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In this article, we present a cross-layer adaptive algorithm that dynamically maximizes the average utility function. A per stage utility function is defined for each link of a carrier sense multiple access-based wireless network as a weighted concave function of energy consumption, smoothed rate, and smoothed queue size. Hence, by selecting weights we can control the trade-off among them. Using dynamic programming, the utility function is maximized by dynamically adapting channel access, modulation, and coding according to the queue size and quality of the time-varying channel. We show that the optimal transmission policy has a threshold structure versus the channel state where the optimal decision is to transmit when the wireless channel state is better than a threshold. We also provide a queue management scheme where arrival rate is controlled based on the link state. Numerical results show characteristics of the proposed adaptation scheme and highlight the trade-off among energy consumption, smoothed data rate, and link delay. ; This study was supported in part by the Spanish Government, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), under projects COMONSENS (CSD2008-00010, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 program) and COSIMA (TEC2010-19545-C04-03), in part by Iran Telecommunication Research Center under contract 6947/500, and in part by Iran National Science Foundation under grant number 87041174. This study was completed while M. Khodaian was at CEIT and TECNUN (University of Navarra).

This article expands upon the traditional interstate rivalry concept by focusing on two conceptual dimensions of interstate rivalry: issues and militarization. The first dimension captures the number of distinct issues that characterize a dyadic interstate relationship, such as repeated clashes between states over border disputes, maritime zones, or cross-border rivers. The second dimension is very similar to the dispute density approach to rivalry, and captures the number of militarized incidents over specific contentious issues. The first dimension of issue rivalry is coded by identifying pairs of states with two or more (simultaneous) contentious issues. The second dimension of militarized rivalry is coded for single issues (such as a border dispute), capturing the presence of two or more militarized incidents over that issue in the past. Empirical analyses of these two new rivalry measures in the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe show some important variation in these rivalry dimensions. Issue rivals and militarized rivals are significantly more likely to employ militarized force and peaceful negotiation techniques to resolve geopolitical issues in comparison with dyads that experience contentious issues in non-rivalry settings. On the other hand, dyads characterized by issue rivalry do not experience disputes that escalate to high levels of violence, such as fatalities or wars. It is only prior militarization of a specific contentious issue that leads states down the path to war.

AbstractThis article aims to analyze how the redefinitions of the state role in reorganizingthe boundaries between public and private materialize in the Brazilian educationalpolicy through the partnership of the public sector with the third sector market, withimplications for the democratization of education. The text presents a brief historyof Brazilian education, an example of a partnership between the public and thirdsector, the Ayrton Senna Institute and a public system of basic education representedby a public school of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and debate about redefining therole of the state occurred and the current context of changes in settings between thepublic and private. ; En este artículo se pretende analizar cómo la redefinición del papel del Estado en lareorganización de los límites entre público y privado se materializan en la políticabrasileña de educación a través de la asociación del sector público con el mercadodel tercer sector, con implicaciones para la democratización de la educación. El textopresenta una breve historia de la educación brasileña, un ejemplo de una asociaciónentre el sector público y el tercero, el Instituto Ayrton Senna y un sistema público deeducación básica representada por una escuela pública del estado de Rio Grande doSul y el debate sobre la redefinición del papel del Estado que se produjo y el actualcontexto de cambios en la configuración entre el sector público y privado.

Autor dokonuje w publikacji analizy stanu współczesnej Rosji, procesów społeczno-politycznych zachodzących w społeczeństwie, a zwłaszcza roli, jakiej w nich odgrywają politycy oraz aparat państwowy. Przypominając postać wybitnego ekonomisty XX wieku, laureata Nagrody Nobla - W. Leontiefa, wskazuje na coraz bardziej widoczne i coraz głębsze rozbieżności interesów rządów a społeczeństw. By te rozbieżności nie przesłaniały pozytywnej roli państwa, należy dbać, by nie istniały sfery życia publicznego (a także i osoby), które nie podlegają krytyce społeczeństwa. Remedium na to może być, m.in., kadencyjność urzędników, zarówno na szczeblu federalnym, jak i regionalnym, która ma szansę zminimalizować korupcję i innego rodzaju nadużycia władzy. ; In the paper the author analyzes the state of modem Russia and the socio-political processes experienced by society with an emphasis on the role that politicians and the state apparatus play in these processes. He recalls the profile of one of the outstanding economists of the 20th century and Nobel laureate, W. Leontief, indicating the increasingly more obvious and profound discrepancies between the interests of governments and societies. For these discrepancies not to overpower the positive role of the state, care should be taken not to exclude any realms of public life (and individuals) from social criticism. A remedy for this can be provided, in among other ways, by appointing both federal and regional officials for limited terms of office in order to minimize corruption and other types of abuse of power.

This article expands upon the traditional interstate rivalry concept by focusing on two conceptual dimensions of interstate rivalry: issues and militarization. The first dimension captures the number of distinct issues that characterize a dyadic interstate relationship, such as repeated clashes between states over border disputes, maritime zones, or cross-border rivers. The second dimension is very similar to the dispute density approach to rivalry, and captures the number of militarized incidents over specific contentious issues. The first dimension of issue rivalry is coded by identifying pairs of states with two or more (simultaneous) contentious issues. The second dimension of militarized rivalry is coded for single issues (such as a border dispute), capturing the presence of two or more militarized incidents over that issue in the past. Empirical analyses of these two new rivalry measures in the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe show some important variation in these rivalry dimensions. Issue rivals and militarized rivals are significantly more likely to employ militarized force and peaceful negotiation techniques to resolve geopolitical issues in comparison with dyads that experience contentious issues in non-rivalry settings. On the other hand, dyads characterized by issue rivalry do not experience disputes that escalate to high levels of violence, such as fatalities or wars. It is only prior militarization of a specific contentious issue that leads states down the path to war. [Reprinted by permission; copyright Sage Publications Ltd.]

This study examines the careers of African American beauty culturists as they worked in the United States, Europe, and Africa between 1945 and 1965. Facing push back at home, African American beauty entrepreneurs frequently sought out international venues that were hospitable and receptive to black Americans in the years following World War II. By strategically using European sites that white Americans regarded as the birthplace of Western fashion and beauty, African American entrepreneurs in the fields of modeling, fashion design, and hair care were able to win accolades and advance their careers. In gaining support abroad, particularly in Europe, these beauty culturists capitalized on their international success to establish, legitimize, and promote their business ventures in the United States. After importing a positive reputation for themselves from Europe to the United States, African American beauty entrepreneurs then exported an image of themselves as the world's premier authorities on black beauty to people of color around the globe as they sold their products and marketed their expertise on the African continent itself. This essay demonstrates the important role that these black female beauty culturists played, both as businesspeople and as race leaders, in their generation's struggle to gain greater respect and opportunity for African Americans both at home and abroad. In doing so it places African American beauty culturists within the framework of transatlantic trade networks, the Black Freedom Movement, Pan-Africanism, and America's Cold War struggle.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2005, a Presidential Directive established the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance and coordinate federal, state, and local efforts to combat nuclear smuggling abroad and domestically. DNDO was directed to develop, in coordination with the departments of Defense, Energy, and State, an enhanced global nuclear detection system of radiation detection equipment and interdiction activities. (DNDO refers to this system as an architecture.) DNDO is to implement the domestic portion of the architecture. Federal efforts to combat nuclear smuggling have largely focused on established ports of entry, such as seaports and land border crossings, and DNDO has also been examining nuclear detection strategies along other pathways. Over the past 7 years, GAO has issued numerous recommendations on nuclear or radiological detection to the Secretary of Homeland Security, most recently in January 2009. This testimony discusses the status of DHS efforts to (1) complete the deployment of radiation detection equipment to scan all cargo and conveyances entering the United States at ports of entry, (2) prevent smuggling of nuclear or radiological materials via the critical gaps DNDO identified, and (3) develop a strategic plan for the global nuclear detection architecture. GAO's testimony is based on prior work that was updated by obtaining DHS documents and interviewing DHS officials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recovery from major disasters is a complex undertaking that involves the combined efforts of federal, state, and local government in order to succeed. While the federal government provides a significant amount of financial and technical assistance for recovery, state and local jurisdictions work closely with federal agencies to secure and make use of those resources. This testimony describes lessons and insights that GAO has identified from review of past disasters, which may be useful to inform recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, as well as disasters yet to come. These lessons come from two reports GAO recently released last fall on disaster recovery. The first draws on the experiences of communities that have recovered from previous major disasters in order to help inform recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav as well as the 2008 Midwest floods. The second examines the implementation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Public Assistance grant program and identifies several actions that the Department of Homeland Security can take to improve operations of that program. These include improving information sharing and enhancing continuity and communication. Commenting on a draft of that report, the department generally agreed with our recommendations. In doing this work, GAO interviewed federal, state, and local officials involved in recovery and reviewed relevant documents, data, and laws."

The central argument developed in this essay is that today we are seeing a proliferation of normative orders where once state normativity ruled and the dominant logic was toward producing a unitary normative framing. One synthesizing image we might use to capture these dynamics is that of a movement from centripetal nation-state articulation to a centrifugal multiplication of specialized assemblages. This multiplication in turn can lead to a sort of simplification of normative structures insofar as: these assemblages are partial and often highly specialized formations centered in particular utilities and purposes. The valence of these particular utilities and purposes can range from the search for justice (the ICC) to narrow self-interest (Lex constructionis). While this is still a minor process in the larger scale of our geopolity, it signals the beginning of a multi-sited, though partial, disruption of its existing formal architecture. This raises questions about the future of crucial frameworks through which modern societies, economies, and polities (under the rule of law) have operated: the social contract of liberal states, social democracy as we have come to understand it, modern citizenship, and the formal mechanisms that render certain claims legitimate and others illegitimate in liberal democracies. These frameworks have held together complex interdependencies between rights and obligations, power and the law, wealth and poverty, allegiance and exit. Adapted from the source document.

В статье рассматриваются этапы становления официальной политики в области формирования здоровья и здорового образа жизни учащихся во второй половине ХХ столетия. На разных этапах исследуемого периода отношение государства и проводимая им официальная политика в области физического воспитания, здоровья человека и способов его сохранения и укрепления была неоднозначна. Физическое совершенство человека рассматривается как средство достижения цели построения коммунистического общества. Сама по себе жизнь человека, а тем более его здоровье не входят в число приоритетов государственной политики. Вторая половина исследуемого периода характеризуется все возрастающим вниманием государства к проблеме формирования, укрепления и сохранения здоровья населения. ; In the article are rating stages of formation in the area of forming health and healthy life-style of the students in the second half of twentieth century. At different stages of the examined term the attitude of the state and an official politics conducted by him in range of physical training, health of the person and means of his conservation and solidifying it was ambiguous. Physical perfection of the person is considered as an agent of reaching of the purpose build-ups of a communistic society. In itself human life and furthermore his health do not go into into number of priorities of a state policy. The second half of examined term is characterized by escalating attention of the state to a problem of shaping, solidifying and conservation of health of the population.

There has been a five-fold increase in state expenditure on medicines under the Community Drug Schemes in Ireland over the last decade (1994 to 2004). As a result of this marked increase in pharmaceutical expenditure, the issue of obtaining value for money from the drugs budget arises. The research presented in this thesis was undertaken in response to the issues of concern to the Department of Health and Children (DoHC) in relation to pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals in Ireland. The aim of this thesis is to determine the potential impact of implementing various pharmaceutical cost- containment measures in the Irish healthcare system. Similar increases in state expenditure on medicines have occurred across other European Union (EU) Member States, and various policies have been adopted by decision makers to contain this rise in pharmaceutical expenditure, including price controls, restriction of publicly reimbursed drugs by positive or negative lists, promotion of generic markets, prescribing budgets and patient co-payments. It is difficult to establish which of the different cost-containment strategies is most effective as they are rarely applied in isolation and it is often difficult to determine the influence of each in an overall effect. Therefore, before any cost-containment strategy can be introduced, a full assessment of the potential impact is necessary. ; TARA (Trinity?s Access to Research Archive) has a robust takedown policy. Please contact us if you have any concerns: rssadmin@tcd.ie

PurposeThis paper examines gender, work and equal opportunities in central and eastern Europe (CEE) countries. The worker‐mother contract in socialist systems is discussed and reveals how transition from a communist economic system to a market economy has eroded women's equality within the workplace claimed with the Communist and economic social legacy. The aim is to explore the opportunities and constraints on women's professional career advancement in post‐socialist societies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper consolidates research on gender and work within CEE countries and draws on international datasets including, the Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Index.FindingsThe results show that women's high representation in management and professional occupations, once the hallmark of socialist employment structures, is now being threatened by the erosion of state childcare services and the increasing level of discriminatory practices in recruitment, selection and development. It is suggested that the formal state structures have acted to foster neo‐traditionalism and a traditional gender identity. Economic and political transition is argued to be a process of remasculinisation, which reaffirms gendered hierarchies and gendered power relations in public and private realms.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the limited subject of equal opportunities and gender issues within an organisation context within CEE regions. The paper examines gender‐mainstreaming methodologies and considers implications for the development of equal opportunity and diversity management policies at state and organization level.

On December 15, 2003, the Centers for Public Health Preparedness at the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa convened the "Public Health and Terrorism Preparedness: Cross-Border Issues Roundtable." The purpose of the roundtable was to gather public health professionals and government agency representatives at the state, provincial, and local levels to identify unmet cross-border emergency preparedness and response needs and develop strategies for addressing these needs. Representatives from six state and local public health departments and three provincial governments were invited to identify cross-border needs and issues using a nominal group process. The result of the roundtable was identification of the needs considered most important and most doable across all the focus groups. The need to collaborate on and exchange plans and protocols among agencies was identified as most important and most doable across all groups. Development of contact protocols and creation and maintenance of a contact database was also considered important and doable for a majority of groups. Other needs ranked important across the majority of groups included specific isolation and quarantine protocols for multi-state responses; a system for rapid and secure exchange of information; specific protocols for sharing human resources across borders, including emergency credentials for physicians and health care workers; and a specific protocol to coordinate Strategic National Stockpile mechanisms across border communities.

Local conservation efforts are often related to benefits at higher governmental levels. On the one hand, these efforts are strongly connected to local land-use decisions. On the other hand, activities such as sustainable water management or biodiversity conservation are associated with regional, national or even global public goods. Therefore spatial externalities or spillovers exist that if not adequately compensated lead to an underprovision of the public goods and services concerned. This article investigates intergovernmental fiscal transfers as an innovative instrument to compensate local jurisdictions for the ecological goods and services they provide across local boundaries. From a public finance perspective, fiscal transfers are a suitable instrument to internalise spatial externalities. However, most federal states pre-dominantly use this feature for social and economic public functions rather than ecological public functions. This article investigates the case of the ICMS-E that has first been intro-duced by a few states in Brazil during the 1990s. Part of the revenue of this value-added tax is redistributed to the local level based on ecological indicators. In this way, the state level uses fiscal transfers to compensate municipalities for the existence of protected areas and other ecological services provided within their territory. The Brazilian experience illustrates that such fiscal transfers can represent both a compensation for land-use restrictions to be born and an incentive to appreciate and engage in more conservation activities at the local level.