Suchergebnisse

AbstractUrban air quality is determined by a complex interaction of factors associated with anthropogenic emissions, atmospheric circulation, and geographic factors. Most of the urban-present pollution aerosols and trace gases are toxic to human health and responsible for damage of flora, fauna, and materials. The air quality prediction system based on state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) has been configured and designed for North Macedonia. An extensive set of experiments have been performed with different model settings to forecast simultaneously the weather and air quality over the country. The initial results and the finding from other similar studies suggest that chemical initialization plays a significant role in a more accurate, both qualitative and quantitative forecast and assessment of urban air pollution. The main objective of the present research is to develop and test for a novel chemical initialization input in the air quality forecast system in North Macedonia. It is performed using ensemble technique in respect to treatment of the mobile emissions data using scaling factors. The WRF-Chem prediction has shown a high sensitivity to different scaling methods. While scaling of the overall mobile annual emissions tends to produce some discrepancies regarding the PM10 concentration level (overestimation during summer and underestimation during winter), an improved approach that utilizes scaling, in a wider range, only the mobile emissions originated from household heating offers the possibility of more detailed parameter fitting. The verification results indicate that the best accuracy across all scores for the winter months was achieved when scaling up the baseline pollutant input using a higher factor, while in the other seasons, the best results were achieved when scaling down the baseline pollutant emissions by a significant factor. Taking all into account, we can conclude that the seasonal variation in the pollutant input to the atmosphere is a significant factor in simulating the pollution in this region. Therefore, these seasonal variations must be taken into account when fitting the pollutant emission input to any model.

Canada and the European Union (EU) are negotiating an ambitious Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). While the content of the agreement has not yet been officially disclosed by its negotiators, the general public and the business community are already concerned about the scope and effect of CETA on the two economies and their societies. This article deals with CETA's transparency provisions. It claims that, whereas CETA has not yet utilized external transparency to ensure support for the negotiations, it does have the potential for greater regulatory transparency in technical barriers to trade (TBT)- and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)-related matters than that found not only in the existing World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements but also in free trade agreements (FTAs) the two parties previously negotiated with third countries.

Economic chaos, legislative and regulatory turmoil, and institutional upheaval have presented significant challenges for environmental protection implementation during the transition period of the formerly centrally planned economies. Russia's efforts to achieve compliance with Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) environmental guidelines are examined from the perspective of water resources planning in St Petersburg, the largest urban polluting source on the Baltic Sea. I focus on the case of the first private – public partnership at a public water authority in Russia. Water resources planning in St Petersburg is analyzed through the lens of the theoretical framework of systems of implementation review in order to assess how socioeconomic, institutional, and management changes have shaped water resources planning and environmental protection implementation in a transition economy. The broader issue of accumulation of social capital with foreign donors and investors is an important part of the pursuit of HELCOM compliance and environmental protection implementation by St Petersburg's city leaders and managers.

Background. Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) is an effective technique to improve gait and reduce freezing episodes for Persons with Parkinson's Disease (PwPD). The BeatHealth system, which comprises a mobile application, gait sensors, and a website, exploits the potential of the RAS technique. This paper describes the tools used for co-designing and evaluating the system and discusses the results and conclusions. Methods. Personas, interviews, use cases, and ethnographic observations were used to define the functional requirements of the system. Low fidelity prototypes were created for iterative and incremental evaluation with end-users. Field trials were also performed with the final system. The process followed a user centered design methodology defined for this project with the aim of building a useful, usable, and easy-to-use system. Results. Functional requirements of the system were produced as a result of the initial exploration phase. Building upon these, mock-ups for the BeatHealth system were created. The mobile application was iterated twice, with the second version of it achieving a rating of 75 when assessed by participants through the System Usability Scale (SUS). After another iteration field trials were performed and the mobile application was rated with an average 78.6 using SUS. Participants rated two website mock-ups, one for health professionals and another for end-users, as good except from minor issues related to visual design (e.g. font size), which were resolved in the final version. Conclusion. The high ratings obtained in the evaluation of the BeatHealth system demonstrate the benefit of applying a user centered design methodology which involves stakeholders from the very beginning. Other important lessons were learned through the process of design and development of the system, such as the importance of motivational aspects, the techniques which work best, and the extra care that has to be taken when evaluating non-functional mock-ups with end users. ; This work was supported by the BeatHealth project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union – Personalised health, active ageing, and independent living, contract Number FP7-610633. See also: http://www.euromov.eu/beathealth/homepage. This work has been also partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government and by the European Regional Development Fund (projects TIN2014-52665-C2-1-R and TIN2017-85409-P), and by the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government under grant IT980-16.

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Schilderung des Verlaufs der Diskussion über die Einsetzung, Organisation, Kompetenzen und Verfahren eines internationalen Gerichtshofs, der die Verbrechen in Ruanda aufarbeiten soll. Dieser orientiert sich an dem bestehenden Gerichtshof über Verbrechen im ehemaligen Jugoslawien. Strafverfolgung, ausgewogene Rechtsprechung, abschreckende und pädagogische Wirkungen sind seine Ziele. Zudem stellt er eine Neuerung dar, da er sich mit einem nationalen Konflikt beschäftigt, und ist so ein Schritt zur Schaffung einer ständigen und universellen Strafverfolgungsbehörde. (DÜI-Wgm)

Wer sich gegenwärtig politischen Ideen in kritischer Absicht stellt, ist mit diversen Problemen konfrontiert, von denen dieser Band einige fokussiert.Ein Teil der Beiträge analysiert die populistische Berufung auf das »Volk« und die »kleinen Leute«, während andere Texte rechtsextremistische Strömungen in den Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung stellen - untersucht unter anderem am Beispiel rechter Fußballszenen. Unterschiedliche Perspektiven auf die Krise und Zukunft der Demokratie bilden einen weiteren Schwerpunkt des Buches, das mit Beiträgen zu den Möglichkeiten ideologiekritischer Ansätze und zur Aktualität von Gesellschaftskritik schließt.

Experiencing Public Relations examines the everyday experiences of PR practitioners in order to better understand how public relations is perceived by those both outside and within the field. The book aims to provoke debate around the nature of public relations by looking at how it is defined at a theoretical level, compared to how it is lived and represented in the real world. Chapters feature work from some of the world's leading public relations scholars. They cover a diverse range of subjects, such as representations of PR in fiction and film, terrorist use of public relations, the impact of social media on this medium and a study of 'dirty work' within the PR industry. The book also explores international PR practices, presenting analysis from contributors based in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UAE, UK, USA and Venezuela. Experiencing Public Relationsgoes beyond the 'frontstage' scholarship of public relations to bring together stories of public relations in daily life, revealing how influential theories work out in practice and translate into different cultural and social contexts. This book will provide researchers, professionals and students with a vital perspective on the inner workings of public relations today. -- from back cover

Hochtechnologie wirkt sich auf den internationalen Arbeitsmärkten so aus, daß Forschung und Entwicklung in den Industrieländern konzentriert ist und die Produktion in den Entwicklungsländern. Da die Industrien eine hohe geographische Mobilität aufweisen, sind für die Länder, die sich nur auf die Produktion stützen, hohe Beschäftigungsrisiken gegeben. (IAB)