scholarly journals Historically unprecedented global glacier decline in the early 21st century

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (228) ◽  
pp. 745-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Zemp ◽  
Holger Frey ◽  
Isabelle Gärtner-Roer ◽  
Samuel U. Nussbaumer ◽  
Martin Hoelzle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
Monitoring Service ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObservations show that glaciers around the world are in retreat and losing mass. Internationally coordinated for over a century, glacier monitoring activities provide an unprecedented dataset of glacier observations from ground, air and space. Glacier studies generally select specific parts of these datasets to obtain optimal assessments of the mass-balance data relating to the impact that glaciers exercise on global sea-level fluctuations or on regional runoff. In this study we provide an overview and analysis of the main observational datasets compiled by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). The dataset on glacier front variations (∼42 000 since 1600) delivers clear evidence that centennial glacier retreat is a global phenomenon. Intermittent readvance periods at regional and decadal scale are normally restricted to a subsample of glaciers and have not come close to achieving the maximum positions of the Little Ice Age (or Holocene). Glaciological and geodetic observations (∼5200 since 1850) show that the rates of early 21st-century mass loss are without precedent on a global scale, at least for the time period observed and probably also for recorded history, as indicated also in reconstructions from written and illustrated documents. This strong imbalance implies that glaciers in many regions will very likely suffer further ice loss, even if climate remains stable.

Periodically forced self-organization in the long-term evolution of planktic foraminifera

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Prokoph ◽  
Anthony D Fowler ◽  
R Timothy Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Logistic Map ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Extinction Data ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
The Impact

Wavelet transform and other signal analysis techniques suggest that the planktic foraminiferal (PF) long-term evolutionary record of the last 127 Ma can be attributed to complex periodic and nonlinear patterns. Correlation of the PF extinction pattern with other geological series favors an origin of the ~30 Ma periodicity and self-organization by quasi-periodic mantle-plume cycles that in turn drive episodic volcanism, CO2-degassing, oceanic anoxic conditions, and sea-level fluctuations. Stationary ~30 Ma periodicity and a weak secular trend of ~100 Ma period are evident in the PF record, even without consideration of the mass extinction at the K–T boundary. The 27–32 Ma periodicity in the impact crater record and lows in the global sea-level curve, respectively, are ~6.5 Ma and ~2.3 Ma out of phase with PF-extinction data, although major PF-extinction events correspond to the bolide impacts at the K–T boundary and in late Eocene. Another six extinction events correspond to abrupt global sea-level falls between the late Albian and early Oligocene. Self-organization in the PF record is characterized by increased radiation rates after major extinction events and a steady number of baseline species. Our computer model of long-term PF evolution replicates this SO pattern. The model consists of output from the logistic map, which is forced at 30 Ma and 100 Ma frequencies. The model has significant correlations with the relative PF-extinction data. In particular, it replicates singularities, such as the K–T event, nonstationary 2.5–10 Ma periodicities, and phase shifts in the ~30 Ma periodicity of the PF record.

Law Librarianship and Legal Information Provision in the 21st Century

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-10 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this analysis of the future of our profession, Barbara Tearle starts by looking at the past to see how much the world of legal information has evolved and changed. She considers the nature of the profession today and then identifies key factors which she believes will be of importance in the future, including the impact of globalisation; the potential changes to the legal profession; technology; developments in legal education; increasing commercialisation and changes to the law itself.

Biblical Criticism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Briggs
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Authorial Intention ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Interpretive Method ◽  
Interpretive Practices ◽  
History Of Biblical Interpretation ◽  
The Impact

The Bible as a text can be read with or without reference to its compilation as a theologically constructed collection of sacred Jewish and Christian books. When read without such framing concerns, it may be approached with the full range of literary and theoretical interpretive tools and read for whatever purpose readers value or wish to explore. Less straightforwardly, in the former case where framing concerns come into play, the Bible is both like and unlike any other book in the way that its very nature as a “canon” of scripture is related to particular theological and religious convictions. Such convictions are then in turn interested in configuring the kinds of readings pursued in certain ways. Biblical criticism has undergone many transformations over the centuries, sometimes allowing such theological convictions or practices to shape the nature of its criticism, and at other times—especially in the modern period—tending to relegate their significance in favor of concerns with interpretive method, and in particular questions about authorial intention, original context, and interest in matters of history (either in the world behind the text, or in the stages of development of the text itself). From the middle of the 20th century onwards the interpretive interests of biblical critics have focused more on certain literary characteristics of biblical narratives and poetry, and also a greater theological willingness to engage the imaginative vision of biblical texts. This has resulted in a move toward a theological form of criticism that might better be characterized as imaginative and invites explicit negotiation of readers’ identities and commitments. A sense of the longer, premodern history of biblical interpretation suggests that some of these late 20th- and early 21st-century emphases do themselves have roots in the interpretive practices of earlier times, but that the Reformation (and subsequent developments in modern thinking) effectively closed down certain interpretive options in the name of better ordering readers’ interpretive commitments. Though not without real gains, this narrowing of interpretive interests has resulted in much of the practice of academic biblical criticism being beholden to modernist impulses. Shifts toward postmodern emphases have been less common on the whole, but the overall picture of biblical criticism has indeed changed in the 21st century. This may be more owing to the impact of a renewed appetite for theologically imaginative readings among Christian readers, and also of the refreshed recognition of Jewish traditions of interpretation that pose challenging framing questions to other understandings.

Revisiting the existence of the global warming slowdown during the early 21st century

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Global Temperature Change

Abstract There are heated debates on the existence of the global warming slowdown during the early 21st century. Although efforts have been made to clarify or reconcile the controversy over the issue, it is not explicitly addressed, restricting the understanding of global temperature change particularly under the background of increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations. Here, using extensive temperature datasets, we comprehensively reexamine the existence of the slowdown under all existing definitions during all decadal-scale periods spanning 1990-2017. Results show that the short-term linear-trend dependent definitions of slowdown make its identification severely suffer from the period selection bias, which largely explains the controversy over its existence. Also, the controversy is further aggravated by the significant impacts of the differences between various datasets on the recent temperature trend and the different baselines for measuring slowdown prescribed by various definitions. However, when the focus is shifted from specific periods to the probability of slowdown events, we find the probability is significantly higher in the 2000s than in the 1990s, regardless of which definition and dataset are adopted. This supports a slowdown during the early 21st century relative to the warming surge in the late 20th century, despite higher greenhouse-gas concentrations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this decadal-scale slowdown is not incompatible with the centennial-scale anthropogenic warming trend, which has been accelerating since 1850 and never pauses or slows. This work partly reconciles the controversy over the existence of the warming slowdown and the discrepancy between the slowdown and anthropogenic warming.

The Impact of the Global, Extensible Electronic Health Record

2011 ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Forslund ◽  
David G. Kilman
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Health Records ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The World ◽  
Electronic Health ◽  
The Impact

With the arrival of the “World Wide Web,” we have witnessed a transition toward a truly global perspective with respect to electronic health records. In recent years, much more discussion has focused on the potential for international virtual electronic health records and what is required for them to become a reality in the world today (Kilman & Forslund, 1997). As the Internet becomes more ubiquitous and Web-enabled, we see access to electronic health records using these technologies becoming more commonplace. Even so, these Web-enabled health records still remain technologically isolated from other medical records in the distributed continuum of care; much of the standardization challenge still stands before us. We have witnessed startling technological advances, but we still face considerable obstacles to the goal of having globally standardized electronic health records. In this chapter we describe some of the issues associated with Web-enabled health records, the role of standards in the evolution of Web-enabled health records, and some of the barriers to the development of globally accessible electronic health records. We discuss possible ways to overcome these barriers and the kinds of benefits and opportunities that global health records will help provide. The global scale perspective makes more evident the very real and potentially tragic consequences of prolonged and unnecessary delays in deploying these technologies. Therefore, in an effort to promote a fuller consciousness of health safety, the chapter concludes with a comparative look at the negative impact of impediments in the movement toward global extensible electronic health records.

Institutional Repository as a Knowledge Management Tool for the Enhancement of Library Visibility in the 21st Century

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-93
Author(s):  
Austin Tonderai Nyakurerwa
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Situational Analysis ◽  
Institutional Repository ◽  
Digital Repository ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

The chapter focused on the institutional repository as a knowledge management tool that enhances the visibility of libraries in the 21st century. The researcher mainly relied on content analysis to gather research data. The researcher took a swipe on the uptake of institutional repositories the world over and an analysis of how an institutional repository could be used as a knowledge management tool was done. The researcher also conducted a situational analysis of the MSU institutional repository and assessed the impact of the digital repository on the visibility of the library. The author used the Webometrics Ranking of Universities in Zimbabwe to assess how universities are ranked in Zimbabwe.

scholarly journals The Impact of Possible Decadal-Scale Cold Waves on Viticulture over Europe in a Context of Global Warming

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Sgubin ◽  
Didier Swingedouw ◽  
Iñaki García de Cortázar-Atauri ◽  
Nathalie Ollat ◽  
Cornelis van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Cold Waves ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Ensemble Mean ◽  
The Impact

A comprehensive analysis of all the possible impacts of future climate change is crucial for strategic plans of adaptation for viticulture. Assessments of future climate are generally based on the ensemble mean of state-of-the-art climate model projections, which prefigures a gradual warming over Europe for the 21st century. However, a few models project single or multiple O(10) year temperature drops over the North Atlantic due to a collapsing subpolar gyre (SPG) oceanic convection. The occurrence of these decadal-scale “cold waves” may have strong repercussions over the continent, yet their actual impact is ruled out in a multi-model ensemble mean analysis. Here, we investigate these potential implications for viticulture over Europe by coupling dynamical downscaled EUR-CORDEX temperature projections for the representative concentration pathways (RCP)4.5 scenario from seven different climate models—including CSIRO-Mk3-6-0 exhibiting a SPG convection collapse—with three different phenological models simulating the main developmental stages of the grapevine. The 21st century temperature increase projected by all the models leads to an anticipation of all the developmental stages of the grapevine, shifting the optimal region for a given grapevine variety northward, and making climatic conditions suitable for high-quality wine production in some European regions that are currently not. However, in the CSIRO-Mk3-6-0 model, this long-term warming trend is suddenly interrupted by decadal-scale cold waves, abruptly pushing the suitability pattern back to conditions that are very similar to the present. These findings are crucial for winemakers in the evaluation of proper strategies to face climate change, and, overall, provide additional information for long-term plans of adaptation, which, so far, are mainly oriented towards the possibility of continuous warming conditions.

Exploring E-governance Service Delivery Dimensions: A Study of Registrar of Companies

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-566
Author(s):  
Amandeep Kaur ◽  
Harpreet Kaur
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
21St Century ◽  
State Level ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Government Project ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

E-governance is becoming a phenomenon that is catching the attention of government as well as the citizens across the world. Lately, the governments of almost all the countries of the world made huge investments in implementation of e-government projects including India. There have been a number of centre- and state-level projects launched in the recent years. Hence, it becomes all the more important to assess the impact and viability of such projects. A number of studies have been undertaken in this area. It is observed that most of the studies in this field have focused on exploring e-governance service delivery dimensions in government-to-citizen (G2C) context; however, a few studies are carried out in government-to-business (G2B) context. Hence, the present study is an attempt to bridge this gap. The study aims to explore e-governance service delivery dimensions as perceived by the employees of Registrar of Companies (ROC), North Region. Ninety employees of ROCs were surveyed to know about their perception about the pioneer e-government project named Ministry of Corporate Affairs of 21st Century (MCA21) launched in 2006. Results of the study identified four dimensions as perceived important by the employees. To improve the services provided by the employees to the users, it would be useful to be aware of these dimensions in the future.

The Essence of Security Sciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-123
Author(s):  
Andrzej Czupryński
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Human Security ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Human Personality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freedom And Responsibility

We live in a world of great opportunities, but also of boundless demands. It is generally agreed that the 21st century would be a century of culture. Globalization of culture is an important element of social globalization. This process should be understood as a formation of various relationships and dependencies between societies and their cultures. Globalization of culture entails a change in values and norms, a disturbance of social memory, and shallow culture. Presently culture has become a consumer culture, and it is created by the world of media and the Internet. The article is an important voice in a wider discussion on the impact of cultural globalism on human security. The author is convinced that cultural globalism to the greatest extent affects human personality and social hazards. An important part of it is the description of personal security, in which human subjectivity, freedom and responsibility of cultural threats play a significant role.

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