The Wrath of Zemi

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renzo S. Duin
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Christopher Columbus ◽  
Indigenous Methodology ◽  
Field School ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Hurricane Prediction ◽  
Paradigm Shifting ◽  
Further Development

Drawing on more than twenty years of research and long-term in-depth field experience in the Neotropics, this article argues for an indigenous methodology for predicting the arrival of hurricanes in the Caribbean. The archaeological site under study is Anse à la Gourde on Guadeloupe (French West Indies), here discussed in conjunction with a theoretical underpinning in Indigenous Amazonian cosmologies and ethnoastronomy. The conceptualisation for this study goes back to an experience that the author had during archaeological field school in 1995, and it is through a paradigm-shifting "dwelling perspective" that the author has been able to make sense of his original perceptions. During the further development of this innovative hypothesis on hurricane prediction by the Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus emerged an alternative hypothesis for a momentous dividing moment in Caribbean archaeology, namely the end of the Saladoid around AD 800.

scholarly journals COVID-19: Intensifying the Existential Threat to the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Michael Witter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Neoliberal Globalization ◽  
Agricultural Exports ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
The Caribbean

The Caribbean has experienced an overlapping and interconnected series of challenges, including economic, social, and environmental, which pose an existential threat to the region. This article focuses on the nature of this threat as it evolved before and during the pandemic crisis. Under neoliberal globalization, Caribbean economies transformed themselves rapidly into service providers, most having resorted to developing a tourism sector, while some moved into oil production. In all cases, traditional agricultural exports declined with the loss of protected markets where they earned preferential prices. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the Caribbean’s existential crisis and revealed the inextricable links among the environment, economy, and public health. This article focuses on these links and suggests a way forward for public policy in the short, medium, and long term.

scholarly journals Applications, challenges, and needs for employing synthetic biology beyond the lab

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sierra M. Brooks ◽  
Hal S. Alper
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Long Term Storage ◽  
Autonomous Function ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Major Application ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Probiotic Delivery

AbstractSynthetic biology holds great promise for addressing global needs. However, most current developments are not immediately translatable to ‘outside-the-lab’ scenarios that differ from controlled laboratory settings. Challenges include enabling long-term storage stability as well as operating in resource-limited and off-the-grid scenarios using autonomous function. Here we analyze recent advances in developing synthetic biological platforms for outside-the-lab scenarios with a focus on three major application spaces: bioproduction, biosensing, and closed-loop therapeutic and probiotic delivery. Across the Perspective, we highlight recent advances, areas for further development, possibilities for future applications, and the needs for innovation at the interface of other disciplines.

scholarly journals Sustaining Trade during COVID-19 Pandemic: Establishing a Conceptual Model Including COVID-19 Impact

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5418
Author(s):  
Nashwan M. A. Saif ◽  
Jianping Ruan ◽  
Bojan Obrenovic
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Economic Distance ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Sudden Decrease ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Conceptual Research

The conceptual research aims to identify antecedents conducive to bilateral trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the relevance of bilateral trade for foreign policy and economy studies, there is a need for a renewed framework in times of extreme economic instability. As international commerce is essential for improving the country’s economy, we have examined how economic distance, population, trade percentage of GDP, exchange rate, and political changes interconnect and relate to COVID-19, influencing trade flows. This conceptual paper illustrates the likely impact of COVID-19 on international trade by exploring pandemics’ effects on standard trading parameters such as GDP, distance, policy stability, and population. We model the resulting shock as a multifaceted variable reflected in capital underutilization, manufacturing output decline, international trade costs inflation, production costs inflation, decrease in demand for certain services and shift from everyday needs towards activities that exclude the proximity between people, e.g., proclivity towards virtual market products. The sudden decrease in GDP and bilateral trade, as well as FDI, is amplified by further development of pandemics’ long-term consequences. We take COVID-19 to be a technological, financial, and policy shock significantly influencing international trade and economic development and argue that it will have a varying impact on diverse sectors and economies. The paper offers preliminary insight into the pandemic-related economics that are unfolding and deduce recommendations on positive changes in trading policy to fully leverage on arising trading opportunities and point to potential research directions.

scholarly journals The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospitality Industry in Greece and Its Treasured Santorini Island

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7906
Author(s):  
Nikola Medová ◽  
Lucie Macková ◽  
Jaromir Harmacek
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Further Development

This paper focuses on the dynamic of the recent upheaval in the tourism and hospitality sector due to the COVID-19 epidemic in Greece and Santorini island. It uses the case study of a country one-fourth of whose GDP consists of tourism. We compare the available statistical data showing the change in variables in the previous years with 2020 and look into the new challenges and opportunities posed by the drop in the numbers of visitors and flights. We focus mainly on the economic and social impact on the destination and possible future scenarios for further development in the area. Data show a significant effect of the pandemic on multiple variables, such as the long-term trend of the importance of tourism sector in GDP in Greece, the number of flights and visitors to Greece and Santorini island, and the contribution of tourism and travel to GDP. Based on the available data, we also construct three foresight scenarios that describe the possible futures for Santorini island in terms of the pandemic evolution. These scenarios may help various stakeholders and policymakers to be better prepared for different developments that may appear.

Inter-American Development Bank Sustainability Report 2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Development Bank ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Sustainable Infrastructure ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Sustainability Report

Sustainability is a core element of the IDBs work. Long-term economic growth, and the reduction of poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean depend on development that is economically, financially, environmentally, socially, and institutionally sustainable. The IDBs annual Sustainability Report presents our approach to sustainability and showcases operations and research that are contributing to the sustainable development of the region. The report also presents key data, detailing the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of our lending portfolio, the climate finance we provide, disaster and climate change risk in our projects, and the application of our environmental and social policies. The report also covers our corporate sustainability efforts and how we work to reduce our direct footprint where we live and work. The theme for the 2020 Sustainability Report is making the recovery from COVID-19 green and inclusive, exploring the IDBs work on digitalization, inclusive and sustainable infrastructure, developing next-generation skills and jobs, and Costa Ricas groundbreaking decarbonization efforts.

Landscaping the Agritech Ecosystem for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panos Loukos ◽  
Leslie Arathoon
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Digital Interventions ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Digital Agriculture ◽  
Digital Disruption

Agriculture is an important source of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean. In rural areas, some 54.6 per cent of the labour force is engaged in agricultural production. Although much of the region shares the same language and cultural heritage, the structure and scale of the agriculture sector varies significantly from country to country. Based on the review of 131 digital agriculture tools, this report, prepared by GSMA and IDB Lab, provides a market mapping and landscape analysis of the most prominent cases of digital disruption. It highlights some of the major trends observed in five digital agriculture use cases, identifies opportunities for digital interventions and concludes with recommendations for future engagement that could deliver long-term, sustainable economic and social benefits for smallholder farmers.

Romancing the Stone: Academe’s Illusive Template for African Diaspora Studies

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Melina Pappademos
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
African Diaspora ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Diaspora Studies ◽  
North Americans ◽  
History Of ◽  
America South ◽  
Research Plan ◽  
The Caribbean

I began graduate school in 1994 to study the history of American peoples of African descent; I saw important similarities between their cultures and their resistance struggles and sought to develop a comparative project. However, as I began casting my long term research plan— which was to compare Afro-Cubans and Afro-North Americans—I discovered and uncovered many stumbling blocks. The primary one was that academe grouped African descended people by their European and colonially derived relationships (ex: North America, Latin America, South America, and the Caribbean) and not by their Black derived positions. I may have been naive but this seemed problematic to me.

scholarly journals A fuzzy set model for assessment of a perspectives level for integration of new materials in industrial enterprise processes

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 00045
Author(s):  
Elena Kasianenko ◽  
Evgenii Konnikov ◽  
Nikita Lukashevich
Keyword(s):  
Risk Process ◽  
Industrial Enterprise ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Process Systems ◽  
Industrial Enterprises ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Effective Models ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Qualitative Changes

The definition of effective improvement vectors is currently one of the most pressing challenges facing the industry representatives. The transition to the sixth technological mode effectively contributes to competition intensification in all markets of industrial products. This is largely due to the fact that existing process systems are at the peak of their effectiveness. Further development requires qualitative changes. However, the principal improvement is a long-term and high-risk process. For this reason the issue of creating effective models for assessment of the strategic lines of processes improvement becomes increasingly important for industrial enterprises. This article considers in details the vector of industrial enterprise processes improvement based on the integration of new materials. As a result, a model allowing to assess a perspectives level for integration of new materials in industrial enterprise processes is created.

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