Collaborative governance for the sustainable development goals

The advent of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals has refocused global attention on the roles of business and other nonstate actors in achieving global goals. Often, business involvement takes the form of collaborations with the more traditional actors—governments and non‐governmental organizations. Although such partnerships for development have been seen before, the scale and expectations are new. This paper explores how and why these cross‐sector collaborations are evolving, and what steps can or should be taken to ensure that partnerships create public and private value. The arguments are illustrated with reference to cases of market‐driven partnerships for agriculture in Southeast Asia that are intended to engage marginalized smallholder farmers in global value chains in agriculture. The aims of these cross‐sector collaborations coincide with several targets of the Sustainable Development Goals such as poverty alleviation, decreasing environmental impact, and achieving food security. This is a hard case for mechanisms intended to protect public interests, given that the target beneficiaries (low‐income smallholder farmers and the environment) are unable to speak effectively for themselves. We find that structures and processes to align interests in ways that protect the public interest are both necessary and feasible, though not easy to achieve

Actinobaculum schaalii, a Common Uropathogen in Elderly Patients, Denmark

This organism is identified more often by PCR than by cultivation

Simulation Modeling for Energy-Flexible Manufacturing: Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Due to the high share of industry in total electricity consumption, industrial demand-side management can make a relevant contribution to the stability of power systems. At the same time, companies get the opportunity to reduce their electricity procurement costs by taking advantage of increasingly fluctuating prices on short-term electricity markets, the provision of system services on balancing power markets, or by increasing the share of their own consumption from on-site generated renewable energy. Demand-side management requires the ability to react flexibly to the power supply situation without negatively affecting production targets. It also means that the management and operation of production must consider not only production-related parameters but also parameters of energy availability, which further increase the complexity of decision-making. Although simulation studies are a recognized tool for supporting decision-making processes in production and logistics, the simultaneous simulation of material and energy flows has so far been limited mainly to issues of energy efficiency as opposed to energy flexibility, where application-oriented experience is still limited. We assume that the consideration of energy flexibility in the simulation of manufacturing systems will amplify already known pitfalls in conducting simulation studies. Based on five representative industrial use cases, this article provides practitioners with application-oriented experiences of the coupling of energy and material flows in simulation modeling of energy-flexible manufacturing, identifies challenges in the simulation of energy-flexible production systems, and proposes approaches to face these challenges. Seven pitfalls that pose a particular challenge in simulating energy-flexible manufacturing have been identified, and possible solutions and measures for avoiding them are shown. It has been found that, among other things, consistent management of all parties involved, early clarification of energy-related, logistical, and resulting technical requirements for models and software, as well as the application of suitable methods for validation and verification are central to avoiding these pitfalls. The identification and characterization of challenges and the derivation of recommendations for coping with them can raise awareness of typical pitfalls. This paper thus helps to ensure that simulation studies of energy-flexible production systems can be carried out more efficiently in the future

Future Imaginings: Organizing in Response to Climate Change

Climate change has rapidly emerged as a major threat to our future. Indeed the increasingly dire projections of increasing global average temperatures and escalating extreme weather events highlight the existential challenge that climate change presents for humanity. In this editorial article we outline how climate change not only presents real, physical threats but also challenges the way we conceive of the broader economic, political and social order. We asked ourselves (and the contributors to this special issue) how we can imagine alternatives to our current path of ever escalating greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth. Through reference to the contributions that make up this special issue, we suggest that critically engaging with the concept of social, economic and political imaginaries can assist in tackling the conceptual and organizational challenges climate change poses. Only by questioning current sanitised and market-oriented interpretations of the environment, and embracing the catharsis and loss that climate change will bring, can we open up space for new future imaginings

Growth in Environmental Footprints and Environmental Impacts Embodied in Trade: Resource Efficiency Indicators from EXIOBASE3

Most countries show a relative decoupling of economic growth from domestic resource use, implying increased resource efficiency. However, international trade facilitates the exchange of products between regions with disparate resource productivity. Hence, for an understanding of resource efficiency from a consumption perspective that takes into account the impacts in the upstream supply chains, there is a need to assess the environmental pressures embodied in trade. We use EXIOBASE3, a new multiregional input-output database, to examine the rate of increase in resource efficiency, and investigate the ways in which international trade contributes to the displacement of pressures on the environment from the consumption of a population. We look at the environmental pressures of energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, material use, water use, and land use. Material use stands out as the only indicator growing in both absolute and relative terms to population and gross domestic product (GDP), while land use is the only indicator showing absolute decoupling from both references. Energy, GHG, and water use show relative decoupling. As a percentage of total global environmental pressure, we calculate the net impact displaced through trade rising from 23% to 32% for material use (1995¿2011), 23% to 26% for water use, 20% to 29% for energy use, 20% to 26% for land use, and 19% to 24% for GHG emissions. The results show a substantial disparity between trade-related impacts for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries. At the product group level, we observe the most rapid growth in environmental footprints in clothing and footwear. The analysis points to implications for future policies aiming to achieve environmental targets, while fully considering potential displacement effects through international trade

Low carbon innovation in China: from overlooked opportunities and challenges to transitions in power relations and practices

This paper explores environmental innovation in the largest emerging economy – China - and its potential for contributing to global transitions to low-carbon, more sustainable patterns of development. It builds on earlier studies bringing alternative forms of low(er)-technology, ‘below-the-radar’, ‘disruptive’ and/or social innovation into its analysis. In addition, however, the paper develops our understanding of low-carbon innovation by paying particular attention to issues of changing power relations and social practices; theoretical issues that need attention in the literature generally but are notably absent when studying transitions in China. This shift in perspective allows four neglected questions to be introduced and, in each case, points to both opportunities and challenges to low-carbon system transition that are overlooked by an orthodox focus on technological innovations alone. These are briefly illustrated by drawing on examples from three key domains of low-carbon innovation: solar-generated energy; electric urban mobility; and food and agriculture

Pain Intensity and Functional Outcomes for Activities of Daily Living, Gait and Balance in Older Adults Accessing Outpatient Rehabilitation Services: A Retrospective Study

Purpose: Older adults are referred for outpatient physical therapy to improve their functional capacities. The goal of the present study was to determine if pain had an influence on functional outcomes in older adults who took part in an outpatient physical rehabilitation program. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study was performed on the medical records of patients aged 65 and over referred for outpatient physical therapy to improve physical functioning (n=178). Pain intensity (11-point numeric pain scale) and results from functional outcome measures (Timed Up and Go [TUG], Berg Balance Scale [BBS], 10-meter walk test, 6-minute walk test and Functional Autonomy Measuring System [SMAF]) were extracted at initial (T1) and final (T2) consultations. Paired t-tests were performed to determine if there were differences in functional outcome measures between T1 and T2 in all the patients. Patients were stratified to those with pain (PAIN, n=136) and those without pain (NO PAIN, n=42). Differences in functional outcome measures between T1 and T2 (delta scores) were compared between groups with independent t-tests with Welch corrections for unequal variances. Pearson correlation coefficients between initial pain intensity and changes in functional outcome measures (T2-T1) were also performed. Correcting for multiple comparisons, a p-value of p≤ 0.01 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The TUG, BBS, 10-meter walk test, 6-minute walk test all demonstrated improvement between T1 and T2 (all p 0.10). Conclusion: These results suggest that pain is not an impediment to functional improvements in older individuals who participated in an outpatient physical rehabilitation program