Internet-based applications predominantly use the existing method of acquiring the computing resources remotely from the cloud data centers. This method of computation is not applicable in future ...since it is expected that the latencies in communication tend to expand largely due to the internet connectivity among billions of devices. This enormous expansion in latencies induces an adverse impact in the Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) parameters. Edge computing is an imminent computing methodology that deploys the decentralized resources present at the edge of the network to make data processing within the proximity of user devices like smartphones, sensors or wearables. This approach is contrary to the conventional methods of utilizing centralized and distant cloud data centers. Managing the resources becomes a major challenge to be approached due to the diverse and rapidly evolving resources in comparison with the cloud. The lucrative role of Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge, and the challenges posed by the dynamic technologies are presented. This paper presents a survey of the research publications from edge computing from 2013 to 2020, covering the various architectures, frameworks, and the fundamental algorithms involved in resource management in edge computing.
Effective water management within urban settings requires robust multidisciplinary understanding and an appreciation of the value added to urban spaces by providing multifunctional green-blue spaces. ...Multifunctional landscapes where ecosystem service provisions are ‘designed-in’ can help ‘transition’ cities to more sustainable environments which are more resilient to changing future conditions. With benefits ranging from the supply of water, habitat and energy to pollutant removal, amenity and opportunities for recreation, urban water bodies can provide a focal point for reconnecting humans and nature in otherwise densely built-up areas. Managing water within urban spaces is an essential infrastructure requirement but has historically been undertaken in isolation from other urban functions and spatial requirements. Increasingly, because of the limits of space and need to respond to new drivers (e.g. mitigation of diffuse pollution), more sustainable approaches to urban water management are being applied which can have multiple functions and benefits. This paper presents a review of ecosystem services associated with water, particularly those in urban environments, and uses the emerging language of ecosystem services to provide a framework for discussion. The range of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services associated with differing types of urban water bodies are identified. A matrix is then used to evaluate the results of a series of social, ecological and physical science studies co-located on a single stretch of a restored urban river. Findings identify the benefits of, but also barriers to, the implementation of a transdisciplinary research approach. For many, transdisciplinary research still appears to be on the edge of scientific respectability. In order to approach this challenge, it is imperative that we bring together discipline specific expertise to address fundamental and applied problems in a holistic way. The ecosystem services approach offers an exciting mechanism to support researchers in tackling research questions that require thinking beyond traditional scientific boundaries. The opportunity to fully exploit this approach to collaborative working should not be lost.
The impact assessment of energy strategies, more specifically those that promote an integrated approach on resource management in other sectors such as water and food, requires knowledge related to ...the evaluation of the quality and knowledge that may be estimated by quantitative means. The present paper makes inquiries into those knowledge requirements in addition to review the means used to obtain it—including the required entries and the results they provide. In response to the recognized problems in knowledge, this paper introduces a basic reference structure underlying a system to evaluate the way that a progressive development of inexhaustible energies in a particular geographical region can affect the demand of water and food. Then, the proposed conceptual framework constitutes a novel approach for energy policy makers which only consider partial impacts of the energy management. By considering the nexus of energy, water and food, energy management policies may be redefined and differences with current policies must be investigated.
Biodiversity conservation is a fundamentally spatial practice. For more than a century, conservation's leading strategy has been the establishment of protected areas. Governance by the state has been ...central to conservation's claim to territory. In the UK, the established approach to biodiversity conservation concentrated on spatial strategies of territorialisation to secure particular outcomes in relatively small pieces of land, set aside as protected areas. However, this strategy has begun to change, and conservation's expanding territorial claims have been expressed through new models of large-scale conservation. A series of projects developed by non-governmental conservation organisations seek to extend conservation management over larger areas of land. In this paper we consider these developments as a form of re-territorialisation, a reframing and extension of conservation's spatial claims. We describe how conservation's ambitions have been reformed and extended and discuss evidence on the growth of large-scale biodiversity conservation projects in the UK. We then consider the implications of these changes in the light of the neoliberalisation of conservation.
A health crisis caused by a pandemic tested the effectiveness of national healthcare systems by testing both financing and organizational and technical performance of patient care. At that time, the ...structural flaws in healthcare systems and inequalities in the level of healthcare in its different dimensions and countries due to resource constraints were highlighted. Therefore, the paper concentrates on investigating how the crisis in the health system affects the quality of healthcare services as a result of changes in the availability of financial, material, and human resources belonging to this system. The quantitative data, in terms of healthcare characterizing the OECD countries and selected non-member economies, treated as an example of economically developed regions, were chosen for the analysis. The study included five areas of resources, i.e., demographic, financial, human, technical, and the delivery of basic services in healthcare. T-test method for dependent samples, supplemented with Hedge's g statistics, was applied to test the differences between the mean values of individual indicators. The results indicate the occurrence of changes in some areas of the healthcare system due to a crisis. Identifying areas that are particularly vulnerable to sudden changes in the healthcare system helps to understand which resource areas need to be strategically managed first, as shifts in levels respond to deteriorating healthcare quality outcomes.
This paper sets out a new approach to understanding the relationship between migration and climate change. Based on the understanding that migration is a significant, growing, but also complex ...phenomenon, this approach seeks to address the sensitivity of existing migration drivers in specific contexts to climate change. In contrast to existing approaches which have sought to generate global-level estimates of the numbers of ‘climate migrants’, this integrated assessment approach seeks instead to understand how and why existing flows from and to specific locations may change in the future, and provide a practical tool for climate adaptation planning. Examples of the application of this approach are provided for Ghana and Bangladesh.
•Analyses the role of partnerships in the governance of climate change adaptation.•Different approaches: government-centred versus pluralistic stakeholder-centred.•Similar facilitating function in ...adaptation, albeit with limits.•New governance approaches complement rather than substitute governmental steering.•Multi-level arrangements do not blur or destabilize levels or scales.
Adaptation to climate change is widely recognized as a multi-level governance challenge because expected impacts and respective measures cut across governmental levels, sectors and societal domains. The present paper analyses the role of regional adaptation partnerships in Canada and England in the multi-level governance of climate change adaptation. We describe and compare three partnerships per country with regard to their evolution, membership and governing structures, coordination across levels and societal domains, and their adaptation activities and outputs. Although both partnership schemes represent new collaborative approaches, their genesis and governance differ. While the Canadian collaboratives are a government-centred approach that originated and partly operated top-down through a national programme for the period 2009–2012, the English partnerships follow a more pluralistic stakeholder-centred approach that evolved bottom-up already in the early 2000s. Both schemes have in common that they mediate between governmental levels, foster networking between public and private actors, and eventually build adaptive capacities and inform adaptation policies. We conclude that regional adaptation partnerships represent a new governance approach that facilitates climate change adaptation, albeit with limits. Since state actors play(ed) key roles in both partnership schemes, they do not represent a new sphere of authority outside the state. Instead of blurring or destabilizing governmental levels they complement (and perhaps even stabilise) them with multi-level interactions.
Common-pool resources (CPR) are shared by multiple individuals. Many natural or manmade CPRs are limited: maximization of their use for individual gain may bring negative consequences for all users. ...The current study simulated CPR management by children, with a digital game. The player extracted fish (CPR) using three types of cards varying in extraction power. Fishing returned points needed to remain “alive” in the game. In a baseline with unlimited and unshared resources, children used predominantly the most powerful card, with shorter interresponse time between successive fishing responses. An intervention phase followed, when resources were limited and shared with virtual players. A vertical bar signaled the number of fish, which decreased with extraction and increased periodically to simulate fish reproduction. With continued experience in the game, five of six children succeeded in moderating the extraction rhythm, earning enough points to stay “alive” in the game and avoiding CPR exhaustion. Their strategies combined decreasing the use of the most powerful card and increasing the frequency of longer IRTs, which allowed for regeneration of resources. Continued exposure to the contingencies shaped a more sustainable behavior. For most natural resources, however, it is not possible to shape sustainable extraction by repeated exposure to negative consequences, because resources may be permanently exhausted. The simulation of CPR management by children may, however, reveal variables and processes involved in sustainable behavior and may also be a valuable educational tool to teach sustainable behavior and the dangers of irresponsible use of CPR.
Efforts to understand the geographical and political complexities of transboundary river basins—both within national jurisdictions and at international levels—must embrace critical interdisciplinary ...perspectives. In this paper, we focus attention on underdeveloped aspects of transboundary water conflicts and cooperation—e.g., how ecological understandings of river basins are transformed within transboundary institutional arrangements; the way multiple actors in transboundary basins construct geographical scales; and how control over water is represented and exercised within governance and management institutions. We advance the notion of critical hydropolitics as a way of explicating these processes. We draw on a case study of conflict over and within the transboundary waters of the Mekong River basin to illustrate this approach. Our aim is to complement and extend ongoing research and policy debates concerning transboundary waters.
•A discretization method is developed to construct a discrete-time bioeconomic model.•The method allows us to build a bridge between continuous and discrete models.•The method overcomes the errors ...and preserves the strengths of both approaches.•The discrete-time model allows us to analyze seasonality in fisheries.
We develop a discretization method to construct a discrete finite-time bioeconomic model, corresponding to bioeconomic models with continuous-time growth function, but allowing the analysis of seasonality in fisheries. The discretization method consists of three steps: first, we estimate a proper growth function for the continuous-time model with the Ensemble Kalman Filter. Second, we use the Runge-Kutta method to discretize the growth function. Third, we use the Bellman approach to analyze the optimal management of seasonal fisheries in a discrete-time setting. We analyze both the case of quarterly harvest and the case of monthly harvest, and we compare these cases with the case of annual harvest. We find that seasonal harvesting is a win–win optimal solution that provides higher harvest, higher optimal steady state equilibrium, and higher economic value than annual harvesting. We also demonstrate that the discretization method overcomes the errors and preserves the strengths of both continuous and discrete-time bioeconomic models.
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