Water quality and aquatic communities of upland wetlands, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, April 1999 to July 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Frick, Elizabeth A.; Gregory, M. Brian; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Hopkins, Evelyn H.

2002-01-01

Cumberland Island is the southernmost and largest barrier island along the coast of Georgia. The island contains about 2,500 acres of freshwater wetlands that are located in a variety of physical settings, have a wide range of hydroperiods, and are influenced to varying degrees by surface and ground water, rainwater, and seawater. In 1999-2000, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, conducted a water-quality study of Cumberland Island National Seashore to document and interpret the quality of a representative subset of surface- and ground-water resources for management of the seashore's natural resources. As part of this study, historical ground-water, surface-water, and ecological studies conducted on Cumberland Island also were summarized. Surface-water samples from six wetland areas located in the upland area of Cumberland Island were collected quarterly from April 1999 to March 2000 and analyzed for major ions, nutrients, trace elements, and field water-quality constituents including specific conductance, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, tannin and lignin, and turbidity. In addition, water temperature and specific conductance were recorded continuously from two wetland areas located near the mean high-tide mark on the Atlantic Ocean beaches from April 1999 to July 2000. Fish and invertebrate communities from six wetlands were sampled during April and December 1999. The microbial quality of the near-shore Atlantic Ocean was assessed in seawater samples collected for 5 consecutive days in April 1999 at five beaches near campgrounds where most recreational water contact occurs. Ground-water samples were collected from the Upper Floridan aquifer in April 1999 and from the surficial aquifer in April 2000 at 11 permanent wells and 4 temporary wells (drive points), and were analyzed for major ions, nutrients, trace elements, and field water-quality constituents (conductivity, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and

Forecasting Forest Type and Age Classes in the Appalachian-Cumberland Subregion of the Central Hardwood Region

Science.gov (United States)

David N. Wear; Robert Huggett

2011-01-01

This chapter describes how forest type and age distributions might be expected to change in the Appalachian-Cumberland portions of the Central Hardwood Region over the next 50 years. Forecasting forest conditions requires accounting for a number of biophysical and socioeconomic dynamics within an internally consistent modeling framework. We used the US Forest...

An examination of the factors governing the development of karst topography in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ackerman, R.V.

1993-01-01

The landscape of the Cumberland Valley of South Central Pennsylvania is dominated by karst topography. A study was initiated to determine if the development of karst was controlled primarily by geologic structure or by lithologic differences. Existing data concerning the geographic locations of karst features, the hydrogeologic characteristics of the Cumberland Valley, and the chemistry of the eleven carbonate formations within the 518 km 2 study area were compiled. Data concerning 366 mapped sinkholes and over 9,000 additional karst features and their relations to the structural, lithological and spatial characteristics of the study area were collected and compiled into the database. Other factors contributing to karst development such as groundwater flow, soil and colluvium characteristics, and geographic distribution were considered. The data suggest that structure dominates lithology in the development of karst features within the study area. Structural features such as fractures, joints and folds, which create secondary porosity, are prerequisite for solution of the carbonate bedrock. Joint systems, fold axes, igneous intrusions, caves, springs and groundwater flow have a significant impact on the development of karst features. The presence of faults proved inconclusive. There are a greater number of karst features per unit area in areas of purer limestones (units with a lower percentage of acid insoluble residue). Lithological variations impact karst development only when structural features are present to provide secondary porosity that enhances chemical weathering. The distribution of karst features and the geologic factors governing their development and distribution should be taken into account when land-use decisions in karst terrains are made

Effects of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on the ecology of the Cumberland forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dale, V.H.; Fogel, J.

2009-01-01

The mixed mesophytic forests of the Cumberland Plateau and Mountains in Tennessee and Kentucky are among the most diverse forests in North America. However, land use changes and climatic warming will have a significant impact on the forest biomass and composition in the region, which currently experiences mild winters and hot, humid summers. In this study, 3 general circulation models projected climatic warming throughout 2030 to 2080 as well as changes in precipitation patterns. Predicted changes from 1980 to 2100 were used in a forest ecosystem model to estimate transient changes in forest biomass and species composition over time. Results of the study demonstrated that climatic warning will cause an initial decline in forest stand biomass before a recovery period caused by forest species composition shifts. A landscape model showed that forest composition will change as a result of the spread of hemlock adelgid. Loss of the hemlocks will cause changes in soil nutrients and moisture conditions in mesic forests of the region. Land cover changes will be large and cause declines in forested lands as well as in a number of large, contiguous forest patches that provide a necessary habitat for species particular to the Cumberland area. 53 refs., 2 tabs., 8 figs

Effects of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on the ecology of the Cumberland forests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dale, V.H. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.; Lannom, K.O.; Hodges, D.G. [Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States). Natural Resource Policy Center; Tharp, M.L. [CompSci Consulting LLC, McRae, GA (United States); Fogel, J. [Virginia Tech Univ., Richmond, VA (United States). Virginia Cooperative Extension, Northeast District Office

2009-02-15

The mixed mesophytic forests of the Cumberland Plateau and Mountains in Tennessee and Kentucky are among the most diverse forests in North America. However, land use changes and climatic warming will have a significant impact on the forest biomass and composition in the region, which currently experiences mild winters and hot, humid summers. In this study, 3 general circulation models projected climatic warming throughout 2030 to 2080 as well as changes in precipitation patterns. Predicted changes from 1980 to 2100 were used in a forest ecosystem model to estimate transient changes in forest biomass and species composition over time. Results of the study demonstrated that climatic warning will cause an initial decline in forest stand biomass before a recovery period caused by forest species composition shifts. A landscape model showed that forest composition will change as a result of the spread of hemlock adelgid. Loss of the hemlocks will cause changes in soil nutrients and moisture conditions in mesic forests of the region. Land cover changes will be large and cause declines in forested lands as well as in a number of large, contiguous forest patches that provide a necessary habitat for species particular to the Cumberland area. 53 refs., 2 tabs., 8 figs.

Long and short term changes in the forests of the Cumberland Plateau and Mountains using large scale forest inventory data

Science.gov (United States)

Christopher M. Oswalt; Andrew J. Hartsell

2012-01-01

The Cumberland Plateau and Mountains (CPM) are a significant component of the eastern deciduous forest with biological and cultural resources strongly connected to and dependent upon the forest resources of the region. As a result, continuous inventory and monitoring is critical. The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has been collecting...

Pavement Subsidence in the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, USA: A Story of Groundwater Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, J.; Currens, J. C.; Webb, S. E.; Rister, B. W.

2014-12-01

Cumberland Gap Tunnel was constructed in 1996 to improve highway travel between southeastern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee and to restore Cumberland Gap to its historical appearance. About five years after construction, the concrete pavement in the tunnel began to exhibit noticeable signs of subsidence. Ground penetrating radar surveys detected voids in many areas of the limestone roadbed aggregate beneath the pavement. Field investigations conducted by the Kentucky Geological Survey and Kentucky Transportation Center from 2006 to 2008 discovered that groundwater was flowing from the bedrock invert into the aggregate along many parts of the tunnel. Average groundwater discharge from the tunnel was measured at approximately 1700 m3/d. We analyzed 265 groundwater samples collected from aggregate in different parts of the tunnel roadbed during low and high flow conditions. Calculated calcite saturation indices indicated that the groundwater was geochemically aggressive and capable of continuously dissolving calcite in the limestone aggregate although pH values of these water samples were near neutral. We also conducted an in-situ dissolution experiment by placing eight baskets filled with limestone aggregate beneath the roadbed in different locations in the tunnel for 178 days. At the end of the experiment, the limestone aggregate in contact with groundwater exhibited visual signs of dissolution and lost mass, and the highest mass loss recorded was 3.4 percent. Mass loss calculations based on kinetic models of calcite mineral and water samples taken near the baskets matched well with the actual measured mass losses, confirming that dissolution of calcite by the groundwater was the primary cause of the roadbed subsidence problem. Based on these findings, we suggested the limestone aggregate be replaced with noncarbonate (granite) aggregate to mitigate future road subsidence. The suggestion was adopted, and the repair was completed in early 2014.

Spatial and temporal assessment of back-barrier erosion on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, 2011–2013

Science.gov (United States)

Calhoun, Daniel L.; Riley, Jeffrey W.

2016-07-15

Much research has been conducted to better understand erosion and accretion processes for the seaward zones of coastal barrier islands; however, at Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, the greater management concern is the effect that erosion is having on the resources of the island’s western shoreline, or the back barrier. Catastrophic slumping and regular rates of erosion greater than 1 meter per year threaten important habitat, historical and pre-historical resources, and modern infrastructure on the island. Prior research has helped National Park Service (NPS) staff identify the most severe and vulnerable areas, but in order to develop effective management actions, information is needed on what forces and conditions cause erosion. To this end, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the NPS, conducted two longitudinal surveys, one each at the beginning and end of the approximately year-long monitoring period from late 2011 to early 2013, along five selected segments of the back barrier of the Cumberland Island National Seashore. Monitoring stations were constructed at four of these locations that had previously been identified as erosional hotspots. The magnitude of erosion at each location was quantified to determine the relative influence of causative agents. Results indicate that erosion is, in general, highly variable within and among these segments of the Cumberland Island National Seashore’s back barrier. Observed erosion ranged from a maximum of 2.5 meters of bluff-line retreat to some areas that exhibited no net erosion over the 1-year study period. In terms of timing of erosion, three of the four sites were primarily affected by punctuated erosional events that were coincident with above-average high tides and elevated wind speeds. The fourth site exhibited steady, low-magnitude retreat throughout the study period. While it is difficult to precisely subscribe certain amounts of erosion to specific agents, this study provides

PolicyNet Publication System

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — The PolicyNet Publication System project will merge the Oracle-based Policy Repository (POMS) and the SQL-Server CAMP system (MSOM) into a new system with an Oracle...

The application of single-tree selection compared to diameter-limit cutting in an upland oak-hickory forest on the Cumberland Plateau in Jackson County, Alabama

Science.gov (United States)

Callie Jo Schweitzer; Greg Janzen

2012-01-01

Cumberland Plateau region upland oak forests have undergone a myriad of disturbances (including periods of few and minor disturbances). Traditional timber harvesting practices such as diameter-limit cutting have negatively altered species composition and skewed stand structure, especially on medium-quality sites. We assessed the ability of single-tree selection to...

Policy Feedback System (PFS)

Data.gov (United States)

Social Security Administration — The Policy Feedback System (PFS) is a web application developed by the Office of Disability Policy Management Information (ODPMI) team that gathers empirical data...

Dynamic Systems Modeling in Educational System Design & Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Groff, Jennifer Sterling

2013-01-01

Over the last several hundred years, local and national educational systems have evolved from relatively simple systems to incredibly complex, interdependent, policy-laden structures, to which many question their value, effectiveness, and direction they are headed. System Dynamics is a field of analysis used to guide policy and system design in…

Policy Driven Development: Flexible Policy Insertion for Large Scale Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Demchak, Barry; Krüger, Ingolf

2012-07-01

The success of a software system depends critically on how well it reflects and adapts to stakeholder requirements. Traditional development methods often frustrate stakeholders by creating long latencies between requirement articulation and system deployment, especially in large scale systems. One source of latency is the maintenance of policy decisions encoded directly into system workflows at development time, including those involving access control and feature set selection. We created the Policy Driven Development (PDD) methodology to address these development latencies by enabling the flexible injection of decision points into existing workflows at runtime , thus enabling policy composition that integrates requirements furnished by multiple, oblivious stakeholder groups. Using PDD, we designed and implemented a production cyberinfrastructure that demonstrates policy and workflow injection that quickly implements stakeholder requirements, including features not contemplated in the original system design. PDD provides a path to quickly and cost effectively evolve such applications over a long lifetime.

A Voyage to Terra Australis : undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner; with an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island / by Matthew Flinders

Trove (Australia)

Flinders, Matthew, 1774-1814

2014-01-01

... and papers on shore the Cumberland to be seized and himself and the master of the schooner to be conducted to a lodging in the town before the door of which a sentinel was immediately placed Ascending a dirty ...

System characteristics of tourism policy

OpenAIRE

Marin Neshkov

2012-01-01

In the article there is made a systemic characterization and is clarified the nature of tourism policy. A more specific object of attention are some issues connected with the following: the interpretation of the interrelation „policy - tourism”; the clarific ation of the notion of „policy” in the context of tourism; theoretical overview and analysis of specialized literature; systemic characterization of policy in tourism and definition of the notion of „tourism policy”. There are defined and...

CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE KOREAN VERSION OF THE CUMBERLAND ANKLE INSTABILITY TOOL.

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Jupil; Rosen, Adam B; Brown, Cathleen N

2015-12-01

The Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) is a valid and reliable patient reported outcome used to assess the presence and severity of chronic ankle instability (CAI). The CAIT has been cross-culturally adapted into other languages for use in non-English speaking populations. However, there are no valid questionnaires to assess CAI in individuals who speak Korean. The purpose of this study was to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and validate the CAIT, for use in a Korean-speaking population with CAI. Cross-cultural reliability study. The CAIT was cross-culturally adapted into Korean according to accepted guidelines and renamed the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool-Korean (CAIT-K). Twenty-three participants (12 males, 11 females) who were bilingual in English and Korean were recruited and completed the original and adapted versions to assess agreement between versions. An additional 168 national level Korean athletes (106 male, 62 females; age = 20.3 ± 1.1 yrs), who participated in ≥ 90 minutes of physical activity per week, completed the final version of the CAIT-K twice within 14 days. Their completed questionnaires were assessed for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, criterion validity, and construct validity. For bilingual participants, intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC2,1) between the CAIT and the CAIT-K for test-retest reliability were 0.95 (SEM=1.83) and 0.96 (SEM=1.50) in right and left limbs, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.92 and 0.90 for the CAIT-K in right and left limbs, respectively. For native Korean speakers, the CAIT-K had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.89) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC2,1 = 0.94, SEM=1.72), correlation with the physical component score (rho=0.70, p = 0.001) of the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin score was 0.87. The original CAIT was translated, cross-culturally adapted, and validated from English to Korean

Popular culture and sporting life in the rural margins of late eighteenth-century England: the world of Robert Anderson, "The Cumberland Bard".

Science.gov (United States)

Huggins, Mike

2012-01-01

This study sets out to extend and challenge existing historiography on late eighteenth century British popular culture, customary sports, class and cultural identity, focusing upon the rural geo-political borderland of England. It suggests that prevailing class-based and more London-biased studies need to be balanced with more regionalist-based work, and shows the importance of northern regional leisure variants. The textual and historical analysis draws largely on the published works of a neglected working-class dialect poet, Robert Anderson, living and working in Cumberland, arguing that he represented a strain of ''bardic regionalism,'' a variant of Katie Trumpener’s ''bardic nationalism.''

Monitoring of the general population with an installed whole body counter at West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boddy, K.; Francis, R.A.; Fenwick, J.D.; McKenzie, A.L.

1989-03-01

Body radioactivity in the general public has been measured in 395 volunteers in the Whitehaven area, using a whole-body monitor at West Cumberland Hospital. Between October 1986 and October 1987, estimates of total body radiocaesium in 240 volunteers ranged from below detection level to 1844 Bq with a mean of 415 Bq. From October 1987 until May 1988, a further 155 volunteers were monitored, and radiation levels ranged from 34 Bq to 685 Bq, with a mean of 257 Bq. In all volunteers, the ratio of body radiocaesium to body potassium, was well below unity. The average ratio of caesium-137 to caesium-134 from October 1987 to May 1988 was 3.28, corresponding to a ratio of 1.99 at the date of Chernobyl accident. This is consistent with a Chernobyl origin as the primary source for the radiocaesium. There were discernible, but not marked, trends of increasing body radiocaesium with milk and meat/fish consumption. (author)

Optimizing Input/Output Using Adaptive File System Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Madhyastha, Tara M.; Elford, Christopher L.; Reed, Daniel A.

1996-01-01

Parallel input/output characterization studies and experiments with flexible resource management algorithms indicate that adaptivity is crucial to file system performance. In this paper we propose an automatic technique for selecting and refining file system policies based on application access patterns and execution environment. An automatic classification framework allows the file system to select appropriate caching and pre-fetching policies, while performance sensors provide feedback used to tune policy parameters for specific system environments. To illustrate the potential performance improvements possible using adaptive file system policies, we present results from experiments involving classification-based and performance-based steering.

Public Policies Analysis and the Prince System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behxhet Brajshori

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Public Policies present governmental sectorial policies and according to several scholars those are defined based on "what does the Government do". In fact, those are mandatory state's principles for the Government that aims the implementation of the strategy, objectives and Government's goals in the function of its promises' fulfilment towards the electors and all of the country's citizens. Public Policies Analysis has to do with the monitoring of government's agenda which directly can influence on a specific community. The idea of public policies analysis in linked with the need that the Government through statistical data has to prove what is being worked. Public Policies Analysis evolves in terms of design, implementation and public policies' effects. One of the methods for predicting the probability that a specifi c public policy will be implemented or not, is the Prince System. The Prince System, actually, presents a technique for assessing the relative support or opposition to a particular policy from individuals, groups or organizations.

Information Security Policy Modeling for Network Security Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dmitry Sergeevich Chernyavskiy

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Policy management for network security systems (NSSs is one of the most topical issues of network security management. Incorrect configurations of NSSs lead to system outages and appearance of vulnerabilities. Moreover, policy management process is a time-consuming task, which includes significant amount of manual work. These factors reduce efficiency of NSSs’ utilization. The paper discusses peculiarities of policy management process and existing approaches to policy modeling, presents a model aimed to formalize policies for NSSs independently on NSSs’ platforms and select the most effective NSSs for implementation of the policies.

Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Rodney R.; Gain, W. Scott; Wolfe, William J.

2012-01-01

Predictive equations were developed for 19 ecologically relevant streamflow characteristics within five major groups of flow variables (magnitude, ratio, frequency, variability, and date) for use in the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins using stepbackward regression. Basin characteristics explain 50% or more of the variation for 12 of the 19 equations. Independent variables identified through stepbackward regression were statistically significant in 78 of 304 cases (α > 0.0001) and represent four major groups: climate, physical landscape features, regional indicators, and land use. Of these groups, the regional and climate variables were the most influential for determining hydrologic response. Daily temperature range, geologic factor, and rock depth were major factors explaining the variability in 17, 15, and 13 equations, respectively. The equations and independent datasets were used to explore the broad relation between basin properties and streamflow and the implication of streamflow to the study of ecological flow requirements. Key results include a high degree of hydrologic variability among least disturbed Blue Ridge streams, similar hydrologic behaviour for watersheds with widely varying degrees of forest cover, and distinct hydrologic profiles for streams in different geographic regions. Published in 2011. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Entrepreneurship policies and the development of regional innovation systems: theory, policy and practice

OpenAIRE

Lawton-Smith, Helen

2017-01-01

The paper provides an appraisal and synthesis of the regional innovation systems approach in relation to entrepreneurship policies. It addresses a number of areas where theoretical, empirical and policy-based issues are currently under-developed in relation to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship policy.

75 FR 60749 - Policy on Payment System Risk

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM [Docket No. OP-1345] Policy on Payment System Risk AGENCY: Board of... of its Policy on Payment System Risk (PSR). The revisions explicitly recognize the role of the... payment flows for the banking system, while also helping to mitigate credit exposures of the Federal...

Policy development: a more formal systems approach process

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Greeff, AP

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Policy developers in corporate and governance roles are often developing policies by means of policy development cycles that typically resemble a system life cycle approach. Although policy development cycles often vary, depending on the applicable...

Economic and policy analysis for solar PV systems in Indiana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Jinho; Tyner, Wallace E.

2014-01-01

In recent years, the energy market in the US and globally is expanding the production of renewable energy. Solar energy for electricity is also expanding in the US. Indiana is one of the states expanding solar energy with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Therefore, we conduct benefit cost analysis with several uncertain input variables to determine the economics of adopting solar PV systems in Indiana based on policy instruments that could increase adoption of solar PV systems. The specific objectives are analyses of the cost distribution of solar PV systems compared with grid electricity in homes and estimating the probability that solar can be cheaper than electricity from grids under different policy combinations. We first do the analysis under current policy and then the analysis under potential policy options for a variety of scenarios. Also, the results inform government policy makers on how effective the alternative policies for encouraging solar PV systems are. The results show that current policies are important in reducing the cost of solar PV systems. However, with current policies, there is only 50–50 chance of solar being cheaper than electricity from grids. If potential policies are implemented, solar PV systems can be more economical than grid electricity. - Highlights: • We investigate the economics of solar PV systems based on policy instruments. • We do scenario analyses under different combinations of policies. • We examine the probability of solar being cheaper than grid electricity for each scenario. • With current policies, there is 50–50 chance of solar being cheaper than the grid. • With depreciation and carbon tax, solar is much more economical than the grid

Towards Static Analysis of Policy-Based Self-adaptive Computing Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Margheri, Andrea; Nielson, Hanne Riis; Nielson, Flemming

2016-01-01

For supporting the design of self-adaptive computing systems, the PSCEL language offers a principled approach that relies on declarative definitions of adaptation and authorisation policies enforced at runtime. Policies permit managing system components by regulating their interactions...... and by dynamically introducing new actions to accomplish task-oriented goals. However, the runtime evaluation of policies and their effects on system components make the prediction of system behaviour challenging. In this paper, we introduce the construction of a flow graph that statically points out the policy...... evaluations that can take place at runtime and exploit it to analyse the effects of policy evaluations on the progress of system components....

Macroprudential policies on banking system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ionuţ Mircea

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The macro-prudential tool kit deals with those risks that contributed to the outbreak of the last economic crisis or materialized during it, namely the excessive credit growth, the excessive price assets growth driven by the credit growth, the excessive increase in leverage, the liquidity risk, the volatile capital flows and foreign currency lending. It can be argued that macro-prudential policies underestimated the systemic risks mentioned, although they were better positioned than other policies aimed at financial stability. The impact of macro-prudential policy is difficult to be determined, because is usually applied simultaneously and in the same direction with other macroeconomic policies. Thus, it is necessary a better coordination of policies and a better calibration of instruments in order to get a quick and effective response during their implementation. These must be in line with national specificities and the risks identified. Until the new macro-prudential tools introduced by Basel III will prove their effectiveness, the issue of finding proper tools is still open.

Cultural Requirements of Policy Making System for Hijab and Dignity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahla Bagheri

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Policy making and policy measures is important in the social system. occurs. Policy maker aimed to achieve cultural requirements of policy making system by interaction stale and society. After the Islamic Revolution of Iran. the strengths and weaknesses of the different levels of the system politically has been accompanied in the field of moral and sexual dignity and chastity, aside from the basic necessity of building systems - Iranian, coordination and harmony of the system was not relevant. That is in the realm of theoretical ideas and goals are expressed in practice, the relationship between logical and measurable programs are executed with the goals and policies have been developed. measures to improve processes, motivate and educate individuals and groups, and to monitor the development of information systems.

Health policy, health systems research and analysis capacity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Introduction: Health Policy and Systems Research and Analysis (HPSR&A) is an applied science that deals with complexity as it tries to provide lessons, tools and methods to understand and improve health systems and health policy. It is defined by the kinds of questions asked rather than a particular methodology.

78 FR 70046 - Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight Overdraft Posting Rules

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-22

... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM [Docket No. OP--1471] Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight Overdraft... Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk (PSR policy) to eliminate certain posting rules to conform with... Services Analyst (202- 452-2404), Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems. For users of...

Verification of Security Policy Enforcement in Enterprise Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Puneet; Stoller, Scott D.

Many security requirements for enterprise systems can be expressed in a natural way as high-level access control policies. A high-level policy may refer to abstract information resources, independent of where the information is stored; it controls both direct and indirect accesses to the information; it may refer to the context of a request, i.e., the request’s path through the system; and its enforcement point and enforcement mechanism may be unspecified. Enforcement of a high-level policy may depend on the system architecture and the configurations of a variety of security mechanisms, such as firewalls, host login permissions, file permissions, DBMS access control, and application-specific security mechanisms. This paper presents a framework in which all of these can be conveniently and formally expressed, a method to verify that a high-level policy is enforced, and an algorithm to determine a trusted computing base for each resource.

Quality of Financial Policies and Financial System Stress

OpenAIRE

Udaibir S Das; Plamen Yossifov; Richard Podpiera; Dmitriy L Rozhkov

2005-01-01

In this paper, we develop multi-country indices of financial system stress and quality of financial policies and use them in regression analysis of the determinants of financial stress. We find that countries with higher quality of financial policies are better able to contain the effects of macroeconomic pressures on the overall level of stress in the financial system. They are also in a better position to ensure sustainable development of the financial system.

Applications of system dynamics modelling to support health policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, Jo-An M; Wells, Robert; Page, Andrew; Dominello, Amanda; Haines, Mary; Wilson, Andrew

2015-07-09

The value of systems science modelling methods in the health sector is increasingly being recognised. Of particular promise is the potential of these methods to improve operational aspects of healthcare capacity and delivery, analyse policy options for health system reform and guide investments to address complex public health problems. Because it lends itself to a participatory approach, system dynamics modelling has been a particularly appealing method that aims to align stakeholder understanding of the underlying causes of a problem and achieve consensus for action. The aim of this review is to determine the effectiveness of system dynamics modelling for health policy, and explore the range and nature of its application. A systematic search was conducted to identify articles published up to April 2015 from the PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Embase, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases. The grey literature was also searched. Papers eligible for inclusion were those that described applications of system dynamics modelling to support health policy at any level of government. Six papers were identified, comprising eight case studies of the application of system dynamics modelling to support health policy. No analytic studies were found that examined the effectiveness of this type of modelling. Only three examples engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders in collective model building. Stakeholder participation in model building reportedly facilitated development of a common 'mental map' of the health problem, resulting in consensus about optimal policy strategy and garnering support for collaborative action. The paucity of relevant papers indicates that, although the volume of descriptive literature advocating the value of system dynamics modelling is considerable, its practical application to inform health policy making is yet to be routinely applied and rigorously evaluated. Advances in software are allowing the participatory model building approach to be extended to

A condition-based maintenance policy for stochastically deteriorating systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grall, A.; Berenguer, C.; Dieulle, L.

2002-01-01

We focus on the analytical modeling of a condition-based inspection/replacement policy for a stochastically and continuously deteriorating single-unit system. We consider both the replacement threshold and the inspection schedule as decision variables for this maintenance problem and we propose to implement the maintenance policy using a multi-level control-limit rule. In order to assess the performance of the proposed maintenance policy and to minimize the long run expected maintenance cost per unit time, a mathematical model for the maintained system cost is derived, supported by the existence of a stationary law for the maintained system state. Numerical experiments illustrate the performance of the proposed policy and confirm that the maintenance cost rate on an infinite horizon can be minimized by a joint optimization of the maintenance structure thresholds, or equivalently by a joint optimization of a system replacement threshold and the aperiodic inspection schedule

A bivariate optimal replacement policy for a multistate repairable system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yuanlin; Yam, Richard C.M.; Zuo, Ming J.

2007-01-01

In this paper, a deteriorating simple repairable system with k+1 states, including k failure states and one working state, is studied. It is assumed that the system after repair is not 'as good as new' and the deterioration of the system is stochastic. We consider a bivariate replacement policy, denoted by (T,N), in which the system is replaced when its working age has reached T or the number of failures it has experienced has reached N, whichever occurs first. The objective is to determine the optimal replacement policy (T,N)* such that the long-run expected profit per unit time is maximized. The explicit expression of the long-run expected profit per unit time is derived and the corresponding optimal replacement policy can be determined analytically or numerically. We prove that the optimal policy (T,N)* is better than the optimal policy N* for a multistate simple repairable system. We also show that a general monotone process model for a multistate simple repairable system is equivalent to a geometric process model for a two-state simple repairable system in the sense that they have the same structure for the long-run expected profit (or cost) per unit time and the same optimal policy. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the theoretical results

Information systems security policies: a survey in Portuguese public administration

OpenAIRE

Lopes, Isabel Maria; Sá-Soares, Filipe de

2010-01-01

Information Systems Security is a relevant factor for present organizations. Among the security measures, policies assume a central role in literature. However, there is a reduced number of empirical studies about the adoption of information systems security policies. This paper contributes to mitigate this flaw by presenting the results of a survey in the adoption of Information System Security Policies in Local Public Administration in Portugal. The results are discussed in light of literat...

Globally reasoning about localised security policies in distributed systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hernandez, Alejandro Mario

In this report, we aim at establishing proper ways for model checking the global security of distributed systems, which are designed consisting of set of localised security policies that enforce specific issues about the security expected. The systems are formally specified following a syntax......, defined in detail in this report, and their behaviour is clearly established by the Semantics, also defined in detail in this report. The systems include the formal attachment of security policies into their locations, whose intended interactions are trapped by the policies, aiming at taking access...... control decisions of the system, and the Semantics also takes care of this. Using the Semantics, a Labelled Transition System (LTS) can be induced for every particular system, and over this LTS some model checking tasks could be done. We identify how this LTS is indeed obtained, and propose an alternative...

A policy system for Grid Management and Monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stagni, Federico; Santinelli, Roberto

2011-01-01

Organizations using a Grid computing model are faced with non-traditional administrative challenges: the heterogeneous nature of the underlying resources requires professionals acting as Grid Administrators. Members of a Virtual Organization (VO) can use a subset of available resources and services in the grid infrastructure and in an ideal world, the more resources are exploited the better. In the real world, the less faulty services, the better: experienced Grid administrators apply procedures for adding and removing services, based on their status, as it is reported by an ever-growing set of monitoring tools. When a procedure is agreed and well-exercised, a formal policy could be derived. For this reason, using the DIRAC framework in the LHCb collaboration, we developed a policy system that can enforce management and operational policies, in a VO-specific fashion. A single policy makes an assessment on the status of a subject, relative to one or more monitoring information. Subjects of the policies are monitored entities of an established Grid ontology. The status of a same entity is evaluated against a number of policies, whose results are then combined by a Policy Decision Point. Such results are enforced in a Policy Enforcing Point, which provides plug-ins for actions, like raising alarms, sending notifications, automatic addition and removal of services and resources from the Grid mask. Policy results are shown in the web portal, and site-specific views are provided also. This innovative system provides advantages in terms of procedures automation, information aggregation and problem solving.

A policy system for Grid Management and Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Stagni, Federico; Santinelli, Roberto; LHCb Collaboration

2011-12-01

Organizations using a Grid computing model are faced with non-traditional administrative challenges: the heterogeneous nature of the underlying resources requires professionals acting as Grid Administrators. Members of a Virtual Organization (VO) can use a subset of available resources and services in the grid infrastructure and in an ideal world, the more resoures are exploited the better. In the real world, the less faulty services, the better: experienced Grid administrators apply procedures for adding and removing services, based on their status, as it is reported by an ever-growing set of monitoring tools. When a procedure is agreed and well-exercised, a formal policy could be derived. For this reason, using the DIRAC framework in the LHCb collaboration, we developed a policy system that can enforce management and operational policies, in a VO-specific fashion. A single policy makes an assessment on the status of a subject, relative to one or more monitoring information. Subjects of the policies are monitored entities of an established Grid ontology. The status of a same entity is evaluated against a number of policies, whose results are then combined by a Policy Decision Point. Such results are enforced in a Policy Enforcing Point, which provides plug-ins for actions, like raising alarms, sending notifications, automatic addition and removal of services and resources from the Grid mask. Policy results are shown in the web portal, and site-specific views are provided also. This innovative system provides advantages in terms of procedures automation, information aggregation and problem solving.

Tools and techniques for developing policies for complex and uncertain systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bankes, Steven C

2002-05-14

Agent-based models (ABM) are examples of complex adaptive systems, which can be characterized as those systems for which no model less complex than the system itself can accurately predict in detail how the system will behave at future times. Consequently, the standard tools of policy analysis, based as they are on devising policies that perform well on some best estimate model of the system, cannot be reliably used for ABM. This paper argues that policy analysis by using ABM requires an alternative approach to decision theory. The general characteristics of such an approach are described, and examples are provided of its application to policy analysis.

Predictive maintenance policy for a gradually deteriorating system subject to stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deloux, E. [IRCCyN/Ecole des Mines de Nantes, Nantes (France); Castanier, B. [IRCCyN/Ecole des Mines de Nantes, Nantes (France)], E-mail: bruno.castanier@emn.fr; Berenguer, C. [Universite de Technologie de Troyes/CNRS, Troyes (France)

2009-02-15

This paper deals with a predictive maintenance policy for a continuously deteriorating system subject to stress. We consider a system with two failure mechanisms which are, respectively, due to an excessive deterioration level and a shock. To optimize the maintenance policy of the system, an approach combining statistical process control (SPC) and condition-based maintenance (CBM) is proposed. CBM policy is used to inspect and replace the system according to the observed deterioration level. SPC is used to monitor the stress covariate. In order to assess the performance of the proposed maintenance policy and to minimize the long-run expected maintenance cost per unit of time, a mathematical model for the maintained system cost is derived. Analysis based on numerical results are conducted to highlight the properties of the proposed maintenance policy in respect to the different maintenance parameters.

Predictive maintenance policy for a gradually deteriorating system subject to stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deloux, E.; Castanier, B.; Berenguer, C.

2009-01-01

This paper deals with a predictive maintenance policy for a continuously deteriorating system subject to stress. We consider a system with two failure mechanisms which are, respectively, due to an excessive deterioration level and a shock. To optimize the maintenance policy of the system, an approach combining statistical process control (SPC) and condition-based maintenance (CBM) is proposed. CBM policy is used to inspect and replace the system according to the observed deterioration level. SPC is used to monitor the stress covariate. In order to assess the performance of the proposed maintenance policy and to minimize the long-run expected maintenance cost per unit of time, a mathematical model for the maintained system cost is derived. Analysis based on numerical results are conducted to highlight the properties of the proposed maintenance policy in respect to the different maintenance parameters

Macro-Prudential Policies to Mitigate Financial System Vulnerabilities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Claessens, S.; Ghosh, S.R.; Mihet, R.

2014-01-01

Macro-prudential policies aimed at mitigating systemic financial risks have become part of the policy toolkit in many emerging markets and some advanced countries. Their effectiveness and efficacy are not well-known, however. Using panel data regressions, we analyze how changes in balance sheets of

Finland: Innovation Policy Tools under National Innovation System Crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daria A. Vorobeva

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: the for a long time Finland’s national innovation system (NIS had been being one of the most successful and effective in the world. But some years ago the situation changed: Finland’s NIS run into system crisis. And today Finnish government tries to work out anticrisis innovation policy. So the purpose of this article is to show up the innovation policy instruments which are able put an end to the crisis and to determine conditions of their successful use. Methods: the article is based on the national innovation systems concept and government policy-mix aimed at the NIS development. Results: the authors show up how Finnish government looks for optimal policy-mix to overcome the crisis, demonstrate in details complementary components of the relevant innovation policy, describe conditions for their success and effectiveness to consider whether they are useful in other countries. Conclusions and Relevance: to overcome the NIS crisis the Finnish government uses such instruments as strategic programs of socio-economic development with targets which can’t be achieved without adequate high technology and innovative development complemented by incentives to make business innovate actively. The conditions of such policy success are: 1 such feature of Finnish society as all stakeholders of economic development consensus on one issue: the main factor of development are innovations; 2 anticrisis stage of Finnish innovative policy is based previously accumulated knowledge and know-how. 

System Dynamics Simulation of Large-Scale Generation System for Designing Wind Power Policy in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linna Hou

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the impacts of renewable energy policy on a large-scale power generation system, including thermal power, hydropower, and wind power generation. As one of the most important clean energy, wind energy has been rapidly developed in the world. But in recent years there is a serious waste of wind power equipment and investment in China leading to many problems in the industry from wind power planning to its integration. One way overcoming the difficulty is to analyze the influence of wind power policy on a generation system. This paper builds a system dynamics (SD model of energy generation to simulate the results of wind energy generation policies based on a complex system. And scenario analysis method is used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of these policies. The case study shows that the combinations of lower portfolio goal and higher benchmark price and those of higher portfolio goal and lower benchmark price have large differences in both effectiveness and efficiency. On the other hand, the combinations of uniformly lower or higher portfolio goal and benchmark price have similar efficiency, but different effectiveness. Finally, an optimal policy combination can be chosen on the basis of policy analysis in the large-scale power system.

Cross-Layer Admission Control Policy for CDMA Beamforming Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng Wei

2007-01-01

Full Text Available A novel admission control (AC policy is proposed for the uplink of a cellular CDMA beamforming system. An approximated power control feasibility condition (PCFC, required by a cross-layer AC policy, is derived. This approximation, however, increases outage probability in the physical layer. A truncated automatic retransmission request (ARQ scheme is then employed to mitigate the outage problem. In this paper, we investigate the joint design of an AC policy and an ARQ-based outage mitigation algorithm in a cross-layer context. This paper provides a framework for joint AC design among physical, data-link, and network layers. This enables multiple quality-of-service (QoS requirements to be more flexibly used to optimize system performance. Numerical examples show that by appropriately choosing ARQ parameters, the proposed AC policy can achieve a significant performance gain in terms of reduced outage probability and increased system throughput, while simultaneously guaranteeing all the QoS requirements.

75 FR 36089 - Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight Overdraft Posting Rules

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-24

... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM [OP-1385] Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight Overdraft Posting Rules... Payment System Risk Policy, the Board is announcing posting rules for a new same-day automated clearing... Kirkpatrick, Senior Financial Services Analyst, Payment System Risk (202-452-2796), or Jennifer Davidson...

Policy choices in dementia care-An exploratory analysis of the Alberta continuing care system (ACCS) using system dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Cepoiu-Martin, Monica; Bischak, Diane P

2018-02-01

The increase in the incidence of dementia in the aging population and the decrease in the availability of informal caregivers put pressure on continuing care systems to care for a growing number of people with disabilities. Policy changes in the continuing care system need to address this shift in the population structure. One of the most effective tools for assessing policies in complex systems is system dynamics. Nevertheless, this method is underused in continuing care capacity planning. A system dynamics model of the Alberta Continuing Care System was developed using stylized data. Sensitivity analyses and policy evaluations were conducted to demonstrate the use of system dynamics modelling in this area of public health planning. We focused our policy exploration on introducing staff/resident benchmarks in both supportive living and long-term care (LTC). The sensitivity analyses presented in this paper help identify leverage points in the system that need to be acknowledged when policy decisions are made. Our policy explorations showed that the deficits of staff increase dramatically when benchmarks are introduced, as expected, but at the end of the simulation period, the difference in deficits of both nurses and health care aids are similar between the 2 scenarios tested. Modifying the benchmarks in LTC only versus in both supportive living and LTC has similar effects on staff deficits in long term, under the assumptions of this particular model. The continuing care system dynamics model can be used to test various policy scenarios, allowing decision makers to visualize the effect of a certain policy choice on different system variables and to compare different policy options. Our exploration illustrates the use of system dynamics models for policy making in complex health care systems. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

77 FR 22666 - Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight Overdraft Posting Rules

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-17

... FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 12 CFR Part 204 [Docket No. OP-1440] Payment System Risk Policy; Daylight.... SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) has revised its Policy on Payment...), Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems. For users of Telecommunications Device for the...

Tank waste remediation system characterization project quality policies. Revision 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trimble, D.J.

1995-01-01

These Quality Policies (QPs) describe the Quality Management System of the Tank Waste Characterization Project (hereafter referred to as the Characterization Project), Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS), Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC). The Quality Policies and quality requirements described herein are binding on all Characterization Project organizations. To achieve quality, the Characterization Project management team shall implement this Characterization Project Quality Management System

78 FR 42764 - Cumberland System

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-17

... INFORMATION CONTACT: Virgil G. Hobbs III, Assistant Administrator, Finance and Marketing, Southeastern Power... responsible for marketing may exceed market rates. Southeastern will work with the U.S. Army Corps of... rates for power will be the lowest possible rates consistent with sound business principles. Response 4...

Summary of Synoptic Meteorological Observations (SSMO). Australian Coastal Marine Areas. Volume 1. Area 1 - Princess Charlotte Bay. Area 2 - Cairns. Area 3 - Cumberland Islands. Area 4 - Rockhampton. Area 5 - Brisbane. Area 6 - Coffs Harbour. Area 7 - Sydney. Area 8 - Cape Howe NE

Science.gov (United States)

1977-09-01

Weather Service Detachment Asheville, N. C. 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBERf«) 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS National Climatic Center...Australian East Coast, Princess Charlotte Bay, Cairns, Cumberland Islands, Rockhampton, Brisbane, Coffs Harbour, Sydney and Cape Howe NE. ^ 20...OVER-ALL) 1»S«-1973 AREA 0006 COFFS HARBOUR 30.3S 193.36 fERCENT FR60UENCY OF MSATHER OCCURRENCE BY NINO OIRECTION

Assessing youth policies. A system of indicators for local government.

Science.gov (United States)

Planas, Anna; Soler, Pere; Vilà, Montserrat

2014-08-01

In the current European climate of economic, financial and political crisis and the questioning of the welfare state, assessing public policies assume a primary and strategic relevance in clarifying the results and contributions of policy actions. In this article, we aim to present the current situation in relation to youth policy assessment so as to formulate a system of assessment indicators in the sphere of Spanish local government youth policy. A review is conducted of some of the principal contributions in the field of constructing indicators for evaluating youth policies. We have found that most of these evaluation tools exist on a national or state level and that there is a dearth of local or municipal tools. The article concludes with a concrete proposal for an assessment tool: the SIAPJove (Sistema d'Indicadors d'Avaluació per a les Polítiques Municipals de Joventut or System of Assessment Indicators for Local Government Youth Policies) (web page: http://siapjove.udg.edu/). It provides both quantitative and qualitative indicators for local youth policy managers to obtain assessment reports with relative ease in 12 possible areas for assessment within youth policy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing a DSR-HNS policy making framework for electric energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyar-Naimi, H.; Vaez-Zadeh, S.

2012-01-01

Sustainable Development (SD) has played a major role as a foundation of several policy making frameworks developed mainly by international organizations. In this paper, some critical points regarding the origination and formulation of the SD concept are discussed. It is argued that the SD concerns with selected sectors and regions rather than the whole society and all regions of the world. To tackle these shortcomings, the conventional definition of SD is extended in this paper according to a broad philosophy of harmonizing key aspects of human, nature and systems performances over generations. Based on this extended definition, an improved Driving Force–State–Response (DSR-HNS) policy making framework is introduced. The main contribution is the modeling of the state block by human, nature and systems components to design overall and coherent policies. A procedure using the framework is also elaborated to monitor the current policies and design new ones, which provides a dynamic, nonlinear, feedback controlled policy making practice, not accommodated by existing policy making frameworks. Finally, a case study is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified framework and the proposed model. The study assesses Iran's electric power generation system from sustainability point of view and develops new policies. - Highlights: ► Some critical points regarding the Sustainable Development (SD) concept are discussed. ► Based on this extended definition, a policy making framework is introduced. ► A policy making procedure based on the framework is elaborated. ► A case study is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified framework. ► New policies are developed for Iran's power generation system.

Optimal maintenance policy incorporating system level and unit level for mechanical systems

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Chaoqun; Deng, Chao; Wang, Bingran

2018-04-01

The study works on a multi-level maintenance policy combining system level and unit level under soft and hard failure modes. The system experiences system-level preventive maintenance (SLPM) when the conditional reliability of entire system exceeds SLPM threshold, and also undergoes a two-level maintenance for each single unit, which is initiated when a single unit exceeds its preventive maintenance (PM) threshold, and the other is performed simultaneously the moment when any unit is going for maintenance. The units experience both periodic inspections and aperiodic inspections provided by failures of hard-type units. To model the practical situations, two types of economic dependence have been taken into account, which are set-up cost dependence and maintenance expertise dependence due to the same technology and tool/equipment can be utilised. The optimisation problem is formulated and solved in a semi-Markov decision process framework. The objective is to find the optimal system-level threshold and unit-level thresholds by minimising the long-run expected average cost per unit time. A formula for the mean residual life is derived for the proposed multi-level maintenance policy. The method is illustrated by a real case study of feed subsystem from a boring machine, and a comparison with other policies demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach.

A dynamic predictive maintenance policy for complex multi-component systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Horenbeek, Adriaan; Pintelon, Liliane

2013-01-01

The use of prognostic methods in maintenance in order to predict remaining useful life is receiving more attention over the past years. The use of these techniques in maintenance decision making and optimization in multi-component systems is however a still underexplored area. The objective of this paper is to optimally plan maintenance for a multi-component system based on prognostic/predictive information while considering different component dependencies (i.e. economic, structural and stochastic dependence). Consequently, this paper presents a dynamic predictive maintenance policy for multi-component systems that minimizes the long-term mean maintenance cost per unit time. The proposed maintenance policy is a dynamic method as the maintenance schedule is updated when new information on the degradation and remaining useful life of components becomes available. The performance, regarding the objective of minimal long-term mean cost per unit time, of the developed dynamic predictive maintenance policy is compared to five other conventional maintenance policies, these are: block-based maintenance, age-based maintenance, age-based maintenance with grouping, inspection condition-based maintenance and continuous condition-based maintenance. The ability of the predictive maintenance policy to react to changing component deterioration and dependencies within a multi-component system is quantified and the results show significant cost savings

Integrated dynamic policy management methodology and system for strategic environmental assessment of golf course installation policy in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Ching-Ho; Liu, Wei-Lin; Liaw, Shu-Liang

2011-01-01

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) focuses primarily on assessing how policies, plans, and programs (PPPs) influence the sustainability of the involved regions. However, the processes of assessing policies and developing management strategies for pollution load and resource use are usually separate in the current SEA system. This study developed a policy management methodology to overcome the defects generated during the above processes. This work first devised a dynamic management framework using the methods of systems thinking, system dynamics, and Managing for Results (MFRs). Furthermore, a driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) indicator system was developed. The golf course installation policy was applied as a case study. Taiwan, counties of Taiwan, and the golf courses within those individual counties were identified as a system, subsystems, and objects, respectively. This study identified an object-linked double-layer framework with multi-stage-option to simultaneously to quantify golf courses in each subsystem and determine ratios of abatement and allocation for pollution load and resource use of each golf course. The DPSIR indicator values for each item of each golf course in each subsystem are calculated based on the options taken in the two decision layers. The summation of indicator values for all items of all golf courses in all subsystems according to various options is defined as the sustainability value of the policy. An optimization model and a system (IDPMS) were developed to obtain the greatest sustainability value of the policy, while golf course quantity, human activity intensity, total quantities of pollution load and resource use are simultaneously obtained. The solution method based on enumeration of multiple bounds for objectives and constraints (EMBOC) was developed for the problem with 1.95 x 10 128 combinations of possible options to solve the optimal solution in ten minutes using a personal computer with 3.0 GHz CPU

Engaging Actors for Integrating Health Policy and Systems Research into Policy Making: Case Study from Haryana State in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shankar Prinja

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background & objective: Good examples of evidence generation using Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR in low and middle income countries (LMIC; and its application in policy making are scarce. In this paper, we describe the experience of establishing a system of HPSR from the Haryana state in India, outline how the HPSR is being utilized for policy making and programmatic decision making, and analyse the key factors which have been critical to the implementation and uptake of HPSR. Methods: Multiple methods are employed in this case study, ranging from unstructured in-depth interviews, review of the program and policy documents, and participatory notes from the meetings. The steps towards creation of a knowledge partnership between stakeholders are outlined. Four case studies i.e. development of a plan for universal health care (UHC, nutrition policy, centralized drug procurement system and use of RAPID appraisal method highlight the use of research evidence in agenda setting, policy formulation and policy implementation respectively. Results: Our analysis shows that the most important factor which contributed to Haryana model of HPSR was the presence of a dedicated and motivated team in National Rural Health Mission (NRHM at state level, many of whom were researchers by previous training. Overall, we conclude by highlighting the need for establishing an institutional mechanism at Central and State level where health service administrators and managers, academicians and researchers working in the field of health system from medical colleges, public health schools, management and technology institutions and social science universities can identify health system research priorities. Increased budgetary allocation for HPSR is required.

Engaging Actors for Integrating Health Policy and Systems Research into Policy Making: Case Study from Haryana State in India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shankar Prinja

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background & objective: Good examples of evidence generation using Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR in low and middle income countries (LMIC; and its application in policy making are scarce. In this paper, we describe the experience of establishing a system of HPSR from the Haryana state in India, outline how the HPSR is being utilized for policy making and programmatic decision making, and analyse the key factors which have been critical to the implementation and uptake of HPSR. Methods: Multiple methods are employed in this case study, ranging from unstructured in-depth interviews, review of the program and policy documents, and participatory notes from the meetings. The steps towards creation of a knowledge partnership between stakeholders are outlined. Four case studies i.e. development of a plan for universal health care (UHC, nutrition policy, centralized drug procurement system and use of RAPID appraisal method highlight the use of research evidence in agenda setting, policy formulation and policy implementation respectively. Results: Our analysis shows that the most important factor which contributed to Haryana model of HPSR was the presence of a dedicated and motivated team in National Rural Health Mission (NRHM at state level, many of whom were researchers by previous training. Overall, we conclude by highlighting the need for establishing an institutional mechanism at Central and State level where health service administrators and managers, academicians and researchers working in the field of health system from medical colleges, public health schools, management and technology institutions and social science universities can identify health system research priorities. Increased budgetary allocation for HPSR is required.

Access to essential medicines in Pakistan: policy and health systems research concerns.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shehla Zaidi

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Inadequate access to essential medicines is a common issue within developing countries. Policy response is constrained, amongst other factors, by a dearth of in-depth country level evidence. We share here i gaps related to access to essential medicine in Pakistan; and ii prioritization of emerging policy and research concerns. METHODS: An exploratory research was carried out using a health systems perspective and applying the WHO Framework for Equitable Access to Essential Medicine. Methods involved key informant interviews with policy makers, providers, industry, NGOs, experts and development partners, review of published and grey literature, and consultative prioritization in stakeholder's Roundtable. FINDINGS: A synthesis of evidence found major gaps in essential medicine access in Pakistan driven by weaknesses in the health care system as well as weak pharmaceutical regulation. 7 major policy concerns and 11 emerging research concerns were identified through consultative Roundtable. These related to weaknesses in medicine registration and quality assurance systems, unclear and counterproductive pricing policies, irrational prescribing and sub-optimal drug availability. Available research, both locally and globally, fails to target most of the identified policy concerns, tending to concentrate on irrational prescriptions. It overlooks trans-disciplinary areas of policy effectiveness surveillance, consumer behavior, operational pilots and pricing interventions review. CONCLUSION: Experience from Pakistan shows that policy concerns related to essential medicine access need integrated responses across various components of the health systems, are poorly addressed by existing evidence, and require an expanded health systems research agenda.

High Prevalence of Porocephalus crotali Infection on a Barrier Island (Cumberland Island) off the Coast of Georgia, with Identification of Novel Intermediate Hosts.

Science.gov (United States)

Yabsley, Michael J; Ellis, Angela E; Cleveland, Christopher A; Ruckdeschel, Carol

2015-10-01

Porocephalus crotali is a pentastomid parasite that uses crotaline snakes as definitive hosts and a variety of rodents as intermediate hosts. A study of definitive and intermediate pentastome hosts on Cumberland Island, Georgia, revealed high prevalence of P. crotali infection in crotalid snakes as well as several mammalian species. Despite the presence of numerous nymphs in some animals, clinical signs of disease were not observed. In intermediate hosts, the liver, mesentery, and reproductive organs were most commonly infected. No gross evidence of tissue damage was noted in association with the numerous encysted nymphal pentastomes, and histopathology demonstrated minimal reaction to the encysted nymphs. Partial 18S rRNA gene sequences confirmed the parasites were P. crotali. In contrast to many previous reports in rodents, the prevalence on this barrier island was high, and this is the first report of Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) and any insectivore species as intermediate hosts. Although generally not considered pathogenic, the long-term consequences of high nymph intensities on individuals deserve attention.

Better Policies Accelerate Clean Energy Transition. Policy brief - Focus on energy system flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karimi, Farid; Lund, Peter; Skytte, Klaus

2018-01-01

The use of variable renewable energy sources will increase in the Nordic and Baltic countries in the future. This will call for increased flexibility in the electricity market to ensure both high energy security and efficient use of renewable power in all circumstances. The barriers and hence also...... policies to energy system flexibility are numerous. In this brief, we focus on policy recommendations for two important barriers to flexibility in the Nordic electricity market, namely insufficient market signals to some stakeholders, and uneven market frameworks for different renewable energy resources...

A review of the Nearctic genus Zealeuctra Ricker (Plecoptera, Leuctridae), with the description of a new species from the Cumberland Plateau region of eastern North America.

Science.gov (United States)

Grubbs, Scott A; Kondratieff, Boris C; Stark, Bill P; Dewalt, R Edward

2013-01-01

The stonefly genus Zealeuctra (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) is endemic to the central and eastern Nearctic regions and is presently comprised of 10 species. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine and redescribe two important diagnostic features typically used to identify and define the adult male stage: the large, anteriorly-recurved epiproct and the medial cleft of the ninth abdominal tergite. SEM was also employed to depict the posteromedial portion of female 7(th) sternum. A new species, Z. ukayodi sp. n., is described from the Cumberland Plateau region of northeastern Alabama and Tennessee. The new species appears superficially similar to Z. talladega Grubbs, but is easily differentiated by characteristics of the male medial cleft. An updated taxonomic key to the males of Zealeuctra is provided.

A Policy Analysis of Public School Retirement Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Tara; Teeter, Matt

2010-01-01

The purpose of this policy analysis was to examine the Missouri Public School Retirement System (PSRS). The team investigated the under-funding of PSRS, relating to sustainability and the feasibility of the system's use of one lever, contribution rate, to stabilize the retirement system, and to meet actuary needs and governmental requirements. The…

Health policy and systems research training: global status and recommendations for action

Science.gov (United States)

Tancred, Tara M; Schleiff, Meike; Peters, David H

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To investigate the characteristics of health policy and systems research training globally and to identify recommendations for improvement and expansion. Methods We identified institutions offering health policy and systems research training worldwide. In 2014, we recruited participants from identified institutions for an online survey on the characteristics of the institutions and the courses given. Survey findings were explored during in-depth interviews with selected key informants. Findings The study identified several important gaps in health policy and systems research training. There were few courses in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa or Latin America. Most (116/152) courses were instructed in English. Institutional support for courses was often lacking and many institutions lacked the critical mass of trained individuals needed to support doctoral and postdoctoral students. There was little consistency between institutions in definitions of the competencies required for health policy and systems research. Collaboration across disciplines to provide the range of methodological perspectives the subject requires was insufficient. Moreover, the lack of alternatives to on-site teaching may preclude certain student audiences such as policy-makers. Conclusion Training in health policy and systems research is important to improve local capacity to conduct quality research in this field. We provide six recommendations to improve the content, accessibility and reach of training. First, create a repository of information on courses. Second, establish networks to support training. Third, define competencies in health policy and systems research. Fourth, encourage multidisciplinary collaboration. Fifth, expand the geographical and language coverage of courses. Finally, consider alternative teaching formats. PMID:27429488

Tank waste remediation system characterization project quality policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Board, D.C.

1997-01-01

This quality plan describes the system used by Characterization Project management to achieve quality. This plan is comprised of eleven quality policies which, when taken together, form a management system deployed to achieve quality. This quality management system is based on the customer's quality requirements known as the 'RULE', 10 CFR 830.120, Quality Assurance

The Policy-Making Process of the State University System of Florida.

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, Sandra M.

The policy-making process of the State University System of Florida is described using David Easton's model of a political system as the conceptual framwork. Two models describing the policy-making process were developed from personal interviews with the primary participants in the governance structure and from three case studies of policy…

Systems Thinking and Simulation Modeling to Inform Childhood Obesity Policy and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Kenneth E; Kibbe, Debra L; Ferencik, Rachel; Soderquist, Chris; Phillips, Mary Ann; Vall, Emily Anne; Minyard, Karen J

In 2007, 31.7% of Georgia adolescents in grades 9-12 were overweight or obese. Understanding the impact of policies and interventions on obesity prevalence among young people can help determine statewide public health and policy strategies. This article describes a systems model, originally launched in 2008 and updated in 2014, that simulates the impact of policy interventions on the prevalence of childhood obesity in Georgia through 2034. In 2008, using information from peer-reviewed reports and quantitative estimates by experts in childhood obesity, physical activity, nutrition, and health economics and policy, a group of legislators, legislative staff members, and experts trained in systems thinking and system dynamics modeling constructed a model simulating the impact of policy interventions on the prevalence of childhood obesity in Georgia through 2034. Use of the 2008 model contributed to passage of a bill requiring annual fitness testing of schoolchildren and stricter enforcement of physical education requirements. We updated the model in 2014. With no policy change, the updated model projects that the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents aged ≤18 in Georgia would hold at 18% from 2014 through 2034. Mandating daily school physical education (which would reduce prevalence to 12%) and integrating moderate to vigorous physical activity into elementary classrooms (which would reduce prevalence to 10%) would have the largest projected impact. Enacting all policies simultaneously would lower the prevalence of childhood obesity from 18% to 3%. Systems thinking, especially with simulation models, facilitates understanding of complex health policy problems. Using a simulation model to educate legislators, educators, and health experts about the policies that have the greatest short- and long-term impact should encourage strategic investment in low-cost, high-return policies.

Enterprise systems backup and recovery a corporate insurance policy

CERN Document Server

de Guise, Preston

2008-01-01

The success of information backup systems does not rest on IT administrators alone. Rather, a well-designed backup system comes about only when several key factors coalesce-business involvement, IT acceptance, best practice designs, enterprise software, and reliable hardware. Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy provides organizations with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and features involved in effective enterprise backups.Instead of focusing on any individual backup product, this book recommends corporate procedures and policies that need to be established for comprehensive data protection. It provides relevant information to any organization, regardless of which operating systems or applications are deployed, what backup system is in place, or what planning has been done for business continuity. It explains how backup must be included in every phase of system planning, development, operation, and maintenance. It also provides techniques for analyzing and impr...

Analysis of Access Control Policies in Operating Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hong

2009-01-01

Operating systems rely heavily on access control mechanisms to achieve security goals and defend against remote and local attacks. The complexities of modern access control mechanisms and the scale of policy configurations are often overwhelming to system administrators and software developers. Therefore, mis-configurations are common, and the…

Synopsis of the 48 annual meeting of the Lake Cumberland Biological Transport Group and the second biannual meeting of the Pendrin Consortium.

Science.gov (United States)

Dossena, Silvia; Nofziger, Charity; Morabito, Rossana; Adragna, Norma C; Paulmichl, Markus

2013-01-01

Ion transporters are the molecular basis for ion homeostasis of the cell and the whole organism. The anion exchanger pendrin is only one of a number of examples where a complete or partial loss of function and/or deregulation of expression of ion transporters may lead or contribute to pathological conditions in humans. A complete understanding of the function of ion transporters in health and disease may pave the way for the identification of new and focused therapeutic approaches. Exchange of knowledge and connectivity between the experts in the feld of transport physiology is essential in facing these challenging tasks. The Lake Cumberland Biological Transport Group and the Pendrin Consortium are examples of scientific forums where investigators combine their efforts towards a better understanding of molecular pathophysiology of ion transport. This issue discusses the versatility of ion transporters involved in the regulation of cellular volume and other functions, such as the solute carrier (SLC) 12A gene family members SLC12A4-7, encoding the Na(+)-independent cation-chloride cotransporters commonly known as the K(+)-Cl(-) cotransporters KCC1-4, and the betaine/γ-aminobutyric acid transport system (BGT1, SLC6A12), just to name a few. The issue further addresses the pathophysiology of intestinal and respiratory epithelia and related therapeutic tools and techniques to investigate interactions between proteins and proteins and small compounds. Finally, the current knowledge and new findings on the expression, regulation and function of pendrin (SLC26A4) in the inner ear, kidney, airways and blood platelets are presented. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

21 CFR 203.34 - Policies and procedures; administrative systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... distribution security and audit system, including conducting random and for-cause audits of sales... 21 Food and Drugs 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Policies and procedures; administrative systems...; administrative systems. Each manufacturer or authorized distributor of record that distributes drug samples shall...

A review of the Nearctic genus Zealeuctra Ricker (Plecoptera, Leuctridae, with the description of a new species from the Cumberland Plateau region of eastern North America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Grubbs

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The stonefly genus Zealeuctra (Plecoptera: Leuctridae is endemic to the central and eastern Nearctic regions and is presently comprised of 10 species. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM was used to examine and redescribe two important diagnostic features typically used to identify and define the adult male stage: the large, anteriorly-recurved epiproct and the medial cleft of the ninth abdominal tergite. SEM was also employed to depict the posteromedial portion of female 7th sternum. A new species, Z. ukayodi sp. n., is described from the Cumberland Plateau region of northeastern Alabama and Tennessee. The new species appears superficially similar to Z. talladega Grubbs, but is easily differentiated by characteristics of the male medial cleft. An updated taxonomic key to the males of Zealeuctra is provided.

Off-policy integral reinforcement learning optimal tracking control for continuous-time chaotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Qing-Lai; Song Rui-Zhuo; Xiao Wen-Dong; Sun Qiu-Ye

2015-01-01

This paper estimates an off-policy integral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm to obtain the optimal tracking control of unknown chaotic systems. Off-policy IRL can learn the solution of the HJB equation from the system data generated by an arbitrary control. Moreover, off-policy IRL can be regarded as a direct learning method, which avoids the identification of system dynamics. In this paper, the performance index function is first given based on the system tracking error and control error. For solving the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, an off-policy IRL algorithm is proposed. It is proven that the iterative control makes the tracking error system asymptotically stable, and the iterative performance index function is convergent. Simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed tracking control method. (paper)

Innovation system approach to agricultural development: Policy ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Several other relevant macro economic and meso level factors such as policy and legislative framework and nature of human capital, physical infrastructure, finance and investment climate and system for facilitating information and knowledge flows were not considered as important. The emerging reforms and changes in

Mississippian subadults from the Middle Cumberland and Eastern regions of Tennessee: Biological indicators of population interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Scopa Kelso, Rebecca

2018-02-23

Human subadult skeletal remains can provide a unique perspective into biosocial aspects of Mississippian period population interactions within and between the Middle Cumberland (MCR) and Eastern Tennessee Regions (ETR). The majority of previous studies have concentrated on adult skeletal remains, leaving out a large and extremely important population segment. Skeletal indicators of disease, growth, body proportions, and metabolic stress were collected from subadult remains from five archaeological sites over several temporal periods. Crucial to overcoming limitations associated with the osteological paradox, the biological results were placed into an archaeological context based on prior studies as well as paleoclimatological data. Results reveal homogeneity both within and between regions for most skeletal indicators. However, MCR individuals exhibit a higher frequency of pathology than those from ETC, while stature is significantly lower in younger subadults from the MCR. Within the ETR, there is no evidence for biological differences between Early Dallas and subsequent Late Dallas and Mouse Creek cultural phases. Despite presumed signs of increased conflict at the Dallas site, frequencies and types of skeletal pathology and growth disruptions are comparable to other regional sites. These findings suggest that despite cultural differences between the ETR and MCR, there was no large-scale intrusion from an outside population into the ETR during the Late Mississippian Period, or if one occurred, it is biologically invisible. Combined with climatic and archaeobotanical data, results suggest the MCR subadults were under increased stress in their earlier years. This may have been associated with increased interpersonal violence and dependence on few food sources occurring with greater scarcity. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

On finite capacity queueing systems with a general vacation policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacqueline Loris-Teghem

2000-01-01

Full Text Available We consider a Poisson arrival queueing system with finite capacity and a general vacation policy as described in Loris-Teghem [Queueing Systems 3 (1988, 41-52]. From our previous results regarding the stationary queue length distributions immediately after a departure and at an arbitrary epoch, we derive a relation between both distributions which extends a result given in Frey and Takahashi [Operations Research Letters 21 (1997, 95-100] for the particular case of an exhaustive service multiple vacation policy.

LHCb: A Policy System for Grid Management and Monitoring

CERN Multimedia

Stagni, F; Sapunov, M

2010-01-01

Organizations using a Grid computing model are faced with non-traditional administrative challenges: the heterogeneous nature of the underlying resources requires professionals acting as Grid Administrators. Members of a Virtual Organization (VO) can use a mask composed by services exposed b y local resources. In an ideal world, the more services in a mask, the better. In the real world, the less faulty services, the better: experienced Grid administrators apply procedures for adding and removing services, based on their status, as it is reported by an ever-growing set of monitoring tools. When a procedure is agreed and well-exercised, a formal policy could be derived. For this reason, using the DIRAC framework in the LHCb collaboration, we developed a policy system that can enforce management and operational policies, in a VO-specific fashion. A single policy makes an assessment on the status of a subject, relative to one or more monitoring information. Subjects of the policies are monitored entities of an e...

System Merits or Failures? Policies for Transition to Sustainable P and N Systems in The Netherlands and Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Hoppe

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Nitrogen (N and phosphorus (P cycles are absolutely vital in maintaining sustainable food systems. Human activities disturb the natural balance of these cycles by creating enormous additional nutrient fluxes, causing eutrophication of waterways and pollution in land systems. To tackle this problem, sustainable nutrient management is required. This paper addresses sustainable nutrient management in two countries: The Netherlands and Finland. We adopt a critical perspective on resource politics, especially towards opportunistic policy strategies for the pollutant management of N and P. Two research questions are considered. First, what are the key systemic and policy failures that occurred in the N and P systems in the Netherlands and Finland between 1970 and 2015? And second, which lessons can be drawn when addressing the policy responses in the two countries to cope with these failures? The cases are analyzed within Weber and Rohracher’s framework that addresses “failures” preventing sustainable transitions. The results show that a number of failures occurred, besides market failures (over-exploitation of the commons, externalization of costs: lack of directionality, policy coordination, institutions, capabilities, infrastructure, demand articulation, and reflexivity. Policy responses in both countries resulted in ponderous policy frameworks that were adequate to tackle nutrient problems from the industrial sector and municipalities. However, both countries provided only a moderate response in terms of system-wide integrated policy frameworks to cope with sectoral-transcending issues. The agricultural use of N and P, in contrast to detergents, has not been subjected to strong regulatory measures.

The reorientation of spatial planning systems and policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galland, Daniel; Enemark, Stig

2012-01-01

Danish spatial planning has been increasingly subjected to profound reorientations over the past two decades. The comprehensive frame wherein planning policies and practices operated across different levels of administration has become significantly altered. This has been particularly evident after...... the implementation of a structural reform that changed the political and administrative structure in the country. Most importantly, the reform abolished the county level, which caused that planning policies, functions and responsibilities were re-scaled to municipal and national levels. This situation brought about...... radical shifts in terms of the scope of planning policies, the implementation of land-use tasks as well as the performance of the institutional arrangements operating within and beyond the planning system. Based on an in-depth analysis concerned with these changes, the paper endeavours into discussing how...

Synopsis of the 48th Annual Meeting of the Lake Cumberland Biological Transport Group and the Second Biannual Meeting of the Pendrin Consortium

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Dossena

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Ion transporters are the molecular basis for ion homeostasis of the cell and the whole organism. The anion exchanger pendrin is only one of a number of examples where a complete or partial loss of function and/or deregulation of expression of ion transporters may lead or contribute to pathological conditions in humans. A complete understanding of the function of ion transporters in health and disease may pave the way for the identification of new and focused therapeutic approaches. Exchange of knowledge and connectivity between the experts in the feld of transport physiology is essential in facing these challenging tasks. The Lake Cumberland Biological Transport Group and the Pendrin Consortium are examples of scientific forums where investigators combine their efforts towards a better understanding of molecular pathophysiology of ion transport. This issue discusses the versatility of ion transporters involved in the regulation of cellular volume and other functions, such as the solute carrier (SLC 12A gene family members SLC12A4-7, encoding the Na+-independent cation-chloride cotransporters commonly known as the K+-Cl- cotransporters KCC1-4, and the betaine/γ-aminobutyric acid transport system (BGT1, SLC6A12, just to name a few. The issue further addresses the pathophysiology of intestinal and respiratory epithelia and related therapeutic tools and techniques to investigate interactions between proteins and proteins and small compounds. Finally, the current knowledge and new findings on the expression, regulation and function of pendrin (SLC26A4 in the inner ear, kidney, airways and blood platelets are presented.

Unpacking policy processes for addressing systemic problems in technological innovation systems : The case of offshore wind in Germany

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reichardt, Kristin; Rogge, Karoline S.; Negro, Simona O.

2017-01-01

While empirical studies on technological innovation systems (TIS) usually focus on policy instruments and their suitability for curing identified weaknesses of such emerging systems, the underlying policy processes and their effects have been largely disregarded. We address this gap by exploring the

Innovation Happens in Systems: Implications for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

OpenAIRE

Holbrook, J.A.

2005-01-01

This report addresses the regional systems of innovation in Canada, and looks at the ways that policy instruments play a role in the process. Recommendations are made to encourage the development of policies that foster the development of innovation clusters in Canada.

National innovation system as a focus of state in-novation policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olexandr Fedirko

2007-02-01

Full Text Available The article offers a systematic review of tools and mechanisms utilised by developed countries (United States, Japan, EU to pursue their innovation policies, and classifies methods which support innovation and ways that help to strengthen the innovation capacity. It describes the evolution of research and development (R&D policy in other countries. The article examines arguments in support of a trend in the innovation policy which promotes the development of national innovation systems. It reviews the substance and components of the national innovation system. It also explores the trends of R&D cooperation. The article outlines the variety of domestic tools which regulate innovation in EU countries (framework programs, the European Research Area Initiative.

Policy Options for the Improvement of the European Patent System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schovsbo, Jens Hemmingsen; Cowin, Robin; Van de Eijck, Wim

2007-01-01

, the Working Group recognizes that the protection and enforcement of the rights of inventors through the patent system must be done in a manner to stimulate innovation and the diffusion of knowledge. In order to propose meaningful policy options that meet these objectives as much as possible, the evidence put......The present report is based on an independent, policy-oriented investigation of the current European patent system. The central premise of the report is that the patent system has so far been a positive factor in promoting innovation and the diffusion of knowledge, and thus that the system...... is contributing in a constructive way to economic and social welfare objectives. In acknowledging the importance of the patent system in relation to many aspects of society, it is also essential to continually evaluate whether the system is working as effectively as it could be. In addition, because of some...

Health Policy Making System in Islamic Republic of Iran: Review an Experience

OpenAIRE

B Larijani; A Delavari; B Damari; A Vosoogh Moghadam; R Majdzadeh

2009-01-01

"nIn Iran, the policy making process still has room for improvement. These include the opportunities for better co-ordina­tion of policies on medical education, health research and service provision; improvement of decision making mecha­nisms; a more evidence-based policy making process, and more involvement of stakeholders; reducing fragmentation of policy making foci; and establishing a qualified institution for system analyses and progress monitoring. The Health Pol&am...

Genomic sequencing: assessing the health care system, policy, and big-data implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Kathryn A; Trosman, Julia R; Kelley, Robin K; Pletcher, Mark J; Douglas, Michael P; Weldon, Christine B

2014-07-01

New genomic sequencing technologies enable the high-speed analysis of multiple genes simultaneously, including all of those in a person's genome. Sequencing is a prominent example of a "big data" technology because of the massive amount of information it produces and its complexity, diversity, and timeliness. Our objective in this article is to provide a policy primer on sequencing and illustrate how it can affect health care system and policy issues. Toward this end, we developed an easily applied classification of sequencing based on inputs, methods, and outputs. We used it to examine the implications of sequencing for three health care system and policy issues: making care more patient-centered, developing coverage and reimbursement policies, and assessing economic value. We conclude that sequencing has great promise but that policy challenges include how to optimize patient engagement as well as privacy, develop coverage policies that distinguish research from clinical uses and account for bioinformatics costs, and determine the economic value of sequencing through complex economic models that take into account multiple findings and downstream costs. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

A Multi-Pathfinder for Developing Adaptive Robust Policies in System Dynamics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hamarat, C.; Pruyt, E.; Loonen, E.T.

2013-01-01

Adaptivity is essential for dynamically complex and uncertain systems. Adaptive policymaking is an approach to design policies that can be adapted over time to how the future unfolds. It is crucial for adaptive policymaking to specify under what conditions and how to adapt the policy. The

The Brazil socio-educational care system: contribution for an analysis critical of the policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Candida de Souza

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Socio-Educational system is the policy of care for juvenile delinquents in Brazil. This policy is challenged to differentiate the prison system, because it’s pedagogic and sanctionatory in the same time. In this paper we propose to make a critical analysis of the implementation of the policy of children and adolescents in Brazil, especially the socio-educational system, under a critical view, with foundation in dialectical historical materialism. So we present the historical evolution of the attention to the rights of children and adolescents in Brazil and aim the limitations and possibilities of this policy today, in addition to the current operation of this policy, followed by an analysis based on critical criminology. Finally, we indicate that the juvenile justice system, the socio-educational system and all social practices relating to offenses should be seen as part of an historical and social process that has as its central point the materiality of social relations, the relationship between society, market and State and the consequent contradictions that are placed there. As the socio-educational project is linked to a contemporary neoliberal state, he does not escape the pressure of capitalism. That is, you can not understand the socio-educational institutions and logic that supports policies so displaced from this broader socio-political system that perpetuates unevenly and exclusive.

Storage Policies and Optimal Shape of a Storage System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zaerpour, N.; De Koster, René; Yu, Yugang

2013-01-01

The response time of a storage system is mainly influenced by its shape (configuration), the storage assignment and retrieval policies, and the location of the input/output (I/O) points. In this paper, we show that the optimal shape of a storage system, which minimises the response time for single

Sociology, systems and (patient) safety: knowledge translations in healthcare policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Casper Bruun

2008-03-01

In 2000 the American Institute of Medicine, adviser to the federal government on policy matters relating to the health of the public, published the report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which was to become a call to arms for improving patient safety across the Western world. By re-conceiving healthcare as a system, it was argued that it was possible to transform the current culture of blame, which made individuals take defensive precautions against being assigned responsibility for error - notably by not reporting adverse events, into a culture of safety. The IOM report draws on several prominent social scientists in accomplishing this re-conceptualisation. But the analyses of these authors are not immediately relevant for health policy. It requires knowledge translation to make them so. This paper analyses the process of translation. The discussion is especially pertinent due to a certain looping effect between social science research and policy concerns. The case here presented is thus doubly illustrative: exemplifying first how social science is translated into health policy and secondly how the transformation required for this to function is taken as an analytical improvement that can in turn be redeployed in social research.

Policies and Livestock Systems Driving Brucellosis Re-emergence in Kazakhstan.

Science.gov (United States)

Beauvais, Wendy; Coker, Richard; Nurtazina, Gulzhan; Guitian, Javier

2017-06-01

Brucellosis is a considerable public health and economic burden in many areas of the world including sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and former USSR countries. The collapse of the USSR has been cited as a driver for re-emergence of diseases including brucellosis, and human incidence rates in the former Soviet republics have been estimated as high as 88 per 100,000 per year. The aim of this paper is to examine the historical trends in brucellosis in Kazakhstan and to explore how livestock systems, veterinary services and control policies may have influenced them. In conclusion, a brucellosis epidemic most likely began before the collapse of the USSR and high livestock densities may have played an important role. Changes to the livestock systems in Kazakhstan, as well as other factors, are likely to have an impact on the success of brucellosis policies in the future. Incentives and practicalities of different policies in smallholder settings should be considered. However, the lack of reliable estimates of brucellosis prevalence and difficulties in understanding exactly how policy is being applied in Kazakhstan, which is a vast country with low population density, prevent firm conclusions from being drawn.

Interim Policy Options for Commercialization of Solar Heating and Cooling Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bezdek, Roger

This interim report reviews the major incentive policy options available to accelerate market penetration of solar heating and cooling (SHAC) systems. Feasible policy options designed to overcome existing barriers to commercial acceptance and market penetration are identified and evaluated. The report is divided into seven sections, each dealing…

Optimization of ACC system spacing policy on curved highway

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Jun; Qian, Kun; Gong, Zaiyan

2017-05-01

The paper optimizes the original spacing policy when adopting VTH (Variable Time Headway), proposes to introduce the road curve curvature K to the spacing policy to cope with following the wrong vehicle or failing to follow the vehicle owing to the radar limitation of curve in ACC system. By utilizing MATLAB/Simulink, automobile longitudinal dynamics model is established. At last, the paper sets up such three common cases as the vehicle ahead runs at a uniform velocity, an accelerated velocity and hits the brake suddenly, simulates these cases on the curve with different curvature, analyzes the curve spacing policy in the perspective of safety and vehicle following efficiency and draws the conclusion whether the optimization scheme is effective or not.

Biotechnology and Innovation Systems: The Role of Public Policy ...

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

2012-02-29

Feb 29, 2012 ... This book explores how policies targeting public research institutions, ... such approaches work under different economic and social conditions. ... innovation systems, higher education, and development will find this book an ...

People-centred science: strengthening the practice of health policy and systems research

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is a transdisciplinary field of global importance, with its own emerging standards for creating, evaluating, and utilizing knowledge, and distinguished by a particular orientation towards influencing policy and wider action to strengthen health systems. In this commentary, we argue that the ability of the HPSR field to influence real world change hinges on its becoming more people-centred. We see people-centredness as recognizing the field of enquiry as one of social construction, requiring those conducting HPSR to locate their own position in the system, and conduct and publish research in a manner that foregrounds human agency attributes and values, and is acutely attentive to policy context. Change occurs at many layers of a health system, shaped by social, political, and economic forces, and brought about by different groups of people who make up the system, including service users and communities. The seeds of transformative practice in HPSR lie in amplifying the breadth and depth of dialogue across health system actors in the conduct of research – recognizing that these actors are all generators, sources, and users of knowledge about the system. While building such a dialogic practice, those conducting HPSR must strive to protect the autonomy and integrity of their ideas and actions, and also clearly explain their own positions and the value-basis of their work. We conclude with a set of questions that health policy and systems researchers may wish to consider in making their practice more people-centred, and hence more oriented toward real-world change. PMID:24739525

Condition-based inspection/replacement policies for non-monotone deteriorating systems with environmental covariates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhao Xuejing [Universite de Technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279, 12 rue Marie Curie, 10010 Troyes (France); School of mathematics and statistics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Fouladirad, Mitra, E-mail: mitra.fouladirad@utt.f [Universite de Technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279, 12 rue Marie Curie, 10010 Troyes (France); Berenguer, Christophe [Universite de Technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279, 12 rue Marie Curie, 10010 Troyes (France); Bordes, Laurent [Universite de Pau et des Pays de l' Adour, LMA UMR CNRS 5142, 64013 PAU Cedex (France)

2010-08-15

The aim of this paper is to discuss the problem of modelling and optimising condition-based maintenance policies for a deteriorating system in presence of covariates. The deterioration is modelled by a non-monotone stochastic process. The covariates process is assumed to be a time-homogenous Markov chain with finite state space. A model similar to the proportional hazards model is used to show the influence of covariates on the deterioration. In the framework of the system under consideration, an appropriate inspection/replacement policy which minimises the expected average maintenance cost is derived. The average cost under different conditions of covariates and different maintenance policies is analysed through simulation experiments to compare the policies performances.

Condition-based inspection/replacement policies for non-monotone deteriorating systems with environmental covariates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Xuejing; Fouladirad, Mitra; Berenguer, Christophe; Bordes, Laurent

2010-01-01

The aim of this paper is to discuss the problem of modelling and optimising condition-based maintenance policies for a deteriorating system in presence of covariates. The deterioration is modelled by a non-monotone stochastic process. The covariates process is assumed to be a time-homogenous Markov chain with finite state space. A model similar to the proportional hazards model is used to show the influence of covariates on the deterioration. In the framework of the system under consideration, an appropriate inspection/replacement policy which minimises the expected average maintenance cost is derived. The average cost under different conditions of covariates and different maintenance policies is analysed through simulation experiments to compare the policies performances.

Optimization of series-parallel multi-state systems under maintenance policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nourelfath, Mustapha; Ait-Kadi, Daoud

2007-01-01

In the redundancy optimization problem, the design goal is achieved by discrete choices made from components available in the market. In this paper, the problem is to find, under reliability constraints, the minimal cost configuration of a multi-state series-parallel system, which is subject to a specified maintenance policy. The number of maintenance teams is less than the number of repairable components, and a maintenance policy specifies the priorities between the system components. To take into account the dependencies resulting from the sharing of maintenance teams, the universal generating function approach is coupled with a Markov model. The resulting optimization approach has the advantage of being mainly analytical

Policy incentives and grid-connected photovoltaics system development in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Jing; Xu Yugao

2007-07-01

China has made considerable progress in solar PV generation technology. However, compared with conventional generation technologies or even other renewables such as wind and biomass, grid-connected PV technology is in its early stage and has not reached an adequate level of economic performance. Therefore, policy incentives will play important roles in attracting more social investments to facilitate the development of grid-connected PV generation. This paper is focused on analyzing the role of incentive policies in enhancing the market competitiveness of grid-connected solar PV systems in the context of China with an economic model and some policy suggestions are given based on simulation modeling efforts. (auth)

Household Food Security Policy Analysis A System Dynamics Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isdore Paterson Guma

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Household food security FS is complex and requires multiple stakeholder intervention. Systemic approach aids stakeholders to understand the mechanisms and feedback between complexities in food security providing effective decision making as global resource consumption continues to grow. The study investigated food security challenges and a system dynamics model was developed for evaluating policies and intervention strategies for better livelihood at household level. Dynamic synthesis methodology questionnaires and interview guide were used to unearth food security challenges faced by households. A causal loop diagram was drawn. The model demonstrates a balance between food stock seeds preserved seeds for sale and consumption from crop harvest throughout the food cycles. This research makes contribution to the literature by evaluating dynamic synthesis methodology and FS policy discussions from a feedback point of view.

Impact of Scheduling Policies on Control System Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schiøler, Henrik; Ravn, Anders Peter; Nielsen, Jens Frederik Dalsgaard

2003-01-01

It is well known that jitter has an impact on control system performance, and this is often used as an argument for static scheduling policies, e.g. a time triggered architecture. However, it is only completion jitter that seriously disturbs standard linear control algorithms in a way similar to ...

Online maintenance policy for a deteriorating system with random change of mode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saassouh, B. [Laboratoire de Modelisation et Surete des Systemes, Institut Charles Delaunay-FRE CNRS 2848, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12, rue Marie Curie-BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France); Dieulle, L. [Laboratoire de Modelisation et Surete des Systemes, Institut Charles Delaunay-FRE CNRS 2848, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12, rue Marie Curie-BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France); Grall, A. [Laboratoire de Modelisation et Surete des Systemes, Institut Charles Delaunay-FRE CNRS 2848, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12, rue Marie Curie-BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France)]. E-mail: antoine.grall@utt.fr

2007-12-15

Most of maintenance policies proposed in the literature for gradually deteriorating systems, consider a stationary deterioration process. This paper is an attempt to take into account stochastically deteriorating systems which are subject to a sudden change in their degradation process. A technical device subject to gradual degradation is considered. It is assumed that the level of degradation can be resumed by a single scalar variable. An online maintenance decision rule is proposed, which makes it possible to take into account in real time the online information available on the operating mode of the system as well as its actual deterioration level. We show the efficiency of considering online decision rules for maintenance with respect to traditional maintenance policies based on a static alarm threshold. Numerical simulations are given, to assess and optimize the performance of the maintained system from its asymptotic unavailability point of view. It is compared to the results obtained with classical control-limit maintenance policies.

Exploring health systems research and its influence on policy processes in low income countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syed Shamsuzzoha B

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The interface between research and policymaking in low-income countries is highly complex. The ability of health systems research to influence policy processes in such settings face numerous challenges. Successful analysis of the research-policy interface in these settings requires understanding of contextual factors as well as key influences on the interface. Future Health Systems (FHS: Innovations for Equity is a consortium conducting research in six countries in Asia and Africa. One of the three cross-country research themes of the consortium is analysis of the relationship between research (evidence and policy making, especially their impact on the poor; insights gained in the initial conceptual phase of FHS activities can inform the global knowledge pool on this subject. Discussion This paper provides a review of the research-policy interface in low-income countries and proposes a conceptual framework, followed by directions for empirical approaches. First, four developmental perspectives are considered: social institutional factors; virtual versus grassroots realities; science-society relationships; and construction of social arrangements. Building on these developmental perspectives three research-policy interface entry points are identified: 1. Recognizing policy as complex processes; 2. Engaging key stakeholders: decision-makers, providers, scientists, and communities; and 3. Enhancing accountability. A conceptual framework with three entry points to the research-policy interface – policy processes; stakeholder interests, values, and power; and accountability – within a context provided by four developmental perspectives is proposed. Potential empirical approaches to the research-policy interface are then reviewed. Finally, the value of such innovative empirical analysis is considered. Conclusion The purpose of this paper is to provide the background, conceptual framework, and key research directions for

CERN’s Computing rules updated to include policy for control systems

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2008-01-01

The use of CERN’s computing facilities is governed by rules defined in Operational Circular No. 5 and its subsidiary rules of use. These rules are available from the web site http://cern.ch/ComputingRules. Please note that the subsidiary rules for Internet/Network use have been updated to include a requirement that control systems comply with the CNIC(Computing and Network Infrastructure for Control) Security Policy. The security policy for control systems, which was approved earlier this year, can be accessed at https://edms.cern.ch/document/584092 IT Department

Restructuring energy systems for sustainability? Energy transition policy in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kern, Florian; Smith, Adrian

2008-01-01

Increasingly, researchers and policy makers are confronting the challenge of restructuring energy systems into more sustainable forms. A 'transition management' model, and its adoption in the Netherlands, is attracting attention. Starting from the socio-technical multi-level theory that informs 'transition management', we analyse the 'energy transition' project carried out by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Despite considerable achievements, their approach risks capture by the incumbent energy regime, thereby undermining original policy ambitions for structural innovation of the energy system. This experience presents generic dilemmas for transitions approaches

ANALYISIS OF TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND TRANSPORTATION POLICIES IN TURKEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Payıdar AKGÜNGÖR

2004-03-01

Full Text Available Transportation systems have to be considered and analysed as a whole while transportation demand, becoming as a natural outcome of socioeconomic and socio-cultural structure, is being evaluated. It is desired that transportation system, which will be selected for both passenger and freight transport, should be rapid, economic, safe, causing least harm to environment and appropriate for the conditions of a country. However, it is difficult for a transportation system to have all these properties. Every transportation system has advantages and disadvantages over each other. Therefore, comprehensive plans for future periods have to be prepared and how the sources of the country should be reasonably distributed among transportation systems must be investigated. Also, transportation plans have to be prepared to get coordinated operations among transportation systems while great investments are instituted in the entire country. There is no doubt that it is possible with combined transportation instead of concentration on one transportation system. Transportation policies in Turkey should be questioned since the level of highway transportation usage reaches to 95 % and level of sea transportation usage drops to less than 1 % in spite of being surrounded with sea in three sides of our land. In this paper, transportation systems and transportation policies in Turkey are evaluated in general and problems are analysed. Proposals are presented for the solutions of these problems.

An Item Bank to Measure Systems, Services, and Policies: Environmental Factors Affecting People With Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Jin-Shei; Hammel, Joy; Jerousek, Sara; Goldsmith, Arielle; Miskovic, Ana; Baum, Carolyn; Wong, Alex W; Dashner, Jessica; Heinemann, Allen W

2016-12-01

To develop a measure of perceived systems, services, and policies facilitators (see Chapter 5 of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) for people with neurologic disabilities and to evaluate the effect of perceived systems, services, and policies facilitators on health-related quality of life. Qualitative approaches to develop and refine items. Confirmatory factor analysis including 1-factor confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor analysis to evaluate unidimensionality of items. Rasch analysis to identify misfitting items. Correlational and analysis of variance methods to evaluate construct validity. Community-dwelling individuals participated in telephone interviews or traveled to the academic medical centers where this research took place. Participants (N=571) had a diagnosis of spinal cord injury, stroke, or traumatic brain injury. They were 18 years or older and English speaking. Not applicable. An item bank to evaluate environmental access and support levels of services, systems, and policies for people with disabilities. We identified a general factor defined as "access and support levels of the services, systems, and policies at the level of community living" and 3 local factors defined as "health services," "community living," and "community resources." The systems, services, and policies measure correlated moderately with participation measures: Community Participation Indicators (CPI) - Involvement, CPI - Control over Participation, Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders - Ability to Participate, Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders - Satisfaction with Role Participation, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Ability to Participate, PROMIS Satisfaction with Role Participation, and PROMIS Isolation. The measure of systems, services, and policies facilitators contains items pertaining to health services, community living, and community resources. Investigators and clinicians can measure

State-age-dependent maintenance policies for deteriorating systems with Erlang sojourn time distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh, R.H.

1997-01-01

This paper investigates state-age-dependent maintenance policies for multistate deteriorating systems with Erlang sojourn time distributions. Since Erlang distributions are serial combinations of exponential phases, the deteriorating process can be modeled by a multi-phase Markovian model and hence easily analyzed. Based on the Markovian model, the optimal phase-dependent inspection and replacement policy can be obtained by using a policy improvement algorithm. However, since phases are fictitious and can not be identified by inspections, two procedures are developed to construct state-age-dependent policies based on the optimal phase-dependent policy. The properties of the constructed state-age-dependent policies are further investigated and the performance of the policy is evaluated through a numerical example

Global Health Systems and Policy Development: Implications for Health Literacy Research, Theory and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowlands, Gillian; Dodson, Sarity; Leung, Angela; Levin-Zamir, Diane

2017-01-01

Accessible and responsive health systems are critical to population health and human development. While progress has been made toward global health and development targets, significant inequities remain within and between countries. Expanding health inequities suggest a widespread and systemic neglect of vulnerable citizens, and a failure to enshrine within policies a responsibility to tailor care to the variable capabilities of citizens. Implementation of health and social policies that drive the design of accessible health systems, services, products and infrastructure represents the next frontier for health reform. Within this chapter we argue the need to consider health and health literacy across policy domains, to operationalize the intent to address inequities in health in meaningful and pragmatic ways, and to actively monitor progress and impact within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We contend that viewing and developing policies and systems within a health literacy framework will assist in placing citizens and equity considerations at the center of development efforts. In this chapter, we explore the relationship between health literacy and equitable access to health care, and the role of health system and policy reform. We first explore international policies, health literacy, and the SDGs. We then explore national policies and the role that national and local services and systems play in building health literacy, and responding to the health literacy challenges of citizens. We discuss the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework for Integrated People-Centered Health Services and the way in which health services are being encouraged to understand and respond to citizen health literacy needs. Each section of the chapter ends with a summary and a review of health literacy research and practice. Throughout, we illustrate our points through 'vignettes' from around the world.

Public perceptions of energy system risks: some policy implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, K.; Otway, H.J.

1980-01-01

The subject is discussed under the headings: introduction; perceptions, beliefs and attitudes; the survey of public perceptions and attitudes towards energy systems; attitudes towards the five energy systems (nuclear, coal, oil, solar and hydro); perceptions of energy systems - the underlying dimensions of belief (economic benefits; environmental risk; psychological and physical risk; indirect risk; technology development); differential analysis of the perceptions of those pro and con nuclear energy; summary of perceptions of energy systems - relevance to the Austrian dilemma; policy implications. (U.K.)

Integrating Information and Communication Technology for Health Information System Strengthening: A Policy Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Marzuki, Nuraidah; Ismail, Saimy; Al-Sadat, Nabilla; Ehsan, Fauziah Z; Chan, Chee-Khoon; Ng, Chiu-Wan

2015-11-01

Despite the high costs involved and the lack of definitive evidence of sustained effectiveness, many low- and middle-income countries had begun to strengthen their health information system using information and communication technology in the past few decades. Following this international trend, the Malaysian Ministry of Health had been incorporating Telehealth (National Telehealth initiatives) into national health policies since the 1990s. Employing qualitative approaches, including key informant interviews and document review, this study examines the agenda-setting processes of the Telehealth policy using Kingdon's framework. The findings suggested that Telehealth policies emerged through actions of policy entrepreneurs within the Ministry of Health, who took advantage of several simultaneously occurring opportunities--official recognition of problems within the existing health information system, availability of information and communication technology to strengthen health information system and political interests surrounding the national Multimedia Super Corridor initiative being developed at the time. The last was achieved by the inclusion of Telehealth as a component of the Multimedia Super Corridor. © 2015 APJPH.

Systems, methods and apparatus for modeling, specifying and deploying policies in autonomous and autonomic systems using agent-oriented software engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Hinchey, Michael G. (Inventor); Penn, Joaquin (Inventor); Sterritt, Roy (Inventor)

2011-01-01

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which in some embodiments, an agent-oriented specification modeled with MaCMAS, is analyzed, flaws in the agent-oriented specification modeled with MaCMAS are corrected, and an implementation is derived from the corrected agent-oriented specification. Described herein are systems, method and apparatus that produce fully (mathematically) tractable development of agent-oriented specification(s) modeled with methodology fragment for analyzing complex multiagent systems (MaCMAS) and policies for autonomic systems from requirements through to code generation. The systems, method and apparatus described herein are illustrated through an example showing how user formulated policies can be translated into a formal mode which can then be converted to code. The requirements-based programming systems, method and apparatus described herein may provide faster, higher quality development and maintenance of autonomic systems based on user formulation of policies.

Optimizing preventive maintenance policy: A data-driven application for a light rail braking system.

Science.gov (United States)

Corman, Francesco; Kraijema, Sander; Godjevac, Milinko; Lodewijks, Gabriel

2017-10-01

This article presents a case study determining the optimal preventive maintenance policy for a light rail rolling stock system in terms of reliability, availability, and maintenance costs. The maintenance policy defines one of the three predefined preventive maintenance actions at fixed time-based intervals for each of the subsystems of the braking system. Based on work, maintenance, and failure data, we model the reliability degradation of the system and its subsystems under the current maintenance policy by a Weibull distribution. We then analytically determine the relation between reliability, availability, and maintenance costs. We validate the model against recorded reliability and availability and get further insights by a dedicated sensitivity analysis. The model is then used in a sequential optimization framework determining preventive maintenance intervals to improve on the key performance indicators. We show the potential of data-driven modelling to determine optimal maintenance policy: same system availability and reliability can be achieved with 30% maintenance cost reduction, by prolonging the intervals and re-grouping maintenance actions.

Pension system in Romania. Long term imbalances and inconsistent policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ph. D. Associate Professor Razvan Papuc

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Public policies on retirement, both in Romania and in other EU countries, have been and still are conditioned by numerous short-term budgetary constaints and by long term major sustainability problems. Alongside objective, demographic developments known in all European countries , support systems for the elderly are facing numerous constraints, both due to government policies marked by fiscal indiscipline and lack of consistency of decisions and, hence, credibility phenomena caused by the phenomenon "the captive politician of a redistributive policy model". Modeling support institutions for pensioners by political actors was most of the times the expression of elections marked by Weberian instrumental rationality and not by wertrationalitat, using the axiom- guide for the behaviour of decision markers to "meet social interests in order to come to power" and not by the concern for a more long term efficient trans-redistributive approach. This paper aims to pursue the most important imbalances that chartacterize the public pension system in Romania, expression of decisions determined by aggregating in group individual preferences and noy by both rational and ethical analysis without redistribution centres.

Accomplishing Water Strategy Policies in Hospitals: The Role of Management Information Systems and Managerial Styles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Naranjo-Gil

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Hospitals are using more sophisticated and comprehensive management information systems to implement multiple strategic policies towards water cost saving and water quality enhancement. However, they do not always achieve the intended strategic goals. This paper analyzes how managerial styles interact with sophisticated management information systems to achieve different water strategic priorities. How proactive vs. reactive managerial styles moderate the effects of management information systems on water cost saving and water quality enhancement is analyzed. Relationships are explored using data collected from 122 general services directors in Spanish public hospitals. The findings show a positive effect of sophisticated management information systems on the achievement of water policies focused on cost saving and quality enhancement. Results also show a different moderated effect of managerial styles; thus, sophisticated management information systems with a proactive managerial style facilitate managers to achieve better water quality policies rather than water cost saving policies.

How nutrition policy affects food and agricultural policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, S R

1994-09-01

The impact of the improved understanding of nutrition and the importance of the diet in nutrition status has had subtle but far-reaching consequences for food and agricultural policy. Many of the changes in the food supply are in response to increased consciousness of diet, nutrition and health status. The simple connection between nutrition policy and food and agricultural policy follows from the sovereignty of the consumer. Nutrition policy influences consumers' attitudes and choices. These impact the behavior of agents in the food and production system. And, if properly designed, food and agricultural policies can accelerate the process of adapting the production and distribution systems for agriculture and food to better meet the demands of the more informed consumer. Policies that reflect the behavior of consumers and supply better information to the agents in the food and agricultural system will be the most effective.

Policies for Reintegrating Crop and Livestock Systems: A Comparative Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachael D. Garrett

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The reintegration of crop and livestock systems within the same land area has the potential to improve soil quality and reduce water and air pollution, while maintaining high yields and reducing risk. In this study, we characterize the degree to which federal policies in three major global food production regions that span a range of socioeconomic contexts, Brazil, New Zealand, and the United States, incentivize or disincentivize the use of integrated crop and livestock practices (ICLS. Our analysis indicates that Brazil and New Zealand have the most favorable policy environment for ICLS, while the United States provides the least favorable environment. The balance of policy incentives and disincentives across our three cases studies mirrors current patterns of ICLS usage. Brazil and New Zealand have both undergone a trend toward mixed crop livestock systems in recent years, while the United States has transitioned rapidly toward continuous crop and livestock production. If transitions to ICLS are desired, particularly in the United States, it will be necessary to change agricultural, trade, environmental, biofuels, and food safety policies that currently buffer farmers from risk, provide too few incentives for pollution reduction, and restrict the presence of animals in crop areas. It will also be necessary to invest more in research and development in all countries to identify the most profitable ICLS technologies in each region.

Using a trauma-informed policy approach to create a resilient urban food system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hecht, Amelie A; Biehl, Erin; Buzogany, Sarah; Neff, Roni A

2018-07-01

Food insecurity is associated with toxic stress and adverse long-term physical and mental health outcomes. It can be experienced chronically and also triggered or exacerbated by natural and human-made hazards that destabilize the food system. The Baltimore Food System Resilience Advisory Report was created to strengthen the resilience of the city's food system and improve short- and long-term food security. Recognizing food insecurity as a form of trauma, the report was developed using the principles of trauma-informed social policy. In the present paper, we examine how the report applied trauma-informed principles to policy development, discuss the challenges and benefits of using a trauma-informed approach, and provide recommendations for others seeking to create trauma-informed food policy. Report recommendations were developed based on: semi-structured interviews with food system stakeholders; input from community members at outreach events; a literature review; Geographic Information System mapping; and other analyses. The present paper explores findings from the stakeholder interviews. Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Baltimore food system stakeholders stratified by two informant categories: organizations focused on promoting food access (n 13) and community leaders (n 12). Stakeholder interviews informed the recommendations included in the report and supported the idea that chronic and acute food insecurity are experienced as trauma in the Baltimore community. Applying a trauma-informed approach to the development of the Baltimore Food System Resilience Advisory Report contributed to policy recommendations that were community-informed and designed to lessen the traumatic impact of food insecurity.

Update on the Chemical Composition Of Crystalline, Smectite, and Amorphous Components for Rocknest Soil and John Klein and Cumberland Mudstone Drill Fines at Gale Crater, Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, R. V.; Ming, D. W.; Gellert, R.; Vaniman, D. T.; Bish, D. L.; Blake, D. F.; Chipera, S. J.; Morrison, S. M.; Downs, R. T.; Rampe, E. B.;

Promoting Health Through Policy and Systems Change: Public Health Students and Mentors on the Value of Policy Advocacy Experience in Academic Internships.

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez, Daniela; Pell, Dylan; Forster-Cox, Sue; Garcia, Evelyn; Ornelas, Sophia; Bandstra, Brenna; Mata, Holly

2017-05-01

Emerging professionals and new Certified Health Education Specialists often lack academic training in and actual experience in National Commission for Health Education Credentialing Area of Responsibility VII: Communicate, Promote, and Advocate for Health, Health Education/Promotion, and the Profession. For undergraduate and graduate students who have an opportunity to complete an internship or practicum experience, gaining experience in Competencies 7.2: Engage in advocacy for health and health education/promotion and 7.3: Influence policy and/or systems change to promote health and health education can have a profound impact on their career development and their ability to advocate for policies that promote health and health equity. Compelling evidence suggests that interventions that address social determinants of health such as poverty and education and those that change the context through improved policy or healthier environments have the greatest impact on public health, making it vital for emerging public health professionals to gain experience in policy advocacy and systems change. In this commentary, students and faculty from two large universities in the U.S.-Mexico border region reflect on the value of policy advocacy in academic internship/fieldwork experiences. Based on their experiences, they highly recommend that students seek out internship opportunities where they can participate in policy advocacy, and they encourage university faculty and practicum preceptors to provide more opportunities for policy advocacy in both classroom and fieldwork settings.

Internet Acceptable User Policies in Alabama School Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Feng; McLean, James E.

The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of and need for acceptable use policies (AUPs) for students' use of the Internet in Alabama school systems. Alabama superintendents were questioned using an electronic survey that could be returned via e-mail on an anonymous Internet site. Primary questions were: (1) What is your level…

A Food Systems Approach To Healthy Food And Agriculture Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Neff, Roni A; Merrigan, Kathleen; Wallinga, David

2015-11-01

Food has become a prominent focus of US public health policy. The emphasis has been almost exclusively on what Americans eat, not what is grown or how it is grown. A field of research, policy, and practice activities addresses the food-health-agriculture nexus, yet the work is still often considered "alternative" to the mainstream. This article outlines the diverse ways in which agriculture affects public health. It then describes three policy issues: farm-to-school programming, sustainability recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and antibiotic use in animal agriculture. These issues illustrate the progress, challenges, and public health benefits of taking a food systems approach that brings together the food, agriculture, and public health fields. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Policy analysis of multi-actor systems

CERN Document Server

Enserink, Bert; Kwakkel, Jan; Thissen, Wil; Koppenjan, Joop; Bots, Pieter

2010-01-01

Policy analysts love solving complex problems. Their favorite problems are not just technically complex but also characterized by the presence of many different social actors that hold conflicting interests, objectives, and perceptions and act strategically to get the best out of a problem situation. This book offers guidance for policy analysts who want to assess if and how their analysis could be of help, based on the premise that problem formulation is the cornerstone in addressing complex problems. This book positions policy analysis within the theories on processes of policy making, and f

Balancing economic freedom against social policy principles: EC competition law and national health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mossialos, Elias; Lear, Julia

2012-07-01

EU Health policy exemplifies the philosophical tension between EC economic freedoms and social policy. EC competition law, like other internal market rules, could restrict national health policy options despite the subsidiarity principle. In particular, European health system reforms that incorporate elements of market competition may trigger the application of competition rules if non-economic gains in consumer welfare are not adequately accounted for. This article defines the policy and legal parameters of the debate between competition law and health policy. Using a sample of cases it analyses how the ECJ, national courts, and National Competition Authorities have applied competition laws to the health services sector in different circumstances and in different ways. It concludes by considering the implications of the convergence of recent trends in competition law enforcement and health system market reforms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engaging policy-makers, heath system managers, and policy analysts in the knowledge synthesis process: a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Tricco, Andrea C; Zarin, Wasifa; Rios, Patricia; Nincic, Vera; Khan, Paul A; Ghassemi, Marco; Diaz, Sanober; Pham, Ba'; Straus, Sharon E; Langlois, Etienne V

2018-02-12

It is unclear how to engage a wide range of knowledge users in research. We aimed to map the evidence on engaging knowledge users with an emphasis on policy-makers, health system managers, and policy analysts in the knowledge synthesis process through a scoping review. We used the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance for scoping reviews. Nine electronic databases (e.g., MEDLINE), two grey literature sources (e.g., OpenSIGLE), and reference lists of relevant systematic reviews were searched from 1996 to August 2016. We included any type of study describing strategies, barriers and facilitators, or assessing the impact of engaging policy-makers, health system managers, and policy analysts in the knowledge synthesis process. Screening and data abstraction were conducted by two reviewers independently with a third reviewer resolving discrepancies. Frequency and thematic analyses were conducted. After screening 8395 titles and abstracts followed by 394 full-texts, 84 unique documents and 7 companion reports fulfilled our eligibility criteria. All 84 documents were published in the last 10 years, and half were prepared in North America. The most common type of knowledge synthesis with knowledge user engagement was a systematic review (36%). The knowledge synthesis most commonly addressed an issue at the level of national healthcare system (48%) and focused on health services delivery (17%) in high-income countries (86%). Policy-makers were the most common (64%) knowledge users, followed by healthcare professionals (49%) and government agencies as well as patients and caregivers (34%). Knowledge users were engaged in conceptualization and design (49%), literature search and data collection (52%), data synthesis and interpretation (71%), and knowledge dissemination and application (44%). Knowledge users were most commonly engaged as key informants through meetings and workshops as well as surveys, focus groups, and interviews either in-person or by telephone and emails

A critical analysis of national policies, systems, and structures of patient empowerment in England and Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Boudioni, Markella; McLaren, Susan; Lister, Graham

2017-01-01

Comparison of patient empowerment (PE) policies in European countries can provide evidence for improvement and reform across different health systems. It may also influence patient and public involvement, patient experience, preference, and adherence. The objective of this study was to compare PE within national policies, systems, and structures in England and Greece for achieving integrated people-centered health services. We performed a critical search and review of policy and legislation papers in English and Greek languages. This included 1) general health policy and systems papers, 2) PE, patient and/or public involvement or patients' rights policy and legislation (1990-2015), and 3) comparative or discussion papers for England and/or Greece. A total of 102 papers on PE policies, systems, and structures were identified initially; 80 papers were included, in which 46 were policy, legislative, and discussion papers about England, 21 were policy, legislation, and discussion papers about Greece, and 13 were comparative or discussion papers including both the countries. In England, National Health Service policies emphasized patient-centered services, involvement, and empowerment, with recent focus on patients' rights; while in Greece, they emphasized patients' rights and quality of services, with recent mentions on empowerment. The health ombudsman is a very important organization across countries; however, it may be more powerful in Greece, because of the nonexistence of local mediating bodies. Micro-structures at trusts/hospitals are comparable, but legislation gives more power to the local structures in Greece. PE policies and systems have been developed and expressed differently in these countries. However, PE similarities, comparable dimensions and mechanisms, were identified. For both the countries, comparative research and these findings could be beneficial in building connections and relationships, contributing to wider European and international

An Adaptable System to Support Provenance Management for the Public Policy-Making Process in Smart Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barkha Javed

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Government policies aim to address public issues and problems and therefore play a pivotal role in people’s lives. The creation of public policies, however, is complex given the perspective of large and diverse stakeholders’ involvement, considerable human participation, lengthy processes, complex task specification and the non-deterministic nature of the process. The inherent complexities of the policy process impart challenges for designing a computing system that assists in supporting and automating the business process pertaining to policy setup, which also raises concerns for setting up a tracking service in the policy-making environment. A tracking service informs how decisions have been taken during policy creation and can provide useful and intrinsic information regarding the policy process. At present, there exists no computing system that assists in tracking the complete process that has been employed for policy creation. To design such a system, it is important to consider the policy environment challenges; for this a novel network and goal based approach has been framed and is covered in detail in this paper. Furthermore, smart governance objectives that include stakeholders’ participation and citizens’ involvement have been considered. Thus, the proposed approach has been devised by considering smart governance principles and the knowledge environment of policy making where tasks are largely dependent on policy makers’ decisions and on individual policy objectives. Our approach reckons the human dimension for deciding and defining autonomous process activities at run time. Furthermore, with the network-based approach, so-called provenance data tracking is employed which enables the capture of policy process.

The Impact of the Introduction of Web Information Systems (WIS) on Information Policies: An Analysis of the Canadian Federal Government Policies Related to WIS.

Science.gov (United States)

Dufour, Christine; Bergeron, Pierette

2002-01-01

Presents results of an analysis of the Canadian federal government information policies that govern its Web information systems (WIS) that was conducted to better understand how the government has adapted its information policies to the WIS. Discusses results that indicate new policies have been crafted to take into account the WIS context.…

Security Policies for Mitigating the Risk of Load Altering Attacks on Smart Grid Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryutov, Tatyana; AlMajali, Anas; Neuman, Clifford

2015-04-01

While demand response programs implement energy efficiency and power quality objectives, they bring potential security threats to the Smart Grid. The ability to influence load in a system enables attackers to cause system failures and impacts the quality and integrity of power delivered to customers. This paper presents a security mechanism to monitor and control load according to a set of security policies during normal system operation. The mechanism monitors, detects, and responds to load altering attacks. We examined the security requirements of Smart Grid stakeholders and constructed a set of load control policies enforced by the mechanism. We implemented a proof of concept prototype and tested it using the simulation environment. By enforcing the proposed policies in this prototype, the system is maintained in a safe state in the presence of load drop attacks.

Design an optimum safety policy for personnel safety management - A system dynamic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balaji, P.

2014-01-01

Personnel safety management (PSM) ensures that employee's work conditions are healthy and safe by various proactive and reactive approaches. Nowadays it is a complex phenomenon because of increasing dynamic nature of organisations which results in an increase of accidents. An important part of accident prevention is to understand the existing system properly and make safety strategies for that system. System dynamics modelling appears to be an appropriate methodology to explore and make strategy for PSM. Many system dynamics models of industrial systems have been built entirely for specific host firms. This thesis illustrates an alternative approach. The generic system dynamics model of Personnel safety management was developed and tested in a host firm. The model was undergone various structural, behavioural and policy tests. The utility and effectiveness of model was further explored through modelling a safety scenario. In order to create effective safety policy under resource constraint, DOE (Design of experiment) was used. DOE uses classic designs, namely, fractional factorials and central composite designs. It used to make second order regression equation which serve as an objective function. That function was optimized under budget constraint and optimum value used for safety policy which shown greatest improvement in overall PSM. The outcome of this research indicates that personnel safety management model has the capability for acting as instruction tool to improve understanding of safety management and also as an aid to policy making

Design an optimum safety policy for personnel safety management - A system dynamic approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balaji, P. [The Glocal University, Mirzapur Pole, Delhi- Yamuntori Highway, Saharanpur 2470001 (India)

2014-10-06

Personnel safety management (PSM) ensures that employee's work conditions are healthy and safe by various proactive and reactive approaches. Nowadays it is a complex phenomenon because of increasing dynamic nature of organisations which results in an increase of accidents. An important part of accident prevention is to understand the existing system properly and make safety strategies for that system. System dynamics modelling appears to be an appropriate methodology to explore and make strategy for PSM. Many system dynamics models of industrial systems have been built entirely for specific host firms. This thesis illustrates an alternative approach. The generic system dynamics model of Personnel safety management was developed and tested in a host firm. The model was undergone various structural, behavioural and policy tests. The utility and effectiveness of model was further explored through modelling a safety scenario. In order to create effective safety policy under resource constraint, DOE (Design of experiment) was used. DOE uses classic designs, namely, fractional factorials and central composite designs. It used to make second order regression equation which serve as an objective function. That function was optimized under budget constraint and optimum value used for safety policy which shown greatest improvement in overall PSM. The outcome of this research indicates that personnel safety management model has the capability for acting as instruction tool to improve understanding of safety management and also as an aid to policy making.

Design an optimum safety policy for personnel safety management - A system dynamic approach

Science.gov (United States)

Balaji, P.

2014-10-01

Personnel safety management (PSM) ensures that employee's work conditions are healthy and safe by various proactive and reactive approaches. Nowadays it is a complex phenomenon because of increasing dynamic nature of organisations which results in an increase of accidents. An important part of accident prevention is to understand the existing system properly and make safety strategies for that system. System dynamics modelling appears to be an appropriate methodology to explore and make strategy for PSM. Many system dynamics models of industrial systems have been built entirely for specific host firms. This thesis illustrates an alternative approach. The generic system dynamics model of Personnel safety management was developed and tested in a host firm. The model was undergone various structural, behavioural and policy tests. The utility and effectiveness of model was further explored through modelling a safety scenario. In order to create effective safety policy under resource constraint, DOE (Design of experiment) was used. DOE uses classic designs, namely, fractional factorials and central composite designs. It used to make second order regression equation which serve as an objective function. That function was optimized under budget constraint and optimum value used for safety policy which shown greatest improvement in overall PSM. The outcome of this research indicates that personnel safety management model has the capability for acting as instruction tool to improve understanding of safety management and also as an aid to policy making.

Policy implications of considering pre-commitments in U.S. aggregate energy demand system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowland, Christopher S.; Mjelde, James W.; Dharmasena, Senarath

2017-01-01

Linear approximations of the Generalized Almost Ideal Demand System and Almost Ideal Demand System for U.S. energy are compared to contrast the explicit inclusion and exclusion of pre-committed consumption levels. Results indicate that pre-commitment levels, the quantity of a good that is consumed in the short run with little regard for price, helps to better explain energy demand in the U.S. compared to the system that does not explicitly consider pre-commitments. Policy implications are if pre-commitments are a legitimate assumption, larger price changes are necessary to achieve a given policy objective than if there are no pre-commitments. - Highlights: • Pre-commitments are the quantity that is consumed with little regard for price. • Demand systems with pre-commitment levels better explain energy demand. • Elasticities from assuming pre-commitments are more elastic. • Estimated elasticities apply to discretionary and not pre-commitment consumption. • Pre-commitments require larger price changes to achieve a given policy objective.

Nurturing Diversified Farming Systems in Industrialized Countries: How Public Policy Can Contribute

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alastair Iles

2012-12-01

Full Text Available If diversified farming systems (DFS are to thrive again in the United States, policies and preferences must evolve to reward the environmental and social benefits of sustainable farming and landscape management. Compared with conventional agricultural policies, policies aiding ecological diversification are underdeveloped and fragmented. We consider several examples of obstacles to the adoption and spread of diversified farming practices in the U.S. industrialized agricultural system. These include the broader political economic context of industrialized agriculture, the erosion of farmer knowledge and capacity, and supply chain and marketing conditions that limit the ability of farmers to adopt sustainable practices. To overcome these obstacles and nurture DFS, policy makers, researchers, industry, farmers, consumers, and local communities can play pivotal roles to transform agricultural research, develop peer-to-peer learning processes, support the recruitment and retention of new farmers through access to credit and land, invest in improved agricultural conservation programs, provide compensation for provision of ecological services in working landscapes, and develop links to consumer and institutional markets.

Optimizing Multireservoir System Operating Policies Using Exogenous Hydrologic Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Pina, Jasson; Tilmant, Amaury; Côté, Pascal

2017-11-01

Stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP) is one of the few available algorithms to optimize the operating policies of large-scale hydropower systems. This paper presents a variant, called SDDPX, in which exogenous hydrologic variables, such as snow water equivalent and/or sea surface temperature, are included in the state space vector together with the traditional (endogenous) variables, i.e., past inflows. A reoptimization procedure is also proposed in which SDDPX-derived benefit-to-go functions are employed within a simulation carried out over the historical record of both the endogenous and exogenous hydrologic variables. In SDDPX, release policies are now a function of storages, past inflows, and relevant exogenous variables that potentially capture more complex hydrological processes than those found in traditional SDDP formulations. To illustrate the potential gain associated with the use of exogenous variables when operating a multireservoir system, the 3,137 MW hydropower system of Rio Tinto (RT) located in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean River Basin in Quebec (Canada) is used as a case study. The performance of the system is assessed for various combinations of hydrologic state variables, ranging from the simple lag-one autoregressive model to more complex formulations involving past inflows, snow water equivalent, and winter precipitation.

The Flask Security Architecture: System Support for Diverse Security Policies

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

Flask microkernel -based operating sys­ tem, that successfully overcomes these obstacles to pol- icy flexibility. The cleaner separation of mechanism and...other object managers in the system to en- force those access control decisions. Although the pro­ totype system is microkernel -based, the security...mecha­ nisms do not depend on a microkernel architecture and will easily generalize beyond it. The resulting system provides policy flexibility. It sup

Adoption of an information systems security policy in small and medium sized enterprises.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel Maria Lopes

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Information Systems Security (ISS is a relevant fact for current organizations. This paper focuses on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs. This article aims to constitute an empirical study on the applicability of the Action Research (AR method in information systems, more specifically by assessing the adoption of an ISS policy in six SMEs, and identifying the critical success factors in adopting an ISS policy. The research question we intend to answer is to what extent this research method is adequate to reach the proposed goal. The results of the study suggest that AR is a promising means for the evaluation of ISS policies adoption. It can both act as a research method that improves the understanding about the reasons why the policy has been abandoned, and as a change method, assisting practitioners to overcome barriers and suggesting measures to be implemented.

On preventive maintenance policy of a critical reliability level for system subject to degradation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Y.X.

2003-01-01

Conventional preventive maintenance (PM) policies generally hold same time interval for PM actions and are often applied with known failure modes. The same time interval will give unavoidably decreasing reliabilities at the PM actions for degradation system with imperfect PM effect and the known failure modes may be inaccurate in practice. Therefore, field managers would prefer policy with an acceptable reliability level to keep system often at a good state. A PM policy with the critical reliability level is presented to address the preference of field managers. Through assuming that system after a PM action starts a new failure process, a parameter so-called degradation ratio is introduced to represent the imperfect effect. The policy holds a law that there is same number of failures in the time intervals of various PM cycles, and same degradation ratio for the system reliability or benefit parameters such as the optimal time intervals and the hazard rates between the neighboring PM cycles. This law is valid to any of the failure modes that could be appropriately referred as a 'general isodegrading model', and the degradation ratio as a 'general isodegrading ratio'. In addition, life cycle availability and cost functions are derived for system with the policy. An analysis of the field data of a loading and unloading machine indicates that the reliability, availability and cost in life cycle might be well modeled by the present theory and approach

Sustainability science: accounting for nonlinear dynamics in policy and social-ecological systems

Science.gov (United States)

Resilience is an emergent property of complex systems. Understanding resilience is critical for sustainability science, as linked social-ecological systems and the policy process that governs them are characterized by non-linear dynamics. Non-linear dynamics in these systems mean...

A Systemic Perspective on Innovation from Energy Efficiency Policy efforts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruby, Tobias Møller

In order to reduce climate change, resource scarcity and other global environmental issues major increases in energy efficiency are necessary throughout our energy system. Despite this daunting outlook and the fact that energy efficiency in most instances makes economic and environmental sense...... efficiency innovation activities where market demand and policy efforts appear to have the most impact. The thesis also goes in depth with a single sector to describe the complexities of innovation processes in energy efficiency and the noticeable role of policy. Overall the doctoral thesis provides...

The Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) in the Dutch population with and without complaints of ankle instability.

Science.gov (United States)

Vuurberg, Gwendolyn; Kluit, Lana; van Dijk, C Niek

2018-03-01

To develop a translated Dutch version of the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) and test its psychometric properties in a Dutch population with foot and ankle complaints. The CAIT was translated into the Dutch language using a forward-backward translation design. Of the 130 subsequent patients visiting the outpatient clinic for foot and ankle complaints who were asked to fill out a questionnaire containing the CAIT, the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS), and the numeric rating scale (NRS) pain, 98 completed the questionnaire. After a 1-week period, patients were asked to fill out a second questionnaire online containing the CAIT and NRS pain. This second questionnaire was completed by 70 patients. With these data, the construct validity, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, measurement error, and ceiling and floor effects were assessed. Additionally, a cut-off value to discriminate between stable and unstable ankles, in patients with ankle complaints, was calculated. Construct validity showed moderate correlations between the CAIT and FAOS subscales (Spearman's correlation coefficient (SCC) = 0.36-0.43), and the NRS pain (SCC = -0.55). The cut-off value was found at 11.5 points of the total CAIT score (range 0-30). Test-retest reliability showed to be excellent with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.94. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α = 0.86). No ceiling or floor effects were detected. Based on the results, the Dutch version of the CAIT is a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess ankle instability in the Dutch population and is able to differentiate between a functionally unstable and stable ankle. The tool is the first suitable tool to objectify the severity of ankle instability specific complaints and assess change in the Dutch population. Level of evidence II.

State Responses to Alcohol Use and Pregnancy: Findings From the Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS)

OpenAIRE

DRABBLE, LAURIE; THOMAS, SUE; O’CONNOR, LISA; ROBERTS, SARAH CM

2014-01-01

This article describes U.S. state policies related to alcohol use during pregnancy, using data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS). Specifically, this study examines trends in policies enacted by states over time and types of policies enacted across states in the U.S., with a focus on whether laws were supportive or punitive toward women. Findings revealed substantial variability in characteristics of policies (19 primar...

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.

Health policy and systems research agendas in developing countries

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Gonzalez-Block Miguel A

2004-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Health policy and systems research (HPSR is an international public good with potential to orient investments and performance at national level. Identifying research trends and priorities at international level is therefore important. This paper offers a conceptual framework and defines the HPSR portfolio as a set of research projects under implementation. The research portfolio is influenced by factors external to the research system as well as internal to it. These last include the capacity of research institutions, the momentum of research programs, funding opportunities and the influence of stakeholder priorities and public opinion. These dimensions can vary in their degree of coordination, leading to a complementary or a fragmented research portfolio. Objective The main objective is to identify the themes currently being pursued in the research portfolio and agendas within developing countries and to quantify their frequency in an effort to identify current research topics and their underlying influences. Methods HPSR topics being pursued by developing country producer institutions and their perceived priorities were identified through a survey between 2000 and 2002. The response to a call for letters of intent issued by the Alliance in 2000 for a broad range of topics was also analyzed. The institutions that were the universe of this study consisted of the 176 institutional partners of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research producing research in low and middle income countries outside Europe. HPSR topics as well as the beneficiaries or issues and the health problems addressed were content analyzed. Topics were classified into 19 categories and their frequency analyzed across groups of countries with similar per capita income. Agendas were identified by analyzing the source of funding and of project initiation for projects under implementation. Results The highest ranking topic at the aggregate level is

A Causal Mechanism of Policy Innovation: The Reform of Colombia’s Oil-Rents Management System

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Bayron Paz

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes policy innovation in Colombia, through the adoption of a new centralized oil-rent management system in 2011, after 20 years of decentralized policies. Using a policy-design framework, we identify a causal mechanism linking the opening of a policy window to policy change as a combination of the emergence of a new policy network, the adoption of a new policy paradigm and the selection of a new instruments mix. Drawing on Bayesian statistics, the 11 tests conducted on the causal mechanism show the importance of State resources of information, authority, treasury and organization to assess the outcome of policy change.

A condition-based maintenance policy for multi-component systems with Lévy copulas dependence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Heping; Deloux, Estelle; Dieulle, Laurence

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new condition-based maintenance policy for multi-component systems taking into account stochastic and economic dependences. The stochastic dependence between components due to common environment is modelled by Lévy copulas. Its influence on the maintenance optimization is investigated with different dependence degrees. On the issue of economic dependence providing opportunities to group maintenance activities, a new maintenance decision rule is proposed which permits maintenance grouping. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed maintenance policy, we compare it to the classical maintenance policies. - Highlights: • A new adaptive maintenance policy for grouping maintenance actions is proposed. • The impacts of both economic and stochastic dependences are investigated. • The performance of the proposed maintenance policy is evaluated under different system configurations. • The stochastic dependence is modelled by Lévy copulas. • The proposed maintenance decision rule can take full advantage of economic and stochastic dependences.

Promoting a Culture of Tailoring for Systems Engineering Policy Expectations

Science.gov (United States)

Blankenship, Van A.

2016-01-01

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed an integrated systems engineering approach to promote a culture of tailoring for program and project policy requirements. MSFC's culture encourages and supports tailoring, with an emphasis on risk-based decision making, for enhanced affordability and efficiency. MSFC's policy structure integrates the various Agency requirements into a single, streamlined implementation approach which serves as a "one-stop-shop" for our programs and projects to follow. The engineers gain an enhanced understanding of policy and technical expectations, as well as lesson's learned from MSFC's history of spaceflight and science missions, to enable them to make appropriate, risk-based tailoring recommendations. The tailoring approach utilizes a standard methodology to classify projects into predefined levels using selected mission and programmatic scaling factors related to risk tolerance. Policy requirements are then selectively applied and tailored, with appropriate rationale, and approved by the governing authorities, to support risk-informed decisions to achieve the desired cost and schedule efficiencies. The policy is further augmented by implementation tools and lifecycle planning aids which help promote and support the cultural shift toward more tailoring. The MSFC Customization Tool is an integrated spreadsheet that ties together everything that projects need to understand, navigate, and tailor the policy. It helps them classify their project, understand the intent of the requirements, determine their tailoring approach, and document the necessary governance approvals. It also helps them plan for and conduct technical reviews throughout the lifecycle. Policy tailoring is thus established as a normal part of project execution, with the tools provided to facilitate and enable the tailoring process. MSFC's approach to changing the culture emphasizes risk-based tailoring of policy to achieve increased flexibility, efficiency

78 FR 69286 - Electric System Construction Policies and Procedures

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-19

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Rural Utilities Service 7 CFR Part 1726 Electric System Construction Policies and Procedures CFR Correction In Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 1600 to 1759, revised as of January 1, 2013, on page 246, in Sec. 1726.14, the second definition of Minor modification...

From Product to System Approaches in European Sustainable Product Policies: Analysis of the Package Concept of Heating Systems in Buildings

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Maria Calero-Pastor

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Different policies with the goal of reducing energy consumption and other environmental impacts in the building sector coexist in Europe. Sustainable product polices, such as the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directives, have recently broadened the scope of their target product groups from a strict product approach to extended product and system approaches. Indeed, there is a potential for greater savings when the focus is at a system level rather than on regulating individual products. Product policies for space and water heating systems have recently introduced and implemented the package label, which is a modular approach, standing between the extended product and the system approaches. This paper presents a systematic analysis of the different system approaches of various policies from an engineering perspective. It analyses in detail the package concept and its features through a practical application using a real case study. It focuses on how the package concept can support decisions made in the building design phase and, in particular, how can support the choice of appropriate components based on estimating system performances. This brings building engineers and regulators closer regarding the use of more consistent data on energy performance. Finally, this paper highlights the need to improve the alignment of the building-related product policies with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Biomass gasification in district heating systems - The effect of economic energy policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wetterlund, Elisabeth; Soederstroem, Mats

2010-01-01

Biomass gasification is considered a key technology in reaching targets for renewable energy and CO 2 emissions reduction. This study evaluates policy instruments affecting the profitability of biomass gasification applications integrated in a Swedish district heating (DH) system for the medium-term future (around year 2025). Two polygeneration applications based on gasification technology are considered in this paper: (1) a biorefinery plant co-producing synthetic natural gas (SNG) and district heat; (2) a combined heat and power (CHP) plant using integrated gasification combined cycle technology. Using an optimisation model we identify the levels of policy support, here assumed to be in the form of tradable certificates, required to make biofuel production competitive to biomass based electricity generation under various energy market conditions. Similarly, the tradable green electricity certificate levels necessary to make gasification based electricity generation competitive to conventional steam cycle technology, are identified. The results show that in order for investment in the SNG biorefinery to be competitive to investment in electricity production in the DH system, biofuel certificates in the range of 24-42 EUR/MWh are needed. Electricity certificates are not a prerequisite for investment in gasification based CHP to be competitive to investment in conventional steam cycle CHP, given sufficiently high electricity prices. While the required biofuel policy support is relatively insensitive to variations in capital cost, the required electricity certificates show high sensitivity to variations in investment costs. It is concluded that the large capital commitment and strong dependency on policy instruments makes it necessary that DH suppliers believe in the long-sightedness of future support policies, in order for investments in large-scale biomass gasification in DH systems to be realised.

Ideas for Changing Educational Systems, Educational Policy and Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, Pat; Lingard, Bob; Wrigley, Terry

2012-01-01

This paper argues the need for new ideas to assist in the creation of a new social imaginary post-neo-liberalism to frame rethought educational systems, policy and schooling. This is an attempt to reclaim progressive, democratic and social justice purposes for schooling well beyond dominant human capital renditions. While acknowledging the…

The Audit Logic: Policy Compliance in Distributed Systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cederquist, J.G.; Corin, R.J.; Dekker, M.A.C.; Etalle, Sandro; den Hartog, Jeremy; Lenzini, Gabriele

2006-01-01

We present a distributed framework where agents can share data along with usage policies. We use an expressive policy language including conditions, obligations and delegation. Our framework also supports the possibility to refine policies. Policies are not enforced a-priori. Instead policy

Rethinking Study and Management of Agricultural Systems for Policy Design

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Johann Baumgärtner

2013-09-01

Full Text Available There is a concern that agriculture will no longer be able to meet, on a global scale, the growing demand for food. Facing such a challenge requires new patterns of thinking in the context of complexity and sustainability sciences. This paper, focused on the social dimension of the study and management of agricultural systems, suggests that rethinking the study of agricultural systems entails analyzing them as complex socio-ecological systems, as well as considering the differing thinking patterns of diverse stakeholders. The intersubjective nature of knowledge, as studied by different philosophical schools, needs to be better integrated into the study and management of agricultural systems than it is done so far, forcing us to accept that there are no simplistic solutions, and to seek a better understanding of the social dimension of agriculture. Different agriculture related problems require different policy and institutional approaches. Finally, the intersubjective nature of knowledge asks for the visualization of different framings and the power relations taking place in the decision-making process. Rethinking management of agricultural systems implies that policy making should be shaped by different principles: learning, flexibility, adaptation, scale-matching, participation, diversity enhancement and precaution hold the promise to significantly improve current standard management procedures.

Implementing drought early warning systems: policy lessons and future needs

Science.gov (United States)

Iglesias, Ana; Werner, Micha; Maia, Rodrigo; Garrote, Luis; Nyabeze, Washington

2014-05-01

Drought forecasting and Warning provides the potential of reducing impacts to society due to drought events. The implementation of effective drought forecasting and warning, however, requires not only science to support reliable forecasting, but also adequate policy and societal response. Here we propose a protocol to develop drought forecasting and early warning based in the international cooperation of African and European institutions in the DEWFORA project (EC, 7th Framework Programme). The protocol includes four major phases that address the scientific knowledge and the social capacity to use the knowledge: (a) What is the science available? Evaluating how signs of impending drought can be detected and predicted, defining risk levels, and analysing of the signs of drought in an integrated vulnerability approach. (b) What are the societal capacities? In this the institutional framework that enables policy development is evaluated. The protocol gathers information on vulnerability and pending hazard in advance so that early warnings can be declared at sufficient lead time and drought mitigation planning can be implemented at an early stage. (c) How can science be translated into policy? Linking science indicators into the actions/interventions that society needs to implement, and evaluating how policy is implemented. Key limitations to planning for drought are the social capacities to implement early warning systems. Vulnerability assessment contributes to identify these limitations and therefore provides crucial information to policy development. Based on the assessment of vulnerability we suggest thresholds for management actions to respond to drought forecasts and link predictive indicators to relevant potential mitigation strategies. Vulnerability assessment is crucial to identify relief, coping and management responses that contribute to a more resilient society. (d) How can society benefit from the forecast? Evaluating how information is provided to

Analyzing interdependencies between policy mixes and technological innovation systems : The case of offshore wind in Germany

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reichardt, Kristin; Negro, Simona O.; Rogge, Karoline S.; Hekkert, Marko P.

2016-01-01

One key approach for studying emerging technologies in the field of sustainability transitions is that of technological innovation systems (TIS). While most TIS studies aim at deriving policy recommendations - typically by identifying system barriers - the actual role of these proposed policies in

Policy and System Approach (PSA: A primer

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Chandrakant Lahariya

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A number of public health challenges have emerged at global and national level in the last two decades. The response to these challenges has rarely been swift and often “knee-jerk.” The national and state level program officials responsible for the activities often apportion the blame on weak health systems or fragmented health service delivery mechanisms, amongst other. In India, the viral illnesses (including those due to dengue and chikungunya are becoming the increasing realities. The Public health response of early identification, disease surveillance, reporting and the preventive and curative measures, remains suboptimal. The health challenges which require multidimensional interventions are usuallyattempted to be resolved through piece meal solutions. This article proposes “policy and system approach (PSA,” combining concepts of “Health in all policies” for intersectoral coordination and “health system approach” for intra-sectoral tackling of the emerging and existing health challenges.

Population and genetic outcomes 20 years after reintroducing bobcats (Lynx rufus) to Cumberland Island, Georgia USA

Science.gov (United States)

Diefenbach, Duane R.; Hansen, Leslie A.; Bohling, Justin H.; Miller-Butterworth, Cassandra

2015-01-01

In 1988–1989, 32 bobcats Lynx rufus were reintroduced to Cumberland Island (CUIS), Georgia, USA, from which they had previously been extirpated. They were monitored intensively for 3 years immediately post-reintroduction, but no estimation of the size or genetic diversity of the population had been conducted in over 20 years since reintroduction. We returned to CUIS in 2012 to estimate abundance and effective population size of the present-day population, as well as to quantify genetic diversity and inbreeding. We amplified 12 nuclear microsatellite loci from DNA isolated from scats to establish genetic profiles to identify individuals. We used spatially explicit capture–recapture population estimation to estimate abundance. From nine unique genetic profiles, we estimate a population size of 14.4 (SE = 3.052) bobcats, with an effective population size (Ne) of 5–8 breeding individuals. This is consistent with predictions of a population viability analysis conducted at the time of reintroduction, which estimated the population would average 12–13 bobcats after 10 years. We identified several pairs of related bobcats (parent-offspring and full siblings), but ~75% of the pairwise comparisons were typical of unrelated individuals, and only one individual appeared inbred. Despite the small population size and other indications that it has likely experienced a genetic bottleneck, levels of genetic diversity in the CUIS bobcat population remain high compared to other mammalian carnivores. The reintroduction of bobcats to CUIS provides an opportunity to study changes in genetic diversity in an insular population without risk to this common species. Opportunities for natural immigration to the island are limited; therefore, continued monitoring and supplemental bobcat reintroductions could be used to evaluate the effect of different management strategies to maintain genetic diversity and population viability. The successful reintroduction and maintenance of a

Agricultural policy and childhood obesity: a food systems and public health commentary.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallinga, David

2010-01-01

For thirty-five years, U.S. agriculture has operated under a "cheap food" policy that spurred production of a few commodity crops, not fruit or vegetables, and thus of the calories from them. A key driver of childhood obesity is the consumption of excess calories, many from inexpensive, nutrient-poor snacks, sweets, and sweetened beverages made with fats and sugars derived from these policy-supported crops. Limiting or eliminating farm subsidies to commodity farmers is wrongly perceived as a quick fix to a complex agricultural system, evolved over decades, that promotes obesity. Yet this paper does set forth a series of policy recommendations that could help, including managing commodity crop oversupply and supporting farmers who produce more fruit and vegetables to build a healthier, more balanced agricultural policy.

A Biological Security Motivation System for Potential Threats: Are There Implications for Policy-Making?

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Erik Z Woody

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Research indicates that there is a specially adapted, hard-wired brain circuit, the security motivation system, which evolved to manage potential threats, such as the possibility of contamination or predation. The existence of this system may have important implications for policy-making related to security. The system is sensitive to partial, uncertain cues of potential danger, detection of which activates a persistent, potent motivational state of wariness or anxiety. This state motivates behaviours to probe the potential danger, such as checking, and to correct for it, such as washing. Engagement in these behaviours serves as the terminating feedback for the activation of the system. Because security motivation theory makes predictions about what kinds of stimuli activate security motivation and what conditions terminate it, the theory may have applications both in understanding how policy-makers can best influence others, such as the public, and also in understanding the behavior of policy-makers themselves.

Application of system dynamics on nuclear policy model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An, N. S.; Kim, J. C.; Kim, D. W.; Kang, S. C.

2000-01-01

A system dynamics model for a nuclear energy policy in Korea (SIMNEP) was developed to analyze the Korea nuclear system and to predict the influence of the nuclear energy policy in the future. Two cases were analyzed using SIMNEP. The first case is to see the effect of the occurrence of severe nuclear accident in foreign country on the Korean government support. In the beginning, the Korean government support drops but jump up to the higher value than normal support due to the intelligentsia support influenced by the delay time of perception. Then, the national government support converges to the normal support. This turns out that the intelligentsia support plays a major role in increasing the government support. The second case is to see the effect of prior efforts on the foreign factors and/or on domestic factors on the U.S. government support. In the short term, effort on the U.S. government is more effective to increase U.S. government support but in the long term (about after 5 years), efforts on the domestic factors influence on the U.S. government support more than efforts on the foreign factors. The Korean government counter reaction among the influencing factors on the U.S. government support plays a major role to explain this result

Accountability in Teenage Dating Violence: A Comparative Examination of Adult Domestic Violence and Juvenile Justice Systems Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Zosky, Diane L.

2010-01-01

Unlike in the adult criminal justice system, where domestic violence policies hold perpetrators accountable for their violence, the juvenile justice system rarely addresses teenage dating violence. Although the adult criminal justice system has pursued policies toward intimate partner violence grounded on a "zero tolerance" ideology, the juvenile…

Harm reduction as a complex adaptive system: A dynamic framework for analyzing Tanzanian policies concerning heroin use.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratliff, Eric A; Kaduri, Pamela; Masao, Frank; Mbwambo, Jessie K K; McCurdy, Sheryl A

2016-04-01

Contrary to popular belief, policies on drug use are not always based on scientific evidence or composed in a rational manner. Rather, decisions concerning drug policies reflect the negotiation of actors' ambitions, values, and facts as they organize in different ways around the perceived problems associated with illicit drug use. Drug policy is thus best represented as a complex adaptive system (CAS) that is dynamic, self-organizing, and coevolving. In this analysis, we use a CAS framework to examine how harm reduction emerged around heroin trafficking and use in Tanzania over the past thirty years (1985-present). This account is an organizational ethnography based on of the observant participation of the authors as actors within this system. We review the dynamic history and self-organizing nature of harm reduction, noting how interactions among system actors and components have coevolved with patterns of heroin us, policing, and treatment activities over time. Using a CAS framework, we describe harm reduction as a complex process where ambitions, values, facts, and technologies interact in the Tanzanian sociopolitical environment. We review the dynamic history and self-organizing nature of heroin policies, noting how the interactions within and between competing prohibitionist and harm reduction policies have changed with patterns of heroin use, policing, and treatment activities over time. Actors learn from their experiences to organize with other actors, align their values and facts, and implement new policies. Using a CAS approach provides researchers and policy actors a better understanding of patterns and intricacies in drug policy. This knowledge of how the system works can help improve the policy process through adaptive action to introduce new actors, different ideas, and avenues for communication into the system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predictors of chronic ankle instability: Analysis of peroneal reaction time, dynamic balance and isokinetic strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Sierra-Guzmán, Rafael; Jiménez, Fernando; Abián-Vicén, Javier

2018-05-01

Previous studies have reported the factors contributing to chronic ankle instability, which could lead to more effective treatments. However, factors such as the reflex response and ankle muscle strength have not been taken into account in previous investigations. Fifty recreational athletes with chronic ankle instability and 55 healthy controls were recruited. Peroneal reaction time in response to sudden inversion, isokinetic evertor muscle strength and dynamic balance with the Star Excursion Balance Test and the Biodex Stability System were measured. The relationship between the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool score and performance on each test was assessed and a backward multiple linear regression analysis was conducted. Participants with chronic ankle instability showed prolonged peroneal reaction time, poor performance in the Biodex Stability System and decreased reach distance in the Star Excursion Balance Test. No significant differences were found in eversion and inversion peak torque. Moderate correlations were found between the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool score and the peroneal reaction time and performance on the Star Excursion Balance Test. Peroneus brevis reaction time and the posteromedial and lateral directions of the Star Excursion Balance Test accounted for 36% of the variance in the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool. Dynamic balance deficits and delayed peroneal reaction time are present in participants with chronic ankle instability. Peroneus brevis reaction time and the posteromedial and lateral directions of the Star Excursion Balance Test were the main contributing factors to the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool score. No clear strength impairments were reported in unstable ankles. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Air Force IT System Security Compliance with Law and Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

monetary burden on 3 system owners as there is “…a significant cost benefit to building in IA during the development phase” 4 of a system. Current...16 Option 4 : Cloud Computing to Eliminate Policy and Methodology Requirements ....17 Option 4 : Application...Assurance ( IA ) (data integrity) to support mission assurance. To ensure IA and to support the mission, changes need to be made to Air Force IT

Dynamic water allocation policies improve the global efficiency of storage systems

Science.gov (United States)

Niayifar, Amin; Perona, Paolo

2017-06-01

Water impoundment by dams strongly affects the river natural flow regime, its attributes and the related ecosystem biodiversity. Fostering the sustainability of water uses e.g., hydropower systems thus implies searching for innovative operational policies able to generate Dynamic Environmental Flows (DEF) that mimic natural flow variability. The objective of this study is to propose a Direct Policy Search (DPS) framework based on defining dynamic flow release rules to improve the global efficiency of storage systems. The water allocation policies proposed for dammed systems are an extension of previously developed flow redistribution rules for small hydropower plants by Razurel et al. (2016).The mathematical form of the Fermi-Dirac statistical distribution applied to lake equations for the stored water in the dam is used to formulate non-proportional redistribution rules that partition the flow for energy production and environmental use. While energy production is computed from technical data, riverine ecological benefits associated with DEF are computed by integrating the Weighted Usable Area (WUA) for fishes with Richter's hydrological indicators. Then, multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are applied to build ecological versus economic efficiency plot and locate its (Pareto) frontier. This study benchmarks two MOEAs (NSGA II and Borg MOEA) and compares their efficiency in terms of the quality of Pareto's frontier and computational cost. A detailed analysis of dam characteristics is performed to examine their impact on the global system efficiency and choice of the best redistribution rule. Finally, it is found that non-proportional flow releases can statistically improve the global efficiency, specifically the ecological one, of the hydropower system when compared to constant minimal flows.

Formulating Public Policy in Croatia and the Problem of Policy Coordination

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Zdravko Petak

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The paper explores the role of politicians and civil servants in the process of horizontal and vertical policy coordination, with a special emphasis on the specific context of Croatia. Starting from Guy Peters’ typology, which distinguishes four distinct types of coordination, ranging from more simple to more complex ones – negative coordination, positive coordination, policy integration and development of strategies for government, the author stresses that the Croatian case is connected with failure in achieving all types of coordination. One of the reasons for such a situation lies in a low level of applying classical policy analysis in the Croatian public administration system. A direct consequence of this is the existence of the system of coordination based on ad hoc assessment of proposed policies, and not on standard policy analysis tools. Therefore, in the lack of central government policy unit the prominent role in such a system belongs to the finance Minister, who serves as some kind of “policy switchman”.

Multilocus Phylogeography and Species Delimitation in the Cumberland Plateau Salamander, Plethodon kentucki: Incongruence among Data Sets and Methods.

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Shawn R Kuchta

Full Text Available Species are a fundamental unit of biodiversity, yet can be challenging to delimit objectively. This is particularly true of species complexes characterized by high levels of population genetic structure, hybridization between genetic groups, isolation by distance, and limited phenotypic variation. Previous work on the Cumberland Plateau Salamander, Plethodon kentucki, suggested that it might constitute a species complex despite occupying a relatively small geographic range. To examine this hypothesis, we sampled 135 individuals from 43 populations, and used four mitochondrial loci and five nuclear loci (5693 base pairs to quantify phylogeographic structure and probe for cryptic species diversity. Rates of evolution for each locus were inferred using the multidistribute package, and time calibrated gene trees and species trees were inferred using BEAST 2 and *BEAST 2, respectively. Because the parameter space relevant for species delimitation is large and complex, and all methods make simplifying assumptions that may lead them to fail, we conducted an array of analyses. Our assumption was that strongly supported species would be congruent across methods. Putative species were first delimited using a Bayesian implementation of the GMYC model (bGMYC, Geneland, and Brownie. We then validated these species using the genealogical sorting index and BPP. We found substantial phylogeographic diversity using mtDNA, including four divergent clades and an inferred common ancestor at 14.9 myr (95% HPD: 10.8-19.7 myr. By contrast, this diversity was not corroborated by nuclear sequence data, which exhibited low levels of variation and weak phylogeographic structure. Species trees estimated a far younger root than did the mtDNA data, closer to 1.0 myr old. Mutually exclusive putative species were identified by the different approaches. Possible causes of data set discordance, and the problem of species delimitation in complexes with high levels of population

Enhancing the Resilience of the Australian National Electricity Market: Taking a Systems Approach in Policy Development

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Barry Newell

2011-06-01

Full Text Available As the complexity and interconnectedness of present-day social-ecological systems become steadily more apparent, there is increasing pressure on governments, policy makers, and managers to take a systems approach to the challenges facing humanity. However, how can this be done in the face of system complexity and uncertainties? In this paper we briefly discuss practical ways that policy makers can take up the systems challenge. We focus on resilience thinking, and the use of influence diagrams, causal-loop diagrams, and system archetypes. As a case study, set in the context of the climate-energy-water nexus, we use some of these system concepts and tools to carry out an initial exploration of factors that can affect the resilience of the Australian National Electricity Market. We stress the need for the electricity sector to prepare for the impacts of global change by encouraging innovation and diversity, supporting modularity and redundancy, and embracing the need for a policy making approach that takes account of the dynamics of the wider social-ecological system. Finally, taking a longer term view, we conclude by recommending that policy makers work to reduce reliance on conventional market mechanisms, institute continuing cross-sector dialogue, and promote basic education in system dynamics.

Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference System as Cache Memory Replacement Policy

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CHUNG, Y. M.

2014-02-01

Full Text Available To date, no cache memory replacement policy that can perform efficiently for all types of workloads is yet available. Replacement policies used in level 1 cache memory may not be suitable in level 2. In this study, we focused on developing an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS as a replacement policy for improving level 2 cache performance in terms of miss ratio. The recency and frequency of referenced blocks were used as input data for ANFIS to make decisions on replacement. MATLAB was employed as a training tool to obtain the trained ANFIS model. The trained ANFIS model was implemented on SimpleScalar. Simulations on SimpleScalar showed that the miss ratio improved by as high as 99.95419% and 99.95419% for instruction level 2 cache, and up to 98.04699% and 98.03467% for data level 2 cache compared with least recently used and least frequently used, respectively.

Random maintenance policies

CERN Document Server

Nakagawa, Toshio

2014-01-01

Exploring random maintenance models, this book provides an introduction to the implementation of random maintenance, and it is one of the first books to be written on this subject.  It aims to help readers learn new techniques for applying random policies to actual reliability models, and it provides new theoretical analyses of various models including classical replacement, preventive maintenance and inspection policies. These policies are applied to scheduling problems, backup policies of database systems, maintenance policies of cumulative damage models, and reliability of random redundant systems. Reliability theory is a major concern for engineers and managers, and in light of Japan’s recent earthquake, the reliability of large-scale systems has increased in importance. This also highlights the need for a new notion of maintenance and reliability theory, and how this can practically be applied to systems. Providing an essential guide for engineers and managers specializing in reliability maintenance a...

Cyber-intrusion Auto-response and Policy Management System (CAPMS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lusk, Steve [ViaSat Inc., Boston, MA (United States); Lawrence, David [Duke Energy, Charlotte, NC (United States); Suvana, Prakash [Southern California Edison, Rosemead, CA (United States)

2015-11-11

The Cyber-intrusion Auto-response and Policy Management System (CAPMS) project was funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (CEDS) program with contributions from two partner electric utilities: Southern California Edison (SCE) and Duke Energy. The goal of the project was to demonstrate protecting smart grid assets from a cyber attack in a way that “does not impede critical energy delivery functions.” This report summarizes project goals and activities for the CAPMS project and explores what did and did not work as expected. It concludes with an assessment of possible benefits and value of the system for the future.

Designing, Capturing and Validating History-Sensitive Security Policies for Distributed Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hernandez, Alejandro Mario; Nielson, Flemming; Nielson, Hanne Riis

2011-01-01

has the capability of combining both history-sensitive and future-sensitive policies, providing even more flexibility and power. Moreover, we propose a global Logic for reasoning about the systems designed with this language. We show how the Logic can be used to validate the combination of security...... this approach with history-based components, as is traditional in reference-monitor-based approaches to mandatory access control. Our developments are performed in an Aspect-oriented coordination language, aiming to describe the Bell-LaPadula policy as elegantly as possible. Furthermore, the resulting language...

MODERN APPROACHES TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MONETARY POLICY AND THE REGULATION OF FINANCIAL SYSTEMS

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Radu CUHAL

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study determines the modern approaches to the implementation of monetary policy and regulation of financial systems. Set of measures to prevent and overcome the financial crisis is grounded taking into consideration different areas of research and the IMF. New tasks of monetary policy in central banks are specified and they are intended to ensure the financial stability of the state (within the common fiscal policy. The main directions of elaboration and implementation of new monetary policy mechanism, which is intended to ensure the effective solution of problems in macro prudential supervision and financial stability, are examined.

Modern approaches to the implementation of monetary policy and the regulation of financial systems

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Basistîi Nicolae

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study determines the modern approaches to the implementation of monetary policy and regulation of financial systems. Set of measures to prevent and overcome the financial crisis is grounded taking into consideration different areas of research and the IMF.New tasks of monetary policy in central banks are specified and they are intended to ensure the financial stability of the state (within the common fiscal policy.The main directions of elaboration and implementation of new monetary policy mechanism, which is intended to ensure the effective solution of problems in macro prudential supervision and financial stability, are examined.

The role of policy for documentary systems

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Maria Mata Caravaca

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the role that policies have in guaranteeing the quality of creation, management and maintenance of digital resources, and offers an overview of national and international policies and standards that refer to records management and digital preservation. Finally, the article illustrates ICCROM’s records management manual and its digital preservation policy and strategy.

Challenges and opportunities for policy decisions to address health equity in developing health systems: case study of the policy processes in the Indian state of Orissa

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Gopalan Saji S

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Achieving health equity is a pertinent need of the developing health systems. Though policy process is crucial for planning and attaining health equity, the existing evidences on policy processes are scanty in this regard. This article explores the magnitude, determinants, challenges and prospects of 'health equity approach' in various health policy processes in the Indian State of Orissa - a setting comparable with many other developing health systems. Methods A case-study involving 'Walt-Gilson Policy Triangle' employed key-informant interviews and documentary reviews. Key informants (n = 34 were selected from the departments of Health and Family Welfare, Rural Development, and Women and Child Welfare, and civil societies. The documentary reviews involved various published and unpublished reports, policy pronouncements and articles on health equity in Orissa and similar settings. Results The 'health policy agenda' of Orissa was centered on 'health equity' envisaging affordable and equitable healthcare to all, integrated with public health interventions. However, the subsequent stages of policy process such as 'development, implementation and evaluation' experienced leakage in the equity approach. The impediment for a comprehensive approach towards health equity was the nexus among the national and state health priorities; role, agenda and capacity of actors involved; and existing constraints of the healthcare delivery system. Conclusion The health equity approach of policy processes was incomprehensive, often inadequately coordinated, and largely ignored the right blend of socio-medical determinants. A multi-sectoral, unified and integrated approach is required with technical, financial and managerial resources from different actors for a comprehensive 'health equity approach'. If carefully geared, the ongoing health sector reforms centered on sector-wide approaches, decentralization, communitization and involvement of

Sustainability indicator system and policy processes in Malaysia: a framework for utilisation and learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hezri, A A

2004-12-01

Formulation of effective sustainability indicators for national assessment demands a comprehensive understanding of the utilisation, diffusion and dissemination of information in policy processes. To illustrate the dynamic of sustainability assessment within the context of policy processes, this paper uses a case study of national sustainability indicators development in Malaysia. Subsequently, this paper ascribes the limited achievement of national sustainability assessment in Malaysia to four types of constraints: meta-policy issues; technical capacities; communication concerns; and the inherent knowledge gaps within the indicator developer community vis-a-vis their theoretical limitations. It is proposed that such constraints will be encountered in many countries. Drawing from the literature on public policy, this paper outlines a framework for investigating indicator behaviour within policy processes based on well-established concepts such as knowledge utilisation and policy learning. I conclude this paper by elaborating on the corresponding future challenges that must be addressed before effective integration of sustainability indicators within policy systems can occur.

System-wide and Superemitter Policy Options for the Abatement of Methane Emissions from the U.S. Natural Gas System

Science.gov (United States)

Mayfield, E. N.; Robinson, A. L.; Cohon, J. L.

2017-12-01

This work assesses trade-offs between system-wide and superemitter policy options for reducing methane emissions from compressor stations in the U.S. transmission and storage system. Leveraging recently collected national emissions and activity data sets, we developed a new process-based emissions model implemented in a Monte Carlo simulation framework to estimate emissions for each component and facility in the system. We find that approximately 83% of emissions, given the existing suite of technologies, have the potential to be abated, with only a few emission categories comprising a majority of emissions. We then formulate optimization models to determine optimal abatement strategies. Most emissions across the system (approximately 80%) are efficient to abate, resulting in net benefits ranging from 160M to 1.2B annually across the system. The private cost burden is minimal under standard and tax instruments, and if firms market the abated natural gas, private net benefits may be generated. Superemitter policies, namely, those that target the highest emitting facilities, may reduce the private cost burden and achieve high emission reductions, especially if emissions across facilities are highly skewed. However, detection across all facilities is necessary regardless of the policy option and there are nontrivial net benefits resulting from abatement of relatively low-emitting sources.

Robust Allocation of Reserve Policies for a Multiple-Cell Based Power System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Junjie; Lan, Tian; Heussen, Kai

2018-01-01

modifications. The LDR method can effectively adapt the participation factors of reserve providers to respond to system imbalance signals. The policies considered the covariance of historic system imbalance signals to reduce the overall reserve cost. When applying this method to the cell-based power system...... for a certain horizon, the influence of different time resolutions on policy-making is also investigated, which presents guidance for its practical application. The main results illustrate that: (a) the LDR-based method shows better performance, by producing smaller reserve costs compared to the costs given...... by a reference method; and (b) the cost index decreases with increased time intervals, however, longer intervals might result in insufficient reserves, due to low time resolution. On the other hand, shorter time intervals require heavy computational time. Thus, it is important to choose a proper time interval...

Recent Developments of Photovoltaics Integrated with Battery Storage Systems and Related Feed-In Tariff Policies: A Review

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Angel A. Bayod-Rújula

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a review of the recent developments of photovoltaics integrated with battery storage systems (PV-BESs and related to feed-in tariff policies. The integrated photovoltaic battery systems are separately discussed in the regulatory context of Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, and Greece; the attention of this paper is focused on those integrated systems subject to incentivisation policies such as feed-in tariff. Most of the contributions reported in this paper consider already existing incentive schemes; the remaining part of the contributions proposes interesting and novel feed-in tariff schemes. All the contributions provide an important resource for carrying out further research on a new era of incentive policies in order to promote storage technologies and integrated photovoltaic battery systems in smart grids and smart cities. Recent incentive policies adopted in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia are also discussed.

A research on EU trade policy system

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Qi Sitong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The EU is the world’s largest trade group, occupying an important position in the world trade in goods and services, especially in the field of service trade. The EU trade in services exports and imports are higher than the United States and Japan, and the EU is the world’s largest capital output and input group, and the world’s largest foreign aid providers. With the deepening of the European integration process, Europe’s position in the world economy and trade is on the rise. Therefore, the EU’s trade policy has increasingly become the focus of attention. From the vertical point of view, research directions can be divided into trade in goods policy, trade in services policy, international direct investment policy, trade-related intellectual property policy four field. In this paper, the four vertical areas are illustrated as the focus of the study.

New Systems Thinking and Policy Means for Sustainable Energy Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Niels I

2010-01-01

Sustainable energy development requires attention to both the demand and supply side. On the demand side there is an urgent need for efficient policy means promoting energy conservation. This includes changes in the institutional and economic framework to compensate for the short comings...... of the dominating neoclassical economy and the short time horizon of the present market system. On the supply side fossil fuels are becoming a central problem being the dominating global energy source while at the same time presenting serious problems in relation to global warming and limited resources (“peak oil......”). Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop alternative strategies and policy means in order to promote sustainable development....

Building Capacity in Health Systems and Policy Analysis in sub ...

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

Building Capacity in Health Systems and Policy Analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been financing the master's program in health and population at the Institut supérieure des sciences de la population (ISSP), Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. However, after ...

Public policy and medical tourism: ethical implications for the Egyptian health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Haley, Bob

2011-01-01

Egypt's medical tourism industry has been experiencing tremendous growth. However, Egypt continues to lack the necessary investment in its public health system to effectively care for its population. Current policy and the emergence of medical tourism have led to unequal health care access, resulting in high a prevalence of infectious diseases and lack of resources for its most vulnerable populations. As a new Egyptian government emerges, it is important for policymakers to understand the critical issues and ethical concerns of existing health policy. This understanding may be used to propose new policy that more effectively allocates to care for Egypt's population.

Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve System from the Perspective of Exit Strategies

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Aleksandra Nocoń

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Central banks, after the experience of the global financial crisis, are now starting the implementation of the exit strategies, which are the process of normalization of monetary policy. The pace of monetary policy normalization process depends on the market reaction to central bank's decisions and macroeconomic conditions, in which they will be implemented. The main aim of the study is to present the principles of the exit strategy of the Federal Reserve System (Fed, on the background of the changes that have occurred in the United States within the monetary policy during the global financial crisis.

Role of renewable energy policies in energy dependency in Finland: System dynamics approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aslani, Alireza; Helo, Petri; Naaranoja, Marja

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A system dynamics model for evaluating renewable energy policies on dependency is proposed. • The model considers the role of diversification on dependency and security of energy supply in Finland. • Dependency on imported sources will decrease depends on the defined scenarios in Finland. - Abstract: Objective: We discuss the role of diversification on dependency and security of energy supply. A system dynamics model with especial focus on the role of renewable energy resources (as a portfolio) on Finland’s energy dependency is developed. The purpose is also to cover a part of research gap exists in the system dynamics modeling of energy security investigations. Methods: A causal loops diagram and a system dynamics model evaluate Finnish scenarios of renewable energy policies. The analysis describes the relationship between dynamic factors such as RE encouragement packages, dependency, and energy demand. Results: A causal loops diagram and a system dynamics model evaluate three different Finnish scenarios of renewable energy policies by 2020. Conclusion: Analysis shows that despite 7% electricity/heat consumption growth by 2020 in Finland, dependency on imported sources will decrease between 1% and 7% depend on the defined scenarios. Practice Implications: The proposed model not only helps decision makers to test their scenarios related to renewable energy polices, it can be implemented by other countries

Investigation of existing financial incentive policies for solar photovoltaic systems in U.S. regions

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Jian Zhang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes some of the existing incentives for solar photovoltaic (PV energy generation in the U.S. Four types of buildings (e.g., hospitals, large offices, large hotels, and secondary schools located in five different U.S. states, each having their own incentives, are selected and analyzed for the PV incentive policies. The payback period of the PV system is chosen as an indicator to analyze and critique the effectiveness of each incentive by comparing the payback periods before and after taking the incentive into consideration. Then a parametric analysis is conducted to determine the influence of the variation in key parameters, such as PV system capacity, capital cost of PV, sell back ratio and the performance-based incentive rate, on the performance of the PV system. The results show how the existing incentives can be effectively used to promote the PV systems in the U.S. and how variations of the parameters can impact the payback period of the PV systems. Through the evaluation of the existing incentive policies and the parametric study, this paper demonstrates that the type and level of incentives should be carefully determined in policy-making processes to effectively promote the PV systems.

Social Policies in Contemporary Latin America: Families and Poverty in the Social Protection Systems

OpenAIRE

González, Cristina

2015-01-01

This article examines the impact of social policies on the living conditions of poor families—particularly women—in Latin America from the late 1980s to the present. It identifies three distinct trends of familialism in the region’s social protection systems. The first social policy trend is characterized by poverty alleviation policies addressing the family in an “elliptical” way, taking for granted the idea of a nuclear family. The distinguishing trait of the second trend is the appearance ...

Insights into the government's role in food system policy making: improving access to healthy, local food alongside other priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wegener, Jessica; Raine, Kim D; Hanning, Rhona M

2012-11-12

Government actors have an important role to play in creating healthy public policies and supportive environments to facilitate access to safe, affordable, nutritious food. The purpose of this research was to examine Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) as a case study for "what works" with respect to facilitating access to healthy, local food through regional food system policy making. Policy and planning approaches were explored through multi-sectoral perspectives of: (a) the development and adoption of food policies as part of the comprehensive planning process; (b) barriers to food system planning; and (c) the role and motivation of the Region's public health and planning departments in food system policy making. Forty-seven in-depth interviews with decision makers, experts in public health and planning, and local food system stakeholders provided rich insight into strategic government actions, as well as the local and historical context within which food system policies were developed. Grounded theory methods were used to identify key overarching themes including: "strategic positioning", "partnerships" and "knowledge transfer" and related sub-themes ("aligned agendas", "issue framing", "visioning" and "legitimacy"). A conceptual framework to illustrate the process and features of food system policy making is presented and can be used as a starting point to  engage multi-sectoral stakeholders in plans and actions to facilitate access to healthy food.

48 CFR 2001.301 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Policy. 2001.301 Section 2001.301 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION GENERAL NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ACQUISITION REGULATION SYSTEM Agency Acquisition Regulations 2001.301 Policy. Policy...

Translating EU renewable energy policy for insular energy systems: Reunion Island's quest for energy autonomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Sawatzky

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Recognition of the negative impacts of climate change has led to agreement on the need to decarbonise energy systems through the employment of renewable energy. With many national and transnational policies in place, the options available to insular energy systems (IES differ from those of interconnected areas due to fragility in their production and distribution networks. Based on the concepts of policy mobility and translation, this study examines the interplay of EU renewable energy policy and insular governance processes aimed at achieving energy autonomy through renewable energy development. Reunion Island, a French Overseas Department and Region, is used as a case study to examine local energy governance processes, aspects that shape regional translation of national and EU policy, and the potential effects that create structures and pathways of energy transition. The study shows that Reunion Island’s regional Energy Governance Committee has significant application potential as a governance tool in other IES and small islands within the EU, but that renewable energy development is restricted due to national policy measures and path dependent governance structural constraints.

A fuzzy logic expert system for evaluating policy progress towards sustainability goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Cisneros-Montemayor, Andrés M; Singh, Gerald G; Cheung, William W L

2017-12-16

Evaluating progress towards environmental sustainability goals can be difficult due to a lack of measurable benchmarks and insufficient or uncertain data. Marine settings are particularly challenging, as stakeholders and objectives tend to be less well defined and ecosystem components have high natural variability and are difficult to observe directly. Fuzzy logic expert systems are useful analytical frameworks to evaluate such systems, and we develop such a model here to formally evaluate progress towards sustainability targets based on diverse sets of indicators. Evaluation criteria include recent (since policy enactment) and historical (from earliest known state) change, type of indicators (state, benefit, pressure, response), time span and spatial scope, and the suitability of an indicator in reflecting progress toward a specific objective. A key aspect of the framework is that all assumptions are transparent and modifiable to fit different social and ecological contexts. We test the method by evaluating progress towards four Aichi Biodiversity Targets in Canadian oceans, including quantitative progress scores, information gaps, and the sensitivity of results to model and data assumptions. For Canadian marine systems, national protection plans and biodiversity awareness show good progress, but species and ecosystem states overall do not show strong improvement. Well-defined goals are vital for successful policy implementation, as ambiguity allows for conflicting potential indicators, which in natural systems increases uncertainty in progress evaluations. Importantly, our framework can be easily adapted to assess progress towards policy goals with different themes, globally or in specific regions.

Health financing for universal coverage and health system performance: concepts and implications for policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kutzin, Joseph

2013-08-01

Unless the concept is clearly understood, "universal coverage" (or universal health coverage, UHC) can be used to justify practically any health financing reform or scheme. This paper unpacks the definition of health financing for universal coverage as used in the World Health Organization's World health report 2010 to show how UHC embodies specific health system goals and intermediate objectives and, broadly, how health financing reforms can influence these. All countries seek to improve equity in the use of health services, service quality and financial protection for their populations. Hence, the pursuit of UHC is relevant to every country. Health financing policy is an integral part of efforts to move towards UHC, but for health financing policy to be aligned with the pursuit of UHC, health system reforms need to be aimed explicitly at improving coverage and the intermediate objectives linked to it, namely, efficiency, equity in health resource distribution and transparency and accountability. The unit of analysis for goals and objectives must be the population and health system as a whole. What matters is not how a particular financing scheme affects its individual members, but rather, how it influences progress towards UHC at the population level. Concern only with specific schemes is incompatible with a universal coverage approach and may even undermine UHC, particularly in terms of equity. Conversely, if a scheme is fully oriented towards system-level goals and objectives, it can further progress towards UHC. Policy and policy analysis need to shift from the scheme to the system level.

A systematic policy approach to changing the food system and physical activity environments to prevent obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sacks, Gary; Swinburn, Boyd A; Lawrence, Mark A

2008-06-05

As obesity prevention becomes an increasing health priority in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, the challenge that governments are now facing is how to adopt a systematic policy approach to increase healthy eating and regular physical activity. This article sets out a structure for systematically identifying areas for obesity prevention policy action across the food system and full range of physical activity environments. Areas amenable to policy intervention can be systematically identified by considering policy opportunities for each level of governance (local, state, national, international and organisational) in each sector of the food system (primary production, food processing, distribution, marketing, retail, catering and food service) and each sector that influences physical activity environments (infrastructure and planning, education, employment, transport, sport and recreation). Analysis grids are used to illustrate, in a structured fashion, the broad array of areas amenable to legal and regulatory intervention across all levels of governance and all relevant sectors. In the Australian context, potential regulatory policy intervention areas are widespread throughout the food system, e.g., land-use zoning (primary production within local government), food safety (food processing within state government), food labelling (retail within national government). Policy areas for influencing physical activity are predominantly local and state government responsibilities including, for example, walking and cycling environments (infrastructure and planning sector) and physical activity education in schools (education sector). The analysis structure presented in this article provides a tool to systematically identify policy gaps, barriers and opportunities for obesity prevention, as part of the process of developing and implementing a comprehensive obesity prevention strategy. It also serves to highlight the need for a coordinated approach to

An Exploration of the System Dynamics Field : A Model-Based Policy Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rose, A.C.

2014-01-01

This report presents a first look study at the field of System Dynamics. The objective of the study is to perform a model-based policy analysis in order to investigate the future advancement of the System Dynamics field. The aim of this investigation is to determine what this advancement should look

Challenges of the Unemployment Protection System and Active Policies in Spain

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Del Pino, Eloísa

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The NorSpaR project aims to analyse the main public policy initiatives by which Norway and Spain cope with the new social and economic challenges derived from the so-called New Social Risks (NSR. Although both countries present significant differences in their institutional settings (such as Spanish EU membership, or its belonging to diverse welfare regimes types (Norway is generally included in the Nordic regime, while Spain is part of the Mediterranean one, both countries share a common interest in addressing the aforementioned challenges while maintaining social cohesion. In the last decade, governments in both countries have tried to respond to those challenges by reforming their labour markets, adapting their unemployment schemes, as well as their gender, family and long-term care policies. The analysis covered in this project includes three areas of public policy addressing NSR. First, dependency is one of the most daunting challenges for post-industrial societies experiencing population ageing and with an increasing number of frail people in need of care. This situation is forcing governments to rethink their long-term care policies. Second, family and gender public programs need to respond to the growing difficulties of families in reconciling professional and family life. Third, in the transition to a post-industrial order, and in a context of mass unemployment, social protection systems have a renewed prominence. Along with the so-called passive policies offering financial support to the unemployed, active labour market policies are geared to put people back into work. In our analysis we try to find answers to the following questions: What are the challenges that each of these policies have been trying to address in recent years? How have these policies evolved? What kinds of reforms have been implemented, and which ones have been neglected? Have the policy goals and targets of welfare programs been modified in any significant way

Agricultural policy schemes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Henning Otte

2016-01-01

Agricultural support is a very important element in agricultural policy in many countries. Agricultural support is basically an instrument to meet the overall objectives of the agricultural policy – objectives set by society. There are a great number of instruments and ways of intervention...... in agricultural policy and they have different functions and impacts. Market price support and deficiency payments are two very important instruments in agricultural policy; however, they belong to two different support regimes or support systems. Market price support operates in the so-called high price system...

The assessment on impact of essential drugs policy on primary health care system in rural areas of Shandong Province policy and regulation division of the Health Department of Shandong Province.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhuge; Shu, Defeng; Xia, Mei; Gao, Dehai; Lu, Dan; Huang, Ning; Tian, Xiaoqing; An, Limei; Li, Shixue; Li, Sheng

2015-01-01

At present, China has achieved an initial establishment and gradual implementation of a framework for national essential drugs policy. With the further implementation of the national essential drugs policy, it is not clear how the policy works, whether it achieves the original intention of essential drugs policy, and what impact essential drugs policy exerts on the primary health care system. In view of it, we conducted a field research on sample areas of Shandong Province to understand the conditions of the implementation of the essential drugs policy in Shandong Province. From three perspectives of medical institutions, patients and medical staff, this thesis analyzes the impact of essential drugs policy on village-level and township-level health service system, summarizes the effectiveness of implementing essential drugs policy, discovers the problems of various aspects and conducts an in-depth analysis of the causes, and puts forward feasible suggestions to provide reference for improving the essential drugs policy. The assessment results show that the implementation of essential drugs policy in Shandong Province has played a positive role in promoting the sound development of the primary health care system, changed the situation of covering hospital expenses with medicine revenue in the past, contributed to the return of medical institutions to public welfare, and reduced the patient's economic burden of disease. But there emerge many problems as follows: impact on the doctor's diagnosis and treatment due to incompleteness of drug types, and distribution not in place, patient loss and operational difficulty of village clinic. Thus, this thesis makes recommendations of drugs catalog formulation, drug procurement, sales and use, and meanwhile points out that the supporting financial compensation policy and performance appraisal policy and other measures in place are a prerequisite for a positive role of essential drugs policy.

Informal Payments in the Health Care System - Research, Media and Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Răzvan Cherecheş

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Informal payments in the health system refer to any payment made outside the legal funding framework. The existence of the phenomenon in Central and Eastern European countries relates to the characteristics of the health systems in the communist period. The analysis is based on three types of data: a set of data gathered from literature review; a second set of data gathered from online media; and a third set of data collected from legislative and public policy. The analysis was pursued using the key words such as informal payment, under-the-table payment, out-of-pocket payment, envelope payment, healthcare corruption, under-the-counter payment. As reflected in the media reports and even publicly recognized by the officials of the Ministry of Health, informal payments are a serious problem of the Romanian healthcare system. Nevertheless, the studies pursued by local researchers are inconsistent with the actual magnitude of the problem. Besides that, there is a serious gap between the findings in this area and the policies intended to reduce the phenomenon.

Knowledge mobilisation for policy development: implementing systems approaches through participatory dynamic simulation modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Freebairn, Louise; Rychetnik, Lucie; Atkinson, Jo-An; Kelly, Paul; McDonnell, Geoff; Roberts, Nick; Whittall, Christine; Redman, Sally

2017-10-02

Evidence-based decision-making is an important foundation for health policy and service planning decisions, yet there remain challenges in ensuring that the many forms of available evidence are considered when decisions are being made. Mobilising knowledge for policy and practice is an emergent process, and one that is highly relational, often messy and profoundly context dependent. Systems approaches, such as dynamic simulation modelling can be used to examine both complex health issues and the context in which they are embedded, and to develop decision support tools. This paper reports on the novel use of participatory simulation modelling as a knowledge mobilisation tool in Australian real-world policy settings. We describe how this approach combined systems science methodology and some of the core elements of knowledge mobilisation best practice. We describe the strategies adopted in three case studies to address both technical and socio-political issues, and compile the experiential lessons derived. Finally, we consider the implications of these knowledge mobilisation case studies and provide evidence for the feasibility of this approach in policy development settings. Participatory dynamic simulation modelling builds on contemporary knowledge mobilisation approaches for health stakeholders to collaborate and explore policy and health service scenarios for priority public health topics. The participatory methods place the decision-maker at the centre of the process and embed deliberative methods and co-production of knowledge. The simulation models function as health policy and programme dynamic decision support tools that integrate diverse forms of evidence, including research evidence, expert knowledge and localised contextual information. Further research is underway to determine the impact of these methods on health service decision-making.

Anti-corruption policy in the system of legal measures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana Viktorovna Filonenko

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Objective to determine the scientificmethodological foundations of anticorruption policy. Methods dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena allows to explore the combination of objective and subjective factors influencing the formation and implementation of anticorruption policy. The author39s model of anticorruption policy is based on the wide range of logical methods of information processing modeling abstraction analysis analogy. Scientific hypothesis and formal legal analysis were also used. Results basing on comparison of the recent theoreticallegal criminallegal and criminological research in the field of legal and anticorruption policy the scientificmethodological foundations of anticorruption policy are disclosed. The authors attempt to systematize the scientific interpretation of anticorruption policy. The concept of legal policy its forms tools subjects and typesare discussed. As a result it becomes possible to describe the current anticorruption policy using terminology from the theory of legal policy. This approach can increase the effectiveness of modern anticorruption policy as it allows to clearly see the gaps and shortcomings in lawmaking and law enforcement during the anticorruption policy implementation. Scientific novelty the article makes an attempt to describe the current anticorruption policy with the use of terminology and models developed in the theoretical and legal research for the characterization of legal policy and its particular directions. Practical significance the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific and pedagogical work when considering questions about the nature and trends of the modern anticorruption policy development. The applied approach allows to bring together criminal law criminology and theoreticallegal research of anticorruption policy. nbsp

Policy-Relevant Systematic Reviews to Strengthen Health Systems: Models and Mechanisms to Support Their Production

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Sandra; Dickson, Kelly

2016-01-01

Support for producing systematic reviews about health systems is less well developed than for those about clinical practice. From interviewing policy makers and systematic reviewers we identified institutional mechanisms which bring systematic reviews and policy priorities closer by harnessing organisational and individual motivations, emphasising…

New Systems Thinking and Policy Means for Sustainable Energy Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Niels I.

2011-01-01

Sustainable energy development requires attention to both the demand and supply side. On the demand side there is an urgent need for efficient policy means promoting energy conservation. This includes changes in the institutional and economic framework to compensate for the short comings...... of the dominating neoclassical economy and the short time horizon of the present market system. On the supply side fossil fuels are becoming a central problem being the dominating global energy source while at the same time presenting serious problems in relation to global warming and limited resources (“peak oil......”). Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop alternative strategies and policy means in order to promote sustainable development. THE FULL TEXT IS IN RUSSIAN IN THE JOURNAL....

Implementing hospital quality assurance policies in Iran: balancing licensing, annual evaluation, inspections and quality management systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Aghaei Hashjin, Asgar; Delgoshaei, Bahram; Kringos, Dionne S; Tabibi, Seyed Jamaladin; Manouchehri, Jila; Klazinga, Niek S

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of applied hospital quality assurance (QA) policies in Iran. A mixed method (quantitative data and qualitative document analysis) study was carried out between 1996 and 2010. The QA policy cycle forms a tight monitoring system to assure hospital quality by combining mandatory and voluntary methods in Iran. The licensing, annual evaluation and grading, and regulatory inspections statutorily implemented by the government as a national package to assure and improve hospital care quality, while implementing quality management systems (QMS) was voluntary for hospitals. The government's strong QA policy legislation role and support has been an important factor for successful QA implementation in Iran, though it may affected QA assessment independency and validity. Increased hospital evaluation independency and repositioning, updating standards, professional involvement and effectiveness studies could increase QA policy impact and maturity. The study highlights the current QA policy implementation cycle in Iranian hospitals. It provides a basis for further quality strategy development in Iranian hospitals and elsewhere. It also raises attention about finding the optimal balance between different QA policies, which is topical for many countries. This paper describes experiences when implementing a unique approach, combining mandatory and voluntary QA policies simultaneously in a developing country, which has invested considerably over time to improve hospital quality. The experiences with a mixed obligatory/voluntary approach and comprehensive policies in Iran may contain lessons for policy makers in developing and developed countries.

Data Analysis of Heating Systems for Buildings—A Tool for Energy Planning, Policies and Systems Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel Noussan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Heating and cooling in buildings is a central aspect for adopting energy efficiency measures and implementing local policies for energy planning. The knowledge of features and performance of those existing systems is fundamental to conceiving realistic energy savings strategies. Thanks to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT development and energy regulations’ progress, the amount of data able to be collected and processed allows detailed analyses on entire regions or even countries. However, big data need to be handled through proper analyses, to identify and highlight the main trends by selecting the most significant information. To do so, careful attention must be paid to data collection and preprocessing, for ensuring the coherence of the associated analyses and the accuracy of results and discussion. This work presents an insightful analysis on building heating systems of the most populated Italian region—Lombardy. From a dataset of almost 2.9 million of heating systems, selected reference values are presented, aiming at describing the features of current heating systems in households, offices and public buildings. Several aspects are considered, including the type of heating systems, their thermal power, fuels, age, nominal and measured efficiency. The results of this work can be a support for local energy planners and policy makers, and for a more accurate simulation of existing energy systems in buildings.

Food system policy, public health, and human rights in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Shannon, Kerry L; Kim, Brent F; McKenzie, Shawn E; Lawrence, Robert S

2015-03-18

The US food system functions within a complex nexus of social, political, economic, cultural, and ecological factors. Among them are many dynamic pressures such as population growth, urbanization, socioeconomic inequities, climate disruption, and the increasing demand for resource-intensive foods that place immense strains on public health and the environment. This review focuses on the role that policy plays in defining the food system, particularly with regard to agriculture. It further examines the challenges of making the food supply safe, nutritious, and sustainable, while respecting the rights of all people to have access to adequate food and to attain the highest standard of health. We conclude that the present US food system is largely unhealthy, inequitable, environmentally damaging, and insufficiently resilient to endure the impacts of climate change, resource depletion, and population increases, and is therefore unsustainable. Thus, it is imperative that the US embraces policy reforms to transform the food system into one that supports public health and reflects the principles of human rights and agroecology for the benefit of current and future generations.

Financial assessment of government subsidy policy on photovoltaic systems for industrial users: A case study in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, Shuo-Yan; Nguyen, Thi Anh Tuyet; Yu, Tiffany Hui-Kuang; Phan, Nguyen Ky Phuc

2015-01-01

Due to Taiwan's limited energy resources, the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) in Taiwan has become one of the most important solutions for meeting future energy supply needs and ensuring environmental protection. A huge amount of researches about renewable energy sources has emerged recently in response to these issues. However, the amount of researches considering the effects of various influential parameters on the efficiency and performance of PV systems remains small, and is still limited to some specific parts of PV systems. In particular, researches considering thoughtfully the influence of government subsidies on PV financial assessment are still in development. This paper proposes an approach to analyze the benefit of installing a PV system under the impact of government financial subsidies, focusing especially on feed-in-tariff (FIT) and tax abatement policies for industrial users in Taiwan. In addition, a method for selecting the most appropriate policies is proposed for the government through the analysis of both user demand and the government's PV installation capacity target. - Highlights: • Analyzing the benefit of installing a PV system impacted by the government subsidy. • Analyzing the role of policy in the financial model of PV system. • Estimating the performance of PV system under the real weather condition. • Methods to select the policies which satisfy demands of both government and users. • Methods to select the policies which ensure cost-effectiveness of government's support.

Sports policy systems in regulated Rhineland welfare states : Differences in financial structures of sports clubs?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pamela Wicker; Jeroen Scheerder; Steven Vos; Christoph Breuer

2013-01-01

This article addresses the resource dependencies of voluntary sports club in two Rhineland welfare states with differences in their organizational arrangements of sports (e.g. the centralization of the Sport for All policy). On the basis of the VOCASPORT typology of sports policy systems and the

Optimisation of the test policy of stand-by systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Signoret, J.P.; Muron, O.; Cohen, G.

1980-09-01

In a nuclear power plant there are several systems which are on stand-by position as, for instance, safety systems. These stand-by systems have to be ready to start as soon as any situation for which they have be designed occurs. A test policy is then necessary in order to know the state of such a system and repair the possible failures. The tests are normally performed at regular intervals of time according to a scheduled sequence. We have already shown during the 'IIIeme Congres National de Fiabilite' held in Perros-Guirec in 1976 how it is possible in this case to find the optimum test interval leading to the best mean availability of the system. It is, in fact, possible, to improve that by considering that if the test interval is fixed 'a priori' this does not allow to take into account information we have on the system state every time [fr

Impact of Quota System and Catchment Area Policy on the University Admissions in North Central Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Chinweike Omeje

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The quota system and the catchment areas are federal government policies formulated to bridge the gap between the educationally developed states and the educationally less developed states. Sequel to the enactment of these policies, government established several universities across the country to create equal opportunity for all candidates. In spite of the astronomical growth of the universities in Nigeria, both the federal and the state governments have not been able to contend with the surging demand for the university education, hence the adoption of the quota system and catchment area policies. Serious concerns were expressed by relevant stakeholders on their perceived impact of the quota system and the catchment area on admissions into the federal and state universities in North Central Nigeria. This study therefore examined the impact of the quota system and catchment area policies on students’ admissions in North Central Nigeria. A research question and a null hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 14,347 staff in the federal and state universities in North Central Nigeria. A sample of 1,435 was drawn through stratified proportionate sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaire and interviews. Mean scores and standard deviations were used to answer the research question, whereas t-test statistics were used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the results showed, among others, that the impact of the quota system and catchment area policies on students’ admission was to a high extent.

Policy Learning and Organizational Capacities in Innovation Policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borrás, Susana

2011-01-01

Bengt-Åke Lundvall’s work has underlined the importance of policy learning for inducing innovation systems’ adaptability. In spite of his efforts and of the general interest in this topic, studies of policy learning in innovation policy continue to be scarce. Elaborating from recent theoretical...... advances, the paper identifies three levels of policy learning and argues that their effects on innovation systems are related to specific capacities of the relevant organizations implementing change. This analytical framework is used in the study of trans-national policy learning in Europe in the area...... of science–industry relations, showing the importance of capacities (or lack thereof). This calls for the practical need of addressing organizational capacity-building, in particular of analytical capacity, for truly strategic innovation policy-making....

The EVOTION Decision Support System: Utilizing It for Public Health Policy-Making in Hearing Loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Katrakazas, Panagiotis; Trenkova, Lyubov; Milas, Josip; Brdaric, Dario; Koutsouris, Dimitris

2017-01-01

As Decision Support Systems start to play a significant role in decision making, especially in the field of public-health policy making, we present an initial attempt to formulate such a system in the concept of public health policy making for hearing loss related problems. Justification for the system's conceptual architecture and its key functionalities are presented. The introduction of the EVOTION DSS sets a key innovation and a basis for paradigm shift in policymaking, by incorporating relevant models, big data analytics and generic demographic data. Expected outcomes for this joint effort are discussed from a public-health point of view.

Knowledge-based changes to health systems: the Thai experience in policy development.

Science.gov (United States)

Tangcharoensathien, Viroj; Wibulpholprasert, Suwit; Nitayaramphong, Sanguan

2004-10-01

Over the past two decades the government in Thailand has adopted an incremental approach to extending health-care coverage to the population. It first offered coverage to government employees and their dependents, and then introduced a scheme under which low-income people were exempt from charges for health care. This scheme was later extended to include elderly people, children younger than 12 years of age and disabled people. A voluntary public insurance scheme was implemented to cover those who could afford to pay for their own care. Private sector employees were covered by the Social Health Insurance scheme, which was implemented in 1991. Despite these efforts, 30% of the population remained uninsured in 2001. In October of that year, the new government decided to embark on a programme to provide universal health-care coverage. This paper describes how research into health systems and health policy contributed to the move towards universal coverage. Data on health systems financing and functioning had been gathered before and after the founding of the Health Systems Research Institute in early 1990. In 1991, a contract capitation model had been used to launch the Social Health Insurance scheme. The advantages of using a capitation model are that it contains costs and provides an acceptable quality of service as opposed to the cost escalation and inefficiency that occur under fee-for-service reimbursement models, such as the one used to provide medical benefits to civil servants. An analysis of the implementation of universal coverage found that politics moved universal coverage onto the policy agenda during the general election campaign in January 2001. The capacity for research on health systems and policy to generate evidence guided the development of the policy and the design of the system at a later stage. Because the reformists who sought to bring about universal coverage (who were mostly civil servants in the Ministry of Public Health and members of

Proposed Georgia-Alabama-South Carolina system power marketing policy and subsequent contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

This is an Environmental Assessment (Assessment) (DOE/EA-0935) evaluating the Power Marketing Policy and Subsequent Contracts between Southeastern and its customers. The Assessment evaluates two alternatives and the no action alternative. The proposed action is to market the power and energy available in the Georgia-Alabama-South Carolina System during the next ten years, with new power sales contracts of ten-year durations, to the customers set forth in Appendix A of the Assessment. In addition to the proposed alternative, the Assessment evaluates the alternative of extending existing contracts under the current marketing policy

Insights into the Government’s Role in Food System Policy Making: Improving Access to Healthy, Local Food Alongside Other Priorities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim D. Raine

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Government actors have an important role to play in creating healthy public policies and supportive environments to facilitate access to safe, affordable, nutritious food. The purpose of this research was to examine Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada as a case study for “what works” with respect to facilitating access to healthy, local food through regional food system policy making. Policy and planning approaches were explored through multi-sectoral perspectives of: (a the development and adoption of food policies as part of the comprehensive planning process; (b barriers to food system planning; and (c the role and motivation of the Region’s public health and planning departments in food system policy making. Forty-seven in-depth interviews with decision makers, experts in public health and planning, and local food system stakeholders provided rich insight into strategic government actions, as well as the local and historical context within which food system policies were developed. Grounded theory methods were used to identify key overarching themes including: “strategic positioning”, “partnerships” and “knowledge transfer” and related sub-themes (“aligned agendas”, “issue framing”, “visioning” and “legitimacy”. A conceptual framework to illustrate the process and features of food system policy making is presented and can be used as a starting point to  engage multi-sectoral stakeholders in plans and actions to facilitate access to healthy food.

Insights into the Government’s Role in Food System Policy Making: Improving Access to Healthy, Local Food Alongside Other Priorities

Science.gov (United States)

Wegener, Jessica; Raine, Kim D.; Hanning, Rhona M.

2012-01-01

Government actors have an important role to play in creating healthy public policies and supportive environments to facilitate access to safe, affordable, nutritious food. The purpose of this research was to examine Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) as a case study for “what works” with respect to facilitating access to healthy, local food through regional food system policy making. Policy and planning approaches were explored through multi-sectoral perspectives of: (a) the development and adoption of food policies as part of the comprehensive planning process; (b) barriers to food system planning; and (c) the role and motivation of the Region’s public health and planning departments in food system policy making. Forty-seven in-depth interviews with decision makers, experts in public health and planning, and local food system stakeholders provided rich insight into strategic government actions, as well as the local and historical context within which food system policies were developed. Grounded theory methods were used to identify key overarching themes including: “strategic positioning”, “partnerships” and “knowledge transfer” and related sub-themes (“aligned agendas”, “issue framing”, “visioning” and “legitimacy”). A conceptual framework to illustrate the process and features of food system policy making is presented and can be used as a starting point to engage multi-sectoral stakeholders in plans and actions to facilitate access to healthy food. PMID:23202834

A review of the Australian healthcare system: A policy perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Sambasivan, Murali

2018-01-01

This article seeks to review the Australian healthcare system and compare it to similar systems in other countries to highlight the main issues and problems. A literature search for articles relating to the Australian and other developed countries’ healthcare systems was conducted by using Google and the library of Victoria University, Melbourne. Data from the websites of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Productivity Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank have also been used. Although care within the Australian healthcare system is among the best in the world, there is a need to change the paradigm currently being used to measure the outcomes and allocate resources. The Australian healthcare system is potentially dealing with two main problems: (a) resource allocation, and (b) performance and patient outcomes improvements. An interdisciplinary research approach in the areas of performance measurement, quality and patient outcomes improvement could be adopted to discover new insights, by using the policy implementation error/efficiency and bureaucratic capacity. Hospital managers, executives and healthcare management practitioners could use an interdisciplinary approach to design new performance measurement models, in which financial performance, quality, healthcare and patient outcomes are blended in, for resource allocation and performance improvement. This article recommends that public policy implementation error and the bureaucratic capacity models be applied to healthcare to optimise the outcomes for the healthcare system in Australia. In addition, it highlights the need for evaluation of the current reimbursement method, freedom of choice to patients and a regular scrutiny of the appropriateness of care. PMID:29686869

A policy iteration approach to online optimal control of continuous-time constrained-input systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Modares, Hamidreza; Naghibi Sistani, Mohammad-Bagher; Lewis, Frank L

2013-09-01

This paper is an effort towards developing an online learning algorithm to find the optimal control solution for continuous-time (CT) systems subject to input constraints. The proposed method is based on the policy iteration (PI) technique which has recently evolved as a major technique for solving optimal control problems. Although a number of online PI algorithms have been developed for CT systems, none of them take into account the input constraints caused by actuator saturation. In practice, however, ignoring these constraints leads to performance degradation or even system instability. In this paper, to deal with the input constraints, a suitable nonquadratic functional is employed to encode the constraints into the optimization formulation. Then, the proposed PI algorithm is implemented on an actor-critic structure to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation associated with this nonquadratic cost functional in an online fashion. That is, two coupled neural network (NN) approximators, namely an actor and a critic are tuned online and simultaneously for approximating the associated HJB solution and computing the optimal control policy. The critic is used to evaluate the cost associated with the current policy, while the actor is used to find an improved policy based on information provided by the critic. Convergence to a close approximation of the HJB solution as well as stability of the proposed feedback control law are shown. Simulation results of the proposed method on a nonlinear CT system illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2013 ISA. All rights reserved.

The Bank Lending Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission in A Dual Banking System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mansor H. Ibrahim

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the impact of monetary policy on bank lending in a dual banking system, i.e. Malaysia. Making use of an unbalanced panel data set of 38 Islamic and conventional banks covering mostly 2001-2014, we find evidence that variations in monetary policy affect lending growth of Islamic banks and, to some extent, conventional banks. The results further reveal that, in conformity with studies using aggregate Islamic financing data, the Islamic financing growth reacts more strongly to monetary policy changes. Moreover, we find no marked difference between full-fledged Islamic banks and Islamic bank subsidiaries in their responses to monetary policy. While we also document some evidence indicating the significant relations between bank-specific variables and lending growth, the bank-specific variables do not seem to have any role in impacting the potency of the bank lending channel. Finally, we find that lending growth is directly related to economic growth, suggesting procyclicality of bank lending/financing in Malaysia. These results have important implications for effective implementation of monetary policy and further development of Islamic banks in Malaysia.

Computing a constrained control policy for a single-server queueing system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Christian

We consider a single-server queueing system designed to serve homogeneous jobs. The jobs arrive to the system after a Poisson process and all processing times are deterministic. There is a set-up cost for starting up production and a holding cost rate is incurred for each job present. Also......, there is a service cost per job, which is a convex function of the service time. The control policy specifies when the server is on or off. It also specifies the state-dependent processing times. In order to avoid a very detailed control policy (which could be hard to implement) we will only allow the server to use...... n different processing times. Hence, we must subdivide the infinite state space into n disjoint sets and for each set decide which processing time to use. We show how to derive a mathematical expression for the long-run average cost per time unit. We also present an algorithm to find the optimal...

Three propositions on why characteristics of performance management systems converge across policy areas with different levels of task complexity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørnholt, Bente; Lindholst, Andrej Christian; Agger Nielsen, Jeppe

2014-01-01

of task complexity amidst a lack of formal and overarching, government-wide policies. We advance our propositions from a case study comparing the characteristics of performance management systems across social services (eldercare) and technical services (park services) in Denmark. Contrary to expectations......This article investigates the differences and similarities between performance management systems across public services. We offer three propositions as to why the characteristics of performance management systems may still converge across policy areas in the public sector with different levels...... for divergence due to differences in task complexity, the characteristics of performance management systems in the two policy areas are observed to converge. On the basis of a case study, we propose that convergence has occurred due to 1) similarities in policy-specific reforms, 2) institutional pressures, and 3...

Security, development and human rights: normative, legal and policy challenges for the international drug control system.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, Damon

2010-03-01

This commentary addresses some of the challenges posed by the broader normative, legal and policy framework of the United Nations for the international drug control system. The 'purposes and principles' of the United Nations are presented and set against the threat based rhetoric of the drug control system and the negative consequences of that system. Some of the challenges posed by human rights law and norms to the international drug control system are also described, and the need for an impact assessment of the current system alongside alternative policy options is highlighted as a necessary consequence of these analyses. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A maintenance policy for a system with multi-state components: an approximate solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerler, Uelkue; Kaya, Alev

2002-01-01

For maintenance and quality assessment purposes, various performance levels for both systems and components are identified, usually as a function of the deterioration. In this study, we consider a multicomponent system where the lifetime of each component is described by several stages, (0,...,S), which are further classified as good, doubtful, preventive maintenance due (PM due) and down. A control policy is suggested where the system is replaced when a component enters a PM due or a down state and the number of components in the doubtful states (K,...,S-2) is at least N. All maintenance activities are assumed to take negligible time. The exact description of the underlying stochastic model under the policy is very complicated. We therefore propose some approximations, which allow an explicit expression for the long run average cost function, which is minimized w.r.t. (K,N) by numerical methods. Sensitivity of the model to system parameters and the performance of the approximation are investigated through several examples

State Electricity Regulatory Policy and Distributed Resources: Distributed Resources and Electric System Reliability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cowart, R.; Harrington, C.; Moskovitz, D.; Shirley, W.; Weston, F.; Sedano, R.

2002-10-01

Designing and implementing credit-based pilot programs for distributed resources distribution is a low-cost, low-risk opportunity to find out how these resources can help defer or avoid costly electric power system (utility grid) distribution upgrades. This report describes implementation options for deaveraged distribution credits and distributed resource development zones. Developing workable programs implementing these policies can dramatically increase the deployment of distributed resources in ways that benefit distributed resource vendors, users, and distribution utilities. This report is one in the State Electricity Regulatory Policy and Distributed Resources series developed under contract to NREL (see Annual Technical Status Report of the Regulatory Assistance Project: September 2000-September 2001, NREL/SR-560-32733). Other titles in this series are: (1) Accommodating Distributed Resources in Wholesale Markets, NREL/SR-560-32497; (2) Distributed Resources and Electric System Re liability, NREL/SR-560-32498; (3) Distribution System Cost Methodologies for Distributed Generation, NREL/SR-560-32500; (4) Distribution System Cost Methodologies for Distributed Generation Appendices, NREL/SR-560-32501.

Policies for 100% Renewable Energy Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvelplund, Frede

2014-01-01

The official Danish energy policy goal is both to increase the wind power share of electricity consumption from 33% in 2014 to 50% by 2020 and to have a 100% renewable energy based energy system by 2050. This is a huge technological change from stored, scarce and polluting fossil fuels...... to fluctuating, abundant and clean energy sources. “Stored” fossil fuels can be used when needed; fluctuating energy sources must be captured when available and transformed to meet the energy needs of society in the right amounts and at the right time. We are amidst this change. Renewable energy has come of age...... and is no longer a minor technology experimenting in the corner of the energy scene, but has become a large new technology taking away considerable market shares from the old fossil fuel technologies....

Information for mental health systems: an instrument for policy-making and system service quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Lora, A; Lesage, A; Pathare, S; Levav, I

2017-08-01

Information is crucial in mental healthcare, yet it remains undervalued by stakeholders. Its absence undermines rationality in planning, makes it difficult to monitor service quality improvement, impedes accountability and human rights monitoring. For international organizations (e.g., WHO, OECD), information is indispensable for achieving better outcomes in mental health policies, services and programs. This article reviews the importance of developing system level information with reference to inputs, processes and outputs, analyzes available tools for collecting and summarizing information, highlights the various goals of information gathering, discusses implementation issues and charts the way forward. Relevant publications and research were consulted, including WHO studies that purport to promote the use of information systems to upgrade mental health care in high- and low-middle income countries. Studies have shown that once information has been collected by relevant systems and analyzed through indicator schemes, it can be put to many uses. Monitoring mental health services, represents a first step in using information. In addition, studies have noted that information is a prime resource in many other areas such as evaluation of quality of care against evidence based standards of care. Services data may support health services research where it is possible to link mental health data with other health and non-health databases. Information systems are required to carefully monitor involuntary admissions, restrain and seclusion, to reduce human rights violations in care facilities. Information has been also found useful for policy makers, to monitor the implementation of policies, to evaluate their impact, to rationally allocate funding and to create new financing models. Despite its manifold applications, Information systems currently face many problems such as incomplete recording, poor data quality, lack of timely reporting and feedback, and limited

Guideline of Cyber Security Policy for Digital I and C Systems in Nuclear Power Plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Zeen; Kim, Jang Seong; Kim, Kwang Jo [Information and Communications University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Young Doo; Kim, Dai Il; Jeong, Choong Heui [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2007-10-15

Recently computers and communication systems have been developed very fast and applied to various areas in many applications. This development has raised new vulnerabilities that may endanger the critical systems for nuclear safety and physical protection at the facilities. In order to protect the critical infrastructures from these new cyber attacks, we clearly need deep considerations on the risks and threats through the cyberspace. Based on these needs, many organizations which related to nuclear power plants suggested various cyber security protection methods based on regulation or technical safeguard. Even if security countermeasures against various cyber attacks are important, it is required to establish the best practices of cyber security policy by the vendor and licensee. Based on the policy they can evaluate their activities against various cyber attacks throughout the whole life cycle. In this paper, we discuss how to establish the cyber security policy for digital instrumentation and control (I and C) systems in nuclear power plants.

Guideline of Cyber Security Policy for Digital I and C Systems in Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Zeen; Kim, Jang Seong; Kim, Kwang Jo; Kang, Young Doo; Kim, Dai Il; Jeong, Choong Heui

2007-01-01

Recently computers and communication systems have been developed very fast and applied to various areas in many applications. This development has raised new vulnerabilities that may endanger the critical systems for nuclear safety and physical protection at the facilities. In order to protect the critical infrastructures from these new cyber attacks, we clearly need deep considerations on the risks and threats through the cyberspace. Based on these needs, many organizations which related to nuclear power plants suggested various cyber security protection methods based on regulation or technical safeguard. Even if security countermeasures against various cyber attacks are important, it is required to establish the best practices of cyber security policy by the vendor and licensee. Based on the policy they can evaluate their activities against various cyber attacks throughout the whole life cycle. In this paper, we discuss how to establish the cyber security policy for digital instrumentation and control (I and C) systems in nuclear power plants

Mapping healthcare systems: a policy relevant analytic tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Sekhri Feachem, Neelam; Afshar, Ariana; Pruett, Cristina; Avanceña, Anton L V

2017-07-01

In the past decade, an international consensus on the value of well-functioning systems has driven considerable health systems research. This research falls into two broad categories. The first provides conceptual frameworks that take complex healthcare systems and create simplified constructs of interactions and functions. The second focuses on granular inputs and outputs. This paper presents a novel translational mapping tool - the University of California, San Francisco mapping tool (the Tool) - which bridges the gap between these two areas of research, creating a platform for multi-country comparative analysis. Using the Murray-Frenk framework, we create a macro-level representation of a country's structure, focusing on how it finances and delivers healthcare. The map visually depicts the fundamental policy questions in healthcare system design: funding sources and amount spent through each source, purchasers, populations covered, provider categories; and the relationship between these entities. We use the Tool to provide a macro-level comparative analysis of the structure of India's and Thailand's healthcare systems. As part of the systems strengthening arsenal, the Tool can stimulate debate about the merits and consequences of different healthcare systems structural designs, using a common framework that fosters multi-country comparative analyses. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Intra Sector Policy Interventions for Improvement of Iranian Health Financing System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peivand Bastani

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Background and purpose: To determine an appropriate financial model for the health system of Iran, several studies have been conducted. But it seems that these studies were not comprehensive and further investigation is required. So to design a valid and enforceable mechanism, the study of policy interventions will be considered through consensus of all stakeholders. This investigation was done to determine the necessary policies and internal interventions for health care system financial improvement in Iran. Materials and methods: The present work was carried out through investigating all key stakeholders in the medical system and the related sectors in Iran, along with the analysis of internal and external communication by using SWOT and STEEP.V methods. Results: Strategic management of health-care costs, the development of a new financial system, clarity of costs, benefiting from health national accounts, the regulation of budget based on operations, preparing the credit of per capita from prepayment and risk accumulation, the development of referral systems and mechanisms, the establishment of public fund for services purchase, preventing the involvement of insurances in non-insurance cases, competing services with the private sector and increasing resources for the promotion of equality level have been determined as the key proposed interventions. Conclusion: It seems that the interventions based to the development of improving health financial system including the deployment of full accrual basis instead of cash basis, preparing and using services cost and operational budgeting and finally, cost management and productivity are the prerequisites of reforming health financial system.

Integrating policy-based management and SLA performance monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tzong-Jye; Lin, Chin-Yi; Chang, Shu-Hsin; Yen, Meng-Tzu

2001-10-01

Policy-based management system provides the configuration capability for the system administrators to focus on the requirements of customers. The service level agreement performance monitoring mechanism helps system administrators to verify the correctness of policies. However, it is difficult for a device to process the policies directly because the policies are the management concept. This paper proposes a mechanism to decompose a policy into rules that can be efficiently processed by a device. Thus, the device may process the rule and collect the performance statistics information efficiently; and the policy-based management system may collect these performance statistics information and report the service-level agreement performance monitoring information to the system administrator. The proposed policy-based management system achieves both the policy configuration and service-level agreement performance monitoring requirements. A policy consists of a condition part and an action part. The condition part is a Boolean expression of a source host IP group, a destination host IP group, etc. The action part is the parameters of services. We say that an address group is compact if it only consists of a range of IP address that can be denoted by a pair of IP address and corresponding IP mask. If the condition part of a policy only consists of the compact address group, we say that the policy is a rule. Since a device can efficiently process a compact address and a system administrator prefers to define a range of IP address, the policy-based management system has to translate policy into rules and supplements the gaps between policy and rules. The proposed policy-based management system builds the relationships between VPN and policies, policy and rules. Since the system administrator wants to monitor the system performance information of VPNs and policies, the proposed policy-based management system downloads the relationships among VPNs, policies and rules to the

Study on Enhanceing Mechanisim and Policy on Energy Efficiency of Electrical Motor System in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ren; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Meng; Chen, Lili; Yang, Ming

2017-12-01

Motor is a kind of terminal energy-consumption equipment with the maximum power consumption in China every year; compared with international advanced level, the technical innovation of motor equipment, speed regulating system, drive system and automatic intelligent control technique in China still lag behind relatively; the standard technical service support system of motor system is not complete, the energy conserving transformation mode needs to be innovated, and the market development mechanism of motor industry is not perfect, etc. This paper analyzes the promotion mechanism and policy on energy efficiency of the motor system in China in recent years, studies the demonstration cases of successful promotion of high-efficiency motor, standard labeling, financial finance and tax policy, and puts forward suggestions on promotion of high-efficiency motor in China.

A system-evolutionary approach for innovation policy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, Ruud E.H.M.; Kuhlmann, Stefan; Teubal, Morris

2010-01-01

A leading question addressed in this book is how to improve public policy, using insights from innovation studies and theory as well as from innovation practice and innovation policy. Innovation in this book is seen as a dynamic interactive process taking place in heterogeneous, more or less

A Systemic Innovation Policy Framework: The Cases of Scottish and Dutch Agrifood Innovation Systems

OpenAIRE

Lamprinopoulou-Kranis, Chrysa; Renwick, Alan W.; Klerkx, Laurens; Hermans, Frans; Islam, Md. Mofakkarul; Roep, Dirk

2012-01-01

Innovation and knowledge exchange are receiving increased attention among policy makers as a means to address sustainable economic development challenges (European Commission, 2011). However, a range of factors such as inappropriate structures and institutional or capabilities barriers may negatively influence the spread or direction of processes of innovation and knowledge exchange (Klein-Woolthuis et al., 2005). These problems are often referred to as systemic weaknesses or failures, and hi...

To bail out or not to bail out systemically relevant financial institutions: The incentives of policy makers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucas Marc Fuhrer

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The recent financial crisis has shown that many financial institutions may be systemically relevant. Their bankruptcy would cause significant costs for the overall economy. However, a clear definition of systemic risks still does not exist. Thus, the decision, whether an institution is, or is not systemically relevant is in the end made by policy makers. This paper takes a closer look at the incentives available to policy makers and their influence on the bailout decision. In the model presented here it is possible to show, that too many financial institutions get bailed out, when assuming that policy makers tend to be more risk-averse than socially optimal. The costs due to this misallocation of resources can be significant.

Interference of regional support policies on the economic and environmental performance of a hybrid cogeneration-solar panel energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maes, Dries; Van Passel, Steven

2012-01-01

This paper assesses unintentional interference between different public policies promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. The paper develops a methodology to study the interference by analysing the economic and technical behaviour of a hybrid energy system. The hybrid energy system in this case consists of an existing cogeneration unit extended with a new installation of thermal solar panels. This puts two complementary heating technologies in juxtaposition. The two technologies are supported with distinct regional support instruments in each region. The design and operation of the energy system is optimised from the point of view of the investor according to the different support instruments. The optimal configuration is analysed as well as its effect on reduced CO 2 -emissions during the lifetime of the project. The methodology is applied to a case-study for two neighbouring regions, the Netherlands and Flanders. The policies in the Netherlands show a beneficial synergy. In Flanders, the hybrid energy system is not interesting, indicating unbalanced high support for cogeneration in this case. From the point of view of the authorities, a more balanced regional policy as in the Netherlands provides a larger CO 2 -emission reduction for a smaller cost. - Highlights: ► Study of interference between various public policies by analysing a hybrid energy system. ► A methodology based on maximum value for the investor based on different public policies. ► Case study in the Netherlands show policies with a beneficial synergy. ► Situation in Flanders indicates unbalanced policies and larger cost for CO 2 -emission reduction.

Disability Policy Evaluation: Combining Logic Models and Systems Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Claes, Claudia; Ferket, Neelke; Vandevelde, Stijn; Verlet, Dries; De Maeyer, Jessica

2017-01-01

Policy evaluation focuses on the assessment of policy-related personal, family, and societal changes or benefits that follow as a result of the interventions, services, and supports provided to those persons to whom the policy is directed. This article describes a systematic approach to policy evaluation based on an evaluation framework and an…

Institutional interactions in developing a transportation system under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denny, S.H.

1986-01-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) recognizes that the success of its efforts to develop and operate a system for transporting nuclear waste under the provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) depends in large measure on the effectiveness of Departmental interactions with the affected parties. To ensure the necessary network of communication, the DOE is establishing lines of contact with those who are potential participants in the task of developing the policies and procedures for the NWPA transportation system. In addition, a number of measures have been initiated to reinforce broad-based involvement in program development. The Transportation Institutional Plan provides a preliminary road map of DOE's projected interactions over the next decade and is discussed in this paper

Off-Policy Actor-Critic Structure for Optimal Control of Unknown Systems With Disturbances.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Ruizhuo; Lewis, Frank L; Wei, Qinglai; Zhang, Huaguang

2016-05-01

An optimal control method is developed for unknown continuous-time systems with unknown disturbances in this paper. The integral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm is presented to obtain the iterative control. Off-policy learning is used to allow the dynamics to be completely unknown. Neural networks are used to construct critic and action networks. It is shown that if there are unknown disturbances, off-policy IRL may not converge or may be biased. For reducing the influence of unknown disturbances, a disturbances compensation controller is added. It is proven that the weight errors are uniformly ultimately bounded based on Lyapunov techniques. Convergence of the Hamiltonian function is also proven. The simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed optimal control method for unknown systems with disturbances.

Distributed Solar PV for Electricity System Resiliency: Policy and Regulatory Considerations (Brochure)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2014-11-01

Distributed Solar PV systems have the potential of increasing the grid's resiliency to unforeseen events, such as extreme weather events and attacks. This paper presents the role that distributed PV can play in electric grid resiliency, introduces basic system design requirements and options, and discusses the regulatory and policy options for supporting the use of distributed PV for the purpose of increased electricity resiliency.

The effect of the waste separation policy in municipal solid waste management using the system dynamic approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Jamshidi Zanjani

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Aims: In the present study, Vensim was used to simulate waste management system of Tehran, the capital of Iran, with the system dynamic approach. Materials and Methods: The environmental system dynamic modeling is one of the comprehensive simulation tools capable of simulating and analyzing complex systems. In this approach, the model is developed based on the existing realities and userâ€′comments. User participation to develop the model could increase the reliability of the results. Results: The simulation results revealed good conformity with the statistical data. Waste production prediction in the model with real data was more than 95%. Moreover, the effect of applying an encouraging policy for people to separate their waste was considered. The result indicated that applying a new policy, and the economic benefit through this policy would prevent getting a loan from the government after 20 years. Conclusions: It could be concluded that public participation in waste separation was an effective policy to help in the financial independence of the municipality in terms of urban waste management. Moreover, conformity between the simulation results and real data revealed an appropriate capability of the simulated model to predict Tehran waste generation.

Italian energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1988-01-01

This document discusses problems associated with Italian energy policy; economic and industrial development as it relates to that policy is covered. Specific areas covered are: (1) the basis of Italy's new energy policy; (2) energy demand; (3) five objectives; (4) the electrical power system; (5) proposed action; and (6) energy resources

On Health Policy and Management (HPAM: Mind the Theory-Policy-Practice Gap

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Chinitz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We argue that the field of Health Policy and Management (HPAM ought to confront the gap between theory, policy, and practice. Although there are perennial efforts to reform healthcare systems, the conceptual barriers are considerable and reflect the theory-policy-practice gap. We highlight four dimensions of the gap: 1 the dominance of microeconomic thinking in health policy analysis and design; 2 the lack of learning from management theory and comparative case studies; 3 the separation of HPAM from the rank and file of healthcare; and 4 the failure to expose medical students to issues of HPAM. We conclude with suggestions for rethinking the field of HPAM by embracing broader perspectives, e.g. ethics, urban health, systems analysis and cross-national analyses of healthcare systems.

Policies and initiatives for carbon neutrality in nordic heating and transport systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muller, Jakob Glarbo; Wu, Qiuwei; Ostergaard, Jacob

2012-01-01

Policies and initiatives promoting carbon neutrality in the Nordic heating and transport systems are presented. The focus within heating systems is the propagation of heat pumps while the focus within transport systems is initiatives regarding electric vehicles (EVs). It is found that conversion...... to heat pumps in the Nordic region rely on both private economic and national economic incentives. Initiatives toward carbon neutrality in the transport system are mostly concentrated on research, development and demonstration for deployment of a large number of EVs. All Nordic countries have plans...... for the future heating and transport systems with the ambition of realizing carbon neutrality....

Financing national policy on oral health in Brazil in the context of the Unified Health System

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Gilberto Alfredo Pucca Junior

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the model of oral health care implemented in the Unified Health System of Brazil in the last decade. This model was conceived as a sub-sector policy that, over the years, has sought to improve the quality of life of the Brazilian population. Through a chronological line, the study presents the National Policy on Oral Health as a counter-hegemonic patient care model for the dentistry practices existing in the country before this policy was implemented. The reorganization of the levels of oral health care, the creation of reference facilities for secondary and tertiary care, through Centers of Dental Specialties and Regional Dental Prosthesis Laboratories, and the differential funding and decentralized management of financial resources were able to expand the actions of oral health for more than 90 million inhabitants. The evolution shown after the deployment of the National Oral Health Policy, as of 2004, demonstrates the greater integration of oral health care under the Unified Health System and provides feedback information to help this policy to continue to be prioritized by the Federal Government and receive more support from the state and local levels in the coming years.

Immunization Information Systems: A Decade of Progress in Law and Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Daniel W.; Lowery, N. Elaine; Brand, Bill; Gold, Rebecca; Horlick, Gail

2015-01-01

This article reports on a study of laws, regulations, and policies governing Immunization Information Systems (IIS, also known as “immunization registries”) in states and selected urban areas of the United States. The study included a search of relevant statutes, administrative codes and published attorney general opinions/findings, an online questionnaire completed by immunization program managers and/or their staff, and follow-up telephone interviews. The legal/regulatory framework for IIS has changed considerably since 2000, largely in ways that improve IIS’ ability to perform their public health functions while continuing to maintain strict confidentiality and privacy controls. Nevertheless, the exchange of immunization data and other health information between care providers and public health and between entities in different jurisdictions remains difficult due in part to ongoing regulatory diversity. To continue to be leaders in health information exchange and facilitate immunization of children and adults, IIS will need to address the challenges presented by the interplay of federal and state legislation, regulations, and policies and continue to move toward standardized data collection and sharing necessary for interoperable systems. PMID:24402434

Exploration of government policy structure which support and block energy transition process in indonesia using system dynamics model

Science.gov (United States)

Destyanto, A. R.; Silalahi, T. D.; Hidayatno, A.

2017-11-01

System dynamic modeling is widely used to predict and simulate the energy system in several countries. One of the applications of system dynamics is to evaluate national energy policy alternatives, and energy efficiency analysis. Using system dynamic modeling, this research aims to evaluate the energy transition policy that has been implemented in Indonesia on the past conversion program of kerosene to LPG for household cook fuel consumption, which considered as successful energy transition program implemented since 2007. This research is important since Indonesia considered not yet succeeded to execute another energy transition program on conversion program of oil fuel to gas fuel for transportation that has started since 1989. The aim of this research is to explore which policy intervention that has significant contribution to support or even block the conversion program. Findings in this simulation show that policy intervention to withdraw the kerosene supply and government push to increase production capacity of the support equipment industries (gas stove, regulator, and LPG Cylinder) is the main influence on the success of the program conversion program.

A periodic inspection and replacement policy for systems subject to competing failure modes due to degradation and traumatic events

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huynh, K.T., E-mail: tuan.huynh@utt.f [Universite de technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279-12, rue Marie Curie, BP2060, 10010 Troyes cedex (France); Barros, A., E-mail: anne.barros@utt.f [Universite de technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279-12, rue Marie Curie, BP2060, 10010 Troyes cedex (France); Berenguer, C., E-mail: christophe.berenguer@utt.f [Universite de technologie de Troyes, Institut Charles Delaunay and STMR UMR CNRS 6279-12, rue Marie Curie, BP2060, 10010 Troyes cedex (France); Castro, I.T., E-mail: inmatorres@unex.e [Departamento de Matematicas, Escuela Politecnica, 10071 Caceres (Spain)

2011-04-15

This paper deals with the condition-based maintenance of single-unit systems which are subject to the competing and dependent failures due deterioration and traumatic shock events. The main aim is to provide a model to assess the value of condition monitoring information for the maintenance decision-making. A condition-based periodic inspection/replacement policy is developed and compared with a benchmark time-based block replacement policy. Numerical results show that it is indeed useful to follow closely the actual evolution of the system to adapt the maintenance decisions to the true system state to improve the performance of maintenance policies. The analysis of the maintenance costs savings can be used to justify or not the choice to implement a policy based on condition monitoring information and to invest in condition monitoring devices.

A periodic inspection and replacement policy for systems subject to competing failure modes due to degradation and traumatic events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huynh, K.T.; Barros, A.; Berenguer, C.; Castro, I.T.

2011-01-01

This paper deals with the condition-based maintenance of single-unit systems which are subject to the competing and dependent failures due deterioration and traumatic shock events. The main aim is to provide a model to assess the value of condition monitoring information for the maintenance decision-making. A condition-based periodic inspection/replacement policy is developed and compared with a benchmark time-based block replacement policy. Numerical results show that it is indeed useful to follow closely the actual evolution of the system to adapt the maintenance decisions to the true system state to improve the performance of maintenance policies. The analysis of the maintenance costs savings can be used to justify or not the choice to implement a policy based on condition monitoring information and to invest in condition monitoring devices.

Role of targeted policies in mainstreaming renewable energy in a resource constrained electricity system: A case study of Karnataka electricity system in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amrutha, A.A.; Balachandra, P.; Mathirajan, M.

2017-01-01

India is aggressively pursuing its renewable energy capacity expansion goals. Targeted policies such as Feed-in Tariff (FIT), Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) are introduced to stimulate renewable energy capacity expansion as well as generation. Currently, Indian power utilities treat RPO targets as a cost-burden, and therefore there is prevalence of non-compliance. Even other policies, such as FIT and RECs, in their present form, have failed to influence increase in renewable electricity supply. This has lead us to raise an important question whether these policies are adequate for building a cost-effective renewable energy-based low carbon electricity system for India. In this paper, we discuss the impact of above targeted policies in increasing the share of renewable electricity generation in the case of Karnataka State Electricity System. Various scenarios are developed and analysed using mixed-integer programming model to study the impacts. The results suggest that optimally managed FIT and REC schemes can provide opportunities for utilities to benefit from reduced costs. Overall, the above policies are inadequate, and introduction of market-based incentives, which expand the scope of trading in renewable energy certificates, are essential to achieve the desired objectives. - Highlights: • Analysing impacts of targeted energy policies in increasing renewable electricity share. • Scenario analyses are used to study impact on costs, targets, shortages and compliance. • Current policies are inadequate to ensure renewable energy utilization beyond targets. • Policies are necessary to incentivise compliance and penalise non-compliance.

Modeling a hierarchical structure of factors influencing exploitation policy for water distribution systems using ISM approach

Science.gov (United States)

Jasiulewicz-Kaczmarek, Małgorzata; Wyczółkowski, Ryszard; Gładysiak, Violetta

2017-12-01

Water distribution systems are one of the basic elements of contemporary technical infrastructure of urban and rural areas. It is a complex engineering system composed of transmission networks and auxiliary equipment (e.g. controllers, checkouts etc.), scattered territorially over a large area. From the water distribution system operation point of view, its basic features are: functional variability, resulting from the need to adjust the system to temporary fluctuations in demand for water and territorial dispersion. The main research questions are: What external factors should be taken into account when developing an effective water distribution policy? Does the size and nature of the water distribution system significantly affect the exploitation policy implemented? These questions have shaped the objectives of research and the method of research implementation.

Uncertainty-accounting environmental policy and management of water systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Baresel, Christian; Destouni, Georgia

2007-05-15

Environmental policies for water quality and ecosystem management do not commonly require explicit stochastic accounts of uncertainty and risk associated with the quantification and prediction of waterborne pollutant loads and abatement effects. In this study, we formulate and investigate a possible environmental policy that does require an explicit stochastic uncertainty account. We compare both the environmental and economic resource allocation performance of such an uncertainty-accounting environmental policy with that of deterministic, risk-prone and risk-averse environmental policies under a range of different hypothetical, yet still possible, scenarios. The comparison indicates that a stochastic uncertainty-accounting policy may perform better than deterministic policies over a range of different scenarios. Even in the absence of reliable site-specific data, reported literature values appear to be useful for such a stochastic account of uncertainty.

A Systemic and Systematic Approach to the Development of a Policy Mix for Material Resource Efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomas Ekvall

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Increasing material use efficiency is important to mitigate future supply risks and minimize environmental impacts associated with the production of the materials. The policy mix presented in this paper aims to contribute to reducing the use of virgin metals in the EU by 80% by 2050 without significant shifting of burdens to other material resources, environmental impacts, or parts of the world. We used a heuristic framework and a systems perspective for designing the policy mix that combines primary instruments designed to increase material efficiency, recycling and substitution of materials (a materials tax, the extended producer responsibility, technical regulations, and environmental taxes and supportive instruments aimed to reduce barriers to implementing the primary instruments and to contribute towards the policy objectives (e.g., research and development support, and advanced recycling centers. Furthermore, instruments were designed so as to increase political feasibility: e.g., taxes were gradually increased as part of a green fiscal reform, and border-tax adjustments were introduced to reduce impacts on competitiveness. However, even in such a policy mix design ongoing ex-ante assessments indicate that the policy mix will be politically difficult to implement—and also fall short of achieving the 80% reduction target. Nonetheless, we suggest combining primary and supportive instruments into coherent and dynamic policy mixes as a promising step towards system reconfigurations for sustainability.

Joint cost of energy under an optimal economic policy of hybrid power systems subject to uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Díaz, Guzmán; Planas, Estefanía; Andreu, Jon; Kortabarria, Iñigo

2015-01-01

Economical optimization of hybrid systems is usually performed by means of LCoE (levelized cost of energy) calculation. Previous works deal with the LCoE calculation of the whole hybrid system disregarding an important issue: the stochastic component of the system units must be jointly considered. This paper deals with this issue and proposes a new fast optimal policy that properly calculates the LCoE of a hybrid system and finds the lowest LCoE. This proposed policy also considers the implied competition among power sources when variability of gas and electricity prices are taken into account. Additionally, it presents a comparative between the LCoE of the hybrid system and its individual technologies of generation by means of a fast and robust algorithm based on vector logical computation. Numerical case analyses based on realistic data are presented that valuate the contribution of technologies in a hybrid power system to the joint LCoE. - Highlights: • We perform the LCoE calculation with the stochastic component jointly considered. • We propose a fast an optimal policy that minimizes the LCoE. • We compare the obtained LCoEs by means of a fast and robust algorithm. • We take into account the competition among gas prices and electricity prices

A dynamic simulation model for assessing the overall impact of incentive policies on power system reliability, costs and environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibanez-Lopez, A.S.; Martinez-Val, J.M.; Moratilla-Soria, B.Y.

2017-01-01

The liberalization of power markets has entailed dramatic changes in power system planning worldwide. The inception of new alternative technologies, smart grids and distributed generation and storage is expected to make system planning even more challenging. Government policies still play a major role in the evolution of a country's power generation mix, even in those countries with liberalized markets. This paper presents a System Dynamics model aimed at assessing the overall technical, economic and environmental impact of renewable energy incentives and capacity payment policies. The model has been used to simulate Spain's power industry in order to assess the impact of electric power policies with the goal of getting insights regarding how to achieve an optimum power generation mix. The main conclusions of the present paper are (i) the necessity of specific regulatory actions in Spain in order to keep adequate reliability levels, avoid price spikes and boom and bust investment cycles as well as to deploy specific technologies, (ii) the fact that capacity payments are a better instrument for keeping adequate reserve margins and avoiding power price spikes than renewable energy incentives and (iii) the evidence that both instruments entail additional system costs over the base case scenario. - Highlights: • A System Dynamics model of Spain's power generation mix is proposed. • The overall policy impact on system costs, environment and reliability is assessed. • Current policies are not enough to keep adequate reliability levels. • Capacity payments are an adequate instrument for guaranteeing system reliability. • RES incentives do not solve reliability issues and entail greater system costs.

Optimal maintenance policy for a system subject to damage in a discrete time process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chien, Yu-Hung; Sheu, Shey-Huei; Zhang, Zhe George

2012-01-01

Consider a system operating over n discrete time periods (n=1, 2, …). Each operation period causes a random amount of damage to the system which accumulates over time periods. The system fails when the cumulative damage exceeds a failure level ζ and a corrective maintenance (CM) action is immediately taken. To prevent such a failure, a preventive maintenance (PM) may be performed. In an operation period without a CM or PM, a regular maintenance (RM) is conducted at the end of that period to maintain the operation of the system. We propose a maintenance policy which prescribes a PM when the accumulated damage exceeds a pre-specified level δ ( ⁎ and N ⁎ and discuss some useful properties about them. It has been shown that a δ-based PM outperforms a N-based PM in terms of cost minimization. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the optimization of this class of maintenance policies.

Energy systems and climate policy - Long-term scenarios for an uncertain future

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vuuren, D.P. van

2007-01-01

In this thesis various forms of scenario analysis are discussed both to explore 1) how energy system and associated greenhouse gas emissions may develop in the absence of climate policy and 2) how strategies aimed at drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions may turn out. As uncertainties

Parliament and the making of Indian foreign policy: a study of nuclear policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paranjpe, Shrikant

1997-01-01

This book is a study that attempts to look at the emerging role design that the Indian Parliament has come to acquire in the exercise of its functions of participating in the formulation of foreign policy. The choice of the case study of nuclear policy is deliberate in that it evokes responses in all the three important dimensions of the role of the parliament: policy-making, representational activity, and system maintenance activity. The executive and the legislature are closely associated in the process of policy-making in the Indian parliamentary set-up. The representational activities focuses on the role perception of a parliamentarian and his interest in the area of foreign policy. The system maintenance activity includes support for the regime and political system essentially ensuring continuation of policy. This book also brings out the policies as they developed and the role played by the Parliament in terms of participation in the formulation of the policies. The issue areas covered includes the scientific and technological aspects of atomic energy policy; the debate on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty; peaceful nuclear explosions; and the question of the nuclear weapons option. The essential sources of the study have been parliamentary debates, published reports and other statements dealing with the topic and interviews with legislators and officials involved in the issue. Most of the recommendations and concluding observations have been based on the interviews conducted

78 FR 59269 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the Fluted...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-26

...). The gametogenic cycle (annual cycle in the development of reproductive cells or gametes) of fluted... Cumberland....... Fentress, Morgan, TN Historical and Current. River. Scott. Rock Creek Cumberland...). Live fluted kidneyshell have not been collected in Rock Creek since 1988 (Layzer and Anderson 1992, p...

Sectoral Systems and Innovation and Technology Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franco Malerba

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo usa o conceito de sistema setorial de inovações que permite a utilização de uma visão multidimensional integrada e dinâmica da inovação em seus setores. Sistemas setoriais apresentam três dimensões que afetam tanto a geração e adoção de novas tecnologias quanto a organização da inovação e produção nos seguintes níveis setoriais: conhecimento, atores e redes e instituições. O artigo discute o escopo conceitual dos sistemas setoriais, apresenta cinco análises de setores principais e examina suas tendências principais, seus desafios e suas transformações. O artigo também oferece uma análise sobre implicações políticas públicas e sugestões do ponto de vista do sistema setorial de inovações.This paper uses the concept of sectoral system of innovation which aims to provide a multidimensional, integrated and dynamic view of innovation in sectors. Sectoral systems have three dimensions that affect the generation and adoption of new technologies and the organization of innovation and production at the sectoral level: knowledge (and the related boundaries, actors and networks, and institutions. The paper discusses the conceptual framework of sectoral systems, presents five main sectoral systems and examines their major trends, challenges and transformation. The paper then examines which are the main policy implications and indications in a sectoral system perspective.

Assessing the implementation and influence of policies that support research and innovation systems for health: the cases of Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania.

Science.gov (United States)

Mugwagwa, Julius; Edwards, Daniel; de Haan, Sylvia

2015-04-18

Without good policies it will be difficult to provide guidance to research and innovation systems. However, policies need to be followed through and implemented to have the desired effect. We studied the policies and strategies in place to support research and innovation systems for health in Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania, and looked at the extent to which these policies and strategies have been implemented. We reviewed documents and reports and conducted in-depth interviews with 16 key informants representing various actors of the national research for health systems. The results illustrate that there are various policies and strategies governing research and innovation for health in the three countries. However, implementation of these policies and strategies is generally rated as being poor. The reasons highlighted for this include lack of policy coherence, lack of enforcement and accountability mechanisms, and a lack of financing for implementing the policies. These contextual factors seem to be of such importance that even the increased stakeholder involvement and political leadership, as mentioned by the interviewees, cannot guarantee policy implementation. We conclude that due to the contextual realities of the study countries, there is need for greater focus on policy implementation than on developing additional policies. Government institutions should play a central role in all stages of the policy process, and should ensure implementation of defined policies. Strong mechanisms, including financing, that strengthen the position and role of government in policy coordination and the oversight of the policy process will help increase efficient and impactful implementation of research and innovation for health policies.

Policy and systems analysis for nuclear installation decommissioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gu Jiande

1995-01-01

On the basis of introducing into principal concept for nuclear installation decommissioning, form policy, sciences point of view, the author analyses present problems in the policy, the administrative and programme for decommissioning work in China. According to the physical process of decommissioning, the author studied engineering economics, derived method and formulas to estimate decommissioning cost. It is pointed out that basing on optimization principle for radiation protection and analysing cost-benefit for decommissioning engineering, the corresponding policy decision can be made

Optimum policies for a system with general imperfect maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheu, S.-H.; Lin, Y.-B.; Liao, G.-L.

2006-01-01

This study considers periodic preventive maintenance policies, which maximizes the availability of a repairable system with major repair at failure. Three types of preventive maintenance are performed, namely: imperfect preventive maintenance (IPM), perfect preventive maintenance (PPM) and failed preventive maintenance (FPM). The probability that preventive maintenance is perfect depends on the number of imperfect maintenances conducted since the previous renewal cycle, and the probability that preventive maintenance remains imperfect is not increasing. The optimum preventive maintenance time that maximizes availability is derived. Various special cases are considered. A numerical example is given

Financial sustainability versus access and quality in a challenged health system: an examination of the capitation policy debate in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Atuoye, Kilian Nasung; Vercillo, Siera; Antabe, Roger; Galaa, Sylvester Zackaria; Luginaah, Isaac

2016-11-01

Policy makers in low and middle-income countries are frequently confronted with challenges of increasing health access for poor populations in a sustainable manner. After several years of trying out different health financing mechanisms, health insurance has recently emerged as a pro-poor health financing policy. Capitation, a fixed fee periodically paid to health service providers for anticipated services, is one of the payment policies in health insurance. This article examines claims and counter-claims made by coalitions and individual stakeholders in a capitation payment policy debate within Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme. Using content analysis of public and parliamentary proceedings, we situate the debate within policy making and health insurance literature. We found that the ongoing capitation payment debate stems from challenges in implementation of earlier health insurance claims payment systems, which reflect broader systemic challenges facing the health insurance scheme in Ghana. The study illustrates the extent to which various sub-systems in the policy debate advance arguments to legitimize their claims about the contested capitation payment system. In addition, we found that the health of poor communities, women and children are being used as surrogates for political and individual arguments in the policy debate. The article recommends a more holistic and participatory approach through persuasion and negotiation to join interests and core evidence together in the capitation policy making in Ghana and elsewhere with similar contexts. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

48 CFR 232.702 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Policy. 232.702 Section 232.702 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE ACQUISITION REGULATIONS SYSTEM, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE GENERAL CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Contract Funding 232.702 Policy. Fixed-price...

Social Policies in Contemporary Latin America: Families and Poverty in the Social Protection Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina González

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This article examines the impact of social policies on the living conditions of poor families—particularly women—in Latin America from the late 1980s to the present. It identifies three distinct trends of familialism in the region’s social protection systems. The first social policy trend is characterized by poverty alleviation policies addressing the family in an “elliptical” way, taking for granted the idea of a nuclear family. The distinguishing trait of the second trend is the appearance of social programs aimed at families and stressing the role of women as chief caregivers and administrators. And finally, the third policy trend is defined by an expansion of more universal social programs targeting children and the elderly. Despite the recent emergence of programs with gender specific goals, social policies continue to put a great burden on female workers. For example, many subsidies to poor families deliver money directly to women, improving their intra-family bargaining power, but this translates also into an increase of responsibilities and the ensuing overload of work. Consequently, social policies in Latin America need to aim at encouraging a more egalitarian distribution of housework and care work within the family, especially given how well-established androcentrism is in the region.

An evaluation model for low carbon island policy: The case of Taiwan's green transportation policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trappey, Amy J.C.; Trappey, Charles; Hsiao, C.T.; Ou, Jerry J.R.; Li, S.J.; Chen, Kevin W.P.

2012-01-01

Conserving energy and reducing carbon emissions have become the common responsibility of the international community. During the year 2010, the Taiwan government planned a four-year project budgeted at 300 million US dollars, called “The Penghu Low Carbon Island Development Project.” The policy objective is to use Penghu Island (population 85,000) as a test platform to evaluate new ways to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions before attempting to replicate the policies on Taiwan Island. For Taiwan, a zero carbon island green transportation policy will regulate the total number of electric scooters, the total number of gasoline motorcycles, influence government subsidy incentives, and create the need for new motorcycle license issuing and control. These factors interact with each other to form a complex and dynamic system that impacts policy as well as the current way of life. In this study, a system dynamics approach is designed to construct a model for evaluating the green transportation policy on Penghu Island. Simulations are conducted to model green transportation system behavior and related policy effects in a smaller, controlled environment before creating policies for Taiwan Island that will impact the lives of over 23 million people. - Highlights: ► Provides an overview of Taiwan's Penghu Low Carbon Island Development Project. ► Develops a systems dynamics approach for green transportation policy assessment. ► Provides causal analysis of social, economic, and environmental factors. ► Demonstrates that the proposed policy cannot meet the CO 2 reduction goals. ► Alternative policies can be evaluated using the proposed approach.

Human resources for health policies: a critical component in health policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dussault Gilles

2003-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract In the last few years, increasing attention has been paid to the development of health policies. But side by side with the presumed benefits of policy, many analysts share the opinion that a major drawback of health policies is their failure to make room for issues of human resources. Current approaches in human resources suggest a number of weaknesses: a reactive, ad hoc attitude towards problems of human resources; dispersal of accountability within human resources management (HRM; a limited notion of personnel administration that fails to encompass all aspects of HRM; and finally the short-term perspective of HRM. There are three broad arguments for modernizing the ways in which human resources for health are managed: • the central role of the workforce in the health sector; • the various challenges thrown up by health system reforms; • the need to anticipate the effect on the health workforce (and consequently on service provision arising from various macroscopic social trends impinging on health systems. The absence of appropriate human resources policies is responsible, in many countries, for a chronic imbalance with multifaceted effects on the health workforce: quantitative mismatch, qualitative disparity, unequal distribution and a lack of coordination between HRM actions and health policy needs. Four proposals have been put forward to modernize how the policy process is conducted in the development of human resources for health (HRH: • to move beyond the traditional approach of personnel administration to a more global concept of HRM; • to give more weight to the integrated, interdependent and systemic nature of the different components of HRM when preparing and implementing policy; • to foster a more proactive attitude among human resources (HR policy-makers and managers; • to promote the full commitment of all professionals and sectors in all phases of the process. The development of explicit human resources

Curriculum Policy Implementation: How Schools Respond to Government's "Soft" Policy in the Curriculum Reform

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Jacqueline K. S.

2012-01-01

"Soft" policy has newly emerged as a policy implementation concept in relation to governance. Non-binding in character, "soft" policy is designed for multi-level systems of governance in which there is relative autonomy at different levels of collective decision-making. "Soft" policy has gained attention since the…

Evidence of Reliability for Persian Version of the “Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT” in Iranian Athletes with lateral Ankle Sprain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitra Haji-Maghsoudi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of persian version of the “Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT” in Iranian athletes with lateral ankle sprain. Matterials & Methods: The present study is a methodological and non-experimental study. After forward and backward translation of CAIT, 46 athletes were selected with convenient nonprobably sampling from Physical Education Faculty of Tehran university and Taekwondo Club. Questionnaire was given to participants who experienced at least one lateral ankle sprain based on doctor’s diagnosis. In the second phase (one week later the questionnaire was distributed among the participants again to test the reliability of the measured between the two tests. After collecting the data, the test-retest reliability of  Persian version of the questionnaire was evaluated by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient, standard error of measurement, smallest detectable change and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire’s items. Results Cronbach’s alpha was 0.64, which is close to acceptable level of internal consistency (0.7-0.95. Factor analysis showed that questionnaires’ items can be classified  in 4 categories with maximum of 72% variance cover. The test-retest correlation coefficient ICC for the total score of CAIT was 0.95 (P>100.0, indicating excellent reproducibility of the Persian version of the questionnaire. The standard error of measurement (SEM was 1 and the smallest acceptable change (SDC was 2.76 with 95% confidence. Conclusion: The results show that the Persian version of the CAIT can be used in athletes with functional ankle instability as a reliable tool to detect instability and assess changes caused by therapeutic interventions.

MACROPRUDENTIAL POLICY: CONCEPTUAL POSITIONS

OpenAIRE

Radu CUHAL; Ludmila STARIŢÎNA; Nicolae BASISTÎI

2013-01-01

The article explains the conceptual principles of macroprudential policy, its main objectives and instruments. The classification of macroprudential policy tools of the Committee on the Global Financial System is defined. The comparative characteristics of macro-prudential policy in the Western developed countries are also examined.

Macroprudential policy: conceptual positions

OpenAIRE

Stariţîna Ludmila; Cuhal Radu

2013-01-01

The article explains the conceptual principles of macroprudential policy, its main objectives and instruments. The classification of macroprudential policy tools of the Committee on the Global Financial System is defined. The comparative characteristics of macro-prudential policy in the Western developed countries are also examined.

Catchment scale water resource constraints on UK policies for low-carbon energy system transition

Science.gov (United States)

Konadu, D. D.; Fenner, R. A.

2017-12-01

Long-term low-carbon energy transition policy of the UK presents national scale propositions of different low-carbon energy system options that lead to meeting GHG emissions reduction target of 80% on 1990 levels by 2050. Whilst national-scale assessments suggests that water availability may not be a significant constrain on future thermal power generation systems in this pursuit, these analysis fail to capture the appropriate spatial scale where water resource decisions are made, i.e. at the catchment scale. Water is a local resource, which also has significant spatio-temporal regional and national variability, thus any policy-relevant water-energy nexus analysis must be reflective of these characteristics. This presents a critical challenge for policy relevant water-energy nexus analysis. This study seeks to overcome the above challenge by using a linear spatial-downscaling model to allocate nationally projected water-intensive energy system infrastructure/technologies to the catchment level, and estimating the water requirements for the deployment of these technologies. The model is applied to the UK Committee on Climate Change Carbon Budgets to 2030 as a case study. The paper concludes that whilst national-scale analyses show minimal long-term water related impacts, catchment level appraisal of water resource requirements reveal significant constraints in some locations. The approach and results presented in this study thus, highlights the importance of bringing together scientific understanding, data and analysis tools to provide better insights for water-energy nexus decisions at the appropriate spatial scale. This is particularly important for water stressed regions where the water-energy nexus must be analysed at appropriate spatial resolution to capture the full water resource impact of national energy policy.

Energy-Efficiency Policy Opportunities for Electric Motor-Driven Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

This publication is the first global analysis of energy consumption and energy efficiency potential of EMDS (electric motor- driven system). The electric motors and systems they drive are the largest single electricity end use, accounting for more than 40% of global electricity consumption. Huge energy efficiency potential was found untapped in EMDS - around 25% of EMDS electricity use could be saved cost-effectively, reducing total global electricity demand by about 10%. However, the energy efficiency of EMDS has been relatively neglected in comparison with other sustainable energy opportunities. It is crucial to scale up the operations and resources committed to realizing the vast savings potential of optimized EMDS. This paper proposes a comprehensive package of policy recommendations to help governments realize the potential for energy savings in EMDS.

Health Policy and Management: In Praise of Political Science; Comment on “On Health Policy and Management (HPAM: Mind the Theory-Policy Practice Gap”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David J Hunter

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Health systems have entered a third era embracing whole systems thinking and posing complex policy and management challenges. Understanding how such systems work and agreeing what needs to be put in place to enable them to undergo effective and sustainable change are more pressing issues than ever for policy-makers. The theory-policy-practice-gap and its four dimensions, as articulated by Chinitz and Rodwin, is acknowledged. It is suggested that insights derived from political science can both enrich our understanding of the gap and suggest what changes are needed to tackle the complex challenges facing health systems.

Health Policy and Management: in praise of political science. Comment on "On Health Policy and Management (HPAM): mind the theory-policy-practice gap".

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, David J

2015-03-12

Health systems have entered a third era embracing whole systems thinking and posing complex policy and management challenges. Understanding how such systems work and agreeing what needs to be put in place to enable them to undergo effective and sustainable change are more pressing issues than ever for policy-makers. The theory-policy-practice-gap and its four dimensions, as articulated by Chinitz and Rodwin, is acknowledged. It is suggested that insights derived from political science can both enrich our understanding of the gap and suggest what changes are needed to tackle the complex challenges facing health systems. © 2015 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Strategic and policy issues raised by the transition from thermal to fast nuclear systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

The renewed interest in nuclear energy triggered by concerns about global climate change and security of supply, which could lead to substantial growth in nuclear electricity generation, enhances the attractiveness of fast neutron reactors with closed fuel cycles. Moving from the current fleet of thermal neutron reactors to fast neutron systems will require many decades and extensive RD-D efforts. This book identifies and analyses key strategic and policy issues raised by such a transition, aiming at providing guidance to decision makers on the best approaches for implementing transition scenarios. The topics covered in this book will be of interest to government and nuclear industry policy makers as well as to specialists working on nuclear energy system analyses and advanced fuel cycle issues. (author)

Money, the Banking System and Monetary Policy in Canada: A Teaching Unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Douglas C. A.; Staunton, Ted, Ed.

One of a series of teaching units designed to introduce secondary school students to the Canadian economy, this handbook contains instructional materials on Canada's monetary system and policy. Material is organized and presented in terms of specific topic readings and illustrative activities. The topics covered in six sections are money, the…

Modelling the Effects of Parking Charge and Supply Policy Using System Dynamics Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenyu Mei

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Reasonable parking charge and supply policy are essential for the regular operation of the traffic in city center. This paper develops an evaluation model for parking policies using system dynamics. A quantitative study is conducted to examine the effects of parking charge and supply policy on traffic speed. The model, which is composed of three interrelated subsystems, first summarizes the travel cost of each travel mode and then calibrates the travel choice model through the travel mode subsystem. Finally, the subsystem that evaluates the state of traffic forecasts future car speed based on bureau of public roads (BPR function and generates new travel cost until the entire model reaches a steady state. The accuracy of the model is verified in Hangzhou Wulin business district. The related error of predicted speed is only 2.2%. The results indicate that the regular pattern of traffic speed and parking charge can be illustrated using the proposed model based on system dynamics, and the model infers that reducing the parking supply in core area will increase its congestion level and, under certain parking supply conditions, there exists an interval of possible pricing at which the service reaches a level that is fairly stable.

Laws, directives and policy instruments important for the development of the waste management system; Lagar, direktiv och styrmedel viktiga foer avfallssystemets utveckling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilsson, Karolina; Sundberg, Johan

2010-01-15

This report gives a survey and a description of present and future policy instruments that have been or will become important for the development of the waste management system. Policy instruments here refers to laws, directives, taxes/fees, national/local goals and other regulating measures that the society introduce to steer the development of the waste management system. This work can thus be used as a dictionary or a guideline for these measures. The investigation has two goals: 1. To give representatives of the Swedish waste management system a summary of important policy instruments for the future development of the waste management system. 2. To give Waste Refinery a summary of these policy instruments that can be used for the discussions of how the research within the centre should develop during stage 2. A large number of policy instruments have been found during the study. These instruments have been, most likely will become, or may become important for the development of the waste management system. Most of them are described in this report. The selection made is presented in Table 1. Focus for the selection has been policy instruments that are important for the research activities within Waste Refinery, meaning policy instruments that direct or indirect can change the use of thermal and/or biological treatment as well as techniques and methods supporting these treatment methods. [Table 1. Policy instruments that are presented in the report

Dynamic analysis of the urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics: Focused on housing and green space

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hong, Taehoon, E-mail: hong7@yonsei.ac.kr [Associate Professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jimin, E-mail: cookie6249@yonsei.ac.kr; Jeong, Kwangbok, E-mail: kbjeong7@yonsei.ac.kr [Research Assistant and Ph.D. Student, Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Koo, Choongwan, E-mail: cwkoo@yonsei.ac.kr [Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 120-749 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-02-09

To systematically manage the energy consumption of existing buildings, the government has to enforce greenhouse gas reduction policies. However, most of the policies are not properly executed because they do not consider various factors from the urban level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a dynamic analysis of an urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics, with a specific focus on housing and green space. This study was conducted in the following steps: (i) establishing the variables of urban-based greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions; (ii) creating a stock/flow diagram of urban-based GHGs emissions; (iii) conducting an information analysis using the system dynamics; and (iv) proposing the urban-based low-carbon policy. If a combined energy policy that uses the housing sector (30%) and the green space sector (30%) at the same time is implemented, 2020 CO{sub 2} emissions will be 7.23 million tons (i.e., 30.48% below 2020 business-as-usual), achieving the national carbon emissions reduction target (26.9%). The results of this study could contribute to managing and improving the fundamentals of the urban-based low-carbon policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Dynamic analysis of the urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics: Focused on housing and green space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Taehoon; Kim, Jimin; Jeong, Kwangbok; Koo, Choongwan

2015-01-01

To systematically manage the energy consumption of existing buildings, the government has to enforce greenhouse gas reduction policies. However, most of the policies are not properly executed because they do not consider various factors from the urban level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a dynamic analysis of an urban-based low-carbon policy using system dynamics, with a specific focus on housing and green space. This study was conducted in the following steps: (i) establishing the variables of urban-based greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions; (ii) creating a stock/flow diagram of urban-based GHGs emissions; (iii) conducting an information analysis using the system dynamics; and (iv) proposing the urban-based low-carbon policy. If a combined energy policy that uses the housing sector (30%) and the green space sector (30%) at the same time is implemented, 2020 CO 2 emissions will be 7.23 million tons (i.e., 30.48% below 2020 business-as-usual), achieving the national carbon emissions reduction target (26.9%). The results of this study could contribute to managing and improving the fundamentals of the urban-based low-carbon policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

77 FR 60803 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for the Fluted...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-04

... become sexually mature at age 5 (Davis and Layzer 2012, p. 79). The gametogenic cycle (annual cycle in... Fork Rockcastle River [KY], Rockcastle River [KY], Buck Creek [KY], Rock Creek [KY], Kennedy Creek [KY..., Scott. Rock Creek Cumberland McCreary....... KY Historical and Current. Little South Fork Cumberland...

Guidance to employers on integrating e-cigarettes/electronic nicotine delivery systems into tobacco worksite policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitsel, Laurie P; Benowitz, Neal; Bhatnagar, Aruni; Bullen, Chris; Goldstein, Fred; Matthias-Gray, Lena; Grossmeier, Jessica; Harris, John; Isaac, Fikry; Loeppke, Ron; Manley, Marc; Moseley, Karen; Niemiec, Ted; OʼBrien, Vince; Palma-Davis, LaVaughn; Pronk, Nico; Pshock, Jim; Stave, Gregg M; Terry, Paul

2015-03-01

In recent years, new products have entered the marketplace that complicate decisions about tobacco control policies and prevention in the workplace. These products, called electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or electronic nicotine delivery systems, most often deliver nicotine as an aerosol for inhalation, without combustion of tobacco. This new mode of nicotine delivery raises several questions about the safety of the product for the user, the effects of secondhand exposure, how the public use of these products should be handled within tobacco-free and smoke-free air policies, and how their use affects tobacco cessation programs, wellness incentives, and other initiatives to prevent and control tobacco use. In this article, we provide a background on e-cigarettes and then outline key policy recommendations for employers on how the use of these new devices should be managed within worksite tobacco prevention programs and control policies.

Implementation Of Conservation Policy Through The Protection Of Life Support System In The Karimunjawa National Park

Science.gov (United States)

Ariyani, Nur Anisa Eka; Kismartini

2018-02-01

The Karimunjawa National Park as the only one marine protected area in Central Java, managed by zonation system has decreased natural resources in the form of decreasing mangrove forest area, coral cover, sea biota population such as clams and sea cucumbers. Conservation has been done by Karimunjawa National Park Authority through protection of life support system activities in order to protect the area from degradation. The objective of the research is to know the implementation of protection and security activities of Karimunjawa National Park Authority for the period of 2012 - 2016. The research was conducted by qualitative method, processing secondary data from Karimunjawa National Park Authority and interview with key informants. The results showed that protection and security activities in The Karimunjawa National Park were held with three activities: pre-emptive activities, preventive activities and repressive activities. Implementation of conservation policy through protection of life support system is influenced by factors of policy characteristic, resource factor and environmental policy factor. Implementation of conservation policy need support from various parties, not only Karimunjawa National Park Authority as the manager of the area, but also need participation of Jepara Regency, Central Java Provinces, communities, NGOs, researchers, developers and tourism actors to maintain and preserve existing biodiversity. Improving the quality of implementors through education and training activities, the availability of the state budget annually and the support of stakeholders is essential for conservation.

Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciais, P.; Peregon, A.; Chevallier, F.; Bopp, L.; Breon, F.M.; Broquet, G.; Luyssaert, S.; Moulin, C.; Paris, J.D.; Poulter, B.; Rivier, L.; Wang, R.

2014-01-01

A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Building an integrated carbon observation system requires transformational advances from the existing sparse, exploratory framework towards a dense, robust, and sustained system in all components: anthropogenic emissions, the atmosphere, the ocean, and the terrestrial biosphere. The paper is addressed to scientists, policy makers, and funding agencies who need to have a global picture of the current state of the (diverse) carbon observations. We identify the current state of carbon observations, and the needs and notional requirements for a global integrated carbon observation system that can be built in the next decade. A key conclusion is the substantial expansion of the ground-based observation networks required to reach the high spatial resolution for CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes, and for carbon stocks for addressing policy-relevant objectives, and attributing flux changes to underlying processes in each region. In order to establish flux and stock diagnostics over areas such as the southern oceans, tropical forests, and the Arctic, in situ observations will have to be complemented with remote-sensing measurements. Remote sensing offers the advantage of dense spatial coverage and frequent revisit. A key challenge is to bring remote-sensing measurements to a level of long-term consistency and accuracy so that they can be efficiently combined in models to reduce uncertainties, in synergy with ground based data. Bringing tight observational constraints on fossil fuel and land use change emissions will be the biggest challenge for deployment of a policy-relevant integrated carbon observation system. This will require in situ and remotely sensed data at much higher

High performance work systems: the gap between policy and practice in health care reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Leggat, Sandra G; Bartram, Timothy; Stanton, Pauline

2011-01-01

Studies of high-performing organisations have consistently reported a positive relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and performance outcomes. Although many of these studies have been conducted in manufacturing, similar findings of a positive correlation between aspects of HPWS and improved care delivery and patient outcomes have been reported in international health care studies. The purpose of this paper is to bring together the results from a series of studies conducted within Australian health care organisations. First, the authors seek to demonstrate the link found between high performance work systems and organisational performance, including the perceived quality of patient care. Second, the paper aims to show that the hospitals studied do not have the necessary aspects of HPWS in place and that there has been little consideration of HPWS in health system reform. The paper draws on a series of correlation studies using survey data from hospitals in Australia, supplemented by qualitative data collection and analysis. To demonstrate the link between HPWS and perceived quality of care delivery the authors conducted regression analysis with tests of mediation and moderation to analyse survey responses of 201 nurses in a large regional Australian health service and explored HRM and HPWS in detail in three casestudy organisations. To achieve the second aim, the authors surveyed human resource and other senior managers in all Victorian health sector organisations and reviewed policy documents related to health system reform planned for Australia. The findings suggest that there is a relationship between HPWS and the perceived quality of care that is mediated by human resource management (HRM) outcomes, such as psychological empowerment. It is also found that health care organisations in Australia generally do not have the necessary aspects of HPWS in place, creating a policy and practice gap. Although the chief executive officers of health

The application of system dynamics modelling to environmental health decision-making and policy - a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Currie, Danielle J; Smith, Carl; Jagals, Paul

2018-03-27

Policy and decision-making processes are routinely challenged by the complex and dynamic nature of environmental health problems. System dynamics modelling has demonstrated considerable value across a number of different fields to help decision-makers understand and predict the dynamic behaviour of complex systems in support the development of effective policy actions. In this scoping review we investigate if, and in what contexts, system dynamics modelling is being used to inform policy or decision-making processes related to environmental health. Four electronic databases and the grey literature were systematically searched to identify studies that intersect the areas environmental health, system dynamics modelling, and decision-making. Studies identified in the initial screening were further screened for their contextual, methodological and application-related relevancy. Studies deemed 'relevant' or 'highly relevant' according to all three criteria were included in this review. Key themes related to the rationale, impact and limitation of using system dynamics in the context of environmental health decision-making and policy were analysed. We identified a limited number of relevant studies (n = 15), two-thirds of which were conducted between 2011 and 2016. The majority of applications occurred in non-health related sectors (n = 9) including transportation, public utilities, water, housing, food, agriculture, and urban and regional planning. Applications were primarily targeted at micro-level (local, community or grassroots) decision-making processes (n = 9), with macro-level (national or international) decision-making to a lesser degree. There was significant heterogeneity in the stated rationales for using system dynamics and the intended impact of the system dynamics model on decision-making processes. A series of user-related, technical and application-related limitations and challenges were identified. None of the reported limitations or challenges

Analytical method for optimization of maintenance policy based on available system failure data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coria, V.H.; Maximov, S.; Rivas-Dávalos, F.; Melchor, C.L.; Guardado, J.L.

2015-01-01

An analytical optimization method for preventive maintenance (PM) policy with minimal repair at failure, periodic maintenance, and replacement is proposed for systems with historical failure time data influenced by a current PM policy. The method includes a new imperfect PM model based on Weibull distribution and incorporates the current maintenance interval T 0 and the optimal maintenance interval T to be found. The Weibull parameters are analytically estimated using maximum likelihood estimation. Based on this model, the optimal number of PM and the optimal maintenance interval for minimizing the expected cost over an infinite time horizon are also analytically determined. A number of examples are presented involving different failure time data and current maintenance intervals to analyze how the proposed analytical optimization method for periodic PM policy performances in response to changes in the distribution of the failure data and the current maintenance interval. - Highlights: • An analytical optimization method for preventive maintenance (PM) policy is proposed. • A new imperfect PM model is developed. • The Weibull parameters are analytically estimated using maximum likelihood. • The optimal maintenance interval and number of PM are also analytically determined. • The model is validated by several numerical examples

The renewable energy industry in Massachussetts as a complex system: Developing a shared understanding for policy making

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Charles A.

A model-based field study was conducted to understand the mental models of participants in the photovoltaic industry in Massachusetts, with the purpose of understanding of how that industry works as a complex system. Mental models of industry participants are important, both as the holders of the best system information and as the critical actors in any policy solution. Experts from manufacturing, installation, development, policy, and advocacy sectors were interviewed. The knowledge they conveyed was expressed as a set system dynamics models; these models were characterized, compared, and combined in order to answer the following research questions: What are the mental models of participants? How widely are mental models shared among participants? What is the combined model of the system? How accurate are these models? Given these models, what policies would lead to success? The system described by informants is revealed as one of distributed and embedded agency---actors have the ability to take meaningful action, but that action and its effects are limited by the complexity of the system and by the actions of other actors. Both the growth of the industry and constraints on the growth occur through dynamic processes, many however outside local control. Mental models are shared in clusters of informants, with some differences between these groupings. Informants vary on the level of aggregation needed to express their descriptions and on the most important dynamic force. However, many processes are commonly perceived across informants, they perceive the same system trajectories, and the behavior of the simulation models constructed from their mental models was similar. A combined model was constructed which included a full range of potential feedback loops within an abstracted version of the described system. Testing for policy using the combined model reveals that the structures necessary for growth are present, as expected. Under several reasonable conditions

Optimal preventive maintenance and repair policies for multi-state systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheu, Shey-Huei; Chang, Chin-Chih; Chen, Yen-Luan; George Zhang, Zhe

2015-01-01

This paper studies the optimal preventive maintenance (PM) policies for multi-state systems. The scheduled PMs can be either imperfect or perfect type. The improved effective age is utilized to model the effect of an imperfect PM. The system is considered as in a failure state (unacceptable state) once its performance level falls below a given customer demand level. If the system fails before a scheduled PM, it is repaired and becomes operational again. We consider three types of major, minimal, and imperfect repair actions, respectively. The deterioration of the system is assumed to follow a non-homogeneous continuous time Markov process (NHCTMP) with finite state space. A recursive approach is proposed to efficiently compute the time-dependent distribution of the multi-state system. For each repair type, we find the optimal PM schedule that minimizes the average cost rate. The main implication of our results is that in determining the optimal scheduled PM, choosing the right repair type will significantly improve the efficiency of the system maintenance. Thus PM and repair decisions must be made jointly to achieve the best performance

7 CFR 1730.61 - RUS policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

..., or reliability on the borrower's electric power system or other electric power systems interconnected to the borrower's electric power system. The Agency encourages borrowers to consider model policy... ELECTRIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE Interconnection of Distributed Resources § 1730.61 RUS policy...

Impact of few failure data on the opportunistic replacement policy for multi-component systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laggoune, Radouane; Chateauneuf, Alaa; Aissani, Djamil

2010-01-01

In continuous operating units, the production loss is often very large during the system shut down. Their economic profitability is conditioned by the implementation of suitable maintenance policy that could increase the availability and reduce the operating costs. In this paper, an opportunistic replacement policy is proposed for multi-component series system in the context of data uncertainty, where the expected total cost per unit time is minimized under general lifetime distribution. When the system is down, either correctively or preventively, the opportunity to replace preventively non-failed components is considered. To deal with the problem of the small size of failure data samples, the Bootstrap technique is applied, in order to model the uncertainties in parameter estimates. The Weibull parameters are considered as random variables rather than just deterministic point estimates. A solution procedure based on Monte Carlo simulations with informative search method is proposed and applied to the optimization of preventive maintenance plan for a hydrogen compressor in an oil refinery.

The growth of corporate private hospitals in Malaysia: policy contradictions in health system pluralism.

Science.gov (United States)

Barraclough, S

1997-01-01

The rapid growth of corporate investment in the Malaysian private hospital sector has had a considerable impact on the health care system. Sustained economic growth, the development of new urban areas, an enlarged middle class, and the inclusion of hospital insurance in salary packages have all contributed to a financially lucrative investment environment for hospital entrepreneurs. Many of Malaysia's most technologically advanced hospitals employing leading specialists are owned and operated as corporate business ventures. Corporate hospital investment has been actively encouraged by the government, which regards an expanded private sector as a vital complement to the public hospital system. Yet this rapid growth of corporately owned private hospitals has posed serious contradictions for health care policy in terms of issues such as equity, cost and quality, the effect on the wider health system, and the very role of the state in health care provision. This article describes the growth of corporate investment in Malaysia's private hospital sector and explores some of the attendant policy contradictions.

An Integrated Framework for Modeling Air Carrier Behavior, Policy, and Impacts in the U.S. Air Transportation System

Science.gov (United States)

Horio, Brant M.; Kumar, Vivek; DeCicco, Anthony H.; Hasan, Shahab; Stouffer, Virginia L.; Smith, Jeremy C.; Guerreiro, Nelson M.

2015-01-01

The implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the United States is an ongoing challenge for policymakers due to the complexity of the air transportation system (ATS) with its broad array of stakeholders and dynamic interdependencies between them. The successful implementation of NextGen has a hard dependency on the active participation of U.S. commercial airlines. To assist policymakers in identifying potential policy designs that facilitate the implementation of NextGen, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and LMI developed a research framework called the Air Transportation System Evolutionary Simulation (ATS-EVOS). This framework integrates large empirical data sets with multiple specialized models to simulate the evolution of the airline response to potential future policies and explore consequential impacts on ATS performance and market dynamics. In the ATS-EVOS configuration presented here, we leverage the Transportation Systems Analysis Model (TSAM), the Airline Evolutionary Simulation (AIRLINE-EVOS), the Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), and the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT), all of which enable this research to comprehensively represent the complex facets of the ATS and its participants. We validated this baseline configuration of ATS-EVOS against Airline Origin and Destination Survey (DB1B) data and subject matter expert opinion, and we verified the ATS-EVOS framework and agent behavior logic through scenario-based experiments that explored potential implementations of a carbon tax, congestion pricing policy, and the dynamics for equipage of new technology by airlines. These experiments demonstrated ATS-EVOS's capabilities in responding to a wide range of potential NextGen-related policies and utility for decision makers to gain insights for effective policy design.

Adaptive optimal control of unknown constrained-input systems using policy iteration and neural networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Modares, Hamidreza; Lewis, Frank L; Naghibi-Sistani, Mohammad-Bagher

2013-10-01

This paper presents an online policy iteration (PI) algorithm to learn the continuous-time optimal control solution for unknown constrained-input systems. The proposed PI algorithm is implemented on an actor-critic structure where two neural networks (NNs) are tuned online and simultaneously to generate the optimal bounded control policy. The requirement of complete knowledge of the system dynamics is obviated by employing a novel NN identifier in conjunction with the actor and critic NNs. It is shown how the identifier weights estimation error affects the convergence of the critic NN. A novel learning rule is developed to guarantee that the identifier weights converge to small neighborhoods of their ideal values exponentially fast. To provide an easy-to-check persistence of excitation condition, the experience replay technique is used. That is, recorded past experiences are used simultaneously with current data for the adaptation of the identifier weights. Stability of the whole system consisting of the actor, critic, system state, and system identifier is guaranteed while all three networks undergo adaptation. Convergence to a near-optimal control law is also shown. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated with a simulation example.

Can European sustainability and innovation policies accelerate the uptake of product-service systems?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tan, A.R.; Diaz Lopez, F.J.; Mudgal, S.; Tukker, A.

2013-01-01

This review paper presents preliminary results from on-going research on PSS policies in Europe. Despite the apparent potential of product-service systems (PSS) as more profitable, resource efficient and socially responsible, there has seemingly been limited uptake of this type of business model. A

Effectiveness of policy measures in transforming the energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lund, P.D.

2007-01-01

The effectiveness of public policy measures in creating energy impacts were investigated through 20 policy cases on renewable energy and efficient energy use. The policies were grouped into subsidy-type and catalyzing measures based on the use of the public financial resources. The policy cost of subsidies ranged from 1 Euro/MWh up to over 100 Euro/MWh, the feed-in tariffs being clearly the most expensive choice. The public measures that strive for catalyzing market breakthroughs lie in the range 0.1-1 Euro/MWh, but some business driven and procurement type measures could come down to even 0.01 Euro/MWh. The policy costs observed could decrease by 25-60% if accounting for lagging energy impacts. The better policy efficiency of catalytic measures is most likely due to a stronger market and business sensitiveness, understanding of market needs, and focusing more on the end-use sector with active stakeholder involvement. The magnitude of the energy impacts were in average larger from the subsidy instruments but a few end-use technologies linked to catalytic measures reached even higher effects due to the strong market penetration achieved. (author)

Effectiveness of policy measures in transforming the energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lund, P.D.

2007-01-01

The effectiveness of public policy measures in creating energy impacts were investigated through 20 policy cases on renewable energy and efficient energy use. The policies were grouped into subsidy-type and catalyzing measures based on the use of the public financial resources. The policy cost of subsidies ranged from 1 Euro /MWh up to over 100 Euro /MWh, the feed-in tariffs being clearly the most expensive choice. The public measures that strive for catalyzing market breakthroughs lie in the range 0.1-1 Euro /MWh, but some business driven and procurement type measures could come down to even 0.01 Euro /MWh. The policy costs observed could decrease by 25-60% if accounting for lagging energy impacts. The better policy efficiency of catalytic measures is most likely due to a stronger market and business sensitiveness, understanding of market needs, and focusing more on the end-use sector with active stakeholder involvement. The magnitude of the energy impacts were in average larger from the subsidy instruments but a few end-use technologies linked to catalytic measures reached even higher effects due to the strong market penetration achieved

Policy and practice in Myanmar's protected area system.

Science.gov (United States)

Myint Aung, U

2007-07-01

Myanmar's protected area (PA) system began nearly 150 years ago under royal patronage. Park policies and practices, embodied in 19 pieces of legislation developed sporadically during and after the colonial period. As a result of the FAO-UNDP's Nature Conservation and National Parks Project (1981-1985) the government established the Nature & Wildlife Conservation Division and placed it within the Forest Department as the agency responsible for PA management. As a consequence the number of parks increased from 14 to 33. Myanmar's median park size is less than 50 km(2), but only five parks (15%) are larger than 1000 km(2). Most parks conserve terrestrial habitats; parks encompassing inland wetlands, mangrove, and marine habitats are limited in number and size. Existing PAs unequally represent Myanmar's ecosystems; the Malay Transition, Burmese coast, Burmese Transition and Cardamom Mountains bio-units are under-represented within the system. The effective total PA size (i.e., area of all parks less the area of 13 paper parks) is currently about 2.1%. Budgetary support for parks increased 11% since 1996, but is insufficient to address park needs, particularly in remote parks that are understaffed. Limited education and training of PA staff is a major factor limiting effective park management. Fifty-eight percent of park wardens are educated as foresters, and 42% have university degrees. The average posting in a park is 4 years, which is less than ideal for management continuity. Recommended actions to secure Myanmar's PAs include evaluation and reformulation of policies, increasing representation of Myanmar's habitats within the PA system, management planning, and standardizing protocols for anti-poaching patrols and other forms of law enforcement. Improved leadership training for wardens and range forest officers can also improve park management. Funding for community relations and more integrated management of parks and people can reduce conflicts, while

Energy policies avoiding a tipping point in the climate system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahn, Olivier [GERAD and Department of Management Sciences, HEC Montreal, Montreal (Qc) (Canada); Edwards, Neil R. [Earth and Environmental Sciences, CEPSAR, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA (United Kingdom); Knutti, Reto [Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Stocker, Thomas F. [Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)

2011-01-15

Paleoclimate evidence and climate models indicate that certain elements of the climate system may exhibit thresholds, with small changes in greenhouse gas emissions resulting in non-linear and potentially irreversible regime shifts with serious consequences for socio-economic systems. Such thresholds or tipping points in the climate system are likely to depend on both the magnitude and rate of change of surface warming. The collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) is one example of such a threshold. To evaluate mitigation policies that curb greenhouse gas emissions to levels that prevent such a climate threshold being reached, we use the MERGE model of Manne, Mendelsohn and Richels. Depending on assumptions on climate sensitivity and technological progress, our analysis shows that preserving the THC may require a fast and strong greenhouse gas emission reduction from today's level, with transition to nuclear and/or renewable energy, possibly combined with the use of carbon capture and sequestration systems. (author)

Technology and Policy Challenges in the Adoption and Operation of Health Information Exchange Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Hyerim; Yoo, Sooyoung; Heo, Eun-Young; Hwang, Hee; Kim, Jeong-Whun

2017-10-01

This study aimed to identify problems and issues that arise with the implementation of online health information exchange (HIE) systems in a medical environment and to identify solutions to facilitate the successful operation of future HIE systems in primary care clinics and hospitals. In this study, the issues that arose during the establishment and operation of an HIE system in a hospital were identified so that they could be addressed to enable the successful establishment and operation of a standard-based HIE system. After the issues were identified, they were reviewed and categorized by a group of experts that included medical information system experts, doctors, medical information standard experts, and HIE researchers. Then, solutions for the identified problems were derived based on the system development, operation, and improvement carried out during this work. Twenty-one issues were identified during the implementation and operation of an online HIE system. These issues were then divided into four categories: system architecture and standards, documents and data items, consent of HIE, and usability. We offer technical and policy recommendations for various stakeholders based on the experiences of operating and improving the online HIE system in the medical field. The issues and solutions identified in this study regarding the implementation and operate of an online HIE system can provide valuable insight for planners to enable them to successfully design and operate such systems at a national level in the future. In addition, policy support from governments is needed.

A System Dynamics Analysis of Investment, Technology and Policy that Affect Natural Gas Exploration and Exploitation in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianzhong Xiao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Natural gas has an increasing role in Chinese energy transformation. We present a system dynamics model of the natural gas industry in China. A new system dynamics model for natural gas companies based on reserve exploration and well construction as well as investment dynamics is proposed. The contribution of the paper is to analyze the influence of technology, investment and policy factors on the natural gas industry. We found that the dynamics of the main variables, including gas policy, cost of investment, accounting depreciation and exploitation technology, are sensitive to the sustainable development of resources. The simulations and results presented here will be helpful for government to reform policies, and for upstream companies to make decisions.

An Overview of the Future Development of Climate and Earth System Models for Scientific and Policy Use (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Washington, W. M.

2010-12-01

The development of climate and earth system models has been regarded primarily as the making of scientific tools to study the complex nature of the Earth’s climate. These models have a long history starting with very simple physical models based on fundamental physics in the 1960s and over time they have become much more complex with atmospheric, ocean, sea ice, land/vegetation, biogeochemical, glacial and ecological components. The policy use aspects of these models did not start in the 1960s and 1970s as decision making tools but were used to answer fundamental scientific questions such as what happens when the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration increases or is doubled. They gave insights into the various interactions and were extensively compared with observations. It was realized that models of the earlier time periods could only give first order answers to many of the fundamental policy questions. As societal concerns about climate change rose, the policy questions of anthropogenic climate change became better defined; they were mostly concerned with the climate impacts of increasing greenhouse gases, aerosols, and land cover change. In the late 1980s, the United Nations set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to perform assessments of the published literature. Thus, the development of climate and Earth system models became intimately linked to the need to not only improve our scientific understanding but also answering fundamental policy questions. In order to meet this challenge, the models became more complex and realistic so that they could address these policy oriented science questions such as rising sea level. The presentation will discuss the past and future development of global climate and earth system models for science and policy purposes. Also to be discussed is their interactions with economic integrated assessment models, regional and specialized models such as river transport or ecological components. As an example of one

Development of a spatial planning support system for agricultural policy formulation related to land and water resources in Borkhar & Meymeh district, Iran

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farhadi Bansouleh, B.F.

2009-01-01

In this study, a system was developed to support agricultural planners and
policy makers in land resource analysis, policy formulation, identification of
possible policy measures and policy impact analysis. The research is part of a
larger programme, aiming at development of a

Examining the use of health systems and policy research in the health policymaking process in Israel: views of researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellen, Moriah E; Lavis, John N; Shemer, Joshua

2016-09-01

All too often, health policy and management decisions are made without making use of or consulting with the best available research evidence, which can lead to ineffective and inefficient health systems. One of the main actors that can ensure the use of evidence to inform policymaking is researchers. The objective of this study is to explore Israeli health systems and policy researchers' views and perceptions regarding the role of health systems and policy research (HSPR) in health policymaking and the barriers and facilitators to the use of evidence in the policymaking process. A survey of researchers who have conducted HSPR in Israel was developed. The survey consisted of a demographics section and closed questions, which focused on support both within the researchers' organisations and the broader environment for KTE activities, perceptions on the policymaking process, and the potential influencing factors on the process. The survey was sent to all health systems and policy researchers in Israel from academic institutions, hospital settings, government agencies, the four health insurance funds, and research institutes (n = 107). All responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. For close-ended questions about level of agreement we combined together the two highest categories (agree or strongly agree) for analysis. Thirty-seven respondents participated in the survey. While many respondents felt that the use of HSPR may help raise awareness on policy issues, the majority of respondents felt that the actual use of HSPR was hindered for many reasons. While facilitators do exist to support the use of research evidence in policymaking, numerous barriers hinder the process such as challenges in government/provider relations, policymakers lacking the expertise for acquiring, assessing, and applying HSPR and priorities in the health system drawing attention away from HSPR. Furthermore, it is perceived by a majority of respondents that the health insurance funds

The tension between research of policy and research for policy in an era of transnational education policy-making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Desjardins, Richard; Rubenson, Kjell

2009-01-01

of implications for education policy-making processes and not least it has had an impact on who conducts policy studies and how. This book brings together a variety of contributions which explore recent political economic changes affecting education policy-making processes including the ascension of neo-liberalism......As national governments reform their educational systems to meet the challenges of living in a globalised world, the agenda setting power of transnational organizations like the OECD and the EU have become more transparent in the last decade. The phenomenon of globalization has a number...... and the transnationalization of education policy-making, as well as the tension between research of policy and research for policy. Working from different perspectives, the authors help to provide a better understanding of these two important sets of issues which the field of education must contend with today....

Health at the center of health systems reform: how philosophy can inform policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sturmberg, Joachim P; Martin, Carmel M; Moes, Mark M

2010-01-01

Contemporary views hold that health and disease can be defined as objective states and thus should determine the design and delivery of health services. Yet health concepts are elusive and contestable. Health is neither an individual construction, a reflection of societal expectations, nor only the absence of pathologies. Based on philosophical and sociological theory, empirical evidence, and clinical experience, we argue that health has simultaneously objective and subjective features that converge into a dynamic complex-adaptive health model. Health (or its dysfunction, illness) is a dynamic state representing complex patterns of adaptation to body, mind, social, and environmental challenges, resulting in bodily homeostasis and personal internal coherence. The "balance of health" model-emergent, self-organizing, dynamic, and adaptive-underpins the very essence of medicine. This model should be the foundation for health systems design and also should inform therapeutic approaches, policy decision-making, and the development of emerging health service models. A complex adaptive health system focused on achieving the best possible "personal" health outcomes must provide the broad policy frameworks and resources required to implement people-centered health care. People-centered health systems are emergent in nature, resulting in locally different but mutually compatible solutions across the whole health system.

48 CFR 22.1401 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Policy. 22.1401 Section 22.1401 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION SOCIOECONOMIC PROGRAMS APPLICATION OF LABOR LAWS TO GOVERNMENT ACQUISITIONS Employment of Workers with Disabilities 22.1401 Policy...

Kenya's health workforce information system: a model of impact on strategic human resources policy, planning and management.

Science.gov (United States)

Waters, Keith P; Zuber, Alexandra; Willy, Rankesh M; Kiriinya, Rose N; Waudo, Agnes N; Oluoch, Tom; Kimani, Francis M; Riley, Patricia L

2013-09-01

Countries worldwide are challenged by health worker shortages, skill mix imbalances, and maldistribution. Human resources information systems (HRIS) are used to monitor and address these health workforce issues, but global understanding of such systems is minimal and baseline information regarding their scope and capability is practically non-existent. The Kenya Health Workforce Information System (KHWIS) has been identified as a promising example of a functioning HRIS. The objective of this paper is to document the impact of KHWIS data on human resources policy, planning and management. Sources for this study included semi-structured interviews with senior officials at Kenya's Ministry of Medical Services (MOMS), Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (MOPHS), the Department of Nursing within MOMS, the Nursing Council of Kenya, Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, Kenya's Clinical Officers Council, and Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board. Additionally, quantitative data were extracted from KHWIS databases to supplement the interviews. Health sector policy documents were retrieved from MOMS and MOPHS websites, and reviewed to assess whether they documented any changes to policy and practice as having been impacted by KHWIS data. Interviews with Kenyan government and regulatory officials cited health workforce data provided by KHWIS influenced policy, regulation, and management. Policy changes include extension of Kenya's age of mandatory civil service retirement from 55 to 60 years. Data retrieved from KHWIS document increased relicensing of professional nurses, midwives, medical practitioners and dentists, and interviewees reported this improved compliance raised professional regulatory body revenues. The review of Government records revealed few references to KHWIS; however, documentation specifically cited the KHWIS as having improved the availability of human resources for health information regarding workforce planning

Medical tourism and policy implications for health systems: a conceptual framework from a comparative study of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Pocock, Nicola S; Phua, Kai Hong

2011-01-01

Abstract Medical tourism is a growing phenomenon with policy implications for health systems, particularly of destination countries. Private actors and governments in Southeast Asia are promoting the medical tourist industry, but the potential impact on health systems, particularly in terms of equity in access and availability for local consumers, is unclear. This article presents a conceptual framework that outlines the policy implications of medical tourism's growth for health systems, draw...

Policy and Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boje, Thomas P.; Ejrnæs, Anders

2012-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology of different family policy systems in Europe and evaluate their impact on the employment strategy of mothers with care responsibilities for dependent children. Design/methodology/approach – The paper outlines a typology of family policy...

Cooperation networks and innovation: A complex system perspective to the analysis and evaluation of a EU regional innovation policy programme

OpenAIRE

Russo, Margherita; Rossi, Federica

2008-01-01

Recent developments in innovation theory and policy have led policymakers to assign particular importance to supporting networks of cooperation among heterogeneous economic actors, especially in production systems composed of small and medium enterprises. Such innovative policies call for parallel innovations in policy analysis, monitoring and assessment. Our analysis of a policy experiment aimed at supporting innovation networks in the Italian region of Tuscany intends to address some issues...

Water bodies typology system: a Chilean case of scientific stakeholders and policy makers dialogue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Fuster

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this project was to obtain a scientists-validated Typology System, which would allow to classify the surface waters bodies in Chile and, therefore, to facilitate the environmental institutional water management in the country. For this, during the years 2009 and 2011, a Typology System for the surface freshwater bodies was developed for Chile based on the methodology described by the Water Framework Directive of the European Union, which was adapted to local features through the knowledge of limnologist experts in the country, as well as policy makers' experience and their management requirements . In a first stage, national ecoregions were developed and abiotic variables were defined to compose the Typology System. The resulted Typology System for lakes and rivers was generated following an a priori and top down approach to difference biocenosis, based on geomorphologic, hydrologic and physic criteria. In a second stage, the proposed Typology System was validated by experts and policy makers, in which process new arrangements were included in the system. The working methodology used for both stages was bibliographic review, interviews to local experts in biocenosis and workshops. It is specially highlighted the participative processes and discussions in which all the agents involved were present, all of which resulted in the creation of a valid system from a scientific point of view and a product that is applicable to the necessities of the environmental institutions of the country. This work represents a successful experience in the improvement of the communication between scientists and politicians in Chile, which is a relevant factor for the elaboration of more efficient and effective environmental policies, integrating not only management and economic issues, but also more technical aspects that can influence in the final success of any long term strategy. For this reason, the replication of this kind of experiences, as well as

41 CFR 105-64.106 - What is GSA's policy on information accuracy in a system of records?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... information accuracy in a system of records? 105-64.106 Section 105-64.106 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION... Responsibilities § 105-64.106 What is GSA's policy on information accuracy in a system of records? System managers...

Public Policies – Embodiments of Democratization Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorina Ţicu

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Public policies are the most practical part of the triad polity-politics-policy. Public policies are related to the practical areas of planning, implementation and evaluation of the governmental activities. From this perspective, to talk about a perfect public policy (or which aspires to perfection means to speak about an efficient institutional system of a state as a sign of its degree of democratization. This article aims to explore “the cuisine” of democratic systems taking into account the applied perspective of public policy functionality, a type of functionality which is determined by a particular decision, by a kind of rationality or motivation of the actors involved or by a type of an organizational culture. Thus, the study of democracies involves an analytical approach developed at a micro level (the types of parties, institutional designs, election systems, public policies becoming indices of democratization for every state system.

[Recommendations for implementing the quality policy and organisation of a quality management system].

Science.gov (United States)

Daunizeau, A

2013-06-01

Preliminary issues to implement a quality management system are described. They include the definition of the structure, a hierarchical and functional organization chart and the engagement of the whole personnel to apply the requirements of the standard EN ISO 15189. The policy has to be translated into objectives.

Mechanisms blocking the dynamics of the European offshore wind energy innovation system – Challenges for policy intervention

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacobsson, Staffan; Karltorp, Kersti

2013-01-01

Decarbonizing electricity production in the EU may necessitate building new “low-carbon” capacity (excluding nuclear investments) to deliver 3500 TWh by 2050. Offshore wind power has the potential to contribute substantially to fill this gap. Realizing this potential is, however, difficult since deployment offshore does not constitute a simple diversification by the onshore wind turbine industry to a new segment. This paper identifies factors obstructing the development of the northern European innovation system centered on offshore wind power, specifies a set of associated policy challenges and discusses various policy responses. - Highlights: • Offshore wind power has a strategic role in decarbonizing EU's supply of electricity. • There are numerous obstacles to deployment of offshore wind turbines. • We specify seven major policy challenges in diverse policy domains. • Managing these requires coordination of interventions across policy domains and national boundaries

Dimensions of sustainability in social systems: implications for energy and public policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choucri, N.

1995-01-01

Many fundamental dilemmas and obstacles to achieving sustainable development are being explored in both academic and policy-making circles. Central to sustainability are the provision and use of energy - for all societies and at all levels of development. This paper presents the essential foundations of an integrated view of sustainable development and illustrates their applicability to energy requirements in developing countries. The essential foundations are framed in terms of interactions among four dimensions of complexity: (i) ecology, (ii) economy, (iii) institutions, and (iv) decision. Jointly, these provide the bounds for modeling the dynamics of sustainability for social systems. Special attention is given here to the dual domains of institutions and decision, with reference to both national policy and corporate strategy at all levels of development. (author) 3 figs., tabs., 11 refs

Invalidating Policies using Structural Information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kammuller, Florian; Probst, Christian W.

2013-01-01

by invalidating policies using structural information of the organisational model. Based on this structural information and a description of the organisation's policies, our approach invalidates the policies and identifies exemplary sequences of actions that lead to a violation of the policy in question. Based...... on these examples, the organisation can identify real attack vectors that might result in an insider attack. This information can be used to refine access control system or policies....

48 CFR 310.001 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Policy. 310.001 Section 310.001 Federal Acquisition Regulations System HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING MARKET RESEARCH § 310.001 Policy. (a) OPDIVs are encouraged to conduct market research, to the...

48 CFR 4.302 - Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Policy. 4.302 Section 4.302 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Paper Documents 4.302 Policy. When electronic commerce methods (see 4.502) are not being used, a...

Making health system performance measurement useful to policy makers: aligning strategies, measurement and local health system accountability in ontario

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veillard, Jeremy; Huynh, Tai; Ardal, Sten; Kadandale, Sowmya; Klazinga, Niek S.; Brown, Adalsteinn D.

2010-01-01

This study examined the experience of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in enhancing its stewardship and performance management role by developing a health system strategy map and a strategy-based scorecard through a process of policy reviews and expert consultations, and linking

Accounting for external costs in a study of a Swedish district-heating system - An assessment of environmental policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fahlen, E.; Ahlgren, E.O.

2010-01-01

Sweden has historically had strict emission control by implementation of economic policy instruments with the aim of internalising the external costs of air pollution. This study aims to evaluate how well current Swedish policy instruments reflect the environmental costs associated with heat generation in several district-heating (DH) plants in the DH system of Goeteborg. Furthermore, it aims to simulate and evaluate the operation of the DH system based on its social cost-effectiveness which takes into account the DH system's private and external costs (non-internalised environmental costs). The study shows that the economic policy instruments do not fully internalise all external costs whereas for certain technologies, the costs in terms of taxes, emission permits, environmental fees, etc. are higher than the environmental costs caused by the pollutants, given the environmental cost estimates used in the study. The simulation results show that the deviating internalisation of external costs affects the economic ranking of the different plants within the studied DH system. The estimated loss in social-cost effectiveness of the operation of the DH system of Goeteborg is noticable but relatively small if compared to the variable heat generation costs for most of the studied DH plants.

A system dynamics feedback control model study of population of "India 2001" and policies for stabilizing growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Patil, M K; Janahanlal, P S

1978-06-01

A mathematical population model is presented and diagrammed. The model is a nonlinear, higher order, self-regulating, goal-seeking system. In other words, the model treats the population system like a biological system which has positive and negative feedbacks. The model incorporates the effects of important economic factors that influence human birth and death rates. It calculates the total population size, which is a determinant of resource usage. It also indicates the demographic response, through a changing birth and death rate, to a changing resource supply. The model is illustrated with Indian population data, disaggregated by age into 15 levels each of which is, in turn, divided into 4 income levels. The effect on population growth of various alternative population policies is analyzed with the goal of stabilizing the population growth quickly without causing undue hardship. Different computer runs of the model are conducted, using different levels of family planning practice, different ages at marriage, and different distributions of income throughout the country. The policy which would result in the lowest population for the year 2001 is 1 in which family planning acceptance levels would increase from 15% in 1975 to 60% in 1980 and 100% from 1990 on. However, there is widespread opposition to this policy. It is felt that a much slower rise in family planning acceptance would be a more acceptable policy for stabilizing population in India.

Security Policy Alignment: A Formal Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pieters, Wolter; Dimkov, T.; Pavlovic, Dusko

2013-01-01

Security policy alignment concerns the matching of security policies specified at different levels in socio-technical systems, and delegated to different agents, technical and human. For example, the policy that sales data should not leave an organization is refined into policies on door locks,

The Design of Holistic Innovation Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borrás, Susana; Edquist, Charles

looks into a series of issues related to the design of holistic innovation policy. With this purpose in mind, this chapter summarizes previous chapters’ identification of the problems, bottlenecks and deficiencies that can afflict innovation systems. Taken together, they provide the theoretical...... foundations for the design of holistic innovation policy, which includes not only framing the problems in the innovation system, but also considerations about policy instruments for the tasks at hand, as well as the problems generated by policy itself (unintended consequences of inefficient of incomplete...

In search of synergies between policy-based systems management and economic models for autonomic computing

OpenAIRE

Anthony, Richard

2011-01-01

Policy-based systems management (PBM) and economics-based systems management (EBM) are two of the many techniques available for implementing autonomic systems, each having specific benefits and limitations, and thus different applicability; choosing the most appropriate technique is\\ud the first of many challenges faced by the developer. This talk begins with a critical discussion of the general design goals of autonomic systems and the main issues involved with their development and deployme...

How federal health-care policies interface with urban and rural areas: a comparison of three systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Baracskay, Daniel

2012-01-01

Global public health policies span national borders and affect multitudes of people. The spread of infectious disease has neither political nor economic boundaries, and when elevated to a status of pandemic proportions, immediate action is required. In federal systems of government, the national level leads the policy formation and implementation process, but also collaborates with supranational organisations as part of the global health network. Likewise, the national level of government cooperates with sub-national governments located in both urban and rural areas. Rural areas, particularly in less developed countries, tend to have higher poverty rates and lack the benefits of proper medical facilities, communication modes and technology to prevent the spread of disease. From the perspective of epidemiological surveillance and intervention, this article will examine federal health policies in three federal systems: Australia, Malaysia and the USA. Using the theoretical foundations of collaborative federalism, this article specifically examines how collaborative arrangements and interactions among governmental and non-governmental actors help to address the inherent discrepancies that exist between policy implementation and reactions to outbreaks in urban and rural areas. This is considered in the context of the recent H1N1 influenza pandemic, which spread significantly across the globe in 2009 and is now in what has been termed the 'post-pandemic era'.

MONETARY POLICY SHOCKS AND ISLAMIC BANKS DEPOSITS IN INDONESIAN DUAL BANKING SYSTEM AFTER THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Affandi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Use of riba (usury in the economic system remained a key factor that led to financial crisis since theinception of modern economy in the late of 17th century. Implementation of interest based monetary policystipulated rampant speculation as common practices in the global financial sector. Although Islamic bankingwas governed by syariah (Divine Law, which was assumed to be resilient from distress, the volatility ofinterest movement would generally affect Islamic banks operations in a dual banking system. This paperwould look at this issue and would empirically explore the dynamic inter-relationships between deposits ofIslamic banks with monetary policy variables in Indonesia. In terms of market share, as of 2009, Islamicbanking asset in Indonesia was a meager 2%. The industry had been affected by few monetary policy shockson its deposits and financing. The study would employ vector auto regression model (VAR to explore thedynamics between the variables. The study would focus on data from 2004 to 2008 or performance after theAsian financial crisis. The results from these tests determined that shariah based deposits played significantrole in transmitting monetary policy effects to the economy. This study found that Islamic banking depositsin Indonesia were not sensitive to monetary policy changes. This study also concluded that IndonesianIslamic banks were resilient to financial crisis.

Policy in Transition. New Framework for Russia's Climate Policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotov, V.

2002-07-01

In 2000, Russia entered the second round of radical reforms of its economic and political system. These changes affect the institutions of the macro- and microeconomic policy, of the energy policy, as well as the institutions of the climate policy. Thus, the framework is currently being built in Russia within which the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol are being and will be implemented. Success, or failure, in Russia's interactions with the international community in implementation of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol would depend, particularly, on whether it would be able to establish renovated climate policy institutions in the nearest future. Main provisions of the Kyoto Protocol open good perspectives for the climate policy of Russia. For these favourable perspectives to become a reality, Russia will have to accomplish quite a lot at the domestic, national level. Here, Russia is facing some serious problems. Among them are recently emerged problems with ratification of Kyoto Protocol

Monetary Policy and Financial (InStability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Koronowski

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents how monetary policy, restricted only by price stability, may easily become propitious to asset inflation and – eventually – to a financial crisis. This risk is particularly high when the financial system lacks proper regulation and effective supervision. Hasty liberalization, negligence of official oversight and „Greenspan doctrine” which refuted any activist policy promoting financial stability characterized Fed’s monetary policy under the former Fed’s governor. The paper also analyses another aspect of the linkages between monetary policy and financial crises – monetary policy reaction to financial crises. It is not surprising that it consists of cutting interest rates and bail-out of insolvent, systemically important financial institutions. Such policy, especially when run too long and changed too abruptly, not only creates moral hazards but it also sets the stage for another „search for yield” and build-up of another speculative bubble. As a result, monetary policy becomes asymmetric and pro-cyclical. Fed’s reaction to the recent crisis seems to be very much in line with this pattern typical of Fed’s policy in the past. However, this time the scale of flooding the economy with liquidity and – as a consequence – the risks of future major imbalances in the financial system are unprecedented. A general conclusion of the paper says that there can’t be a sound financial and economic system unless money itself is a scarce resource. However trivial this statement is, monetary policy of some central banks seems to miss the point.

Energy policies and renewable energy systems monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Di Nisio, Attilio; Savino, Mario; Spadavecchia, Maurizio [Electrical and Electronic Measurements Laboratory, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering - Politecnico di Bari, Bari (Italy)], e-mails: dinisio@misure.poliba.it, savino@misure.poliba.it, spadavecchia@misure.poliba.it

2011-07-01

Full text: The global energy crisis is forcing every country worldwide to review its policies on energy. The environmental disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has accelerated this process. Many people around the world are citing the disaster as evidence that nuclear power would endanger the survival of mankind on earth and should be banned. Today we need to focus more substantially on energy saving, especially using smart devices with low power consumption. We have also to review the approach to the exploitation of energy and move from a philosophy 'from the ground to the subsurface' to another 'from the earth to the sun'. This paper highlights the increasing importance of solar power in meeting energy needs while achieving security of supply and minimising carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions. It deals also with the development of solar power plants, which require a supervisory control system that improves their efficiency and reliability. (author)

[eHealth in Peru: implementation of policies to strengthen health information systems].

Science.gov (United States)

Curioso, Walter H

2014-01-01

Health information systems play a key role in enabling high quality, complete health information to be available in a timely fashion for operational and strategic decision-making that makes it possible to save lives and improve the health and quality of life of the population. In many countries, health information systems are weak, incomplete, and fragmented. However, there is broad consensus in the literature of the need to strengthen health information systems in countries around the world. The objective of this paper is to present the essential components of the conceptual framework to strengthen health information systems in Peru. It describes the principal actions and strategies of the Ministry of Health of Peru during the process of strengthening health information systems. These systems make it possible to orient policies for appropriate decision-making in public health.

Getting patent policy right: a conclusion to a special issue on the European patent system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elsmore, Matthew J.

2009-01-01

will hamper innovation regardless of whether the system stays as it is or morphs to Community-level. What precisely the policy rearguard should be right now is problematic and the source of continuing debate. To shed light on a perennial question, the final part of this Special Issue reflects...... in the contributions made and continues the perennial quest for getting patent policy right in Europe; and in so doing, proposes specific sets of solutions....

Policy Analysis Screening System (PASS) demonstration: sample queries and terminal instructions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1979-10-16

This document contains the input and output for the Policy Analysis Screening System (PASS) demonstration. This demonstration is stored on a portable disk at the Environmental Impacts Division. Sample queries presented here include: (1) how to use PASS; (2) estimated 1995 energy consumption from Mid-Range Energy-Forecasting System (MEFS) data base; (3) pollution projections from Strategic Environmental Assessment System (SEAS) data base; (4) diesel auto regulations; (5) diesel auto health effects; (6) oil shale health and safety measures; (7) water pollution effects of SRC; (8) acid rainfall from Energy Environmental Statistics (EES) data base; 1990 EIA electric generation by fuel type; sulfate concentrations by Federal region; forecast of 1995 SO/sub 2/ emissions in Region III; and estimated electrical generating capacity in California to 1990. The file name for each query is included.

Rethinking immigration policy theory beyond 'Western liberal democracies'.

Science.gov (United States)

Natter, Katharina

2018-01-01

How do political systems shape immigration policy-making? Explicitly or implicitly, comparative politics and migration policy theories suggest a 'regime effect' that links specific dynamics of immigration policy to liberal democracy. The literature's dominant focus on so-called 'Western liberal democracies', however, has left the 'regime effect' largely untested and research on variations and similarities in immigration policymaking across political systems strikingly undertheorized. This paper challenges the theoretical usefulness of essentialist, dichotomous categories such as Western/non-Western or democratic/autocratic and calls for a more nuanced theorizing of immigration policy-making. It proposes a two-dimensional classification of immigration policy theories, distinguishing between 'issue-specific' theories that capture immigration policy processes regardless of the political system in place and 'regime-specific' theories whose insights are tied to the characteristics of a political system. The paper also advances the 'illiberal paradox' hypothesis to explain why illiberal, autocratic states may enact liberal immigration policies. This theoretical expansion beyond the 'Western' and 'liberal' bubble is illustrated by an analysis of immigration policy-making in 21st century Morocco and Tunisia. Showing how domestic and international institutions, interests, and ideas shape immigration policy-making in Morocco's monarchy and Tunisia's democratic transition, the paper investigates the broader role of political systems in immigration politics and herewith seeks to contribute to a more general and global theorization of immigration policies.

Health Policy as a Specific Area of Social Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominika Pekarová

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose and Originality: The aim of the article was to analyse the work of the health policy which is a very specific part of social policy. In the work we focus on its financing, which is a very important issue in the health care. We try to show, what is the role of the state in the health care system as well as the creation of resources and control costs in the health sector. The work is finding such as financing health care in Slovakia and in other selected countries, and which could be changed for the best operation. Method: The analysis was carried out on the basis of the information which I drew from books and Internet resources. The work is divided into two parts. Contains 9 tables and 3 charts. The first chapter is devoted to a general description of social policy, its funding, with a focus on health policy than its specific area. The second chapter analyses the financing systems of health policy in Slovakia and in selected countries. Results: The results showed that the Slovak health care makes is trying hard to catch up with the level of the best health care systems. However, there are countries, which are doing much worse than us, in terms of funding. Society: It is important to properly invest money but also communication between states. To get help on health and to ensure that citizens know states the best conditions of health care. Limitations / further research: This work is focused on how to bring closer health care and its financing in several different countries economically. IN doing so some other aspects such as what is best level of services, etc. were put aside.

Analysis of Transport Policy Effect on CO2 Emissions Based on System Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuang Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available CO2 emission from the transport sector attracts the attention of both transport and climate change policymakers because of its share in total green house gas emissions and the forecast of continuous growth reported in many countries. This paper takes the urban transport in Beijing as a case and builds a system dynamics model for analysis of the motorization trend and the assessment of CO2 emissions mitigation policy. It is found that the urban transport condition and CO2 emissions would be more serious with the growth of vehicle ownership and travel demand. Compared with the baseline do-nothing scenario, the CO2 emissions could be reduced from 3.8% to 24.3% in 2020 by various transport policies. And the policy of controlling the number of passenger cars which has been carried out in Beijing and followed by some cities could achieve good results, which may help to increase the proportion of public transit to 55.6% and reduce the CO2 emission by 18.3% compared with the baseline scenario in 2020.

The mental health system in Brazil: Policies and future challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razzouk Denise

2008-09-01

long-stay patients. However, services are unequally distributed across the regions of the country, and the growth of the elderly population, combined with an existing treatment gap is increasing the burden on mental health care. This gap may get even wider if funding does not increase and mental health services are not expanded in the country. There is not yet a good degree of integration between primary care and the mental health teams working at CAPS level, and it is necessary to train professionals to act as mental health planners and as managers. Research on service organization, policy and mental health systems evaluation are strongly recommended in the country. There are no firm data to show the impact of such policies in terms of community service cost-effectiveness and no tangible indicators to assess the results of these policies.

The future of European health policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Koivusalo, Meri Tuulikki

2005-01-01

The role of the European Union in health policies is changing. The European social model is under threat due to shifts in E.U. policies on liberalization of service provision, limited public budgets, a focus on the health sector as a productive sector in the context of broader European policies and the Lisbon strategy, and changes in the context of the new Constitutional Treaty. These changes are evident in a new reflection paper on European health strategy and its focus. E.U. health policies are at a critical juncture. The danger is that the current processes will lead European health policies and the health systems of member states more in the direction of U.S. health policies and the commercialization of health systems than toward improvement of the current situation.

Energy policies avoiding a tipping point in the climate system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahn, Olivier; Edwards, Neil R.; Knutti, Reto; Stocker, Thomas F.

2011-01-01

Paleoclimate evidence and climate models indicate that certain elements of the climate system may exhibit thresholds, with small changes in greenhouse gas emissions resulting in non-linear and potentially irreversible regime shifts with serious consequences for socio-economic systems. Such thresholds or tipping points in the climate system are likely to depend on both the magnitude and rate of change of surface warming. The collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) is one example of such a threshold. To evaluate mitigation policies that curb greenhouse gas emissions to levels that prevent such a climate threshold being reached, we use the MERGE model of Manne, Mendelsohn and Richels. Depending on assumptions on climate sensitivity and technological progress, our analysis shows that preserving the THC may require a fast and strong greenhouse gas emission reduction from today's level, with transition to nuclear and/or renewable energy, possibly combined with the use of carbon capture and sequestration systems. - Research Highlights: → Preserving the THC may require a fast and strong greenhouse gas emission reduction. → This could be achieved through strong changes in the energy mix. → Similar results would apply to any climate system tipping points.

Towards the sustainable energy system. The future of the transition policy for energy and environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruggink, J.J.C.

2006-11-01

Inaugural speech at the occasion of the acceptance of the office for Energy Transition and Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 21, 2006. The transition policy in the Netherlands towards a sustainable energy supply system succeeded in creating a basis in the Dutch society, although at the cost of making clear choices with regard to concrete projects, new policy tools and financial means. In order to accelerate those choices the Dutch government needs to take decisive measures [nl

A review of EIAs on trade policy in China: Exploring the way for economic policy EIAs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mao, Xianqiang, E-mail: maoxq@bnu.edu.cn [Center for Global Environmental Policy, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Song, Peng, E-mail: songpeng_ee@163.com [Center for Global Environmental Policy, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Kørnøv, Lone, E-mail: lonek@plan.aau.dk [The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Skibbrogade 5, B1-04, 9000 Aalborg (Denmark); Corsetti, Gabriel, E-mail: gabriel.corsetti@gmail.com [Center for Global Environmental Policy, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)

2015-01-15

During the discussion on the “Environmental Protection Law Amendment (draft)” in 2011, it was decided to drop the proposed clauses related to environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on policy, which means that there remained no provisions for policy EIAs, and China's strategic environmental assessment system stayed limited to the planning level. However, considering that economic policy making is causing significant direct and indirect environmental problems and that almost every aspect of governmental policy has an economic aspect, EIAs on economic policies are of the utmost urgency. The purpose of this study is to review the EIA work that has been carried out on trade policy in China through four case studies, and illustrate how trade policy EIAs can be helpful in achieving better environmental outcomes in the area of trade. Through the trade policy EIA case studies we try to argue for the feasibility of conducting EIAs on economic policies in China. We also discuss the implications of the case studies from the point of view of how to proceed with EIAs on economic policy and how to promote their practice. - Highlights: • SEA system is incomplete and stays limited to the plan EIA level in China. • EIA on economic policy is of utmost importance for all the developing countries. • Four case studies of trade policy EIA in China are reviewed for policy implications. • Departmental competition for political power impedes economic policy EIAs in China. • Legislative regulation on policy EIA is the first thing needed to overcome barrier.

A review of EIAs on trade policy in China: Exploring the way for economic policy EIAs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao, Xianqiang; Song, Peng; Kørnøv, Lone; Corsetti, Gabriel

2015-01-01

During the discussion on the “Environmental Protection Law Amendment (draft)” in 2011, it was decided to drop the proposed clauses related to environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on policy, which means that there remained no provisions for policy EIAs, and China's strategic environmental assessment system stayed limited to the planning level. However, considering that economic policy making is causing significant direct and indirect environmental problems and that almost every aspect of governmental policy has an economic aspect, EIAs on economic policies are of the utmost urgency. The purpose of this study is to review the EIA work that has been carried out on trade policy in China through four case studies, and illustrate how trade policy EIAs can be helpful in achieving better environmental outcomes in the area of trade. Through the trade policy EIA case studies we try to argue for the feasibility of conducting EIAs on economic policies in China. We also discuss the implications of the case studies from the point of view of how to proceed with EIAs on economic policy and how to promote their practice. - Highlights: • SEA system is incomplete and stays limited to the plan EIA level in China. • EIA on economic policy is of utmost importance for all the developing countries. • Four case studies of trade policy EIA in China are reviewed for policy implications. • Departmental competition for political power impedes economic policy EIAs in China. • Legislative regulation on policy EIA is the first thing needed to overcome barrier

Europeanisation and policy change in the Danish vocational education and training system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cort, Pia

2010-01-01

This article aims to analyse the interrelationship between the Copenhagen Process, EU vocational education and training policy, and Danish initial vocational education and training policies in order to shed light on the role of EU policies in policy and institutional change. The article points...... to the complexity of policy-making and the crisscrossing of policies across the globe. A major change is the acceptance of the EU as a stakeholder in vocational education and training policy-making and thereby an expansion of the policy space. However, the changes taking place at national level are incremental...... and the EU policy is translated in the national context, where it contributes to the re-accentuation of existing conflicts and fissures....

Status of the dirty darter, Etheostoma olivaceum, and bluemask darter, Etheostoma (Doration)sp., with notes on fishes of the Caney Fork River system, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Layman, S.R.; Simons, A.M.; Wood, R.M.

1993-01-01

Seventy-six localities were sampled in the Caney Fork River system and adjacent Cumberland River tributaries. Etheostoma olivaceum was found in small creeks from nine tributaries of lower Caney Fork River and three tributaries of the Cumberland River in the Nashville Basin physiographic province. The species was most abundant around slab rocks and rubble over bedrock in slow to moderate current. Etheostoma olivaceum was common throughout its small range; however, given widespread habitat degradation from agriculture, the species should retain its open-quotes deemed in need of managementclose quotes status in Tennessee. The bluemask darter, Etheostoma (Doration) sp., was collected in slow to moderate current over sand and gravel in Collins River, Rocky River, Cane Creek, and Caney Fork River. All four populations were isolated upstream of Great Falls Reservoir in the Highland Rim physiographic province. The species was found in a 37-km reach of Collins River but was restricted to reaches of 0.2 to 4.3 km in the other three streams. Threats to the species include pesticides from plant nurseries, siltation, gravel dredging, and acid mine drainage. The authors recommend that the bluemask darter be listed as state and federally protected. Two new records were established for the rare Barrens darter, Etheostoma forbesi, in lower Collins River and Barren Fork River, and eight previously unknown records of the species were identified from older museum collections. 21 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

Optimal Mission Abort Policy for Systems Operating in a Random Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Levitin, Gregory; Finkelstein, Maxim

2018-04-01

Many real-world critical systems, e.g., aircrafts, manned space flight systems, and submarines, utilize mission aborts to enhance their survivability. Specifically, a mission can be aborted when a certain malfunction condition is met and a rescue or recovery procedure is then initiated. For systems exposed to external impacts, the malfunctions are often caused by the consequences of these impacts. Traditional system reliability models typically cannot address a possibility of mission aborts. Therefore, in this article, we first develop the corresponding methodology for modeling and evaluation of the mission success probability and survivability of systems experiencing both internal failures and external shocks. We consider a policy when a mission is aborted and a rescue procedure is activated upon occurrence of the mth shock. We demonstrate the tradeoff between the system survivability and the mission success probability that should be balanced by the proper choice of the decision variable m. A detailed illustrative example of a mission performed by an unmanned aerial vehicle is presented. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Aspects with Program Analysis for Security Policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Fan

Enforcing security policies to IT systems, especially for a mobile distributed system, is challenging. As society becomes more IT-savvy, our expectations about security and privacy evolve. This is usually followed by changes in regulation in the form of standards and legislation. In many cases......, small modification of the security requirement might lead to substantial changes in a number of modules within a large mobile distributed system. Indeed, security is a crosscutting concern which can spread to many business modules within a system, and is difficult to be integrated in a modular way....... This dissertation explores the principles of adding challenging security policies to existing systems with great flexibility and modularity. The policies concerned cover both classical access control and explicit information flow policies. We built our solution by combining aspect-oriented programming techniques...

The right to health, health systems development and public health policy challenges in Chad.

Science.gov (United States)

Azétsop, Jacquineau; Ochieng, Michael

2015-02-15

There is increasing consensus that the right to health can provide ethical, policy and practical groundings for health systems development. The goals of the right to health are congruent with those of health systems development, which are about strengthening health promotion organizations and actions so as to improve public health. The poor shape and performance of health systems in Chad question the extent of realization of the right to health. Due to its comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, the right to health has the potential of being an organizational and a normative backbone for public health policy and practice. It can then be understood and studied as an integral component of health systems development. This paper uses a secondary data analysis of existing documents by the Ministry of Public Health, Institut National de la Statistique, des Etudes Economiques et Démographiques (INSEED), the Ministry of Economy and Agence Française de Cooperation to analyze critically the shape and performance of health systems in Chad based on key concepts and components of the right to health contained in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and on General Comment 14. The non-realization of the right to health, even in a consistently progressive manner, raises concerns about the political commitment of state officials to public health, about the justice of social institutions in ensuring social well-being and about individual and public values that shape decision-making processes. Social justice, democratic rule, transparency, accountability and subsidiarity are important groundings for ensuring community participation in public affairs and for monitoring the performance of public institutions. The normative ideals of health systems development are essentially democratic in nature and are rooted in human rights and in ethical principles of human dignity, equality, non-discrimination and social justice. These ideals are grounded

Global climate change policies. An analysis of CDM policies with an adapted GTAP model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Shunli

2004-01-01

In the context of the relationships between spatial-economic interaction and global warming just discussed, this study aims to analyze the Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) policies from an economic point of view. The research question of this study is formulated as follows: What will be the impacts of clirnate change policies, in particular CDM policies, on the economic performance of (groups of) countries in our global economic system, taking spatial interaction and general equilibrium effects into account? The purpose of addressing the issue of economic performance for (groups of) countries in the economic system is not just to identify winners and losers from international treaties. Rather, winning or losing may even determine the implementation and willingness of individual countries to participate in international environmental treaties, as illustrated by the recent withdrawal of the US from the Kyoto Protocol. By analyzing the economic impacts of an international environmental treaty for individual (groups of) countries, the framework that will be used to analyze this research question may be useful to determine the attractiveness of some global environmental policies, both for the world as a whole and for individual (groups of) countries. The research question will be answered by dividing it into six subquestions: (1) What is the position of CDM policies in the broad context of climate policy regimes?; (2) How should the relationship between human behavior and the physical environment be ideally modeled from an economic perspective? (3) How should the spatial dimension be incorporated in this framework of interaction between the economic and ecological system?; (4) How can climate change issues be incorporated in general equilibrium models in general, and in GTAP-E (extension of the Global Trade Analysis Project) in particular?; (5) How can CDM policies be implemented in the GTAP-E model?; and (6) What are the impacts of these climate change policies on

Flexibility-friendly support policies:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boscán Flores, Luis Rafael; Skytte, Klaus; Soysal, Emilie Rosenlund

2017-01-01

This paper introduces the concept of flexibilityfriendly support policies, i.e. state of-the-system-dependent subsidies given to producers of electricity who base their output on renewable energy sources (RES). Such policies increase with demand, decrease with the availability of Variable Renewab...

Foster Care Dynamics and System Science: Implications for Research and Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wulczyn, Fred; Halloran, John

2017-10-05

Although system is a word frequently invoked in discussions of foster care policy and practice, there have been few if any attempts by child welfare researchers to understand the ways in which the foster care system is a system. As a consequence, insights from system science have yet to be applied in meaningful ways to the problem of making foster care systems more effective. In this study, we draw on population biology to organize a study of admissions and discharges to foster care over a 15-year period. We are interested specifically in whether resource constraints, which are conceptualized here as the number of beds, lead to a coupling of admissions and discharges within congregate care. The results, which are descriptive in nature, are consistent with theory that ties admissions and discharges together because of a resource constraint. From the data, it is clear that the underlying system exerts an important constraint on what are normally viewed as individual-level decisions. Our discussion calls on extending efforts to understand the role of system science in studies of child welfare systems, with a particular emphasis on the role of feedback as a causal influence.

Providing policy-relevant information for greenhouse gas management: Perspectives from science and technology policy research

Science.gov (United States)

Dilling, L.

2009-12-01

In the 12 years since the Kyoto Protocol was signed setting forth targets for greenhouse gas emissions from several nations, the number of policies, voluntary programs and commercial enterprises that have developed to manage carbon has grown exponentially. Many of these programs have occurred in a voluntary context, such as carbon trading, carbon offset programs, and climate registries . To date, no single, common system for accrediting, verifying and recording carbon credits has developed. Moreover, as the international community continues to negotiate the dimensions of an international agreement for the post-Kyoto time period, discussions still center on targets for fossil fuel emissions, biospheric carbon protection, and appropriate distribution of the burden of compliance globally. If carbon still remains the currency for discussion in a climate agreement, some type of effective measurement and verification system will be needed to ensure that commitments are being met. While entire volumes over the past decade have been written on what it is possible to observe about the carbon cycle and how to do so-- these tend to describe observations from the perspective of studying the carbon cycle to discover fundamental new knowledge. I will argue, however, that for the application under consideration in this session, i.e. a global greenhouse gas information system, it is essential to bring in the perspective of the policy and regulatory community. The needs of the scientific community for measuring the uncertainties in the global carbon cycle are not necessarily the same as those for the policy community. To ensure that such a system can serve a policy-relevant function, the scientific community must engage with policy makers, entrepreneurs, those who must comply, and others involved in constructing the policy framework. This paper will examine some of the key fundamentals that the policy community may be considering in designing a greenhouse gas monitoring system. I

A Decision Support System for integrated tourism development: Rethinking tourism policies and management strategies

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bousset, J. P.; Skuras, D.; Těšitel, Jan; Marsat, J. B.; Petrou, A.; Fiallo-Pantziou, E.; Kušová, Drahomíra; Bartoš, Michael

2007-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 4 (2007), s. 387-404 ISSN 1461-6688 Grant - others:-(XE) QLK5-CT-2000-01211-SPRITE Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60870520 Keywords : Integrated tourism * policy formulation * participatory approaches * simulation models * decision support system Subject RIV: AE - Management ; Administration

Policies for Positioning Empty Containers in an Inland Multi-depot System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dang, Vinh Quang; Nielsen, Izabela Ewa; Yun, Won-Young

2011-01-01

-container management are as follows: a coordinated (s, S) inventory policy for overseas positioning, (ri, Ri) policy at each depot for inland positioning; and a simple leasing policy with zero lead-time. For inland positioning policy, four different methods are proposed to reposition empty containers between depots....... Customer demands and returning containers in depots and lead-time for positioning from overseas are considered as uncertain factors. The objective is to obtain the optimal policy in order to minimize the expected total cost including inventory holding, overseas positioning, inland positioning and leasing...

From Predictive Models to Instructional Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Rollinson, Joseph; Brunskill, Emma

2015-01-01

At their core, Intelligent Tutoring Systems consist of a student model and a policy. The student model captures the state of the student and the policy uses the student model to individualize instruction. Policies require different properties from the student model. For example, a mastery threshold policy requires the student model to have a way…

Public policies for the development of solar photovoltaic energy and the impacts on dynamics of technology systems and markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Hyun Jin Julie

2016-01-01

Over the past decades, climate change has been a subject of serious international negotiations. Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has caught the eyes of many governments as one of the front-runner technologies for the low carbon energy transition in the global community. Solar PV systems have experienced strong market growth over the last decade supported by favorable political reactions in the energy transition context. However, despite these favorable conditions, paradoxically, the global PV market recently went through a chaotic time encountering the overproduction issue, the industry crisis and the long-lasting trade disputes. Furthermore, as the level of PV penetration increases, many problematics started to appear with negative systemic impacts on the electricity sector. This thesis started from these problematics to understand the PV policy mechanisms and the context change. In order to define those issues, a systemic approach is taken to provide an accurate comprehension of the overall mechanisms of PV public policies. The concrete systemic vision of PV policy mechanisms is constructed based on theoretical and historical analysis by defining key variables and the context (Part I). A retrospective analysis using the proposed mapping tools is conducted to understand critical limits and challenges of PV development and to identify risks factors in the sector (Part II). This thesis also demonstrates how the nature of policy context changes in combined with the dynamic features of the PV sector. This helps anticipate possible risks of PV development in the future. The thesis highlights the nationwide PV policy dynamics was broken with the arrival of China in the PV sector. Taken the defined critical limits and challenges into account, this thesis eventually proposes strategic orientations of PV development at the two dimensions from both national and international perspectives (Part III). At the national level, this thesis discusses on PV self-consumption as the

Invalidating Policies using Structural Information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kammuller, Florian; Probst, Christian W.

2014-01-01

by invalidating policies using structural information of the organisational model. Based on this structural information and a description of the organisation’s policies, our approach invalidates the policies and identifies exemplary sequences of actions that lead to a violation of the policy in question. Based...... on these examples, the organisation can identify real attack vectors that might result in an insider attack. This information can be used to refine access control systems or policies. We provide case studies showing how mechanical verification tools, i.e. modelchecking with MCMAS and interactive theorem proving...

Teaching and assessing systems-based practice: a pilot course in health care policy, finance, and law for radiation oncology residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, James D; Parhar, Preeti; Narayana, Ashwatha

2010-09-01

Under the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcome Project, residency programs are required to provide data on educational outcomes and evidence for how this information is used to improve resident education. To teach and assess systems-based practice through a course in health care policy, finance, and law for radiation oncology residents, and to determine its efficacy. We designed a pilot course in health care policy, finance, and law related to radiation oncology. Invited experts gave lectures on policy issues important to radiation oncology and half of the participants attended the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) Advocacy Day. Participants completed pre- and postcourse tests to assess their knowledge of health policy. Six radiation oncology residents participated, with 5 (84%) completing all components. For the 5 residents completing all assessments, the mean precourse score was 64% and the mean postcourse score was 84% (P  =  .05). Improvement was noted in all 3 sections of health policy, finance, and medical law. At the end of the course, 5 of 6 residents were motivated to learn about health policy, and 4 of 6 agreed it was important for physicians to be involved in policy matters. Teaching radiation oncology residents systems-based practice through a course on health policy, finance, and law is feasible and was well received. Such a course can help teaching programs comply with the ACGME Outcome Project and would also be applicable to trainees in other specialties.

System failure, innovation policy and patents: Fuel cells and related hydrogen technology in Norway 1990-2002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Godoe, Helge; Nygaard, Stian

2006-01-01

The empirical focus of this article is technological innovation activities in the emerging field of fuel cells and related hydrogen technology in Norway from 1990 to 2002. In this period, four comparatively large-scale research and development projects and a number of smaller projects aimed at development of fuel cells technology were undertaken, resulting in many inventions that were subsequently patented. Although this creativity may be considered an indication of success, only one of the projects became successful in an innovation perspective. All the large projects were initiated and funded for divergent political and economic reasons. An important reason in the late 1980s was the prospect of using Norway's abundant supply of natural gas in fuel cells for electric power generation. The large R and D projects that attempted to develop fuel cells based on natural gas as energy source failed. In contrast, the successful project was undertaken by military R and D, i.e. in a different system of innovation than the projects that failed. Analysis of these cases points to the importance of a systemic approach to innovations-and to policy making. One challenge for policy makers is to decide how they should promote this development which is crucial for the vision of a future 'Hydrogen Economy', i.e. what kind of policy incentives should be introduced to spur efficiency in technological development and diffusion. Theoretically, many options are available; however, understanding the innovation dynamics in this sector is fundamental for making choices. In this article, focus will be set on policy aspects using an innovation systemic approach to analyze development of fuel cells and related hydrogen technology in Norway

Affective Policy Performance Evaluation Model: A Case of an International Trade Policy Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inwon Kang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Firms often superficially adopt policies because of governmental rules and regulations, so as to avoid penalties or to gain benefits. However, the evaluation and characterization of those kinds of adoptions as policy performance distorts the true level of policy performance: social sustainability. This study proposes an affective policy performance evaluation model. The attitudes of employees toward adopting a policy are characterized into genuine and superficial compliance. Their behaviors are explained through voluntary and opportunistic adoptions. In order to validate the proposed model, a survey was conducted on an international trade policy target group (n = 216 for the Strategic Trade Control System (STCS, in order to understand their attitudes toward adopting the policy. The survey data was analyzed by a structural equation modeling method. The measures of the factors in the proposed model are adopted and modified from existing studies. The most effective resources of policy implementation on the firms’ genuine and superficial compliance and ultimately on the firms’ voluntary policy adoption are revealed through the analysis. Based on the results, this study presents a strategy for allocating and managing policy implementation resources to exclusively encourage firms’ trade policy adoptions.

Implementing public employment policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Flemming; Bredgaard, Thomas

disciplining of the unemployed (work first) (cf.Bredgaard & Larsen, 2005; Sol & Westerweld, 2005). It is, however, remarkable that in the research field there seems to be a division of labour so that changes in public administration and changes in the substance of employment policies are dealt with separately......Like most other areas within welfare policy, the employment and social policy areas are undergoing far-reaching changes in many countries. Partly in the shape of new forms of governance inspired by New Public Management (NPM), partly through new policies oriented towards activation and stronger....... But there is an interesting question to investigate here: whether and if so how, NPM-inspired reforms are related to changes in employment policy towards a work-first approach? Are changes in public management systems created as deliberate policy changes, or do they bring about more indirect and unintended policy changes...

A Transforming Electricity System: Understanding the Interactions Between Clean Energy Technologies, Markets, and Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, David

The U.S. electricity system is currently undergoing a dramatic transformation. State-level renewable portfolio standards, abundant natural gas at low prices, and rapidly falling prices for wind and solar technologies are among the factors that have ushered in this transformation. With objective, rigorous, technology-neutral analysis, NREL aims to increase the understanding of energy policies, markets, resources, technologies, and infrastructure and their connections with economic, environmental, and security priorities. The results of these analyses are meant to inform R&D, policy, and investment decisions as energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies advance from concept to commercial application to market penetration. This talk will provide an overview of how NREL uses high-fidelity data, deep knowledge of energy technology cost and performance, and advanced models and tools to provide the information needed to ensure this transformation occurs economically, while maintaining system reliability. Examples will be explored and will include analysis of tax credit impacts on wind and solar deployment and power sector emissions, as well as analysis of power systems operations in the Eastern Interconnection under 30% wind and solar penetration scenarios. Invited speaker number 47185.

Decision support tool to evaluate alternative policies regulating wind integration into autonomous energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zouros, N.; Contaxis, G.C.; Kabouris, J.

2005-01-01

Integration of wind power into autonomous electricity systems strongly depends on the specific technical characteristics of these systems; the regulations applied should take into account physical system constraints. Introduction of market rules makes the issue even more complicated since the interests of the market participants often conflict each other. In this paper, an integrated tool for the comparative assessment of alternative regulatory policies is presented along with a methodology for decision-making, based on alternative scenarios analysis. The social welfare concept is followed instead of the traditional Least Cost Planning

A multi-level maintenance policy for a multi-component and multifailure mode system with two independent failure modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Wenjin; Fouladirad, Mitra; Bérenguer, Christophe

2016-01-01

This paper studies the maintenance modelling of a multi-component system with two independent failure modes with imperfect prediction signal in the context of a system of systems. Each individual system consists of multiple series components and the failure modes of all the components are divided into two classes due to their consequences: hard failure and soft failure, where the former causes system failure while the later results in inferior performance (production reduction) of system. Besides, the system is monitored and can be alerted by imperfect prediction signal before hard failure. Based on an illustration example of offshore wind farm, in this paper three maintenance strategies are considered: periodic routine, reactive and opportunistic maintenance. The periodic routine maintenance is scheduled at fixed period for each individual system in the perspective of system of systems. Between two successive routine maintenances, the reactive maintenance is instructed by the imperfect prediction signal according to two criterion proposed in this study for the system components. Due to the high setup cost and practical restraints of implementing maintenance activities, both routine and reactive maintenance can create the opportunities of maintenance for the other components of an individual system. The life cycle of the system and the cost of the proposed maintenance policies are analytically derived. Restrained by the complexity from both the system failure modelling and maintenance strategies, the performances and application scope of the proposed maintenance model are evaluated by numerical simulations. - Highlights: • We study the life behavior of a complex system with two failure modes. • We consider the imperfect prediction signal of potential failure by monitoring. • We propose an integrated maintenance policy with three levels based on wind turbine. • We derive the mathematical cost formulations for the proposed maintenance policy.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-01-01

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

Policy processes and decision making of environmental policy in Great Britain and France. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schreiber, H.

1991-01-01

Research of central aspects of British environmental policy. This report concentrates on the role of the constitutional system of environmental policy, on the evaluation of a growing of 'Green Policy' in Great Britain, on the central problems of environmental policy and finally on the role of international environmental policy for Great Britain and Great Britain's role in international environmental activities. Beyond that this report contains a presentation of the state of the British environment (Pollution: Air, Water, Waste, Soil; Radioactivity and Noise). (orig.) With 205 refs., 18 tabs., 14 figs [de

Are national policies on global health in fact national policies on global health governance? A comparison of policy designs from Norway and Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Catherine M; Clavier, Carole; Potvin, Louise

2017-01-01

Since the signing of the Oslo Ministerial Declaration in 2007, the idea that foreign policy formulation should include health considerations has gained traction on the United Nations agenda as evidenced by annual General Assembly resolutions on global health and foreign policy. The adoption of national policies on global health (NPGH) is one way that some member states integrate health and foreign policymaking. This paper explores what these policies intend to do and how countries plan to do it. Using a most similar systems design, we carried out a comparative study of two policy documents formally adopted in 2012. We conducted a directed qualitative content analysis of the Norwegian White Paper on Global health in foreign and development policy and the Swiss Health Foreign Policy using Schneider and Ingram's policy design framework. After replicating analysis methods for each document, we analysed them side by side to explore the commonalities and differences across elements of NPGH design. Analyses indicate that NPGH expect to influence change outside their borders. Targeting the international level, they aim to affect policy venues, multilateral partnerships and international institutions. Instruments for supporting desired changes are primarily those of health diplomacy, proposed as a tool for negotiating interests and objectives for global health between multiple sectors, used internally in Switzerland and externally in Norway. Findings suggest that NPGH designs contribute to constructing the global health governance system by identifying it as a policy target, and policy instruments may elude the health sector actors unless implementation rules explicitly include them. Research should explore how future NPGH designs may construct different kinds of targets as politicised groups of actors on which national governments seek to exercise influence for global health decision-making.

Are national policies on global health in fact national policies on global health governance? A comparison of policy designs from Norway and Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Clavier, Carole; Potvin, Louise

2017-01-01

Background Since the signing of the Oslo Ministerial Declaration in 2007, the idea that foreign policy formulation should include health considerations has gained traction on the United Nations agenda as evidenced by annual General Assembly resolutions on global health and foreign policy. The adoption of national policies on global health (NPGH) is one way that some member states integrate health and foreign policymaking. This paper explores what these policies intend to do and how countries plan to do it. Methods Using a most similar systems design, we carried out a comparative study of two policy documents formally adopted in 2012. We conducted a directed qualitative content analysis of the Norwegian White Paper on Global health in foreign and development policy and the Swiss Health Foreign Policy using Schneider and Ingram's policy design framework. After replicating analysis methods for each document, we analysed them side by side to explore the commonalities and differences across elements of NPGH design. Results Analyses indicate that NPGH expect to influence change outside their borders. Targeting the international level, they aim to affect policy venues, multilateral partnerships and international institutions. Instruments for supporting desired changes are primarily those of health diplomacy, proposed as a tool for negotiating interests and objectives for global health between multiple sectors, used internally in Switzerland and externally in Norway. Conclusion Findings suggest that NPGH designs contribute to constructing the global health governance system by identifying it as a policy target, and policy instruments may elude the health sector actors unless implementation rules explicitly include them. Research should explore how future NPGH designs may construct different kinds of targets as politicised groups of actors on which national governments seek to exercise influence for global health decision-making. PMID:28589007

Efficiency and Equity within European Education Systems and School Choice Policy: Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Poder, Kaire; Kerem, Kaie; Lauri, Triin

2013-01-01

We seek out the good institutional features of the European choice policies that can enhance both equity and efficiency at the system level. For causality analysis we construct the typology of 28 European educational systems by using fuzzy-set analysis. We combine five independent variables to indicate institutional features of school choice…

Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system

Science.gov (United States)

P. Ciais; A. J. Dolman; A. Bombelli; R. Duren; A. Peregon; P. J. Rayner; C. Miller; N. Gobron; G. Kinderman; G. Marland; N. Gruber; F. Chevallier; R. J. Andres; G. Balsamo; L. Bopp; F.-M. Bréon; G. Broquet; R. Dargaville; T. J. Battin; A. Borges; H. Bovensmann; M. Buchwitz; J. Butler; J. G. Canadell; R. B. Cook; R. DeFries; R. Engelen; K. R. Gurney; C. Heinze; M. Heimann; A. Held; M. Henry; B. Law; S. Luyssaert; J. Miller; T. Moriyama; C. Moulin; R. B. Myneni; C. Nussli; M. Obersteiner; D. Ojima; Y. Pan; J.-D. Paris; S. L. Piao; B. Poulter; S. Plummer; S. Quegan; P. Raymond; M. Reichstein; L. Rivier; C. Sabine; D. Schimel; O. Tarasova; R. Valentini; R. Wang; G. van der Werf; D. Wickland; M. Williams; C. Zehner

2014-01-01

A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Building an integrated carbon observation system requires...

International Education Policy: Its Influence on the Conception of VET and the VET System in Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Deissinger, Thomas

2015-01-01

Inquiries into vocational education and training (VET) systems are normally characterised by looking at institutions and steering mechanisms. That aside, however, it is culture which underlies both the practice and the theory as well as the policy of VET in various countries. Specific problems arise when it comes to harmonising VET systems through…

Transport systems and policies for sustainable cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vučić Vukan R.

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The 20th century witnessed revolutionary developments in transportation technology with major impacts on the form and character of cities. Progress in increasing mobility has brought many benefits as well as serious problems, particularly in deterioration of livability and sustainability. Increase in auto ownership led to serious problems of chronic traffic congestion. Attempts to rebuild cities to provide full accommodation of private cars have led to serious problems of auto dependency and deterioration of cities. Experiences from recent decades have shown that urban transportation is much more complex than usually realized. Livable and sustainable cities require policies that lead to creation of a transportation system consisting of coordinated public transit and private cars, and encourages pedestrian environment and efficient, sustainable development. Great need for better understanding of the complex problems in implementing incentives and disincentives aimed at achieving intermodal balance is emphasized. Brief descriptions of cities which lead in achieving such livable conditions is followed by a summary of lessons and guidelines for the future.

Modeling environmental policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, W.E.; McDonald, L.A.

1997-01-01

The eight book chapters demonstrate the link between the physical models of the environment and the policy analysis in support of policy making. Each chapter addresses an environmental policy issue using a quantitative modeling approach. The volume addresses three general areas of environmental policy - non-point source pollution in the agricultural sector, pollution generated in the extractive industries, and transboundary pollutants from burning fossil fuels. The book concludes by discussing the modeling efforts and the use of mathematical models in general. Chapters are entitled: modeling environmental policy: an introduction; modeling nonpoint source pollution in an integrated system (agri-ecological); modeling environmental and trade policy linkages: the case of EU and US agriculture; modeling ecosystem constraints in the Clean Water Act: a case study in Clearwater National Forest (subject to discharge from metal mining waste); costs and benefits of coke oven emission controls; modeling equilibria and risk under global environmental constraints (discussing energy and environmental interrelations); relative contribution of the enhanced greenhouse effect on the coastal changes in Louisiana; and the use of mathematical models in policy evaluations: comments. The paper on coke area emission controls has been abstracted separately for the IEA Coal Research CD-ROM

48 CFR 750.7102 - General policy.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... MANAGEMENT EXTRAORDINARY CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS Extraordinary Contractual Actions To Protect Foreign Policy Interests of the United States 750.7102 General policy. Extra-contractual claims arising from foreign... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false General policy. 750.7102...

Agrosilvopastoral Systems in Northern Thailand and Northern Laos: Minority Peoples’ Knowledge versus Government Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chalathon Choocharoen

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Traditional agrosilvopastoral systems have been an important component of the farming systems and livelihoods of thousands of ethnic minority people in the uplands of Mainland Southeast Asia. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and participatory inquiries in nine ethnic minority communities, this study emphasizes the complex articulation of local farmers’ knowledge which has been so far excluded from governmental development and conservation policies in the northern uplands of Thailand and Laos. Qualitative analysis of local knowledge systems is performed using the Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit (AKT5 software. Results show that ethnic minorities in the two countries perceive large ruminants to be a highly positive component of local forest agro-ecosystems due to their contribution to nutrient cycling, forest fire control, water retention, and leaf-litter dispersal. The knowledge and perceptions of agrosilvopastoral farmers are then contrasted with the remarkably different forestry policy frameworks of the two countries. We find that the knowledge and diversity of practices exercised by ethnic minority groups contrasts with the current simplified and negative image that government officials tend to construct of agrosilvopastoral systems. We conclude that local knowledge of forest-livestock systems can offer alternative or complementary explanations on ecological cause-and-effect relationships which may need further scientific investigation and validation.

A condition-based maintenance policy for multi-component systems with a high maintenance setup cost

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhu, Q.; Peng, H.; Houtum, van G.J.J.A.N.

2015-01-01

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is becoming increasingly important due to the development of advanced sensor and information technology, which facilitates the remote collection of condition data. We propose a new CBM policy for multi-component systems with continuous stochastic deteriorations. To

On applications of excess level processes to (N,D-policy bulk queueing systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jewgeni H. Dshalalow

1996-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with queueing systems in which N- and D-policies are combined into one. This means that an idle or vacationing server will resume his service if the queueing or workload process crosses some specified fixed level N or D, respectively. For the proposed (N,D-policy we study the queueing processes in models with and without server vacations, with compound Poisson input, and with generally distributed service and vacation periods. The analysis of the models is essentially based on fluctuation techniques for two-dimensional marked counting processes newly developed by the author. The results enable us to arrive at stationary distributions for the embedded and continuous time parameter queueing processes in closed analytic forms, enhancing the well-known Kendall formulas and their modifications.

A maintenance policy for two-unit parallel systems based on imperfect monitoring information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barros, Anne [Department Genie des Systems Industiels (GSI), Universite de technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes, Cedex (France)]. E-mail: anne.barros@utt.fr; Berenguer, Christophe [Department Genie des Systems Industiels (GSI), Universite de technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes, Cedex (France); Grall, Antoine [Department Genie des Systems Industiels (GSI), Universite de technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes, Cedex (France)

2006-02-01

In this paper a maintenance policy is optimised for a two-unit system with a parallel structure and stochastic dependences. Monitoring problems are taken into account in the optimisation scheme: the failure time of each unit can be not detected with a given probability. Conditions on the system parameters (unit failure rates) and on the non-detection probabilities must be verified to make the optimisation scheme valid. These conditions are clearly identified. Numerical experiments allow to show the relevance of taking into account monitoring problems in the maintenance model.

A maintenance policy for two-unit parallel systems based on imperfect monitoring information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barros, Anne; Berenguer, Christophe; Grall, Antoine

2006-01-01

In this paper a maintenance policy is optimised for a two-unit system with a parallel structure and stochastic dependences. Monitoring problems are taken into account in the optimisation scheme: the failure time of each unit can be not detected with a given probability. Conditions on the system parameters (unit failure rates) and on the non-detection probabilities must be verified to make the optimisation scheme valid. These conditions are clearly identified. Numerical experiments allow to show the relevance of taking into account monitoring problems in the maintenance model

Disability Policy Implementation From a Cross-Cultural Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Verdugo, Miguel A; Jenaro, Cristina; Calvo, Isabel; Navas, Patricia

2017-07-01

Implementation of disability policy is influenced by social, political, and cultural factors. Based on published work, this article discusses four guidelines considered critical for successful policy implementation from a cross-cultural perspective. These guidelines are to: (a) base policy implementation on a contextual analysis, (b) employ a value-based approach, (c) align the service delivery system both vertically and horizontally, and (d) engage in a partnership in policy implementation. Public policy should be understood from a systems perspective that includes cross-cultural issues, such as how different stakeholders are acting and the way they plan and implement policy.

Evidence-Informed Health Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: Comparing Views of Policy Makers and Researchers

Science.gov (United States)

El-Jardali, Fadi; Lavis, John N.; Jamal, Diana; Ataya, Nour; Dimassi, Hani

2014-01-01

The objective of this paper is to conduct comparative analysis about the views and practices of policy makers and researchers on the use of health systems evidence in policy making in selected Eastern Mediterranean countries. We analysed data from two self-reported surveys, one targeted at policy makers and the other at researchers. Results show a…

Implementation of Local Wellness Policies in Schools: Role of School Systems, School Health Councils, and Health Disparities

Science.gov (United States)

Hager, Erin R.; Rubio, Diana S.; Eidel, G. Stewart; Penniston, Erin S.; Lopes, Megan; Saksvig, Brit I.; Fox, Renee E.; Black, Maureen M.

2016-01-01

Background: Written local wellness policies (LWPs) are mandated in school systems to enhance opportunities for healthy eating/activity. LWP effectiveness relies on school-level implementation. We examined factors associated with school-level LWP implementation. Hypothesized associations included system support for school-level implementation and…

Macroprudential Policy: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahdi Ebrahimi Kahou

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The severity and longevity of the recession caused by the 2007 financial crisis has highlighted the lack of a reliable macro-based financial regulation framework. As a consequence, addressing the link between the stability of the financial system as a whole and the performance of the overall economy has become a mandate for policymakers and scholars. Many countries have adopted macroprudential tools as policy responses for safeguarding the financial system. This paper provides a literature review of macroprudential policies, its objectives and the challenges that a macro-based framework needs to overcome, such as financial stability, procyclicality, and systemic risk.

The global climate Policy Evaluation Framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohan, D.; Stafford, R.K.; Scheraga, J.D.; Herrod, S.

1994-01-01

The Policy Evaluation Framework (PEF) is a decision analysis tool that enables decision makers to continuously formulate policies that take into account the existing uncertainties, and to refine policies as new scientific information is developed. PEF integrates deterministic parametric models of physical, biological, and economic systems with a flexible decision tree system. The deterministic models represent greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric accumulation of these gases, global and regional climate changes, ecosystem impacts, economic impacts, and mitigation and adaptation options, The decision tree system captures the key scientific and economic uncertainties, and reflects the wide range of possible outcomes of alternative policy actions. The framework contains considerable flexibility to allow a wide range of scientific and economic assumptions or scenarios to be represented and explored. A key feature of PEF is its capability to address both mitigation policies and investments in anticipatory adaptation to protect ecological and economic systems, as well as interactions among such options. PEF's time structure allows issues related to the timing and flexibility of alternatives to be evaluated, while the decision tree structure facilitates examining questions involving the value of information, contingent actions, and probabilistic representations. This paper is intended to introduce PEF to the global climate policy community. The paper provides an overview of the structure, modules, and capabilities of PEF, and discusses selected results from an initial set of illustrative applications

China's approach to nuclear safety — From the perspective of policy and institutional system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mu, Ruimin; Zuo, Jian; Yuan, Xueliang

2015-01-01

Nuclear energy plays an important role in the energy sector in the world. It has achieved a rapid development during the past six decades and contributes to over 11% of the world's electricity supply. On the other side, nuclear accidents have triggered substantial debates with a growing public concern on nuclear facilities. Followed by the Fukushima nuclear accident, some developed countries decided to shut down the existing nuclear power plants or to abandon plans to build new ones. Given this background, accelerating the development of nuclear power on the basis of safety in China will make it a bellwether for other countries. China assigns the top priority to the nuclear safety in nuclear energy development and has maintained a good record in this field. The policy and institutional system provide the necessary guarantee for the nuclear energy development and safety management. Furthermore, China's approach to nuclear safety provides a benchmark for the safe development and utilization of nuclear power. This research draws an overall picture of the nuclear energy development and nuclear safety in China from the policy and institutional perspective. - Highlights: • China's Approach to Nuclear Safety. • Policy and Institutional System for Nuclear Energy Development. • A Benchmark for the Peaceful and Safe Utilization of Nuclear Power. • Further Efforts for Specific Laws and Administrative System

Macroprudential Policy: A Summary

OpenAIRE

Mahdi Ebrahimi Kahou; Alfred Lehar

2016-01-01

The 2007 global financial crisis brought sharply into focus the need for macroprudential policy as a means of controlling systemic financial stability. This has become a focal point for policy-makers and numerous central banks, including the Bank of Canada, but it has its drawbacks, particularly here in Canada. As a counterbalance to microprudential policy, the idea of a macroprudential outlook reaches beyond the notion that as long as every banking institution is healthy, financial stability...

48 CFR 3410.701 - Policy of the Department of Education with respect to use of the metric system.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... of Education with respect to use of the metric system. 3410.701 Section 3410.701 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ACQUISITION REGULATION COMPETITION AND ACQUISITION PLANNING... of Education with respect to use of the metric system. It is the policy of the Department of...

12 CFR 618.8015 - Policy guidelines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Policy guidelines. 618.8015 Section 618.8015 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS Related Services § 618.8015 Policy guidelines. (a) The board of directors of each System bank or association providing...

Walking the Torque: Proposed Work Plan for Energy-Efficiency Policy Opportunities for Electric Motor-Driven Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

Electric motor-driven system is the largest single energy end use accounting for more than 40% of global electricity consumption. This paper sets out an ambitious but achievable target with the global work plan to improve the energy efficiency of electric motor-driven system by 10% to 15% based on the finding of working paper ''Energy-Efficiency Policy Opportunities for Electric Motor-Driven Systems (Waide et al., 2011)''. If governments commit to the proposed work plan immediately and maintain resourcing levels, this could be achieved by 2030 and it would be equivalent to reducing total global electricity use by around 5%. The proposed work plan of this paper is to align regulatory settings within a globally applicable scheme. The IEA believes this target can only be achieved through global co-operation leading to aligned national policy settings that countries can unlock the economies of scale that will result from using more energy efficient EMDS.

Urban photovoltaic electricity policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-10-15

This report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) made by Task 10 of the Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPS) programme takes a look at urban photovoltaic electricity policies. The mission of the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme is to enhance the international collaboration efforts which accelerate the development and deployment of photovoltaic solar energy as a significant and sustainable renewable energy option. The objective of Task 10 is stated as being to enhance the opportunities for wide-scale, solution-oriented application of photovoltaics in the urban environment. The goal of the study presented was to evaluate a standardised basis for urban policies regarding photovoltaic integration in a set of cities in the countries participating in the IEA's Task 10, Urban Scale PV. The investigation was focused on three topics: the present state of the policies, the prospects for future policies fostering photovoltaic deployment and the prospects for future policies to cope with large-scale photovoltaic integration. The first section analyses the state of the policies; this analysis is then confirmed in section 2, which deals with present obstacles to PV deployment and solutions to overcome them. The third section investigates future prospects for PV deployment with the question of mastering large scale integration. The report concludes that cities could formulate urban solutions by developing integrated, specific provisions for PV deployment in their urban infrastructure planning.

Moral Philosophy and Social Work Policy.

Science.gov (United States)