Complementary Areas Research Articles

Going deeper into action recognition: A survey

Understanding human actions in visual data is tied to advances in complementary research areas including object recognition, human dynamics, domain adaptation and semantic segmentation. Over the last decade, human action analysis evolved from earlier schemes that are often limited to controlled environments to nowadays advanced solutions that can learn from millions of videos and apply to almost all daily activities. Given the broad range of applications from video surveillance to human–computer interaction, scientific milestones in action recognition are achieved more rapidly, eventually leading to the demise of what used to be good in a short time. This motivated us to provide a comprehensive review of the notable steps taken towards recognizing human actions. To this end, we start our discussion with the pioneering methods that use handcrafted representations, and then, navigate into the realm of deep learning based approaches. We aim to remain objective throughout this survey, touching upon encouraging improvements as well as inevitable fallbacks, in the hope of raising fresh questions and motivating new research directions for the reader.

Ecologists, economics and politics: problems and contradictions in applying neoliberal ideology to nature conservation in Australia

In a recent Forum Essay in Pacific Conservation Biology, the well known ecologist Harry Recher argued that over the past three decades Australia had experienced a ‘failure of science’ and a concomitant ‘death of nature’. In this essay we examine some of the propositions put forward by Recher (2015), with particular reference to the role played by neoliberal ideology in nature conservation in Australia. Since the early 1980s the neoliberal value system has effectively shaped a new paradigm for nature conservation in Australia with its own language, tools and institutions, and through such a process has redefined nature in its own terms. We focus on two of the most significant neoliberal, free-market mechanisms – (1) monetary valuation of biodiversity and of ecosystem services, and (2) the provision of complementary areas to offset losses of high-quality habitat – and show how they have come to dominate policy development and on-ground activities in wetland management and conservation in Australia. Despite the wide reach of neoliberal ideology, ecologists and conservation biologists seem largely unaware of its practical implications. In some cases, such as with offset programs and with carbon valuation, they have become complicit with the ruling ideology, without, it seems to us, being fully aware of their involvement, tacit or explicit, or of the likely connotations of that participation. Hedging the future of wetland conservation to ‘market-driven environmentalism’ is simply an expected overreach in the broader context of neoliberal economic and political ideology, and provides rich grounds for a critique in support of a more considered approach to nature conservation.

Narodowy Instytut Onkologii i Hematologii im. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie — być albo nie być?

January 1, 2016 was scheduled for being the operational launch date of the new Maria Sklodow- ska-Curie Memorial National — Institute of Oncology and Hematology (NIOH), arising from a merger between the Centre for Oncology — Institute (CO-I) with the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (IHT). A Council of Ministers’ draft regulation (KRM-110-101-15) had already been published on this matter by the Government Legislative Centre. Following a public hearing held on 13–20 October 2015, this draft was then passed by the Ministry of Health to the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers for the purpose of being signed by the Prime Minister. For no given reason whatsoever, this legislative process was however abruptly halted; then Minister of Health, Marian Zembala, having chosen not to inform his decision to either the Management Boards or the joint Director of these merging institutions. According to media reporting, it appears this was an attempt to circumvent legally binding regulations by setting aside real estate belonging to the CO-I at the Gliwice branch, due to the decision taken by the Minister of Health without the consent of the institutes’ joint Director nor Management Boards. This prevented consolidating the merger, because of differences still existing in the merger applications, opinions, documentation, resolutions and most importantly in the merging parties themselves which were then being resolved. As a result of such actions, the long-term efforts in organising and financing the harmonisation of administrative and management procedures of the merger at both institutions has been wasted. The beneficial outcomes of the recovery programme implemented at the CO-I from 2012–2015 may have also been squandered; this having been commissioned by the Ministry of Health and the Supreme Chamber of Control, due to an adverse assessment of the CO-I made in previous years. This confusing and socially divisive decision to the public good will thus arrest the further development of the CO-I and IHT, and indeed threaten their continuing to operate in their existing organisational and legal forms; it will also expose the National Treasury to additional future burdens. The presented study serves to document several years of actions undertaken by the Ministry of Health, CO-I and IHT for establishing NIOH. Perhaps it can help guide decision-makers in the future. Undoubtedly, strengthening the capacity for undertaking research, science, education, diagnostics and treatment in both institutes through their consolidation, will be crucial for their developing vital and complementary areas of medicine, namely oncology, hematology and transfusion medicine. Beyond question, establishing NIOH with a status of the Public Research Institute — directly subordinated to the Ministry of Health — for delivering comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services, together with providing a centre of excellence for post-graduate education and reseach will have a profound and lasting benefit to patients suffering from all types of malignancies as well as being justified in terms of the professional, legal, operational and financial advantages so conferred.

Effectiveness of conservation areas for protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services: a multi-criteria approach

ABSTRACTIn land planning strategies, methods to quantify ecosystem services (ESs) are now used to complement biodiversity assessments. Tension arises when areas important for biodiversity do not spatially co-occur with important areas for ESs. We investigate the effectiveness of protected areas in simultaneously protecting biodiversity and ESs in central Colombia and identify complementary areas. We map, integrate using a multi-criteria technique and correlate five indicators (sensitive species, ecological systems, habitat quality, scenic beauty and water provision). Reflecting the uncertainty in criteria weights, multiple maps were created and overlain with current protected areas to investigate their effectiveness. A consensus and an uncertainty map were calculated to identify multifunctional areas (high value for biodiversity and high provision of ESs and low uncertainty). Protected areas show low to intermediate levels of effectiveness (3–56% percentage overlap with simulated areas), with water provision being the service least effectively protected. Indicators do not show high levels of correlation (all p < 0.57). Sensitive species are negatively correlated with all other indicators. High representativeness levels were found around the city of Bogotá; still, extensive multifunctional areas are not contemplated under any protection status. We advocate the use of our approach to identify multi-purpose areas that are robust to divergent stakeholder opinions.EDITED BY Berta Martin-Lopez

Narodowy Instytut Onkologii i Hematologii im. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie — być albo nie być?

January 1, 2016 was scheduled for being the operational launch date of the new Maria Sklodow- ska-Curie Memorial National — Institute of Oncology and Hematology (NIOH), arising from a merger between the Centre for Oncology — Institute (CO-I) with the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (IHT). A Council of Ministers’ draft regulation (KRM-110-101-15) had already been published on this matter by the Government Legislative Centre. Following a public hearing held on 13–20 October 2015, this draft was then passed by the Ministry of Health to the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers for the purpose of being signed by the Prime Minister. For no given reason whatsoever, this legislative process was however abruptly halted; then Minister of Health, Marian Zembala, having chosen not to inform his decision to either the Management Boards or the joint Director of these merging institutions. According to media reporting, it appears this was an attempt to circumvent legally binding regulations by setting aside real estate belonging to the CO-I at the Gliwice branch, due to the decision taken by the Minister of Health without the consent of the institutes’ joint Director nor Management Boards. This prevented consolidating the merger, because of differences still existing in the merger applications, opinions, documentation, resolutions and most importantly in the merging parties themselves which were then being resolved. As a result of such actions, the long-term efforts in organising and financing the harmonisation of administrative and management procedures of the merger at both institutions has been wasted. The beneficial outcomes of the recovery programme implemented at the CO-I from 2012–2015 may have also been squandered; this having been commissioned by the Ministry of Health and the Supreme Chamber of Control, due to an adverse assessment of the CO-I made in previous years. This confusing and socially divisive decision to the public good will thus arrest the further development of the CO-I and IHT, and indeed threaten their continuing to operate in their existing organisational and legal forms; it will also expose the National Treasury to additional future burdens. The presented study serves to document several years of actions undertaken by the Ministry of Health, CO-I and IHT for establishing NIOH. Perhaps it can help guide decision-makers in the future. Undoubtedly, strengthening the capacity for undertaking research, science, education, diagnostics and treatment in both institutes through their consolidation, will be crucial for their developing vital and complementary areas of medicine, namely oncology, hematology and transfusion medicine. Beyond question, establishing NIOH with a status of the Public Research Institute — directly subordinated to the Ministry of Health — for delivering comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services, together with providing a centre of excellence for post-graduate education and reseach will have a profound and lasting benefit to patients suffering from all types of malignancies as well as being justified in terms of the professional, legal, operational and financial advantages so conferred.

”New’ vs ‘old’ leaderships: the campaign of Spanish general elections 2015 on Twitter

The focus of this research is to analyze the activity on Twitter, during the campaign for the 2015 general elections in Spain, of the leaders of the main Spanish political parties: Mariano Rajoy (PP), Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), Pablo Iglesias (Podemos) and Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos). That means: how many messages and what types of messages are published; what topics they focus on; and the main features of using Twitter: to spread political messages, reference candidate activities in the media or on the campaign trail or emphasize personal aspects. The methodological approach establishes three complementary areas: a) a quantitative analysis of the tweets published by the four candidates throughout the election campaign, focused on establishing the percentage of responses and retweets; b) a content analysis to determine the issue agenda of each candidate; and c) a qualitative analysis that allows us to provide an overview of the communication preferences and profile of each candidate. The combined results of this triple methodological approach show that candidates from emerging parties tend to send messages to mobilize their supporters to campaign and to make generic announcements regarding their future victory and the arrival of political change, while the leaders of PP and PSOE tend to publish more messages with specific policy proposals.

Assessing the efficiency of protected areas to represent biodiversity: a small island case study

SUMMARYProtected areas (PAs) have been selected using either subjective or objective criteria applied to an extremely limited subset of biodiversity. Improved availability of species distribution data, better statistical tools to predict species distributions and algorithms to optimize spatial conservation planning allow many impediments to be overcome, particularly on small islands. This study analyses whether 219 species are adequately protected by PAs on Pico Island (the Azores, Portugal), and if they are as efficient as possible, maximizing species protection while minimizing costs. We performed distribution modelling of species’ potential distributions, proposed individual conservation targets (considering the context of each species in the archipelago and their current conservation status) to determine the efficiency of current PAs in meeting such targets and identify alternative or complementary areas relevant for conservation. Results showed that current PAs do not cover all taxa, leaving out important areas for conservation. We demonstrate that by using optimization algorithms it is possible to include most species groups in spatial conservation planning in the Azores with the current resources. With increasing availability of data and methods, this approach could be readily extended to other islands and regions with high endemism levels.

Agilent invests in Lasergen

Agilent Technologies is putting its muscle behind the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology firm Lasergen. The instrumentation giant is investing $80 million in the hopes that Lasergen’s sequencing chemistry will yield Agilent its first NGS system. For its money, Agilent gets a 48% stake in Houston-based Lasergen and the option to acquire the rest for $105 million within two years. “An NGS platform would enhance Agilent’s competitive positioning, given the company’s existing expertise in complementary areas of the workflow,” including sample prep, arrays, and automation, Goldman Sachs stock analyst Isaac Ro said in a recent report to clients. Lasergen has been trying to commercialize technology that emerged from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine around 2002. The 20-person company talked publicly about building a prototype system in 2011 but has been quiet for the past four years. Agilent is betting on Lasergen’s chemistry translating into faster, cheaper, and more accurate

An analysis of the application of process improvement techniques in business process outsourcing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the application of process improvement techniques (PITs) in the business process outsourcing (BPO) process. The paper focuses on how PITs impact the BPO process, and identifies a number of key enablers of applying PITs in the BPO process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case study approach. In-depth case study analysis of a number of organisations that have employed a number of PITs in BPO is carried out. Findings – The findings support current literature that highlights the importance of formal contracting, relational contracting, and vendor capabilities for applying PITs in BPO. However, the findings also highlight the importance of additional factors, not widely considered in the current literature. The client must possess internal capabilities in PITs and change management to ensure process improvement occurs. Moreover, the findings here have shown that the client must invest in and develop the resources that enhance its capability to employ PITs in BPO. Originality/value – The findings highlight the importance and relevance of process improvement to BPO, and identify a number of important issues for further research in order to bridge the gap between these two complementary areas.

Real problem-based learning: specific features of the training method for creation of modern industrial control systems (based on the experience of the european universities participating in TEMPUS MEDIS)

The main aim of the article is to cover the key approaches for improving the problem-based learning (PBL) in the context of students’ training for the design of modern industrial control systems. The study revealed the transformation of PBL into two complementary areas of training: Advanced Problem-Based Learning (APBL) and Real Problem-Based Learning (RPBL). The feature of APBL is the simultaneous study of several interconnected subjects on the base of projects implementation which requires the use of all of these subjects. RPBL complements APBL by training students the missing knowledge and skills through performing real projects for industrial enterprises. It is depicted that in-between transition from PBL to APBL and RPBL the role of teacher is changing. If in PBL the teacher supervises and controls the progress of the project implementation, then in APBL teacher plays the guide role from the formulation of the problem to its solution. In RPBL teacher partially becomes a member of the team carrying out the projects. Specific features of RPBL realization methodology are considered in terms of TEMPUS MEDIS project realization

3D-printed polymers for biomedical applications

cant technology leaps take place simultaneously in several complementary areas. This is the case in polymeric biomaterials’ technology. Amazing advances have been made in the additive manufacturing technologies, i.e. 3D-printing. It is a family of different layer by layer manufacturing methods like fused deposition modeling, powder laser sintering, ink-jet printing, stereo lithography, two or multi photon polymerization and hydrogel 3D-printing. All of them applicable for processing of polymeric materials. Essential developments have taken place also in biomedical imaging and 3D-design to create the necessary digital models needed for the 3D-printing. At the same time great progress has been achieved in biopolymers’ development. They can be tailored to be biostable or bioresorbable in a controlled way, or in some cases even bioactive. Bioactivity has been achieved through addition of bioactive compounds like bioactive glass or through functionalization of the polymeric structure (www.kunststoffe-international.com/1332070, DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2011.06. 039, DOI: 10.1016/j.compscitech.2012.10.014, DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.32863, DOI: 10.1002/pola.27400, DOI: 10.1039/C5TB01468A). The parallel advance which has taken place in the biomedical sciences has significantly improved the options in regenerative medicine and may even enable tissue engineering. For polymer research this important and fast developing area offers great opportunities of high societal impact. However, the demands for polymer properties are strict for the novel biomaterials. They should meet the various physical criteria set by the needs of the application, but in addition the demand of non-toxicity is a self-evident must in biomedical applications. Successful 3D-additive manufacturing sets requirements to master the viscosities and liquid to solid transitions in the printing process. In stereo lithography the oligomeric low viscosity prepolymers need to be fast photo curing; with photo curing chemistry that is non-toxic in the biological environment and can get approved by the authorities. Especially for resorbable polymers there is a need to find alternative curing chemistries in addition to acrylate or methacrylate based systems. (www.kunststoffe-international.com/1325854) Complementary research interplay is essential in this field of science. An excellent example of such an effort has been the ArtiVasc 3D-project funded by the 7 Framework Program of the European Union to prepare polymeric scaffolds for vascularized, cell tissue cultivated skin like tissue. Outcome of the project is presented in the video: ArtiVasc 3D on the Way to Bio-Artificial Tissue. Novel technologies, breakthroughs in biomedical sciences together with innovative novel polymers enable jointly significant enhancements for life!

Experimental investigation on partial pool boiling heat transfer in pure liquids

Saturated partial pool boiling heat transfer has been experimentally investigated on a horizontal rod heater. The boiling liquids are including water and ethanol. The heating section is made by various materials including SS316, copper, aluminum and brass. Experiments have been performed at several degrees of surface roughness ranging between 30 and 360 micrometer average vertical deviation. The measurements are including boiling heat transfer coefficient, bubble departing diameter and frequency and also nucleation site density. The data have been compared to major existing correlations. It is shown that experimental data do not match with major correlations at the entire range of experiments with acceptable accuracy. In this article, the boiling heat transfer area has been divided in two complementary areas, the induced forced convection area and the boiling affected area. Based on two dimensionless groups, including E?tv?s and Roshko numbers, a semi-empirical model have been proposed to predict the boiling heat transfer coefficient. It is shown that the proposed model provides improved performance in prediction of the boiling heat transfer coefficient in comparison with to existing correlations.

Current asset management

Current asset management includes two different, but at the same time complementary areas of business decision making, and those are the use of current assets and combination of funding sources. In terms of use, it is primary to ensure an appropriate scope of current assets to achieve business tasks. There is uncertainty of legal conclusions in funding sources for current assets, too. Companies do not operate with their own assets exclusively, and the question is which combination is the best one, and from which point of view it is evaluated. Appropriate current asset management has two crucial objectives that need to be aimed at: maintaining of permanent ability to pay for liabilities, on one hand, and to maximize profitability, or revenue from total invested current assets. However, liquidity and profitability objectives are complementary.

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business ethics journals

Sustainability has become a popular topic, not only in business research at large, but specifically in the supply chain management (SCM) discipline. In addition, the business ethics (BE) field has an extensive stream of literature focusing on supply chain topics. While some exchange of ideas can be witnessed, the two streams developed largely independently. A key purpose of this article is to examine and contrast existing research and knowledge creation, focusing on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in supply chains, within and across these two disciplines. The in-depth systematic literature review covers 195 articles, published in 12 peer-reviewed journals from 2007 to 2013, examining the methodological and theoretical approaches, as well as the main research focus areas. We found highly complementary research topic areas but only limited synergy and dialogue between the disciplines. The research area at large would benefit from greater integration. Based on our findings, we propose a future research agenda that connects across the disciplines and highlights key areas that would benefit from further inquiry.

Preface to the 50th anniversary issue of the Journal of Materials Science

In his book ‘‘The Coming of Materials Science’’ [1], the late Professor Robert Wolfgang Cahn FRS documented the rise of Materials Science as a distinct discipline from its roots in solid-state physics, metallurgy, polymer chemistry, inorganic chemistry, mineralogy, glass, and ceramic technology. The development of the discipline was a process in which he was intimately involved from 1942 when he enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge to read Metallurgy, to his death from leukemia in 2007. His technical contributions were remarkably diverse, spanning such areas as: defects and deformation mechanisms, crystal growth, recrystallization, intermetallic compounds, and metallic glasses. It was these broad interests that led him to become such a staunch advocate for Materials Science as a discipline. Another of his passions was scientific editing, and he is remembered as much for his editing of several major journals and books as he is for his scientific research work. In 1964, Robert Cahn was invited by the publishers Chapman and Hall to establish the Journal of Materials Science as the first broad-spectrum Materials Science journal. As Chairman of Editors, he recruited a group of Editors with complementary areas of expertise, gave them independent powers of decision on submitted papers, and encouraged them to be pro-active in soliciting papers from key researchers on novel topics. This helped to ensure that the journal fulfilled its mission of being a broad-spectrum inclusive periodical that brought together work on different classes of materials using a wide variety of different experimental and theoretical approaches. The first issue appeared in April of 1966, and the Journal grew rapidly over the next few years to become a major international forum for research in Materials Science. In Robert Cahn’s memoirs [2], he said that the years he devoted to creating the Journal of Materials Science represented his single most important editorial contribution to the field. Over the last five decades, there have been many changes to the Journal, to the community that it serves, and to the field as a whole. The publishers have undergone several re-organizations and changes of ownership, and are now part of the Springer Nature group. Specialist sister journals have been spun off in the areas of Materials in Electronics and Materials in Medicine, while others such as Interface Science have been incorporated into the main journal. The community has broadened to encompass more biologists, chemists, and physicists due to developments in, for example, tissue engineering, nanostructured catalysts, and functional oxides, respectively. There have also been dramatic changes in the synthesis, processing, characterization, and computational modeling techniques available to materials scientists, and these advances have had a revolutionary effect on research directions in the field. Throughout, the Editors have maintained an open and flexible definition of Materials Science so that the Journal remains true to Robert Cahn’s original vision of a broadspectrum publication. This has been helped by stability in the leadership of the Journal with just four Chairmen/ Editors-in-Chief over the first 50 years: Professors Robert Cahn, William Bonfield, Rees Rawlings, and since 2004, C. Barry Carter. In 2006, the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Journal was marked with a special issue (volume 41, issue 3) comprising reviews, original research articles, and commentaries written by current and former Editors. The & Mark Aindow m.aindow@uconn.edu

Protocol for a statewide randomized controlled trial to compare three training models for implementing an evidence-based treatment.

BackgroundEvidence-based treatments (EBTs) are available for treating childhood behavioral health challenges. Despite EBTs’ potential to help children and families, they have primarily remained in university settings. Little empirical evidence exists regarding how specific, commonly used training and quality control models are effective in changing practice, achieving full implementation, and supporting positive client outcomes.Methods/designThis study (NIMH RO1 MH095750; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02543359), which is currently in progress, will evaluate the effectiveness of three training models (Learning Collaborative (LC), Cascading Model (CM), and Distance Education (DE)) to implement a well-established EBT , Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, in real-world, community settings. The three models differ in their costs, skill training, quality control methods, and capacity to address broader implementation challenges. The project is guided by three specific aims: (1) to build knowledge about training outcomes, (2) to build knowledge about implementation outcomes, and (3) to test the differential impact of training clinicians using LC, CM, and DE models on key client outcomes. Fifty (50) licensed psychiatric clinics across Pennsylvania were randomized to one of the three training conditions: (1) LC, (2) CM, or (3) DE. The impact of training on practice skills (clinician level) and implementation/sustainment outcomes (clinic level) are being evaluated at four timepoints coinciding with the training schedule: baseline, 6 (mid), 12 (post), and 24 months (1 year follow-up). Immediately after training begins, parent–child dyads (client level) are recruited from the caseloads of participating clinicians. Client outcomes are being assessed at four timepoints (pre-treatment, 1, 6, and 12 months after the pre-treatment).DiscussionThis proposal builds on an ongoing initiative to implement an EBT statewide. A team of diverse stakeholders including state policy makers, payers, consumers, service providers, and academics from different, but complementary areas (e.g., public health, social work, psychiatry), has been assembled to guide the research plan by incorporating input from multidimensional perspective.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02543359

Agroecosystems and primate conservation: Shade coffee as potential habitat for the conservation of Andean night monkeys in the northern Andes

The global change in land use toward agroecosystems is one of the major drivers of habitat loss and fragmentation. Although simplified agroecosystems such as pastures generally exclude most native biodiversity, other more complex systems such as agroforestry can support certain levels of biodiversity and serve as habitat, connecting corridors or stepping stones for many species. For example, traditional shade coffee plantations can become key refuge areas for biodiversity, especially compared to more intensive agricultural practices.The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the potential role of shade coffee plantations on the conservation of Andean night monkeys (Aotus lemurinus) in the Colombian highlands. Two groups of night monkeys were followed during 16 and 7 months, and data on their ranging patterns, habitat use, activity budget and diet were recorded using focal animal sampling. We also estimated habitat wide fruit availability at natural forests and shade coffee. Overall, both study groups preferred natural forests relative to their spatial cover, spending 70.3% and 94.4% of their time in natural forests, even though shade coffee had a yearly 10-fold total productivity advantage over natural habitats (4045 and 416kg/h/year, respectively). Nonetheless, night monkeys used shade coffee areas throughout the year, specially during the peak periods of fruit production of Prunus integrifolia (43% of time during June–July 2009; 64% of time during March 2010), a tree that dominated the shade coffee areas. The activity budget, home range size and nightly travelled distances of Andean night monkeys in this study fall within the range of values reported in previous studies on night monkeys on disturbed and undisturbed habitats. The results of this study provide support for the use of shade coffee plantations as complementary areas for the conservation of Andean primate populations while providing local farmers with economic alternatives. Although the conservation of montane primate populations in Colombia will largely depend on the protection of the remaining natural habitats, agroecosystems such as shade coffee plantations might provide additive opportunities to increase the carrying capacity of mixed habitats and may become a successful conservation strategy in the pervasively transformed habitats of the northern Andes.

Dual organization and social inequality in a Venezuelan chiefdom, AD 550–1000

We use archaeological data from the El Gaván site (B12), the paramount center of a pre-Hispanic regional chiefdom during the Late Gaván phase (AD 550–1000) in Barinas, Venezuela, to test two hypotheses about dual organization derived from the ethnographic literature of lowland South America: (1) the hypothesis of gender-linked polarity-complementarity (GLPC); and (2) the hypothesis of exogamous moieties with virilocal residence (EMVR). Spatial analyses of artifact distributions on the floors of two excavated houses reveal that both houses were divided into two complementary activity areas that can be associated with the adult females and adult males of the households, consistent with the GLPC hypothesis. Shifting our perspective to the community level, we conduct statistical analyses of artifacts from test pits in each of the site’s two sectors of house mounds; the results are consistent with the EMVR hypothesis. We then consider how dual organization might have intersected with conditions of social inequality in the El Gaván chiefdom.

Public Pension Programs in Southeast Asia: An Assessment

This paper assesses public pension programs in select Southeast Asian economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – henceforth referred to as the SEA6) and the key issues facing them. The criteria used in assessing pension systems are the philosophy of pension design, the extent of coverage, investment policies and performance, and administrative and compliance costs. The paper argues that three broad reform directions to strengthen public pensions merit consideration. The first direction is to enhance the professionalism of the existing provident and pension fund organizations, including their governance practices. The second direction is to strengthen the role of noncontributory budget‐financed pensions (e.g. social pensions). The third is to adopt a systemic perspective to pension reform that includes reforms in complementary areas (labor markets, public financial management practices, and the civil service); developing a financing‐mix of pensions; and lastly, improving effective coverage by exploring complementarities between health care and pension programs.

Raising the political profile of the neglected zoonotic diseases: three complementary European commission-funded projects to streamline research, build capacity and advocate for control.

Raising the political profile of the neglected zoonotic diseases: three complementary European commission-funded projects to streamline research, build capacity and advocate for control.