Search results for "Defence"

River processes and Links between fluvial and coastal systems in a changing climate

2018

It is well known that a changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather and climate events. Models indicate substantial warming in temperature extremes by the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2012). The global warming determines several environmental problems altering the hydrologic cycle, with changes to the amount, timing, and intensity of precipitation (see as an example Rahimpour Golroudbary et al., 2016), and impacting on the soil erosion rate and on the quality of aquatic and marine environments (see as an example Robins et al., 2016). The present Special Issue collects main contributions arising from the aforementio…

The Role the Static Maximization Approach Plays in Neoclassical Analyses

1994

This is an article on the methodology of economic thought. The critical assessment of the neoclassical research programme contained here basically comes from the contributions of J.M. Buchanan, Nobel prize winner in Economics 1986. These comments are aimed at pointing out the role that the static maximization approach plays in neoclassical analyses since L. Robbins and P. Samuelson’s influential contributions came about after World War II. Just to complement this basic purpose, I present in section 4 the alternative methodological foundations J.M. Buchanan proposes and uses to replace the static maximization approach when building public choice analyses and I sketch in section 5 several pe…

Russia-Ukraine balance of military power

2017

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the most serious test of European security in the 21st century and the forgone conclusion is that Russia can easily prevail in the conflict, but this has not been the case. This article uses balance of military power analysis to report findings on the plausible outcome of a war between Ukraine and Russia. I report findings based on realist theoretical perspectives that indicate Russian victory is unlikely because of relative balance of power where Russia has to face multiple threats diverting its military power while Ukraine can concentrate its military power for a single purpose. The findings suggest implication for policy in Russia, Ukraine, EU and the Unite…

From Neo-Functional Peace to a Logic of Spillover in EU External Policy: A Response to Visoka and Doyle

2017

In their recently published JCMS article, Gezim Visoka and John Doyle have proposed the concept of ‘neofunctional peace’ as a means to conceptualize the EU's peacemaking practices in the case of the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. This article challenges the ‘neo-functional peace’ on conceptual and empirical grounds. We critically discuss Visoka and Doyle's (2016) reading of neofunctionalism and question parts of their empirical evidence given for the existence of a ‘neo-functional peace’. Going beyond a mere critique of the article by Visoka and Doyle and arguing that the authors may not have fully exploited neofunctionalism's potential for theorizing EU external policy, we stip…

The organization of the defense support system: an economic geography perspective

2017

In the context of restricted budgetary resources and the growing cost of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities, a major issue for modern armed forces is to sustain defense platforms. A possible method consists of realizing economies of scale through the concentration of maintenance activities, which involves the spatial reorganization of existing industrial sites dedicated to MRO. This article provides a formalized framework to discuss the optimal organization for the MRO of defense platforms in space. The public planner organizes the maintenance of defense platforms with only two possible spatial configurations. In the dispersed configuration, two industrial production units i…

Sharing R&D investments in breakthrough technologies to control climate change

2017

This paper examines international cooperation on technological development as an alternative to international cooperation on GHG emission reductions. In order to analyze the scope of cooperation, a three-stage technology agreement formation game is solved. First, countries decide whether or not to sign up to the agreement. Then, in the second stage, the signatories (playing together) and the non-signatories (playing individually) select their investment in R&D. In this stage, it is assumed that the signatories not only coordinate their levels of R&D investment but also pool their R&D efforts to fully internalize the spillovers of their investment in innovation. Finally, in the third stage, …

Categorising animals and habitats in disaster-related activities

2021

A disaster is typically defined as a situation requiring external assistance, under the (contestable) assumption that the situation must affect people and society to be a disaster. Animals and their habitats are part of society and humans connect with them, so animals and their habitats are part of all disaster-related activities. This straightforward statement has produced divergent theories, policies and practices including challenges to categories, labels and divisions for humans and non-humans. This paper collates many practitioner aspects regarding animals and habitats in disaster-related activities. It assists in understanding and training for situations involving non-humans before, d…

Digital Volunteers in Disaster Response: Accessibility Challenges

2019

The emergence of the Digital Humanitarian Volunteer (DHV) movements when disaster strikes have drawn the attention of researchers and practitioners in the emergency management and humanitarian domain. While there are established players in this rapidly developing field, there are still unresolved challenges, including accessibility of their digital tools and platforms. The purposes of this paper are twofold. First, it describes the background, impact and future potential of the DHV movement, and discusses the importance of universal design for the digital tools and platforms used for crowdsourcing of crisis information. Second, this paper shows how lack of concern for universal design and a…

A Review of Qualitative Comments on a Proposed Master's Degree in Emergency Management

2017

Visualization of Exchanged Information with Dynamic Networks: A Case Study of Fire Emergency Search and Rescue Operation

2017

To perform emergency response activities, complex networks of emergency responders from different emergency organizations work together to rescue affected people and to mitigate the property losses. However, to work efficiently, the emergency responders have to rely completely on the data which gets generated from heterogeneous data sources during search and rescue operation (SAR). From this abundant data, rescue teams share needed information which is hidden in the abundant data with one another to make decisions, obtain situational awareness and also to assign tasks. Moreover, understanding and analyzing the shared information is a complex and very challenging task. Therefore, in this pap…