Distributing Discretion and Designing Structural Mechanisms

O2 can do: Investigations into the machinery responsible for the biosynthesis of the vancomycin/teicoplanin family of antibiotics have uncovered multiple examples of novel enzyme chemistry. In particular, oxidation chemistry plays key roles in constructing the complex structures of the natural products. From biosynthesis of rare amino acids to the tailoring of the peptide product, diverse enzyme-catalyzed reactions are discussed with a focus on structure and chemical mechanism.

The next three chapters compile, illustrate, catalog, and assess the structural, non-structural, and hybrid mechanisms applied and explored in the previous chapters to combat flooding and sea level rise. This chapter will focus specifically on structural mechanisms. The full catalog of structural mechanisms is organized into five categories: levees/dikes, dams, floodwalls, underground systems, and floodgates. Each category is assessed according to their relative location, cost, scale, and coastal hazard mitigation capabilities. Further, a list of examples included under each category are described and the strengths and weaknesses of each category are briefly identified.

Express logistics by means of high-speed railway faces challenges, such as the lack of infrastructural facilities, freight transportation limits, low efficiency of upstream-downstream industries and the furious competition of logistics industry. Considering the factors of regional differences, misallocation of resources and income levels, the authors designed the follow three operation modes for high-speed railway logistics: completely-opened mode, agent-cooperated mode and self-employed mode. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation based on set-valued statistics was applied for evaluating and choosing the three modes. This led us to the conclusions. First, the completely-opened mode is suitable in the areas where logistics market saturation and maturity are high. Second, outsourcing the distribution business is the best choice in the areas where its’ distribution resources are insufficient, high-speed railway organization should cooperate with the local logistics agencies. At last, the self-employed mode is suitable only in this case that business outlets, transportation network, logistics center and logistics information system and other resources of high-speed railway organization are extremely sufficient.

Refracted governmentality: space, politics and social structure in contemporary Luanda Antonio Andrade Tomas My thesis argues that political authority produces very particular regimes of informality. The description of the city of Luanda that I undertake is concerned with explaining the process of political transformation. The city of Luanda was mostly built during colonialism to spatially accommodate extant race and class divisions. The million or more Angolans who occupied those differentiated spaces in the aftermath of independence challenged the colonial distribution of space. I explain the recent transformation that the city has undergone by focusing less on the theory and practice of urban planning, and more on the inscription and influence of political patronage onto space. Political power, then, has been a force in the spatial transformation of Luanda. These developments have taken place against backdrop of a very particular politico-economic structure, which has two consequences that I explore in the remainder of the dissertation. The first one concerns the disjuncture in formal terms of the relationship between the state and society. As one of the second largest oil producing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, the Angolan government is not dependent on the population for the extraction of tax resources. Consequently, the government is not only unaccountable to the population and civil society, but by being out of joints with large swaths of the population forces most Angolans to reproduce themselves beyond any formal intervention of the state. The second consequence can be seen in the informal links between rulers and the ruled which are sustained by other institutions of intermediation, such as the ruling party, but even more importantly the family. In post-socialist and neo-liberal Angola, family is no longer the domain of private relationships. Family has come to signify the intermediation between the state and society. For affluent Angolans, family ties to the political elite allow them to share the distribution of national resources. For poor Angolans, family is the unit of production by means of which ends can be met.

M.W.HarroldR.M.ZavodBasic Concepts in Medicinal Chemistry.American Society of Health-System Pharmacists440pp2013$49 (softcover), ISBN 978-1-58528-266-1

Under the promotion of urban planning and land development policies, the urban spatial structure of China is undergoing a transformation towards polycentricity. The improvement of environmental performance during the process of urban spatial transformation is crucial for urban sustainable development. This paper uses high-resolution population grid data from LandScan for the years 2001–2019 to measure the urban spatial structure of Chinese cities. Then we match the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database with the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Pollution Emission Database for the years 2001–2014. This paper empirically examines the impact and mechanisms of the polycentric spatial structure of Chinese cities on enterprise pollution reduction at the micro-level. The findings indicate that compared to monocentricity, polycentricity is more conducive to improving enterprise environmental performance. Mechanism tests demonstrate that the improvement in enterprise environmental performance resulting from polycentricity can be achieved through three channels: increasing urban population and density, mitigating urban environmental pollution, and promoting enterprise innovation ability. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that polycentricity is more beneficial for emission reduction among small enterprises, young enterprises and enterprises in regions with higher environmental regulations. This paper provides micro-level evidence and policy implications for further strengthening the aggregation effect of polycentricity and improving enterprise environmental performance in the future.

Capital structure, as the core issue of corporate financial decision-making, has a crucial impact on the enhancement of corporate value through its rationality in three key dimensions: financing costs, governance efficiency, and risk management. In the current process of China's economic transformation and upgrading, as well as the improvement of the capital market, some enterprises have problems with imbalanced capital structures, such as excessive reliance on debt financing to increase financial risks, concentration of equity leading to inefficient governance, and restricting the release of enterprise value. This article is based on the MM theory and the trade-off theory, using the normative research method to analyze the impact mechanism of capital structure on enterprise value through three paths: financing costs, corporate governance, and financial risks. Combined with the practical characteristics and constraints of China's enterprise capital structure, an optimization path is proposed. Research has shown that there is a non-linear correlation between capital structure and corporate value, and a reasonable structure requires achieving dynamic balance between debt and equity financing; Enterprises should combine their lifecycle, industry characteristics, and market environment to improve capital allocation efficiency by optimizing financing structure, improving governance, and expanding channels. The research provides practical reference for corporate capital structure decision-making and theoretical support for the improvement of capital market systems.

Nineteen - Aging and Politics: An International Perspective

Swarm Intelligence metaheuristics, and among them Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), have been successfully applied worldwide to solve multiple examples of combinatorial NP-hard problems, giving good solutions in a reasonable period of time (an essential requirement in real life applications). Our company is dedicated to produce steel, being the biggest steelmaker in the World. The impact of a good sequencing in our daily production results is critical. Sequencing requires to take into consideration the most relevant parameters that influence along the material transformation process, being this a really difficult task to do manually or with other traditional methods. After the successful use of the Ant System (AS) algorithm to sequence several of our Galvanizing production lines, we have studied the potential benefit of moving from the classical AS algorithm to an Ant Colony System (ACS), a promising variation of the ACO metaheuristics family. In this paper, we present the work done in order to apply the ACO techniques to an industrial problem. More specifically, we exhibit a comparison between AS and ACS variants, the results obtained and the conclusions drawn from such comparison.

The implementation of an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) system in a manufacturing company

Objective: to report the transformation process of a surgical inpatient unit into a coronavirus patient care unit and the impact on the health of nursing professionals and users of this service, in the opinion of nurses who experienced the process. Method: this is an experience report of nurses of a surgical inpatient unit of a Federal Teaching Hospital in the Midwest region of Brazil. The experience was presented in three thematic axes: 1) Internal restructuring of the surgical hospitalization unit; 2) Training, personnel management and distribution of resources; 3) Impacts on worker health. Results: the surgical clinic started to have an exclusive team and flow of single care. Pre-surgical patients were discharged from the hospital with no prospect of returning to the planned treatment. Surgical wards were adapted to isolation wards, and equipment facilities for ventilatory care were optimized. The lack of adequate Personal Protective Equipment and work overload were identified as situations that increase the risk of infection in health professionals. Conclusion: the study demonstrated unhealthy conditions that favor the physical exhaustion and mental suffering of nursing professionals. New research in occupational health planning which supports the work of health service managers in future pandemic scenarios in Brazil is suggested.

Objective The aim of this study was to understand, from the perspective of policy makers, who holds the responsibility for driving evidence-based policy to reduce the high burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in rural Australia. Methods Qualitative interviews were conducted with policy makers at the local, state and federal government levels in Australia (n=21). Analysis was conducted using the Conceptual Framework for Understanding Rural and Remote Health to understand perceptions of policy makers around who holds the key responsibility in driving evidence-based policy. Results At all levels of government, there were multiple examples of disconnect in the understanding of who is responsible for driving the generation of evidence-based policy to reduce CVD in rural areas. Policy makers suggested that the rural communities themselves, health services, health professionals, researchers and the health sector as a whole hold large responsibilities in driving evidence-based policy to address CVD in rural areas. Within government, there was also a noticeable disconnect, with local participants feeling it was the federal government that held this responsibility; however, federal government participants suggested this was largely a local government issue. Overall, there seemed to be a lack of responsibility for CVD policy, which is reflected in a lack of action in rural areas. Conclusion There was a lack of clarity about who is responsible for driving evidence-based policy generation to address the high burden of CVD in Australia, providing one possible explanation for the lack of policy action. Clarity among policy makers over shared roles and leadership for policy making must be addressed to overcome the current burden of CVD in rural communities. What is known about the topic? Rural health inequalities, such as the increased burden of CVD in rural Australia are persistent. Such health inequalities are unjust, with global theory suggesting political processes have facilitated, in part, the inequalities. With similar examples observed internationally in rural areas, little is known about the influence of the perspectives of policy makers regarding who is responsible for addressing health issues in rural areas, in the government context. What does this paper add? This paper provides empirical evidence, for all levels of government in Australia, that there is a lack of clarity in policy roles and responsibilities to address the unequal burden of CVD in rural Australia, at all levels of government. The paper provides evidence to support the urgent need for clarity within government around policy stakeholder roles. Without such clarity, it is unlikely that national-level progress in addressing rural health inequalities will be achieved in the near future. What are the implications for practitioners? Addressing ambiguity around who is responsible for the development of evidence-based policy to address the high burden of CVD in rural areas must be a high priority to ensure health disparities do not persist for future Australian generations. The results reported here are highly relevant to the Australian context, but also reflect similar findings internationally, namely that a lack of clarity among policy stakeholders appears to contribute to reduced action in addressing preventable health inequalities in disadvantaged populations. This paper provides evidence for policy makers and public health professionals to advocate for clear policy roles and direction in rural Australia.

This article examines the transformation of law through the lens of political competition and structural shifts in the socio-economic order. The study addresses the growing need to reconceptualize law not as a fixed system of universal norms, but as a flexible institutional mechanism shaped by changing configurations of power and resource distribution. As societies transition from agrarian to industrial and later to post-industrial or digital models, the actors capable of influencing legal norm creation also change. Against this backdrop, traditional views of law as a neutral, abstract framework are becoming insufficient for explaining how norms emerge, function, and evolve. The research draws upon integrative, institutional, and dialectical approaches to view law as a product of social interaction, power asymmetry, and the functional relevance of organized groups. It argues that legal norms are not sole-ly the result of legislative intent or political will, but are deeply rooted in the structural dynamics of competition among social actors with varying access to economic, technological, symbolic, or organizational resources. These dynamics shape which norms gain legitimacy and which become obsolete or marginalized. The article further demonstrates that law performs a dual function: as a tool of social adaptation to new political and economic realities, and as a stabilizing force that legitimizes and codifies asymmetrical power relations. Democratic mechanisms such as representation, voting rights, and access to legal protection are presented not as linear advance-ments, but as institutional responses to organized social pressure from groups whose roles are essential to maintaining systemic continuity. Over different historical periods, the legal recognition of particular groups has been closely tied to their capacity for collective action and their systemic indispensability. In the post-industrial context, legal systems become increasing-ly fragmented, reflecting differentiated infrastructural access to mechanisms of resource allocation and norm-setting. The study concludes that contemporary law is less a universal expression of equality and more a structured legit-imization of newly configured power balances. It functions as both a reflection and a reinforcement of existing hierar-chies, embedded within the legal order under the guise of neutrality and universality.

This book focuses on the vulnerability of cities to environmental catastrophes in the developing world. It builds on the work of Mitchell ~1996! on community response to industrial disasters and Mitlin and Thompson’s ~1995! monograph on participatory approaches in urban areas. The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, the author provides a perceptive introduction of hazards, disasters, risk, and vulnerability. He embraces a multidisciplinary, case study approach to illustrate that rapid population growth and associated urban sprawl are not the only factors that contribute to environmental degradation and associated disasters. By examining several case studies of disasters in the developing world, he deduces that the central theme to human vulnerability is sociopolitical, financial, and the physical structure of the society. The book presents an in-depth analysis of Manila, Bogota, and Bangkok to show that the implementation of piecemeal planning in response to rapid urban sprawl has contributed to the construction of substandard buildings and infrastructures in highly hazardprone zones. In another example, the case of Tanza in Zambia is used to document the role of legislation in increasing the vulnerability of widowed female households. Pelling makes a strong argument for the importance of incorporating an assessment of political context and governance to understand the influence of legislation in creating conditions of risk. Financial instability of local and national governments has been a major setback in dealing with disasters. At both local and national levels, lack of resources has enabled people with power and wealth to have an undue influence in the decision-making process about distribution of resources and management of environmental risk. Such opportunistic behavior not only tends to undermine partnerships among local communities at risk, but can also restrict the establishment of community-level organizations, such as nongovernmental and other private-sector institutions that might otherwise work at the grassroots level to enhance social resilience of communities at risk. In the second section, Pelling uses five key issues to study national politics: length of democratic rule, postcolonial regime, urban scale, extent of urban poverty and dependency, and the city ~p. 93!. He analyzes the adaptive potential of public mobilization and action to reduce vulnerability in three cities with contrasting political structures and developmental settings: Bridgetown, Barbados ~a liberal democracy!; Georgetown, Guyana ~a postsocialist state!; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ~an authoritarian state in democratic transition!. Through these studies, he demonstrates that the new political structures in postcolonial countries have contributed to a failure to address the issue of environmental degradation and disaster risk. The reason for their failure is not only lack of financial resources and severe population growth but also lack of community participation in policy formulation. For example, in Guyana and Santo Domingo, many local organizations with a concern for risk were under pressure due to lack of support from government and a lack of social and human capital to generate funding from NGOs or because of limited popular support and engagement. In the final section of the book, he suggests three major changes that should be considered to enhance social resilience to disasters: ~1! both formal and informal organizations should be acknowledged by national and international agencies; ~2! in communities where CBOs are present, these local organizations should work in congruity with formal organizations to reduce vulnerability; ~3! community-level action should be supported and recognized within the political/institutional structure as a means to increase community participation in decision making. Population growth and urban sprawl are central preconditions to disasters. It is thus essential to understand the social, political, and financial status of communities in dealing with disaster impacts. This is the central theme of this book. Although it does not consider technical aspects of emergency management and mitigation, the social elements that enable certain communities to withstand disaster impact more efficiently are applicable to a wide range of risk reduction contexts, including those from industry and technology. The book is therefore of interest to researchers, policy makers, planners, emergency managers, and citizens involved in formulating policy guidelines for community participation and awareness and the development of emergency management and mitigation plans.

This empirical study based on a survey in Malaysian organizations was conducted to investigate perceived justice in distribution of organizational resources. It was designed to study the issues such as recruitment, promotion, performance appraisal and distribution of other perks and benefits to the workforce. Assuming value differences in the major ethnic groups in the country, namely Malays, Chinese, Indians, and others, the study however, expected differences in allocation decisions made only in Malay and Chinese majority organizations. The findings indicated that, in general, merit was the most important norm of distribution of organizational resources. This was followed by need of the recipient and equality in terms of merit and need. Contrary to expectations, Malay-dominated organizations had lower preference for relationship, political connection, power and status, race and gender, factors compared to the Chinese. However, perception of minority ethnic groups differed from the majority on several factors including fairness of the allocation decisions. The implications of the findings are discussed in the light of management practices and organizational culture in Malaysian organization.