3,799 research outputs found
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Ensuring Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for All Through the Transformation of Food Systems
Central-provincial Politics and Industrial Policy-making in the Electric Power Sector in China
In addition to the studies that provide meaningful insights into the complexity of technical and economic issues, increasing studies have focused on the political process of market transition in network industries such as the electric power sector. This dissertation studies the central–provincial interactions in industrial policy-making and implementation, and attempts to evaluate the roles of Chinese provinces in the market reform process of the electric power sector. Market reforms of this sector are used as an illustrative case because the new round of market reforms had achieved some significant breakthroughs in areas such as pricing reform and wholesale market trading. Other policy measures, such as the liberalization of the distribution market and cross-regional market-building, are still at a nascent stage and have only scored moderate progress. It is important to investigate why some policy areas make greater progress in market reforms than others. It is also interesting to examine the impacts of Chinese central-provincial politics on producing the different market reform outcomes. Guangdong and Xinjiang are two provinces being analyzed in this dissertation. The progress of market reforms in these two provinces showed similarities although the provinces are very different in terms of local conditions such as the stages of their economic development and energy structures. The actual reform can be understood as the outcomes of certain modes of interactions between the central and provincial actors in the context of their particular capabilities and preferences in different policy areas. This dissertation argues that market reform is more successful in policy areas where the central and provincial authorities are able to engage mainly in integrative negotiations than in areas where they engage mainly in distributive negotiations
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After Creation: Intergovernmental Organizations and Member State Governments as Co-Participants in an Authority Relationship
This is a re-amalgamation of what started as one manuscript and became two when the length proved to be more than any publisher wanted to consider. The splitting consisted of removing what are now Parts 3, 4, and 5 so that the manuscript focused on the outcome-related shared beliefs holding an authority relationship together. Those parts were last worked on in 2018. The rest were last worked on in late 2021 but also remain incomplete.
The relational approach adopted in this study treats intergovernmental organizations and the governments of member states as co-participants in an authority relationship with the governments of their member states. Authority relationships link two types of actor, defined by their authority-holder or addressee role in the relationship, through a set of shared beliefs about why the relationship exists and how the participants should fulfill their respective roles. The IGO as authority holder has a role that includes a right to instruct other actors about what they should or should not do; the governments of member states as addressees are expected to comply with the instructions. Three sets of shared beliefs provide the conceptual “glue” holding the relationship together. The first defines the goal of the collective effort, providing both the rationale for having the authority relationship and providing a lode star for assessments of the collective effort’s success or lack of success. The second set defines the shared understanding about allocation of roles and the process of interaction by establishing shared expectations about a) the selection process by which particular actors acquire authority holder roles, b) the definitions identifying one or more categories of addressees expected to follow instructions, and c) the procedures through which the authority holder issues instructions. The third set focus on the outcomes of cooperation through the relationship by defining a) the substantive areas in which the authority holder may issue instructions, b) the bases for assessing the relevance actions mandated in instructions for reaching the goal, and c) the relative efficacy of action paths chosen for reaching the goal as compared to other possible action paths.
Using an authority relationship framework for analyzing cooperation through IGOs highlights the inherently bi-directional nature of IGO-member government activity by viewing their interaction as involving a three-step process in which the IGO as authority holder decides when to issue what instruction, the member state governments as followers react to the instruction with anything from prompt and full compliance through various forms of pushback to outright rejection, and the IGO as authority holder responds to how the followers react with efforts to increase individual compliance with instructions and reinforce continuing acceptance of the authority relationship. Foregrounding the dynamics produced by the interaction of these two streams of perception and action reveals more clearly how far intergovernmental organizations acquire capacity to operate as independent actors, the dynamic ways they maintain that capacity, and how much they influence member governments’ beliefs and actions at different times. The approach fosters better understanding of why, when, and for how long governments choose cooperation through an IGO even in periods of rising unilateralism
REDESIGNING THE COUNTER UNMANNED SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE
Includes supplementary material. Please contact [email protected] for access.When the Islamic State used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to target coalition forces in 2014, the use of UAVs rapidly expanded, giving weak states and non-state actors an asymmetric advantage over their technologically superior foes. This asymmetry led the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spend vast sums of money on counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS). Despite the market density, many C-UAS technologies use expensive, bulky, and high-power-consuming electronic attack methods for ground-to-air interdiction. This thesis outlines the current technology used for C-UAS and proposes a defense-in-depth framework using airborne C-UAS patrols outfitted with cyber-attack capabilities. Using aerial interdiction, this thesis develops a novel C-UAS device called the Detachable Drone Hijacker—a low-size, weight, and power C-UAS device designed to deliver cyber-attacks against commercial UAVs using the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication specification. The experimentation results show that the Detachable Drone Hijacker, which weighs 400 grams, consumes one Watt of power, and costs $250, can interdict adversarial UAVs with no unintended collateral damage. This thesis recommends that the DOD and DHS incorporates aerial interdiction to support its C-UAS defense-in-depth, using technologies similar to the Detachable Drone Hijacker.DASN-OE, Washington DC, 20310Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited
A Theory Kit for World History
This report presents a “kit” of theories regarding major processes in human history formed into a whole, a “theory kit”, with the aim to understand how these processes unfold over thousands of years. The theory kit has an underlying fundamental theoretical approach concerning dialectical, contradictory, processes as a core of the complex matrix that shapes human history. In the kit, history is presented in three spheres that are given equal importance: material culture, social structure and societal mentality. An enigma in world history is the common rhythm: different parts of the world tend to move at the same time and in the same direction. The claim here is that the enormous interacting complexity is one explanation of this relative unity in change. In the theory kit a number of issues are discussed, such as: Axial Ages, class struggle, empires, expansion-stagnation-crisis, agricultural world systems, technological complex(es), mentality world systems, invention-innovation
fteval JOURNAL for Research and Technology Policy Evaluation (53). Proceedings of the REvaluation 2021|22 Conference
Proceedings of the REvaluation 2021|22 Conferenc
Impacts of Various Connectivity Processes in Central Asia on Sustainable Development of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is facing a strategically important period in its history. The government’s ambition of reindustrializing is affecting its engagement with various international organizations and donors. As these plans will lead to societal transition and affect such areas as social development, national economy, and environment, a careful consideration of their impacts is required, especially given the country’s need to achieve sustainable development. At the same time, the geographical position of Kyrgyzstan puts it at the cross-roads of three distinct regional economic connectivity processes: the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and various connectivity initiatives and projects taking place under the umbrella of the European Union (EU). A major issue is the extent to which Kyrgyzstan can leverage these processes to boost its economic revitalization plans and decarbonize its economy in line with international climate change mitigation and energy security policies, while ensuring a reliable energy supply. As a result, novel governance mechanisms need to be established that address the possible impacts of these economic connectivity processes; this is especially important given the frequently diverging perceptions and opinions of the various Kyrgyz and foreign stakeholders involved in industrial policymaking. Perceptual heterogeneity influences the development of solutions based on compromise and participatory governance that are crucial to implementing different industrial policy options; it also impacts the nature of the economic relationship between Kyrgyzstan and other countries in the Central Asian region. The aim of this paper is to understand the implications of perceptual heterogeneity for the various connectivity processes in Kyrgyzstan, their benefits, and their impacts. The methodology of this paper includes a variety of methods such as surveys and interviews with key stakeholders, scenario development, and participatory workshops in various regions of the country
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022 : groundwater : making the invisible visible
Accounting for approximately 99% of all liquid freshwater on Earth, groundwater has
the potential to provide societies with tremendous social, economic and environmental
benefits and opportunities. Groundwater already provides half of the volume of water
withdrawn for domestic use by the global population, including the drinking water for
the vast majority of the rural population who do
not get their water delivered to them via public
or private supply systems, and around 25% of all
water withdrawn for irrigation. However, this natural
resource is often poorly understood, and consequently
undervalued, mismanaged and even abused.
Groundwater is central to the fight against poverty,
to food and water security, to the creation of decent
jobs, to socio-economic development, and to the
resilience of societies and economies to climate
change. Reliance on groundwater will only increase,
mainly due to growing water demand by all sectors
combined with increasing variation in rainfall patterns.
The report describes the challenges and opportunities associated with the development,
management and governance of groundwater across the world. It aims to establish a
clear understanding of the role that groundwater plays in daily life, of its interactions with
people, and of the opportunities for optimizing its use in order to ensure the long-term
sustainability of this largely available yet fragile resource.
Unlocking the full potential of groundwater will require strong and concerted efforts to
manage and use it sustainably. And it all starts by making the invisible visible
The Resilience and Sustainability of Suranga Irrigation in the Western Ghats of India
This study focused on a little known traditional water management system, known as suranga, historically used by marginalised agricultural communities in the remote foothills of the Western Ghats in India to evaluate the resilience and sustainability of the suranga system. A hill irrigation analytical framework was used to provide a pragmatic epistemology. The research methodology was interdisciplinary, incorporating mixed methods taken from both the physical and social sciences to answer five research questions about suranga linked to their history, distribution, design principles, operational characteristics, governance, and organisation. Results suggest that suranga originate from the early 20th century. A field survey, supported by in-depth interviews of suranga users (n=173), found 700 suranga mainly distributed in fourteen villages in the Dakshin Kannada and Kasaragod districts. Data from previous studies, including this study, suggest there are a minimum of ~3000 suranga in the region as a whole. Suranga were defined as a groundwater collection gallery filtration tunnel system sourced from perched aquifers. Key strengths of the system were found to be the basic design principles, flexible excavation approaches, adaptability, clear use boundaries, relatively low construction and maintenance costs, self-regulated discharge, private ownership and management, and ease of access. Weaknesses of the system were a laborious and risky excavation process, limited water yield, non-collaboration, the absence of governance, and low earnings for suranga workers. Suranga were also found to be vulnerable to pollution, forest cover loss, and the impacts of climate change. However, suranga have contributed to a resilient and sustainable community in the past when the population, water demands, and the size of the irrigated area were low, and farm choices were limited. Currently, the suranga system may soon be unable to meet increased water demands because of population increase, intensification and reorientation of agriculture, alternative borewell technology and improved socioeconomic conditions. However, Suranga do retain some humanitarian relevance to farmers in the study area having improved the quality of life for many low-income families, but new emerging endogenous and exogenous pressures may make them vulnerable to changes in the future that cause the collapse of the system unless further adaptation occurs
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