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Critical Threats (critical + threat)
Selected AbstractsCritical Threat to the Availability of Surgical Implant Material: Lesson to Be Learned From Breast ImplantsARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 8 2005Ph.D., Yukihiko Nosé M.D. No abstract is available for this article. [source] People's Exit in North Korea: New Threat to Regime Stability?PACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 2 2010Kyung-Ae Park As suggested in a growing literature that securitizes the phenomenon of refugee migration and analyzes it as a national as well as a regional security issue, the growing number of North Korean border-crossers has far-reaching political implications for both North Korea and the international community. Studies have argued that refugees could contribute significantly to democratic change in their home countries by assisting and actively participating in the struggle of the domestic opposition, even sparking regime instability and eventual regime breakdown. Much of the North Korean refugee research has focused on the human rights issues faced by the refugees, but a largely unexplored area of the refugee research concerns the political consequences of the refugee flight for the current regime in Pyongyang. This article examines whether North Korean refugees are expected to play the role of political opposition in exile by raising the following four questions: (i) Are the refugees political dissidents? (ii) Are they a resourceful critical mass? (iii) Does exit always lead to regime instability? and (iv) Would China and South Korea encourage exile politics against the current North Korean regime? The article contends that the North Korean refugee community does not currently represent a critical mass that can trigger instability of the Pyongyang regime. Most of the North Korean refugees are not political dissidents, nor have they organized into any resourceful critical mass capable of generating a threat to their home country. In addition, people's exit does not necessarily destabilize the regime as it can sometimes yield a positive political effect by driving out dissidents' voices. Furthermore, several of the receiving countries, in particular, China and South Korea, would not encourage exile dissident movements against North Korea for fear of Pyongyang's collapse. The North Korean regime's stability does not seem to be threatened by the current refugee situation, although the potential of refugees becoming a critical threat should not be discounted should people's exit ever reach the point of developing into an uncontrollable mass exodus. [source] From plan to practice: Implementing watershed-based strategies into local, state, and federal policy,ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2000Alice L. Jones Abstract Planners are becoming increasingly interested in watershed-based plans as a way to more accurately reflect the natural landscape processes that cross the borders of political jurisdictions. Although developing plans that cross political boundaries is a relatively simple matter, establishing the transboundary authority necessary to implement such plans is often a much different matter. We investigated the regulatory mechanisms under which a watershed-based storm-water management plan could be implemented in the Big Darby Creek, Ohio, USA, a national scenic river currently facing critical threats from nonpoint sediment- and pollutant-loaded storm-water runoff in the rapidly urbanizing portions of the watershed. The watershed encompasses portions of 7 counties, 11 incorporated areas, and 26 townships, each of which has some authority over land use and storm water. The transboundary options explored include creation of a storm-water utility, creating a conservancy district, or an independent approach requiring all jurisdictions in the watershed to simultaneously adopt a series of storm-water ordinances. We evaluated these options on a number of characteristics, including their relative ability to control runoff quality and quantity, the locus of political control and enforcement authority under each, funding considerations, and the likelihood of acceptance given the region's existing political realities. Although a central authority such as a conservancy district or storm-water management district would likely be most effective in protecting water quality, the long tradition of local controls on land use makes this politically infeasible. Thus, we argue that a watershed-based protection plan for the Darby region will require the simultaneous independent approach. The case study of the Big Darby suggests that the successful implementation of watershed-based plans may be more dependent on the plan's political savvy than its technical superiority. [source] Increasing the impact of conservation projectsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Lou Ann Dietz Abstract To assure a future for endangered primates and many other species, we must develop and carry out projects for their conservation as quickly and effectively as possible, even with only limited information about the complex systems of biological, political, social, economic, and cultural factors influencing the conservation situation. Adaptive management, defined as the integration of design, management, and monitoring to systematically test assumptions to learn and adapt, provides practitioners a method for improving strategies to achieve and sustain the desired conservation impact. The Conservation Measures Partnership, a joint venture of conservation NGOs, developed the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, a freely available framework that guides practitioners through implementation of best conservation practices. Using this process, project teams are explicit about the assumptions behind the strategies they choose, and thus able to trace their successes and failures back to good or poor theory, implementation, or a combination of the two. The Open Standards comprise five steps that constitute the project management cycle: (1) Conceptualize what you will achieve in the context of where you are working,involves defining your project team, scope, vision, conservation targets, critical threats, and analyzing the situation; (2) Plan your actions and monitoring,involves developing an action plan including goals, strategies, assumptions, objectives, and activities; a monitoring plan including indicators for measuring the status of goals, objectives, and assumptions; and an operational plan specifying the resources needed; (3) Implement your actions and monitoring,includes developing and implementing detailed work plans and ensuring sufficient resources, capacity, and partners; (4) Analyze, use, and adapt,involves managing monitoring data, regular analysis to convert them to useful information, and adapting the project plans accordingly; and (5) Capture and share learning,involves sharing lessons with key external and internal udiences to promote a learning culture. Am. J. Primatol. 72:425,440, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Complexities of conflict: the importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human,wildlife conflictANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 5 2010A. J. Dickman Abstract Human,wildlife conflict is one of the most critical threats facing many wildlife species today, and the topic is receiving increasing attention from conservation biologists. Direct wildlife damage is commonly cited as the main driver of conflict, and many tools exist for reducing such damage. However, significant conflict often remains even after damage has been reduced, suggesting that conflict requires novel, comprehensive approaches for long-term resolution. Although most mitigation studies investigate only the technical aspects of conflict reduction, peoples' attitudes towards wildlife are complex, with social factors as diverse as religious affiliation, ethnicity and cultural beliefs all shaping conflict intensity. Moreover, human,wildlife conflicts are often manifestations of underlying human,human conflicts, such as between authorities and local people, or between people of different cultural backgrounds. Despite evidence that social factors can be more important in driving conflict than wildlife damage incurred, they are often ignored in conflict studies. Developing a broader awareness of conflict drivers will advance understanding of the patterns and underlying processes behind this critical conservation issue. In this paper, I review a wide variety of case studies to show how social factors strongly influence perceptions of human,wildlife conflict, and highlight how mitigation approaches should become increasingly innovative and interdisciplinary in order to enable people to move from conflict towards coexistence. [source] | ||||||||||