Briefing Note Research Articles

Thoughts on international research partnerships

What is new? This paper explores the approaches an institution might take internally to support the different types and scales of research partnerships. It identifies three levels of partnership (individual, group or topic, and institutional), and suggests the variations in support each requires. What was the approach? The paper is based on personal experiences and observations of practice, originally written as a briefing note for a colleague. What is the academic impact? While other papers consider the relationship between the partners, this paper focuses on the conditions for success within one organisation, which will ultimately have an effect on the other members of the partnership. It complements those papers that examine the inter-relationships between the partners. What is the wider impact? Practitioners will be able to use these reflections to understand, evaluate and if necessary evolve their own institution’s approach to research partnerships. Funders and policy makers might similarly be able to use them in setting their expectations for the partnerships they create or require.

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

In August 2021, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report. Among its authors are several Canadian climate scientists. The report has important applications for disaster and emergency management policy in Canada, and naturally foreshadows the work that practitioners will be doing in the coming years. The Canadian Journal of Emergency Management’s Operations Section has produced a briefing note summarizing the Sixth Assessment Report’s Summary for Policy Makers, which is in itself an extensive white paper.
 This briefing note was produced by Operations staff Kaitlyn Boudreau, Melanie Robinson, and Zahrah Farooqi, and was approved for publication by a member of the Editorial Board.

Assessing the impact of the adoption of agroforestry technology on food production and poverty reduction among farming households in Oyo State, Nigeria

Assessing the impact of the adoption of agroforestry technology on food production and poverty reduction among farming households in Oyo State, Nigeria

Policy Writing Simulations

Policy writing is an effective skill that history instructors should teach their students for life after their undergraduate degree. This article proposes that instructors encourage their students to learn policy writing through experiential learning practices. In particular, it advocates for the use of live simulations in the undergraduate history classroom that emphasize policy writing solutions. In this case, the collaboration between historians and librarians is demonstrative of effective historical analysis and fundamental research practices. This article uses a third-year history course in Canadian External Relations as the primary example to share this model. In a simulation, upper-year students are situated within a particular historical event and are tasked to complete a group-based action memorandum writing exercise during a timed in-class period. This simulation policy writing exercise gives students first-hand experience working collaboratively with one another in a political decision-making setting. The simulation can be supplemented with an independent writing assignment that also emphasizes policy writing, such as an action memorandum or a briefing note, in place of the traditional history research paper. This article examines a Canadian history simulation which situates students within the Canadian Department of External Affairs during the Suez crisis. It demonstrates the enhancement of student learning through a practice-based, hands-on approach, that requires collaboration and semester-long learning. The simulation challenges students to act and resolve the scenario at hand. Policy writing is the process by which “government employees and non-governmental organizations create written documents for lawmakers and policy professionals to read.” Policy documents can be a variety of lengths, ranging from short-briefings to lengthy reports.[1]In the course model proposed in this article, students learn policy writing while they also continue to develop valuable history-related skills such as creativity, research, analysis, and critical-thinking. Victor Asal has argued that “the best way to get educational mileage out of a simulation is to treat it as an interactive case where learning takes place before, during, and after the simulation.”[2]Assigning an independent policy writing assignment in addition to the simulation has significant benefits for student learning. [1]Andrew Pennock, “The Case for Using Policy Writing in Undergraduate Political Science Courses,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44.1 (2011): 141. [2]Victor Asal, “Playing Games with International Relations,” International Studies Perspectives 6 (2005): 362.

17.B. Round table: Including public health considerations in trade and investment agreements

Abstract There is widespread recognition that trade and investment agreements (TIAs) can affect health services, access to medicines, NCD prevention (particularly related to tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food) and health systems structures. In addition, these binding international economic agreements can constrain the policy space available for innovative, evidence-based health policymaking. Although TIAs can have positive outcomes for employment and economic growth, these benefits are only likely to accrue when governments are pro-active in implementing complementary policies to mitigate impacts on other sectors and to address potential inequalities arising. The aim of this panel session is to examine the ways in which TIAs can be designed to achieve economic goals while also protecting public health, and identify complementary policy measures that may be needed as well as strategies for strategic policy engagement. This panel will be hosted by the UK-PRP PETRA Network (Prevention of the noncommunicable disease using trade agreements). The UK will be negotiating a range of new TIAs over the coming years, representing a window of opportunity for strategic engagement with policymakers regarding how public health can be protected and promoted within these agreements. There is an emerging global body of evidence regarding how consideration of health can be integrated into TIAs, both textually and through strategic engagement with policymakers before and during the negotiation phase. Experience to date indicates common global challenges and opportunities for health and trade, as well as significant potential for cross country learning regarding trade and health. The panel discussion will use the UK experience as a springboard to address these global issues. The expert panel, drawn from the PETRA Network with expertise in political economy, trade law, economics and public health advocacy, will provide brief overview of the current issues in trade and health and how public health can be protected in trade agreements. The 5-minute panel presentations will briefly summarise how inclusions in TIAs can support and protect policy space for health systems and health services, access to medicines, NCD prevention, and nutrition and food systems. The session will then open for a roundtable discussion among participants regarding 1) country-specific examples and questions regarding health protections; 2) experiences related to health-trade policy engagement; 3) lessons for elevating health on the political agenda, particularly regarding trade. (Note that if there are more than 16 participants, then the workshop will split into small groups for discussion with panel/ PETRA Network resource people. The panel session and discussion will provide the basis for a planned public health-oriented briefing note by the PETRA Network on including public health considerations in trade and investment agreements. Key messages Including consideration of health in trade and investment, agreements can protect policy autonomy for public health and promote good public health outcomes; In order to promote consideration of public health in trade and investment agreements, strategic engagement with trade policymakers before and during the negotiation period is critical.

A BRIEF NOTE on the EFFECTS of FLOATING STANDARD DEVIATION (Non- DERIVATIVE) and HORIZONTAL GRADIENT (DERIVATIVE) FILTERS

Gravite verileri islenirken; uzay ve frekans ortamlarinda filtreler kullanilir. Filtreler incelenen yapi hakkinda ham veriden daha secilebilir, parametre kestirimlerine imkan tanirlar. Genis anlamda filtrelemek veriyi istedigimiz kisitlar altinda izlemek demektir. Filtreler bazi bilgilerin daha fazla fark edilmesini saglarken bazi bilgilerin veriden kaybolmasini veya fark edilebilirliginin azalmasini saglamaktadir. Bu durumda verideki kayiplar yorumu guclestirir ve yanilgilara da neden olabilir. Turev ve faz filtreleri verinin farkli yonlerdeki degisimleriyle ilgili nicelikler sunarken; degisimin goruntulenmesi, turev duyarliligiyla ve faz keskinligiyle orantili olarak olumlu ya da olumsuz sonuclanir ve bu veride gozlenebilir. Yapi sinir analizinde, turevdeki ani degisimler salinimlara neden olduklarindan sinirlar kuskulu hale gelmektedir. Turev kullanmaksizin, sapmayi kontrol ederek veri komsuluklarini bir pencere ile sinirlamak ve bu sinirlamayi kaydirmak sureti ile turevsiz sinir analizi yapmayi mumkun kilan filtreler sinir iliskilerini aydinlatmak amaciyla kullanilabilirler.

The Paris to Projects Research Initiative

This working paper explores the key components and provisions that need to be incorporated into impact assessment legislation to ensure that assessed undertakings help meet Canadian climate change mitigation commitments and duties. This discussion paper includes a summary that serves as a basic briefing note on the core climate components that should be included in the new federal legislation. It also includes a box presenting the tests for determining an undertaking's contributions to meeting Canada's international climate change mitigation commitments, and a more detailed discussion of implications for the new law.

A Brief Note on Process Capability

Process capability, as revolutionized by Motorola, can be defined as the extent to which a process's natural variation falls within specifications. This note is a succinct introduction to the process capability ratio, which compares set specifications against the three standard deviations on either side of the process mean--six in total, referred to as Six Sigma. This introduction assumes a normal distribution of observations and a process that is performing predictably over time. Excerpt UVA-OM-1439 Rev. Sept. 19, 2011 A BRIEF NOTE ON PROCESS CAPABILITY Process behavior charts provide us with a way to determine whether a process is performing consistently and predictably over time and identify and eliminate special causes of abnormal variation. A process behavior chart does not provide us, however, with information about how well a process is performing relative to customer requirements. These charts offer evidence that a process is or is not performing consistently over time. To answer the question of how well a process is working relative to requirements, we need to have explicit understanding of what makes customers satisfied. Customer expectations guide a firm in setting specifications for performance. Specifications, also known as tolerances, may be based on government regulations, as with CAFE requirements for fuel emission per gallon in the auto industry or on engineering requirements, as with thread widths of mating components in an assembled product. If the threads of a particular screw must be within 8 and 12 millimeters, 8 millimeters is the lower specification limit or LSL, and 12 millimeters is the upper specification limit or USL. A service example would be a bank determining through market research that customers consider acceptable a transaction time of three minutes or less. Calculating the likelihood that a process meets specifications is one way to measure process capability. Motorola popularized another simple approach: comparing the spread of the natural variation in a process against the amount of variation that can be tolerated based on the requirements. Consider the screw example above. Suppose the screw manufacturing process in question produces screws with a width Y that is normally distributed around a mean of 10 millimeters, with a standard deviation of 0.5 millimeters. The process capability ratio, Cp, may be defined as follows: (1) Since width Y is normally distributed with a standard deviation of 0.5 millimeters, the “natural spread” of the process is defined as 3 millimeters (three standard deviations on either side of the mean). Also, given a USL of 12 millimeters and an LSL of 8 millimeters, the tolerable spread is 4 millimeters. Thus Cp = 4/3 = 1.33 for the screw manufacturing process. In this example, the fact that Cp > 1 suggests that the corresponding process largely meets specifications. A value of Cp = 1 would correspond to 3 defects per 1,000 units produced, since in this example the probability of a defect would equal the probability that Y 12, which is 0.27% (for the normally distributed variable). . . .

Report Article: A briefing note on the new EAL stages

Report Article: A briefing note on the new EAL stages

Legal Aspects of Withdrawal from the EU: A Briefing Note

The withdrawal of the UK from the EU (or ‘Brexit’) as a result of the referendum of June 23 is certain to have profound implications for all aspects of the law of the United Kingdom. As soon as the result became known, legal commentators rushed to offer some kind of guidance. Surprising as it may seem, the pre-referendum debate focused mostly on what the EU is and does. There was very little debate on what the post-EU options would look like. As soon as the result was known, a gap in public awareness on what happens next was immediately evident. A group of academics from the Law Faculty at the University of Oxford met a few days after the referendum to discuss some of the potential legal effects. We decided to publish some of our preliminary thoughts as soon as possible in various blog posts in order to contribute, if we could, to the public debate. We also decided to collect these in a single paper that would become available online on SSRN. The result is a collective briefing note, edited by Pavlos Eleftheriadis, on various legal aspects of withdrawal from the European Union.

Pivotal principles for digital earth development in the twenty-first century

ABSTRACTReductionist thinking will no longer suffice to address contemporary, complex challenges that defy sectoral, national, or disciplinary boundaries. Furthermore, lessons learned from the past cannot be confidently used to predict outcomes or guide future actions. The authors propose that the confluence of a number of technology and social disruptors presents a pivotal moment in history to enable real time, accelerated, and integrated action that can adequately support a ‘future earth’ through transformational solutions. Building on more than a decade of dialogues hosted by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), and evolving a briefing note presented to delegates of Pivotal 2015, the paper presents an emergent context for collectively addressing spatial information, sustainable development, and good governance through three guiding principles for enabling prosperous living in the twenty-first century. These are: (1) open data, (2) real-world context, and (3) informed visualization for decision support. The paper synthesizes an interdisciplinary dialogue to create a credible and positive future vision of collaborative and transparent action for the betterment of humanity and planet. It is intended that these Pivotal Principles can be used as an elegant framework for action toward the Digital Earth vision, across local, regional, and international communities and organizations.

Children seeking refuge from Syria and beyond: A briefing note for teachers

Children seeking refuge from Syria and beyond: A briefing note for teachers

A BRIEF NOTE ON THE YEMENITE CHAHĀR ṬĀQ MAUSOLEUMS.THE CASE OF BARĀQISH

The chahār ṭāq, a type of building frequently used as a mausoleum in Iran during the Islamic era, has an undeniable Iranian pre-Islamic origin, but its architectural form, together with its function as a mausoleum, crossed the Iranian border and was attested in Yemen too. The 17th-century chahār ṭāqmausoleum at Barāqish seem to be a specific choice, probably of a Shīʿī matrix.

A BRIEF NOTE ON THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE RATING OF PERCEIVED EXERTION SCALE IN MONITORING EXERCISE INTENSITY AMONG CHINESE OLDER ADULTS IN HONG KONG.

This study examined the validity and reliability of the Cantonese Borg 6-20 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale in monitoring exercise intensity among Chinese older adults. A total of 40 apparently healthy older adults (16 men, 24 women; M age=69.8 yr., SD=4.56) performed two trials of three intermittent exercise tests administered in random order using the cycle ergometer. Results revealed significant differences of RPE, HR, and VO2 between different workloads, and there were moderate to high correlations between RPE and HR and VO2, respectively. Results also found moderate consistency of RPE between Trial 1 and Trial 2. These indicated that the Cantonese 6-20 RPE scale can be used as a valid and reliable tool for monitoring exercise intensity among the Chinese older adults.

Editorial: Energy storage

Finding ways to implement the cost-effective storage of electrical energy has been an objective of power system planners and operators since the beginning of public electricity supply more than 100 years ago. Indeed, some of the very early direct current municipal supply systems used large flooded batteries to feed lighting systems through the night. More recently, a small number of large pumped hydro schemes have provided specialist services such as frequency response. There have also been demonstration projects of other storage technologies such as compressed air energy storage and flywheels, but these have not led to widespread deployment. The low-carbon power systems now being developed in response to climate change offer greatly increased opportunities for electrical energy storage systems to assist in balancing supply and demand as well as supplying a whole range of ancillary services. However, the commercial case for energy storage in large power systems has yet to be demonstrated clearly and its use is presently restricted to niche markets. The convenience and low price of fossil fuel, which is really energy stored in chemical form, have been too great to allow energy storage systems to be developed and used widely. This is now changing and the number and type of energy storage systems is rising rapidly. The increasing importance of energy storage and how it can be implemented led to this themed issue and it was encouraging to receive such a strong set of papers. Our briefing note is by Price (2015), addressing the allimportant regulatory issues. Without regulation that rewards its value to the power system fairly, a sustainable business case for energy storage cannot be made. The briefing addresses the particular issues for energy storage within the UK and makes comparison with other countries. The present regulatory structure in the UK does not allow easy access to all the various multiple revenue streams that are likely to be required for a commercial case to be constructed for energy storage and so stimulate its use.

Development and evaluation of 'briefing notes' as a novel knowledge translation tool to aid the implementation of sex/gender analysis in systematic reviews: a pilot study.

BackgroundThere is increasing recognition of sex/gender differences in health and the importance of identifying differential effects of interventions for men and women. Yet, to whom the research evidence does or does not apply, with regard to sex/gender, is often insufficiently answered. This is also true for systematic reviews which synthesize results of primary studies. A lack of analysis and reporting of evidence on sex/gender raises concerns about the applicability of systematic reviews. To bridge this gap, this pilot study aimed to translate knowledge about sex/gender analysis (SGA) into a user-friendly ‘briefing note’ format and evaluate its potential in aiding the implementation of SGA in systematic reviews.MethodsOur Sex/Gender Methods Group used an interactive process to translate knowledge about sex/gender into briefing notes, a concise communication tool used by policy and decision makers. The briefing notes were developed in collaboration with three Cochrane Collaboration review groups (HIV/AIDS, Hypertension, and Musculoskeletal) who were also the target knowledge users of the briefing notes. Briefing note development was informed by existing systematic review checklists, literature on sex/gender, in-person and virtual meetings, and consultation with topic experts. Finally, we held a workshop for potential users to evaluate the notes.ResultsEach briefing note provides tailored guidance on considering sex/gender to reviewers who are planning or conducting systematic reviews and includes the rationale for considering sex/gender, with examples specific to each review group’s focus. Review authors found that the briefing notes provided welcome guidance on implementing SGA that was clear and concise, but also identified conceptual and implementation challenges.ConclusionsSex/gender briefing notes are a promising knowledge translation tool. By encouraging sex/gender analysis and equity considerations in systematic reviews, the briefing notes can assist systematic reviewers in ensuring the applicability of research evidence, with the goal of improved health outcomes for diverse populations.

Current Gaps and Future Perspectives in European Private International Law: Towards a Code on Private International Law?

Private international law is to a great extent regulated by EU rules. However, particular areas are still governed by national rules. This paper identifies the existing gaps in the EU regulatory framework, and discusses future perspectives. In the short and the mid term, the focus should be on filling gaps by using separate instruments, while preserving coherence. In the long term a more comprehensive framework or code would be an option.This paper is a briefing note, written on request of the European Parliament. It is largely based upon a more comprehensive study that was conducted under the scientific directorship of the present author.

Breve notícia da recente erupção na ilha do Fogo e suas consequências

BRIEF NOTES ABOUT THE RECENT VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT FOGO ISLAND - This article provides a concise description of the volcanic eruption that occurred in 1995 in the island of Fogo (Cape Verde). It focuses on the evolution of the eruption, its characteristics, and the alteration it produced on the topography and morphology of the landscape of Chã das Caldeiras. The consequences of this phenomenon on the human and agricultural occupation are also emphasized.

Actor-Network Theory: A Briefing Note and Possibilities for Social and Environmental Accounting Research

Actor-network theory (ANT) has been increasingly utilised within the accounting and management literature (Justesen and Mouritsen, 2011) and is argued to be useful because it includes both the human and the non-human in its analytical frame. ANT bypasses a nature/society dualism and, as such, it may help to develop organisational theories that can promote ecologically and socially sustainable development (Gladwin et al., 1995). This article outlines the central commitments of ANT, its language, how it has been applied and its critiques. The article then discusses how ANT may contribute to social and environmental accounting research and the examination of what is social and what is environment. As such, this paper is an ANT ‘primer’ which aims to support social and environmental accountants in the exploration of new directions and the enabling of more ecologically and socially sustainable practices to come forward.

Alcohol Marketing and Youth Drinking: a Rejoinder to the Alcohol Industry

As societal concern has increased in relation to alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm (Rehm et al ., 2009; Nutt et al ., 2010), attention on factors potentially influencing drinking behaviours has grown. One such factor that has been identified is alcohol marketing (Babor et al ., 2010). Numerous studies assessing the impact of alcohol marketing on youth drinking have been carried out over the past 25 years. Early econometric studies investigating the associations between total alcohol advertising spend and drinking behaviour did not find any effect (Hastings et al ., 2005). However, several recent sophisticated consumer studies, using a longitudinal cohort design, have found small but significant associations between exposure to, awareness of, and involvement with alcohol marketing, and youth drinking behaviours (Ellickson et al ., 2005; Collins et al ., 2007; McClure et al ., 2009). This is unsurprising given the potential exposure to alcohol marketing experienced by young people. Although the majority of these studies have been conducted in the USA, a recent study from the UK published in Alcohol and Alcoholism also suggested that alcohol marketing influences youth drinking behaviour (Gordon et al ., 2010). A briefing note published by the Portman Group (an agency linked to the alcohol beverage industry) presented the argument that alcohol marketing merely encourages brand switching, rather than encouraging consumption (Portman Group, 2010). The note commented that Gordon et al . (2010) found no association between awareness of alcohol marketing and either initiation of drinking or volume of alcohol consumed. This view was restated, and the topic debated, at the annual conference of Alcohol Concern in London, November 2010. The briefing note is selective in its reporting of the study of Gordon et al . …