriction has a negative impact on neurocognitive development. Slow postnatal head growth is correlated with a poorer neuropsychological outcome.

  8. AN ANALYSIS OF HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH- CASE STUDY, NIGERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Opeyemi Oluwabunmi Adejumo

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available In order to address the direction of causality between human capital and productivity growth in Nigeria, the study first investigated the pattern of productivity growth in Nigeria between 1970 and 2010. Following the endogenous growth model, which argued that technical progress, through an effective labor force, could lead to long-run growth which can be determined from within an economy; but it actually depends on the efficiency with which resources available to such an economy are utilized. This is against the exogenous growth model which emphasized that long-run growth can be attained by some unexplained technological progress, which is exogenous to any economy. Based on this controversy in literature, this study empirically determined the productivity growth in Nigeria, as well as the causal relation between human capital development and productivity growth in Nigeria using the Engle-Granger causality test. The results revealed that productivity growth has been very low and unstable in Nigeria as it oscillated between -1.5% and 0.6%. In addition, the nexus between human capital and productivity growth was examined. The findings revealed that while productivity growth caused human capital development, human capital development did not cause productivity growth.

  9. Mammalian oocyte growth and development in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eppig, J J; O'Brien, M; Wigglesworth, K

    1996-06-01

    This paper is a review of the current status of technology for mammalian oocyte growth and development in vitro. It compares and contrasts the characteristics of the various culture systems that have been devised for the culture of either isolated preantral follicles or the oocyte-granulosa cell complexes form preantral follicles. The advantages and disadvantages of these various systems are discussed. Endpoints for the evaluation of oocyte development in vitro, including oocyte maturation and embryogenesis, are described. Considerations for the improvement of the culture systems are also presented. These include discussions of the possible effects of apoptosis and inappropriate differentiation of oocyte-associated granulosa cells on oocyte development. Finally, the potential applications of the technology for oocyte growth and development in vitro are discussed. For example, studies of oocyte development in vitro could help to identify specific molecules produced during oocyte development that are essential for normal early embryogenesis and perhaps recognize defects leading to infertility or abnormalities in embryonic development. Moreover, the culture systems may provide the methods necessary to enlarge the populations of valuable agricultural, pharmaceutical product-producing, and endangered animals, and to rescue the oocytes of women about to undergo clinical procedures that place oocytes at risk.

  10. Productivity Growth in the English National Health Service from 1998/1999 to 2013/2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bojke, Chris; Castelli, Adriana; Grašič, Katja; Street, Andrew

    2017-05-01

    Productivity growth is a key measure against which National Health Service (NHS) achievements are judged. We measure NHS productivity growth as a set of paired year-on-year comparisons from 1998/1999-1999/2000 through 2012/2013-2013/2014, which are converted into a chained index that summarises productivity growth over the entire period. Our measure is as comprehensive as data permit and accounts for the multitude of diverse outputs and inputs involved in the production process and for regular revisions to the data used to quantify outputs and inputs. Over the full-time period, NHS output increased by 88.96% and inputs by 81.58%, delivering overall total factor productivity growth of 4.07%. Productivity growth was negative during the first two terms of Blair's government, with average yearly growth rate of -1.01% per annum (pa) during the first term (to 2000/2001) and -1.49% pa during the second term (2000/2001-2004/2005). Productivity growth was positive under Blair's third term (2004/2005-2007/2008) at 1.41% pa and under the Brown government (2007/2008-2010/2011), averaging 1.13% pa. Productivity growth remained positive under the Coalition (2010/2011-2013/2014), averaging 1.56% pa. © 2016 The Authors Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors Health Economics Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Nuclear energy consumption and economic growth in nine developed countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolde-Rufael, Yemane; Menyah, Kojo

    2010-01-01

    This article attempts to test the causal relationship between nuclear energy consumption and real GDP for nine developed countries for the period 1971-2005 by including capital and labour as additional variables. Using a modified version of the Granger causality test developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995), we found a unidirectional causality running from nuclear energy consumption to economic growth in Japan, Netherlands and Switzerland; the opposite uni-directional causality running from economic growth to nuclear energy consumption in Canada and Sweden; and a bi-directional causality running between economic growth and nuclear energy consumption in France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. In Spain, the United Kingdom and the USA, increases in nuclear energy consumption caused increases in economic growth implying that conservation measures taken that reduce nuclear energy consumption may negatively affect economic growth. In France, Japan, Netherlands and Switzerland increases in nuclear energy consumption caused decreases in economic growth, suggesting that energy conservation measure taken that reduce nuclear energy consumption may help to mitigate the adverse effects of nuclear energy consumption on economic growth. In Canada and Sweden energy conservation measures affecting nuclear energy consumption may not harm economic growth.

  12. Growth, Development and Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina-Virginia Dragulanescu

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Describing the relationship of interdependence through the materials balance, will be argued how the economy is a subset of the environment and the environment the natural limit to any economic initiative, or the limits imposed by the laws of thermodynamics. The theoretical debate moves, then, from the concept of growth to that of development, understood this in its three dimensions: economic, social, environmental. Bring the different environmental positions in four versions of sustainability, with the gained awareness that it’s “a spectrum of overlapping sustainability positions from very weak to very strong”.

  13. Financial Sector Development, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: New Evidence from Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Yusuf DANDUME

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available There is a common view that a well developed financial system will usher economic growth and further reduce the level of poverty. In late years the automaticity of this relationship in poor states such as Nigeria has been an area of considerable argument. This study attempts to examine this presuppose causal relationship between financial sector development, economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study uses Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL and Toda and Yamamoto No causality test, using a time series data covering the period of 1970-2011. The study includes poverty into the ongoing competing finance growth nexus hypothesis, in order to ascertain whether the poor segment of the Nigerian society have access to financial resources and also fully participate in the economic growth process in the country. Empirical results of the study reveal that financial sector development does not cause poverty reduction. This implies, increased in the supply of loan able funds due to financial sector development is not enough to ensure poverty reduction. Certain measures are important. Therefore, the results reveal, that economic growth causes financial sector growth. Implies that economic growth lead and financial sector follow. This implies that for financial sector development, economic growth is necessary, even though not sufficient for poverty reduction.

  14. Growth and remodeling play opposing roles during postnatal human heart valve development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oomen, Pim J A; Holland, Maria A; Bouten, Carlijn V C; Kuhl, Ellen; Loerakker, Sandra

    2018-01-19

    Tissue growth and remodeling are known to govern mechanical homeostasis in biological tissue, but their relative contributions to homeostasis remain unclear. Here, we use mechanical models, fueled by experimental findings, to demonstrate that growth and remodeling have different effects on heart valve stretch homeostasis during physiological postnatal development. Two developmental stages were considered: early-stage (from infant to adolescent) and late-stage (from adolescent to adult) development. Our models indicated that growth and remodeling play opposing roles in preserving tissue stretch and with time. During early-stage development, excessive tissue stretch was decreased by tissue growth and increased by remodeling. In contrast, during late-stage development tissue stretch was decreased by remodeling and increased by growth. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of native heart valve adaptation throughout life, and are highly relevant for the development of tissue-engineered heart valves.

  15. Cooperation between Counterparts in Parliament from an Agenda-Setting Perspective: Legislative Coalitions as a Trade of Criticism and Policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Flemming Juul; Seeberg, Henrik Bech

    2016-01-01

    Governments may bargain with parties in parliament to silence them. This insight follows from the agenda-setting literature, which emphasises the power of the opposition to criticise the government. The literature on legislatures points to the fear of loss of future voter support as a motivation....... By offering the opposition noteworthy policy influence in legislative coalitions, governments avoid opposition criticism in return, in addition to having initiatives passed. In order to test this argument, a large dataset is compiled on opposition criticism in parliament and the media before and after the 325...

  16. Impact of the formation of coalitions and fairly challenges on the international negotiations: an analysis of the economical and ethical fundaments. Final report january 2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salles, J.M.

    2003-01-01

    The project concerned two objectives: the analysis of the impact of the formation of coalitions on the possible equilibrium and the dynamic of the international negotiations in the framework of the climatic change; and the challenges bond to the fairly engagement decided by the countries during the negotiations in the framework of the Climate convention

  17. Law, Economic Growth and Human Development: Evidence from Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Asongu Simplice

    2011-01-01

    This paper cuts adrift the mainstream approach to the legal-origins debate on the law-growth nexus by integrating both overall economic and human components in our understanding of how regulation quality and the rule of law lie at the heart of economic and inequality adjusted human developments. Findings summarily reveal that legal-origin does not explain economic growth and human development beyond the mechanisms of law. Our results support the current consensus that, English common-law coun...

  18. Public Education and Growth in Developing Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schuppert, Christiane; Wirz, Nadja

    Human capital plays a key role in fostering technology adoption, the major source of economic growth in developing countries. Consequently, enhancing the level of human capital should be a matter of public concern. The present paper studies public education incentives in an environment in which...... governments can invest in human capital to facilitate the adoption of new technologies invented abroad or, instead, focus on consumptive public spending. Although human capital is pivotal for growth, the model reveals that incentives to invest in public education vanish if a country is poorly endowed...

  19. Growth of a species, an association, a science: 80 years of growth and development research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherwood, Richard J; Duren, Dana L

    2013-01-01

    Physical anthropological research was codified in the United States with the creation of the American Association of Physical Anthropology (AAPA) in 1929. That same year, a study began in yellow springs, Ohio, with a goal of identifying "what makes people different." The approach used to answer that question was to study the growth and development of Homo sapiens. The resulting study, the Fels Longitudinal Study, is currently the longest continuous study of human growth and development in the world. Although the AAPA and the Fels Longitudinal Study have existed as separate entities for more than 80 years now, it is not surprising, given the relationship between anatomical and developmental research, there has been considerable overlap between the two. As the field of physical anthropology has blossomed to include subdisciplines such as forensics, genetics, primatology, as well as sophisticated statistical methodologies, the importance of growth and development research has escalated. Although current Fels Longitudinal Study research is largely directed at biomedical questions, virtually all findings are relevant to physical anthropology, providing insights into basic biological processes and life history parameters. Some key milestones from the early years of the AAPA and the Fels Longitudinal Study are highlighted here that address growth and development research in physical anthropology. These are still held as fundamental concepts that underscore the importance of this line of inquiry, not only across the subdisciplines of physical anthropology, but also among anthropological, biological, and biomedical inquiries. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. The evolution of development of vascular cambia and secondary growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrew Groover; Rachel Spicer

    2010-01-01

    Secondary growth from vascular cambia results in radial, woody growth of stems. The innovation of secondary vascular development during plant evolution allowed the production of novel plant forms ranging from massive forest trees to flexible, woody lianas. We present examples of the extensive phylogenetic variation in secondary vascular growth and discuss current...

  1. Using GIS for Developing Sustainable Urban Growth Case Kyrenia Region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kara, C.; Akçit, N.

    2018-03-01

    It is critical to develop urban layers for analysis sustainable urban development possibilities within planning process. Kyrenia Region has many physical, environmental or economic issues that may danger the growth possibilities in sustainable manner. From this point, this study uses different spatial layers such as slope, distance to roads, distance to central zone, vegetation, soil productivity, environmental protection zones, distance to open/green space, distance to education for supporting sustainable urban growth policies and define suitable areas for urban development within this perspective. The study tries to convert sustainable urban growth policies such as; compact growth, environmental protection, equal accessibility to basic services; into spatial layers and establish proper framework for multi criteria evaluation in Kyrenia Region within using geographical information systems. It shows suitability values for Kyrenia region and constraints zones at final section. It clearly presents the suitable areas for the sustainable urbanization and also unsuitable or risky areas for reducing the possible disasters and may happen in the future.

  2. India | Page 48 | IDRC - International Development Research Centre

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

    Language French. Read more about Harvesting Feminist Knowledge to Influence Public Policy. Language English. Read more about Établissement d'une coalition visant l'amélioration des services de santé maternelle. Language French. Read more about Negotiating Rights : Building Coalitions for Improving Maternal ...

  3. Structure and development of old-growth, unmanaged second-growth, and extended rotation Pinus resinosa forests in Minnesota, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silver, Emily J.; D'Amato, Anthony W.; Fraver, Shawn; Palik, Brian J.; Bradford, John B.

    2013-01-01

    The structure and developmental dynamics of old-growth forests often serve as important baselines for restoration prescriptions aimed at promoting more complex structural conditions in managed forest landscapes. Nonetheless, long-term information on natural patterns of development is rare for many commercially important and ecologically widespread forest types. Moreover, the effectiveness of approaches recommended for restoring old-growth structural conditions to managed forests, such as the application of extended rotation forestry, has been little studied. This study uses several long-term datasets from old growth, extended rotation, and unmanaged second growth Pinus resinosa (red pine) forests in northern Minnesota, USA, to quantify the range of variation in structural conditions for this forest type and to evaluate the effectiveness of extended rotation forestry at promoting the development of late-successional structural conditions. Long-term tree population data from permanent plots for one of the old-growth stands and the extended rotation stands (87 and 61 years, respectively) also allowed for an examination of the long-term structural dynamics of these systems. Old-growth forests were more structurally complex than unmanaged second-growth and extended rotation red pine stands, due in large part to the significantly higher volumes of coarse woody debris (70.7 vs. 11.5 and 4.7 m3/ha, respectively) and higher snag basal area (6.9 vs. 2.9 and 0.5 m2/ha, respectively). In addition, old-growth forests, although red pine-dominated, contained a greater abundance of other species, including Pinus strobus, Abies balsamea, and Picea glauca relative to the other stand types examined. These differences between stand types largely reflect historic gap-scale disturbances within the old-growth systems and their corresponding structural and compositional legacies. Nonetheless, extended rotation thinning treatments, by accelerating advancement to larger tree diameter

  4. Egg production, growth and development of the cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sabatini, Marina; Kiørboe, Thomas

    1994-01-01

    Egg production, growth and development rates of Oithona similis were measured in the laboratory as a function of food concentration and composition. On an optimum diet, development is isochronal and growth is near exponential. The maximum juvenile growth rate at 15 degree C (0.2 day-1) is similar...... to juvenile growth in calanoid copepods. The maximum weight-specific egg production rate (0.1 day-1), on the other hand, is substantially less than in free-spawning calanoids, but similar to that in egg-carrying calanoids. In the Kattegat, Oithona spp. egg production is strongly limited by food during summer...

  5. All projects related to | Page 366 | IDRC - International Development ...

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

    2009-07-02

    Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) is an independent policy research and advocacy organization based in Kampala, Uganda, with a reputation for producing good quality research to underpin its advocacy work. Start Date: July 2, 2009. End Date: October 6, 2014. Topic: RESEARCH ...

  6. Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermes, C.L.M.; Lensink, B.W.

    2003-01-01

    This article argues that the development of the financial system of the recipient country is an important precondition for FDI to have a positive impact on economic growth. A more developed financial system positively contributes to the process of technological diffusion associated with FDI. The

  7. Fuzzy interaction modelling for participants in innovation development: approaches and examples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CHERNOV Vladimir

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the interaction problems of the participants in innovative development at the regional level. Mathematical approaches and formulations for mode lling, such as the interaction on the basis of game approaches and the theory of fuzzy sets, have been proposed. In particular, the interaction model of innovative participants in the region, considered as a fuzzy coalition game, is presented. Its theoretical justification and an example of practical calculations are given. Further, the methodology of interaction modelling is considered , taking into account the motives of the participants in innovative development when forming fuzzy coalitions. An example of the corresponding calculations is also given. Also, the interaction model of "state-regions" in the interpretation of the fuzzy hierarchical game is proposed and described. The features of its solution are described and an example of calculations is presented.

  8. Language development in preschool children born after asymmetrical intrauterine growth retardation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simić Klarić, Andrea; Kolundžić, Zdravko; Galić, Slavka; Mejaški Bošnjak, Vlatka

    2012-03-01

    After intrauterine growth retardation, many minor neurodevelopmental disorders may occur, especially in the motor skills domain, language and speech development, and cognitive functions. The assessment of language development and impact of postnatal head growth in preschool children born with asymmetrical intrauterine growth retardation. Examinees were born at term with birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age, parity and gender. Mean age at the time of study was six years and four months. The control group was matched according to chronological and gestational age, gender and maternal education with mean age six years and five months. There were 50 children with intrauterine growth retardation and 50 controls, 28 girls and 22 boys in each group. For the assessment of language development Reynell Developmental Language Scale, the Naming test and Mottier test were performed. There were statistically significant differences (p language comprehension, total expressive language (vocabulary, structure, content), naming skills and non-words repetition. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between relative growth of the head [(Actual head circumference - head circumference at birth)/(Body weight - birth weight)] and language outcome. Children with neonatal complications had lower results (p language comprehension and total expressive language. Intrauterine growth retardation has a negative impact on language development which is evident in preschool years. Slow postnatal head growth is correlated with poorer language outcome. Neonatal complications were negatively correlated with language comprehension and total expressive language. Copyright © 2011 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Research & development and growth: A Bayesian model averaging analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Horváth, Roman

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 28, č. 6 (2011), s. 2669-2673 ISSN 0264-9993. [Society for Non-linear Dynamics and Econometrics Annual Conferencen. Washington DC, 16.03.2011-18.03.2011] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/09/0965 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Research and development * Growth * Bayesian model averaging Subject RIV: AH - Economic s Impact factor: 0.701, year: 2011 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2011/E/horvath-research & development and growth a bayesian model averaging analysis.pdf

  10. Large area sheet task: Advanced dendritic web growth development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, C. S.; Seidensticker, R. G.; Mchugh, J. P.; Hopkins, R. H.; Meier, D.; Schruben, J.

    1981-01-01

    The growth of silicon dendritic web for photovoltaic applications was investigated. The application of a thermal model for calculating buckling stresses as a function of temperature profile in the web is discussed. Lid and shield concepts were evaluated to provide the data base for enhancing growth velocity. An experimental web growth machine which embodies in one unit the mechanical and electronic features developed in previous work was developed. In addition, evaluation of a melt level control system was begun, along with preliminary tests of an elongated crucible design. The economic analysis was also updated to incorporate some minor cost changes. The initial applications of the thermal model to a specific configuration gave results consistent with experimental observation in terms of the initiation of buckling vs. width for a given crystal thickness.

  11. [Evaluation of growth and development of institutionalized children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaves, Caroline Magna Pessoa; Lima, Francisca Elisângela Teixeira; Mendonça, Larissa Bento de Araújo; Custódio, Ires Lopes; Matias, Erica Oliveira

    2013-01-01

    The study aimed to evaluate the growth and development of institutionalized children from 0-6 years old. It had a descriptive, transversal and quantitative approach, and was held in a shelter from the Bureau of Labor and Social Development of the Government of the State of Ceará, in the months of March and April 2011. The sample comprised 44 children. It the sample prevailed male children (59.1%), aged 24 to 72 months (56.8%) and with time of sheltering more than one year (72.7%). It was found that the children were in the normal range of nutrition; however, 65.9% of children did not achieve at least one of the development milestones proposed by the Ministry of Health. The study suggests a reflection on how children living in shelters are being assisted by the health team, making it necessary follow up their growth and development, in order to intervene on the alterations.

  12. Utilization of Health Care Coalitions and Resiliency Forums in the United States and United Kingdom: Different Approaches to Strengthen Emergency Preparedness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, John; Swan, Allan Graeme

    2016-02-01

    The process for developing national emergency management strategies for both the United States and the United Kingdom has led to the formulation of differing approaches to meet similar desired outcomes. Historically, the pathways for each are the result of the enactment of legislation in response to a significant event or a series of events. The resulting laws attempt to revise practices and policies leading to more effective and efficient management in preparing, responding, and mitigating all types of natural, manmade, and technological hazards. Following the turn of the 21st century, each country has experienced significant advancements in emergency management including the formation and utilization of 2 distinct models: health care coalitions in the United States and resiliency forums in the United Kingdom. Both models have evolved from circumstances and governance unique to each country. Further in-depth study of both approaches will identify strengths, weaknesses, and existing gaps to meet continued and future challenges of our respective disaster health care systems.

  13. The Use of Twitter for Professional Growth and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerstein, Jackie

    2011-01-01

    Twitter, the micro blogging tool, has seen unprecedented growth in the past year and is expected to continue into the future. Twitter's power, engagement, and popularity lie in its endless networking opportunities. Its potential as a venue for professional growth and development needs to be explored, discussed, and ultimately used as such. A brief…

  14. Plant Growth Research for Food Production: Development and Testing of Expandable Tuber Growth Module

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordova, Brennan A.

    2017-01-01

    Controlled and reliable growth of a variety of vegetable crops is an important capability for manned deep space exploration systems for providing nutritional supplementation and psychological benefits to crew members. Because current systems have been limited to leafy vegetables that require minimal root space, a major goal for these systems is to increase their ability to grow new types of crops, including tuber plants and root vegetables that require a large root space. An expandable root zone module and housing was developed to integrate this capability into the Veggie growth system. The expandable module uses a waterproof, gas-permeable bag with a structure that allows for root space to increase vertically throughout the growth cycle to accommodate for expanding tuber growth, while minimizing the required media mass. Daikon radishes were chosen as an ideal tuber crop for their subterraneous tuber size and rapid growth cycle, and investigations were done to study expanding superabsorbent hydrogels as a potential growth media. These studies showed improved water retention, but restricted oxygen availability to roots with pure gel media. It was determined that these hydrogels could be integrated in lower proportions into standard soil to achieve media expansion and water retention desired. Using the constructed module prototype and ideal gel and soil media mixture, Daikon radishes were grown in the system to test the capability and success of the system through a full growth cycle.

  15. Growth and development of the impala Aepyceros melampus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Fairall

    1976-08-01

    Full Text Available Growth and development of the prenatal impala has been described by Fairall (1969 and Roettcher, Hoffman and Kayanja (1970 while weights and measurements of the mature animal have been reported by Sachs (1967 and Talbot and McCulloch (1965. Child (1964 has investigated growth in this species. This paper serves as a baseline for comparison of future changes in morphology of the species, as the animals were all obtained at the beginning of the culling programme.

  16. Growth models and analysis of development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mathur, G

    1979-10-01

    This paper deals with remnants of neoclassical elements in Keynesian and post-Keynesian thought, and attempts to demonstrate that the elimination of these elements from our modes of thinking would not impoverish economic analysis as a means of solving real problems. In the Keynesian analysis the causation from investment to savings is exhibited in terms of income determination. When put in terms of a capital-theory model, the vector of savings is represented in two ways: real savings and counterpart real savings. The former coincides with the investment vector and the latter with the vector of consumption goods foregone for diverting resources towards equipment making. Thus the Keynesian causation in capital theory terms makes the concept of national savings as an independent variable redudant. The Robinsonian causation in a golden age with full employment and its reversal of direction in a steady state with non-employment are then considered. But in each of these, variables like rate of savings and output/capital ratio are found to be dormant variables. They are termed as null variables which, being of no account in both full-employment and unemployment situations, could, without loss, be deleted from the repertory of analytical tools. The Harrod formula of warranted rate of growth, when put in causal form, thus becomes a redundant portion of economics of growth. The real determinants of the growth rate and real wage rate on which the analysis of growth or of development should be based, are also depicted.

  17. Farklı Koalisyon Senaryolarına Bağlı Olarak Türkiye’nin Üyeliği Sonrası Avrupa Birliği’nde Oylama Gücü Dağılımı(Depending On Different Coalition Scenarios Voting Power Distribution In The European Union After Turkey’s Membership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatice Burcu ESKİCİ

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available It is taken into consideration of the influence on voting power distribution of candidate countries’ European Union membership enlargement is one of the most important issue the for European Union. In this study, the impact of Turkey’s membership on voting power distribution is evaluated for coalition formation determined with hierarchical clustering methods, according to the acts adopted by the Council of the European Union and voting system brought by the Treaty of Lisbon. In the analysis, the effect of Turkey’s membership on voting power distribution is evaluated for four coalition formation determined with hierarchical clustering methods and Banzhaf power index, one of the most frequently used voting power measurement, is used for voting power analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, voting power distribution is affected by Turkey’s European Union membership for four coalition formation. When the Council does not act on a proposal from the Commission or the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, voting power distribution is not affected by Turkey’s membership for four coalition formation.

  18. Development and validation of an extensive growth and growth boundary model for psychrotolerant Lactobacillus spp. in seafood and meat products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mejlholm, Ole; Dalgaard, Paw

    2013-01-01

    A new and extensive growth and growth boundary model for psychrotolerant Lactobacillus spp. was developed and validated for processed and unprocessed products of seafood and meat. The new model was developed by refitting and expanding an existing cardinal parameter model for growth and the growth...... of psychrotolerant Lactobacillus spp. was clearly demonstrated. The new model can be used to predict growth of psychrotolerant Lactobacillus spp. in seafood and meat products e.g. prediction of the time to a critical cell concentration of bacteria is considered useful for establishing the shelf life. In addition...... boundary of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in processed seafood (O. Mejlholm and P. Dalgaard, J. Food Prot. 70. 2485–2497, 2007). Initially, to estimate values for the maximum specific growth rate at the reference temperature of 25°C (μref) and the theoretical minimum temperature that prevents growth...

  19. Control of growth and development of the feto-placental unit

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Han, V K; Carter, Anthony Michael

    2001-01-01

    Classical gene targeting has identified many genes important for fetal and placental development. Null mutation of these genes may lead to fetal growth restriction, malformation or embryonic death. Growth restriction of epigenetic basis can predispose to adult-onset diseases. The mechanisms...

  20. Banks and economic growth in developing countries: What about Islamic banks?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saida Daly

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Islamic banks (IBs have a significant role in the growth of gross domestic product of the developing countries. The Islamic participatory schemes integrate the assets of lenders and borrowers. They allow enable IBs to lend on a longer term basis to create projects with higher risk-return profiles and, thus, to support economic growth. Our investigation examines the contribution of Islamic finance in economic growth. Using a panel data-set, we compare between IBs and conventional banks in their adding to economic growth. We studied a sample of 120 banks between 2005 and 2012. By means of three ordinary least-square regressions, our empirical investigation reveals that the development of non-usurious banks supports economic growth. Moreover, the cooperation between the two financing modes improves economic growth. The integration of this new funding never neglected the role of the conventional method of financing. The practice of IBs is also away from their theoretical mode in terms of participation results.

  1. Soutien institutionnel à l'Advocates Coalition for Development and ...

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

    Driving vaccine innovations to improve lives and livelihoods. Five world-class research teams are working to develop vaccines for neglected livestock diseases in the Global South. View moreDriving vaccine innovations to improve lives and livelihoods ...

  2. Population growth and economic development: two new U.S. perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wulf, D; Klitsch, M

    1986-01-01

    This report compares the research paths of economic development reports by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Assembly of Columbia University. The NAS group, made up principally of economists and demographers, refrained from recommending population reduction targets, in contrast to the stronger terms of its 1971 report. A 1965 report by the Assembly spoke of population as a serious negative influence for economic development, political stability, and world peace, while the new report speaks of negative socioeconomic effects, and of the limiting of a person's right to control family size. The NAS agenda was established before the US delegation to the UN population conference in Mexico City retreated from declaring population growth to be a necessarily negative influencer of socioeconomic progress. The Assembly took the position that possible benefits of population growth would be far outweighed by factors such as resource depletion and women's health. The NAS maintained that growth might provide incentives for institutional adjustments (market development, investment in education) and control of growth should not be considered a substitute for such interventions. Both reports agree that control of fertility is a human right, but the NAS report examined the question of the acceptable degree of compulsion to be used to encourage couples. The Assembly objected to limiting access to family planning by defunding abortion programs oversease. Differences exist between the 2 reports in questins such as the negative impact of 1950's population growth, the synergistic effect of growth on many areas of human activity, the extent to which welfare of future generations is considered relevant today, and the adequacy of pure economic analysis in assessing need. Much study of population/development linkages is still required.

  3. Normal development and growth of the human neurocranium and cranial base.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friede, H

    1981-01-01

    The literature on normal development and growth of certain areas of the human head is reviewed, starting with the early induction of the desmal neurocranium. the development of the brain capsule with its dural reinforcement bands and their connection with the basicranium is discussed, as is the primordial chondrocranium, including its bone replacement. Growth of the calvaria and the three cranial fossae is also analysed. Special interest is focused on the anterior fossa, as knowledge of the growth in this area is very important for an understanding of pathogenesis and possibilities of treating premature craniosynostosis. Finally it is stressed that close observation of the effects of treatment on this pathology may increase our knowledge of normal growth.

  4. Linear Growth and Child Development in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prado, Elizabeth L; Abbeddou, Souheila; Adu-Afarwuah, Seth; Arimond, Mary; Ashorn, Per; Ashorn, Ulla; Brown, Kenneth H; Hess, Sonja Y; Lartey, Anna; Maleta, Kenneth; Ocansey, Eugenia; Ouédraogo, Jean-Bosco; Phuka, John; Somé, Jérôme W; Vosti, Steve A; Yakes Jimenez, Elizabeth; Dewey, Kathryn G

    2016-08-01

    We aimed to produce quantitative estimates of the associations between 4 domains of child development and linear growth during 3 periods: before birth, early infancy, and later infancy. We also aimed to determine whether several factors attenuated these associations. In 3700 children in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi, growth was measured several times from birth to age 18 months. At 18 months, language, motor, socioemotional, and executive function development were assessed. In Burkina Faso (n = 1111), personal-social development was assessed rather than the latter 2 domains. Linear growth was significantly associated with language, motor, and personal-social development but not socioemotional development or executive function. For language, the pooled adjusted estimate of the association with length-for-age z score (LAZ) at 6 months was 0.13 ± 0.02 SD, and with ΔLAZ from 6 to 18 months it was 0.11 ± 0.03 SD. For motor, these estimates were 0.16 ± 0.02 SD and 0.22 ± 0.03 SD, respectively. In 1412 children measured at birth, estimates of the association with LAZ at birth were similar (0.07-0.16 SD for language and 0.09-0.18 SD for motor development). These associations were weaker or absent in certain subsets of children with high levels of developmental stimulation or mothers who received nutritional supplementation. Growth faltering during any period from before birth to 18 months is associated with poor development of language and motor skills. Interventions to provide developmental stimulation or maternal supplementation may protect children who are faltering in growth from poor language and motor development. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  5. Financial Development, Economic Growth and Energy Consumption Nexus in Cote d’Ivoire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diby Kassi

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between financial development, economic growth and energy consumption in Cote d’Ivoire over the period 1971-2011. To do so, the study first built a synthetic indicator of financial development through the principal component analysis technique (PCA and used four energy sources such as electric power consumption, electricity production from renewable sources, electricity production from oil sources and electricity production from hydroelectric sources. Then, employing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration, we find that there is a long run relationship between financial development, economic growth and energy consumption sources. Furthermore, the results of the vector error correction models (VECM reveal unidirectional causality running from financial development to energy consumption sources, bidirectional causality between economic growth and energy consumption and unidirectional causality from financial development to economic growth in the long run. The mixed results are due to the use of different proxies for energy consumption. Accordingly, this paper recommends that policy makers should solicit the support of financial sector in order to solve energy problems and further the diversification of the energy consumption sources since financial development has a positive effect on energy consumption in long run. Moreover, government should develop public-private partnership (PPP to stimulate economic growth, improve the access to energy and maintain a sustainable development in Cote d’Ivoire.

  6. Vital coalitions, vital regions; cooperation in sustainable, regional development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horlings, L.G.

    2010-01-01

    Many rural regions in Europe are undergoing a dynamic transition, driven by forces of urbanisation and agricultural development, new patterns of production and consumption, and new societal demands. However, while the historical rural-urban divide is eroding, rural landscapes are becoming more

  7. Leptin administration affects growth and skeletal development in a rat intrauterine growth restriction model: preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bar-El Dadon, Shimrit; Shahar, Ron; Katalan, Vered; Monsonego-Ornan, Efrat; Reifen, Ram

    2011-09-01

    Skeletal abnormalities are one of the hallmarks of growth delay during gestation. The aim of this study was to determine changes induced by leptin in skeletal growth and development in a rat model of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and to elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms. Intrauterine growth retardation was induced prepartum and the effects of leptin to mothers prenatally or to offspring postnatally were studied. Radii were harvested and tested mechanically and structurally. Tibias were evaluated for growth-plate morphometry. On day 40 postpartum, total bone length and mineral density and tibial growth-plate width and numbers of cells within its zones of offspring treated with leptin were significantly greater than in the control group. Postnatal leptin administration in an IUGR model improves the structural properties and elongation rate of bone. These findings could pave the way to preventing some phenotypic presentations of IUGR. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Large-area sheet task advanced dendritic web growth development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, C. S.; Seidensticker, R. G.; Mchugh, J. P.

    1984-01-01

    The thermal models used for analyzing dendritic web growth and calculating the thermal stress were reexamined to establish the validity limits imposed by the assumptions of the models. Also, the effects of thermal conduction through the gas phase were evaluated and found to be small. New growth designs, both static and dynamic, were generated using the modeling results. Residual stress effects in dendritic web were examined. In the laboratory, new techniques for the control of temperature distributions in three dimensions were developed. A new maximum undeformed web width of 5.8 cm was achieved. A 58% increase in growth velocity of 150 micrometers thickness was achieved with dynamic hardware. The area throughput goals for transient growth of 30 and 35 sq cm/min were exceeded.

  9. Evidence that insulin-like growth factor I and growth hormone are required for prostate gland development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruan, W; Powell-Braxton, L; Kopchick, J J; Kleinberg, D L

    1999-05-01

    Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been implicated as a factor that may predispose one to prostate cancer. However, no specific relationship between IGF-I and prostate development or cancer in vivo has been established. To determine whether IGF-I was important in prostate development, we examined prostate architecture in IGF-I(-/-) null mice and wild-type littermates. Glands from 44-day-old IGF-I-deficient animals were not only smaller than those from wild-type mice, but also had fewer terminal duct tips and branch points and deficits in tertiary and quaternary branching (P deficit by increasing those parameters of prostate development (P growth as an extension of a normal process.

  10. Influence of growth hormone replacement on neurological and psychomotor development. Case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motta, Felipe; Eisencraft, Adriana Pasmanik; Crisostomo, Lindiane Gomes

    2018-05-14

    The height response to the use of growth hormone in short height cases has already been confirmed in the literature. The influence of the insulin-like growth factor 1 (GH-IGF1) axis components on development, function, regeneration, neuroprotection, cognition, and motor functions has been evaluated in experimental studies and in adults with central nervous system lesions. However, there is still little research on the clinical impact of hormone replacement on neurological and psychomotor development. This report presents the case of a patient with excellent weight-height recovery and, even more surprisingly, neurological and psychomotor development in response to use of growth hormone. The result strengthens the correlation between experimental and clinical findings related to cerebral plasticity response to growth hormone in children. A preterm male patient with multiple health problems during the neonatal and young infancy period, who for six years presented with a relevant deficit in growth, bone maturation, and neurological and psychomotor development. At six years of age, he had low stature (z-score -6.89), low growth rate, and low weight (z-score -7.91). He was incapable of sustaining his axial weight, had not developed fine motor skills or sphincter control, and presented with dysfunctional swallowing and language. Supplementary tests showed low IGF-11 levels, with no changes on the image of the hypothalamus-pituitary region, and bone age consistent with three-year-old children - for a chronological age of six years and one month. Growth hormone replacement therapy had a strong impact on the weight-height recovery as well as on the neurological and psychomotor development of this child.

  11. Growth charts of human development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Buuren, Stef

    2014-08-01

    This article reviews and compares two types of growth charts for tracking human development over age. Both charts assume the existence of a continuous latent variable, but relate to the observed data in different ways. The D-score diagram summarizes developmental indicators into a single aggregate score measuring global development. The relations between the indicators should be consistent with the Rasch model. If true, the D-score is a measure with interval scale properties, and allows for the calculation of meaningful differences both within and across age. The stage line diagram describes the natural development of ordinal indicators. The method models the transition probabilities between successive stages of the indicator as smoothly varying functions of age. The location of each stage is quantified by the mid-P-value. Both types of diagrams assist in identifying early and delayed development, as well as finding differences in tempo. The relevant techniques are illustrated to track global development during infancy and early childhood (0-2 years) and Tanner pubertal stages (8-21 years). New reference values for both applications are provided. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  12. Worker remittances, migration, accumulation and growth in poor developing countries

    OpenAIRE

    Ziesemer, T.H.W.

    2008-01-01

    The impact of migration and worker remittances on literacy, accumulation of capital and growth is analyzed for a panel of countries with per capita income below $1200 (2000). We estimate regressions for dynamic equations of migration, worker remittances, savings, investment, tax revenues, public expenditure on education, interest rates, literacy, labour force growth, development aid and GDP per capita growth, using dynamic panel data methods. The estimated equations are then integrated to a d...

  13. Engineered nanomaterials for plant growth and development: A perspective analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Sandeep Kumar; Das, Ashok Kumar; Patel, Manoj Kumar; Shah, Ashish; Kumar, Vinay; Gantait, Saikat

    2018-07-15

    With the overwhelmingly rapid advancement in the field of nanotechnology, the engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been extensively used in various areas of the plant system, including quality improvement, growth and nutritional value enhancement, gene preservation etc. There are several recent reports on the ENMs' influence on growth enhancements, growth inhibition as well as certain toxic impacts on plant. However, translocation, growth responses and stress modulation mechanisms of ENMs in the plant systems call for better and in-depth understanding. Herein, we are presenting a comprehensive and critical account of different types of ENMs, their applications and their positive, negative and null impacts on physiological and molecular aspects of plant growth, development and stress responses. Recent reports revealed mixed effects on plants, ranging from enhanced crop yield, epi/genetic alterations, and phytotoxicity, resulting from the ENMs' exposure. Creditable research in recent years has revealed that the effects of ENMs on plants are species specific and are variable among plant species. ENM exposures are reported to trigger free radical formation, responsive scavenging, and antioxidant armories in the exposed plants. The ENMs are also reported to induce aberrant expressions of microRNAs, the key post-transcriptional regulators of plant growth, development and stress-responses of plants. However, these modulations, if judiciously done, may lead to improved plant growth and yield. A better understanding of the interactions between ENMs and plant responses, including their uptake transport, internalization, and activity, could revolutionize crop production through increased disease resistance, nutrient utilization, and crop yield. Therefore, in this review, we are presenting a critical account of the different selected ENMs, their uptake by the plants, their positive/negative impacts on plant growth and development, along with the resultant ENM-responsive post

  14. Development and validation of extensive growth and growth boundary models for psychrotolerant pseudomonads in seafood, meat and vegetable products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinez Rios, Veronica; Dalgaard, Paw

    Extensive growth and growth boundary models were developed and validated for psychrotolerant pseudomonads growing in seafood, meat and vegetable products. The new models were developed by expanding anexisting cardinal parameter-type model for growth of pseudomonads in milk (Martinez-Rios et al......, when observed and predicted μmax -values were compared. Thus, on average μmax -values for seafood and meat products were overestimated by 14%. Additionally, the reference growth rate parameter μref25˚C was calibrated by fitting the model to 21 μmax -values in vegetable products. This resulted in a μref......25˚C -value of 0.54 1/h. The calibrated vegetable model wassuccessfully validated using 51 μmax -values for psychrotolerant pseudomonads in vegetables. Average bias and accuracy factor values of 1.24 and 1.38 were obtained, respectively. Lag time models were developed by using relative lag times from...

  15. Developing world perspective: the importance of growth for short-term health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adair, Linda S

    2010-01-01

    Recently, concern has been raised about the potential adverse long-term consequences of rapid child growth. Rapid early childhood weight gain is associated with increased likelihood of being overweight or obese later in childhood and of having risk factors for the development of chronic disease such insulin resistance and elevated blood pressure. This has led to concerns about the wisdom of promoting catch-up growth in infants born small for gestational age or in children with poor growth after birth. In considering the costs and benefits of promoting catch-up growth, we must not lose sight of the immediate health threats to children in resource-poor environments in developing countries where child morbidity and mortality remain high. The literature on short-term consequences of growth is limited by its focus on attained size as an indicator of prior nutritional status, but generally shows that children with evidence of poor prior growth are at greater risk of morbidity and mortality from common infectious diseases, including lower respiratory infections and diarrhea. In these settings, failure to promote compensatory growth may have devastating short-term consequences. Copyright (c) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  16. Foreign trade elasticities in centre-periphery models of growth and development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Philip Thirlwall

    1983-09-01

    Full Text Available The Author looks at the difference in growth rates among countries and argues that they can be traced to the strength of the balance of payments position, determined largely by the propensity to export relative to the propensity to import. Relative growth performance, thus, can be understood by looking to income elasticities of demand for exports and imports. This insight into the process of income determination in open economies, found in Harrod as well as in the literature on economic development, is developed through so-called centre-periphery models of growth and development. However, their essential conclusions were already contained in the early classic papers. The author concentrates on three of them (prebisch, seers, kaldor to argue that a country’s growth rate relative to another’s can be approximated by the ratio of its income elasticity of demand for exports to its income elasticity of demand for imports.

  17. A coalition partnership of vision health through a health-promoting school program for primary school students in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Li-Chun; Guo, Jong-Long; Liao, Li-Ling; Peng, Hsiu-Ying; Hsieh, Pei-Lin

    2017-09-01

    Myopia, the most common refractive error, is the most common cause of avoidable visual impairment among children and has reached epidemic proportions among children and young adults in urban areas of East and Southeast Asia that contain populations of Chinese ancestry. Moreover, vision health is an important theme of the health-promoting school program issued by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of pre- and post-intervention proposed by the health-promoting school (HPS) model. The objectives are to understand whether the HPS model influenced the vision screening results and the attitude, knowledge level, and vision care behavior of the students involved. A prospective cohort study design was used to evaluate a vision health program. Four elementary schools, local education authorities, and one university in northern Taiwan established a coalition partnership to design a six-month program to combat myopia among students. The target population was 6668 school children from local elementary schools. For the purpose of this study, the outcome of visual acuity testing (in logMAR) was analyzed with a sampling of 373 school children (aged 11-12 years old) who were chosen from high prevalence of poor vision classes. After the HPS program, the attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge levels of the school children regarding vision health were significantly improved. The pre-intervention mean logMAR of all participating students ( N = 373) was -.10, which increased to -.19 after the intervention. Analysis using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the logMAR value was significantly improved after the intervention ( t = 2.13, p < 0.05). Our findings highlight the relevance and effectiveness of the coalition's efforts, which reinforces the usefulness of co-operatively implementing the HPS program.

  18. Building alliances in unlikely places: progressive allies and the Tobacco Institute's coalition strategy on cigarette excise taxes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Richard B; Balbach, Edith D

    2009-07-01

    The tobacco industry often utilizes third parties to advance its policy agenda. One such utilization occurred when the industry identified organized labor and progressive groups as potential allies whose advocacy could undermine public support for excise tax increases. To attract such collaboration, the industry framed the issue as one of tax fairness, creating a labor management committee to provide distance from tobacco companies and furthering progressive allies' interests through financial and logistical support. Internal industry documents indicate that this strategic use of ideas, institutions, and interests facilitated the recruitment of leading progressive organizations as allies. By placing excise taxes within a strategic policy nexus that promotes mutual public interest goals, public health advocates may use a similar strategy in forging their own excise tax coalitions.

  19. Utilizing a Pediatric Disaster Coalition Model to Increase Pediatric Critical Care Surge Capacity in New York City.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frogel, Michael; Flamm, Avram; Sagy, Mayer; Uraneck, Katharine; Conway, Edward; Ushay, Michael; Greenwald, Bruce M; Pierre, Louisdon; Shah, Vikas; Gaffoor, Mohamed; Cooper, Arthur; Foltin, George

    2017-08-01

    A mass casualty event can result in an overwhelming number of critically injured pediatric victims that exceeds the available capacity of pediatric critical care (PCC) units, both locally and regionally. To address these gaps, the New York City (NYC) Pediatric Disaster Coalition (PDC) was established. The PDC includes experts in emergency preparedness, critical care, surgery, and emergency medicine from 18 of 25 major NYC PCC-capable hospitals. A PCC surge committee created recommendations for making additional PCC beds available with an emphasis on space, staff, stuff (equipment), and systems. The PDC assisted 15 hospitals in creating PCC surge plans by utilizing template plans and site visits. These plans created an additional 153 potential PCC surge beds. Seven hospitals tested their plans through drills. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the need for planning for disasters involving children and to provide a stepwise, replicable model for establishing a PDC, with one of its primary goals focused on facilitating PCC surge planning. The process we describe for developing a PDC can be replicated to communities of any size, setting, or location. We offer our model as an example for other cities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:473-478).

  20. Chicken or egg : financial development and economic growth in China, 1992-2004

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fan, Xuejun; Jacobs, Jan; Lensink, Robert

    2005-01-01

    This paper contributes to the empirical finance-growth literature by examining the relationship between financial depth, banking sector development, stock market development and economic growth in China. After an extensive survey on recent financial reforms in China, we apply Granger (non-)causality

  1. A REVIEW OF FINANCE–GROWTH NEXUS THEORIES: HOW DOES DEVELOPMENT FINANCE FITS IN?

    OpenAIRE

    MARWA Nyankomo; ZHANJE Stephen

    2015-01-01

    The finance growth-nexus debates have been contentious over the past three decades both empirically and theoretically. To contribute to this debate, the current paper presents a concise review of finance-growths nexus theoretical development and the current debate around growth-finance nexus theories. Then, it extends the current theoretical debate to include development finance within the broader scheme of finance-growth discourse. The key emerging trend is that, most of the contemporary the...

  2. Social and economic growth of developing nations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gregersen, H.M.; Laarman, J.G.

    1989-01-01

    This paper reports on social and economic growth of developing nations. Trees and forests are often of immeasurable importance to developing countries of the world. To be of value, however, effective and efficient institutions, programs, and policies must be designed and focused on such resources. Forest economics and policy researchers can contribute much to such activities. To be most effective, forest economics research should be designed to improve understanding of social forestry, watershed management, and nontimber forest outputs; enhance ability to effectively address environmental consequences of forestry development; heighten skill in guiding development of industrial forestry enterprises; and improve effectiveness of international aid for forestry development. Guided by such strategic directions, forest economics research can contribute much to the economic and social well-being of developing nations

  3. Population growth and development: the Kenyan experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyamwange, M

    1995-01-01

    Rapid population growth in Kenya and high fertility impacts negatively on economic development. The growth and high fertility results in declines in gross national product, per capita food consumption, and land quality; a high dependency ratio; urban crowding; and inadequate health systems. East Africa has the highest crude birth rates in Africa, and Kenya has the highest birth rate of 54/1000 population in East Africa. The African crude death rate is 50% higher than the world average, but Kenya's death rate is the lowest in East Africa and comparable to North American and European death rates. Kenya has the highest rate of natural increase of about 4%. Population growth rates rose over the decades. Kenya's average population density is well above the sub-Saharan African average and much lower than very high density countries. Population is unequally distributed. Regional densities are widely divergent, and the highest densities in Western province are well above densities in Rwanda and Burundi. Urban growth has increased, as has migration to urban areas. Nairobi has 57% of urban population. Improved health and nutrition have contributed to increased life expectancy. The desired family size is large. The impact of demographic factors on economic conditions is evident in the decline in gross national product per capita growth to under 1% during 1972-88. A slight upswing occurred during 1988-93, but other crises are emerging. Food production has not kept pace with population growth. Production has been low due to serious land degradation, short fallow periods, and traditional farming practices. Population pressure has forced families to shift agriculture onto marginal lands, and desertification has increased. A growing proportion of the population is unemployed or underemployed. Population programs should address the underlying conditions for fertility decline.

  4. Human Capital, Population Growth and Economic Development: Beyond Correlations

    OpenAIRE

    Rosenzweig, Mark R.

    1987-01-01

    Empirical evidence on three assertions commonly-made by population policy advocates about the relationships among population growth, human capital formation and economic development is discussed and evaluated in the light of economic-biological models of household behavior and of its relevance to population policy. The three assertions are that (a) population growth and human capital investments jointly reflect and respond to changes in the economic environment, (b) larger families directly i...

  5. Postnatal growth, age estimation and development of foraging ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    mothers. There was no significant difference in the growth pattern of the young maintained in captivity compared ..... interactions, and development of vocalizations in the vesper- ... Kunz T H and Hood W R 2000 Parental care and postnatal.

  6. Sustaining Physics Teacher Education Coalition programs in physics teacher education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel E. Scherr

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the mechanisms of increasing the number of physics teachers educated per year at institutions with thriving physics teacher preparation programs may inspire and support other institutions in building thriving programs of their own. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC, led by the American Physical Society (APS and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT, has supported transformation of physics teacher preparation programs at a number of institutions around the country for over a decade. In 2012–2013, PhysTEC supported an independent study on the sustainability of its sites after project funding ends. The study sought to measure the extent to which programs have been sustained and to identify what features should be prioritized for building sustainable physics teacher preparation programs. Most of the studied sites have sustained increases in the number of physics teachers educated per year as well as funding for physics teacher preparation. About half of the programs are thriving, in that in the post-award period, they have further increased both the number of physics teachers educated per year and funding for physics teacher preparation. All studied sites that sustained increases in the number of physics teachers educated per year have two features in common: a champion of physics teacher education and institutional commitment. The thriving physics teacher preparation programs in this study implemented different elements of physics teacher preparation according to diverse local priorities and opportunities, including the unique expertise of local personnel.

  7. Decapentaplegic and growth control in the developing Drosophila wing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akiyama, Takuya; Gibson, Matthew C

    2015-11-19

    As a central model for morphogen action during animal development, the bone morphogenetic protein 2/4 (BMP2/4)-like ligand Decapentaplegic (Dpp) is proposed to form a long-range signalling gradient that directs both growth and pattern formation during Drosophila wing disc development. While the patterning role of Dpp secreted from a stripe of cells along the anterior-posterior compartmental boundary is well established, the mechanism by which a Dpp gradient directs uniform cell proliferation remains controversial and poorly understood. Here, to determine the precise spatiotemporal requirements for Dpp during wing disc development, we use CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing to generate a flippase recognition target (FRT)-dependent conditional null allele. By genetically removing Dpp from its endogenous stripe domain, we confirm the requirement of Dpp for the activation of a downstream phospho-Mothers against dpp (p-Mad) gradient and the regulation of the patterning targets spalt (sal), optomotor blind (omb; also known as bifid) and brinker (brk). Surprisingly, however, third-instar wing blade primordia devoid of compartmental dpp expression maintain relatively normal rates of cell proliferation and exhibit only mild defects in growth. These results indicate that during the latter half of larval development, the Dpp morphogen gradient emanating from the anterior-posterior compartment boundary is not directly required for wing disc growth.

  8. Effects of polymeric carbohydrates on growth and development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Knud Erik Bach

    , metabolized and net energy); available energy relative to protein is crucial for performance and carcass quality; second, the proportion of starch to NSP will influence rate and type of metabolites (glucose vs. SCFA) deriving from carbohydrate assimilation, and finally, type of starch (types A, B, and C......The main objective of the presentation is to provide insight into the role of polymeric carbohydrates in growth and development of pigs. Polymeric carbohydrates—starch and non-starch polysaccharides (NSP)—quantitatively represent the largest portion of the diets for pigs and are therefore...... at a slower and more constant rate and with SCFA being absorbed by passive diffusion. Type and levels of polymeric carbohydrates influence growth and development through different mechanisms; first, the proportion of starch to NSP plays an important role for the content of available energy (digestible...

  9. International Trade as an Engine of Growth in Developing Countries ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study examines international trade as an engine of growth in developing countries, a case study of Nigeria. A review of the literature reveals that countries that are more open to international trade tends to experience higher growth rate and per-capital income than countries who do not trade or closed economy.

  10. Deiodinase knockdown during early zebrafish development affects growth, development, energy metabolism, motility and phototransduction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enise Bagci

    Full Text Available Thyroid hormone (TH balance is essential for vertebrate development. Deiodinase type 1 (D1 and type 2 (D2 increase and deiodinase type 3 (D3 decreases local intracellular levels of T3, the most important active TH. The role of deiodinase-mediated TH effects in early vertebrate development is only partially understood. Therefore, we investigated the role of deiodinases during early development of zebrafish until 96 hours post fertilization at the level of the transcriptome (microarray, biochemistry, morphology and physiology using morpholino (MO knockdown. Knockdown of D1+D2 (D1D2MO and knockdown of D3 (D3MO both resulted in transcriptional regulation of energy metabolism and (muscle development in abdomen and tail, together with reduced growth, impaired swim bladder inflation, reduced protein content and reduced motility. The reduced growth and impaired swim bladder inflation in D1D2MO could be due to lower levels of T3 which is known to drive growth and development. The pronounced upregulation of a large number of transcripts coding for key proteins in ATP-producing pathways in D1D2MO could reflect a compensatory response to a decreased metabolic rate, also typically linked to hypothyroidism. Compared to D1D2MO, the effects were more pronounced or more frequent in D3MO, in which hyperthyroidism is expected. More specifically, increased heart rate, delayed hatching and increased carbohydrate content were observed only in D3MO. An increase of the metabolic rate, a decrease of the metabolic efficiency and a stimulation of gluconeogenesis using amino acids as substrates may have been involved in the observed reduced protein content, growth and motility in D3MO larvae. Furthermore, expression of transcripts involved in purine metabolism coupled to vision was decreased in both knockdown conditions, suggesting that both may impair vision. This study provides new insights, not only into the role of deiodinases, but also into the importance of a correct

  11. Disturbance of physical growth and development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamura, Nori; Akiyama, Mitoshi

    1992-01-01

    It has been thought that physical growth, such as height, weight, sitting height, chest circumference, and head circumference, was retarded among A-bomb survivors exposed in childhood. In this paper, physical growth and development among A-bomb survivors are discussed in the context of exposure doses estimated by T65D. The 1966-1968 survey for Hiroshima's survivors has shown that there was no consistent tendency for either height or weight among A-bomb survivors under the age of 11 when the estimated doses were 99 rad or less. In the group of 100 rad or more, however, both height and weight were found to be lower than the average among these age groups of A-bomb survivors. Similar findings were observed among girls in Nagasaki's survivors. According to the distance from the hypocenter, height was definitely shorter at the age of both 10 and 17 years among in uterus exposed A-bomb survivors in the group of 100 rad or more than the group of less than 100 rad; this was common in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Similarly, head circumstance was also smaller at the age of both 10 and 17 years in such A-bomb survivors. There was no evidence of correlation between physical growth and A-bomb radiation in F 1 offspring of A-bomb survivors. (N.K.)

  12. Social contention in Denmark over alternative wind power development paths

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nyborg, Sophie; Kirkegaard, Julia Kirch; Clausen, Laura Tolnov

    of Nørrekær Enge in Jutland. The paper traces protracted negotiations between a large energy company acting as wind farm developer who bought up dwellings to make space for extending an existing wind farm, land-owners, a farmers' association, and municipalities, as well as with an emergent coalition...

  13. Metropolitan migration and population growth in selected developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to estimate the components of metropolitan population growth in selected developing countries during 1960-1970 period. The study examines population growth in 26 cities: 5 are in Africa, 8 in Asia, and 13 in Latin America, using data from national census publications. These cities in general are the political capitals of their countries, but some additional large cities were selected in Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. All cities, at the beginning of the 1960-1970 decade had over 500,000 population; Accra, the only exception, reached this population level during the 1960s. Some cities had over 4 million residents in 1970. Net migration contributed about 37% to total metropolitan population growth; the remainder of the growth is attributable to natural increase. Migration has a much stronger impact on metropolitan growth than suggested by the above figure: 1) Several metropolitan areas, for various reasons, are unlikely to receive many migrants; without those cities, the share of metropolitan growth from net migration is 44%. 2) Estimates of the natural increase of migrants after their arrival in the metropolitan areas, when added to migration itself, changes the total contribution of migration to 49% in some metropolitan areas. 3) Even where net migration contributes a smaller proportion to metropolitan growth than natural increase, the rates of net migration are generally high and should be viewed in the context of rapid metropolitan population growth from natural increase alone. Finally, the paper also compares the components of metropolitan growth with the components of growth in the remaining urban areas. The results show that the metropolitan areas, in general, grow faster than the remaining urban areas, and that this more rapid growth is mostly due to a higher rate of net migration. Given the significance of migration for metropolitan growth, further investigations of the effects of these migration streams, particularly with

  14. The role of government spending on economic growth in a developing country

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.F. Oladele

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The issue of whether government expenditure helps or hinders economic growth is still debatable. This study examines the contribution of government spending towards economic growth in South Africa using annual data from 1980 – 2014. The cointegration approach and Vector Error Correction Model were used to analyse the data. The cointegration test results indicate that there is long run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth in South Africa. The VECM outcome indicates a positive and significant link between economic growth and expenditure on the long run. There is a positive and significant relationship between exchange rate and economic growth and a significant and negative relationship between economic growth and private consumption. Based on these findings, the correlation between government expenditure and economic growth showed that there is positive relationship on the long run in South Africa, while there is a negative and significant relationship between government spending and economic growth on the short run. More spending should therefore be directed towards important sectors such as infrastructural development and industrial development in order to accelerate economic growth. There is also a need for fiscal policy to be used as an instrument to regulate the amount of money in the economy.

  15. Testicular growth and development in puberty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koskenniemi, Jaakko J; Virtanen, Helena E; Toppari, Jorma

    2017-06-01

    To describe pubertal testicular growth in humans, changes in testicular cell populations that result in testicular growth, and the role of testosterone and gonadotrophins follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in testicular growth. When human data were not available, studies in nonhuman primates and/or rodents were used as surrogates. Testicular growth in puberty follows a sigmoidal growth curve, with a large variation in timing of testicular growth and adult testicular volume. Testicular growth early in puberty is due to increase in Sertoli cell number and length of seminiferous tubules, whereas the largest and fastest growth results from the increase in the diameter of the seminiferous tubules first due to spermatogonial proliferation and then due to the expansion of meiotic and haploid germ cells. FSH stimulates Sertoli cell and spermatogonial proliferation, whereas LH/testosterone is mandatory to complete spermatogenesis. However, FSH and LH/testosterone work in synergy and are both needed for normal spermatogenesis. Testicular growth during puberty is rapid, and mostly due to germ cell expansion and growth in seminiferous tubule diameter triggered by androgens. Pre-treatment with FSH before the induction of puberty may improve the treatment of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, but remains to be proven.

  16. Impacts of maternal dietary protein intake on fetal survival, growth, and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herring, Cassandra M; Bazer, Fuller W; Johnson, Gregory A; Wu, Guoyao

    2018-03-01

    Maternal nutrition during gestation, especially dietary protein intake, is a key determinant in embryonic survival, growth, and development. Low maternal dietary protein intake can cause embryonic losses, intra-uterine growth restriction, and reduced postnatal growth due to a deficiency in specific amino acids that are important for cell metabolism and function. Of note, high maternal dietary protein intake can also result in intra-uterine growth restriction and embryonic death, due to amino acid excesses, as well as the toxicity of ammonia, homocysteine, and H 2 S that are generated from amino acid catabolism. Maternal protein nutrition has a pronounced impact on fetal programming and alters the expression of genes in the fetal genome. As a precursor to the synthesis of molecules (e.g. nitric oxide, polyamines, and creatine) with cell signaling and metabolic functions, L-arginine (Arg) is essential during pregnancy for growth and development of the conceptus. With inadequate maternal dietary protein intake, Arg and other important amino acids are deficient in mother and fetus. Dietary supplementation of Arg during gestation has been effective in improving embryonic survival and development of the conceptus in many species, including humans, pigs, sheep, mice, and rats. Both the balance among amino acids and their quantity are critical for healthy pregnancies and offspring. Impact statement This review aims at: highlighting adverse effects of elevated levels of ammonia in mother or fetus on embryonic/fetal survival, growth, and development; helping nutritionists and practitioners to understand the mechanisms whereby elevated levels of ammonia in mother or fetus results in embryonic/fetal death, growth restriction, and developmental abnormalities; and bringing, into the attention of nutritionists and practitioners, the problems of excess or inadequate dietary intake of protein or amino acids on pregnancy outcomes in animals and humans. The article provides new

  17. Linkages between financial development, financial instability, financial liberalisation and economic growth in Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Enowbi Batuo, M.; Mlambo, Kupukile; Asongu, Simplice

    2017-01-01

    In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the implications of financial liberalisation for stability and economic growth has come under increased scrutiny. One strand of literature posits a positive relationship between financial liberalisation and economic growth and development. However, others emphasise the link between financial liberalisation is intrinsically associated with financial instability which may be harmful to economic growth and development. This study assesses ...

  18. [Doctoral thesis: Demographic growth and economic and social development in Mali].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dabo, K

    1999-12-01

    A doctoral thesis is described analyzing the relationships between demographic growth and economic and social development in Mali. The hypothesis is stated that demographic growth impedes economic development and any improvement in populations¿ standards of living. The hypothesis was verified using data for the period from 1960 to the present. Over that period, Mali conducted two general population censuses in 1976 and 1987, as well as several demographic research studies. The thesis is comprised of 4 parts, of which the first generally describes Mali. The second part analyzes the relationship between population growth and economic and social development in Mali. Study results are presented, followed by an analysis of the effects of economic and social development upon population growth in Mali through factors such as urbanization, education level, literacy, income, employment, occupation, gross domestic or gross national product by inhabitant, infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, contraceptive practice, fertility opinions and desires, women¿s status, and migration in Mali. Analysis indicates that Mali has not completely begun its demographic transition, but that traditional pronatalist behaviors are changing. Population policies and programs are explored in the third part of the thesis, followed by the fourth part which focuses upon methodological questions.

  19. Life Insurance Contribution, Insurance Development and Economic Growth in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Ying

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Under L-type economy, remodelling the growth power in the medium and long term is essential. The insurance industry during the 13th Five-year Plan period has been given a heavy expectation on promoting economic quality and upgrading economic efficiency, so it will try to accelerate its innovation and development process which serves national needs, market demand and people's requirements. Referring to the previous researches of Solow and Zhang and measuring Capital Stock and Total Factor Productivity independently, the paper analyses the inherent correlation between insurance (including life insurance and non-life insurance and economic growth, reveals the contribution law of the insurance development in economic growth in the short and long term from both economic scale and quality respectively. It also shows enlightenments on policy decision for insurance industry, thus helps economic stability under the downturn periods.

  20. Redox signaling in the growth and development of colonial hydroids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blackstone, Neil W

    2003-02-01

    Redox signaling provides a quick and efficient mechanism for clonal or colonial organisms to adapt their growth and development to aspects of the environment, e.g. the food supply. A 'signature' of mitochondrial redox signaling, particularly as mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), can be elucidated by experimental manipulation of the electron transport chain. The major sites of ROS formation are found at NADH dehydrogenase of complex I and at the interface between coenzyme Q and complex III. Inhibitors of complex III should thus upregulate ROS from both sites; inhibitors of complex I should upregulate ROS from the first but not the second site, while uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation should downregulate ROS from both sites. To investigate the possibility of such redox signaling, perturbations of colony growth and development were carried out using the hydroid Podocoryna carnea. Oxygen uptake of colonies was measured to determine comparable physiological doses of antimycin A(1) (an inhibitor of complex III), rotenone (an inhibitor of complex I) and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP; an uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation). Using these doses, clear effects on colony growth and development were obtained. Treatment with antimycin A(1) results in 'runner-like' colony growth, with widely spaced polyps and stolon branches, while treatment with CCCP results in 'sheet-like' growth, with closely spaced polyps and stolon branches. Parallel results have been obtained previously with azide, an inhibitor of complex IV, and dinitrophenol, another uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation. Perhaps surprisingly, rotenone produced effects on colony development similar to those of CCCP. Assays of peroxides using 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate and fluorescent microscopy suggest a moderate difference in ROS formation between the antimycin and rotenone treatments. The second site of ROS formation (the interface between coenzyme Q and complex III) may thus

  1. Two Approaches to Developing a Multi-Agent System for Battle Command Simulation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Løvlid, R.A.; Alstad, A.; Mevassvik, O.M.; Reus, N.M. de; Henderson, H.C.; Vecht, B.van der; Luik, T.T.

    2013-01-01

    In the military, Command and Control Information Systems (C2ISs) are used for issuing commands to subordinate units. In training or decision support, simulations are used instead of live military forces. The Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) is currently being developed as an interface

  2. Financial development and oil resource abundance-growth relations: evidence from panel data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, Siong Hook; Moradbeigi, Maryam

    2017-10-01

    This study investigates whether financial development dampens the negative impact of oil resource abundance on economic growth. Because of substantial cross-sectional dependence in our data, which contain a core sample of 63 oil-producing countries from 1980 through 2010, we use the common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG) estimator to account for the high degree of heterogeneity and drop the outlier countries. The empirical results reveal that oil resource abundance affects the growth rate in output contingent on the degree of development in financial markets. More developed financial markets can channel the revenues from oil into more productive activities and thus offset the negative effects of oil resource abundance on economic growth. Thus, better financial development can reverse resource curse or enhance resource blessing in oil-rich economies.

  3. Transglutaminase activity in equine strongyles and its potential role in growth and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, U R; Chapman, M R; Singh, R N; Mehta, K; Klei, T R

    1999-06-01

    Transglutaminases (E.C. 2.3.3.13) are a family of Ca(2+)-dependent enzymes that stabilize protein structure by catalyzing the formation of isopeptide bonds. A novel form of transglutaminase has been identified and characterized that seem to play an important role in growth, development, and molting in adult and larval stages of filarial nematodes. The aim of this study was to identify the ubiquitous nature of this enzyme in other nematodes and to measure its significance to larval growth, molting, and development. For this purpose, equine Strongylus spp. were used. Activity of this enzyme was identified in extracts of larvae and adults of Strongylus vulgaris, S. edentatus, Parascaris equorum and Cylicocyclus insigne. The significance of transglutaminase in the early growth and development of Strongylus vulgaris, S. edentatus and S. equinus was tested by adding specific inhibitors, monodansylcadaverine (MDC) or cystamine (CS), to in vitro cultures of third (L3) and fourth stage larvae (L4). The viability, molting and growth of these nematode species were affected by both inhibitors. Cystamine promoted abnormal development of Strongylus edentatus L3, resulting in an aberrant expansion of the anterior end. Addition of these inhibitors to cultures of L4 also reduced growth of the three species. The results indicated that transglutaminase is present in a wide array of nematode parasites and may be important in growth and development of their larval stages.

  4. On open questions of the coalition agreement. EEG levy, national CO2 levy, electricity tax instead of energy tax?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becker, Peter

    2018-01-01

    The regulations in the coalition agreement on the energy transition and the climate protection is sad: the 2020 climate protection goal is abandoned. At the same time, this makes the German contribution to the Parisian climate change agreement eroded. The goals are only general described, the paths to it must be a commission ''Growth, Structural change and Employment'' as a basis for a law. The statements on the energy revolution disappoint even more. On Proportion of about 65 percent renewable energy (RES) by 2030 is ''desired''. It would be desirable to cover the ''additional Electricity requirements for achieving the climate protection targets in transport, in buildings and in industry''; one senses: they have in fact already dealing with the sector coupling. But that for a sector coupling that allows to achieve the climate protection goals, a doubling of electricity production is necessary, one can do not read anywhere. Although the policy is committed to Power to X; also the deputy Bareiss of the CDU. But that, for example, at Power to gas only reaches about an efficiency of about 30 percent is hardly anyone speaks. An important reason for the non-binding nature of the statements not only the political dissent, but the high complexity of the Material. For example, the connection between the introduction of a CO 2 tax and the electricity or energy taxation not on the hand. Therefore, the attempt should be made, the demands to set up a theses and briefly explain the connections. This post is intended as an invitation to discuss. [de

  5. COPDESS (Coalition for Publishing Data in the Earth & Space Sciences): An Update on Progress and Next Steps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehnert, Kerstin; Hanson, Brooks; Sallans, Andrew; Elger, Kirsten

    2016-04-01

    The Coalition for Publishing Data in the Earth and Space Sciences (http://www.copdess.org/) formed in October 2014 to provide an organizational framework for Earth and space science publishers and data facilities to jointly implement and promote common policies and procedures for the publication and citation of data across Earth Science journals. Since inception, it has worked to develop and promote adoption of data citation standards (e.g. FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles), integrate community tools and services for greater discovery and adoption (e.g. COPDESS Directory of Repositories, https://copdessdirectory.osf.io/), and connect with related community efforts for greater transparency in research community (e.g. the Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines, http://cos.io/top). Following a second COPDESS workshop in Fall 2015, COPDESS is undertaking several concrete steps to increase participation and integration of efforts more deeply into the publishing and data facility workflows and to expand international participation. This talk will focus on details of specific initiatives, collection of feedback, and a call for new members. Specifically, we will present progress on the development of guidelines that aim to standardize publishers' recommended best practices by establishing "Best practices for best practices" that will allow a journal or data facility to tailor these practices to the sub-disciplines that they serve. COPDESS will further work to advance implementation of these best practices through increased outreach to and education of editors and authors. COPDESS plans to offer a Town Hall meeting at the EGU General Assembly as a forum for further information and discussion.

  6. Computerized tomography and head growth curve infantile macrocephaly with normal psychomotor development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eda, Isematsu; Kitahara, Tadashi; Takashima, Sachio; Takeshita, Kenzo

    1982-01-01

    Macrocephaly was defined as a head measuring larger than 98th percentile. We have evaluated CT findings and head growth curves in 25 infants with large heads. Ten (40%) of 25 infants with large heads were normal developmentally and neurologically. Five (20%) of those were mentally retarded. The other 10 infants (40%) included hydrocephalus (4 cases), malformation syndrome (3 cases), brain tumor (1 case), metabolic disorder (1 case) and degenerative disorder (1 case). Their head growth curves were typed as (I), (II) and (III): Type (I) (excessive head growth curve to 2 SDs above normal); Type (II) (head growth curve gradually approached to 2 SDs above normal); Type (III) (head growth curve parallel to 2 SDs above normal). Ten of macrocephaly with normal psychomotor development were studied clinically and radiologically in details. They were all male. CT pictures of those showed normal or various abnormal findings: ventricular dilatations, wide frontal and temporal subdural spaces, wide interhemispheric fissures, wide cerebral sulci, and large sylvian fissures. CT findings in 2 of those, which because normal after repeated CT examinations, resembled benign subdural collection. CT findings in one of those were external hydrocephalus. Head growth curves were obtained from 8 of those. Six cases revealed type (II) and two cases did type (III). The remaining 2 cases could not be followed up. We consider that CT findings of infants showed macrocephaly with normal psychomotor development reveals normal or various abnormal (ventricular dilatations, benign subdural collection, external hydrocephalus) and their head growth curves are not at least excessive. Infants with mental retardation showed similar CT findings and head growth curves as those with normal psychomotor development. It was difficult to distinguish normal from mentally retarded infants by either CT findings or head growth curves. (author)

  7. International Trade and Productivity Growth: Exploring the Sectoral Effects for Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Ehsan U. Choudhri; Dalia S. Hakura

    2000-01-01

    The paper estimates an empirical relation based on Krugman's "technological gap" model to explore the influence of the pattern of international trade and production on the overall productivity growth of a developing country. A key result is that increased import competition in medium-growth (but not in low- or high-growth) manufacturing sectors enhances overall productivity growth. The authors also find that a production-share weighted average of (technological leaders') sectoral productivity...

  8. Inclusive growth and development: An IDRC-World Economic Forum ...

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

    Advancing economic growth while achieving broad-based progress in living ... It will develop regional and global platforms whereby the private sector, local ... cooperation agreement to support joint research projects in December 2017.

  9. Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robitschek, Christine; Ashton, Matthew W.; Spering, Cynthia C.; Geiger, Nathaniel; Byers, Danielle; Schotts, G. Christian; Thoen, Megan A.

    2012-01-01

    The original Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS; Robitschek, 1998) was unidimensional, despite theory identifying multiple components (e.g., cognition and behavior) of personal growth initiative (PGI). The present research developed a multidimensional measure of the complex process of PGI, while retaining the brief and psychometrically sound…

  10. Exploring the Linkages: Trade Policies, Third World Development, and U.S. Agriculture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trade and Development Program, Washington, DC.

    This resource, a publication of the Trade and Development Program, was designed by a coalition of 10 farm and church groups to help U.S. citizens discover the connections between their lives, world food trade, and the needs of developing nations; it can be used for a single program, a multi-session workshop, or a study series. Targeted for high…

  11. Large area sheet task. Advanced dendritic web growth development. [silicon films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, C. S.; Seidensticker, R. G.; Mchugh, J. P.; Hopkins, R. H.; Meier, D.; Frantti, E.; Schruben, J.

    1981-01-01

    The development of a silicon dendritic web growth machine is discussed. Several refinements to the sensing and control equipment for melt replenishment during web growth are described and several areas for cost reduction in the components of the prototype automated web growth furnace are identified. A circuit designed to eliminate the sensitivity of the detector signal to the intensity of the reflected laser beam used to measure melt level is also described. A variable speed motor for the silicon feeder is discussed which allows pellet feeding to be accomplished at a rate programmed to match exactly the silicon removed by web growth.

  12. The influence of diet composition upon growth and development of sandhill cranes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serafin, J.A.

    1982-01-01

    Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of protein, metabolizable energy, and sulfur amino acid content of five diets upon growth and development of captive Florida Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis pratensis) and Greater Sandhill Crane (G. c. tabida) chicks raised under controlled conditions. A high protein (32%) diet resulted in faster growth than that obtained when a lower protein (24%) ration was supplied. Florida Sandhill Crane chicks fed a diet containing 2,160 kcal/kg grew significantly slower than chicks fed a ration containing 2,830 kcal/kg. Reducing the sulfur amino acid content of a ration containing 24% protein from 0.88% to 0.73% significantly slowed the growth of young cranes. A 17% incidence of leg disorders and a 25% incidence of wing abnormalities occurred between 7 and 28 days of age among Greater Sandhill Cranes fed a high protein diet. Florida Sandhill Cranes grew slower than Greater Sandhill Cranes irrespective of the type of ration they were provided and did not develop leg or wing abnormalities. Abnormalities invariably developed only in the most rapidly growing Greater Sandhill Cranes. Diets that promoted slower growth reduced the incidence of abnormalities. A ration formulated to contain a low (0.73%) sulfur amino acid level appeared to be the most suitable for slowing growth rates of captive-reared Sandhill Cranes and reducing the risk of abnormaiwing or leg development.

  13. Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermes, Niels; Lensink, Robert

    2000-01-01

    FDI may help to raise economic growth in recipient countries. Yet, the contribution FDI can make may strongly depend on the circumstances in the recipient countries. This paper argues that the development of the financial system of the recipient country is an important precondition for FDI to have a

  14. Foreign direct investment and economic growth in developing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    It has been widely claimed that foreign direct investment (FDI) stimulates economic growth. In this study, an attempt is made to verify this for ten selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using data spanning from 2008 to 2013 obtained from world development indicators. Preliminary analysis conducted indicates that ...

  15. Effect of nitrogen dressings on growth and development of sugar-beet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houba, V.J.G.

    1973-01-01

    The growth and development of sugar-beet with different nitrogen dressings was studied by measurement of leaf area and of dry weight and chemical composition (inorganic cations and anions) of several plant parts during the growth season.

    For a correct interpretation of the data, the losses in

  16. Development and validation of SUCROS-Cotton : A potential crop growth simulation model for cotton

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, L.; Werf, van der W.; Cao, W.; Li, B.; Pan, X.; Spiertz, J.H.J.

    2008-01-01

    A model for the development, growth and potential production of cotton (SUCROS-Cotton) was developed. Particular attention was given to the phenological development of the plant and the plasticity of fruit growth in response to temperature, radiation, daylength, variety traits, and management. The

  17. Growth and development of companies in the function mergers and acquisitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vidović Aleksandra B.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The author affirms the need: Acquisitions and mergers as an element of growth and development of companies. This paper provides a critical overview of contributions to the given topic. The main objective of the paper is to identify the importance of strategic aspects of mergers and acquisitions as a growth strategy and company development. These two strategies enable companies to adapt to business and achieve greater financial effects of the present conditions of business as globalization requires.

  18. Framework for Creating a Smart Growth Economic Development Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    This step-by-step guide can help small and mid-sized cities, particularly those that have limited population growth, areas of disinvestment, and/or a struggling economy, build a place-based economic development strategy.

  19. Nigerian population growth and its implications for economic development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okpala, A O

    1990-12-01

    The population of Nigeria is growing at a rate of 3.75%/year indicating a doubling of the population every 22 years. Demographers estimated the population to be 91,178,000 in 1985. Even though population density is high (288 people/square mile), it is not equally distributed. It is highest in the south and southwest urban areas such as Lagos (1045 people/square mile) and lowest in the northeast (75 people/square mile). Moreover rural-urban migration is growing. A major reason for rural-urban migration is the dual nature of the economy in Nigeria. In urban areas, economic development brings about higher standards of living, but, in rural areas, a subsistence economy predominates. This coupled with rapid population growth results in small or no growth in per capita income. Only if the government were to integrate redistribution policies into complete economic development plans should it consider redistributing the population. It should stress rural development (e.g., incentives for firms to set up in rural areas). Further it should move some government offices to rural areas. The government also needs to adopt population policies encouraging the lowering of fertility levels. If it were to provide education through the secondary and prevocational education level free of charge, educated women will lower their fertility. Sex education should be included in the curriculum. Further the government must play an active role in family planning programs, especially educating rural women about family planning. It should also use the mass media to promote small family size, but it should not dictate family size. It also needs to recognize that population growth puts much pressure on the environment. For example, population growth causes soil erosion, nutrient exhaustion, rapid deforestation, and other problems which render the land unusable for agriculture.

  20. Causality tests between stock market development and economic growth in West African Monetary Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maman Tachiwou ABOUDOU

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the causal relationship between stock market development and economic growth for the West African Monetary Union economy over the last decade or so. By applying the techniques of unit–root tests and the long–run Granger noncausality test proposed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995, the causal relationships between the real GDP growth rate and two stock market development proxies are tested. The results are in line with the supply leading hypothesis in the sense that there is strong causal flow from the stock market development to economic growth. A unidirectional causal relationship is also observed between real market capitalization ratio and economic growth.

  1. Causality Relationship Between Import, Export and Growth Rate in Developing Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serhat YUKSEL

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we tried to determine the relationship between imports, exports and growth rate in developing countries. Within this scope, 6 developing countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Mexico and Turkey were analyzed in this study. In order to achieve this purpose, annual data for the periods between 1961 and 2014 was tested by using Engle Granger co-integration analysis, Vector Error Correction Model and Toda Yamamoto causality analysis. According to the result of the analysis, it was determined that there is not any relationship among three variables in Brazil and Mexico. On the other hand, we defined that increase in export causes higher growth rate in Argentina. Moreover, it was concluded that there is a causal relationship from import to export in China and Turkey. Furthermore, it was determined that export causes higher import in Malaysia. Therefore, it can be concluded that the relationship between import, export and growth rate is not same for all developing countries..

  2. Congenital hypothyroidism: etiology and growth-development outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalili, Setila; Rezvani, Seyed Mahmood; Dalili, Hossein; Mohtasham Amiri, Zahra; Mohammadi, Hamid; Abrisham Kesh, Sahar; Novin, Mohammad Hassan; Medghalchi, Abdolreza; Gholamnezhad, Hajar

    2014-01-01

    One of the most preventable causes of mental and growth retardation is congenital hypothyroidism (CH). This study tries to investigate growth and mental outcome of patients with CH. Since November 2006 and November 2007 in Guilan province, north of Iran, all neonates who were diagnosed with CH, evaluated for etiology of CH by laboratory follow up, thyroid sonography or scan. Growth and development of patients with CH were compared with healthy children in same age, geographical area, social and economical classes in four years old. Demographic characteristics including height, weight, and head circumference at birth, follow up time (four years old) and IQ (Good enough test) were recorded in questionnaires. Among 28904 screened neonates, 37 patients with CH were diagnosed. Incidence of CH was 1:781 in live births, 20 (54%) in female neonates and 17 (46%) in male neonates. The incidences of permanent and transient hypothyroidism were 43.2% (16 cases) and 56. 8% (21 cases) respectively. The incidence of permanent and transient hypothyroidism were 16 (43.2%) and 21 (56, 8%), respectively. In permanent CH, 11 cases (%.68.2) had dyshormonogenesis and 5 cases (%.31.2) had thyroid dysgenesis. Significant statistical difference was only in family history of thyroid disease (34, 3% Positive family history in CH vs. 13.2% in control group, P-value 0.03). All other demographic characteristics and IQ had no statistical difference. Patients with CH diagnosed through neonatal screening and treated had normal growth as general population that indicates effective screening program and treatment in this area (3.2%).

  3. Developing a financial inclusion index and inclusive growth in India

    OpenAIRE

    Susanta Kumar SETHY

    2016-01-01

    Financial inclusion is one of the systems through which Inclusive Growth can be achieved in developing countries like India where large sections are unable or hopeless to contribute in the financial system. An inclusive financial system mobilizes more resources for productive purposes leading to higher economic growth, better opportunities and reduction of poverty. This study, proposed an Index of financial inclusion – a multidimensional measure. The Financial Inclusion Index c...

  4. BUILDING NEW BUSINESS MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

    OpenAIRE

    Taco C. R. van Someren; Shuhua van Someren-Wang

    2011-01-01

    Considered are issues of methodology and methods, as well as ideology of strategic innovation. Using the tools of this approach is offered as mechanisms to develop and build business models for sustainable socio-economic economic growth and development of different regions. The connection between key problems of sustainable development and management policy of different economic entities is studied. The consultancy company Ynnovate’s experience in addressing these issues in the EU and China i...

  5. Embodied carbon dioxide emission at supra-national scale: A coalition analysis for G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Z.M.; Chen, G.Q.

    2011-01-01

    Presented in this study is an empirical analysis of embodied carbon dioxide emissions induced by fossil fuel combustion for the world divided into three supra-national coalitions, i.e., G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world (ROW), via the application of a multi-region input-output modeling for 2004. Embodied emission intensities for the three coalitions are calculated and compared, with market exchange rate and purchase power parity separately used to investigate the difference between nominal and real production efficiencies. Emissions embodied in different economic activities such as production, consumption, import, and export are calculated and analyzed accordingly, and remarkable carbon trade imbalances associated with G7 (surplus of 1.53 billion tons, or 36% its traded emissions) and BRIC (deficit of 1.37 billion tons, or 51% its traded emissions) and approximate balance with ROW (deficit of 0.16 billion tons, or 3% its traded emissions) are concretely revealed. Carbon leakages associated with industry transfer and international trades are illustrated in terms of impacts on global climate policies. The last but not least, per capita consumption based emissions for G7, BRIC, and ROW are determined as 12.95, 1.53, and 2.22 tons, respectively, and flexible abatement policies as well as equity on per capita entitlement are discussed. - Research highlights: → We compare the embodied CO 2 emissions in 2004 for G7, BRIC, and ROW. → Emissions embodied in production, consumption, import, and export are investigated. → Considerable CO 2 trade surplus and deficit are obtained by G7 and BRIC, respectively. → Per head embodied emissions are 13, 1.5, and 2.2 tons for G7, BRIC, and ROW, respectively.

  6. Driving factors of urban land growth in Guangzhou and its implications for sustainable development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Xuezhu; Li, Shaoying; Wang, Xuetong; Xue, Xiaolong

    2018-04-01

    Since 2000, China's urban land has expanded at a dramatic speed because of the country's rapid urbanization. The country has been experiencing unbalanced development between rural and urban areas, causing serious challenges such as agricultural security and land resources waste. Effectively evaluating the driving factors of urban land growth is essential for improving efficient land use management and sustainable urban development. This study established a principal component regression model based on eight indicators to identify their influences on urban land growth in Guangzhou. The results provided a grouping analysis of the driving factors, and found that economic growth, urban population, and transportation development are the driving forces of urban land growth of Guangzhou, while the tertiary industry has an opposite effect. The findings led to further suggestions and recommendations for urban sustainable development. Hence, local governments should design relevant policies for achieving the rational development of urban land use and strategic planning on urban sustainable development.

  7. Capital Market Development: A Spur to Economic Growth in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ismail O. Fasanya

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between capital market development and Nigeria’s economic growth using data covering the range of 1981 to 2010 using a Johansen Cointegration technique to test for long run relationship among the variables under study. The empirical findings from the research work suggest that the capital market is an essential catalyst for economic growth and is on the average and beneficial to the economy. However, the high costs of raising capital and structural imbalances in the market as well as inconsistent government policies may distorts the speedy growth of the market and thus, limit its positive impact on the economy.

  8. FDI AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AS DETERMINANTS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR V4 COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anastasiya Gural

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is to analyze the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI and financial development (qualitative and quantitative changes in the financial system and its components on the dynamics of economic growth in V4 countries. In modern conditions, the financial system is a transfer mechanism of the business cycle and therefore affects the structure and dynamics of foreign direct investment, and especially the efficiency of their assimilation. The subject of the survey is the financial development and the FDI flows impact on economic growth. Methodology. The survey is based on the evaluation of the equation, which is the Barro regression specification. This model helps to find out the impact of the volume and depth of financial system on the dynamics of economic growth. GDP growth per capita is used as an indicator of economic growth. The paper proposes modeling results for the group countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovak and Czech Republic. Static data have been used for the period from 1992 to 2016. Results. FDI has an important role in reforming and developing the national economies of the countries in Visegrad Group. However, today, there is a problem with the stability of FDI inflows and with the efficiency of their development, which negatively affects the dynamics of economic growth. An important factor is the insufficient level of national financial system development of the Visegrad countries. All countries of the group have bank-oriented financial systems that are heavily dependent on foreign capital. At the same time, governments pay particular attention to the stability of banking sectors and set high standards for their sustainability. This holds back the financial development of the national economies of the Visegrad Group. At the same time, regression models for all countries confirm the importance of financial development in economic growth. The most important for V4 countries is to increase the size of the

  9. The Impact of Financial Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria: An ARDL Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugene Iheanacho

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This study empirically examines the relationship between financial intermediary development and economic growth in Nigeria over the period 1981–2011 using the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL approach to co-integration analysis. The results show that the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Nigeria is not significantly different from what has been observed generally in oil-dependent economies. The relationship between financial intermediary development and economic growth in Nigeria is found to be insignificantly negative in the long-run and significantly negative in the short-run. The results highlight the dominant role of the oil sector in economic activities in Nigeria.

  10. Bovine ovarian follicular growth and development correlate with lysophosphatidic acid expression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinderewicz, Emilia; Grycmacher, Katarzyna; Boruszewska, Dorota; Kowalczyk-Zięba, Ilona; Staszkiewicz, Joanna; Ślężak, Tomasz; Woclawek-Potocka, Izabela

    2018-01-15

    The basis of successful reproduction is proper ovarian follicular growth and development. In addition to prostaglandins and vascular endothelial growth factor, a number of novel factors are suggested as important regulators of follicular growth and development: PGES, TFG, CD36, RABGAP1, DBI and BTC. This study focuses on examining the expression of these factors in granulosa and thecal cells that originate from different ovarian follicle types and their link with the expression of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), known local regulator of reproductive functions in the cow. Ovarian follicles were divided into healthy, transitional, and atretic categories. The mRNA expression levels for PGES, TFG, CD36, RABGAP1, DBI and BTC in granulosa and thecal cells in different follicle types were measured by real-time PCR. The correlations among expression of enzymes synthesizing LPA (autotaxin, phospholipase A2), receptors for LPA and examined factors were measured. Immunolocalization of PGES, TFG, CD36, RABGAP1, DBI and BTC was examined by immunohistochemistry. We investigated follicle-type dependent mRNA expression of factors potentially involved in ovarian follicular growth and development, both in granulosa and thecal cells of bovine ovarian follicles. Strong correlations among receptors for LPA, enzymes synthesizing LPA, and the examined factors in healthy and transitional follicles were observed, with its strongest interconnection with TFG, DBI and RABGAP1 in granulosa cells, and TFG in thecal cells; whereas no correlations in atretic follicles were detected. A greater number of correlations were found in thecal cells than in granulosa cells as well as in healthy follicles than in transitional follicles. These data indicate the role of LPA in the growth, development and physiology of the bovine ovarian follicle. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. The neurite growth inhibitory effects of soluble TNFα on developing sympathetic neurons are dependent on developmental age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, Aoife M; Collins, Louise M; Wyatt, Sean L; Gutierrez, Humberto; O'Keeffe, Gerard W

    2014-01-01

    During development, the growth of neural processes is regulated by an array of cellular and molecular mechanisms which influence growth rate, direction and branching. Recently, many members of the TNF superfamily have been shown to be key regulators of neurite growth during development. The founder member of this family, TNFα can both promote and inhibit neurite growth depending on the cellular context. Specifically, transmembrane TNFα promotes neurite growth, while soluble TNFα inhibits it. While the growth promoting effects of TNFα are restricted to a defined developmental window of early postnatal development, whether the growth inhibitory effects of soluble TNFα occur throughout development is unknown. In this study we used the extensively studied, well characterised neurons of the superior cervical ganglion to show that the growth inhibitory effects of soluble TNFα are restricted to a specific period of late embryonic and early postnatal development. Furthermore, we show that this growth inhibitory effect of soluble TNFα requires NF-κB signalling at all developmental stages at which soluble TNFα inhibits neurite growth. These findings raise the possibility that increases in the amount of soluble TNFα in vivo, for example as a result of maternal inflammation, could negatively affect neurite growth in developing neurons at specific stages of development. Copyright © 2015 International Society of Differentiation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. West Europe Report

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    1986-01-01

    Partial Contents: Ambassador, Liberal Principles, Personal Views, Leaderships, Organizations,Parliamentary Party, Coalition Growing, Unemployment, Vocational Training, Economics, Prime Ministers, Consumption, Growth...

  13. Economic Growth and Development in the Undergraduate Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acemoglu, Daron

    2013-01-01

    A central theme of this article is that economics instructors should spend more time teaching about economic growth and development at the undergraduate level because the topic is of interest to students, is less abstract than other macroeconomic topics, and is the focus of exciting research in economics. Facts and data can be presented to…

  14. TRENDS REGARDING THE ROLE OF STATE ENTITIES IN SUPPORTING GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florin Bonciu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper focuses on the analysis of the consequences of several phenomena that have occurred in the past two decades in respect of the role played by state entities in supporting growth and economic development. Demographic and technical-scientific developments related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution were among the phenomena leading to an increasing trend in the role of state entities in supporting economic growth and development. In the meantime, other phenomena, including new technologies, economic integration and socio-cultural and historical processes, had a diminishing effect on the role played by state entities in supporting growth and economic development. By comparing the two categories of phenomena, the paper concludes that the phenomena supporting an increase in the role of state entities are more numerous and substantial, a fact that may assist decision-makers in developing appropriate approaches and strategies.

  15. A Proposed Engineering Process and Prototype Toolset for Developing C2-to-Simulation Interoperability Solutions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gautreau, B.; Khimeche, L.; Reus, N.M. de; Heffner, K.; Mevassvik, O.M.

    2014-01-01

    The Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) is an open standard being developed for the exchange of digitized military information among command and control (C2), simulation and autonomous systems by the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO). As the first phase of the C-BML

  16. Early growth and development impairments in patients with ganglioside GM3 synthase deficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, H; Wang, A; Wang, D; Bright, A; Sency, V; Zhou, A; Xin, B

    2016-05-01

    Ganglioside GM3 synthase is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of gangliosides. GM3 synthase deficiency (GSD) causes a complete absence of GM3 and all downstream biosynthetic derivatives. The individuals affected by this disorder manifest severe irritability, intractable seizures and profound intellectual disability. However, we have found that most newborns seem symptom-free for a period of time after birth. In order to further understand the onset of the disease, we investigated the early growth and development of patients with this condition through this study. We compared 37 affected individuals with their normal siblings and revealed that all children with GSD had relatively normal intrauterine growth and development, as their weight, length and head circumference were similar to their normal siblings at birth. However, the disease progresses quickly after birth and causes significant constitutional impairments of growth and development by 6 months of age. Neither breastfeeding nor gastrostomy tube placement made significant difference on growth and development as all groups of patients showed the similar pattern. We conclude that GSD causes significant postnatal growth and developmental impairments and the amount of gangliosides in breast milk and general nutritional intervention do not seem to alter these outcomes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Revisiting the role of financial development for energy-growth-trade nexus in BRICS economies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, Khalid

    2017-01-01

    The paper explores the energy-growth nexus by incorporating the key financial indicators in case of newly industrializing, BRICS countries. Considering the heterogeneity across the panel, the combined panel cointegration results confirm the long-run association between all the underlying variables. The overall findings suggest that despite sustainable development measures-financial indicators, economic growth and trade openness spur energy intensity in BRICS countries. The results also validate the Kuznets curve hypothesis between energy consumption and financial development and, energy consumption and trade openness. It implies that financial development and capital accumulation contribute to energy efficiency after the threshold income level. The causality analysis corroborate the regression results. In the end some policy recommendations are made. - Highlights: • Combine cointegration approach to explore the energy-growth-trade-finance nexus. • All variables found to have long-run association evident from cointegration test. • The results confirm the existence of EKC hypothesis. • BRICS′ economic growth spurs demand for energy. • Financial development and trade provides sustainable development path.

  18. Explaining development aid allocation by growth: A meta study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Doucouliagos, Hristos; Paldam, Martin

      an interesting factor for two reasons: (1) It is relatively easy to interpret the results, and (2) it  is an important piece in the picture which suggests aid ineffectiveness. The paper is a meta-analysis of the 211 growth-aid estimates found in the 30 empirical studies. Additionally, we present new evidence...... using a panel data for 147 countries for the period 1967-2004. The result from both the meta-analysis and the primary data analysis is that growth does generate aid, so the dominating sign is positive. This result is driven partly by the large development banks....

  19. The impact of globalization on the industrial growth of developing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper is an attempt to investigate the impact of globalization on the industrial growth of developing economies with special reference to Nigeria. Globalization has facilitated the increased flow of ideas; people, goods and services across national frontiers. Some developing countries as a result of globalization have ...

  20. [Records of growth and development data in the child health handbook].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abud, Simone Mourão; Gaíva, Maria Aparecida Munhoz

    2015-06-01

    The aim was to analyse the input of growth and development data in the Child Health Handbook. This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Cuiabá, Brazil, on August 13, 2011, with the application of a questionnaire and direct observation of 950 handbooks. We included children under one year of age who resided in Cuiabá, accompanied by their mothers or guardians who were in possession of the handbook. Data were analyzed by calculating the prevalence ratio (PR) and Chi-Square test, with a significance level set at 5%. The project was approved by the Ethics Committee under Opinion No. 882/2010. Of the analyzed handbooks, 95.4% of the development data and 79.6% of the data in the growth charts were incomplete or missing. The low rate of growth and development data input in the handbooks reveals the need to create awareness among the population, health care professionals and managers on the importance of handbooks, and the need to invest in training and the empowerment of professionals in relation to its proper use.

  1. Space, place and body: temporary coalitions, nodes in a network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerith Power

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The articles in this collection share a concern for place, space and bodies as frameworks for thinking about and conducting educational research. The authors range in experience from senior academics, independent educators, beginning and emerging new researchers spanning a range of educational sectors. The articles originate from connections forged within and between Australia and northern countries with visits back and forth between 2004 and 2010. Some of the writers have met each other in these travels and others have not. All have encountered and participated in some way in the work of the space place and body research group, which originated in 2007 as a named research ‘node’ at Monash University.   The space place and body group formed as a result of a process designed to re-imagine research in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in order to address ‘the big questions of our time’. As a leading global university with campuses in Asia and Europe as well as several in Australia, the Dean of the Faculty cited recent evidence that the field of educational research had become too narrowly focused and that new approaches were needed to enliven the field and move it forward. Individualistic research was no longer supported and groups were formed organically around coalitions of interest. The purpose of the space place and body group was to come together to generate new conceptual, theoretical and methodological resources within the core concepts of space, place and body by collaborating across our differences. In the early phase of our development we focused on linked identity (ontological and knowledge (epistemological work, at the intersection of postcolonial and poststructural approaches to place in educational research. A specific interest in alternative and creative methodologies emerged from these onto-epistemological activities.   As part of our process we initiated temporary definitions of space, place and body, to

  2. Gender Inequality in Education: Impact on Income, Growth and Development

    OpenAIRE

    Moheyuddin, Ghulam

    2005-01-01

    This Paper explains the causes of the Gender Inequality of education and analyze how the gender inequality in education impacts the economic growth & development, investment and population growth etc. The paper finds that the gender inequality in education is as an endogenous variable and show that it can be explained to a considerable extent by religious preference, regional factors, and civil freedom. For some of these variables, the direction of the effect depends on the particular measure...

  3. The Role of Innovation in Fostering Competitiveness and Economic Growth: Evidence from Developing Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Terzić Lejla

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the essential features determining the role of innovation in developing economies by examining the structure of innovation measures. The economic growth and competitiveness of developing economies are powerfully connected to its innovation status. The purpose of this paper is to examine the significance of innovation in driving economic growth per capita and competitiveness in selected developing economies. In order to determine the interconnection among the variables of innovation, competitiveness, and growth, assorted methodological measurement instruments have been applied. The data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The results suggest the importance of specific innovation dimensions for prospective economic growth in developing economies. The identical measures responsible for fragile innovation are associated to the low composite measures of innovation accomplishment. This demonstrates the enormous disparity concentrated in every innovation aspect over time, specifically in innovation output and enterprise performances between the developing economies and the EU-28 average measures. The research results indicate the usage of appropriate economic instruments in diminishing the problems that developing economies are currently dealing with.

  4. Impact of accelerated plant growth on seed variety development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christophersen, Eric

    1998-01-01

    The commercial lives of agricultural seed products have steadily declined in recent years. The introduction of genetically engineered crop seeds in 1966 has accentuated that trend. Widespread grower demand for genetically engineered seed requires competitive response by industry followers in order to avert market share losses to the industry leaders. Limitations on plant transformation technology, regulatory requirements and patent impediments require companies to rapidly convert transformed lines into elite commercial products. Massive multigenerational backcrossing efforts are required to distribute genetically engineered traits into a broad product mix. Significant incidents of expression failures, or ``gene silencing,'' have occurred unexpectedly, requiring product substitution strategies. First-to-market strategies, competitive response, broad germplasm conversion and rescue of product failures all share the element of urgency. Technologies which reliably accelerate product development rates can expect favorable reception by commercial seed developers. A growth chamber which dramatically accelerates the rate of plant growth is described.

  5. The effect of institutional development on the growth of Brazilian firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Gledson de Carvalho

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on the determinants of firm's growth in Brazil. In particular it investigates the individual characteristics of firm that determine its growth; how institutional development affects firm's performance, and how institutional development differently affects small and large firms. We find that, consistently with the learning models, growth is decreasing on age and negatively correlated to size. As expected, firms that belong to an economic group, export and maintain operations abroad grow faster. Growth is negatively correlated to profitability. Furthermore, we observe that shortcomings in institutional development, when measured in terms of corruption, inefficiency of the judicial system and lack of financial development, have a negative impact on firms' growth. This negative impact of corruption and inefficiency of the judicial system is stronger for smaller firms. Large firms benefit the most with financial development. Overall our results indicate that improvement in institutions can be an important mechanism to promote growth. Furthermore, institutional underdevelopment has the perverse effect of promoting concentration.Este artigo foca nos determinantes da taxa de crescimento das firmas no Brasil. Em particular, investigamos as características individuais das empresas que determinam o seu crescimento, como o desenvolvimento institucional afeta a performance da firma e como o desenvolvimento institucional afeta de maneira diversa pequenas e grandes empresas. Nossos resultados, consistentemente com os modelos de crescimento, indicam que taxas de crescimento decrescem com a idade e tamanho da empresa. Conforme o esperado, empresas que pertencem a um grupo econômico, exportam ou mantêm operações no exterior crescem mais rapidamente. Crescimento é negativamente correlacionado com lucratividade. Observamos também que fraco desenvolvimento institucional, mensurado em termos de corrupção e ineficiência do sistema judici

  6. Microstructure development in Kolmogorov, Johnson-Mehl, and Avrami nucleation and growth kinetics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pineda, Eloi; Crespo, Daniel

    1999-08-01

    A statistical model with the ability to evaluate the microstructure developed in nucleation and growth kinetics is built in the framework of the Kolmogorov, Johnson-Mehl, and Avrami theory. A populational approach is used to compute the observed grain-size distribution. The impingement process which delays grain growth is analyzed, and the effective growth rate of each population is estimated considering the previous grain history. The proposed model is integrated for a wide range of nucleation and growth protocols, including constant nucleation, pre-existing nuclei, and intermittent nucleation with interface or diffusion-controlled grain growth. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations, giving quantitative agreement even in cases where previous models fail.

  7. North Carolina's direct care workforce development journey: the case of the North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award Partner Team.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brannon, S Diane; Kemper, Peter; Barry, Theresa

    2009-01-01

    Better Jobs Better Care was a five-state direct care workforce demonstration designed to change policy and management practices that influence recruitment and retention of direct care workers, problems that continue to challenge providers. One of the projects, the North Carolina Partner Team, developed a unified approach in which skilled nursing, home care, and assisted living providers could be rewarded for meeting standards of workplace excellence. This case study documents the complex adaptive system agents and processes that coalesced to result in legislation recognizing the North Carolina New Organizational Vision Award. We used a holistic, single-case study design. Qualitative data from project work plans and progress reports as well as notes from interviews with key stakeholders and observation of meetings were coded into a simple rubric consisting of characteristics of complex adaptive systems. Key system agents in the state set the stage for the successful multistakeholder coalition. These included leadership by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and a several year effort to develop a unifying vision for workforce development. Grant resources were used to facilitate both content and process work. Structure was allowed to emerge as needed. The coalition's own development is shown to have changed the context from which it was derived. An inclusive and iterative process produced detailed standards and measures for the voluntary recognition process. With effective facilitation, the interests of the multiple stakeholders coalesced into a policy response that encourages practice changes. Implications for managing change-oriented coalitions are discussed.

  8. TERRITORIAL COHESION AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT USING EUROPEAN STRUCTURAL AND COHESION FUNDS AT THE LEVEL OF GROWTH POLES – CASE STUDY GROWTH POLE BRASOV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida Petronela CATANA

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The growth poles were established in Romania in 2008 as centers for urban development in compliance with European and national policies and they include an urban nucleus and its rural surroundings.  According to the legal framework, for each of the growth poles an Integrated Development Plan should be adopted as basis for European Structural and Cohesion Funds investments. This is a new document in addition to local development plans/strategies of the local communities or counties and regional development plans. From another point of view, the growth poles are representing teritorial units which have to assure territorial cohesion for its urban and rural administrative units. Into this respect, there are different spatial planning documents which have to be followed by the territorial and administrative units, according to the Romanian legislation. Beyond these, there are rules and compulsory criterias for accessing European Structural and Cohesion funds the problems being faced by the associations established by local communities in order to manage the growth poles’s areas. Taking into account all these, we may say that growth poles are the crossing points for different policies translated into plans and operational programmes’s criterias for getting ESC Funds.

  9. The Use of Biofuel for Sustainable Growth in Developing Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsang, J.

    2014-12-01

    The biofuel industry is divided into four categories comprising of feedstocks used in 1st and 2nd generation bioethanol and biodiesel. In order to identify and quantify each biofuel feedstock's potential for sustainable growth, each were evaluated according to self-developed social, financial, and environmental criteria. From the investigation and analysis carried out, 1st generation biodiesel and bioethanol were determined to be feedstocks not capable of facilitating sustainable growth. Results showed low earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of -0.5 to 1 USD per gallon for biodiesel and 0.25 to 0.5 USD per gallon for bioethanol. Results also showed a poor return on asset (ROA). The energy required to produce one MJ of 1st generation biofuel fuel was at least 0.4 MJ, showing poor energy balance. Furthermore, high land, water, pesticide, and fertilizer requirements strained surrounding ecosystems by affecting the food web, thus reducing biodiversity. Over 55% of land used by the biodiesel industry in Indonesia and Malaysia involved the deforestation of local rainforests. This not only displaced indigenous organisms from their habitat and decreased their scope of nutrition, but also contributed to soil erosion and increased the probability of flooding. If left unregulated, imbalances in the ecosystem due to unsustainable growth will result in a permanent reshaping of tropical rainforest ecosystems in Southeast Asia. Algae, an example of 2nd generation biodiesel feedstock, was concluded to be the biofuel feedstock most capable of supporting sustainable growth. This is due to its low production costs of $1-1.5/gal, high biological productivity of 5000 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year, and high ROA of 25-35%. Additionally, algae's adaptability to varying environmental conditions also makes it an appealing candidate for businesses in developing countries, where access to resource supplies is unstable. Additionally, its reduced net

  10. Role of micronutrients for physical growth and mental development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Meharban

    2004-01-01

    Due to control of florid and severe cases of protein-energy malnutrition, deficiencies of micronutrients in children have assumed public health importance. According to National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau of India, over 50% of apparently healthy looking children have subclinical or biochemical deficiencies of vitamin A, vitamins B2, B6, folate and vitamin C. Over two-third of children have clinical evidences of iron deficiency while deficiency of trace minerals like iodine and zinc is quite common in certain populations. Children have food preferences and they are quite fussy to take green leafy vegetables and fruits thus compromising their intake of micronutrients from dietary sources. The full genetic potential of the child for physical growth and mental development may be compromised due to subclinical deficiencies of micronutrients which are commonly referred to as "hidden hunger". Micronutrients are required for the integrity and optimal functioning of immune system. Children with subclinical deficiency of micronutrients are more vulnerable to develop frequent and more severe common day-to-day infections thus triggering a vicious cycle of undernutrition and recurrent infections. A number of micronutrients are required for optimal physical growth and neuromotor development. Isolated deficiencies of micronutrients are rare in clinical practice and usually deficiencies of multiple micronutrients co-exist. The first 3 years of life are most crucial and vulnerable to the hazards of undernutrition. All efforts should be made so that preschool children are given a balanced and nutritious home-based diet. However, it has been shown that it is not possible to meet 100% requirements of recommended dietary allowances (RDA's) of micronutrients from dietary sources alone and most preschool children need administration of nutritional supplements to optimize their genetic potential for physical growth and mental development.

  11. Development of a minimal growth medium for Lactobacillus plantarum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegkamp, H.B.A.; Teusink, B.; Vos, de W.M.; Smid, E.J.

    2010-01-01

    Aim: A medium with minimal requirements for the growth of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS was developed. The composition of the minimal medium was compared to a genome-scale metabolic model of L. plantarum. Methods and Results: By repetitive single omission experiments, two minimal media were

  12. [Correlation of dental age and anthropometric parametres of the overall growth and development in children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triković-Janjić, Olivera; Apostolović, Mirjana; Janosević, Mirjana; Filipović, Gordana

    2008-02-01

    Anthropometric methods of measuring the whole body and body parts are the most commonly applied methods of analysing the growth and development of children. Anthropometric measures are interconnected, so that with growth and development the change of one of the parameters causes the change of the other. The aim of the paper was to analyse whether dental development follows the overall growth and development and what the ratio of this interdependence is. The research involved a sample of 134 participants, aged between 6 and 8 years. Dental age was determined as the average of the sum of existing permanent teeth from the participants aged 6, 7 and 8. With the aim of analysing physical growth and development, commonly accepted anthropometric indexes were applied: height, weight, circumference of the head, the chest cavity at its widest point, the upper arm, the abdomen, the thigh and thickness of the epidermis. The dimensions were measured according to the methodology of the International Biological Programme. The influence of the pertinent variables' related size on the analysed variable was deter mined by the statistical method of multivariable regression. The middle values of all the anthropometric parametres, except for the thickness of the epidermis, were slightly bigger with male participants, and the circumference of the chest cavity was statistically considerably bigger (p development. There is a considerable positive correlation (R = 0.59) between dental age and anthropometric parameters of general growth and development, which confirms that dental development follows the overall growth and development of children, aged between 6 and 8 years.

  13. Monitoring human growth and development: a continuum from the womb to the classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villar, José; Papageorghiou, Aris T; Pang, Ruyan; Salomon, Laurent J; Langer, Ana; Victora, Cesar; Purwar, Manorama; Chumlea, Cameron; Qingqing, Wu; Scherjon, Sicco A; Barros, Fernando C; Carvalho, Maria; Altman, Douglas G; Giuliani, Francesca; Bertino, Enrico; Jaffer, Yasmin A; Cheikh Ismail, Leila; Ohuma, Eric O; Lambert, Ann; Noble, J Alison; Gravett, Michael G; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Kennedy, Stephen H

    2015-10-01

    A comprehensive set of fully integrated anthropometric measures is needed to evaluate human growth from conception to infancy so that consistent judgments can be made about the appropriateness of fetal and infant growth. At present, there are 2 barriers to this strategy. First, descriptive reference charts, which are derived from local, unselected samples with inadequate methods and poor characterization of their putatively healthy populations, commonly are used rather than prescriptive standards. The use of prescriptive standards is justified by the extensive biologic, genetic, and epidemiologic evidence that skeletal growth is similar from conception to childhood across geographic populations, when health, nutrition, environmental, and health care needs are met. Second, clinicians currently screen fetuses, newborn infants, and infants at all levels of care with a wide range of charts and cutoff points, often with limited appreciation of the underlying population or quality of the study that generated the charts. Adding to the confusion, infants are evaluated after birth with a single prescriptive tool: the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards, which were derived from healthy, breastfed newborn infants, infants, and young children from populations that have been exposed to few growth-restricting factors. The International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project addressed these issues by providing international standards for gestational age estimation, first-trimester fetal size, fetal growth, newborn size for gestational age, and postnatal growth of preterm infants, all of which complement the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards conceptually, methodologically, and analytically. Hence, growth and development can now, for the first time, be monitored globally across the vital first 1000 days and all the way to 5 years of age. It is clear that an integrative approach to monitoring growth and development from pregnancy

  14. Renewing and Developing the Partnership: Federal/State/Campus Cooperation in Student Financial Aid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenske, Robert H., Ed.; Clark, Patricia L., Ed.

    The proceedings of the conference are summarized, including a symposium discussion following the formal conference. Contents include: two views of the present advisory structure for student aid (The Case for Maintaining and Expanding the Coalition for the Coordination of Student Financial Aid, by Robert H. Atwell, and The Need for Developing a…

  15. Assessing Foreign Aid’s Long Run Contribution to Growth and Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arndt, Thomas Channing; Jones, Edward Samuel; Tarp, Finn

    2015-01-01

    transformation (e.g., share of agriculture and industry in value added). Focusing on long-run cumulative effects of aid in developing countries, and taking due account of potential endogeneity, a coherent and favorable pattern of results emerges. Aid has over the past 40 years stimulated growth, promoted......This paper confirms recent evidence of a positive impact of aid on growth and widens the scope of evaluation to a range of outcomes including proximate sources of growth (e.g., physical and human capital), indicators of social welfare (e.g., poverty and infant mortality), and measures of economic...

  16. Entrepreneurial Growth Aspirations and Familiarity with Economic Development Organizations: Evidence from Canadian Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelo Dossou-Yovo

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the entrepreneur’s willingness to grow. This study is particularly interested in exploring the relationship between entrepreneur’s familiarity with the key economic development organizations in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the willingness to grow. Several studies have investigated the growth process in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs since the case has been made that high growth SMEs contribute to economic growth through job creation. To date, these studies have identified multiple internal and external determinants including their effects on small business growth. There is evidence in the literature that characteristics of the entrepreneurs such as the willingness to grow and the entrepreneur’s network are important factors in growth process. However, the relationship between growth process and the entrepreneur’s networking behavior is yet to be fully understood. Drawing from the entrepreneurship ecosystem literature, the growth process literature and the resource dependence theory, this study uses the business confidence survey from 2011 to 2013, which targeted all businesses across all of Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM in Nova Scotia, Canada, to explore the relationship between the entrepreneur willingness to grow and the propensity to network with key economic development organizations of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The findings support the assumption that the proportion of businesses that are willing to grow (i.e. hire additional staff and enter new markets within the next twelve months is higher for the group of businesses that are familiar with the key economic development organizations than for the group of businesses that are not familiar with them. However, the results are not homogeneous across all populations. Our findings also indicate that the higher the expectation to enter new markets over the next

  17. Strange bedfellows: the Bundestag’s free vote on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD reveals how Germany’s restrictive bioethics legislation is shaped by a Christian Democratic/New Left issue-coalition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Arzheimer

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Germany’s bioethical legislation presents a puzzle: given structural factors, the country should be at the forefront of reproductive medicine, but its embryology regime remains one of the strictest in Western Europe. Past research has linked this fact to an unusual coalition of Christian and New Left groups, which both draw a connection from modern embryology to eugenics under the Nazis. In this article, the workings of this alleged alliance are demonstrated at the micro-level for the first time. The behaviour of individual MPs in a crucial free vote on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD is modelled using data on their political, sectoral and religious affiliations. Identifying as a Catholic and membership in Christian organisations are strong predictors of resistance to PGD. Even more importantly, net of religious and professional ties, affiliation with either the Christian Democrats or the left-libertarian Green party is closely linked to restrictive bioethical preferences. The modest liberalisation in 2011 was contingent on external factors and the overwhelming support of the historically unusually large FDP delegation. With the FDP no longer represented in parliament and the Christian Democratic/New Left issue coalition even stronger than before, further liberalisation is unlikely.

  18. Zirconia thin films from aqueous precursors: Processing, microstructural development, and epitaxial growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, K.T.

    1991-01-01

    Thin films of ZrO 2 (Y 2 O 3 ) were prepared from aqueous salt precursors by spin coating. Films were pyrolyzed to produce porous polycrystalline thin films of 5-10 nm grain size. Subsequent microstructural development depends greatly upon the nature of the substrate. Upon randomly oriented sapphire, the films initially sintered to full density; further heat treatment and grain growth causes these films to break into interconnected islands and finally isolated particles. Thermodynamic calculations predict that breakup is energetically favorable when the grain-size film-thickness ratio exceeds a critical value. Upon basal-plane-oriented sapphire, grain growth and breakup prefer the (100) oriented grains, presumably because this orientation is a special interface of low energy. The isolated, oriented grains produced by film breakup act as seeds for the growth of newly deposited material. Upon (100) cubic zirconia, true epitaxial films develop. Epitaxial growth was observed for lattice mismatches up to 1.59%. Growth proceeds from a fine epitaxial layer which is produced during the initial stages of heat treatment, consuming the porous polycrystalline material and producing a dense epitaxial thin film whose misfit is accommodated by a combination of film strain and misfit dislocations

  19. High power blue LED development using different growth modes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Dong S.; Florescu, Doru I.; Ramer, Jeff C.; Merai, Vinod; Parekh, Aniruddh; Begarney, Michael J.; Armour, Eric A. [Veeco TurboDisc Operations, 394 Elizabeth Avenue, Somerset, NJ 08873 (United States); Lu Dong [Veeco TurboDisc Operations, 394 Elizabeth Avenue, Somerset, NJ 08873 (United States); School of Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)

    2004-09-01

    Blue high brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs) have been developed using different growth modes in the active layers. Piezoelectric field engineering improves the optical output power in multiple quantum well (MQW) LEDs by inserting an optimized transitional superlattice (TSL) before the active MQW layers. Within single quantum well (SQW) LEDs, quasi-Quantum Dot (QD) growth for Indium localization has been realized. The SQW LED output power exceeds the strain engineered MQW LEDs. The experimental data indicates that Indium localization enhances overall quantum efficiency and results in increased output power for HB-LEDs. (copyright 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  20. Posterior cranial base natural growth and development: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Currie, Kris; Sawchuk, Dena; Saltaji, Humam; Oh, Heesoo; Flores-Mir, Carlos; Lagravere, Manuel

    2017-11-01

    To provide a synthesis of the published studies evaluating the natural growth and development of the human posterior cranial base (S-Ba). The search was performed on MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and all EBM Reviews electronic databases. In addition, reference lists of the included studies were hand-searched. Articles were included if they analyzed posterior cranial-base growth in humans specifically. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were completed in duplicate. A meta-analysis was not justified. Finally, 23 published studies were selected: 5 cross-sectional and 18 cohort studies. Articles were published between 1955 and 2015, and all were published in English. The sample sizes varied between 20 and 397 individuals and consisted of craniofacial measurements from either living or deceased human skulls. Validity of the measurements was not determined in any of the studies, while six papers reported some form of reliability assessment. All the articles included multiple time points within the same population or data from multiple age groups. Growth of S-Ba was generally agreed to be from spheno-occipital synchondrosis growth. Basion displaced downward and backward and sella turcica moved downward and backward during craniofacial growth. Timing of cessation of S-Ba growth was not conclusive due to limited identified evidence. Current evidence suggests that S-Ba is not totally stable, as its dimensions change throughout craniofacial growth and a minor dimensional change is observed even in late adulthood.