Mobilising patients towards transnational healthcare markets – insights into the mobilising work of medical travel facilitators in Delhi

ABSTRACT

Medical travel facilitators play an important role in mobilising patients towards transnational healthcare markets. However, little is known about the actual mobilising work of medical travel facilitators located at destination sites, such as Delhi, India. The following ethnographic study suggests conceptualising medical travel facilitators as brokers who are productive of a mobility infrastructure. This allows categorising three mobilisation strategies: direct patient mobilisation, channel partner mobilisation and patient testimonial mobilisation. These strategies draw attention to practices that build trust over distance, the power of word-of-mouth and the importance of nurturing personal relationships that translate into transnational channels that direct people to particular destinations.     

外国直接投资对基础设施投资的影响分析

建立了外商对基础设施投资的优化模型，并对外商和国内地方政府关于基础设施投资规模的选择进行了定性的博弈分析。在此基础上，进一步探讨了出现目前状况的政策背景并作了相应的定性分析结论表明，外商对国内的基础设施投资规模明显偏小；同时对引进外资加强西部基础设施建设提出了一些建议，以期对决策者提供参考。     

Testing Branching Process Estimators of Cascading Failure with Data from a Simulation of Transmission Line Outages

We suggest a statistical estimator to quantify the propagation of cascading transmission line failures in large blackouts of electric power systems. We use a Galton‐Watson branching process model of cascading failure and the standard Harris estimator of the mean propagation modified to work when the process saturates at a maximum number of components. If the mean number of initial failures and the mean propagation are estimated, then the branching process model predicts the distribution of the total number of failures. We initially test this prediction on failure data generated by a simulation of cascading transmission line outages on two standard test systems. We discuss the effectiveness of the estimator in terms of how many cascades need to be simulated to predict the distribution of the total number of line outages accurately.     

Operational Models of Infrastructure Resilience

We propose a definition of infrastructure resilience that is tied to the operation (or function) of an infrastructure as a system of interacting components and that can be objectively evaluated using quantitative models. Specifically, for any particular system, we use quantitative models of system operation to represent the decisions of an infrastructure operator who guides the behavior of the system as a whole, even in the presence of disruptions. Modeling infrastructure operation in this way makes it possible to systematically evaluate the consequences associated with the loss of infrastructure components, and leads to a precise notion of “operational resilience” that facilitates model verification, validation, and reproducible results. Using a simple example of a notional infrastructure, we demonstrate how to use these models for (1) assessing the operational resilience of an infrastructure system, (2) identifying critical vulnerabilities that threaten its continued function, and (3) advising policymakers on investments to improve resilience.     

科学知识图谱视角下的绿色基础设施研究分析

多学科介入绿色基础设施的研究拓宽了该领域的研究内容,对绿色基础设施研究框架的梳理可以使其主体领域、发展趋势、研究热点逐一显现出来,为绿色基础设施后续研究提供理论基础. 通过科学知识图谱分析绘制软件CiteSpace,对目前绿色基础设施领域取得成果进行系统研究,发现目前绿色基础设施研究发展呈扩散型,研究成果数量以美国为首,主体涵盖景观、城市、生态、规划、管理5个主要侧重角度,研究热点主要包括生物多样性、生态系统服务、雨洪管理等. 最终通过整合图谱信息发现,目前GI研究存在两大缺陷:审美及文化的缺失、实施及管理的缺乏.     

Aviation as deportation infrastructure: airports,planes, and expulsion

ABSTRACT

The practices and mechanisms states use to forcibly move deportees across borders and sometimes vast distances have been curiously neglected by scholars. To remedy this imbalance this article develops a concept of deportation infrastructure. By building bridges between critical studies of infrastructure and migration and deportation studies, the article argues we can better understand topology, power relations, and resistance in the field of state-forced mobility. The article grounds this discussion in an analysis of deportation charter flights. It ends with a discussion of two additional concepts that speak to the theme of this special issue [Eule, Tobias, David Loher, and Anna Wyss. (2018). “Contested Control at the Margins of the State.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44 (16): 2717–2729. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2017.1401511.], that is, the place of asymmetrical negotiations in the making and unmaking of border regimes. The first of these is strategic position, a term borrowed from studies of logistical politics. Deportees are sometimes able to utilise strategic positions when they exploit opportunities to disrupt finely tuned ecologies of air travel. The second is the mutability of infrastructure, a term that captures dynamics of change in the border regime.     

推进内蒙古基础设施建设的思考

在西部大开发战略实施中,内蒙古如何抓住机遇,加快发展?我们认为决不能好高骛远,决不能单纯抓工商企业的规模扩张和产值增长速度,而是首先要脚踏实地,夯实基础,创造投资环境条件。应该研究制定一条具有民族地区特色的基础设施建设之路,实施切实可行的对策措施,为内蒙古经济、社会、生态可持续发展奠定坚实的经济基础。     

“长江三峡国际黄金旅游带”的构建与可持续发展研究

在“长江三峡国际黄金旅游带”的构建中,要以保护生态环境为根本和切入点;以大力加强基础设施建设为坚实依托;以积极调整产业结构为关键和主线,正确认识所谓的“产业空心化”问题;以整合文化旅游资源、确立科学的旅游战略为重要举措;采取一系列切实可行的对策,使“长江三峡国际黄金旅游节”的全面构建得以尽快实施,并在我国社会主义和谐社会的构建中发挥重要作用。     

绿色基础设施理论研究——以慈溪市绿地系统规划为例

无序扩张和环境质量恶化是城市发展所面临的重要挑战,研究城市绿地系统规划有助于提高城市生活品质,维持城市生态系统的稳定、健康发展。利用城市化水平较高的杭州湾滨海城市慈溪市为研究对象,并运用绿色基础设施理论及GIS技术,分析了城市绿地现状及其空间分布所存在的问题。提出优先保护城市生态的目标,规划了城市绿地连接通道,整合非线性绿地网络中心,全面提升了城市保障与生态环境维护的系统功能。     

我国大豆企业“走出去”发展战略研究

大豆是我国的传统优势产业,然而在外资的强大冲击下,我国大豆企业处境艰难,突出表现为:2000年至2012年,进出口量差距日益悬殊;国内产量与单产持续低迷;进口依存度居高不下,近12年的均值为78.7％,最近4年的均值甚至超过90％;种植面积连年缩减.为了破解困局,本文选取控制我国50％以上大豆加工能力和80％进口大豆货源的美国ADM等四大国际粮油巨头作为我国大豆企业的重要竞争对手,阐释彼此优劣势,提出“借外补内”的发展思路及“走出去”发展战略选择,提出加大政府扶持、加快技术创新、加强国外种植支撑体系、发展多元化品种的战略举措,以振兴我国大豆产业.