Suchergebnisse

The Finnish Defence Forces face a changing international environment wherenew threats have risen to complement the traditional ones. The requirementsof national defence and crisis management operations, as well as the tighteningbudgets and the increasing cost of military hardware have to be met whiletransforming the capabilities of the FDF.The globalising world requires transnationalsolutions. Finland seeks to actively deepen the security cooperation withinthe European Union and contribute towards the creation of shared EU capabilities as well as advocate defence cooperation with the Nordic Countries.A balance has to be retained between the different requirements to preservethe FDF as a functional instrument ready to face all challenges. (Europäische Sicherheit / SWP)

Taken from an infinite set of divisors methods, the D'Hondt formula is the unique rule that maximizes the minimum number of seats for parties exceeding average size but not surpassing an absolute majority of the votes. This property is also shared, in the quota set of methods, by the Droop formula. At the same time, these two methods are those most commonly observed in practice. This paper relates the property stated to the observed facts. If parties try to maximize the minimum number of seats for a given share of votes, then the D'Hondt formula should be chosen. This choice is consistent with rational parties that make institutional choices in an uncertain environment. Adapted from the source document.

Despite the proliferation of online courses in social work, questions still exist about learning practice skills in an online instructional environment. This paper describes a case example of an action-oriented approach to the development of an online practice course. Lessons learned from students' and instructor's perspectives are shared as well as recommendations for future research relative to course development and evaluation of online courses. The study examined student feedback with respect to their overall learning experience. Findings indicated that involving students in the design and development of an online practice course benefited both students and faculty and can be an effective teaching and learning strategy regardless of the instructional medium used.

As firms struggle to cope with an increasingly turbulent and uncertain economic environment there is widespread recognition of the importance of organisational learning. One option is to look at the potential of shared learning between firms, where common interests and interdependence provide motivation for experience sharing and other forms of synergy in learning. A particular version of inter‐firm learning is the use of supply chains as a mechanism for upgrading and transferring "appropriate practice" and this article reports on exploratory research on this theme. It draws on a literature survey and a detailed study of six UK supply chains at various stages of implementing supply chain learning.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL ORDER SINCE 1989 HAS FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERED THE CONTEXT FOR CONDUCTING BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY. BEHIND THESE RAPID CHANGES IN BRITAIN'S POLITICAL AND SECURITY ENVIRONMENT, MORE GRADUAL TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES HAVE FURTHER UNDERMINED THE ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE HAS ALSO BEEN ALTERING THE CHARACTER AND COHESION OF THE BRITISH STATE THAT FOREIGN POLICY IS INTENDED TO SERVE. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, CONTINUING TO PUT SUBSTANTIAL MINISTERIAL TIME AND PUBLIC EXPENDITURE INTO NATIONAL FOREIGN AND DEFENSE POLICIES, NOW MUST PERSUADE ITS AUDIENCE BOTH WITHIN AND OUTSIDE BRITAIN THAT IT STILL HAS A DISTINCTIVE PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS SHARED SECURITY AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Culture, in the simplest language, refers to the thoughtways, feelingways, and actionways of a people, be they a nation or a subsociety. As a concept, it refers to the established orientations which a people has for managing its relationships in the collectivity and its relationships to the forces and conditions of the physical environment. The key elements of culture are beliefs, sentiments, norms, and values. Almost all behavioral scientists would include in the realm of culture all the cognitive, affective, behavioral, and value orientations shared by a people. With these basic elements of culture, a people constructs complexes which we call ideologies, social structures, institutions, organizations, laws, and policies.

Tesis (Mag.Sc.) - CATIE, Turrialba (Costa Rica), 2009 ; El presente estudio se llevó a cabo en la Región Trifinio, frontera compartida por los países de Honduras, Guatemala y El Salvador, en cuatro zonas con condiciones agroecológicas, socioeconómicas y políticas diferentes. La investigación se basó en las herramientas de la metodología RAAKS (Análisis Rápido de los Sistemas de Conocimientos Agrícolas), a la vez que se desarrolló en un proceso de tres fases, de las cuales el producto de una fase daba las pautas para tomar las decisiones de la siguiente fase. Se caracterizó el estado actual de la tecnología de ambiente controlado en la región, como resultado de esta se determinó que las tecnologías utilizadas son telas cobertoras, microtúnel, macrotúnel, casa malla e invernadero; estas son estructuras de bajo costo,orientado a controlar la precipitación y/o la entrada de plagas. El invernadero es la tecnología más utilizada y donde más se ha desarrollado es en los municipios de San Ignacio y La Palma. En esta zona se caracterizó el sistema de innovación para la producción en invernadero, objetivos de los actores y los vínculos entre estos. Además se obtuvo información sobre la capacidad de innovación para la producción agroecológica y se identificaron las principales oportunidades y limitantes para la producción en invernaderos. En San Ignacio-La Palma los actores predominantes del sistema de innovación son los proveedores de servicio y los productores. This study was conducted at the Trifinio Region, located at the border shared by the countries on Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, in four different zones with diverse agro-ecologic, socioeconomic and political conditions. The investigation was based on RAAKS methodology tools (Quick Analysis of the Agriculture Knowledge Systems, derived from its initials in Spanish - Análisis Rápido de los Sistemas de Conocimientos Agrícolas), and was developed in a process of three phases. The results obtained in one phase were used as the base for making decisions for the following phase. The current state of technology used in controlled environment in the region was characterized, and as a result, it was determined that the technologies used are fabric covers, micro tunnel, macro tunnel, mesh house, and greenhouse; all of which are low cost structures, oriented to control the precipitation and/or the attack of pests. The greenhouse is the most frequently used technology and it was found more developed in the communities of San Ignacio and La Palma. It was also determined in this zone the innovation for the production in greenhouses, objectives of the players and the links between them. Furthermore, information was collected about the capacity of innovation for the agro-ecological production and the main opportunities and constraints for the production in greenhouses were identified. In San Ignacio-La Palma, the predominant players in the innovation system are the service suppliers and the producers.

Tesis (Mag.Sc.) - CATIE, Turrialba (Costa Rica), 2009 ; El presente estudio se llevó a cabo en la Región Trifinio, frontera compartida por los países de Honduras, Guatemala y El Salvador, en cuatro zonas con condiciones agroecológicas, socioeconómicas y políticas diferentes. La investigación se basó en las herramientas de la metodología RAAKS (Análisis Rápido de los Sistemas de Conocimientos Agrícolas), a la vez que se desarrolló en un proceso de tres fases, de las cuales el producto de una fase daba las pautas para tomar las decisiones de la siguiente fase. Se caracterizó el estado actual de la tecnología de ambiente controlado en la región, como resultado de esta se determinó que las tecnologías utilizadas son telas cobertoras, microtúnel, macrotúnel, casa malla e invernadero; estas son estructuras de bajo costo,orientado a controlar la precipitación y/o la entrada de plagas. El invernadero es la tecnología más utilizada y donde más se ha desarrollado es en los municipios de San Ignacio y La Palma. En esta zona se caracterizó el sistema de innovación para la producción en invernadero, objetivos de los actores y los vínculos entre estos. Además se obtuvo información sobre la capacidad de innovación para la producción agroecológica y se identificaron las principales oportunidades y limitantes para la producción en invernaderos. En San Ignacio-La Palma los actores predominantes del sistema de innovación son los proveedores de servicio y los productores. This study was conducted at the Trifinio Region, located at the border shared by the countries on Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, in four different zones with diverse agro-ecologic, socioeconomic and political conditions. The investigation was based on RAAKS methodology tools (Quick Analysis of the Agriculture Knowledge Systems, derived from its initials in Spanish - Análisis Rápido de los Sistemas de Conocimientos Agrícolas), and was developed in a process of three phases. The results obtained in one phase were used as the base for making decisions for the following phase. The current state of technology used in controlled environment in the region was characterized, and as a result, it was determined that the technologies used are fabric covers, micro tunnel, macro tunnel, mesh house, and greenhouse; all of which are low cost structures, oriented to control the precipitation and/or the attack of pests. The greenhouse is the most frequently used technology and it was found more developed in the communities of San Ignacio and La Palma. It was also determined in this zone the innovation for the production in greenhouses, objectives of the players and the links between them. Furthermore, information was collected about the capacity of innovation for the agro-ecological production and the main opportunities and constraints for the production in greenhouses were identified. In San Ignacio-La Palma, the predominant players in the innovation system are the service suppliers and the producers.

European agriculture, and Dutch agriculture in particular, is at a crossroads. Due to rationalisation, including intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, biodiversity in rural areas is declining at an unprecedented rate. Socioeconomic developments in the agricultural sector also show 'a race to the bottom'. Farmers produce on world markets and are only able to compete on input costs. This results in lower income per unit crop or animal and leads to an ever increasing farm size. In turn this leads to a further decline of habitat of species bound to rural areas and farmland. To turn these negative trends around the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture has proposed an alternative form of farming, labelled 'nature inclusive' farming, that 1) benefits from the services that natural processes provide, 2) delivers agri-environmental practices to maintain agro-biodiversity and 3) strongly reduces its negative impacts on the environment. Currently this Ministry supports the adoption of nature inclusive farming practices by funding innovative experiments led by farmer initiatives. Despite some promising results, such innovations have large difficulties to be scaled up, largely due to counteracting forces of the current agricultural system. Using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework developed by Hekkert and Negro (2009), we argue that a systemic transition of current agricultural practices is required to mainstream 'nature inclusive' farming. Such a transition can only be realised when a shared vision on the future agricultural sector is developed, set out by the government and societal parties. Such a shared vision can then lead to new enabling (policy) environments/landscapes in which these innovations can rise. Without such shared vision, innovations will be locked-in into the current agricultural system, to the extent of a very low prospect of nature inclusive innovations. Furthermore, we observe that the many experiments currently running suffer from a lack of interconnected learning platforms, a lack of documentation of failures and successes and little attention for the forces leading to lock-in and preventing a regime shift. Using two examples, we will illustrate what type of interventions are needed to up-scale nature inclusive innovations. Keyword 1: innovation studies Keyword 2: sustainable agriculture Keyword 3: agricultural policy ; peerReviewed

The Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Tanzania covering FY18-FY22 comes at a time when Tanzania must both consolidate the gains of the last decade and address the continuing gaps in its development outcomes—including sharp spatial (rural-urban) and gender disparities in income and assets, continued challenges with respect to human capital and delivery of public services, and unsustainable use of critical natural resources. To address this, Tanzania has set out an ambitious agenda of nurturing industrialization for economic transformation, and human development. The CPF supports this agenda which is laid out in Tanzania's Second Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP II) and Zanzibar's Third Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (ZSGRP III). The Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Tanzania identifies three pathways to leverage the country's advantages to achieve the national development goals: (i) structural transformation to leverage Tanzania's natural assets and capture latent comparative advantage to create more jobs; (ii) spatial transformation to build on Tanzania's geographic advantages and maximize benefits from spatial integration and agglomeration; and (iii) upgrading public institutions and organizations, underpinned by expanding human capital, gender equity, and macroeconomic stability. Following a decade of strong growth and poverty reduction, the CPF addresses the challenges of carving a growth path that is more inclusive and sustainable.The CPF recognizes the close nexus between climate change and poverty reduction in Tanzania and places a strong emphasis on addressing the effects of climate change. The CPF will call upon the full range of World Bank Group (WBG) instruments and financial products to respond to Tanzania's needs. The CPF will address International Development Association (IDA) special themes and seek to be agile in preparing operations and analytical products. The CPF program has three areas of strategic focus. The Focus Area 1, enhance productivity and accelerate equitable and sustainable growth—is closely aligned with the FYDP II's emphasis on industrialization, and with the SCD structural and spatial transformation pathways for development. The SCD's first foundation, macroeconomic stability, is necessary for creating a conducive environment for private investment and growth. Focus Area 2, boost human capital and social inclusion—is aligned with the human development pillar of the FYDP II and the SCD's second foundation, human development and gender equity. Focus Area 3, modernize and improve efficiency of public institutions—is aligned with the SCD's emphasis on institutional transformation and the Tanzanian Government's priority on public sector accountability, private sector support and regulation, and capacity to deliver services. The three CPF focus areas are not mutually exclusive and can be leveraged to achieve substantial progress on overlapping goals. For example, if workers acquire job-relevant skills (Focus Area 2), that will contribute to the job creation goal (Focus Area 1); and improving accountability and PFM is fundamental to reaching service delivery objectives for health and education (Focus Area 3). Similarly, expanding social inclusion requires action in all focus areas.

Participatory Media in Environmental Communication brings together stories of communities in the Pacific islands – a region that is severely affected by the impacts of climate change. Despite living on the margins of the digital revolution, these island communities have used media and communication to create awareness of and find solutions to environmental challenges. By telling their stories in their own way, ordinary people are able to communicate compelling accounts of how different, but interrelated, environmental, political, and economic issues converge and impact at a local level. This book fills a significant gap in our understanding of how participatory media is used as a dialogic tool to raise awareness and facilitate discussion of environmental issues that are now critical. It includes a section on pedagogy and practice – the undergirding principles, the tools, the methods. The book offers a framework for Participatory Environmental Communication that weaves three widely used concepts, diversity, network and agency, into a cohesive underlying system to bring scholars, practitioners and diverse communities together in a dialogue about pressing environmental issues. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students in communication and media studies, environmental communication, cultural studies, and environmental sciences, as well as practitioners, policy makers and environmental activists.

This paper explores the relationship between crisis and experience, concentrating on 'excentric positionality' in relation to the shared world, as presented in the work of Helmuth Plessner. A by-product of the 1920s Weimar Germany, Plessner's philosophical anthropology, it is argued, presents us with a forgotten blueprint for transitive and compositional approaches to the social world. Instead of the familiar 'crisis of experience' used to diagnose 'what has gone wrong', it allows us to re-learn how to work with 'the experience of crisis' itself. The latter holds the key to a different type of approach based on 'xeno-communication'. This type of communication utilizes the productive potential of crisis in its uncertainty and hesitation before a decision, showing a way to extend and enlarge experience itself. Cultivation of these 'excentric' dynamics in turn suggests new 'excentric methodologies' based on a more flexible fit between concepts and the worlds they are meant to describe. 'Excentric methodologies' constitute a type of experience-based, analytical response to the shared world. They work with phenomena across spaces and problems, analytically utilizing their joint emergence from the fundamental imbalance and discontinuity characteristic of the human environment.

Community mobilisation interventions have been used to promote health in many low-income and middle-income settings. They frequently involve collective action to address shared determinants of ill-health, which often requires high levels of participation to be effective. However, the non-excludable nature of benefits produced often generates participation dilemmas: community members have an individual interest in abstaining from collective action and free riding on others' contributions, but no benefit is produced if nobody participates. For example, marches, rallies or other awareness-raising activities to change entrenched social norms affect the social environment shared by community members whether they participate or not. This creates a temptation to let other community members invest time and effort. Collective action theory provides a rich, principled framework for analysing such participation dilemmas. Over the past 50 years, political scientists, economists, sociologists and psychologists have proposed a plethora of incentive mechanisms to solve participation dilemmas: selective incentives, intrinsic benefits, social incentives, outsize stakes, intermediate goals, interdependency and critical mass theory. We discuss how such incentive mechanisms might be used by global health researchers to produce new questions about how community mobilisation works and conclude with theoretical predictions to be explored in future quantitative or qualitative research.