Impending Changes Research Articles

An Exploration of “Hyper-Local” Community-University Engagement in the Development of Smart Cities

ABSTRACTThe use of big data in smart cities poses new questions about higher education and community-university engagement practices in addressing longstanding social and economic exclusion in urban communities. Drawing on transdisciplinary ideas in higher education, cultural theory, and science and technology studies, primary concerns in the era of big data are considered with current conceptualizations of higher education engagement and anchor institution purposes. Tensions in the narratives of civic engagement and democratic practice for community well-being are juxtaposed with tensions in the smart citizen narrative implied by the idealized smart city design. A new framing of community-university relations under what I term “hyper-local” engagement is suggested for more justice-oriented and democratic practices when universities interact with their surrounding communities given the impending and sweeping changes occurring from the use of big data in social policy.

Environmental proteomics reveals taxonomic and functional changes in an enriched aquatic ecosystem.

Aquatic ecosystem enrichment can lead to distinct and irreversible changes to undesirable states. Understanding changes in active microbial community function and composition following organic-matter loading in enriched ecosystems can help identify biomarkers of such state changes. In a field experiment, we enriched replicate aquatic ecosystems in the pitchers of the northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. Shotgun metaproteomics using a custom metagenomic database identified proteins, molecular pathways, and contributing microbial taxa that differentiated control ecosystems from those that were enriched. The number of microbial taxa contributing to protein expression was comparable between treatments; however, taxonomic evenness was higher in controls. Functionally active bacterial composition differed significantly among treatments and was more divergent in control pitchers than enriched pitchers. Aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria contributed most to identified proteins in control and enriched ecosystems, respectively. The molecular pathways and contributing taxa in enriched pitcher ecosystems were similar to those found in larger enriched aquatic ecosystems and are consistent with microbial processes occurring at the base of detrital food webs. Detectable differences between protein profiles of enriched and control ecosystems suggest that a time series of environmental proteomics data may identify protein biomarkers of impending state changes to enriched states.

Lionel Smith in Barbados, 1833–1836: imperialist and abolitionist rhetoric in emancipation-era Caribbean governance

ABSTRACTAfter 20 years of service in the British Army in India, Sir Lionel Smith, KCB (1777–1842) was appointed Governor of Barbados and Governor General of the Windward Islands in order to enact the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. During his three-year tenure, Smith relied on two major rhetorical strategies to advocate for the rights of free Afro-Barbadians and enslaved/apprenticed people. In general, Smith invoked utilitarian arguments, derived from his experience in India, when presenting free Afro-Barbadian men’s demands for equal voting rights, but also resorted to a more humanitarian mode, characteristic of abolitionist rhetoric, when arguing for judicial system reforms that would benefit enslaved and apprenticed people. This essay analyzes the ways in which Smith’s positions resonated with or diverged from those of the Colonial Office, and from those of Barbadian people of color, based on correspondence with the Colonial Office, including two documents written by free men of color, and one by an apprentice. Although Smith was eager to apply the British colonial policy he experienced in India to the impending social changes in the West Indies, the Colonial Office was not as willing to draw these parallels, responding more enthusiastically to Smith’s use of abolitionist rhetoric.

Adaptation Optimization of Residential Buildings under Hurricane Threat Considering Climate Change in a Lifecycle Context

Due to urbanization, the number of residential buildings in coastal areas has increased significantly. Additionally, due to the increase in sea surface temperature associated with climate change, the intensity and frequency of hurricanes has also increased substantially. This paper presents a systematic framework for the optimal adaptation of residential buildings at a large scale under various scenarios of impending climate change during a long-term interval. Different adaptation strategies are investigated to ensure adequate structural performance and to mitigate the damage loss and adverse consequences to society. A genetic algorithm–based optimization process is adopted to determine the optimal adaptation types associated with buildings within an investigated region. The framework considers the probabilistic occurrence models of hurricanes, structural vulnerability of typical residential buildings, possible climate change scenarios, and optimization of various climate adaptation strategies in a lifecycle context. The proposed approach is illustrated on residential buildings located in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Increasing temperature cuts back crop yields in Hungary over the last 90 years.

The transformation of climatic regime has an undeniable impact on plant production, but we rarely have long enough date series to examine the unfolding of such effects. The clarification of the relationship between crop plants and climate has a near-immediate importance due to the impending human-made global change. This study investigated the relationship between temperature, precipitation, drought intensity and the yields of four major cereals in Hungary between 1921 and 2010. The analysis of 30-year segments indicated a monotonously increasing negative impact of temperature on crop yields. A 1°C temperature increase reduced the yield of the four main cereals by 9.6%-14.8% in 1981-2010, which revealed the vulnerability of Eastern European crop farming to recent climate change. Climate accounted for 17%-39% of yield variability over the past 90years, but this figure reached 33%-67% between 1981 and 2010. Our analysis supports the claim that the mid-20th century green revolution improved yields "at the mercy of the weather": during this period, the impact of increasing fertilization and mechanisation coincided with climatic conditions that were more favourable than today. Crop yields in Eastern Europe have been stagnating or decreasing since the mid-1980s. Although usually attributed to the large socio-economic changes sweeping the region, our analysis indicates that a warming climate is at least partially responsible for this trend. Such a robust impact of increasing temperatures on crop yields also constitutes an obvious warning for this core grain-growing region of the world.

Competing Place Meanings in Complex Landscapes: A Social–Ecological Approach to Unpacking Community Conservation Outcomes on the Wild Coast, South Africa

ABSTRACTDespite a general awareness of the social–ecological complexities within which conservation interventions are embedded, approaches to understanding a diversity of local perspectives of heterogeneous landscapes and how they matter for the outcomes of these interventions are seldom demonstrated. We apply a social–ecological approach to exploring the multiple place meanings related to key landscape elements around a proposed community conservation intervention on the Wild Coast, South Africa, by identifying and analyzing three narratives about this impending change. These narratives mobilize competing meanings of the landscape to argue for or against the conservation project. By linking place meanings to locally defined landscape units (ecotopes), we engage multiple interpretations of the heterogeneous and changing landscape to gain a holistic and more inclusive picture of social–ecological landscape processes such as increasing woodlands and field abandonment. The obstruction of this particular intervention indicates the importance of engaging with multiple cultural values of nature.

THE ARCTIC REGION IN POLITICS OF AMERICAN STATES: PAST AND PRESENT

The article analyzes the historical experience and the basic stages of development of the North American Arctic states in the twentieth century. With the new data, and based on the historical method, the article reveals changing relationships of these states to the Arctic in their successive temporary development during the second half of XX – beginning of XXI centuries. The article features the evolution of the position of the authorities in Ottawa and Washington to the region in the context of developing and conducting them in the national interests and security policy.The conclusion is that the policy of the US government and Canada to coordinate their actions in the region under the pretext of defending national interests and to counter external threats, has some historical positive outcome, along with some well-known commitments. Security Policy in these countries limits the competence of the state threats to their territorial integrity, which does not give the government the authority to undue interference in areas that are governed by market forces and civil society. In the light of the impending changes caused by the election of D. Trump, this circumstance should be exploited for excluding the very possibility of military conflict from the political process the Arctic countries.

NOVEL-FILM INTERFACE AND POSTCOLONIAL DYSTOPIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TSITSI DANGAREMBGA’S NOVEL AND FILM, NERVOUS CONDITIONS AND NERIA

This paper comparatively and contrastively explores two art forms, the novel and film, by the same artist, Tsitsi Dangarembga, with a view to gauging their effectiveness in con­figuring Zimbabwe’s postcolonial dispensation. What is gained and what is lost when an artist shifts from one art form to another? Dangarembga belongs to the protest tradition of Zimbabwean postcolonial artists and the conceptual fibre of this tradition is notably the dystopian themes like disillusionment, cultural confusion, sex-role stereotyping, as well as social power relations. Dangarembga’s canonical novel, Nervous conditions (1988), and the highest grossing film in Zimbabwean history, Neria (1993), are both sterling at­tempts within the feminist tradition. The film and novel mirror a society in the throes of an epochal transition, the sense of impending change giving the works the commonality of an apocalyptic vision. Against a backdrop shaped by the interplay of historical, cul­tural and colonial forces, the works become perceptive anthropological windows into a society replete with multiple contradictions. In both her novel and her film, Dangarembga equips her protagonists, Tambudzai and Neria respectively, with a self-defining voice that questions and subverts the status quo. Salient manifestations of toxic masculinity in this patriarchal society account for the subtlety with which Dangarembga critiques gender relations within and without the boundaries of race and class. The protagonists in both works undergo rigorous struggles from which they ultimately emerge as different persons. This paper focuses on the nature of this struggle and its concomitant change.

Radical Redesign: The Power of Team-Based Care.

The electronic health record (EHR) brings tremendous advantages, but it also poses sizeable challenges for the medical profession. Its demands can overburden physicians, and increasingly complex patient care requires a new approach. Acknowledging this and preparing for the impending change to value-

How Older Adults and Their Families Perceive Family Talk about Aging-Related EOL Issues: A Dialectical Analysis

For older adults, approaching end-of-life (EOL) brings unique transitions related to family relationships. Unfortunately, most families greatly underestimate the need to discuss these difficult issues. For example, parents approaching EOL issues often struggle with receiving assistance from others, avoiding family conflict, and maintaining their sense of personhood. In addition, discussions of EOL issues force family members to face their parents’ mortality, which can be particularly difficult for adult children to process emotionally. This study explored aging issues identified by aging parents and their families as they traverse these impending EOL changes. Ten focus groups of seniors (n = 65) were conducted. Focus groups were organized according to race (African-American/European-American), gender, and whether the older adult was living independently or in an assisted care facility. When asked open-ended questions about discussing aging and EOL issues with family members, participants revealed tensions that led us to consider Relational Dialectics Theory as a framework for analysis. The predominant tension highlighted in this report was certainty versus uncertainty, with the two sub-themes of sustained life versus sustained personhood and confronting versus avoiding EOL issues. For these data, there were more similarities than differences as a result of gender, race, or living situation than one might expect, although culture and financial status were found to be influential in the avoidance of EOL discussions. The results of this study help to provide additional insight into relational dialectics related to aging, EOL, and the importance of communication in facilitating family coping.

Questions of Legitimacy in Probation Practice after Transforming Rehabilitation

AbstractIn this article, we discuss the impact of changes to the organisational structure of probation on the legitimacy of probation practice. In particular, we explore how the division of probation into the National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) could affect the self‐legitimacy felt by probation practitioners in both organisations and the implications for probation of a possible lack of overall legitimacy post‐Transforming Rehabilitation (TR). This article is based on empirical research exploring the views of probation staff of the (then) impending changes introduced via TR and reflections on what has happened since.

A new financial order in Asia: Will a RMB bloc emerge?

The objective of this paper is three-fold. First, the monetary and exchange rate regimes of the Asian countries are described and analyzed. The degrees of flexibility in exchange rates and capital controls vary across countries. Some countries have adopted a flexible inflation targeting framework, while others have pursued exchange rate targeting. The paper presents a new result of a tradeoff between price stability and exchange rate stability in the hyperbolic relationship of Asian countries. Second, a framework that analyzes and quantifies the degree of currency internationalization is proposed and applied to the RMB. In every indicator, the RMB’s weight in private-sector international finance has grown in the last several years, both in the private and public sectors. In the settlement role of currency, the RMB is ranked 8th in the BIS survey and 7th in SWIFT usage. This paper exploits data of a recent period when the RMB became de-pegged from the USD and show some of the emerging Asian currencies co-moving with the RMB, more so than the USD. In the official sector, RMB is also increasing its weight. The Chinese central bank has extended the currency-swap agreements with 30-some countries, so that the RMB can be used for trade finance and liquidity assistance. The RMB is adopted as a composition currency of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), effective in October 2016, with 10.92%, ranking number 3, surpassing the JPY and GBP. Finally, potential impending changes in the Asian monetary and exchange rate regimes in Asia are discussed. Projecting the growth of the Chinese economy into the future, the weight of the RMB in the financial markets will increase globally as well as in Asia.

Inventorying Armagh: Max Lock, civil society, and the diffusion of planning ideas into Northern Ireland in the 1960s

ABSTRACTThe cathedral city of Armagh is one of the most historically and architecturally significant on the island of Ireland. This article explores the preparation of an inventory of Armagh’s architectural heritage by the London architect-planner Max Lock in 1964, commissioned by the Northern Ireland Committee of the National Trust. The inventory represents one aspect of the initial response of civil society to impending change in the built environment in the mid-1960s and formed part of efforts to ensure parity with Great Britain in land-use planning legislation. The inventory facilitates a wider discussion on state-civil society relations in Northern Ireland, the values and ideas guiding change within historic settlements, and the place promotional advantage that the local council sought to derive from Armagh’s history and heritage. Utilizing Ward’s typology of diffusion, it is argued that Northern Ireland represents an unusual ‘within-UK’ example of the transference of planning ideas and practices, with its historical experience of devolution offering valuable contemporary insights into the increasingly diffuse and fragmented governance space within the UK.

Ecology: Signals of impending change.

An analysis of arid lands around the world shows how patterns in vegetation may serve as harbingers of things to come.

Innovative Partnership as New Form of Public Procurement in the European Union

The article by legal scientists of Ukraine Vitaliy M. Pashkov and Andrii A. Olefir presents a problem which might be binding to all legal specialists of Europe; namely, on innovative partnership as a new form of public procurement in the European Union. Successful economic and social development may be connected with new forms of innovative partnership. Ukrainas tiesību zinātnieki Vitālijs M. Paškovs (Vitaliy M. Pashkov) un Andrijs A. Olefirs (Andrii A. Olefir) krājumā ievietotajā rakstā apskata problēmu, kas varētu būt saistoša visiem Eiropas tiesību speciālistiem, proti, par inovatīvo partnerību kā jaunu publiskā iepirkuma formu Eiropas Savienībā. Sekmīga ekonomiskā un sociālā attīstība var būt saistīta ar jaunām inovatīvām partnerības formām.

GENDER-SPECIFIC MEANINGS OF HAPPINESS IN THE VIEWS OF PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AGES

Introduction. The article discusses the problem of happiness and some aspects of its study in modern foreign and domestic psychology, including the relationship of happiness with a number of personal characteristics, like age and gender features of its source. Summarize the existing approaches to understanding of essence of the phenomenon of happiness. It justifies importance of the development of the problem of happiness for modern women and men based on their age. Materials and Methods. The authors present the results of a comparative empirical research of gender-specific meanings of the phenomenon of happiness of the subjects of three age groups (early adolescence, early adulthood young and middle adulthood – maturity) total number of 90 people, obtained using the modified variant of the method of semantic differential. Results. The authors traced gender differences and gender similarities in the semantic meaning of the phenomenon of happiness in subjects of different ages. Traced gender differences and gender similarities in the semantic meaning of the phenomenon of happiness, which is characteristic for subjects of different ages, with sufficient variation found to these differences and similarities. The authors found only a single event sustainable in terms of the age dynamics of statistically significant gender differences regarding the semantic similarities of happiness with the government in favor of males. There are some internal contradictions in the system of subjective perceptions of happiness in subjects of different age groups. Discussion and Conclusions. Specific factual material shows the role of differential gender socialization in the formation of personality conceptions of happiness that, according to the findings, most clearly evident in the period of early adulthood. However, along with traditional gender values and standards in some subjects, there are some gender unconventional views, which is a consequence of the impending changes in the content of the dominant in contemporary Russian society the strategy of gender socialization.

Climate Change Contribution to the Emergence or Re-Emergence of Parasitic Diseases.

The connection between our environment and parasitic diseases may not always be straightforward, but it exists nonetheless. This article highlights how climate as a component of our environment, or more specifically climate change, has the capability to drive parasitic disease incidence and prevalence worldwide. There are both direct and indirect implications of climate change on the scope and distribution of parasitic organisms and their associated vectors and host species. We aim to encompass a large body of literature to demonstrate how a changing climate will perpetuate, or perhaps exacerbate, public health issues and economic stagnation due to parasitic diseases. The diseases examined include those caused by ingested protozoa and soil helminths, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, babesiosis, schistosomiasis, and echinococcus, as well as parasites affecting livestock. It is our goal to impress on the scientific community the magnitude a changing climate can have on public health in relation to parasitic disease burden. Once impending climate changes are now upon us, and as we see these events unfold, it is critical to create management plans that will protect the health and quality of life of the people living in the communities that will be significantly affected.

Using integrated, ecosystem-level management to address intensifying ocean acidification and hypoxia in the California Current large marine ecosystem

Ocean acidification is intensifying and hypoxia is projected to expand in the California Current large marine ecosystem as a result of processes associated with the global emission of CO2. Observed changes in the California Current outpace those in many other areas of the ocean, underscoring the pressing need to adopt management approaches that can accommodate uncertainty and the complicated dynamics forced by accelerating change. We argue that changes occurring in the California Current large marine ecosystem provide opportunities and incentives to adopt an integrated, systems-level approach to resource management to preserve existing ecosystem services and forestall abrupt change. Practical options already exist to maximize the benefits of management actions and ameliorate impending change in the California Current, for instance, adding ocean acidification and hypoxia to design criteria for marine protected areas, including consideration of ocean acidification and hypoxia in fisheries management decisions, and fully enforcing existing laws and regulations that govern water quality and land use and development.

Ensuring A Better Water Future for Malaysia

Human overuse of water resources and diffuse contamination of freshwater are stressing the water resources in the terrestrial water cycle. As a consequence, the ecological functions of water bodies, soils and groundwater in the water cycle are hampered and being further exacerbated by threats from impending climate change. Though Malaysia is blessed with fairly abundant rainfall it still has its fair share of water woes, such as occasional droughts, looding and pollution of its rivers and water bodies. Only recently, the country was faced with water related hazards of fairly disastrous proportions. Recurring potable water shortages that occurred in 2014 and 2015 in several states had led to water rationing. Malaysia has since the early 1990s set its vision to become a fully developed country by the year 2020 (Vision 2020). The transformation of the water sector must also evolve in tandem to meet sustainable development goals beitting a developed nation status by 2020. The National Water Resources Policy (NWRP), launched in March 2012, is based on the 3 essential principles i.e. water resources security, water resources sustainability and collaborative governance. This paper will review the various water-related issues and challenges whilst proposing the implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Road Map including the measures to be undertaken to effect the transformation of the water sector in pursuit of Vision 2020 and to achieve the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The indings and recommendations are largely based on several in-depth studies undertaken by the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia (ASM) pertaining to the water sector and the IWRM agenda.

Ensuring A Better Water Future for Malaysia

Human overuse of water resources and diffuse contamination of freshwater are stressing the water resources in the terrestrial water cycle. As a consequence, the ecological functions of water bodies, soils and groundwater in the water cycle are hampered and being further exacerbated by threats from impending climate change. Though Malaysia is blessed with fairly abundant rainfall it still has its fair share of water woes, such as occasional droughts, looding and pollution of its rivers and water bodies. Only recently, the country was faced with water related hazards of fairly disastrous proportions. Recurring potable water shortages that occurred in 2014 and 2015 in several states had led to water rationing. Malaysia has since the early 1990s set its vision to become a fully developed country by the year 2020 (Vision 2020). The transformation of the water sector must also evolve in tandem to meet sustainable development goals beitting a developed nation status by 2020. The National Water Resources Policy (NWRP), launched in March 2012, is based on the 3 essential principles i.e. water resources security,water resources sustainability and collaborative governance. This paper will review the various water-related issues and challenges whilst proposing the implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Road Map including the measures to be undertaken to effect the transformation of the water sector in pursuit of Vision 2020 and to achieve the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The indings and recommendations are largely based on several in-depth studies undertaken by the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia (ASM) pertaining to the water sector and the IWRM agenda.