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Closer Integration (closer + integration)
Selected AbstractsApples, Pears and Porridge: The Origins and Impact of the Search for ,Coherence' between Humanitarian and Political Responses to Chronic Political EmergenciesDISASTERS, Issue 4 2001Joanna Macrae During the 1990s a consensus emerged within the international humanitarian system that there was a need to enhance the ,coherence' between humanitarian and political responses to complex political emergencies. Closer integration between aid and political responses was seen to be necessary in order to address the root causes of conflict-induced crises, and to ensure that aid did not exacerbate political tensions. This paper explores the theory and practice of coherence over the past decade. It argues that, by sleight of hand, the coherence agenda has been reinterpreted such that humanitarian action has become the primary form of political action, rather than merely a substitute for it. The coherence agenda has been driven by geopolitical events, domestic policy considerations in donor countries and the more parochial concerns of aid policy, and is reflected in a number of substantive changes in the humanitarian architecture. Many of the tenets of this ,new humanitarianism' have been embraced by the majority of relief agencies, and thus legitimised it. The paper concludes that political humanitarianism, as opposed to active engagement by political and military actors, is flawed ethically and technically. It will provide neither an effective palliative for the ill effects of war, nor address its causes. [source] Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Conceptual FrameworkDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Simon Bolwig Many policy prescriptions emphasise poverty reduction through closer integration of poor people or areas with global markets. Global value chain (GVC) studies reveal how firms and farms in developing countries are upgraded by being integrated in global markets, but few explicitly document the impact on poverty, gender and the environment, or conversely, how value chain restructuring is in turn mediated by local history, social relations and environmental factors. This article develops a conceptual framework that can help overcome the shortcomings in ,standalone' value-chain, livelihood and environmental analyses by integrating the ,vertical' and ,horizontal' aspects of value chains that together affect poverty and sustainability. [source] Can behavioral evolution be measured on a staircase? a commentaryDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Celia L. Moore Abstract The serious, comparative study of behavioral complexity that Greenberg et al. advocate is a progressive direction for the field, but their proposal to separate comparative psychology from its roots in evolutionary biology seems regressive. Modern evolutionary theory has been broadened within biology to include development and paleontology alongside natural selection, making closer integration with that discipline particularly timely. Such an integrated evolutionary approach in psychology would offer a useful alternative to the adaptationism popularized by evolutionary psychology. Although the differences between comparative psychologists and biologists may be blurred in the process, the behavioral sciences will be better served by a rich biological approach to evolution than by a uniquely psychological approach. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 44: 16,20, 2004. [source] Somatic Gene Transfer: Implications for Cardiovascular ControlEXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2000S. Kasparov There is a great need for closer integration between physiologists and molecular biologists. These two research fields might soon form a single research discipline under the umbrella of molecular physiology. One of the areas where this interaction may be particularly fruitful is with somatic gene transfer using replication-deficient viral vectors. We applied this approach to study the central control of the cardiovascular system at the level of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). We assess critically this new methodology as applied to experiments in an integrative environment (such as the whole animal). The usefulness of in vivo gene transfer is illustrated by an experiment where viral gene delivery helped to circumvent the problem imposed by an absence of a specific pharmacological blocker of the enzyme, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). The pros and cons of using adenoviral vectors as opposed to conventional pharmacological approaches are discussed. We conclude that the use of adenoviruses to manipulate genes offers a new avenue for physiologists studying neuronal mechanisms in integrative models. [source] Efficient packet scheduling for heterogeneous multimedia provisioning over broadband satellite networks: An adaptive multidimensional QoS-based designINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING, Issue 1 2009Hongfei Du Abstract With their inherent broadcast capabilities and reliable extensive geographical coverage, the broadband satellite networks are emerging as a promising approach for the delivery of multimedia services in 3G and beyond systems. Given the limited capacity of the satellite component, to meet the diverse quality of service (QoS) demands of multimedia applications, it is highly desired that the available resources can be adaptively utilized in an optimized way. In this paper, we draw our attention on the development and evaluation of an efficient packet scheduling scheme in a representative broadband satellite system, namely satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (SDMB), which is positioned as one of the most attractive solutions in the convergence of a closer integration with the terrestrial mobile networks for a cost-effective delivery of point-to-multipoint services. By taking into account essential aspects of a successful QoS provisioning while preserving the system power/resource constraints, the proposed adaptive multidimensional QoS-based (AMQ) packet scheduling scheme in this paper aims to effectively satisfy diverse QoS requirements and adaptively optimize the resource utilization for the satellite multimedia broadcasting. The proposed scheme is formulated via an adaptive service prioritization algorithm and an adaptive resource allocation algorithm. By taking into account essential performance criteria, the former is capable of prioritizing contending flows based on the QoS preferences and performance dynamics, while the latter allocates the resources, in an adaptive manner, according to the current QoS satisfaction degree of each session. Simulation results show that the AMQ scheme achieves significantly better performance than those of existing schemes on multiple performance metrics, e.g. delay, throughput, channel utilization and fairness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The extent and nature of family alcohol and drug use: findings from the belfast youth development studyCHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2008Andrew Percy Abstract Using data from an ongoing longitudinal study of adolescent drug use, this study examines the proportion of teenagers living with parents who are problem alcohol or drug users. Around two per cent of parents report high levels of problem drinking and one per cent report problem drug use. If a broader definition of hazardous drinking is used, the proportion of teenagers exposed increases to over 15 per cent. When substance use is examined at a family level (taking account of alcohol and drug use amongst dependent children in addition to that of parents), the proportion of families experiencing some form of substance use is considerable. These findings add further support to the call for increased recognition of the needs of dependent children within adult treatment services when working with parents. Likewise, the reduction of harm to children as a result of parental substance use should be an increasingly important priority for family support services. This is likely to be achieved through the closer integration of addiction and family services. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||