Current Global System Research Articles

High-Resolution Ensemble HFV3 Forecasts of Hurricane Michael (2018): Rapid Intensification in Shear

AbstractThe FV3GFS is the current operational Global Forecast System (GFS) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which combines a finite-volume cubed sphere dynamical core (FV3) and GFS physics. In this study, FV3GFS is used to gain understanding of rapid intensification (RI) of tropical cyclones (TCs) in shear. The analysis demonstrates the importance of TC structure in a complex system like Hurricane Michael, which intensified to a category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico despite over 20 kt (10 m s−1) of vertical wind shear. Michael’s RI is examined using a global-nest FV3GFS ensemble with the nest at 3-km resolution. The ensemble shows a range of peak intensities from 77 to 159 kt (40–82 m s−1). Precipitation symmetry, vortex tilt, moisture, and other aspects of Michael’s evolution are compared through composites of stronger and weaker members. The 850–200-hPa vertical shear is 22 kt (11 m s−1) in the mean of both strong and weak members during the early stage. Tilt and moisture are two distinguishing factors between strong and weak members. The relationship between vortex tilt and humidification is complex, and other studies have shown both are important for sheared intensification. Here, it is shown that tilt reduction leads to upshear humidification and is thus a driving factor for intensification. A stronger initial vortex and early evolution of the vortex also appear to be the key to members that are able to resist the sheared environment.

The Bright and the Dark sides of a new Information Reality (in the context of the Intellectual Property protection)

Nowadays changes’ vector related to the information and technological novelties presently shifts: from technical, economic and legal fields - to the socio-cultural dimension. Following the production sectors, other areas of life became the objects of conscious and deliberate innovative activities, that allow us to fix the transition towards an innovative model of social and cultural development, and the corresponding increase in the value of Intellectual Property institutions in today’s post-industrial world. This is why the innovation has become one of the main types of nowadays practical activity with intellectual or creative content, and it’s perceived as an essential precondition for further civilized development.
 The intellectual property may be considered as a specific kind of original information, objectified in appropriate form. The core of any intellectual property object is innovation. The latter may even be understood as its inner substance. And the knowledge should be esteemed as a prelude to innovative or creative process.
 In the article, the main attention was focused on the dialectics of development of our Information reality that is changing gradually, but inevitably. The most controversial point is to keep the balance between the principle of Freedom of information (including free Internet, independent mass-media, privacy on the Web, anonymous sources for press and journalism activity), on the one hand, and the principle of informational safety and public security (i.e. the possibility of state power to resist an external informational aggression, to block disinformation attempts, to prevent manipulations with information that may be really dangerous or harmful to the society in different aspects), on the other hand.
 The general vision of today’s Information space evolution is expressed as an ambiguous process, which implies both the advantages and disadvantages of this new kind of reality. Eventually, this means the existence of the dark side of mentioned processes, and the bright one. It all depends on how people will actually use these technological tools. That’s why the state should always remain the sentinel of this fragile balance between the Freedom of Information in all possible ways, and the Censorship that may be expressed in soft or hard forms.
 The other matter is an Intellectual Property protection mechanism in this new information reality, including international and local legislation, judicial practice, as well as mental, moral and ethical, sociocultural, economic and even geopolitical aspects of IP protection. Everyone should respect the related Laws, and individual commercial & noncommercial rights of authors or possessors. But, simultaneously, this realm of social-economic and legal relations - called "intellectual property" - should be reconsidered deeply, as technological and sociocultural conditions have changed substantially. That’s why we consider the current global IP protection system as the olden one. It must be modernized, and this modernization should be definitely commenced by its liberalization.

Globalization and World Order Some Notes

Globalization conceived as the maximum compression of time and space “pulls away” from the nation-state while, at the same time, also “pushes down”. In other words, under the process of globalization, the system of local and parochial identity and loyalty is gradually supplemented with the system of multi-identity and multi-loyalty. The axial question concerns the compatibility/non-compatibility of the current unprecedented global system with a world made up of a plurality of civilizations – where civilization is defined as a junction between a world vision and a historical formation. In other words, can the world become economically global without having any substantial impact on civilizations?

Simulating the Cascading Effects of an Extreme Agricultural Production Shock: Global Implications of a Contemporary US Dust Bowl Event

Higher temperatures expected by midcentury increase the risk of shocks to crop production, while the interconnected nature of the current global food system functions to spread the impact of locali ...

Revisiting international relations legacy on hegemony

Purpose This study aims to investigate the decline of American hegemony as one of the most prominent crises of the modern world order, from a broader perspective that transcends narrow traditional interpretations. The paper assumes that the September 11 events in 2001 have launched the actual decline in American hegemony. Tracing the evolution of US global strategy over the past two decades, the study seeks to analyze the main causes and repercussions of the decline of US hegemony, which would provide a bird’s eye view of what the current global system is going through. Design/methodology/approach The study investigates the decline in American hegemony through a longitudinal within-case analysis which focuses on the causal path of decline in hegemony in the case of the USA, since the events of September 11, 2001, and tries to identify the causal mechanisms behind this decline. Following George and Bennet (2005), the study uses process tracing to examine its research question. Process-tracing method seeks to identify the intervening causal process – causal chain or causal mechanisms or the steps in a causal process – that leads to the outcome of a particular case in a specific historical context (Mahoney, 2000; Bennet and Elman, 2006). The study chose this method, as it offers more potential for identifying causal mechanisms and theory testing (George and Bennet, 2005); it opted for a specific procedure, among the variety of process-tracing procedures listed by George and Bennet, which is the detailed narrative presented as a chronicle, accompanied by explicit causal hypotheses. Using this process tracing procedure, the study assumes that American hegemony has witnessed dramatic changes in the aftermath of critical junctures, particularly the events of September 11, 2001, and the financial crises, 2008, which contributed significantly to this decline. Consequently, it traces the impact of these events on the state of American hegemony, in light of the review of contributions of different theories on hegemony in the field of international relations, both traditional and critical. Consequently, introducing the theoretical framework used in the study (the four-dimensional model of hegemony), which transcends criticisms of previous theories. Findings The crises of the modern world order and the decline of American hegemony – being the main manifestation of such crises – revealed the inability of the traditional and critical approaches reviewed in the study to interpret this decline and those crises. The reason behind that was the inability of these interpretations to reflect the various dimensions of American hegemony and its decline since the September 11 events. This highlights the importance of using the four-dimensional model, which combines different factors in the analysis and has proved to be an appropriate model for studying the case of American hegemony and its decline after the events of September 11, as it deals with the phenomenon of hegemony as a social relationship based on specific social networks. Originality/value Despite the currency and relevance of the decline of US hegemony for both the academic and political world, the topic needed to be analyzed systemically and addressed in a thorough scientific way. Through the application of theoretical concepts into the analysis of empirical data, this study contributes to a field where too often the discourse about decline of American hegemony is led without the required theoretical or conceptual considerations.

Exit the main stream ! Options to restore financial markets at the end of the neoliberal disaster

In the context of the currently ongoing financial crisis some research work has been done to outline the major weaknesses of the deregulated and liberalized financial system architecture. A growing shadow-financial system, the abuse of investment techniques and the available financial instruments, accompanied by poorly performing and overestimated rating agencies, short term oriented financial behaviour and a poorly developed regulatory and supervisory environment led to a two-digit trillion Dollar damage. The system has in parts lost its function to efficiently intermediate between savers and borrowers and thus became a continuous threat to the value creating real economy. To restore the functionality of the financial system a set of measures is discussed. The Vietnamese financial system partially mirrors weaknesses of the current global financial system, although its particular strengths and weaknesses have to be considered separately as they are borne by the specific features of the Vietnamese economic system.

The Impact of Global Protectionism on Port Logistics Demand

Various risks and uncertainties are strengthening the downside of the global economy. This paper aims to estimate the impact of the US–China conflict and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body’s shutdown on global logistics demand and to show the seriousness of the situation. Existing literature studies on protectionism or the US–China trade conflict were considered, with a focus on the effects of specific issues or impact on bilateral relations. No research has quantitatively considered the adverse effects of the Appellate Body’s shutdown. In this situation, questions can be raised whether the current global shipping logistics system can be sustainable or not. This paper attempts to estimate the shrinking demand for shipping logistics due to global protectionism. Using a dynamic general equilibrium model and trade-cargo-container conversion methodology, which differentiates this paper from previous studies, the paper suggests that the combination of tariffs and NTBs can severely reduce international trade and the demand for maritime logistics services. Depending on the scenario, port cargo is expected to decrease by 3.95 to 6.9 trillion tons, which can be half of the global cargo. Based on these estimates, this paper suggests that a catastrophe could occur in global trade order as well as global maritime logistics. Finally, underlining that the international trade order should not be severely damaged, this paper proposes that countries around the world should seriously discuss this issue at the 12th WTO Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Kazakhstan in June 2020.

Unwanted Identities: The ‘Religion Line’ and Global Islamophobia

The article discusses why Islamophobia constitutes a major racist discourse today and illustrates how we can make sense of this global relevance of Islamophobia. The author explains the centrality of the ‘religion line’ in the current global world system by drawing on the post-Cold War era. Through a decolonial reading of Islamophobia, three empirical cases are chosen to discuss differences and commonalities between various forms of Islamophobia in the Xingjiang/China, Egypt, and the USA exploring the effects of this global phenomenon on the discursive construction of identities, citizenship rights, and governance.

КОНСОЛІДАЦІЯ МІЖНАРОДНОГО ПОРЯДКУ У ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННІ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ ЛЮДСТВА

The problems and prospects of a new international order formation in terms of the transformation of the international system are viewed. It is proved that sustainable development of the contemporary international system depends on the consolidation of the international community and the constructive cooperation between the international relations participants. Thus it is necessary to begin the process of developing a new model of a world governing that would take into consideration the conditions of the global world of the XXI century. The necessity of comprehensive study of the components of the global crisis of world governance and search for mechanisms to overcome it by consolidating participants of the international system are proved. A complex crisis in various fields and at various levels, from local to global proves incapacity, due to lack of appropriate mechanisms, of the international community to overcome the global system crisis that includes world governing crisis. Thus, the current crisis on the global level always calls for search the means and factors that would provide stabilization of the social, economic and political relations, consolidation of social powers and all members of the international system. The current global system crisis is not accidental one and it is a natural phenomenon associated with long-term trends of world political and economic development. Thus the present global system crisis has its own peculiarities and distinctive features associated with the processes of globalization, regional political and economic integration, global migration and more. Crisis development was accelerated because of the collapse of the bipolar international system and intensification of globalization. Obviously, handling crisis development is possible to be achieved, provided the acquisition of the new international system a balance that would correspond properly to the character of global transformations. From this perspective, changes in social development have made the problem of international political consolidation a highly topical one as it is aimed at sustainable development of mankind.

Sustainable entrepreneurship: Review of its evolution and new trends

Abstract Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a mechanism with which to generate economic benefits. However, due to the emergence of the concept of sustainable development as a pressing issue that is affecting the current global system, it has been pointed out that entrepreneurship should not be based solely on generating wealth. This brought about the emergence of the sustainable entrepreneurship notion which has received rapidly increasing attention in the last decade. This proliferation of studies has resulted in a lack of a theoretical framework, so this field needs to be analyzed, organized and synthetized to bring clarity. The aim of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of the status of the field, recognize main topics from existing research and establish future challenges for research. The results based on a sample of 216 articles show that the number of published articles and citations has grown constantly, especially in the last two years. Through bibliometric performance indicators, the most productive and relevant journals, countries, institutions and authors are presented. Moreover, through graphic mapping of strategic diagrams, this study identifies the most significant research tendencies enabling the proposal of several future research directions. The findings of this research can be useful for novel and senior sustainable entrepreneurship researchers, as it contributes to bringing clarity to this field by providing a complementary overview of the evolution and current status, as well as to finding a comprehensive, synthesized and organized summary of the diverse definitions, perspectives and research trends.

Rethinking the food system for human health in the Anthropocene.

The current global food system is becoming increasingly unsustainable and is having negative impacts on planetary and human health. It is essential that human health is placed at the centre of a redesigned food system, as that will also help ensure planetary health.

The capitalist voyeur: commodification, consumption and the spectacle of the cruise

ABSTRACTThis article explores the pervasive forms of consumerism which underpin the cruise experience. Drawing upon Baudrillard, among others, we examine the process of ‘magical thinking’ utilised by passengers to mask the hidden social, economic, environmental, and cultural harms that surround the international cruise industry and which in turn serves to reinforce inequalities and structural harms between the Global North and South, particularly in developing and ‘exotic’ destinations. In doing so we aim to unpack the construction of leisure cruising in contemporary western society, arguing that it has become the epitome of the normalisation of banal capitalist consumption which underpins the current global neoliberal capitalist system.

Global analysis and forecast impact assessment of CubeSat MicroMAS-2 on numerical weather prediction

The Micro-Sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite (MicroMAS-2) is a 12-channel passive microwave radiometer on a CubeSat developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. MicroMAS-2 observations (1) enhance the current observing system capabilities and (2) mitigate the potential loss of some existing observations. Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) quantitatively estimate the expected impact of adding the MicroMAS-2 to the current global operational analysis and forecast systems or to a data gap scenario. First, MicroMAS-2 data on one low Earth-orbiting platform were simulated by the Community Radiative Transfer Model from the NASA GEOS-5 Nature Run, which serves as the truth in the OSSE. The assimilation of the MicroMAS-2 observations into the research version of the January 2015 NOAA Global Data Assimilation System in addition to the current operational observation system and in addition to a data gap scenario shows improvement on both analysis and forecast performance skills.

Currency Crisis: Are There Signals to Read?

Financial crisis is nothing new in the annals of history of the capitalistic path of economic development; it is a part of the business cycle. The theoretical basis is well entrenched in the concept of ‘Keynesian Cross’. The tale of crisis, dating back centuries, has taken a new turn with the call for more globalization—liberalize trade and open up the financial sector. This has made many nations vulnerable to crises that are likely to be repeated, perhaps frequently. Based on recent experience, warning signs can be read from the dollar-centric exchange rate, the mainstay for the stability of the current global financial system. To a careful observer, fatigue in the system cannot be overlooked.

GNSS Integrity Monitoring for Rail Applications: Two-Tiers Method

This paper presents an innovative global navigation satellite system (GNSS) fault detection and exclusion approach for the adoption of satellite localization in the rail sector. Current global integrity monitoring systems cannot guarantee the safety level needed for such applications as train control where tolerable hazard rate in the order of 10−9/h is required. A new method, named two tiers, enabling to integrate local augmentation systems and global augmentation infrastructures, is presented. It is based on the comparison of single differences residuals among satellites for detecting signal in space (SIS) faults and double difference residuals among local augmentation stations and satellite-based augmentation systems ranging and integrity monitoring stations for detecting reference stations faults. GPS SIS faults described in literature and real GNSS raw data recorded on a train are taken into account. This study reports the performance analysis for the two-tiers approach carried out during relevant European projects. A test-bed architecture has been developed through the implementation of the algorithm in real time on a local augmentation operational center. Relevant performances have been tested on a rail track for validating the algorithm in real operative conditions. Significant results of the analysis are reported for SIS integrity assessment only.

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS UNDER THE DIVIDED WORLD

After the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many countries and various sectors have been inclined to be involved in the internalization of SDGs. The first two SDGs show a strong will of the international community to end extreme poverty and hunger, which are the most severe problems that the Millennium Development Goals had attempted to tackle for 15 years without achieving satisfactory results. Both problems are the basic necessities of sustainability. However, current global agri-food systems based on neo-liberalism thought are unlikely to address poverty and hunger deeply. On the contrary, the current mainstream agri-food system accelerates inequality between the rich and the poor. What mechanisms are working to create a divided world? What is required to change the situation? These questions are major concerns of this paper. The divided society cannot achieve sustainable development. Accordingly, the special topic of this paper is to explore alternative movements toward a connected world while reducing global disparities, which can initiate sustainable development. This paper focuses on the development of the concept of Sustainable Development, change in agri-food systems, and critical evaluation of multinational bio-related agribusinesses. After summarizing these topics, this paper highlights the Fairtrade movement as an alternative movement, in particular, and a comparative analysis of consumers’ awareness about buying behaviors in different countries. There are no any comparative researches about this topic. Based on the unique research, this paper concludes that the Fairtrade movement can help achieve the SDGs despite many challenges.

Academic identities in contemporary higher education: sustaining identities that value teaching

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how academics in the current global higher education system – which often prioritises metrics of research activity and income generation over rich conceptualisation of transformative teaching – can sustain identities that encompass deep care for teaching. This is a significant area that has been little researched, particularly with experienced academics in mainstream roles in research-intensive universities. A thematic narrative analysis of interviews with experienced academics illustrated important ways in which it can be possible to maintain identities that encompassed deep care for teaching. The ways in which narrative processes are significant for identity development are drawn out. The tensions and synergies between different facets of participants’ identities were shown to be important. Implications for policy makers and institutions, as to how identities focused on transformative teaching can be prioritised, are explored in relation to the policies and reflexive processes which would be required.

Toward Convective-Scale Prediction within the Next Generation Global Prediction System

AbstractThe Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has developed a new variable-resolution global model with the ability to represent convective-scale features that serves as a prototype of the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS). The goal of this prediction system is to maintain the skill in large-scale features while simultaneously improving the prediction skill of convectively driven mesoscale phenomena. This paper demonstrates the new capability of this model in convective-scale prediction relative to the current operational Global Forecast System (GFS). This model uses the stretched-grid functionality of the Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3) to refine the global 13-km uniform-resolution model down to 4-km convection-permitting resolution over the contiguous United States (CONUS), and implements the GFDL single-moment 6-category cloud microphysics to improve the representation of moist processes. Statistics gathered from two years of simulations by the GFS and select configurations of the FV3-based model are carefully examined. The variable-resolution FV3-based model is shown to possess global forecast skill comparable with that of the operational GFS while quantitatively improving skill and better representing the diurnal cycle within the high-resolution area compared to the uniform mesh simulations. Forecasts of the occurrence of extreme precipitation rates over the southern Great Plains are also shown to improve with the variable-resolution model. Case studies are provided of a squall line and a hurricane to demonstrate the effectiveness of the variable-resolution model to simulate convective-scale phenomena.

Environmental racism throughout the history of economic globalization

Environmental racism plagues the history and contemporary realities of globalization. To control resources, stake holders seek to dominate lands and peoples in order to produce at a maximum profit. Left in the wake of consumerism are populations of ethnic, religious, and racial minorities. These groups traditionally have an attachment to ancestral lands they wish to protect or are unable to compete with large corporations who establish environmentally unfriendly conditions and unfair working situations for underserved populations. Since a mentality of ‘Not in My Backyard’ (NIMBY) perpetuates apathy for addressing iniquities, remediation of these issues has been slow to non-existent. The value of exploring specific instances and recurring trends within regions of inequity and destructive ecological policy cannot be understated. Without awareness, change is impossible. Inherently, methodologies used to analyze current global systems are imperialist in nature and create further distance from the subjects exposed to detrimental corporate and policy decisions. This research provides an historic overview of globalized environmental racism in order to address and combat negative choices affecting marginalized communities throughout the world.

Space for environmental resource management and geodata for agriculture and water

Extended Significant increase of environmental issues in the recent decades produce serious threats to the global community. Nowadays, there are numerous efforts to cope and minimize the impact of those environmental problems, mainly conducted by the local governments. Remarkably, the advancement of satellite and geospatial data are currently gaining important contribution in the decision-making process as a part of environmental impact countermeasures [1]. The important role of space and geospatial data agencies to manage information related to environmental resources and their dynamic processes affecting the community, particularly for disastrous events, are now highly acknowledged [2].The Netherland Space Office was established in 2009 and are now responsible to develop and implement Netherland Space Program in providing space application for science, economy, and society. The office, in collaboration with the European Commision and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as the other European Union (EU) member states, conduct programs inside and outside the region [3]. The Netherland Space Office and the other EU state offices is now working together in the Copernicus Programme in monitoring the earth [4,5]. The Copernicus is designated to manage data from multi-satellite observation in Sentinel program, particularly for land and atmosphere monitoring, climate, marine environment, emergency management, and security [4,5,6]. Currently, The Copernicus Programme provides 20 years of free satellite data, and is planned to maintain data from about 30 EU satellites.The increasing need of satellite and geospatial data also is also responded well by private sector initiative in this field [7,8]. This condition, in turn, is expected to improve the number of monitoring intensity as well as reduction of the operational cost. It also potentially yields new information by the increasing number of combinations between the type of sensors mounted in the satellite, and the range of bands to be captured. In the case of Copernicus, the variation sensors and spectral range of different satellite maintained by them currently provides a lot of information related to earth dynamics, natural resources, land cover changes, and disaster events [6,9].It should be noted that the global challenge due to increasing world population, food production, and climate change become central issues that highly affect smallholder food producers. Although various information could be derived from satellite and geospatial data, the current global and regional information systems are not yet supporting to the smallholder level [10,11]. The farmers often obtain outdated information about their environment, particularly related to weather and water resources. On another hand, many traditional knowledges now become less/not effective in managing the farm, particularly due to climate change [12]. This condition suggests the need of better informed decisions at the farmer level. As an initiative, Netherland Space Office execute Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) program to improve food security in developing countries using satellite data since 2014 [10,11]. G4AW currently running 23 projects in 14 developing countries. The program not only providing basic information related to crop management (e.g. providing land cover & soil maps, and irrigation advices), but also provides more localized weather forecast, yield forecast, pest & disease warning, flood & drought warning, as well as providing micro insurance and risk profiling. The implementation of this program is expected to improve the crop productivity in the target areas, as well as increasing the coping capacity of the smallholders against increasing climate variability [13].