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Private Sector Engagement in Global health: WHO and WHO-Foundation
Get PDFThe World Health Organisation Foundation (WHO-F) is an independent Swiss charitable Foundation established in May 2020 to pursue funding for WHO from the private sector and high net worth individuals. Created at the height of the pandemic, WHO-F is part of a long awaited attempt at reforming funding of WHO and global health more broadly. With WHO having suffered funding crises almost since its inception, innovative action is needed. This paper examines the role of WHO-F and its relationship with WHO. In situating this within a broader discussion of the problematic identity of international organisations, the paper argues that this financial crisis is inevitable and that diversification of financial sources is necessary. However, the complexity of WHO-F as separate to, but fundamentally entangled with, WHO precipitates difficulties of accountability of action
Virtual Small Signal-Based Online Identification of PMSM Drive System for Model Predictive Control
No full textThis article presents a virtual small signal-based online parameter identification method for permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) drive systems under model predictive control (MPC). By extracting inherent high-frequency features from the MPC-sampled data via convolution operations, the proposed method enables accurate parameter estimation without the need for external signal injection, thus avoiding additional torque ripple and power losses. The method decouples the parameter estimation problem into several single-input single-output (SISO) observers, substantially reducing computational complexity and improving real-time compatibility. Compared with conventional time-domain identification approaches, the proposed method achieves full-order parameter estimation with a magnetic parameter identification error of less than 5% across the entire operating range. It requires only 13.7 floating-point operations (FLOPs) per parameter and introduces a minimal 14% overhead in execution time, making it highly suitable for embedded controller implementation. Experimental validation confirms improved accuracy and fast convergence under dynamic conditions, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness for real-time MPC-based drive control applications
Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown, Volume 2: The Monthly Magazine, and Other Writings, 1789-1800
No full textThe second volume in the Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown assembles for the first time his major periodical writings from the period when he was also producing his famous novels.All the pieces he contributed to The Columbian Magazine and The Weekly Magazine are joined by an expansive collection of stories and essays from The Monthly Magazine, which he also edited between 1799 and 1800. Texts offering major insights into Brown's ideas about the human imagination, American society, and the art of fiction such as “The Rhapsodist,” “The Man at Home,” and “The Difference Between History and Romance,” are complemented by dozens of other works, many never before attributed to him, covering topics ranging from the theatre and classical literature to racial identity and geographical knowledge. Each edited text provides detailed information concerning publication history and provenance, along with extensive scholarly annotation. The editors of the volume include two additional essays: "A Historical Essay," offering detailed contextualization of the post-Revolutionary cultural milieu from which Brown's magazine writing emerged, and "A Textual Essay," offering new bibliographical information about the texts and explains editorial protocols for the volume
Reversal of the First-Mover and Second-Mover Advantage in a Two-tier Industry
No full textWe consider a two-tier industry with an upstream monopolist that charges linear input prices to downstream Stackelberg duopolists. We show that a second-mover advantage occurs in the downstream market under quantity competition and a first-mover advantage occurs in the downstream market under price competition if the upstream monopolist determines the input prices for the downstream leader and the downstream follower sequentially. If there are two-part tariff input prices, the reversal result under sequential pricing may occur under quantity competition but not under price competition
Unveiling the truth: are farmers ready for smart agriculture? Insights from a hybrid PLS-SEM-ANN approach
Get PDFPurposeAdopting smart farming technologies (SFTs) remains limited among farmers, especially in developing nations. While this is often attributed to resistance to technological change, farmers’ true technology readiness (TR) has been insufficiently explored. Moreover, existing research on TR’s antecedents has narrowly focused on demographic factors and past experiences, neglecting broader environmental influences. Therefore, this study aims to propose a novel framework grounded in the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model, examining how various drivers and barriers shape farmers’ TR and, in turn, their intention to adopt SFTs.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 351 farmers and analyzed using a hybrid partial least squares (PLS)–structural equation modeling–artificial neural network (PLS-SEM-ANN) approach. This integrated method reveals linear and nonlinear interactions, offering deeper insights into the factors influencing TR and adoption intention.FindingsPerceived efficiency, facilitating conditions and financial incentives substantially boost positive readiness (motivators), whereas perceived cost, complexity and uncertainty reinforce negative readiness (inhibitors). Motivators strongly predict farmers’ adoption intentions of SFTs, overshadowing any deterrent effect from inhibitors. The ANN analysis validated most PLS-SEM findings while offering deeper insights into the nuanced roles of cost and uncertainty in shaping negative readiness. These results challenge the notion that farmers are inherently resistant to innovation, suggesting that when supportive conditions exist, adoption likelihood increases significantly.Originality/valueBy extending the SOR model to the context of SFT adoption, this study is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to expand the scope of TR antecedents to include psychological and environmental factors. It also provides fresh evidence that fostering a positive, innovation-driven mindset is more impactful than merely reducing barriers
Macrosecuritisation failure and technological lock-in: lessons from the history of the bomb
No full textHow does existentially dangerous technology get adopted and then locked in? The case of the atomic bomb offers a cautionary tale. In the long run, reliance on nuclear weapons is a recipe for catastrophe. Yet their perceived ability to reduce the frequency of war in the short term inhibits efforts to reform the international status quo. Drawing on the pioneering work of David Collingridge and Nathan Sears, this paper argues that nuclear deterrence became locked in for several reasons: initial disagreement about the threat it posed, the threat’s declining salience as time wore on and serial procrastination in addressing it. Unfortunately, the same is likely with any technology that involves low-frequency, high-impact risks, including solar geoengineering and possibly artificial intelligence. At worst, it can convert catastrophic risks to existential ones, while rendering them politically intractable
Quotient Polymorphism
No full textQuotient types increase the power of type systems by allowing types to include equational properties. However, two key practical issues arise: code being duplicated, and valid code being rejected. Specifically, function definitions often need to be repeated for each quotient of a type, and valid functions may be rejected if they include subterms that do not respect the quotient. This article addresses these reusability and expressivity issues by introducing a notion of quotient polymorphism that we call choice polymorphism. We give practical examples of its use, develop the underlying theory, and implement it in Quotient Haskell
Multi-model resilience framework to assess functional recovery for power systems to typhoon winds
Get PDFTyphoons have a significant impact on power systems' functions. To quantitatively assess the functional state of power systems and improve post-typhoon recovery efficiency, this paper proposes a multi-model resilience assessment framework. A physical typhoon model was constructed based on the structure and characteristic parameters of typhoons. Operation of power infrastructures was evaluated using fragility curves. A network function model was built based on undirected weighted graphs and adjacency matrices. Then, system function metrics were established to achieve a functional time-varying analysis, and resilience metrics were proposed by integrating resilience characteristics with the power system network. An economic loss model was developed based on both economic requirements and regional power outages. This enabled a dual quantitative assessment of system resilience and regional economic losses. Subsequently, a functional recovery path optimization method was built to find the most efficient repair sequence. By assessing the resilience of a typical power network test system, the optimal recovery path was identified, and the resilience metrics and total economic loss were determined. Simulations of multiple recovery scenarios and typhoon scenarios showed similarities in the recovery characteristics of power systems, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of the optimal recovery path and the applicability of the proposed framework
Nanoprecipitation and Drug Delivery with PMTC: Toward Biomedical Application of Polyesters from Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization
Get PDFPolymerized cyclic ketene acetals (PCKAs) prepared by radical ring-opening polymerization (RROP) have shown tremendous potential in the biomedical field. In this work, the field is expanded to the formation of fully degradable nanoparticles (NPs) from the fast-degrading poly(2-methylene-1,3,6-trioxocane) (PMTC). The formulation of homopolymers is typically challenging due to their lack of amphiphilicity; however, implementing nanoprecipitation as a robust, fast, and cost-efficient method of self-assembly has yielded well-defined polymeric nanocarriers of 100–200nm in diameter. The characterization of hydrophilicity and dye-encapsulation mediated via different polyester degrees of branching has enabled insights into utilizing this key characteristic of RROP. The degree of branching affected dye encapsulation in the absence of altering hydrophilicity. The highest levels of encapsulated Coumarine-6 (Cou6) as a model drug were found with polymers possessing an intermediate degree of branching (8%) at low molecular weight (9kg/mol). In addition to stable NPs, the disassembly of these NPs in extreme pH regions promised potential for targeted drug delivery. In vitro studies have demonstrated the cytocompatibility of NPs and their degradation products, and their ability to achieve cell uptake of Cou6-loaded NPs has been confirmed, highlighting the potential of PMTC-NPs as drug delivery vehicles. The successful protocol to prepare NPs purely of polymerized CKAs demonstrated here thus enables future efforts to expand the library of NPs from RROP
Large Firms and the Intensive Margin of Labor Informality Evidence from an Enforcement Intervention in Peru
No full textIn developing countries, informal labor is not only employed by illegal or unregistered firms but also by legal firms that hire workers informally, known as the intensive margin of labor informality. Reducing this type of work may have ambiguous effects on formal employment, depending on factors such as firm size and productivity. In collaboration with Peru's labor inspection authority, we conducted a randomized mailing experiment targeting large firms with a high propensity for employing workers informally. The authority sent letters with either deterrence messages detailing fines for non-compliance or social norms messages highlighting the positive impacts of formality. We analyzed the impact of this intervention on formal employment levels over the following two years using monthly administrative data. The treated firms (particularly those in the deterrence treatment arm) and larger firms increased their formal employment levels. However, these increases followed a seasonal pattern coinciding with the high labor demand during the tourist season, suggesting that prior to the intervention, firms were employing temporary workers informally. The higher perceived cost of non-compliance led them to formalize some of these workers. The informal hiring of seasonal workers by these firms appears to have been motivated by basic tax evasion, and the absence of a negative effect on firm-level formal employment indicates that the firms were exploiting rents from low enforcement of regulations
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