Suchergebnisse

As a critical site of democratic action, grassroots electoral campaigning is undergoing a transition with the influence of internet affordances in the political mobilizational areas of narrative building, campaign management, data collection and analysis. Through an ethnographic study conducted in Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram during the months prior to the 2019 Indian Parliamentary Elections, the study attempts to map the technology adoption among political workers, in relation to their party/leaders, voters, and other stakeholders in the electoral landscape. Using the typology presented in the new repertoire of social movement action, the authors categorize internet-based and internet-supported campaigning tools, according to the threshold of risk and effort involved in undertaking the activities. Illustrating with perspectives from the grassroots political agents, the paper aspires to extend the literature related to digital political mobilization and contribute to the study of democratic systems.

In the One Health scenario, a deep understanding of the dynamics potentially threatening the development and implementation of useful pest and vector management tools is of key importance. The New World screwworm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), is characterized by a wide host range. It acts as an important agent of myiasis in humans and warm-blooded animals in the Neotropics, and has been eliminated from a wide region through genetic methods. Of note, Serebrovsky had already proposed in 1940 the principles of autocidal control by the translocation of segments between two chromosomes, but his work was negated by Lysenko, based on the negation of Mendelian genetics. This entomological case study emphasizes the danger of politics interfering with science, a still contemporary hot issue. The negation of global warming or current pandemics are further examples of this noxious influence.

Currently European legislation ((EU) No. 546/2011) requires a rigorous risk assessment before registering a biological fungicide as a postharvest plant protection product for fruit, and before placing it on the market. This evaluation should include information on the ability of the biological control agent (BCA) to colonize, persist and spread, as well as possible pathways of spread under normal conditions of use. Molecular methods based on the detection of nucleic acids by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique can be of great help to researchers working on biological control. In this paper, briefly introduce the program for developing a BCA, and present examples of how molecular tools have been used to generate valuable information for the registration of an effective BCA against post-harvest fruit pathogens. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Some claim that consent requires common knowledge. For a doctor to obtain consent, a doctor must know that her patient has given her permission to perform surgery, and her patient must know the doctor knows that he has given this permission. Some claim that such common knowledge requires communication, and so consent requires communication: the patient must tell the doctor he consents for both to know consent took place, and for both to know the other knows consent took place. I first defend the claim that consent requires common knowledge, responding to recent objections. I then argue that, though consent requires common knowledge, it does not always require communication. It does not require communication when the agent obtaining consent can infer common knowledge based on non-behavioral facts about the world.

AbstractIn recent years, jurisdictions have struggled to address the emergence of "sharing" businesses, such as Uber. These businesses have used technology to avoid the regulations that usually apply to industries, such as taxis. By applying a historical institutionalist analysis, this article explains how authorities have responded to these companies. Through a detailed case study of Uber's presence in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, the article makes an empirical contribution by illustrating how regulatory regimes have responded to "disruptive" technology. Furthermore, by applying an exogenously induced and endogenously mitigated model of change the article addresses the bifurcation in historical institutionalist literature between exogenous and endogenous accounts of change. This helps develop historical institutionalism theoretically, responds to criticisms of agent-based approaches and advances a model that can be applied to the study of technological change more generally.

Interpersonal networks and traditional mass media are more intertwined than ever as evidenced by the proliferation of social media. However, it remains unclear how the interplay between the two shapes the way individuals monitor opinion climates, which play a critical role in public opinion dynamics. Using an agent-based modeling (ABM) approach, this study aims to explore the conditions under which social networks and mass media interact to facilitate or hinder the emergence of large-scale spirals of silence. The simulation results show that the spiral of silence in a networked environment may be locally observable, but not likely on a global scale—unless the opinion representation of mass media becomes extremely homogeneous, individuals are hyperconnected, or both, the majority-minority opinion gap found locally seldom escalates to the global silence of the minority.

This article offers a sociological framework for understanding the functioning of pop-rock music, in its plentiful genres, styles and related phenomena through the years, as an agent in thrusting cosmopolitan youth identities, and thereby cultural cosmopolitanism in general. The article develops the notion of a global cultural market of youth identities, created by the structural emergence of 'youth' as an age based social category in modern societies. Following a discussion of cultural cosmopolitanism and an elaboration on the nature of pop-rock music as a global meta-category of musicking, the article discusses the functioning of pop-rock as a realm of content and meaning for youth identities across the world. This is developed and illustrated through the concept of aesthetic cultures of pop-rock; and by a focus on the notion of pop-rock knowledge.

A cryptocurrency needs a relatively stable value if it is to fulfill the traditional functions of money and be useful as a currency. To achieve this, controls are needed within the ecosystem of the cryptocurrency. Although a simulation cannot predict future currency rates or other variables exactly, it is argued that a model that simulates a range of challenging behavior can be a useful testbed for control schemes. To illustrate and explore this idea, an agent-based economic model was used to simulate the early period of a hypothetical cryptocurrency and test two control mechanisms. The results suggest that this approach may be fruitful and that it may be important to include more than just coin minting within the control scheme. An economic simulation model is likely to be a valuable tool in developing and regulating effective cryptocurrency systems.

The paper deals with the key features of declared goals' setting by economic agents in Russia. It is aimed at designation an approach to making a comparative assessment of public objectives of federal executive authorities, regional administrations, development institutions and major domestic companies. The authors established a set and values of goal-setting's quality criteria for multicriteria goal analysis. It was identified that federal government's objectives are more modernization- and long-term-oriented but less measurable than corporate ones. It is also found out that the federal state programs demonstrate logical inconsistency between goals, key performance indicators and expected outcomes. The results suggest that an approach to goal-setting in Russia is non-system-based and nonfunctional at all levels of management. These findings will be of interest to experts and scholars for improving corporate and government strategic documents' creation.

Although the Paris Agreement arguably made some progress, interest in supplementary approaches to climate change co-operation persist. This article examines the conditions under which a climate club might emerge and grow. Using agent-based simulations, it shows that even with less than a handful of major actors as initial members, a club can eventually reduce global emissions effectively. To succeed, a club must be initiated by the 'right' constellation of enthusiastic actors, offer sufficiently large incentives for reluctant countries and be reasonably unconstrained by conflicts between members over issues beyond climate change. A climate club is particularly likely to persist and grow if initiated by the United States and the European Union. The combination of club-good benefits and conditional commitments can produce broad participation under many conditions.

The number of ecovillages – intentional sustainable communities – is showing signs of growth all over the world. These self-organized groups can be seen as agents of change that may contribute to the transition to a more sustainable environmental, social, economic and political paradigm. This article seeks to reflect on the 'transitional potential' of intentional sustainable communities as mechanisms that foster the development of social innovation practices. It is an exploratory study that debates the articulation between an empirical phenomenon, the existence of this type of communities, and a theoretical perspective, the study of transitions. This study is based on a systematic literature review to identify relevant analytical dimensions and suggests a conceptual model that provides comprehension of the phenomenon of intentional sustainable communities as a mechanism for social innovation and transformative change.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and women are important agents for economic and social development. This study attempts to understand how the economic crisis has affected the behavior of SMEs with high female participation in the decision-making process. To that end, the quantitative research focused on a sample of 425 small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain relying on a questionnaire-based survey. The results of the empirical study offer new evidence on the effects of the recession on decision-making female-dominated bodies in organizations and illustrate the importance of corporate governance issues. In addition, the research provides greater knowledge of female entrepreneurs in a country severely affected by the global economic crisis. Several recommendations are proposed to provide a theoretical basis for governments to reduce glass ceiling and promote women&rsquo ; s empowerment policies.

This research contributes to understanding emotional and political challenges experienced by middle managers as they work with contradictions inherent in leading change from the middle. Focus group data from 27 such middle managers based in the UK indicate that, once they have been assigned roles and tasks for leading change, underlying dynamics and processes influence the degree to which they become capable (or unable) to shape and navigate that change. A proposed conceptual framework, illustrated by a case vignette, provides a base of existing knowledge for understanding and explaining these dynamics. We also construct a model of the key tensions that are integral to middle managers leading change. A further contribution to practice involves elaborating the importance of collaborative effort across hierarchical and vertical boundaries, despite emotional and political tensions that undermine middle managers' roles as change agents.

The implementation of governance is very important in public policy making for the realization of a good public policy and can meet the needs of the community. In solving the problems of governance, a policy is required, therefore a policy-making process is required. Objective: To illustrate the phenomenon of government policy implementation on prostitution in Banyuwangi District. This research method is a qualitative research using descriptive approach based on Health Policy perspective. Result of research of Banyuwangi no. 45 of 2015 is expected to provide solutions to the problems of HIV / AIDS that occurred in Banyuwangi. The success of the policy implementation is assessed from the Standards and policy objectives; Resource; Communication; Interorganization and inaugural activities; Characteristics of implementing agents; social, economic, and political conditions, as well as the character of the executive.

The number of ecovillages – intentional sustainable communities – is showing signs of growth all over the world. These self-organized groups can be seen as agents of change that may contribute to the transition to a more sustainable environmental, social, economic and political paradigm. This article seeks to reflect on the 'transitional potential' of intentional sustainable communities as mechanisms that foster the development of social innovation practices. It is an exploratory study that debates the articulation between an empirical phenomenon, the existence of this type of communities, and a theoretical perspective, the study of transitions. This study is based on a systematic literature review to identify relevant analytical dimensions and suggests a conceptual model that provides comprehension of the phenomenon of intentional sustainable communities as a mechanism for social innovation and transformative change.