scholarly journals Measuring Progress toward Urban Sustainability: Do Global Measures Work for Arctic Cities?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Berman ◽  
Robert W. Orttung
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Underlying Basis ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

The International Organization for Standardization recently responded to a growing global interest in cities by developing an index for measuring urban sustainability (ISO 37120). We address how well this standard applies to Arctic cities, and potential modifications that might improve its performance. After briefly discussing the goals of sustainability indicators, we examine the extent to which Arctic cities’ remote location, cold and changing climate, and thin, largely resource-based economies may create different sustainability challenges. We then critically examine the content of ISO 37120 and the context in which it was created. We place the index within a broader discussion of urban sustainability indicators and examine the extent to which it really addresses sustainability. We then analyze how well the ISO 37120 accounts for the characteristic features of Arctic cities that produce unique sustainability challenges. Our findings show that only half of ISO 37120′s 128 indicators actually measure future-oriented concerns. We suggest that, while the ISO 37120 may be a useful starting point in quantifying Arctic urban sustainability, the index should only be used as a foundation for a more in-depth analysis. To better represent Arctic cities, the ISO 37120 would need to include indicators that situate cities within their regional contexts, addressing both remoteness and the underlying basis of the Arctic city economy. The index should also measure the role of Indigenous populations, and chart the extent to which cities are working to increase levels of sustainability.

scholarly journals The Role of Value Stream Mapping in Healthcare Services: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 951
Author(s):  
Juan A. Marin-Garcia ◽  
Pilar I. Vidal-Carreras ◽  
Julio J. Garcia-Sabater
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Value Stream Mapping ◽  
Value Stream ◽  
Starting Point

Lean healthcare aims to manage and improve the processes in the healthcare sector by eliminating everything that adds no value by improving quality of services, ensuring patient safety and facilitating health professionals’ work to achieve a flexible and reliable organization. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is considered the starting point of any lean implementation. Some papers report applications of VSM in healthcare services, but there has been less attention paid to their contribution on sustainability indicators. The purpose of this work is to analyze the role of VSM in this context. To do so, a scoping review of works from recent years (2015 to 2019) was done. The results show that most applications of VSM reported are in the tertiary level of care, and the United States of America (USA) is the country which leads most of the applications published. In relation with the development of VSM, a heterogeneity in the maps and the sustainability indicators is remarkable. Moreover, only operational and social sustainability indicators are commonly included. We can conclude that more standardization is required in the development of the VSM in the healthcare sector, also including the environmental indicators.

The role of smart parking in achieving the urban sustainability of Mosul city

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maha Akram ◽  
◽  
Mayasa Aloobaidi ◽  
Luma Mohamed ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
First Century ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Urban Image ◽  
Developing Cities ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Smart Parking ◽  
The City

The technological and digital developments witnessed in the twenty-first century have affected the components of cities, including the transport sector, as it represents an important factor and influences the development of social life.It is also the most important engine for progress and achieving urban sustainability with its environmental and economic indicators. many studies, especially in developing cities , including Mosul, and many studies have tended to find smart and innovative solutions to avoid and address this problem within the concept of sustainability, hence the importance of paper in the role of smart parks as one of these solutions to the problem of crowding Traffic and in accordance with the concepts of sustainability and urban , the paper approach adopteds analytical patterns of parks and smart access to study applied by selecting the appropriate style and apply it to the city of Mosul to achieve urban sustainability and contributes to the improvement of the urban image of the city according to sustainability indicators.

Budget as an Instrument of Reproduction of Bureaucracy in Russia

2006 ◽  
pp. 87-96
Author(s):  
Yu. Shvetsov
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Material Base ◽  
Characteristic Features

The article considers the problem of bureaucratisation of the state and the most important social and economic consequences of this phenomenon. The essence of bureaucracy has been revealed, characteristic features of its functioning in Russia have been analyzed; the material base of bureaucracy and its dominating status in the society have been substantiated. The conclusion has been made that the process of changing the role of the budget to serve the interests of bureaucracy is being accomplished.

INTERPRETATION OF SINO-RUSSIAN CULTURE AND HUMANITIES COOPERATION IN THE NEW ERA

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-193
Author(s):  
REN YANYAN ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Current Status ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
New Era ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Cooperative Partnership ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

The friendship between nations lies in the mutual affinity of the people, and the people’s affinity lies in the communion of hearts. The cultural and humanities cooperation between China and Russia has a long history. In recent years, under the role of the“Belt and Road” initiative, the SCO, and the Sino-Russian Humanities Cooperation Committee, Sino-Russian culture and humanities cooperation has continued to deepen. Entering a new era, taking the opportunity to promote Sino-Russian relations into a “new era China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”, the development of human relations between the two countries has entered a new historical starting point, while also facing a series of problems and challenges. This article is based on the current status of Sino-Russian human relations in the new era, interprets the characteristics of Sino-Russian human relations in the new era, analyzes the problems and challenges of Sino-Russian human relations in the new era, and tries to propose solutions and solutions with a view to further developing Sino-Russian cultural and humanities relations in the new era. It is a useful reference, and provides a reference for future related research, and ultimately helps the Sino-Russian cultural and humanities relations in the new era to be stable and far-reaching.

Tobacco’s Appeal to the Senses and the Early Modern Smoker’s Still Life

2020 ◽  
pp. 123-150
Author(s):  
Julia Saviello
Keyword(s):  
Still Life ◽  
Sense Data ◽  
Complex Image ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Tobacco Pipes ◽  
Five Senses ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Cut Tobacco ◽  
Selection Of

Smell and taste – of the five senses these are the two most strongly stimulated by smoking tobacco. The article presents an in-depth analysis of the reflection of both these forms of sensory perception in textual and visual sources concerning the early consumption of the herb. In a first step, tobacco’s changing reception, first as medicine and then as stimulant, is traced through the years of its increasing distribution in Europe, starting in the middle of the 16th century. As this overview reveals, at that time the still little known substance gave rise to new forms of sense perception. Following recent studies on smell and gustation, which have stressed the need to take into account the interactions between these senses, the article probes the manifold stimulation of the senses by tobacco with reference to allegorical representations and genre scenes addressing the five senses. The smoking of tobacco was thematized in both of these art forms as a means of visualizing either smell or taste. Yet, these depictions show no indication of any deliberate engagement with the exchange of sense data between mouth and nose. The question posed at the end of this paper is whether this holds true also for early smoker’s still lifes. In the so-called toebakjes or rookertjes, a subgenre of stilllife painting that, like tobacco, was still a novelty at the beginning of the 17th century, various smoking paraphernalia – such as rolled or cut tobacco, pipes and tins – are arrayed with various kinds of foods and drinks. Finally, the article addresses a selection of such smoker’s still lifes, using the toebakje by Pieter Claesz., probably the first of its kind, as a starting point and the work by Georg Flegel as a comparative example. Through their selection of objects, both offer a complex image of how tobacco engages different senses.

La conexión entre política de cohesión y gobernanza económica en la UE: Eficiencia del nuevo marco para abordar las consecuencias de la crisis

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-62
Author(s):  
Laura Gómez Urquijo
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Investment Funds ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Economic Governance ◽  
Social Protection Systems ◽  
New Instruments

The objective of this article is to contribute to the discussion on the validity of new instruments to enhance cohesion in the European Union (EU). First, we question to which extent cohesion policy is submitted to the new economic governance. Second, we discuss this subordination affects the fulfillment of cohesion aims. This question is especially relevant due to the increase of inequalities in the current economic crisis and the great diversity among State Members (including social protection systems and expenses). Thus, our starting point is the new economic governance framework and its impact on the fulfillment of cohesion objectives. Statistical data are considered with this aim. Next, we will assess the role of European Structural and Investment Funds to eventually compensate public expense cuts, as well as its subordination to the macroeconomic government. This aspect will be contrasted through the study of Country Specific Recommendations given by the European Semester. Spanish El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir a la discusión sobre la validez de los nuevos instrumentos para fomentar la cohesión en la Unión Europea. Nos preguntamos en qué modo queda sometida la política de cohesión a la nueva gobernanza económica y cómo afecta a la efectividad para cubrir susfines. Esta cuestión es particularmente relevante ante el incremento de las desigualdades suscitado en la crisis económica actual. Por ello, nuestro punto de partida es el nuevo marco de gobernanza económica y su impacto en el cumplimiento de los objetivos de cohesión, considerando para ello datos estadísticos. A continuación, valoraremos, el papel de los Fondos Estructurales y de Inversión Europeos como posibles compensadores de la reducción del gasto público así como su subordinación al gobierno macroeconómico. Esta cuestión será contrastada también a través del examen de las Recomendaciones Específicas por país dadas por el Semestre Europeo. French Le but de cet article est de contribuer à la discussion sur la validité de nouveaux instruments pour promouvoir la cohésion dans l'UE. Nous avons considéré, d'une part, en quoi la politique de cohésion est soumise à la nouvelle gouvernance économique et, d'autre part, la façon dont elle utilise l'efficacité pour répondre à ses fins.Cette question est particulièrement pertinente étant donnée l'augmentation de l'inégalité soulevée par la crise économique actuelle, dans un contexte de grande diversité d'États membres, notamment en ce qui concerne les systèmes de protection sociale et les dépenses publiques. Par conséquent, notre point de départ s'inscrit dans le nouveau cadre de gouvernance économique et son impact sur la mise en œuvre des objectifs de cohésion, à partir de la prise en compte de données statistiques. Pour ce faire, nous évaluons le rôle des Fonds Structurels Européens, leur capacité de compenser la réduction des dépenses publiques et leur subordination au gouvernement macroéconomique. Ce e question sera également abordée par l'examen des recommandations spécifiques par pays fournies par le Semestre Européen.

Microbiota-Immune System Interactions in Human Neurological Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 509-526
Author(s):  
Qin Huang ◽  
Fang Yu ◽  
Di Liao ◽  
Jian Xia
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Neurological Disorders ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Host Immune System ◽  
Gut Dysbiosis ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Novel Therapeutic Strategies

: Recent studies implicate microbiota-brain communication as an essential factor for physiology and pathophysiology in brain function and neurodevelopment. One of the pivotal mechanisms about gut to brain communication is through the regulation and interaction of gut microbiota on the host immune system. In this review, we will discuss the role of microbiota-immune systeminteractions in human neurological disorders. The characteristic features in the development of neurological diseases include gut dysbiosis, the disturbed intestinal/Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) permeability, the activated inflammatory response, and the changed microbial metabolites. Neurological disorders contribute to gut dysbiosis and some relevant metabolites in a top-down way. In turn, the activated immune system induced by the change of gut microbiota may deteriorate the development of neurological diseases through the disturbed gut/BBB barrier in a down-top way. Understanding the characterization and identification of microbiome-immune- brain signaling pathways will help us to yield novel therapeutic strategies by targeting the gut microbiome in neurological disease.

scholarly journals Thermal Physics and Glaucoma II: Preliminary Evidences for a Thermophysical Design of a Possible Visible-Light-Photons Therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 6301
Author(s):  
Giulia Grisolia ◽  
Mariarosa Astori ◽  
Antonio Ponzetto ◽  
Antonio Vercesi ◽  
Umberto Lucia
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Thermodynamic Approach ◽  
Equilibrium Thermodynamic ◽  
Pharmacological Treatments ◽  
Light Stimulation ◽  
Cell Behaviour ◽  
Thermal Physics ◽  
Starting Point

Recently, a non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach has been developed in order to model the fundamental role of the membrane electric potential in the cell behaviour. A related new viewpoint is introduced, with a design of a photobiomodulation treatment in order to restore part of the visual field. Here, a first step in experimental evidence of the validity of the thermodynamic approach is developed. This result represents the starting point for future experimental improvements for light stimulation in order to improve the quality of life of the patients. The future possible therapy will be in addition to the pharmacological treatments.

scholarly journals DOM degradation by light and microbes along the Yukon River-coastal ocean continuum

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brice K. Grunert ◽  
Maria Tzortziou ◽  
Patrick Neale ◽  
Alana Menendez ◽  
Peter Hernes
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Dissolved Organic Matter ◽  
Salinity Gradient ◽  
Coastal Ocean ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Yukon River ◽  
Spring Freshet ◽  
Dom Composition

AbstractThe Arctic is experiencing rapid warming, resulting in fundamental shifts in hydrologic connectivity and carbon cycling. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a significant component of the Arctic and global carbon cycle, and significant perturbations to DOM cycling are expected with Arctic warming. The impact of photochemical and microbial degradation, and their interactive effects, on DOM composition and remineralization have been documented in Arctic soils and rivers. However, the role of microbes, sunlight and their interactions on Arctic DOM alteration and remineralization in the coastal ocean has not been considered, particularly during the spring freshet when DOM loads are high, photoexposure can be quite limited and residence time within river networks is low. Here, we collected DOM samples along a salinity gradient in the Yukon River delta, plume and coastal ocean during peak river discharge immediately after spring freshet and explored the role of UV exposure, microbial transformations and interactive effects on DOM quantity and composition. Our results show: (1) photochemical alteration of DOM significantly shifts processing pathways of terrestrial DOM, including increasing relative humification of DOM by microbes by > 10%; (2) microbes produce humic-like material that is not optically distinguishable from terrestrial humics; and (3) size-fractionation of the microbial community indicates a size-dependent role for DOM remineralization and humification of DOM observed through modeled PARAFAC components of fluorescent DOM, either through direct or community effects. Field observations indicate apparent conservative mixing along the salinity gradient; however, changing photochemical and microbial alteration of DOM with increasing salinity indicate changing DOM composition likely due to microbial activity. Finally, our findings show potential for rapid transformation of DOM in the coastal ocean from photochemical and microbial alteration, with microbes responsible for the majority of dissolved organic matter remineralization.

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