Scenario projects in Japanese government: Strategic approaches for overcoming psychological and institutional barriers

Scenario planning in the public sector has significant differences from scenario planning in the corporate world. Scenario planning in the government not only tends to be focused on issue of higher complexity and significance to public policy, but also in comparison to people in the private business, public officials have fundamental psychological and institutional constraints in their scenario thinking. These constraints make it difficult for them to contemplate multiple ‘untidy’ futures and imagine the possibility of policy failure: skills which are essential for successful scenario projects. Based on specific characteristics of scenario planning in the Japanese government, this paper contributes on better understanding the challenges and strategic solutions in providing more successful scenario planning in the public sector. Specifically, this paper argues that possible solutions in overcoming these constraints may be to shake public bureaucrats out of their thinking by providing free and open venues of conversation and more importantly through ‘derailment’ exercises

Kajian Yuridis terhadap Investasi Gadai Emas di Perbankan Syariah

One of the banks that have Islamic sharia pawning gold products, commonly known as the Golden Pawn Bank Syariah Mandiri which binding financing using qardh agreement in order rahn. Funding is provided to customers who have gold and need money immediately. This is evident from the rise of sharia pawning gold (rahn) who allegedly deviated from its original purpose. This concern arises because sharia should bertumpuh lien on Islamic principles which the essence is to help people to get funds quickly and for working capital. In practice, sharia pawning gold began to leave the essence and more widely used for profit through repeated practice of speculative mortgage. The research was conducted using the method of normative legal research or legal research literature, the data used are the primary legal materials, secondary, and tertiary, while the data collection is done with the study of literature (library researh). The method used in analyzing the data is qualitative analysis. Based on the results of the study authors that the legal basis for the gold investment in Islamic perspective is the verses of the Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah (2) Section 283 is grounds relied upon in developing the concept of Islamic mortgage (Rahn). Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad in the hadith that Aisha riwayatkan by Muslim Faith, ijma 'ulama agreed on the permissibility of the legal status of liens, and the Islamic National Fatwa council chamber Ulama Indonesia (DSN-MUI) became one of the references relating to liens sharia (Rahn). Specifically with regard to sharia law lien (Rahn), MUI through the National Islamic council issued a fatwa No.: 25/DSN-MUI/III/2002. Arrangements relating to investment gold pawning at sharia banks namely, Bank Indonesia Regulation. 10/17/PBI/2008 On Islamic Banking products and Sharia that in order to avoid the risk of loss, the Islamic Bank and Islamic Business Unit obliged to maintain the quality of its financing, ne of the effort to maintain the quality of the financing, Islamic banks and Sharia can restructure financing of customers who have business prospects and / or ability to pay and estrukturisasi Financing Financing only be made for the quality of Substandard, Doubtful and Loss that must be supported by analysis and evidence of adequate and well- documented. Circular Letter of Bank Indonesia (SEBI) No.. 14/7/DpBs dated February 29, 2012 concerning the rules contributed to pawn gold pawn gold trigger for increased business, especially in Islamic banking. Given this rule, gold pawning business become more organized, and only for urgent short-term loans. No more gold for investment fiduciary practices

The resilience of embodied energy networks: a critical dimension for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access, renewables and efficiency have been identified as targets in the field of energy under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Resilience is also a critical dimension that needs to be considered in moving towards sustainable energy. Diversification of direct energy suppliers has been the conventional recourse for achieving energy security. In consideration of the increasingly globalized nature of trade, energy and supply chain networks, however, this approach would be insufficient for addressing the resilience of energy supplies to potential environmental, economic and social shocks and disruptions. In this paper we investigate countries' energy resilience by quantifying diversity in suppliers of both direct and embodied energy and examine how selections of indirect energy supplies can affect the resilience of the entire embodied-energy trade network. We find that the geographical diversity of embodied energy imports is much greater than that of direct energy imports, and there are considerable variations across countries in the diversification of embodied energy imports. This suggests a possible strategy for countries that depend heavily on a few neighbors for their direct energy imports to diversify their supply chain globally in order to benefit from larger diversity of embodied energy supplies, thereby strengthening the energy resilience of their economies

Graphene on Si(111)7x7

We demonstrate that it is possible to mechanically exfoliate graphene under ultra high vacuum conditions on the atomically well defined surface of single crystalline silicon. The flakes are several hundred nanometers in lateral size and their optical contrast is very faint in agreement with calculated data. Single layer graphene is investigated by Raman mapping. The G and 2D peaks are shifted and narrowed compared to undoped graphene. With spatially resolved Kelvin probe measurements we show that this is due to p-type doping with hole densities of n_h \simeq 6x10^{12} cm^{-2}. The in vacuo preparation technique presented here should open up new possibilities to influence the properties of graphene by introducing adsorbates in a controlled way.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

The effect of loading rate on fracture energy of asphalt mixture at intermediate temperatures and under different loading modes

At intermediate service temperatures hot mix asphalt (HMA) concretely are subjected to different loading rates due to movement of vehicles which can significantly affect their mechanical characteristics and final service load. Hence, in this paper the effect of loading rate on intermediate temperature fracture resistance of HMA materials is investigated experimentally in different modes of cracking. Different hot mix asphalt mixtures made of various compositions were subjected to asymmetric threepoint bend loading in the form of edge cracked semi-circular bend (SCB) specimens. The effect of aggregate type and air void were studied on the fracture energy values for three mode mixities (including pure mode I, mixed mode I/II and pure mode II) and at different temperatures of 5°C, 15°C and 25°C. Trends of change in fracture energy values revealed noticeable influence of loading rate on the low and intermediate temperature cracking behavior of tested asphalt mixtures with different air void contents and aggregate types subjected to mixed mode I/II loading. Also, a change observed in fracture resistance of asphalt mixtures at nearly zero (5°C) and intermediate temperatures (25°C) that was due to change in the behavior of bitumen from elastic to viscoelastic. © 2018, Gruppo Italiano Frattura. All rights reserved

Banking of human tissue for biomonitoring and exposure assessment: utility for environmental epidemiology and surveillance.

Human tissue banking could provide a tool to address a number of public health concerns. We can potentially use it to monitor trends in human exposures, serve as an early warning system for new environmental exposures, assess low-level exposures around hazardous waste and other point sources of pollutants, evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory programs, and study etiologies of diseases (e.g., childhood cancer and birth defects) that are likely to be related to the environment. This article discusses opportunities to establish human tissue banks in connection with pre-existing public health surveillance programs for cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. This is a cost-effective way to conduct surveillance and enhances the ability to carry out epidemiologic studies. The article also discusses ethical issues that are particularly important for public health practice. One is the issue of risk communication and the need to explain risks in a way that provides people with the information they need to determine appropriate action on the individual and community levels. Second is the issue of environmental justice. We recommend early involvement of communities that are likely to be involved in tissue-banking projects and full explanation of individual and group social risks from their participation

Differences in Prenatal Tobacco Exposure Patterns among 13 Race/Ethnic Groups in California.

Prenatal tobacco exposure is a significant, preventable cause of childhood morbidity, yet little is known about exposure risks for many race/ethnic subpopulations. We studied active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in a population-based cohort of 13 racially/ethnically diverse pregnant women: white, African American, Hispanic, Native American, including nine Asian/Pacific Islander subgroups: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Samoan, and Asian Indians (N = 3329). Using the major nicotine metabolite, cotinine, as an objective biomarker, we analyzed mid-pregnancy serum from prenatal screening banked in 1999⁻2002 from Southern California in an effort to understand differences in tobacco exposure patterns by race/ethnicity, as well as provide a baseline for future work to assess secular changes and longer-term health outcomes. Prevalence of active smoking (based on age- and race-specific cotinine cutpoints) was highest among African American, Samoan, Native Americans and whites (6.8⁻14.1%); and lowest among Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese and Asian Indians (0.3⁻1.0%). ETS exposure among non-smokers was highest among African Americans and Samoans, followed by Cambodians, Native Americans, Vietnamese and Koreans, and lowest among Filipinos, Japanese, whites, and Chinese. At least 75% of women had detectable cotinine. While for most groups, levels of active smoking corresponded with levels of ETS, divergent patterns were also found. For example, smoking prevalence among white women was among the highest, but the group's ETS exposure was low among non-smokers; while Vietnamese women were unlikely to be active smokers, they experienced relatively high ETS exposure. Knowledge of race/ethnic differences may be useful in assessing disparities in health outcomes and creating successful tobacco interventions