Learning from previous disease outbreaks, Singapore established a multiministry taskforce to centrally coordinate a whole-of-government response before it had any confirmed cases.8 The creation of ...the National COVID-19 Monitoring Authority in Tunisia has brought together senior officials from all ministries to ensure compliance with measures across sectors, as well as coordination between regional and national committees.9 The Lebanese Government has developed a COVID-19 response plan that involves the private as well as the public sector.10 Decentralised systems have at times been identified as a problem, although this may only be when combined with poor communication; despite initial delays, Switzerland has shown the effectiveness of mutual learning and integration between local decentralised approaches in its response to COVID-19.11 Science guides decisive and impactful actions by leaders in countries where success is being recorded in the COVID-19 response. Implementation of large-scale lockdown measures has substantially reduced the number of COVID-19 cases—eg, estimates suggest that 2·1 million more COVID-19 cases have been avoided in Italy because of lockdown measures.12 Establishing testing capacity was part of the first stage of South Africa's response, and after easing of its national lockdown, contact tracing teams for tuberculosis control were redirected to proactive COVID-19 case finding, contact tracing, and monitoring quarantine compliance, which has resulted in community-based screening of almost 20% of the population.13 Ultimately, given that high-quality disease surveillance data are sometimes not readily available, decisions should be based on best available knowledge, while adapting to new information. ...effective leaders believe in a partnership-driven solidarity response to the pandemic.
Abstract
The Greenland Ice Sheet discharges ice to the ocean through hundreds of outlet glaciers. Recent acceleration of Greenland outlet glaciers has been linked to both oceanic and atmospheric ...drivers. Here, we leverage temporally dense observations, regional climate model output, and newly developed time series analysis tools to assess the most important forcings causing ice flow variability at one of the largest Greenland outlet glaciers, Helheim Glacier, from 2009 to 2017. We find that ice speed correlates most strongly with catchment-integrated runoff at seasonal to interannual scales, while multi-annual flow variability correlates most strongly with multi-annual terminus variability. The disparate time scales and the influence of subglacial topography on Helheim Glacier’s dynamics highlight different regimes that can inform modeling and forecasting of its future. Notably, our results suggest that the recent terminus history observed at Helheim is a response to, rather than the cause of, upstream changes.
Models of subnational governance have grown in popularity across Europe, but the notion of place-based leadership remains an ideological phenomenon. This paper explores the development of subnational ...partnerships in England and considers the lack of formal guidance available to local leaders that limits their ability to develop transformational strategies. Drawing on extensive qualitative analysis of England's local enterprise partnerships, the paper develops an original conceptual model of place-based partnerships. The model provides a tool for partnerships to assess themselves and consider tactics to develop a stronger set of shared local values, contributing to both academic and policy debates.
Abstract
The growing interest in the study of economic complexity has been motivated by the intrinsic features of statistical physics. Entropy is one of essential concepts in statistical physics and ...a particularly active concept for characterizing the complexity of a system. Motived by this, we propose a new method based on a function of the entropy to quantify economic complexity of China trade flows. We focus on regional economy activities, and collect China trade flows according to the database of national export and import items. Compared with classic economic complexity measurements including diversity and ubiquity, eigenvector-based complexity index, fitness and complexity index, Hirschman-Herfindahl index, the proposed method based on entropy can generate a proper ranking list when we take USA as a benchmark. Furthermore, the comparison of the main economic complexity statics also exposes that several of which performance moderate correlations. The stability of the ranking positions from the static evolution of the economic complexity over 8 years discloses that the index of economic complexity performs extremely sensitive depending on the eigenvector of the product network space. The results reveal that we should pay attention to the relationships between economic complexity methods when analysing the structural characteristics of economic entity activities.
Abstract
In the context of “3060 Carbon Neutrality”, there will be both theoretical and practical significance to finding out the status quo, laws and key factors about efficiency of carbon ...neutrality in various regions of China. This paper considers carbon neutrality system as a black-box combining “carbon absorption” with “carbon fixation”. According to these two major functions, we aim to measure efficiency of carbon neutrality among 30 provinces in China by constructing the three-stage DEA model. The results point that there exists obvious regional differentiation of efficiency distribution patterns; Key factors that determine the level of carbon neutralization efficiency mainly include spatial effects, industrial modernization, technological and innovative levels, and natural resources, etc. In summary, this paper provides suggestions and counter measures to promote carbon neutralization efficiency within various regions from two perspectives of regional low-carbon economy and regional linkage development.
In recent years, the world has seen the emergence of a number of urban projects which, under the banner of experimentation, have promoted alternative models of city-making capable, in theory, of ...creating sustainable built environments. Among these supposedly experimental models, the smart city and the eco-city stand out in terms of geographical diffusion, and are hailed by their advocates as the mark of an innovative urbanism based on a scientific approach to urban development. Through the analysis of Hong Kong and Masdar City, examples of a smart-city agenda and an eco-city project respectively, this paper questions the sustainability of so-called smart cities and eco-cities, by investigating the extent to which they are developed in a controlled and systematic manner as their developers claim. More specifically, the paper counterclaims mainstream understandings of smart and ecological urbanism, arguing that what are promoted as cohesive settlements shaped by a homogeneous vision of the sustainable city, are actually fragmented cities made of disconnected and often incongruous pieces of urban fabric. Theoretically, these claims are discussed through the concept of Frankenstein urbanism which draws upon Mary Shelley’s novel as a metaphor for unsuccessful experiments generated by the forced union of different, incompatible elements.
ABSTRACT Due to globalization, market evolution, and technological implementations, the production chains have been improving, becoming essential for the consolidation of several products in the ...market, including charcoal, used as a renewable energy source. Thus, the objective of this work was to characterize the structure of this chain, from the qualitative and quantitative perspective, in the municipalities of the Valleys of Caí and Taquari and the interaction between the actors involved. The methodology was based on the division of the chain into macrosegments, with socioeconomic units of production characterized by the application of questionnaires. As a result, it was verified the presence of the production macrosegment (nursery and reforestation sectors), industrialization (charcoal production and packaging sectors), and commercialization (packaging sector), formed by family units. The packaging segment has outsourced manpower and more technology than the others. It was evidenced that a single socioeconomic unit of production can be part of more than one macrosegment or segment and, allied to this, in general, it is possible to perceive the characterization of a long chain of production. It appears that only 3.8% of charcoal producers also pack and sell their products, the remainder (96.2%) sell their production to packers who standardize the product, making the sale to the final consumer directly or indirectly.
RESUMO Em virtude da globalização, evolução dos mercados e implementações tecnológicas, as cadeias produtivas vem se aprimorando, tornando-se fundamentais para a consolidação de diversos produtos no mercado, inclusive do carvão vegetal, utilizado como fonte de energia renovável. Dessa forma, o objetivo do trabalho foi caracterizar a estrutura, sob a ótica qualitativa e quantitativa dessa cadeia nos municípios do Vale do Caí e Taquari e a interação entre os atores envolvidos. A metodologia foi baseada na divisão da cadeia em macrossegmentos, sendo caracterizada as unidades socioeconômicas de produção, por meio da aplicação de questionários. Como resultado, foi possível verificar a presença do macrossegmento de produção (setor dos viveiros e reflorestadores), industrialização (setor de produção de carvão e embalagem) e comercialização (setor de embalagem), sendo formados por unidades familiares. O segmento de embalagem possui mão-de-obra terceirizada e mais tecnologia do que os demais. Ficou evidenciado que uma única unidade socioeconômica de produção pode fazer parte de mais de um macrossegmento ou segmento e aliado a isso e de maneira geral, percebe-se a caracterização de uma cadeia longa de produção. Verifica-se que apenas 3,8% dos produtores de carvão também embalam e vendem seus produtos, o restante (96,2%) vendem a produção para embaladores que padronizam o produto, realizando a venda para o consumidor final de forma direta ou indireta.
English: Law No. 33 of 2004 is a source of legal basis used as a guideline in the process of issuing regional bonds. This study discusses issues related to the issuance of regional bonds in ...Indonesia, particularly in the provinces of Central Java, West Sumatra, and West Kalimantan. In connection with the issuance of regional bonds, to date there are now regions that issue regional bonds including of Central Java, West Sumatra, and West Kalimantan. The purpose of this study is to find out more about the problems that form the basis of the issue of bonds in the region. Researchers use descriptive analysis method that can indicate the level of income and finance of the provinces of Central Java, West Sumatra, West Kalimantan where the region has met the requirements to issue regional bonds. While the SWOT analysis conducted in the area, each region still has many obstacles in the process of issuing regional bonds, one of which is the problem in human resources (SDM). Keywords: Regional Bonds, Regional Development, SWOT. Indonesia: Undang-undang No. 33 tahun 2004 merupakan sumber dasar hukum yang dijadikan pedoman dalam proses penerbitan obligasi daerah. Penelitian ini membahas permasalahan terkait penerbitan obligasi daerah di Indonesia, khususnya pada provinsi Jawa Tengah, Sumatra Barat, dan Kalimantan Barat. Berkaitan dengan penerbitan obligasi daerah, sampai saat ini belum ada daerah yang menerbitkan obligasi daerah termasuk Jawa Tengah, Sumatra Barat, dan Kalimantan Barat. Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut permasalahan yang menjadi dasar tidak terbitnya obligasi didaerah tersebut. Peneliti menggunakan metode analisis diskriptif yang dapat menunjukan tingkat pendapatan dan keuangan provinsi Jawa Tengah, Sumatra Barat, Kalimantan Barat dimana daerah tersebut sudah memenuhi syarat untuk melakukan penerbitan obligasi daerah. Sedangkan analisis SWOT yang dilakukan pada daerah tersebut, masing-masing daerah masih memiliki banyak kendala dalam proses penerbitan obligasi daerah salah satunya yaitu permasalahan pada sumber daya manusianya (SDM). Kata Kunci: Obligasi Daerah, Perkembangan Daerah, SWOT.
This paper examines the political economy of artificial intelligence (AI) and education in China, through an analysis of government policy and private sector enterprise. While media and policy ...discourse often portray China's AI development in terms of a unified national strategy, and a burgeoning geopolitical contestation for future global dominance, this analysis will suggest a more nuanced internal complexity, involving differing regional networks and international corporate activity. The first section considers two key policy documents published by the central Chinese government, which are shown to implicate educational institutions as influential actors in national and regional strategies for AI development, with a significant role in plans to train domestic expertise. The second section outlines three prominent private education companies: New Oriental Group, Tomorrow Advancing Life (TAL), and Squirrel AI. These companies are selected to represent important aspects of China's development of educational AI applications, including the influence of a well-established private education sector, and a growing interest in international corporate activity. The paper concludes with the suggestion that while central government policy reserves a significant role for education in the national AI strategy, the private sector is utilising favourable political conditions to rapidly develop educational applications and markets.
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