The Use of Institutional Repositories: The Ohio State University Experience

In this paper the author compares the use of digital materials that have been deposited in The Ohio State University (OSU) Knowledge Bank (KB). Comparisons are made for content considered in scope of the university archives and those considered out of scope, for materials originating from different campus sources, and for different types of content. Results show that both mediated and unmediated content is used and therefore justifies the preservation costs for unmediated content. Results also show articles and undergraduate theses are most frequently used type of materials leading to the conclusion that it is important to collect content from all levels of the educational process

Local agenda 21 : action plan for sustainable development : case study for Shah Alam

Sustainable development, which has been defined as a means to meet the needs of the present without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their needs, is not a new term these days. One of the initiatives that have been taken by the government of Malaysia in realizing the idea of sustainable development is through the implementation of Local Agenda 21 (LA21). LA21 is a global action plan or blueprint for sustainable development at local level, which was adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. LA21 is a reflection of a common consensus and political commitment of countries globally on sustaining development and environment cooperation. As such, this paper explains the role of LA21 as one of the efforts by the Malaysian government in achieving sustainable development. The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of LA21 programs and activities carried out and planned by the local authority, community and private sector towards achieving sustainable development. A descriptive analysis was used to describe the Shah Alam’s LA21 projects in promoting sustainable development. The outcomes illustrated the significance of LA21 projects in facilitating Malaysia to achieve sustainable development

Strengthening Indonesia’s Role In Indian Ocean Through IORA

Indonesian government concerned to determine the future of the Pacific and Indian Ocean Region through new vision as the world maritime fulcrum. Significant growth in Indian Ocean region urges a cooperation approach between littoral countries located around the Indian Ocean and lead the establishment of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The cooperation will lead to the accomplishment of the Indonesia’s national interests. On the other side, the potential trade volume in the Indian Ocean region cannot be reached because of limited maritime infrastructure that facilitates the current trade. IORA should develop a master plan or blueprint on connectivity that will provide the infrastructure development agenda with the Public-Private Partnership to accelerate the infrastructure development. By this situation, the development of maritime infrastructure can be a double advantage for Indonesia because it will connect APEC and IORA. The important things to consider in terms of security is a potential threat both to security and defense if the government decided to open and build a deep seaport in Western Sumatera and Java Island.It is important to evaluate the potential threats and challenges if Indonesia wants to be a fulcrum of world maritime activity

Building More Inclusive Organizations Initiative: Evaluation Report

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP) has been collaborating with Intercambios, a binational, bicultural consulting group, to advance the cultural relevance of environmental education (EE). Cultural relevance, or inclusiveness, requires deep reflection about one’s own values and behaviors and a long-term commitment to shifting organizational practices. The “Building More Inclusive Organizations Initiative” was designed to capture the concerns and problem-solving processes of organizations as they worked toward becoming more inclusive. From 2007 through 2009, UW-SP and Intercambios created a Learning Community with Eco Education in St. Paul, MN; Partners in Environmental Cultural Connectedness (PECC) in Las Vegas, NV; and the Norfolk Environmental Commission (NEC) in Norfolk, VA, to begin the internal work needed to achieve inclusiveness objectives. During the two-year initiative, the Learning Community participated in both formal and informal processes. Through a facilitated meeting conducted in September 2007 in Minneapolis, MN, each organization developed an action plan or blueprint to guide its own processes. Through conference calls and site visits, Intercambios facilitated dialogue and critical reflection within each group and within the Learning Community as a whole while documenting progress achieved, obstacles encountered, and lessons learned in the journey toward the intended outcomes. In October 2009, UW-SP and Intercambios brought the Learning Community together in a facilitated retreat in Oregon City, OR. The group took time to reflect on and articulate the lessons they learned in the process of becoming inclusive and extrapolated these lessons to the broader environmental education profession

Complexity and Philosophy

The science of complexity is based on a new way of thinking that stands in sharp contrast to the philosophy underlying Newtonian science, which is based on reductionism, determinism, and objective knowledge. This paper reviews the historical development of this new world view, focusing on its philosophical foundations. Determinism was challenged by quantum mechanics and chaos theory. Systems theory replaced reductionism by a scientifically based holism. Cybernetics and postmodern social science showed that knowledge is intrinsically subjective. These developments are being integrated under the header of “complexity science”. Its central paradigm is the multi-agent system. Agents are intrinsically subjective and uncertain about their environment and future, but out of their local interactions, a global organization emerges. Although different philosophers, and in particular the postmodernists, have voiced similar ideas, the paradigm of complexity still needs to be fully assimilated by philosophy. This will throw a new light on old philosophical issues such as relativism, ethics and the role of the subject

Human security and the rise of the social

As the concept of human security has become part of the mainstream discourse of international politics it should be no surprise that both realist and critical approaches to international theory have found the agenda wanting. This article seeks to go beyond both the realist and biopolitical critiques by situating all three – political realism, biopolitics and human security – within the history and theory of the modern rise of the social realm from late eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Human security is the further expansion of social forms of governance under capitalism, more specifically a form of socialpolitik than realpolitik or biopolitics. Drawing on the work of historical sociologist Robert Castel and political theorist Hannah Arendt, the article develops an alternative framework with which to question the extent to which ‘life’ has become the subject of global intervention through the human security agenda

Interacting Unities: An Agent-Based System

Recently architects have been inspired by Thompsonis Cartesian deformations and Waddingtonis flexible topological surface to work within a dynamic field characterized by forces. In this more active space of interactions, movement is the medium through which form evolves. This paper explores the interaction between pedestrians and their environment by regarding it as a process occurring between the two. It is hypothesized that the recurrent interaction between pedestrians and environment can lead to a structural coupling between those elements. Every time a change occurs in each one of them, as an expression of its own structural dynamics, it triggers changes to the other one. An agent-based system has been developed in order to explore that interaction, where the two interacting elements, agents (pedestrians) and environment, are autonomous units with a set of internal rules. The result is a landscape where each agent locally modifies its environment that in turn affects its movement, while the other agents respond to the new environment at a later time, indicating that the phenomenon of stigmergy is possible to take place among interactions with human analogy. It is found that it is the environmentis internal rules that determine the nature and extent of change

Improving rural livilihoods in semi-arid regions through management of micro-catchments

A review of initiatives set up to inhance and improve rural livilihoods in semi-arid regions through micro-catchment of water sources.This paper reviews some of the issues that need to he considered in external initiatives aimed at improving rural livelihoods and alleviating poverty in semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe through promoting enhanced community-based management of common-pool resources. Particular emphasis is given to the requirements for communal management of micro-catchments in the context of securing both the yield and quality of water delivered by surface and subsurface flow to productive water points (PWPs). These PWPs can be collector wells, conventional wells and boreholes, or dams and weirs. Their key feature is that the water is used primarily for irrigating market gardens, or fodder crops for dairy cattle, or for some other income generating activity. The hypothesis is advanced that the presence of a PWP is an entry point to initiating a broader range of community-based management initiatives intended to optimize the use of common-pool resources in the catchments of these productive water points. The review first examines some key biophysical and socio-economic features of rural communities in the semi-arid regions of southern Zimbabwe, to identify the main constraints and opportunities that shape the current livelihood strategies of the people living in this area. This is followed by an analysis of the tenurial and institutional contexts within which any attempts at collective management and use of common-pool resources must function. Options for the management of water and other resources in the micro-catchments of PWPs are then considered. The review ends with some thoughts on how an integrated approach to microcatchment management might be achieved.Department for International Development (DFID