Authoritarian Elasticity: How Autocracies May Effectively Mobilize for Crisis Management

Virtualisation is a concept successfully applied to IT systems. In this work, we analyse how virtualisation approaches, such as edge computing, brokerage and software-defined networking, can be applied in the area of electricity grid management and control systems. Power system information and communications technology is currently subject to significant changes. Networked power grid components including renewable energy units, electric vehicles and heat pumps need to be integrated into grid management systems. We studied how virtualisation techniques can support system operators in increasing an energy and communication system’s dependability and situational awareness, and how manual (mostly field-level) configuration and engineering efforts can be reduced. Starting from a working hypothesis, three concrete use-cases were implemented and the performance enhancements were benchmarked to allow for well-informed answers to the questions above. We took a close look at application-protocol-independent redundancy, grid-based routing and online system integrity control. In these study cases, we found significant improvements could be achieved with virtualisation in terms of reduced engineering effort, better system management and simplification in high-level system architecture, since implementation details are hidden by the virtualisation approach.

Well organized and easy usable Grid management system is very important for executing various Grid applications and managing Grid computing environment. Moreover, information system which can support Grid management system by providing various Grid environment related information is also one of the most interesting issue in the Grid middleware system area. Effective cooperation between Grid management system and information system can make a novel Grid middleware system. Especially, service oriented architecture based Grid management system is flexible and extensible for providing various type of Grid services. Also, information system based on data mining process which comprises various different kinds of domains such as users, resources and applications can make Grid management system more precise and efficient. In this paper, we propose semantic Grid middleware system which is a combination of Grid management system and semantic information system.

The work is aimed at solving the problem of colleges and universities to expand the enrollment scale and optimize the management strategy. Based on grid management theory, wireless communication network, NET framework technology, and the browser/server (B/S) framework, a grid security management system is presented. Grid knowledge is explained, wireless communication network address calculation and analysis are mentioned, and NET framework technology and analysis of B/S framework technology optimized by C/S (client/server) framework technology are discussed. The grid management system is built on this foundation and applied to university management. Two questionnaires are designed to explore the grid management of students and faculty. Students believe that the system can effectively solve their management problems, and teachers and workers believe that the system can optimize their work. These results show that the grid management system can be applied to the management of colleges and universities, which provides some ideas for optimizing the management strategy of colleges and universities.

Based on the existing research on grid management system focusing too much on single country studies and neglecting universal laws behind grid management system choices, the study constructs a universal analysis framework on the influencing factors of grid management system and makes an empirical research with multi-countries’ samples. The study finds that national land area, level of grid management and elasticity of electricity consumption are the three most important factors. 1 Issue the question Traditionally there are two main modes of grid management system,transmission and distribution integration and transmission and distribution separation. Transmission and distribution integration refers to that transmission grids and distribution grids belong to the same company. Transmission and distribution separation refers to that transmission grids and distribution grids are owned and operated by different companies. A country’s mode of grid management system is not only influenced by the functional properties evolution of modern grid, but also by the country’s economic system, political system, energy endowments and other factors. In order to attract investment and to ease pressure on government finances, the Russian government sold the assets of distribution grids after 2003, which led to severe decline in electricity reliability and underinvestment in the last kilometer. In 2012, the Russian government finally re-integrated the transmission grids and distribution grids.[1] In the USA, the ownership of electricity assets are dispersed and there exist power plants, transmission companies, distribution companies and other businesses for a long time. For the historic reason, most states in the USA adopt the transmission and distribution separation system. France and Japan face the problem of inadequate energy supply and they put the electrical safety to a highest position. For the two reasons above, France and Japan choose the transmission and distribution integration system. In Australia the choice of transmission and distribution separation was more affected by the UK's electricity reform, which aimed to enhance operating efficiency of Australian electricity industry. [2] In China the uneven distribution of energy resources and regional economy determine that China needs a wide range allocation of resources, which will be guaranteed by the transmission and distribution integration system.[3] Meanwhile some scholars found that transmission and distribution separation system will cost China too much and it is optimal for China to stay in the transmission and distribution integration system. [4] Existing research pay too much emphasis on the individual country’s choice of transmission and distribution management system, and lack a unified framework to analyze and empirical research based on multi-country sample. This article attempts to supplement the existing research on the two items above.

Although the grid management system has been in practice for more than a decade, less is known about the system and satisfaction among the people to whom the system applies. This study answers three questions; (i) what is a grid management system? (ii) How did higher education institutions use it during the pandemic? And (iii) How was the students’ satisfaction with their level of engagement and perceived college support (P_C_S)? A total of 306 international students at Zhejiang Normal University completed an online survey. SPSS 26 and PROCESS macro was used to analyze the results. The results showed a strong positive correlation of P_C_S with students’ engagement (r = 0.635, p < 0.05) and life satisfaction (r = 0.694, p < 0.05), while P_C_S significantly affected students’ engagement (β = 0.540, SE = 0.082, p < 001) and life satisfaction (β = 0.524, SE = 0.082). The system was an imperative means of controlling the spread of the pandemic, with P_C_S playing a critical role in ensuring students’ engagement.

Purpose– Contemporary armed conflicts predominantly take place in developing countries and there are often non-state actors involved in them. Civilians have been deliberately targeted in recent conflicts, and the international community has paid more attention to their protection. Human security means that individuals’ safety is a priority on the security agenda. Organizational learning is necessary in crisis management in order to evolve and provide tools to ensure human security. Organizational learning in crisis management requires individual learning, but individual learning does not necessarily lead to organizational learning at the level of institutions. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of crisis management and peace-building when taking into account crisis management personnel's experiences and their value in organizational learning processes. The results are applied to the context of humanitarian logistics that have special features including pace in comparison to other crisis management contexts.Design/methodology/approach– The empirical material consists of a Delphi panel process representing 15 experts and interviews of 27 individuals who had served as employees in civilian crisis management and military crisis management duties in Kosovo. The interviewees from the military side had background of being either a reservist or professional officer.Findings– Interaction and communication abilities are required from crisis management personnel and institutions. Personnel in crisis management need opportunities to give and receive feedback. At the personal level, work in crisis management is important for an individual. Returning home may be more challenging for an individual than starting to work in a mission. The framework of organizational learning is adequate for developing crisis management and humanitarian logistics.Originality/value– Crisis management personnel's feelings and opinions in depth have been rarely studied and the present study provides information about this personal level. Because of using two methods focussing on organizational learning and feedback, partial methodological triangular was carried out, which increased the reliability of the results. In regard to humanitarian logistics, feedback arrangements are also important when intending to develop learning organizations. Return arrangements for personnel in humanitarian logistics are also an important focus of study.

This essay examines the evolving symbiosis of authoritarian state power and neoliberal governance in the Middle East in the wake of the 2007–8 economic crisis and popular uprisings in 2011–13. I revisit the debates on “authoritarian resilience” in the region to highlight that the efforts to push through neoliberal reforms in the face of popular opposition have expanded the scope of authoritarian rule. However, the strengthening of the executive power further creates antagonisms which are bound to result in the weakening of the state’s institutional capacity and legitimacy to enforce those reforms. These considerations highlight the fissures of “authoritarian resilience” in the region and signal that state centralization and the strengthening of executive power could produce avenues for contesting both neoliberalism and authoritarianism.

Urban communities' adaptation to extreme heat necessitates robust adaptive capacities to reduce vulnerability. In China's newly urbanized areas, distinctive institutional and social contexts shape community-based adaptation capacities, yet their formation and functions remain understudied. This research investigates these capacities across three types of urban communities—commercial, rural-to-urban, and hybrid—in a temperate Chinese city experiencing increased heat risks. Through field investigation of representative communities developed during China's rapid urbanization over the past three decades, we reveal that residents' committees—mass autonomous organizations backed by local governments—serve as pivotal actors in community-based adaptation through planning, resource allocation, and collaboration coordination. The grid management system established and maintained by these committees for top-down governance enhances institutional capacities and facilitates internal networking, leading to comparable institutional capacity levels across community types. Social capacities, however, differ significantly, primarily influenced by the legacy of social capital from original rural communities. Rural-to-urban and hybrid communities maintain modified versions of these social networks, enabling collective actions such as mutual aid, while commercial communities rely predominantly on individual capacities. These social capacities complement and reinforce institutional capacities through bottom-up processes. Although specific heat adaptation plans are lacking, these newly-urbanized communities leverage their general institutional and social capacities to address intensifying extreme heat challenges. This study demonstrates how the interplay between institutional and social capacities shapes community resilience to climate challenges in China's unique urbanization context.

This chapter deals with a case of radical regulatory innovation as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2009. Since the financial crisis of 2007–2009, the question of how to manage banking crises has risen in prominence. The considerable financial, social, and political consequences of various governments’ rescue packages established demands for creating more orderly ways of dealing with bank failure, reducing the exposure of states and the taxpayer. Consequently, considerable institutional innovation over the 2010s has led to new banking crisis management mechanisms, including new organizations, new legal regimes, and a new profession, in particular in the European Union context. The emergence of an explicit European banking crisis management has to be understood within the context of different modes of transboundary crisis management and in relation to the various rationales and accounts of bank crisis management experiences. Before the financial crisis, the emerging European regime was characterized by an absence of formal crisis prevention and management powers. Since then, banking crisis management has witnessed the rise of new institutions that illustrate broader trends in crisis management, namely the growing importance of planning and preparation rather than actual firefighting. Besides, the banking crisis management regime is shaped by deep underlying tensions that are shared by multilevel crisis management regimes more generally. To explore these issues, this chapter sets out the rationale for regulating for “orderly failure,” provides for a brief account of the emergence of the EU’s Single Resolution Mechanism, before turning to unresolved, and arguably irresolvable tensions that exist in multi-level crisis management in the case of banking.

Smart electric power grid, or in short, smart grid, consists a large number of complex computerized electronic devices, such as smart meters, smart appliances, renewable energy resources and energy efficient resources. Some of these devices can be of low quality, especially for start-up smart grid companies in developing countries; and due to the large quantity of those devices, the number of faulty devices is usually much greater than the available maintenance workers. On one hand, the faulty devices are required to be fixed soonest possible to avoid energy and economic losses. On the other hand, because of the limitation on labour resource, the grid management system (GMS) has to assign workers to fix the most emergent faulty devices. Moreover the GMS has to also maximize the total number of faulty devices that a worker can fix within his working hour as well as the overall distance that he travels. In this study, a large-scale smart grid maintenance planning framework is proposed considering the above three factors, i.e., with limited number of maintenance workers, within their working hours, the number of most emergent faulty devices that can be fixed is optimized.

Background: China is generally regarded internationally as an “authoritarian” state. Traditional definitions have assigned many negative connotations surrounding the term of authoritarian. We realize that it might not be considered value-neutral in other countries. But authoritarian in the Chinese context emphasizes more on centralized decision making, collectivism, coordinating all activities of the nation, and public support, which is considered a value-neutral term. Therefore, it is adopted in this paper. We would like to clarify this. Authoritarian governance is considered an important mechanism for developing China's economy and solving social problems. The COVID-19 crisis is no exception. Most of the current research on crisis management and government crises focuses on advanced, democratic countries. However, the consequences of crisis management by authoritarian governments have not been fully appreciated. Although prior research has addressed authoritarian initiatives to manage crises in China, authoritarian interventions have rarely been theorized in public health emergencies.Methods: Based on a literature review and theoretical analysis, we use a descriptive and qualitative approach to assess public health policies and mechanisms from an authoritarian perspective in China. In light of the key events and intervention measures of China's government in response to COVID-19, the strategic practices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to construct, embody, or set political goals through authoritarian intervention in public health crisis management are discussed.Results: China's government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a comprehensive authoritarian intervention, notably by establishing a top-down leadership mechanism, implementing a resolute lockdown, rapidly establishing square cabin hospitals, enhancing cooperation between different government departments, mobilizing a wide range of volunteer resources, enforcing the use of health codes, imposing mandatory quarantine on those returning from abroad, and implementing city-wide nucleic acid testing. These measures ensured that China was able to contain the outbreak quickly and reflect on the unique role of the Chinese authoritarian system in responding to public health crises.Conclusions: Our paper contributes to expanding the existing understanding of the relationship between crisis management and authoritarian system. China's response to COVID-19 exemplifies the unique strengths of authoritarian institutions in public health crisis management, which is a helpful and practical tool to further enhance the CPC's political legitimacy. As a socialist model of crisis management with Chinese characteristics, it may offer desirable experiences and lessons for other countries still ravaged by the epidemic.

State Grid Corporation has further strengthened the standardization of the safe grid operation and the building of grid asset quality supervision and management system(GAQS MS) with the proposition of “Twelfth Five Year Plan” and “three sets of five”. The GAQS MS realizes the whole-course supervision and management of planning, designing, construction, production and other aspects of the grid. Among them, the user power supply reliability management system provides both important data for power supply reliability assessment and strong support for further reliability management. Based on the GAQSMS, the overall framework of distribution network reliability assessment and the assessment indexes of component and system levels are proposed in this paper. Using the principles of stratifying based on voltage level and dividing as per power supply mode, the distribution system is divided step by step, and the distribution network reliability assessment involving the substation main wiring is completed. In this paper, the minimal-cut-set method commonly used for distribution network reliability assessment is improved. The improved method can not only solve the branch-node mixed cut sets, but also automatically search out related component lists when bus line, circuit breaker, disconnector or other element in the main wiring fails so that the system influence of the expanding failure of the element in the substation main wiring is considered sufficiently. Finally, based on the GAQSMS, using Fortran and C++, the distribution network reliability assessment is completed, and the accuracy of algorithm and procedure is verified through the calculation of actual distribution network.

In the context of increasing instability in the global economic environment and heightened competition, the issue of effective crisis management has become particularly relevant for businesses. The traditional division of crisis management approaches into proactive and reactive strategies creates a certain dichotomy in management theory and practice, often leading to the preference for only one direction in a company's management system. This narrow focus can limit the ability of organizations to respond to multifaceted crises effectively, necessitating the development of more integrated approaches that balance prevention, preparedness, and recovery measures. Purpose of the study. The purpose of the study is to systematically analyze the evolution of the concept "crisis management" through the prism of changes in economic, social, and political conditions, and to refine its content, taking into account the transformation from the traditional dichotomy of "proactive-reactive management" to more comprehensive approaches that consider the multifaceted nature of contemporary challenges. Methodology. The study is based on a systematic analysis of scientific approaches to defining the concept of "crisis management." Comparative analysis methods are employed to identify differences between proactive and reactive approaches, while synthesis methods are used to formulate a comprehensive approach to crisis management. Systematization and generalization methods are applied to structure the specific features of each approach. A retrospective analysis is conducted to examine the evolution of the concept over time and identify trends in its development. Structural-functional analysis is used to study the components of the "crisis management" concept and their functional interrelations. The research encompasses the analysis of 33 definitions of "crisis management" from Ukrainian and international scholars over the period from 1993 to 2022. Results. The study reflects the gradual transition from classical approaches to crisis management, primarily focused on response and recovery after a crisis, to more integrated modern approaches. These encompass crisis prevention, preparedness, active response, and effective recovery, forming the basis for refining the content of crisis management by shifting from the traditional "proactive-reactive management" dichotomy to more comprehensive approaches. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying key changes in the understanding of the "crisis management" concept. This allows for tracing current trends in contemporary research and refining the concept of crisis management. Unlike existing approaches, the refined concept involves the simultaneous application of proactive and reactive management tools depending on the type, scale, and predictability of crisis phenomena. Practical significance. The developed theoretical and methodological propositions regarding the evolution of the "crisis management" concept will contribute to the development of more flexible and effective management systems. These systems are capable of integrating proactive and reactive approaches to crisis resolution, optimizing resource allocation between preventive and reactive measures, and enhancing the resilience of enterprises to crises of various types and scales.

Grids offer a uniform interface to a distributed collection of heterogeneous computational, storage and network resources. Most current operational grids are dedicated to a limited set of computationally and/or data intensive scientific problems. The de facto modus operandi is one where users submit job requests to a grid portal, acting as an interface to the grid's management system, which in turn negotiates with 'dumb' resources (computing and storage elements, network links) and arranges for the jobs to be executed. In this paper, we present a new grid architecture featuring generic application support, direct user access (grid-to-the-home) and decentralized scheduling intelligence in the network. We show how optical burst switching (OBS) enables these features while offering the necessary network flexibility demanded by future grid applications.

Over the course of the last decade, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research community has received a significant amount of attention. Emergency response operations, such as those that follow a natural disaster, are one of the civil applications that could benefit from the use of UAVs in disaster and crisis management. In the event of a catastrophic event, it would be extremely beneficial for both victims and first responders to have access to a UAV network that is capable of deploying independently and offering communication services. However, when working with complicated situations, one of the most difficult things is coming up with exploratory paths for the networks involved. A crisis and disaster management system using a swarm optimization algorithm (SOA) is proposed to assist in disaster and crisis management. In this system, the UAV search and rescue team follows the strategy called the delay tolerant network, which has the ability to explore. The proposed approach is able to find the global maximum in the search space without ever settling for a suboptimal solution. This work has two primary objectives: the first is to investigate a potential disaster zone, and the second is to direct the UAV to a number of victim groups that were found during the investigation phase. For the purpose of performing a characterization, performance metrics such as delay, throughput, performance rate, and path loss have been analyzed. The results show the superiority of the performance over the existing work.