Books on the topic 'Global minimizers'

Abstract This book contains 14 chapters presenting a global overview of the background to, and the current state of crop protection and pest management in cotton crops. It shows the need for more research to select cotton cultivars with high quality fibres suitable for different cotton growing areas and develop integrated pest management strategies to minimize the use of pesticides.

This chapter identifies and critically examines a standard form of argument for organic and vegan alternatives to industrial agriculture. This argument faces important objections to its empirical premises, to its presumption that there is a single food system that minimizes harm and is best for the environment, and to the presumption that the ethically best food system for us to promote is the one that would be best in ideal theory or the one that would be best from the perspective of our own society. Instead, determining which food system should be promoted arguably requires a complex global, empirical, and ethical integrated assessment that includes a proper accounting for values of global justice in nonideal theory. This proper accounting arguably recommends sustainable intensification of food systems (as it is called in the food-science literature), which is importantly distinct from contemporary systems as well as from organic, local, and/or vegan-centered alternatives.

In this chapter we outline the key principles in design and analysis of trials for mental health. The chapter focuses on randomized controlled trials as these are the gold-standard trial design, which minimizes confounding due to other factors and enables us to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the intervention. Other key principles of trial design discussed in the chapter include methods to develop a clearly stated, testable research hypothesis, definition of well-defined outcomes, appropriate choice of the control condition, masking of providers and participants where possible, realistic sample size estimates, and appropriate data monitoring and statistical analysis plans. The chapter also outlines alternatives to the parallel arm superiority trial design, such as equivalence and non-inferiority trials, cross-over, stepped wedge, fixed adaptive, and patient preference trial designs.

In the last several upswings of the world economy, core innovations paired new engines with new fuels: steam engines with coal, internal combustion engines with petroleum, and numerous electricity-driven applications with fossil fuels. In each instance, the new fuels initially were inexpensive, abundant, and incredibly powerful but also damaging to the climate and environment. Now we need to develop engines that can run using decarbonized fuels to minimize CO2 emissions. In this chapter we shift our focus to the implications of carbon-based energy sources, system leadership, and climate change. We first review the evidence for a strong relationship between global warming and fossil fuels and then consider what might be done to forestall the consequences of such a relationship.We then relate macro-level fluctuations in world economic growth to policy responses focusing largely on electricity and transportation.

Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions are highlighted in several global analyses of conservation risk and priorities. These regions have undergone high levels of habitat conversion and yet of all terrestrial biomes they have the second lowest level of land protection. With transformation pressures set to continue (Chapter 8), planning for a sustainable conservation future in MTC regions is therefore essential. Conservation activities are represented by a variety of philosophies and motives, partially driven by the underlying differences in transformation drivers and sociopolitical contexts across MTC regions. These activities include investment in, and best-practice management of, protected areas (land sparing), an interdisciplinary focus on integrated management of production landscapes (land sharing; stewardship), as well as ecological restoration to increase habitat, improve connectivity, and provide a hedge against the impacts of future climate change. These responses need to be applied in a strategic, synergistic manner to minimize future biodiversity loss.

A climate crisis and other pressures on planetary ecology are causing profound anxieties. Climate change threatens to trap hundreds of millions of people in dire poverty and to separate further an already deeply divided world. However, a new generation of activists is offering inspiration, serving as a hope-maker. This book offers an accessible and empirically informed philosophical discussion of climate change, global poverty, justice, and the importance of political responses, both internationally and domestically, that offer hope. There are reasons enough to worry that the era of pervasive human planetary impact, the Anthropocene, could produce terrible global injustices and massive environmental destruction. But that need not be so. Since the Industrial Revolution, growth in productive capacity and the struggles to share its benefits widely and in an egalitarian way have made another world possible. We still have reason to hope for a world in which international cooperation to manage Earth systems sustainably prevails, in which the natural treasures of the Earth are valued, in which a vision of prosperity is realized and the scourges of disease, ignorance, and poverty are overcome, in which powerful lobbies defending private interests that threaten sustainability are minimized and contained, and in which democratic politics responding to the values of an educated public prevail. The work of bringing about such a world is the work of mobilizing hope.

The catastrophic risks of pandemics and climate change carry deep uncertainty as to when they will occur, how they will unfold, and how much damage they will do. The most important question is how these risks can be faced to minimize them most. This book draws on the troubled and uneven COVID-19 experience to illustrate the critical need to ramp up resilience rapidly and effectively on a global scale. It exposes parallels between the underutilized measures that governments should have taken to contain the spread of COVID-19—such as early action, cross-border planning, and bolstering emergency preparation—and the steps leaders can take now to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Through practical analyses of current policy and thoughtful guidance for successful climate adaptation, the book reveals that, just as society has transformed itself to meet the challenge of coronavirus, so too will the thinking and policies need to be adapted to combat the ever-increasing threat of climate change.

The climate of our planet is changing at a rate unprecedented in recent human history. The energy absorbed from the sun exceeds what is returned to space. The planet as a whole is gaining energy. The heat content of the ocean is increasing; the surface and atmosphere are warming; mid-latitude glaciers are melting; sea level is rising. The Arctic Ocean is losing its ice cover. None of these assertions are based on theory but on hard scientific fact. Given the science-heavy nature of climate change, debates and discussions have not played as big a role in the public sphere as they should, and instead are relegated to often misinformed political discussions and inaccessible scientific conferences. Michael B. McElroy, an eminent Harvard scholar of environmental studies, combines both his research chops and pedagogical expertise to present a book that will appeal to the lay reader but still be grounded in scientific fact. In Energy and Climate: Vision for the Future, McElroy provides a broad and comprehensive introduction to the issue of energy and climate change intended to be accessible for the general reader. The book includes chapters on energy basics, a discussion of the contemporary energy systems of the US and China, and two chapters that engage the debate regarding climate change. The perspective is global but with a specific focus on the US and China recognizing the critical role these countries must play in addressing the challenge of global climate change. The book concludes with a discussion of initiatives now underway to at least reduce the rate of increase of greenhouse gas emissions, together with a vision for a low carbon energy future that could in principle minimize the long-term impact of energy systems on global climate.

Abstract The book studies how U.S. military deployments abroad serve as a tool of public diplomacy that can both support and undermine the international liberal order established by the United States. It develops and systematically tests a theory of public opinion toward the United States, its people, and its global non-invasion military deployments. Positive interactions with servicemembers, including routine daily interactions and the economic flows from a deployment, serve as a form of public diplomacy, improving perceptions of military deployments and the United States as a whole. However, negative events and experiences stemming from deployments, like crime, pollution, and controversial mission types can produce negative reactions among local populations. The book explores these subjects, including chapters devoted to understanding how different forms of contact, reported experiences with crimes involving US service members, and belonging to minority communities, all affect views of the US military presence in a state. We The book also looks at how these factors shape reported involvement in protests against the US, and broader trends in anti-US protest events around the world. The book argues that curtailing servicemember engagement in the community is a policy that can backfire on the US military's long-term objectives, as removing day-to-day positive social interactions with US personnel diminishes one of the main sources of goodwill toward US deployments. It proposes that US policy should focus not on isolating deployed forces from local populations but on regulating interactions in a way that maximizes the potential for beneficial social connections and minimizes harm to host populations.

Na presente obra, adaptada de sua tese de doutorado, o autor analisa criticamente e busca compreender as possibilidades e os limites de alinhamento dos “chamados regimes de resolução”, ou seja, os regimes de recuperação e de falência aplicáveis a bancos, instituições financeiras e entidades assemelhadas, aos padrões desenvolvidos nas redes regulatórias internacionais, com destaque para os “Atributos Fundamentais para Regimes de Resolução Eficazes para Instituições Financeiras”, elaborados e disseminados pelo Conselho de Estabilidade Financeira. Tem ocorrido um notável desenvolvimento e evolução na trajetória da regulação financeira global, de modo a permitir o aperfeiçoamento da eficácia e da equidade dos regimes de resolução, tornando-os mais aptos a lidar com instabilidade estrutural do sistema financeiro e minimizar a necessidade do emprego de recursos públicos em ações de saneamento de empresas e conglomerados financeiros. Nesse contexto, o livro analisa o alinhamento dos regimes e medidas de resolução brasileiros aos padrões internacionais, sem desconsiderar as especificidades institucionais e históricas que moldaram o sistema brasileiro de resolução financeira. O livro busca suprir uma lacuna nos estudos sobre os regimes de resolução no Brasil, enfrentando o problema na perspectiva do Direito Público Internacional, do Direito Comparado e do Direito Econômico da Regulação; analisando a consistência dos novos padrões internacionais de resolução de instituições financeiras, desenvolvidos fora das vias tradicionais do Direito Internacional Público, e explorando os limites e as possibilidade de alinhamento do ordenamento brasileiro à padronização sugerida.

La pandemia mundial del coronavirus ha tenido tal envergadura que no hay faceta de la realidad que no se haya visto afectada en mayor o menor medida, tanto a nivel individual, como colectivo; empezando, cómo no, por la vida misma, atendido el sobrecogedor número de víctimas mortales contabilizadas oficialmente con causa en esta pandemia. Su impacto en el ámbito del Derecho ha sido directo y global, imponiéndole adecuarse conceptualmente y en su aplicación a escenarios marcados por su carácter excepcional, inédito y, a menudo, imprevisible. Factores que resultan disruptivos y complejos tanto para quienes han de legislar, como para quienes tienen el deber de cumplir y hacer cumplir las normas. A analizar, someter a revisión crítica y clarificar las respuestas jurídicas dadas a los principales problemas que ha suscitado, y sigue suscitando, la pandemia en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico, se dedica esta obra; fruto del seguimiento de la evolución normativa y jurisprudencial que ha llevado aparejada, realizado por un grupo de juristas de reconocido prestigio, tanto del ámbito práctico como académico, en el marco de un Foro de análisis permanente del impacto jurídico del COVID. Ello hace de ésta una obra imprescindible, de un lado, por su utilidad práctica para afrontar y dar respuesta jurídica, mientras perduren, a las secuelas del COVID en las personas, en sus relaciones jurídicas, y, especialmente, en su economía; de otro, como sólido testimonio de lo ocurrido y su abordaje jurídico, del que podemos aprender para que, si alguna vez se repite una tragedia similar, sepamos minimizar sus efectos, restañar sus consecuencias, y gestionar mejor su transcurrir.

The Manual of Infection Prevention and Control provides practical guidance on all aspects of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). It outlines the basic concepts of infection prevention and control (IPC), modes of transmission, surveillance, control of outbreaks, epidemiology, and biostatistics. The book provides up-to-date advice on the triage and isolation of patients and on new and emerging infectious diseases, and with the use of illustrations, it provides a step-by-step approach on how to perform hand hygiene and how to don and take off personal protective equipment correctly. In addition, this section also outlines how to minimize cross-infection by healthcare building design and prevent the transmission of various infectious diseases from infected patients after death. The disinfection and sterilization section reviews how to risk assess, disinfect and/or sterilize medical items and equipment, antimicrobial activities, and the use of various chemical disinfectants and antiseptics, and how to decontaminate endoscopes. The section on the prevention of HAIs reviews and updates IPC guidance on the prevention of the most common HAIs, i.e. surgical site infections, infections associated with intravascular and urinary catheters, and hospital- and ventilator-acquired pneumonias. In view of the global emergence of antimicrobial resistance to the various pathogens, the book examines and provides practical advice on how to implement an antibiotic stewardship programme and prevent cross-infection against various multi-drug resistant pathogens. Amongst other pathogens, the book also reviews IPC precautions against various haemorrhagic and bloodborne viral infections. The section on support services discusses the protection of healthcare workers, kitchen, environmental cleaning, catering, laundry services, and clinical waste disposal services.

The 2°C target for global warming had been under severe scrutiny in the run-up to the climate negotiations in Paris in 2015 (COP21). Clearly, with a remaining carbon budget of 470–1,020 GtCO2eq from 2015 onwards for a 66% probability of stabilizing at concentration levels consistent with remaining below 2°C warming at the end of the 21st century and yearly emissions of about 40 GtCO2 per year, not much room is left for further postponing action. Many of the low stabilization pathways actually resort to the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere (known as negative emissions or Carbon Dioxide Removal [CDR]), mostly by means of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): if the biomass feedstock is produced sustainably, the emissions would be low or even carbon-neutral, as the additional planting of biomass would sequester about as much CO2 as is generated during energy generation. If additionally carbon capture and storage is applied, then the emissions balance would be negative. Large BECCS deployment thus facilitates reaching the 2°C target, also allowing for some flexibility in other sectors that are difficult to decarbonize rapidly, such as the agricultural sector. However, the large reliance on BECCS has raised uneasiness among policymakers, the public, and even scientists, with risks to sustainability being voiced as the prime concern. For example, the large-scale deployment of BECCS would require vast areas of land to be set aside for the cultivation of biomass, which is feared to conflict with conservation of ecosystem services and with ensuring food security in the face of a still growing population.While the progress that has been made in Paris leading to an agreement on stabilizing “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C” was mainly motivated by the extent of the impacts, which are perceived to be unacceptably high for some regions already at lower temperature increases, it has to be taken with a grain of salt: moving to 1.5°C will further shrink the time frame to act and BECCS will play an even bigger role. In fact, aiming at 1.5°C will substantially reduce the remaining carbon budget previously indicated for reaching 2°C. Recent research on the biophysical limits to BECCS and also other negative emissions options such as Direct Air Capture indicates that they all run into their respective bottlenecks—BECCS with respect to land requirements, but on the upside producing bioenergy as a side product, while Direct Air Capture does not need much land, but is more energy-intensive. In order to provide for the negative emissions needed for achieving the 1.5°C target in a sustainable way, a portfolio of negative emissions options needs to minimize unwanted effects on non–climate policy goals.

On the one hand, the idea of a capitalist peace is a set of loosely integrated, but testable propositions. On the other hand it is part of a wider, libertarian philosophy of life. The spirit of this wider conception is best expressed by a quote from a pioneer of quantitative international politics, in 1981 Rummel wrote, “If you want peace, then minimize the power of government.” Although there has been a proliferation of variables assessing capitalism and economic interdependence—from economic freedom via contract intensity to the avoidance of state ownership or protectionism—the most frequently analyzed proposition about the capitalist peace says that trade makes military conflict and war less likely. By and large, the evidence supports this proposition in dyadic designs as well as in monadic designs. This cross-design validity of the proposition is important, because it distinguishes the peace by trade proposition from the democratic peace proposition. Most researchers agree that war is extremely unlikely in dyads where both nations are democracies. But only a minority contends that democracies are less frequently involved in military conflict than other states. The dyadic and the monadic findings are compatible because military conflict looks even more likely between an autocracy and a democracy than between two autocracies. Whereas the democratic peace is limited in application, the pacifying impact of trade or economic interdependence is more general. Moreover, the democratic peace may be embedded in a wider economic or capitalist peace. There is strong evidence that democracy rests on a foundation of capitalism or economic freedom and the prosperity that has been gained only by capitalism or some degree of economic freedom. Moreover, economic freedom and prosperity contribute to the avoidance of civil war. Better still: Economic freedom does not only promote economic growth and prosperity among those nations where people enjoy economic freedom, but the economic freedom of rich countries provides poor countries with the advantages of backwardness and catch-up opportunities.Capitalist peace theory evolves. It has been suggested that the pacifying impact of trade rests on the expectation that trade, or access to resources and markets, will continue. This suggestion requires a new look at economic sanctions, too. By interfering with trade, sanctions must undermine the expectation of future benefits of trade and globally interconnected markets. Given the rareness of evidence in favor of the effectiveness of economic sanctions in eliminating undesirable policies of other nations, a capitalist peace perspective implies the recommendation to use sanctions much less frequently than politicians do. They are likely to eliminate a pacifying factor when it is most urgently needed.The wider or visionary perspective on the capitalist peace is useful not only in connecting it with the issue of sanctions, but also in demonstrating the inherent limitations of capitalism as a tool to achieve peace. From a static perspective, capitalism, economic freedom, or trade may exert some pacifying impact, as argued above. But capitalism is a dynamic economic order. It is about “creative destruction”. Capitalism is not egalitarian. Nations grow at different speeds. They rise and decline. Capitalism and unequal economic growth upset pecking orders and contribute to power transitions that are related to risks of war, especially great power war. Whether the contribution of capitalism to power transitions—or its pacifying impact prevails—cannot be judged with much confidence.