Systems Capacities Research Articles

Caring in the Context of Systems: Service Provider Perspectives on the Mental Health Needs of Newcomer Young Men.

In this study, we applied an intersectional framework to explore service providers' perspectives on the mental health needs of newcomer young men. We conducted focus groups and interviews with 26 service providers in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver, Canada. Findings show that service providers made sense of young men's mental health needs and service access in the context of systems. We identified three interconnected themes: newcomer young men's senses of self in relation to macro-systems, including racism and economic marginalization; settling well as a determinant of mental health; and systems capacities and interdependent resilience. While service providers are engaged in cross-sectoral work in support of newcomer young men's mental health, this work is not being sufficiently supported. Further work is needed around cross-sector capacity bridging and advocacy, as well as the tailoring of services to young men without the assumption and reinforcement of gender stereotypes.

The potential of demand response as a tool for decarbonization in the energy transition

Planning and managing energy production, transmission, and distribution face new challenges as renewable energy sources become more widely used. These sources enhance existing issues of grid operation due to their unpredictability and intermittency. As a result, sophisticated energy system control techniques and technologies that offer novel flexibility solutions to the inelastic demand side are necessary to ensure the power system’s stability. This paper reviews the feasibility of demand response as a tool for effective grid management and a measure for properly sized renewable energy systems (RES) capacities, both of which could accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels. Research also focuses on tapping into the building stock's demand response capacity in an effort to decrease operational CO2 emissions. In this line of approach, current status and goals of the respective European policies are analyzed. The role of market based decarbonization is studied and presented along with the status of demand response market implementation in several countries.

Drainage representation in flood models: Application and analysis of capacity assessment framework

Drainage systems are an integral part of urban infrastructure to help transport and treat wastewater as well as manage flooding during extreme rainfall events. Although there is a significant cost associated with the creation, operation and maintenance of drainage systems, the representation of these systems in flood models is overly simplified. This simplification is due to data protection regulations, and the complexities associated with drainage network modelling. A new framework developed by Water UK in collaboration with the Environmental Agency and sewerage undertakers for UK Drainage Water Management Plans provides data on the capacity and performance of the drainage system. The output from this framework provides a new method of incorporating a more explicit representation of spatially varied drainage capacity in flood models.This study presents the first application of the UK’s capacity assessment framework (CAF) for drainage representation in flood models. We develop a method of using the CAF outputs to represent spatially varied drainage losses across a catchment and assess its impact on flood risk. Three catchments in Leeds are used to quantify the difference generated in flooding when using a national average removal rate (NARR, e.g., 12 mm/hr) and our CAF-derived rainfall removal rates. Although there is variance across catchments, the results show the CAF removal rates increase flood depths, velocities, and flood hazards when compared to the national average due to a more realistic representation of the real system drainage capacity. With the pressures of climate change and continued urban development, a better representation of real drainage systems capacities will become more important and will make local solutions more resilient and relevant to the realities on the ground.

PV Power Curtailment and BESS Management for Distribution Networks: A Practical Approach

Voltage and thermal limits in distribution feeders are the main features assessed to determine their hosting capacity (HC) due to the integration of distributed generation (DG), especially photovoltaic systems (PV). This paper proposes a PV active power curtailment control strategy combined with the management of battery energy storage systems (BESS) under high penetration of PV systems. In addition, the voltage imbalances rate is included in the evaluated operating parameters in order to reduce voltage and thermal issues and avoid or postpone the feeder reinforcement costs. The study uses Monte-Carlo and stochastic simulations to determine the HC and the PV system's random location. Also, several PV systems capacities are proposed by using statistics. Mexican standards are used for the HC estimation and to perform the power curtailment control strategy. The use of smart PV inverters is considered to reduce or increase the PV active power generation. The BESSs are capable of regulating their charge and discharge cycle independently. The results show the advantages of using strategies separately and in combination can be beneficial to improve the feeder performance.

Toward a New Paradigm of North-South and South-South Partnerships for Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and Other Outbreaks.

COVID-19 underscores the need to reimagine North-South partnerships and redefine best practices for building public health and research capacity to address emergent health threats and pandemic preparedness in low- and-middle income countries (LMICs). Historically, outbreak and emergency responses have failed to ensure that the Global South has the autonomy and capacity to respond to public health threats in a timely and equitable manner. The COVID-19 response, however, has demonstrated that innovations and solutions in the Global South can not only fill resource and capacity gaps in LMICs but can also provide solutions to challenges globally. These innovations offer valuable lessons about strengthening local manufacturing capacity to produce essential diagnostic, treatment, and prevention tools; implementing high-quality research studies; expanding laboratory and research capacity; and promoting effective cooperation and governance. We discuss specific examples of capacity-building from Rwanda, South Africa, and Senegal. To fulfill promises made to the Global South during the COVID-19 pandemic, restore and resume health service delivery, and effectively prevent and respond to the next health threat, we need to prioritize equitable access to local manufacturing of basic health tools while building health systems capacities in the Global South.

Everyday capabilities were a path to resilience during COVID-19: a case study of five countries.

COVID-19 demanded urgent responses by all countries, with wide variations in the scope and sustainability of those responses. Scholarship on resilience has increasingly emphasized relational considerations such as norms and power and how they influence health systems' responses to evolving challenges. In this study, we explored what influenced countries' national pandemic responses over time considering a country's capacity to test for COVID-19. To identify countries for inclusion, we used daily reports of COVID-19 cases and testing from 184 countries between 21st January 2020 and 31st December 2020. Countries reporting test data consistently and for at least 105 days were included, yielding a sample of 52 countries. We then sampled five countries representing different geographies, income levels and governance structures (Belgium, Ethiopia, India, Israel and Peru) and conducted semi-structured key informant interviews with stakeholders working in, or deeply familiar with, national responses. Across these five countries, we found that existing health systems capacities and political leadership determined how responses unfolded, while emergency plans or pandemic preparedness documents were not fit-for-purpose. While all five countries were successful at reducing COVID-19 infections at a specific moment in the pandemic, political economy factors complicated the ability to sustain responses, with all countries experiencing larger waves of the virus in 2021 or 2022. Our findings emphasize the continued importance of foundational public health and health systems capacities, bolstered by clear leadership and multisectoral coordination functions. Even in settings with high-level political leadership and a strong multisectoral response, informants wished that they-and their country's health system-were more prepared to address the pandemic and maintain an effective response over time. Our findings challenge emergency preparedness as the dominant frame in pandemic preparedness and call for a continued emphasis on health systems strengthening to respond to future health shocks and a pandemic moving to endemic status.

COVID-19 in Africa: Underreporting, demographic effect, chaotic dynamics, and mitigation strategy impact.

The epidemic of COVID-19 has shown different developments in Africa compared to the other continents. Three different approaches were used in this study to analyze this situation. In the first part, basic statistics were performed to estimate the contribution of the elderly people to the total numbers of cases and deaths in comparison to the other continents; Similarly, the health systems capacities were analysed to assess the level of underreporting. In the second part, differential equations were reconstructed from the epidemiological time series of cases and deaths (from the John Hopkins University) to analyse the dynamics of COVID-19 in seventeen countries. In the third part, the time evolution of the contact number was reconstructed since the beginning of the outbreak to investigate the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies. Results were compared to the Oxford stringency index and to the mobility indices of the Google Community Mobility Reports.Compared to Europe, the analyses show that the lower proportion of elderly people in Africa enables to explain the lower total numbers of cases and deaths by a factor of 5.1 on average (from 1.9 to 7.8). It corresponds to a genuine effect. Nevertheless, COVID-19 numbers are effectively largely underestimated in Africa by a factor of 8.5 on average (from 1.7 to 20. and more) due to the weakness of the health systems at country level. Geographically, the models obtained for the dynamics of cases and deaths reveal very diversified dynamics. The dynamics is chaotic in many contexts, including a situation of bistability rarely observed in dynamical systems. Finally, the contact number directly deduced from the epidemiological observations reveals an effective role of the mitigation strategies on the short term. On the long term, control measures have contributed to maintain the epidemic at a low level although the progressive release of the stringency did not produce a clear increase of the contact number. The arrival of the omicron variant is clearly detected and characterised by a quick increase of interpeople contact, for most of the African countries considered in the analysis.

Stretching resilience and adaptive transport systems capacity in South Africa: Imperfect or perfect attempts at closing COVID -19 policy and planning emergent gaps

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new wave of health, infrastructure and built environment challenges and opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic induced environment presents a divide between the “new and old normal” with policy and planning implications for health, transport and general socio-economic growth and development. Multiple and complex nuanced transport matters cascade all geographic scales and pervade all sectors of the economy. The extent to which existing transport systems capacities are resilient, adaptive, and optimized for complete disaster planning, management and sustainability is questioned. This paper critically reviews how the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the resilience and adaptive transport systems capacities in South Africa. A critical question interrogated is whether on-going policy and planning interventions constitute imperfect or perfect attempts at closing COVID -19 policy and planning emergent gaps. The paper makes use of South Africa as a case study, referencing the Disaster Management Act (No. 57 of 2002) and logical Disaster Management Act: Regulations relating to COVID-19 (Government Notice 318 of 2020),11As amended from time to time i.e., Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002), having declared a national state of disaster published by Government Notice No 313 of 15 March 2020, and extended by Government Notices Nos 646 of 5 June 2020. 765 of 13 July 2020, 889 of 15 August 2020, 995 of 14 September 2020, 1090 of 14 October 2020, 1225 of 14 November 2020 and 1341 of 11 December 2020, No. R. 15 of 13 January 2021 and No. R69 of 1 February 2021. with specific reference to the transport sector lockdown regulations in unravelling policy and planning implications. Drawing from the complex systems adaptive theory (CSAT), sustainability theory (ST), innovation theory (IT), transitions theory (TT), thematic COVID -19 transport planning and policy adaptation, mitigation measures in the South African transportation sector are discussed. Emergent lessons with respect to developing and advancing a new generation of resilient, adaptive, and optimized transport proof infrastructure and services including revising transport and related policies that navigates through various waves and cycles of induced pandemic and shocks is suggested.

Emergency preparedness: What is the future?

Emergency preparedness programs have evolved over the last several decades as communities have responded to natural, intentional, and accidental disasters. This evolution has resulted in a comprehensive all-hazards approach centered around 4 fundamental phases spanning the entire disaster life cycle: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Increasing frequency of outbreaks and epidemics of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases in the last decade has emphasized the significance of healthcare emergency preparedness programs, but the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has tested healthcare facilities' emergency plans and exposed vulnerabilities in healthcare emergency preparedness on a scale unexperienced in recent history. We review the 4 phases of emergency management and explore the lessons to be learned from recent events in enhancing health systems capabilities and capacities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from biological threats or events, whether it be a pandemic or a single case of an unknown infectious disease. A recurring cycle of assessing, planning, training, exercising, and revising is vital to maintaining healthcare system preparedness, even in absence of an immediate, high probability threat. Healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists must play a pivotal role in incorporating lessons learned from the pandemic into emergency preparedness programs and building more robust preparedness plans.

The Epidemic of Covid-19 in Africa: Demographic Effect, Under-Reporting of Cases, Dynamical Complexity and Mitigation Strategies Impact

Background: The epidemic of Covid-19 has shown a different development in Africa in comparison with the other continents. The reasons for this remain unclear.Methods: Basic statistics are first applied to estimate the contributions of the elder people and the health systems capacities on the total numbers of cases and deaths. Differential equations are then reconstructed from the observational time series in order to analyse the dynamics of Covid-19 at the countries scale. The contact number is estimated as a function of time for a selection of seventeen African countries to investigate the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies.Findings: Taking into account the health systems capacity and the proportion of elder people enables to reduce considerably the differences of Covid-19 number of cases and death observed between Africa and Europe. The global modelling technique reveals the dynamical complexity of the epidemics: the dynamics is geographically very diversified, and in many contexts – strictly speaking – chaotic including situations of bistability. The time evolution of the contact number reveals a relatively poor comparison with the strength of control measures in place.Interpretation: The lower proportion of elder people in Africa enables to explain the lower total numbers of cases and deaths by 20.0 times on average (from 7.4 to 31) and corresponds to a real effect. Covid-19 numbers are however largely underestimated in Africa by a factor of 8.5 on average (from 1.6 to 55) due to the weakness of the health systems at country level. Although the dynamics of COVID-19 can be reasonably approximated by few variables, its dynamics is proven to be highly unpredictable on the long term. The analysis of the obtained models evidence very diversified dynamics. The efficiency of the mitigation strategy is confirmed only in a few countries.Funding Information: This work was supported by the French programs Fonds d’Urgence Muse (Montpellier Université d’Excellence), Les Enveloppes Fluides et l’Environnement (CNRS-INSU), Défi Infinity (CNRS) and Programme National de Télédétection Spatiale (CNRS-INSU).Declaration of Interests: None to declare.

Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development Through Effective Implementation and Scale-Up

The evidence base around what causes mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders is substantial. Likewise, researchers have found methods for preventing and treating disorders, as well as for promoting healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being. However, high rates of these disorders continue to persist in children and adolescents across the United States. A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine entitled Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth: A National Agenda explores updated research in epidemiology, risk and protective factors, effective strategies, and implementation science that will help diverse partners and stakeholders better support healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development. This paper outlines the implementation science research related to programs detailed in the report and emphasizes the key components for successful intervention implementation and scale-up. It highlights the necessity of identifying core intervention components, as well as other factors such as community partnerships, implementation strategies, and the systems capacities necessary for increasing success and sustainability.

ACP Risk Grade: A Simple Mortality Index for Patients with Confirmed or Suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Disease (COVID-19) During the Early Stage of Outbreak in Wuhan, China

Background: Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) outbreaks in Wuhan, China, healthcare systems capacities in highly endemic areas have been overwhelmed. Approaches to efficient management are urgently needed and key to a quicker control of the outbreaks and casualties. We aimed to characterize the clinical features of hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, and develop a mortality risk index for COVID-19 patients. Methods: In this retrospective one-centre cohort study, we included all the confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a COVID-19-designated hospital from January 21 to February 5, 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiological and clinical outcome data were collected from the hospital information system, nursing records and laboratory reports. Findings: Of 577 patients with at least one post-admission evaluation, the median age was 55 years (interquartile range [IQR], 39 - 66); 254 (44·0%) were men; 22·8% (100/438) were severe pneumonia on admission, and 37·7% (75/199) patients were SARS-CoV-2 positive. The clinical, laboratory and radiological data were comparable between positive and negative SARS-CoV-2 patients. During a median follow-up of 8·4 days (IQR, 5·8 - 12·0), 39 patients died with a 12-day cumulative mortality of 8·7% (95% CI, 5·9% to 11·5%). A simple mortality risk index (called ACP index), composed of Age and C-reactive Protein, was developed. By applying the ACP index, patients were categorized into three grades. The 12-day cumulative mortality in grade three (age ≥ 60 years and CRP ≥ 34 mg/L) was 33·2% (95% CI, 19·8% to 44·3%), which was significantly higher than those of grade two (age ≥ 60 years and CRP < 34 mg/L; age < 60 years and CRP ≥ 34 mg/L; 5·6% [95% CI, 0 to 11·3%]) and grade one (age < 60 years and CRP < 34 mg/L, 0%) (P <0·001), respectively. Interpretation: The ACP index can predict COVID-19 related short-term mortality, which may be a useful and convenient tool for quickly establishing a COVID-19 hierarchical management system that can greatly reduce the medical burden and therefore mortality in highly endemic areas. Funding Statement: Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program. Declaration of Interests: The authors stated: None reported. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and the principles of good clinical practice, and was approved by the Nanfang Hospital Ethics Committee (NFEC-2020-026).

Assessing the success behind the use of education management information systems in higher education

The continuous use of dynamic and disruptive ICT as energizing elements of the educational process is a reality of current days, where millennials are the centre of an education paradigm in which students are much more inclined to use technologies than enrolling in a traditional non-digital course. Considering education management information systems (EMIS) capacities to collect, analyse, process and publish information and data, it is easy to perceive their relevance to both education organizations and students. Nevertheless, and despite EMIS complexity and inherent possibilities, the existing literature does not provide for a detailed characterization on the impact these systems might have on students’ success. Thus, this research focuses on understanding the use of EMIS by students and the arising of net benefits; it introduces an EMIS success model which posits that to ensure net benefits for students, education institutions must safeguard that their education management information systems are of high quality, while at the same time students are maintained satisfied with the system and engage in continuous use. To assess the posed model, an empirical study has been performed, involving students from higher education institutions. Findings from the study allow us to perceive that, as information systems (IS) success models state, EMIS use and students’ satisfaction are predictors of net benefits. This same model also claims that the available information quality and EMIS inherent service quality are also strong determinants of both continuous EMIS use and student satisfaction.

Measuring stream processing systems adaptability under dynamic workloads

Data streaming belongs to the Big Data ecosystem, which generates high-frequency data streams featuring time-varying characteristics that challenge the traditional stream processing systems capacities. To deal with this problem, many self-adaptive stream processing systems have been proposed. Despite the evolution of self-adaptive systems, there is still a lack of standardized benchmarking systems to enable scientists to evaluate the autonomic capacities of their solutions. In this work, we propose an index called AI-SPS inspired by the human cerebral auto-regulation process. The index quantifies the capacity of an adaptive stream processing systems to self-adapt in the presence of highly dynamic workloads. An index of this nature will help the scientific community generate fair comparisons among literature with the aim of creating better solutions. We validate our proposal by evaluating the adaptive behavior of two state of the art self-adaptive stream processing systems. Tests were performed using real traffic datasets adapted specifically to stress the processing system. Results show that the proposed index quantifies the adaptation capacity of self-adaptive stream processing systems effectively.

Cтруктура и содержание непосредственной подготовки спортсменов высокой квалификации к главным соревнованиям

Objective. To carry out a comprehensive analysis of the schemes of direct preparation of top-level athletes for the main competitions of the year or macrocycle focused on achieving the state of the highest readiness for the start. Methods. Study and analysis of scientific literature and practice of elite athletes training for the main competitions, instrumental methods for studying the energy systems capacities, psychomotor capabilities, testing of specific working capacity, historical method, logical method, expert survey, and system integrative approach. Results. Comparative analysis was performed of alternative models of preparation during the time immediately preceding the main competitions of the year or macrocycle. The short-term (2–3 week long) Western model of tapering is aimed at ensuring a full recovery after the previous loads, technical and tactical and psychological adjustment to the start. The Eastern European model, which is longer in duration (of up to 8 weeks), has a much broader focus. It is shown that the latter model make possible to address a wide range of tasks related to ensuring a high level of general and specialized preparation, the formation of a natural training eff ect as a response to the previous loads with achieving a peak of functional preparation at the time of main competitions and the highest readiness at the moment of specific events. The content of the concepts of ‘tapering’ and ‘direct preparation’ is subjected to analysis, detailed information is presented on the structure of two different schemes of tapering within direct preparation phase: the one of 5 weeks in duration with two mesocycles and the other 8 week-long with three mesocycles. Their principal advantage over the widespread 2-3-week tapering models is shown. Keywords: high performance sport, the phase of direct preparation, tapering phase, the peak of functional preparedness, the highest readiness for starts, pre-start preparation.

Assessing the capacity of ministries of health to use research in decision-making: conceptual framework and tool

BackgroundThe capacity to demand and use research is critical for governments if they are to develop policies that are informed by evidence. Existing tools designed to assess how government officials use evidence in decision-making have significant limitations for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); they are rarely tested in LMICs and focus only on individual capacity. This paper introduces an instrument that was developed to assess Ministry of Health (MoH) capacity to demand and use research evidence for decision-making, which was tested for reliability and validity in eight LMICs (Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Lebanon, Moldova, Pakistan, South Africa, Zambia).MethodsInstrument development was based on a new conceptual framework that addresses individual, organisational and systems capacities, and items were drawn from existing instruments and a literature review. After initial item development and pre-testing to address face validity and item phrasing, the instrument was reduced to 54 items for further validation and item reduction. In-country study teams interviewed a systematic sample of 203 MoH officials. Exploratory factor analysis was used in addition to standard reliability and validity measures to further assess the items.ResultsThirty items divided between two factors representing organisational and individual capacity constructs were identified. South Africa and Zambia demonstrated the highest level of organisational capacity to use research, whereas Pakistan and Bangladesh were the lowest two. In contrast, individual capacity was highest in Pakistan, followed by South Africa, whereas Bangladesh and Lebanon were the lowest.ConclusionThe framework and related instrument represent a new opportunity for MoHs to identify ways to understand and improve capacities to incorporate research evidence in decision-making, as well as to provide a basis for tracking change.

Increasing maneb doses induces reactive oxygen species overproduction and nephrotoxicity in adult mice

Background and purpose: The aim of this study was to elucidate the biochemical, molecular and histopathological aspects of the kidney injuries as well as the hematological perturbations induced after adult mice exposure to increasing doses of maneb (MB).Material and method: Adult mice were intraperitoneally treated for seven days with four graded doses of MB, corresponding to 1/8, 1/6, 1/4 and 1/2 of its lethal dose (LD50=1500 mg/kg body weight).Results: Hematological analysis revealed a significant disruption in total white blood cells and platelets and a significant decrease in the plasmatic levels of ferrozine in mice treated with 1/8, 1/6 and 1/4 of MB LD50. However, the ferrozine levels increased significantly in the group treated with 1/2 of MB LD50. Evenly, our results showed a significant increase in the levels of malondialdehyde, lipid hydroperoxides, hydrogen peroxide and advanced oxidation protein products in all treated groups. The activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase decreased significantly in all MB treated mice. Additionally, all treated groups exhibited strong nephrotoxicity signs, including increases in plasma urea, creatinine and albumin levels and lactate dehydrogenase activity, as well as a significant decrease in uric acid levels. Electrophoresis analysis revealed nucleic acid degradation, testifying the genotoxicity of MB. Moreover, the histopathological observations showed severe renal injuries, which could be related to the above mentioned data.Conclusions: Our data showed, for the first time, that the MB tested doses led to oxidative stress installation causing renal cell damages and lowering all defense systems capacities.

Integrative Societal Resilience or 'One Resilience' Approach: Towards Optimal Health and Wellbeing

Background and Rationale Emerging pandemic threats (EPT) are recognized as real challenges to health and global security. The technical, political, socio-economic, environmental and comprehensive security challenges posed by EPTs require holistic collaborative efforts- going beyond the health sector. Lack of preparedness is anticipated to result in massive socio-economic disruptions and loss of lives, as conveyed by the West African Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks where the combination of spreading fear and uncertainty, and the imposition of movement restrictions and quarantine have heavily impacted on livelihood, business and essential services and economic activities, that have led to social devastation and unrest. EPT is just one among the challenges in attaining optimal health. Disaster threats, which are multi-hazards and multifaceted in nature- including poverty, have the potential to result in massive socio-economic disruptions and loss of lives. Such negative consequences hinge on the extent and effectiveness of sectoral and systems collaboration, which is countered by the prevalence of sectoral and disciplinary silos- silos being basically characterized as the lack of collaborations of systems or sectoral efforts and resources being separately spent on common concerns. It is believed that lack of collaboration on overlapping concerns can be magnified upon further elaboration of the potential for collaboration and synergy among systems. Therefore, ‘One Resilience’ 1 is introduced here as a proposed rallying point, movement and approach towards strategic systems’ integration for attaining optimal health. One Resilience movement may be defined as the integration of security systems capacities along areas of sectoral interdependencies and synergies for the unitive attainment of health, food/water, energy, social, environmental and disaster resilience. By this approach, multi-systems and stakeholders (including political, military, civil society organizations, private citizens etc.) impacted by a human health problem (e.g. Ebola virus infection outbreaks) are expected to work better together to address the common problem. The initiation of a One Resilience movement may be likened to the now popular One Health movement, which was kick-started through the promulgation of the twelve Manhattan Principles in 2004 2 , aiming to promote an international and interdisciplinary approach to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment. Since then, One Health has been able to harness growing support from the human, animal and environmental health sectors.

Can biological complexity be reverse engineered?

Concerns with the use of engineering approaches in biology have recently been raised. I examine two related challenges to biological research that I call the synchronic and diachronic underdetermination problem. The former refers to challenges associated with the inference of design principles underlying system capacities when the synchronic relations between lower-level processes and higher-level systems capacities are degenerate (many-to-many). The diachronic underdetermination problem regards the problem of reverse engineering a system where the non-linear relations between system capacities and lower-level mechanisms are changing over time. Braun and Marom argue that recent insights to biological complexity leave the aim of reverse engineering hopeless - in principle as well as in practice. While I support their call for systemic approaches to capture the dynamic nature of living systems, I take issue with the conflation of reverse engineering with naïve reductionism. I clarify how the notion of design principles can be more broadly conceived and argue that reverse engineering is compatible with a dynamic view of organisms. It may even help to facilitate an integrated account that bridges the gap between mechanistic and systems approaches.

A study on the optimum arrangement of prime movers in small scale microturbine-based CHP systems

Flexibility in connection methods as well as the capability to be stacked in parallel in order to reliably supply larger demands are amongst the significant features which have attracted considerable interest in microturbines for distributed generation applications. One of the leading applications of microturbines is operating as the prime mover of a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. There is an increasing trend towards CHP systems due to their high fuel consumption efficiency as a result of simultaneous production of heat and power. These systems deal more effectively with the environmental issues, since they emit less pollution in comparison with a separate production of the same amount of electricity and heat. In order to optimally benefit from combined heat and power generation, the proper sizing of prime movers is of paramount importance. We have developed a technical-economic approach to selecting the optimum arrangement of microturbines (i.e. number of units and nominal power) and planning its operational strategy in small scale combined heat and power systems (capacities up to 500 kW) for three modes of operation: one-way connection (OWC) mode, two-way connection (TWC) mode, and heat demand following (HDF) mode. The economic decision making is based on Net Present Worth (NPW) method.In addition to the common practice of using identical models, a novel method for stacking microturbines is studied and the results are compared. Performance characteristics of microturbines as well as economic parameters play a crucial role in the proposed sizing procedure; hence appropriate relations are presented to estimate the technical and economic parameters of the system and a detailed sensitivity analysis is conducted. A carbon tax legislation is being considered now in Australia and we have also included in our analysis the impact of this on the economics of the system.