Tracking User-movement in Opportunistic Networks to Support Distributed Query-response During Disaster Management

AbstractEffective communication amongst diverse rescue and relief workers is a primary requirement in any disaster management. Since pre-existing communication infrastructure may not be available, the Opportunistic Network framework provides a potential platform for information communication, where individual smart-phones of rescue and relief workers (the nodes) spread across an environment form a disjoint, peer-to-peer network. Here, a source node communicates with a destination node following hop-by-hop, store-wait-forward cycle, since an end-to-end route connecting them never exists. Also, due to mobility and disconnectedness, nodes have scarce or no knowledge about the network topology. However, in the context of disaster management, in order to evaluate the situation, rescue and relief workers often need to generate different field-related queries and the response to those queries must come from other workers in the field. Since source node (generating the query) is not aware of the location of destination node (answering the query) and all nodes are mobile, it is difficult to implement a query-response mechanism. This paper proposes and evaluates a distributed query-response mechanism that enables any node to track approximate location of other rescue and relief workers, which is turn helps to handle query-response operations

Designing climate change adaptation policies : an economic framework

Adaptation has long been neglected in the debate and policies surrounding climate change. However, increasing awareness of climate change has led many stakeholders to look for the best way to limit its consequences and has resulted in a large number of initiatives related to adaptation, particularly at the local level. This report proposes a general economic framework to help stakeholders in the public sector to develop effective adaptation strategies. To do so, it lays out the general issues involved in adaptation, including the role of uncertainty and inertia, and the need to consider structural changes in addition to marginal adjustments. Then, it identifies the reasons for legitimate public action in terms of adaptation, and four main domains of action: the production and dissemination of information on climate change and its impacts; the adaptation of standards, regulations and fiscal policies; the required changes in institutions; and direct adaptation actions of governments and local communities in terms of public infrastructure, public buildings and ecosystems. Finally, the report suggests a method to build public adaptation plans and to assess the desirability of possible policies.Climate Change Economics,Wetlands,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Adaptation to Climate Change,Science of Climate Change

Adaptation of WASH Services Delivery to Climate Change and Other Sources of Risk and Uncertainty

This report urges WASH sector practitioners to take more seriously the threat of climate change and the consequences it could have on their work. By considering climate change within a risk and uncertainty framework, the field can use the multitude of approaches laid out here to adequately protect itself against a range of direct and indirect impacts. Eleven methods and tools for this specific type of risk management are described, including practical advice on how to implement them successfully

What Is Resilience and How Can It Be Nurtured? A Systematic Review of Empirical Literature on Organizational Resilience.

BACKGROUND: Recent health system shocks such as the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016 and the global financial crisis of 2008 have generated global health interest in the concept of resilience. The concept is however not new, and has been applied to other sectors for a longer period of time. We conducted a review of empirical literature from both the health and other sectors to synthesize evidence on organizational resilience. METHODS: We systematically searched for literature in PubMed, Econlit, EBSCOHOST databases, google, and Google Scholar and manually searched the reference lists of selected papers. We identified 34 papers that met our inclusion criteria. We analysed data from the selected papers by thematic review. RESULTS: Resilience was generally taken to mean a system's ability to continue to meet its objectives in the face of challenges. The concepts of resilience that were used in the selected papers emphasized not just a system's capacity to withstand shocks, but also to adapt and transform. The resilience of organizations was influenced by the following factors: Material resources, preparedness and planning, information management, collateral pathways and redundancy, governance processes, leadership practices, organizational culture, human capital, social networks and collaboration. CONCLUSION: A common theme across the selected papers is the recognition of resilience as an emergent property of complex adaptive systems. Resilience is both a function of planning for and preparing for future crisis (planned resilience), and adapting to chronic stresses and acute shocks (adaptive resilience). Beyond resilience to acute shocks, the resilience of health systems to routine and chronic stress (everyday resilience) is also key. Health system software is as, if not more important, as its hardware in nurturing health system resilience

Cross-Country Ethical Dilemmas in Business: A Descriptive Framework

As businesses span the globe, multinational and translational companies conduct their business operations in foreign settings, especially in developing countries and in countries in transition from Communist regimes. This poses new challenges to expatriate managers and to home-based staff in charge of foreign affiliates. They are called on to determine the right versus the wrong, the good versus the bad over international business transactions, negotiations, advertisement and supply chain management taking place in foreign settings. As most of the time, businessmen lack a certain degree of cultural awareness and knowledge, managing ethical diversity over cross-country business transactions ends up to be a major challenge for business people. This paper’s aim is to provide an introductory sketch on the cross-country issues facing international business, through detailed description of their level of disclosure (Political, Corporate, Internal) diverse areas and connected situations. The pros and cons of the traditional paradigms used by business people in dealing with such circumstances (Universalism and Relativism) will be weighed. In addition examples of “irresponsible business practices” resulting from cultural misunderstandings, ignorance and lack of contextualization on the behalf of business people will be provided.Business ethics, Cross-country ethical dilemmas, Corporate Social responsibility, Diversity

Navy Irregular Challenges Game \u2710

During the period 27-30 July 2010, the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island hosted the Irregular Challenges 2010 Game. The overarching purpose of the Irregular Challenges 2010 Game was to help the Navy better understand the complexity of the problems that it could face in these unstable regions in the maritime environment and to better address how it could respond. This game could help the Navy better define the choices that it needs to make with regard to how it might operate in a future environment