Potential Sources Of Conflict Research Articles

Legal aspects of transboundary water management: An analysis of the intergovernmental institutional arrangements in the Okavango River Basin

AbstractThe Okavango River Basin is a transboundary basin which serves as an important source of water resources for three riparian Southern African states, namely Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. If not properly managed, the Okavango River Basin is a potential source of conflict amongst the three countries. In order to reduce the likelihood of disputes among riparian states, the Governments of Angola, Botswana, and Namibia have signed and ratified an agreement establishing the institutional framework for the management of the shared water resources. This article discusses the legal aspects of the institutional arrangements in the Okavango River Basin. It highlights the importance of river basin organizations in the effective management of transboundary watercourses. This article concludes that the institutional arrangements between the riparian states with access to the Okavango River provide the framework for resolving possible disputes peacefully. Further, it concludes that these institutional arrangements promote co-operation over the management of the shared water resources.

Conscientious Objection and Physician-Employees.

This article attempts to motivate a reorientation of ethical analysis of conscientious objection (CO) by physicians. First, it presents an illustrative case from a hospital emergency department for context. Then, it criticizes the standard pro- and anti-CO arguments. It proposes that the fault in standard approaches is to focus on the ethics of the physician's behavior, and a better way forward on this issue is to ask how the party against whom the physician exercises the CO ought to respond. It connects this question with recent trends in physician employment models, which suggest that CO may become a potential source of conflict in the future. The article then develops a relational account of CO that extends James Childress' insights about the nature of CO in "Appeals to Conscience" (1979). This relational account characterizes CO as a two-place relation between conscientious objector and expectant party, in which the conscientious objector makes a request of the expectant party, which has implications that will be welcome and unwelcome for both the pro- and anti-CO camps. Finally, the paper applies this relational account of CO to the case when the physician is an employee. This application demonstrates that it is highly context dependent whether or not an employer should accede to the CO requests of physician-employees.

Генезис современного информационного общества и основные мировые характеристики

We consider the historical aspect of the formation of the modern information society as a result of the world information revolution. The main stages of the world information revolution are: the Neolithic revolution, iron revolution, the emergence of writing, the invention of printing; the appearance of the telegraph, telephone, radio and television; the emergence of electronic computers, the creation of the Internet. The idea of the information society was formulated in the late 60s — early 70s of the XX century. However, in the 70s of the 20th century there was a convergence of two simultaneously emerging ideologies — the information society and post-industrialism. To date, Information economy is a sector of the information industry of the economic system of the country. The new economic system is highly dynamic, leading to the growth of economic inequality countries, becomes a potential source of conflicts of a different nature. Information, as a reproducible resource, becomes an object of sale and purchase and a source of long-term economic growth. We consider the stages of the world information revolution. The Internet revolution is comparable in its value to the Neolithic and iron revolutions, with the industrial revolution that made the world economy leader England in the 19th century. We distinguish eight characteristics of the modern information society: unique knowledge, strengthening the role of entrepreneurship, digital technologies, creative highly qualified specialists, the growth of the global online population, the lack of ICT skills, the rapid development of the mobile world, the lack of a unified methodology for measuring ICT skills. The authors come to the conclusion about necessity of creation of uniform world information educational environment for people from all over the world due to the low global level of ICT-skills and the lack of a common methodology for the measurement ICT-skills.

Managing conflict in online debate communities

Kialo is a novel peer production system focused on pro/con debate construction. Distributed moderator teams vet and accept claims submitted by writers. Moderators also edit and refactor debates as they grow. Thus, moderators play a critical role in cultivating and maintaining debates. Conflict between moderators is typical. It is a feature of argumentation and debate. However, not all conflict is productive. Conflict between moderators can undermine collaboration (by distracting from the task of managing debates) and drive attrition (by discouraging participation on the site altogether). Based on a ten-month participant observation on Kialo, we identify a common source of conflict between moderators: adversarial beliefs and values. Moderators are not neutral participants on Kialo. They take positions on debate topics. We suggest foregrounding these positions, which are potential sources of conflict, through interface design as a scalable way to facilitate conflict management.

Online Reviews, Management Responses, and Gender Bias: An Empirical Investigation

We investigate the impact that management responses have on the likelihood of male and female users writing a review. We exploit the variation in the rate with which hotels respond to reviews on different platforms to show that when managers respond, the probability of observing a review from a female user relative to a male user decreases by 3.3% for negative reviews and increases by 4.6% for neutral and positive reviews. To explain these findings we show, first, that male and female reviewers react to the presence of management responses differently: when the hotel stay is negative, female reviewers are more likely to see hotel responses as a potential source of conflict which, in turn, reduces their likelihood of writing a negative review; when the hotel stay is positive, female reviewers are more inclined to praise the hotel, which increases their likelihood of writing a positive review. Second, we provide evidence of gender bias in the way hotel managers address reviewers: managers are more likely to criticize female reviewers than male reviewers. Overall, our results suggest that management responses can bias the distribution of reviews written by male and female users.

Did Thucydides Believe in Thucydides’ Trap? The History of the Peloponnesian War and Its Relevance to U.S.-China Relations

The Peloponnesian War, a conflict between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, is held to be a classic example of war between a hegemon and a rising power. Graham Allison has recently coined the term “Thucydides’ Trap” to emphasize how structural forces are leading to instability in U.S.-China relations. This interpretation of history is inaccurate and reflects the influence of misleading translations. Drawing on the original Greek text of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, I argue that the concept of Thucydides’ Trap does not find support even in the case that has given it its name. Thucydides’ famous attribution of the war to “the growth of the power of Athens” actually refers to the expansion of the Athenian Empire rather than a shift in the distribution of capabilities. Structural arguments do offer valuable insights about potential sources of conflict in U.S.-China relations, but the causal mechanism has little to do with the analogy of Athens and Sparta. As exemplified by the flashpoint in the Strait of Taiwan, structural change has aggravated long-standing differences between the United States and the PRC. Beijing’s growing economic and military power has resulted in a growing threat to Taipei, which has led the United States to affirm its commitment to Taiwan’s security in ways that are inconsistent with the One-China policy. If this trend continues, it will raise the potential for a military confrontation between the great powers in East Asia.

International Taxation in an Era of Digital Disruption: Analyzing the Current Debate

The “taxation of the digital economy” is currently at the top of the global international tax policymaking agenda. A core claim some European governments are advancing is that user data or user participation in the digital economy justifies a gross tax on digital receipts, new profit attribution criteria, or a special formulary apportionment factor in a future formulary regime targeted specifically at the “digital economy.” Just a couple years ago the OECD undertook an evaluation of whether the digital economy can (or should) be “ring-fenced” as part of the BEPS project, and concluded that it neither can be nor should be. Importantly, concluding that there should be no special rules for the digital economy does not resolve the broader question of whether the international tax system requires reform. The practical reality appears to be that all the largest economies have come to agree either that a) there is something wrong with the taxation of the “digital economy,” or b) there is something more fundamentally wrong with the structure of the current international tax system given globalization and technological trends. This paper is intended as a limited exploration of the second (or third, or fourth) best. It analyzes three policy options that have been discussed in general terms in the current global debate. First, I consider whether “user participation” justifies changing profit allocation results in the digital economy alone. I conclude that applying the user participation concept in a manner that is limited to the digital economy is intellectually indefensible; at most it amounts to mercantilist ring-fencing. Moreover, at the technical level user participation faces all the same challenges as more comprehensive and principled proposals for reallocating excess returns among jurisdictions. Second, I consider one such comprehensive international tax reform idea, loosely referred to by the moniker “marketing intangibles.” This idea represents a compromise between the present transfer pricing system and sales or destination-based reforms to the transfer pricing regime. I conclude that splitting taxing rights over “excess” returns between the present transfer pricing system and a destination-based approach is complex, creates new sources of potential conflict, and requires relatively extensive tax harmonization. This conclusion applies equally to user participation and marketing intangibles. If such a mechanism were nevertheless pursued, I suggest that a formulary system for splitting the excess return is the most manageable approach. Third, I consider “minimum effective taxation” ideas. I conclude that, as compared to the other two policy options discussed herein, minimum effective taxation provides a preferable path for multilateral cooperation.

Imaginative representations of illicit and conflict diamonds in the Sierra Leone Civil War: from paradox and ambiguity to traumatized national psychology

The history of Sierra Leone cannot be fully understood without reference to the connections between diamonds and politics. The economy of Sierra Leone is so closely tied to revenue from diamonds that the success or failure of government rests to a large extent on its exploration. The crucial role of diamonds in the politics of Sierra Leone, especially its connections to power and hegemony, makes it a potential source of conflict. In the corpus of Sierra Leonean literature, diamonds and its role in the civil war provide tremendous material for artistic and creative expressions. From a literary and historical perspective, I explore the role of conflict diamonds in the war. Broadly speaking, I frame my argument on the premise that the literature of Sierra Leone depicts the ambivalence of diamonds in a dichotomy between curse and blessing. From this overall picture of ambiguity, I argue that the carnage resulting from conflict diamonds is a metonymic representation of a disfigured body politic. I use bodily disfiguration of amputees to theorize the connections between bodily injury and national identity, and make the case for using bodily injury as metaphor of a traumatized nation. I conclude that different stages in the exploration of diamonds have shaped the social and political development of the nation and the kinds of literature written and other aesthetic works produced. Post-war writers are using literature to address the psychological consequences of the atrocities committed during the war to usher a new perspective in Sierra Leonean literature that focuses on trauma and disability as distinct from the construct of ambivalence that characterize earlier forms of writing.

Potential sources of conflict in intensive care units - a questionnaire study.

Conflicts occur in intensive care units (ICUs), and an international multicentre study conducted in 2008, including 323 ICUs from 24 European countries, confirmed the occurrence of this phenomenon. There are no data in Poland. The aim of the study was to analyse the frequency of the occurrence of conflicts in ICUs in Polish hospitals, and their most frequent sources. The study was based on an original questionnaire performed in 12 ICUs in the Pomeranian Voivodship. The respondents were asked questions regarding the frequency, type, and lines of conflicts between employees, as well as potential causes of conflicts. Completed surveys were received from 232 employees, including 79 doctors and 153 nurses. The phenomenon of occurrence of conflicts was confirmed by about 30% of the staff, providing answer that conflicts occur "often". About 43% of staff estimated that conflicts "sometimes" occur and 25% chose the answer "rarely". Analysis of the answers made it possible to identify the most common potential causes of conflict. The main sources of conflicts in ICUs appear to be external factors such a financial issues and physical overload. The hospital policy and the health policy of the state are also important. The perceived conflicts require careful and constant monitoring. The frequency of hidden conflicts requires thorough assessment of their impact on the quality of work.

Ukrainian geo-conflict position: neighbourhood level

The modern world is quite unpredictable, trends of the world order of the 21st century testify to the ever-increasing global security crisis. Violations of international law, hybrid wars, and the globalization of certain political conflicts have a particularly negative impact on the security of such regional countries as Ukraine. In such circumstances, our state should clearly be aware of the level of danger of its own geopolitical position and Ukraine’s attitude to existing and potential sources of conflict, in order to timely respond to national security challenges. The article describes the geo-conflict situation of Ukraine, its peculiarities and the relations with neighbouring countries through the lens of conflict. The subject of the research are bilateral relations between Ukraine and neighbouring countries in the context of conflict prevention, regulation and resolution. The goal of the work is to reveal the essence of Ukraine's geo-conflict situation at the neighbourhood level. The objectives: to evaluate the geo-conflict situation of Ukraine at the neighbourhood level; characterize existing conflicts between Ukraine and neighbouring countries; to analyse potential sources of conflict between Ukraine and neighbouring countries. General scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, hypothetical method. The following results were obtained: this research analysed the factors that influence the geo-conflict situation of Ukraine. This made it possible to characterize the geo-conflict situation of Ukraine and to identify its problematic sides. The results of the research can be used by writing the concept of Ukrainian foreign policy and further exploration of this topic. Conclusions: The Ukrainian geo-conflict situation at the present stage can be described as unstable and rather tense. This is due to the presence of a number of historical, current (active), frozen and potential conflicts with neighbours.

Shared misunderstandings? Competing and conflicting meaning structures in quality assurance

ABSTRACTThis article shows how the professional discourse on quality assurance in higher education is building on latent meaning structures that can be competing with each other and even subvert the messages on the manifest level. Taking the case of the Austrian higher education system as an example and employing a reconstructive-interpretative approach rooted in social science hermeneutics, five different meaning patterns are presented: a consumer protection pattern, an educative pattern, an entrepreneurial pattern, a managerial pattern and a quality engineering pattern. By analysing and comparing these patterns, the study argues for paying more attention to latencies and implicit meanings that might be overlooked by focusing on the manifest level of the discourse, in order to not lose track of important contradictions and sources of potential conflict.

Intra- i intersektorowe konflikty interesów finansowych. W poszukiwaniu wstępu do teorii

The contradictions and conflicts were, are and will be widespread. There are in all human communities, even in the world of politics, economy and finance. A potential source of conflicts are contradictions. When a conflict of interest is disclosed, a conflict situation arises. In addition to the conflict that brings positive effects there are also destructive conflicts that contribute to the disorganization states, regional communities, institutions and firms. The contradictions of financial interests and destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance are at the heart of research undertaken in this article. The key research problem is therefore the answer to the question of how to minimize the negative consequences of destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance. The main objective is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the theory of conflicts in the financial sphere, and to formulate an original concept of good integrated governance, based mainly on assumptions of ordoliberalism.

The potential of conflicts of interest arising in the activities of credit rating agencies in Ukraine

This paper presents a comprehensive system of 38 indicators, which allows identification of possible endogenous sources and evaluation of the potential of conflicts of interest arising both at the corporate (in models of ownership, business and financial activities, corporate governance and organizational structures) and operational (analyst) levels of credit rating agencies (CRAs). Testing of proposed system of indicators was carried out based on the content analysis of the public information on the activities of five authorized credit rating agencies of Ukraine. It is determined that at the beginning of 2017 the most sensitive to the risk of conflicts of interest were “Standard Rating” (74% of threat signals of the total number of indicators), “Expert Rating” (57%) and “Rurik” (37%). The highest potential of conflicts’ of interest escalation was identified in the models of financial activities (80% of threat signals of the total number of indicators of that group) and models of ownership of Ukrainian CRAs (63%). The estimations of the risk level are proposed to be regarded mainly as signals of the potentially high sensitivity of the particular CRA to the risk of conflicts’ of interest escalation. Such signals, in particular, can be used by the regulators for carrying out remote monitoring activities of CRAs, for adopting supervisory and regulatory decisions. In turn, managers and owners of rating agencies can conduct a more detailed analysis of the detected potential sources of conflict of interest with the aim of identification, localization, and elimination of shortcomings in the system of conflict of interest management.

Interrogating the Contested Spaces of Rural Aging: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice.

Informed by a critical turn underway in rural gerontology, this article explores how the intersection of global and local trends relating to population aging and rural change create contested spaces of rural aging. The aim is to build our understanding of rural as a dynamic context within which the processes, outcomes, and experiences of aging are created, confronted, and contested by older adults and their communities. A review of key developments within gerontology and rural studies reveals how competing policies, discourses, and practices relating to healthy aging and aging in place, rural citizenship and governmentality, and social inclusion and inequality combine in particular ways to empower or disempower a diverse range of older rural adults aging in a diverse range of rural communities. The article provides a contextually sensitive perspective on potential sources of conflict and exclusion for older adults in dynamic rural spaces and further enhances our understanding of how rural physical and social environments are constructed and experienced in older age. A framework for interrogating emergent questions about aging in rural contexts is developed and implications for advancing research, policy, and practice are discussed.

POWER OF SHARING SUMBER DAYA KELAUTAN REPUBLIK INDONESIA

Maritime and marine development targets are very realistic considering the position of Indonesia is geographically located and has a comparative advantage because it is very close to the world market. On the other hand, Indonesia is located in the tropics with thousands of islands have a wealth and maritime and marine resource potential is very large. Awareness of the protection and preservation of the marine environment began to grow among the countries participating in the Convention; especially regarding the exploitation of natural resources is carried out on a large scale in the marine environment. Especially for marine areas that are still in dispute, the power of sharing activity is the distribution of marine resources with the agreement Joint exploitation the original problem as a potential source of conflict, transformed and directed into a source of cooperation. Such cooperation generally includes the exploration, exploitation, and sharing of benefits derived from the exploitation of natural resources in the region for the parties.

Análisis De Representaciones Gráficas Cartesianas En Libros De Texto De Biología

Graphical representations Cartesian (RGC) are important communication tools in different areas of knowledge and in particular in the Population Biology (BP). The teaching of this area can be strongly affected by the difficulties that students encounter in the interpretation and use of the RGC. In this paper the analysis of RGC in ten textbooks and eight Secondary Education Teacher Training Biology, most widespread in the Province of Mendoza (Argentina), intended to compare and contrast their results is made. The analysis of character ontosemiotic involves both the text and the images, and uses a set of indicators associated with the semiotic concepts of relevance, appropriateness and didactic suitability, based on previous research. We conclude that the books of Teacher Education use a greater amount of RGC and generate as many positive interactions in their school books readers. They are therefore most flattering of inter-linguistic semiotic interactions and relationships between mathematical and biological language. However, they are a source of potential conflict, like school, largely because of lack of clarification of meanings of symbolic notations.

The US Food and Drug Administration and Cardiovascular Medicine: Reflections and Observations.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a remarkable hybrid. Part regulatory agency, part public health agency, it sits at the intersection of science, law, and public policy. The FDA’s mission can be considered in the context of 2 broad dimensions: the products it regulates and its core functions. Both fall under the rubric of protecting and promoting the public health. The FDA’s remit is both broad and diverse: altogether, the agency has regulatory responsibility for >20% of the US economy. The products it is charged with overseeing through its various centers1 encompass food and cosmetics (regulated by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition); food and drugs for animals, including companion animals and animals used for food (regulated by the Center for Veterinary Medicine); and medical devices, drugs, and biologics (regulated by the Centers for Devices and Radiological Health, Drug Evaluation and Research, and Biologics Evaluation and Research, respectively). Tobacco products were added to the FDA’s portfolio by the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, and are overseen by the Center for Tobacco Products. Regardless of the specific product regulated, the FDA’s core mission remains the same: to protect the US population by helping to ensure the fundamental safety of the food Americans consume and the medical products prescribed by their clinicians. At the same time, this primary mission is complemented by a mandate to promote the public health by reviewing research and taking appropriate action on the marketing of regulated products in a timely manner. Not only do people need access to advances in nutrition and medical therapies, but also the American spirit is itself characterized by a strong current of scientific and technological innovation. At first glance, differences in these 2 priorities, protecting the public safety and promoting the public health through encouraging innovation, might …

Positivity effect specific to older adults with subclinical memory impairment

Numerous studies have suggested that older adults preferentially remember positive information (“positivity effect”), however others have reported mixed results. One potential source of conflict is that aging is not a unitary phenomenon and individual differences exist. We modified a standard neuropsychological test to vary emotional content and tested memory at three time points (immediate/20 min/1 wk). Cognitively normal older adults were stratified into those with and without subclinical memory impairment. We found that the positivity effect was limited to those with subclinical memory impairment, suggesting that consideration of subclinical memory impairment is necessary for understanding age-related emotional memory alterations.

Policy frames sobre reinserción social de varones privados de libertad en Chile durante el período 2012-2013

La presente investigación analiza los Policy Frame utilizados por los principales actores involucrados en Reinserción Social de adultos varones privados de libertad en Chile, en el período 2012-2013. Se identifican los frames dominantes y aquellos en conflicto. Para llevar a cabo este análisis se han utilizado dos técnicas metodológicas: la Grounded Theory (Strauss y Corbin, 2002) y el Policy Frame Analysis. A partir de los distintos Frames observados en los actores estudiados, se ha podido establecer la presencia de ejes comunes, complementarios y fuentes de posible conflicto, además de espacios para la convergencia en la relación de actores ante diversos ejes.

Community-based conservation as a potential source of conflict around a protected area in Sierra Leone

SUMMARYCommunity-based conservation efforts are designed to foster local stewardship of important ecological resources. However, inequitable distribution of costs and benefits in communities surrounding protected areas can negatively impact livelihoods, increase wealth disparities and create conflict. To examine the potential for conflict between host communities involved in a community-based conservation program and neighbouring (non-host) communities, we explored local residents’ attitudes towards conservation at Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary (TIWS) in Sierra Leone. Intercept surveys (n = 368) were conducted in 18 villages (eight host, ten non-host) within 8 km of TIWS during 2010. Results revealed significant differences between residents of the host and non-host villages with respect to attitudes towards resource use and overall support for site protection. The most substantial discrepancies centred on perceived benefits associated with TIWS, and these drastically different perspectives generated a high potential for conflict. To minimize conflict and foster broader community support for conservation, managers must carefully consider how benefits associated with protected areas are communicated and distributed across protected area-proximate landscapes.