Global aging: emerging challenges

This repository item contains a single issue of The Pardee Papers, a series papers that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The Pardee Papers series features working papers by Pardee Center Fellows and other invited authors. Papers in this series explore current and future challenges by anticipating the pathways to human progress, human development, and human well-being. This series includes papers on a wide range of topics, with a special emphasis on interdisciplinary perspectives and a development orientation.Aging policy frameworks were devised during a demographic and economic context in which population aging seemed confined to wealthy nations. These countries could afford retirement policies that supported older workers, decreased unemployment among younger workers, and decreased family pressure to provide old age care. This calculation was based in part on failure to anticipate three demographic trends: continual decline in fertility below replacement rate, continual gains in longevity, and the rise of population aging in poor and “under-developed” countries. These three trends now fuel a sense of crisis. In the global North, there is fear that increasing numbers of older adults will deplete state pension and health care systems. In the global South, the fear is that population aging coupled with family breakdown” requires such state intervention. Natural disaster metaphors, such as “agequake” and “age-tsunami,” illustrate fears of a “graying globe” in which population aging implies population decay and economic destruction. Yet, global aging trends develop over decades and are not easily reversed. Longer-range trends can be addressed through revising policy frameworks to incorporate how growing old is moving from global exception to expectation. Alexandra Crampton was a 2008–2009 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences at Marquette University. Her scholarship and teaching bring an anthropological perspective to theoretical and practical questions on aging, social welfare policy, social work practice, negotiation, and alternative dispute resolution. She has presented her work for the American Anthropological Association, the Gerontological Society of America, the Council on Social Work Education, and the Society for Social Work Research. She holds a joint PhD in Social Work and Anthropology from the University of Michigan

Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in Infectious Disease Epidemiology.

Much of the intellectual tradition of modern epidemiology stems from efforts to understand and combat chronic diseases persisting through the 20th century epidemiologic transition of countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. After decades of relative obscurity, infectious disease epidemiology has undergone an intellectual rebirth in recent years amid increasing recognition of the threat posed by both new and familiar pathogens. Here, we review the emerging coalescence of infectious disease epidemiology around a core set of study designs and statistical methods bearing little resemblance to the chronic disease epidemiology toolkit. We offer our outlook on challenges and opportunities facing the field, including the integration of novel molecular and digital information sources into disease surveillance, the assimilation of such data into models of pathogen spread, and the increasing contribution of models to public health practice. We next consider emerging paradigms in causal inference for infectious diseases, ranging from approaches to evaluating vaccines and antimicrobial therapies to the task of ascribing clinical syndromes to etiologic microorganisms, an age-old problem transformed by our increasing ability to characterize human-associated microbiota. These areas represent an increasingly important component of epidemiology training programs for future generations of researchers and practitioners

Trade reform in Vietnam : opportunities with emerging challenges

In 1986 Vietnam initiated a transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy where the government would keep playing a leading role. These renovation (doi moi) policies were successful at generating economic growth and reducing poverty. In the ten-year socioeconomic strategy endorsed by the Ninth Party Congress in April 2001, the authorities further articulated their development objectives in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction. To reach these objectives, the government indicated that its structural reform priorities were to change Vietnam's trade and financial policies, liberalize the climate for private investment, increase the efficiency of public enterprises, and improve governance. The author argues that the pace of implementation of trade reform-which has been impressive so far-is raising new challenges. On one side, fast liberalization of trade reform may soon conflict with the slow pace of implementation of other reforms, including restructuring of state-owned enterprises and state-owned commercial banks. On the other side, Vietnam would greatly benefit from fast implementation of trade reform and particularly fast accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), especially after China's recent WTO accession. Auffret concludes that implementation of trade reform will be a testing ground to reveal the extent of Vietnam's commitment to a market-oriented economy.Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade Policy,Rules of Origin,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,World Trade Organization,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Services

Living in to its Name and Living up to its Legacy: The public practical theology of KAIROS

KAIROS Canada looks hopefully towards the emerging challenges of continuing public practical theology in a pluralistic, post-apology time and place

Cambodia's aquarian reforms : the emerging challenges for policy and research

The main objective of the document is to make a modest attempt to highlight the challenges which are emerging with the current phase of Cambodia's aquarian reforms -- the most important component of which is the current transition from fishing lots to community fisheries. The challenges include the realms of institutional and policy reform, local action, innovation and research. We contextualize our effort by commencing with an assessment of the importance of the aquatic resources and by providing a brief historical background to the reforms. This is followed by an examination of the changes in the access and property rights and the system changes which have been brought about as a result of the reform. How some of the transitional changes can be assessed and the manner in which the efforts at community fisheries can be made more economically and socially viable are also addressed. We deal with the complex issue of social identity and the aspirations for creating a new sense of community. The new role of women, the importance of creating networks and closer collaboration with Cambodia's local governance structures and vibrant civil society organisations are also highlighted. The reforms have created new legal realms of local 'micro' ecosystem space and resource governance. But this should not detract from the need for an understanding of the larger 'global' context -- be it in relation to the ecosystem dynamics or governance priorities. We suggest that research and development priorities must be re-oriented to consider ways of dealing with the vast number of new and evolving 'local realities' and yet, link them up contemporaneously to the big 'global picture'. We end with a few recommendations addressed to different actors involved in the process of aquarian reforms. There is a call for a new mission and greater collaboration by research institutions; new methodologies for data collection; greater participation with local governance structures; an exit strategy for aid agencies and the need for setting up a national institute for co-management applications and training.Policies, Research, Cambodia,

Building Institutional Repositories: Emerging Challenges

This presentation will discuss the benefits and challenges associated with Institutional Repository (IR) initiatives and development, while sharing our experiences from WySR (Wyoming Scholar’s Repository). Our institutional repository, WySR, will be used as a case study to illustrate particular difficulties in obtaining author versions of publications; the quality of open access research; and technical limitations

Emerging Challenges in Wildlife Management

Several challenges confronting wildlife agencies today will become even more important in the future. These challenges include: reducing threats to human safety, preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases, increasing wildlife populations in suboptimal habitats, managing problems caused by overabundant native species and exotic species, and helping to sustain human food supplies by alleviating wildlife damage to agricultural production. Challenges such as these provide an opportunity for wildlife management to increase its importance in the future, especially for biologists and scientists within the field of wildlife damage management. We have the opportunity to enhance the value of the wildlife resource for society while, at the same time, preserving it for future generations

ELEARNING CURRENT SITUATION AND EMERGING CHALLENGES

This paper aims to present and discuss current, as well as future challenges of eLearning technologies in the higher education institutions and organizations.ELearning has greatly transformed our way of learning by the use of the newly developed technologies and applications. This paper explores the eLearning current situation. After a brief eLearning history, from the earlier 1960’s, with the first generalized computer assisted instruction system PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) to the 2010's with the development of social media for learning and the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses). After that, the paper provides a review of the eLearning concept and how it has evolved over the years, followed by a look at the current technologies (from CD-ROMs to Virtual worlds and Game authoring technologies), applications and platforms being used. The emerging challenges are eventually discussed: needs for identifying suitable strategies and understanding the technology and pedagogy integration for effective eLearning implementations referring to pedagogical and cognitive aspects, level of ICT skills for both all the people involved in teaching, total commitment from management for eLearning system operationalization and sustainability, need for software quality frameworks and standards.&nbsp

Emerging Challenges in Asset Protection Planning

Asset protection planning has gained in popularity and acceptance among estate planners over the past two decades, and is now a headline topic at national legal conferences and a featured subject in law school curricula. While the self-settled spendthrift trust was once considered the domain of a handful of offshore jurisdictions, sixteen American states have now enacted legislation to facilitate such planning closer to home. This article examines the historical challenges and contemporary threats to asset protection planning, including: Past use of the contempt powers of the courts to compel debtors to repatriate assets held offshore; tort liability for civil conspiracy and civil RICO claims; attorney liability and ethical considerations; and the distinction between “fraudulent transfers” and “fraud.” Recent cases point to the emergence of a new doctrine – the per se fraudulent transfer rule – affecting asset protection planning even in those states that recognize self settled spendthrift trusts. Transitioning away from asset protection trusts to more modern, cutting-edge techniques – including captive insurance and LLCs – enable lawyers to offer a broader spectrum of solutions and better secure client assets from creditor threat