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Global Network (global + network)
Selected AbstractsExpanding the Global Network of Protected Areas to Save the Imperiled Mediterranean BiomeCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009EMMA C. UNDERWOOD análisis de disparidad; áreas protegidas; biodiversidad; ecosistemas Mediterráneos; pérdida de hábitat Abstract:,Global goals established by the Convention on Biological Diversity stipulate that 10% of the world's ecological regions must be effectively conserved by 2010. To meet that goal for the mediterranean biome, at least 5% more land must be formally protected over the next few years. Although global assessments identify the mediterranean biome as a priority, without biologically meaningful analysis units, finer-resolution data, and corresponding prioritization analysis, future conservation investments could lead to more area being protected without increasing the representation of unique mediterranean ecosystems. We used standardized analysis units and six potential natural vegetation types stratified by 3 elevation zones in a global gap analysis that systematically explored conservation priorities across the mediterranean biome. The highest levels of protection were in Australia, South Africa, and California-Baja California (from 9,11%), and the lowest levels of protection were in Chile and the mediterranean Basin (<1%). Protection was skewed to montane elevations in three out of five regions. Across the biome only one of the six vegetation types,mediterranean shrubland,exceeded 10% protection. The remaining vegetation types,grassland, scrub, succulent dominated, woodland, and forest,each had <3% protection. To guard against biases in future protection efforts and ensure the protection of species characteristic of the mediterranean biome, we identified biodiversity assemblages with <10% protection and subject to >30% conversion and suggest that these assemblages be elevated to high-priority status in future conservation efforts. Resumen:,Las metas globales establecidas por la Convención sobre Diversidad Biológica estipulan que 10% de las regiones ecológicas del mundo deberán estar conservadas efectivamente en 2010. Para alcanzar esa meta en el bioma mediterráneo, por lo menos 5% más de superficie debe estar protegida formalmente en los próximos años. Aunque las evaluaciones globales identifican al bioma mediterráneo como una prioridad, sin unidades de análisis biológicamente significativas, datos de resolución más fina y los correspondientes análisis de priorización, las inversiones futuras en conservación pudieran conducir a la protección de más superficie sin incrementar la representación de los ecosistemas mediterráneos únicos. Utilizamos unidades de análisis estandarizadas y seis tipos potenciales de vegetación natural estratificados en tres zonas de elevación en un análisis global de disparidad que exploró sistemáticamente las prioridades de conservación en el bioma mediterráneo. Los niveles de protección más altos se localizaron en Australia, África del Sur y California-Baja California (de 9,11%) y los niveles de protección más bajos se localizaron en Chile y la Cuenca del mediterráneo (<1%). La protección estaba sesgada hacia elevaciones altas en tres de las cinco regiones. En todo el bioma, solo uno de los seis tipos de vegetación,matorral mediterráneo,excedió 10% de protección. Los tipos de vegetación restantes,pastizal, matorral, dominio de suculentas, y bosques,tenían <3% de protección cada uno. Para evitar sesgos en futuros esfuerzos de protección y asegurar la protección de especies características del bioma mediterráneo, identificamos ensambles de biodiversidad con <10% de protección y sujetos a >30% de conversión y sugerimos que estos ensambles sean elevados a un estatus de alta prioridad en esfuerzos de conservación en el futuro. [source] Global Congress on Dental Education and launch of a Global NetworkEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2008Patrick Ferrillo No abstract is available for this article. [source] Japanese Cooperation in Establishment of a Global Network for Water Quality via the UNEP GEMS/Water ProgrammeHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 9 2007Yosuke Yamashiki Editor-in-Chief for International Journal No abstract is available for this article. [source] ,Distribution of oxygen-18 and deuterium in river waters across the United StatesHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 7 2001Carol Kendall Abstract Reconstruction of continental palaeoclimate and palaeohydrology is currently hampered by limited information about isotopic patterns in the modern hydrologic cycle. To remedy this situation and to provide baseline data for other isotope hydrology studies, more than 4800, depth- and width-integrated, stream samples from 391 selected sites within the USGS National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) and Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN) were analysed for ,18O and ,2H (http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/ofr/ofr00-160/pdf/ofr00-160.pdf). Each site was sampled bimonthly or quarterly for 2·5 to 3 years between 1984 and 1987. The ability of this dataset to serve as a proxy for the isotopic composition of modern precipitation in the USA is supported by the excellent agreement between the river dataset and the isotopic compositions of adjacent precipitation monitoring sites, the strong spatial coherence of the distributions of ,18O and ,2H, the good correlations of the isotopic compositions with climatic parameters, and the good agreement between the ,national' meteoric water line (MWL) generated from unweighted analyses of samples from the 48 contiguous states of ,2H=8·11,18O+8·99 (r2=0·98) and the unweighted global MWL of sites from the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of ,2H=8·17,18O+10·35. The national MWL is composed of water samples that arise in diverse local conditions where the local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) usually have much lower slopes. Adjacent sites often have similar LMWLs, allowing the datasets to be combined into regional MWLs. The slopes of regional MWLs probably reflect the humidity of the local air mass, which imparts a distinctive evaporative isotopic signature to rainfall and hence to stream samples. Deuterium excess values range from 6 to 15, in the eastern half of the USA, along the northwest coast and on the Colorado Plateau. In the rest of the USA, these values range from ,2 to 6,, with strong spatial correlations with regional aridity. The river samples have successfully integrated the spatial variability in the meteorological cycle and provide the best available dataset on the spatial distributions of ,18O and ,2H values of meteoric waters in the USA. Published in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] 5.3 Global challenges in research and strategic planningEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2002Bruce J. Baum Health sciences research is experiencing dramatic progress. How can dental schools throughout the world best make these research advances relevant for dental students, as well as providing them with the means to assess and utilize the research advances that will occur in the future? This complex question presents a critical challenge to the dental educational community. Research is clearly integral to the mission of dental education. By providing dental students with active learning strategies, dental educators can inculcate the ability for independent scientific thinking and thereby develop reflective as well as technically competent practitioners. However, there is a shortage of well-trained individuals to fill faculty and research positions in certain parts of the world. Global networks for mutual information exchange are imperative to overcome resource limitations in individual institutions, as is dedicated funding for research in the dental educational setting. [source] Global networks and the reorganization of production in the clothing industry of post-socialist UkraineGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 3 2008CHRISTOS KALANTARIDIS Abstract In this article we examine how processes of globalization and the nature of emerging inter-firm relationships influence the organization of production in a post-socialist region, using the case of the clothing industry in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine. We combine insights from two perspectives, the global commodity chain approach and the new regionalism. The focus on both institutional setting and interfirm relationships is essential in regions undergoing rapid change. In the article we also use Burt's concept of structural holes and the idea of a competence-difficulty gap to examine the nature of relationships within networks of firms, arguing that global integration can be viewed as a bridging process. The evidence comes from surveys and fieldwork conducted between 1997 and 2004, providing a longitudinal analysis of the same firms. Among other findings, we show that the difficulty of doing business locally may make relationships more stable. With respect to industrial structure, international subcontracting and joint-venture arrangements enable technological modernization in assembly and parts of preassembly, but also result in the demise of high-value added competences. [source] The academic environment: the students' perspectiveEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2008K. Divaris (nci) Abstract Dental education is regarded as a complex, demanding and often stressful pedagogical procedure. Undergraduates, while enrolled in programmes of 4,6 years duration, are required to attain a unique and diverse collection of competences. Despite the major differences in educational systems, philosophies, methods and resources available worldwide, dental students' views regarding their education appear to be relatively convergent. This paper summarizes dental students' standpoint of their studies, showcases their experiences in different educational settings and discusses the characteristics of a positive academic environment. It is a consensus opinion that the ,students' perspective' should be taken into consideration in all discussions and decisions regarding dental education. Moreover, it is suggested that the set of recommendations proposed can improve students' quality of life and well-being, enhance their total educational experience and positively influence their future careers as oral health physicians. The ,ideal' academic environment may be defined as one that best prepares students for their future professional life and contributes towards their personal development, psychosomatic and social well-being. A number of diverse factors significantly influence the way students perceive and experience their education. These range from ,class size', ,leisure time' and ,assessment procedures' to ,relations with peers and faculty', ,ethical climate' and ,extra-curricular opportunities'. Research has revealed that stress symptoms, including psychological and psychosomatic manifestations, are prevalent among dental students. Apparently some stressors are inherent in dental studies. Nevertheless, suggested strategies and preventive interventions can reduce or eliminate many sources of stress and appropriate support services should be readily available. A key point for the Working Group has been the discrimination between ,teaching' and ,learning'. It is suggested that the educational content should be made available to students through a variety of methods, because individual learning styles and preferences vary considerably. Regardless of the educational philosophy adopted, students should be placed at the centre of the process. Moreover, it is critical that they are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Other improvements suggested include increased formative assessment and self-assessment opportunities, reflective portfolios, collaborative learning, familiarization with and increased implementation of information and communication technology applications, early clinical exposure, greater emphasis on qualitative criteria in clinical education, community placements, and other extracurricular experiences such as international exchanges and awareness of minority and global health issues. The establishment of a global network in dental education is firmly supported but to be effective it will need active student representation and involvement. [source] Advocacy networks, choice and private schooling of the poor in IndiaGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 3 2010GEETHA B. NAMBISSAN Abstract This article is about the flows of rhetorics and discourses, particularly those that advocate choice and private schooling, and the role that transnational advocacy networks play in managing and driving these flows. We explore a set of network relations between advocacy groups in the UK and the USA and local ,choice' advocates in India, and some of the emerging impacts of local and transnational advocacy on the politics of education and education policy in India. The network advocates school choice and private schooling as solutions to the problem of achieving universal, high-quality primary education. Individual policy entrepreneurs are active in making these connections and circulating ideas. A complex of funding, exchange, cross-referencing, dissemination and mutual sponsorship links the Indian choice and privatization advocacy network, and connects it to other countries in a global network for neoliberalism. [source] Nurses are a global network of frontline workers in battle against TBINTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 4 2009Patrizia Carlevaro No abstract is available for this article. [source] Bilateral Import Protection, Free Trade Agreements, and Other Factors Influencing Trade Flows in Agriculture and ClothingJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2009Thomas L. Vollrath F1; F13; F14 Abstract Many factors shape the global network of bilateral trade including fundamental forces of supply and demand factors and government policies. This study uses the generalised gravity framework to distinguish among the different drivers that either deter or aid partner trade in land-intensive agriculture and labour-intensive clothing. The dataset used in the analysis includes bilateral trade among 70 countries in 1995, 2000 and 2005. Collectively, the 70 countries account for 85% of the world's trade in agriculture and 96% of its GDP. Empirical results lend support to the Heckscher,Ohlin explanation of trade, namely that relative factor endowments motivate cross-border trade. Results also show that tariffs are not always binding and bilateral free-trade agreements more often divert rather than create trade. [source] Explaining the global pattern of protected area coverage: relative importance of vertebrate biodiversity, human activities and agricultural suitabilityJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 8 2008Colby Loucks Abstract Aim, Twelve per cent of the Earth's terrestrial surface is covered by protected areas, but neither these areas nor the biodiversity they contain are evenly distributed spatially. To guide future establishment of protected areas, it is important to understand the factors that have shaped the spatial arrangement of the current protected area system. We used an information-theoretic approach to assess the ability of vertebrate biodiversity measures, resource consumption and agricultural potential to explain the global coverage pattern of protected areas. Location, Global. Methods, For each of 762 World Wildlife Fund terrestrial ecoregions of the world, we measured protected area coverage, resource consumption, terrestrial vertebrate species richness, number of endemic species, number of threatened species, net primary production, elevation and topographic heterogeneity. We combined these variables into 39 a priori models to describe protected area coverage at the global scale, and for six biogeographical realms. Using the Akaike information criterion and Akaike weights, we identified the relative importance and influence of each variable in describing protected area coverage. Results, Globally, the number of endemic species was the best variable describing protected area coverage, followed by the number of threatened species. Species richness and resource consumption were of moderate importance and agricultural potential had weak support for describing protected area coverage at a global scale. Yet, the relative importance of these factors varied among biogeographical realms. Measures of vertebrate biodiversity (species richness, endemism and threatened species) were among the most important variables in all realms, except the Indo-Malayan, but had a wide range of relative importance and influence. Resource consumption was inversely related to protected area coverage across all but one realm (the Palearctic), most strongly in the Nearctic realm. Agricultural potential, despite having little support in describing protected area coverage globally, was strongly and positively related to protection in the Palearctic and Neotropical realms, as well as in the Indo-Malayan realm. The Afrotropical, Indo-Malayan and Australasian realms showed no clear, strong relationships between protected area coverage and the independent variables. Main conclusions, Globally, the existing protected area network is more strongly related to biodiversity measures than to patterns of resource consumption or agricultural potential. However, the relative importance of these factors varies widely among the world's biogeographical realms. Understanding the biases of the current protected area system may help to correct for them as future protected areas are added to the global network. [source] Anthropological and accounting knowledge in Islamic banking and finance: rethinking critical accountsTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2002Bill Maurer Accounting for accounting demands renewed attention to the knowledge practices of the accounting profession and anthropological analysis. Using data and theory from Islamic accountancy in Indonesia and the global network of Islamic financial engineers, this article challenges work on accounting's rhetorical functions by attending to the inherent reflexivity of accounting practice and the practice of accounting for accounting. Such a move is necessary because critical accounting scholarship mirrors, and has been taken up by, Islamic accountancy debates around the form of accounting knowledge. The article explores the work that accounting literature shoulders in carving up putatively stable domains of the technical and rhetorical, and makes a case for a reappreciation of the techniques for creating anthropological knowledge in the light of new cultures of accounting. [source] RoboNet-II: Follow-up observations of microlensing events with a robotic network of telescopesASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 1 2009Y. Tsapras Abstract RoboNet-II uses a global network of robotic telescopes to perform follow-up observations of microlensing events in the Galactic Bulge. The current network consists of three 2 m telescopes located in Hawaii and Australia (owned by Las Cumbres Observatory) and the Canary Islands (owned by Liverpool John Moores University). In future years the network will be expanded by deploying clusters of 1 m telescopes in other suitable locations. A principal scientific aim of the RoboNet-II project is the detection of cool extra-solar planets by the method of gravitational microlensing. These detections will provide crucial constraints to models of planetary formation and orbital migration. RoboNet-II acts in coordination with the PLANET microlensing follow-up network and uses an optimization algorithm ("web-PLOP") to select the targets and a distributed scheduling paradigm (eSTAR) to execute the observations. Continuous automated assessment of the observations and anomaly detection is provided by the ARTEMiS system (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] The Commonwealth as an Economic NetworkAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2001Paul L. Robertson Research on the economics and sociology of business networks also sheds light on the development of networks of countries. The British Commonwealth was an important global network, or group of networks, in the mid-twentieth century. Commonwealth members, including Australia and New Zealand, cooperated in the management of the Sterling Area and the Commonwealth Preference Area. Yet Commonwealth members also had links to other networks and other sources of influence including the USA, continental Europe and Japan. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a gradual change in the network relations of Australia and New Zealand, involving a diminution in the importance of bilateral ties with Britain. [source] Global Environmental Governance and the Challenge of Shadow States: The Impact of Illicit Sapphire Mining in MadagascarDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2005Rosaleen Duffy The environment has become a key site of global governance because of its transboundary nature: forests, wildlife and oceans have all become central foci for networks of global governance which link international organizations, international financial institutions, states and non-governmental organizations. This article examines how contemporary forms of global governance can be challenged and even subverted. It uses the concept of shadow states introduced by William Reno to explore how invisible global networks flow through developing states, to show how they constitute important political and economic interest groups, and to assess what kinds of environmental impact they have. It explores how powerful these networks are, and whether they are able to challenge or subvert attempts to manage, control or govern the environment. The author provides an analysis of the ways in which the clandestine networks of shadow states impact on conservation initiatives in the developing world, focusing on the features of global environmental governance and the problems posed by illicit gem mining and trafficking in Madagascar. [source] Globalizing Disaster Trauma: Psychiatry, Science, and Culture after the Kobe EarthquakeETHOS, Issue 2 2000Joshua Breslau In January of 1995 a massive earthquake struck the city of Kobe, Japan. This article examines how this event became an opportunity for extending global networks of the science and medicine of trauma. The article is based on ethnographic research in Kobe and Los Angeles with psychiatrists who responded to the earthquake in its immediate aftermath. Three aspects of the process are examined: 1) changes in psychiatric institutions that were ongoing at the time of the earthquake, 2) the place of psychiatry in Japanese cultural self-criticism, and 3) the particular technologies for identifying and treating trauma. Globalization in this case cannot be seen as an imposition of Western cultural forms, but rather an ongoing process that reproduces differences between cultures as particular elements travel between them. [source] Attending to the world: competition, cooperation and connectivity in the World City networkGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 2 2002J. V. Beaverstock World Cities are acknowledged to be a key aspect of globalization. In many accounts, these cities are depicted as rivals in a global marketplace, their economic success a result of their competitive advantage. However, what has not been fully acknowledged is their connectivity and, in addition, the time and effort taken by specific ,attendants' to produce the World City network. Accordingly, this article aims to advance understanding of World City network formation by developing a conceptual model that focuses on four major attendants (firms, sectors, cities and states) that enact network formation through two nexuses ,,city-firm' and ,statesector', and two communities ,,cities within states' and ,firms within sectors'. The utility of this model is demonstrated by drawing upon interviews conducted in offices of 39 advanced producer service firms in banking and law. These interviews were undertaken in three World Cities (London, New York and Singapore) in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis, an event that challenged the consistency of the World City network. Showing how attendants sought to maintain and transform the World City network at this key moment of crisis, we conclude that studies of city competitiveness ultimately need to focus on the cooperative work that sustains global networks. [source] Combating drought through preparednessNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 4 2002Donald A. Wilhite Drought is a complex, slow,onset phenomenon that affects more people than any other natural hazard and results in serious economic, social, and environmental impacts. Although drought affects virtually all climatic regimes and has significant consequences in both developed and developing countries, its impacts are especially serious in developing countries where dryland agriculture predominates. The impacts of drought are often an indicator of unsustainable land and water management practices, and drought assistance or relief provided by governments and donors encourages land managers and others to continue these practices. This often results in a greater dependence on government and a decline in self,reliance. Moving from crisis to risk management will require the adoption of a new paradigm for land managers, governments, international and regional development organizations, and non,governmental organizations. This approach emphasizes preparedness, mitigation, and improved early warning systems (EWS) over emergency response and assistance measures. Article 10 of the Convention to Combat Desertification states that national action programmes should be established to identify the factors contributing to desertification and practical measures necessary to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought. In the past 10 years, there has been considerable recognition by governments of the need to develop drought preparedness plans and policies to reduce the impacts of drought. Unfortunately, progress in drought preparedness during the last decade has been slow because most nations lack the institutional capacity and human and financial resources necessary to develop comprehensive drought plans and policies. Recent commitments by governments and international organizations and new drought monitoring technologies and planning and mitigation methodologies are cause for optimism. The challenge is the implementation of these new technologies and methodologies. It is critical for governments that possess this experience to share it with others through regional and global networks. One way to accomplish this goal is to create a network of regional networks on drought preparedness to expedite the adoption of drought preparedness tools to lessen the hardships associated with severe and extended drought episodes. [source] Local and Foreign Models of Reproduction in Nyanza Province, KenyaPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2000Susan Cotts Watkins This article uses colonial archival records, surveys conducted in the 1960s, and surveys and focus group discussions in the 1990s to describe three distinct but temporally overlapping cultural models of reproduction in a rural community in Kenya between the 1930s and the present. The first model, "large families are rich," was slowly undermined by developments brought about by the integration of Kenya into the British empire. This provoked the collective formulation of a second local model, "small families are progressive," which retained the same goal of wealth but viewed a smaller family as a better strategy for achieving it. The third model, introduced by the global networks of the international population movement in the 1960s, augmented the second model with the deliberate control of fertility using clinic provided methods of family planning. By the 1990s this global model had begun to be domesticated as local clinics routinely promoted family planning and as men and women in Nyanza began to use family planning and to tell others of their motivations and experiences. [source] Global Health Governance: Commission on Social Determinants of Health and the Imperative for ChangeTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2010Ruth Bell In May 2009 the World Health Assembly passed a resolution on reducing health inequities through action on the social determinants of health, based on the work of the global Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2005,2008. The Commission's genesis and findings raise some important questions for global health governance. We draw out some of the essential elements, themes, and mechanisms that shaped the Commission. We start by examining the evolving nature of global health and the Commission's foundational inspiration , the universal pattern of health inequity and the imperative, driven by a sense of social justice, to make better and more equal health a global goal. We look at how the Commission was established, how it was structured internally, and how it developed external relationships , with the World Health Organization, with global networks of academics and practitioners, with country governments eager to spearhead action on health equity, and with civil society. We outline the Commission's recommendations as they relate to the architecture of global health governance. Finally, we look at how the Commission is catalyzing a movement to bring social determinants of health to the forefront of international and national policy discourse. [source] | ||||||||||||||||