There was a lot going on this week at the PA Capitol and work continues to try to get a budget in place by the Sunday deadline. Here are some highlights from the week as posted on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1aqPW3tYtMySPUcY/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/iPW4XyHKBf3oNVpA/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/MRTAq999kpMtkhv9/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/7ZdipDQTXzD21sM1/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/HMNCDYPoBPLBkMHn/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/2R5HH7NwBWVfMptZ/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/EhG7jnpXiU6wgbM9/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/ZpTH7M8RmkWASUTD/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/s2DhksEQn8eiyWhR/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/RwnUBVxxYpHCEds3/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/HGy8LvPkMrWfaUSQ/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/GZB94RZN77WXGCkq/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/8dkx16UsiGUsi7y1/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Title: Picture of Poison Ivy
Category: Images
Created: 10/19/2009 4:49:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 7/13/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 12/31/1997 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/21/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Corticosteroids vs. NSAIDs
Category: Medications
Created: 10/12/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/4/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Allergies: Signs of a Severe Allergic Reaction
Category: Slideshows
Created: 8/18/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/18/2022 12:00:00 AM

Presidential Voter Guide https://www.hbgdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024-PA-Presidential-Voter-Guide.pdf Allentown Diocese https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/38ozcuv2k9a8284l3g5oj/State-Voter-Guide-for-Diocese-of-Allentown.pdf?rlkey=d736o5zt9dim845lp5i8x264g&e=1&st=n431ntpo&dl=0 Harrisburg Diocese  https://www.hbgdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024-State-Voter-Guide-Harrisburg.pdf Erie Diocese  https://www.eriercd.org/images/pdf/2024-PCC-Voter%20Guide.pdf Altoona-Johnstown Diocese https://www.dioceseaj.org/2024-pcc-voter-guide/ Scranton Diocese https://www.dioceseofscranton.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PCC-Voter-Guide-Scranton.pdf Pittsburgh Diocese https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:50d08636-546a-4ad1-8030-46a1fa4ed5e3        

Like many lawmakers in Harrisburg, State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford, Fulton and Franklin Cos.) will be keeping a close eye on budget talks at the Capitol.  The process started after Governor Wolf unveiled his budget proposal earlier this month. “It’s basically the Governor saying ‘this is my wish list,’” said Topper. “That’s the way I look at it. “ There’s a good chance that Topper and his Republican colleagues will have a different set of wishes. Topper said they will be looking at what is needed to run the government efficiently. “There’s always going to be disagreement on that number. It’s a negotiation,” he said. “But from my standpoint, I’m always going to be advocating for spending less money–being more efficient with what we have and not going back to the tax payers for their hard-earned money.” One of the programs that Topper will be pushing for is the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC for short. It enables businesses to get a tax credit for contributing to a scholarship organization, educational improvement organization or a pre-K scholarship organization. “This is a way that we can make sure that businesses who want to contribute to our Catholic schools—and private schools really, whether they are Catholic or not, that we can’t give direct dollars to directly through the state, this is a chance for them to be able to contribute to their communities and get tax deductions through that. It has been a widely successful program that has benefited both the communities and the businesses they serve in, as well as the schools. “ Topper sees a lot of support for not only keeping, but also increasing the EITC. “We’ve seen increases in the EITC since I’ve been here. Speaker Turzai has been leading the charge on that, as well as a former colleague of mine, Jimmy Christiana and Senator Regan when he was Representative Regan in the House. There’s a lot of bi-partisan support for increasing the EITC. “ Another issue that Topper will keep his eye is abortion. He is part of a staunch Pro-Life Caucus at the Capitol. Like many of his colleagues he was alarmed by what happened in New York with the new abortion law. “You’ve seen a lot of—even millennials,” Topper said, “who have come to understand that – I think technology has really made a difference, when you can see these children through ultrasounds…I knew what my kids looked like before they were born. That technology wasn’t available back in the time of Roe V. Wade.” “It just wasn’t something that people could look at and understand. Now they can. The science is on our side. And I think that’s one social and cultural issue that we’ve moved to our side, the pro-life movement.” And Topper joined his colleagues in adding re-assurance to pro-lifers in PA. “This is something I don’t expect to see in Pennsylvania under this legislature but we have to have an answer for it—as we talk about the value of life at conception, what these little children mean to us as a society and how we are going to protect them.”    

The Health Committee within the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a resolution which condemns the free availability of pornography based on the public health hazard that it presents by harming children and families across the Commonwealth. “It’s a public awareness resolution,” said Chairman Matt Baker (R-Tioga). With the resolution, Pennsylvania joins nineteen other states that have passed or introduced a similar measure. “Most people understand pornography is bad, and child pornography is particularly bad,” continued Baker. The resolution cites that due to advances in technology, young children are now exposed to pornography at alarming rates, with as many as 27% of older millennials reporting that they first encountered explicit pornography before even reaching puberty. “As someone with two small daughters, I think that it’s something we owe a certain amount of time and effort to look at,” said Rep. Eli Evankovich (R-WestmorelandAllegheny). House Resolution 519 also encourages a three-pronged approach to confronting this issue with education, prevention and research and policy change at the community and social levels. Prior to the vote, Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia) stated that her intent is to “make sure that families are aware of this issue, that it is a concern and it can become, if it not already is, a public health crisis.”

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is taking a mid-session break and will resume session late in January 2018. 2017 was a very busy year and more issues are on the horizon for 2018. Here is the status of the several high priority bills that are on the legislative agenda of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. Bills That Made It Through Several bills made it all the way through the legislative process in 2017. One bright spot in the difficult, prolonged budget debate was a $10 million expansion of Educational Improvement Tax Credits (EITC) which will benefit more students in Catholic schools. The Pennsylvania General Assembly took a strong pro-life stand to ban barbaric dismemberment abortions and abortions when the unborn baby is able to feel pain (20 weeks). Both the Senate and the House passed Senate Bill 3 with overwhelming majorities. Unfortunately, Governor Tom Wolf vetoed the measure and there was no vote to override. Governor Wolf did however sign House Bill 1139 into law. This law adds fire stations to the list of safe places where a newborn baby may be placed without penalty. Police stations and hospitals are also safe havens. Incubators will be placed in participating locations to hopefully prevent babies being abandoned in dumpsters or public restrooms. The legislature reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but not without controversy. An amendment to correct regulations that allow coverage for sex reassignment surgeries for children was taken out of the final bill that went to the governor’s desk. The Pennsylvania Catholic Health Association and PCC will look for ways to address this again without compromising a valuable program that has given thousands of children access to health care. Legislation to address the statewide opioid crisis was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf. Senate Bill 446 establishes state-regulated minimum quality standards for the licensure of recovery houses that receive funding or referrals from government agencies. This new law is welcomed by the recovery houses operated by many Catholic Charities agencies within Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses. The governor also signed the “Right to Try” Act into law which will provide terminally ill patients the opportunity to try experimental treatments, such as investigatory drugs, biological products and medical devices. It will allow access to treatments that have not been fully approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Issues Left To Do There is much more work left to do in 2018. Legislation to create Education Savings Accounts (ESA) is being considered. Senate Bill 2 would give families that live in the boundaries of a chronically underperforming school a grant in the amount of the average state funding per pupil if they withdraw their students from public school. The money could only be used for tuition and expenses in a participating private school, for tutors, or other education expenses. The money would come out of the local school’s state subsidy; any unused dollars would return to the local school. Senate Resolution 174 and House Resolution 609 each condemn the practice of selectively aborting babies with Down syndrome. Although resolutions do not have the force of law, they are useful gestures for raising awareness. Another resolution, HR 519, condemns the free availability of pornography because of the public health hazard it causes to children and families across the Commonwealth. It passed the House Health Committee in November and should be taken up on the House floor soon. The Pennsylvania Catholic Health Association is reviewing legislation that would govern the use of POLST, Physician’s Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment. Senate Bill 623 and House Bill 1196 similarly outline how and when someone would use a POLST in an end-of-life situation. The concern lies in whether or not a qualifying condition must be present for a POLST order to be signed. Beyond these moral issues, the PCC is tracking legislation that tackles social justice concerns as well. House Bill 1076 would create a land bank of blighted properties and transform them into safe housing for the homeless. With opioid addiction continuing its terrible toll on every community, more legislation will be considered including House Bill 825. This bill provides for a central registry of existing emergency drug and alcohol detoxification beds so health care facilities can better serve people with a substance abuse crisis. This is by no means an exhaustive list of public policy issues that the Catholic Conference will review and advocate. Sexual orientation non-discrimination, access to health care, threats to religious liberty, and other proposals are all potential issues on the radar. For a list of the PCC’s positions on specific legislative proposals, log on and check out: www.pacatholic.org/legislative-review.

There will be a shift at the helm of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference beginning June 1, 2018. Eric A. Failing, PCC’s current social concerns director, will assume the role upon the retirement of Robert J. O’Hara, Jr. after his 21 years as executive director. Prior to joining the PCC staff as social concerns director, Failing was vice president of sales, marketing and development for Pennsylvania Legislative Services. In his year since joining the PCC team, he has spearheaded efforts to pass bills that would ban the practice of abortion for a Down syndrome diagnosis in the womb, expand services to the poor, address the crisis of drug addiction, and other issues. When he announced his plans to retire in March, O’Hara told CatholicPhilly.com that he counts programs that benefit Catholic school families, namely expanding the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC), among his proudest accomplishments.  He has also worked tirelessly to promote social concerns, access to health care for the poor, pro-life issues and the ability of religious organizations to operate according to their beliefs without government interference. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference was established in 1960 to give witness to spiritual values in public affairs and to provide an agency for corporate Catholic service to the statewide community. It serves as the public affairs agency of Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops and the Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to formulate positions on public policy issues, officially represent the Church before state government, and to foster a public understanding of the Church’s teaching and concern about morality, health, welfare, human rights, education and the common good. The PCC gets involved with a wide variety of issues that span across the political spectrum. Visit www.pacatholic.org for the latest news and legislative updates, to lend your voice to advancing the Church’s position in the State Capitol through the PA Catholic Advocacy Network. Congratulations, Eric Failing, on your new job, and Bob O’Hara upon your retirement. Godspeed to you both!

Religious News Service reporter Bobby Ross, Jr. recently asked this question, “When adoption agencies can turn away gay prospective parents, what happens to the kids?” With conflicts between religious based adoption and foster care agencies and government non-discrimination regulations playing out across the country including the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, this is an important question. In March, the City of Philadelphia issued an urgent call for 300 new foster parents to provide loving homes for some of the over 6,000 kids in Philadelphia foster care. That same month, the City abruptly barred Catholic Social Services, one of the city’s top-rated foster agencies, from placing children with foster families. This decision makes it exponentially harder for hundreds of children in need of foster care to find homes. Foster homes are sitting empty, even as the city begs for more families to help in its foster care crisis. Catholic Social Services and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been serving children throughout Philadelphia for over a century. Their Catholic mission drives them to find loving homes for all children in their care, regardless of the child’s race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Catholic Social Services currently serves over 100 children in foster homes. No family or individual has ever complained that the agency’s Catholic mission prevented them from fostering or adopting a child. Sharonell Fulton from Overbrook Farms has been a foster parent for over 25 years. She has opened her home to over 40 children, including two children currently in her care. She strives to provide a loving, stable home and treat each child as if they were her own. To do that, Fulton relies on Catholic Social Services’ help, including around-the-clock support and access to information and resources. “What justice is there in taking stable, loving homes away from children?” Fulton said in a statement to CatholicPhilly.com. “If the city cuts off Catholic Social Services from foster care, foster moms like me won’t have the help and support they need to care for the special-needs kids.” By freezing and threatening to cancel its foster care contract with the CSS, the city is “taking away this help and causing harm and heartache to countless families like mine,” Fulton said. The children will suffer if parents like Fulton do not have the support they need. In May, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court in Philadelphia on behalf of archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS), Sharonell Fulton and two other women caregivers associated with the archdiocesan agency. They asked the court to halt the city’s harmful policy. A hearing is expected later this year.

Catholic adoption agencies across the state have been curtailing or stopping their work altogether as a result of a policy by the Wolf Administration that would take away a lot of their power to decide who would be the best parents for adoption. PA Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster) says there is still hope that a religious exemption will be granted by lawmakers for organizations. “A number of us in the House actually held up the budget because of a religious exemption, related to the Foster care and adoption,” Zimmerman told me in his Lancaster district office. Despite their determined efforts the Governor held firm and it was kept out. “They took the religious exemption out, which means an adoption agency would have to work with any type of family arrangements, whether it’s a man and wife, or an LGBT couple. They would have to work with all of those.” Zimmerman and several of his colleagues would like to see the exemption established. They have an agreement from House and Senate leadership to run bills in the fall to make that happen. “This is just one area. So the question is ‘what’s next?’” Zimmerman said. “I believe that our country and our state were established on religious liberty, religious freedom. We need to have these religious exemptions available to business and family throughout our state. It’s very important.” Zimmerman said another issue that drew debate in the last session was the compulsory age for education. The current law requires children between the ages of eight and 17 to be in school. But new regulations installed in one of the budget codes would expand that from six to 18. Zimmerman was one of the lawmakers who opposed the change. “There are a lot of issues with that,” he said. “Some children are just not ready at six. What about someone who graduates early? What about—in our district—the Plain community that gets work permits at 15?  None of that has been really addressed at this point, so there are some real concerns about the compulsory age.” The age change was something that was being pushed by the Governor, Zimmerman said. Even though it was placed in the budget, he says there will be an effort in the fall to get the change modified. ‘I also look at it as a liberties issue,” Zimmerman added. “The parents can probably make a better decision on their children than government.” Zimmerman remains very committed to pro-life issues. He voted for the Down Syndrome Protection Act and has signed on as a co-sponsor to Rep. Stephanie Borowicz’s (R-Centre, Clinton) “heartbeat” abortion bill, which he hopes to see introduced in the fall.

Professor Hannah Chang Crowdfunding is changing how entrepreneurs finance their innovation. As the number of crowdfunding platforms continues to rise, competition for investor attention also intensifies. What can entrepreneurs and communicators do to heighten attention and strengthen persuasion, in order to secure greater success for their crowdfunding campaign? Associate Professor of Marketing Hannah Chang from SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business specialises in consumer behaviour. In this podcast, she shares a recent research where she and her collaborators investigated all product-pitch videos on online crowdfunding portal, Kickstarter using a dataset with more than 30,000 project videos and millions of support from the crowd. They observed a phenomenon that has yet been documented in prior literature, that is: having multiple voices in the videos enhances persuasion and leads to increased funding.

Professor Pearlie Koh and Professor Tan Hwee Hoon The law on Directors’ duties is an important part of corporate governance. It is therefore unsurprising that a large part of existing research focuses on understanding what the law requires and how it applies in different situations. Such research is however largely reactive. Taking a fresh perspective, SMU Associate Professor of Law Pearlie Koh and SMU Assoc Prof of Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources Tan Hwee Hoon collaborated in a multi-disciplinary research which examined how company directors in Singapore understand the law as it applies to them, the gaps in awareness, and whether the laws and regulations work as envisaged. In this podcast, they discussed the details of this study, which is expected to form a valuable basis for further research in the future.

Professor Zhu Feida The global personal data economy is growing faster than anyone could have imagined. The current business model for data is broken – for individual users and businesses alike. On one hand, users don not have enough control over their own data, such as what data is collected and how the data is used. That challenges their privacy. Users are also not fairly rewarded for their data. On the other hand, while most businesses see the value of customer data, the data they have is fragmented and incomplete. That results in blurry customer profiles, inaccurate insights and poor recommendations. Furthermore, it is difficult for businesses to connect with their customers in a personalised way and track the effectiveness of the connection. In this podcast, Associate Professor Zhu Feida from SMU School of Information Systems shares his research on a next-generation, blockchain-based platform named Symphony. The platform seeks to empower a personal data economy by democratising and personalising data intelligence, with privacy by design.

Cross-border linkages among national stock markets have been strengthening over time, aided by free capital flows and the advancement in information technology. The use of electronic trading, which reduces cost and increases the speed of international financial transactions, has helped to advance this trend. Additionally, the deregulation of equity markets and liberalisation of financial accounts in emerging economies increase their connectedness with world markets. In this podcast, Professor of Economics and Statistics Chow Hwee Kwan from the SMU School of Economics, discusses the key findings of her research on the growing financial linkages in the region, and how it enhances the understanding of the interactions among national stock markets.

Associate Professor of Humanities Winston Chow from SMU’s School of Social Sciences has researched on the areas of urban vulnerability to climate change; sustainability in urban climatology; and perceptions of environmental and climate change in tourism. In recent years, he has published papers on the impact of weather extremes on urban resilience to hydro-climate hazards and trans-boundary variations of urban drought vulnerability and its impact on water resource management in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. In this podcast, Associate Professor Chow will discuss the continued economic growth of a city by adopting sustainable urban development measures.

Assistant Professor of Humanities Orlando Woods from SMU’s School of Social Sciences has a keen research interest in areas including religion, cities and urban landscapes, digital technologies, space, and social and cultural geography. He has published a research paper on the role of Christianity in migrant integration in Singapore, and has received a grant from the Singapore Ministry of Education to conduct further research on this subject. Titled ‘New Religious Pluralism in Singapore: Migration, Integration and Difference”, the study seeks to better understand new types of socio-cultural diversity in Singapore. In this podcast, Assistant Professor Woods discusses the role of whether religion enables or dis-enables migrant integration into Singapore.

The variety and delivery of cloud services have been improving over the years. More and more businesses have started to adopt these services to reduce upfront and ongoing costs and enhance business efficiency. However, there remain many considerations and deployment possibilities which a business must take into account before deciding to take up cloud services. In this podcast, Assistant Professor Ouh Eng Lieh from the SMU School of Information Systems discusses his ongoing service profitability research on the factors and considerations that enable consumers to make informed decisions on cloud services adoption.

The rise of new technologies is changing the way companies raise funds. Along with increased popularity of crowdfunding in recent years, a new form of funding has emerged – that is, the use of Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs. In 2017, companies in the United States raised over $4 billion through ICOs; in 2018, more than $21 billion has been raised. ICOs generate many challenges for securities regulators, and also give rise to other issues including corporate governance, data protection, anti-money laundering and insolvency. Assistant Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez from the SMU School of Law has conducted legal research on financial regulation. In this podcast, he shares his recent comparative and interdisciplinary study which addresses the issue of ICOs and makes recommendations to regulators and policy makers in a way that aims to promote innovation and firms’ access to finance without harming investor protection, market integrity and the stability of the financial system.

Assistant Prof Liang Hao – Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR in short, is an evolving business practice that incorporates sustainable development or ‘doing good’ into a company's business model. In today's socially conscious environment, customers and employees place a premium on spending their money with or working for businesses that prioritise CSR. As such, socially responsible companies can cultivate positive brand recognition, increase customer loyalty, and attract top-tier employees. Taking a fresh approach on CSR research, Assistant Professor of Finance and DBS Sustainability Fellow LIANG Hao from the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, has written two award-winning papers that studied how a firms’ CSR behaviour can influence that of its suppliers as well as its peer firms. In this podcast, he shares the findings and implications of these studies.

As the profile of businesses engaged in disputes is now more diverse than ever, there is a need for dispute resolution mechanisms that are culturally responsive as well as internationally robust. Mediation is one mechanism that offers a flexible and confidential forum for business to resolve their differences in an effective and efficient way. Interest in mediation to resolve cross-border disputes has increased dramatically in recent years due to increasing access to the Internet and the growing number of smaller enterprises doing business internationally. Nadja Alexander is Professor of Law at SMU School of Law. She also heads the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy as its Director, and a prominent mediator, educator, consultant and writer. In a recent study, Prof Alexander had identified some of the top trends impacting the nature and practice of international mediation. She discusses these key trends and developments in this podcast.

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in improving the quality of care for the elderly, be it enhancing aged care patient experience, developing home-care for an ageing population, or automating clinical processes. Associate Professor Tan Hwee Pink from SMU’s School of Information Systems, together with his team, have extensive ground experience in developing and deploying senior-centric technologies, from previous research projects at SMU. They are now collaborating with NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Ltd, a key provider of community programmes for seniors in Singapore, to use smart technology to enhance the operational efficiency and productivity of NTUC Healthcare’s centres. In this podcast, he discusses the type of technologies deployed in the project with NTUC Healthcare, the preliminary results achieved, and the challenges faced.

Building on research conducted in 2018 on the clear and positive link between high levels of psychological safety and a strong teamwork culture, Richard Smith, Professor of Strategic Management and Deputy Dean (Programmes) at the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, has now dug deeper by focusing on diversity. How does closing the gender gap within organisations in Asian countries impact overall company performance? Are employees more productive, or less, with a sense of belonging to the workplace? In this podcast, Professor Smith discusses the key findings of his research conducted in collaboration with consultancy group Great Place to Work Institute Singapore. The rigorous study, one of the largest in Asia to highlight gender differences, surveyed over 400,000 employees from more than 800 organisations located across eight countries in the Asia Pacific.

Global warming and climate change have created an unprecedented global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in energy production. Biomass, or organic matter, which is a renewable energy source that can replace fossil fuels in energy production is gaining popularity. Consequently, commercialising agricultural residues as biomass is gaining momentum in many countries. In a pioneering study, Onur Boyabatli, Associate Professor of Operations Management and DBS Sustainability Fellow at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, together with Assistant Professor of Operations Management Buket Avci, and PhD student Li Bin, studied the economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialisation in agricultural processing industries. In this podcast, Associate Professor Boyabatli shares his insights into this trending subject and the policy implications of their research findings.

Singapore is a small and open economy, with its economic growth highly dependent on international trade. With the momentum of global trade growth being buffeted by increased economic uncertainties and rising trade tensions, does Singapore’s position in the global value chains, or GVCs, stand it in good stead to navigate choppy waters ahead? In this podcast, Associate Professor of Economics and Lee Kong Chian Fellow Chang Pao-Li from the SMU School of Economics, discusses the key findings of her research jointly conducted with Phuong T. B. Nguyen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow from SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business. They evaluate how intensively the Singapore economy has participated in the GVCs, and characterise Singapore’s key upstream and downstream trade partners in the international production network. They also analyse the position of Singapore in the GVC, and how its position has shifted over the years. The pattern of Singapore’s position is compared with those of major regional exporters including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the US, and the world as a whole.

With the advent of new technologies, rapidly changing customer needs and emerging competitors, companies across industries are facing disruptions like never before. To succeed, they will need to innovate by harnessing the power of a wide range of partners who can bring different skills, experience, capacity, and their own networks to the task. In this podcast, SMU University Professor Arnoud De Meyer, who is also co-author of The Ecosystem Edge (https://ecosystemedge.com/) and The Ecosystem Advantage, shares riveting lessons from organisations poised to innovate successfully in this age of disruption. His case-based research reveals how ecosystem leaders bring companies together with complementary abilities to redefine value, serve more customers and create an overall larger pie for each to partake from.

As the climate crisis looms, how can we build a more sustainable future? While the establishment of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) provides a helpful compass to achieve sustainability, they tend to be viewed and applied in isolation from each other. This glosses over what sustainability really means for those most vulnerable to its impacts. In this podcast, SMU Associate Professor Michelle Lim demystifies the dense jargon of the UN SDGs, and argues how viewing them as a set of integrated and interconnected goals is essential to empower us to chart a meaningful path forward for the planet and people. [About the SMU CP Podcast Series] SMU City Perspectives brings together researchers from Singapore Management University (SMU) for insightful conversations exploring the pivotal trends in digital transformation, growth in Asia, and sustainable living. Get inspired and discover solutions that will help you drive more impact in your work and shape the future of cities.

As the effects of climate change continue to grow, the world is more aware than ever about the concept of being sustainable. Most people's entry point to sustainability consists of the ‘Three R’s’, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The question is, what makes waste reusable and recyclable? And what role does informal labour have to play in this journey to sustainable living? In this podcast, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies (Education) at the Singapore Management University, Aidan Wong, explains his research on the value creation process within e-waste recycling networks, including the role of the karang guni, in Singapore and Malaysia. [About the SMU CP Podcast Series] SMU City Perspectives brings together researchers from Singapore Management University (SMU) for insightful conversations exploring the pivotal trends in digital transformation, growth in Asia, and sustainable living. Get inspired and discover solutions that will help you drive more impact in your work and shape the future of cities.

Because of climate change, cities have been grappling with stronger and more frequent storms as well, most recently being Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in America. But many people remain apathetic to climate change. SMU Associate Professor Terry Van Gevelt explains the intricacies of climate change communication and what needs to be done to get urbanites facing climate change to become more aware. . [About the SMU CP Podcast Series] SMU City Perspectives brings together researchers from Singapore Management University (SMU) for insightful conversations exploring the pivotal trends in digital transformation, growth in Asia, and sustainable living. Get inspired and discover solutions that will help you drive more impact in your work and shape the future of cities.

11/15/2024 - 11:30 AM - Venue: Pueblo West Library

11/14/2024 - 9:00 PM - Venue: Riverside Bar and Grill

11/14/2024 - 6:30 PM - Venue: National Guard Armory

11/14/2024 - 5:30 PM - Venue: Coyote Grille

11/13/2024 - 11:30 AM - Venue: Pueblo West Library

11/13/2024 - 9:30 AM - Venue: Temple Baptist Church

Close your eyes and picture a river…go on, do it!

What did you see? Did you picture a clear, deep mountain stream? A raging river in a steep gorge? A creek with grassy banks and forest? Whatever you pictured, it probably included water.

The post What makes a river a river? appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

The devastating 17 July 2023 debris flow at Quetame in Colombia, which killed at least 14 people including three children.

As heavy rainfall continues to affect many areas, two interesting new mudflow videos have been posted to Twitter.

A video posted to social media shows three people having a very lucky escape from a debris flow in Arunachal Pradesh, northern India.

AGU is an organization committed to a culture of Experiment / Learn / Adapt. In response to voter input over many elections, the Leadership Development / Governance Committee chose to test ranked choice voting in 4 elections – International Secretary, Board Director, Council Students and Council Early Career Scientists. In case you’re not familiar, this is an increasingly popular electoral system that allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning …

The post Experiment. Learn. Adapt.: Ranked Choice Voting in the 2024 AGU Elections appeared first on AGU Blogosphere.

Planetary scientists are using a volcanic flow field in New Mexico to puzzle out how long past volcanic eruptions on Mars might have lasted, a finding that could help researchers determine if Mars was ever hospitable to life. People don't usually think of New Mexico as a volcanically active place, but it has some of the youngest (geologically speaking) large lava flows in the continental United States.

The post New Mexico badlands help researchers understand past Martian lava flows (video) appeared first on GeoSpace.

Scientists are keen to explore beneath Europa’s thick blanket of ice, and they can do so indirectly by hunting for evidence of activity emanating from below. A new study published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters, did exactly this.

The post New evidence of watery plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa appeared first on GeoSpace.

A new paper presents the first clear evidence that the relationship between fog levels and vegetation status is measurable using remote sensing. The discovery opens up the potential to easily and rapidly assess fog's impact on ecological health across large land masses -- as compared to painstaking ground-level observation.

The post Hydrologists show environmental damage from fog reduction is observable from outer space appeared first on GeoSpace.

Sinking terrain caused by the loss of ice and soil mass in permafrost is causing deeper thaw than previously thought and making vulnerable twice as much carbon as estimates that don’t account for this shifting ground.

The post Vulnerable carbon stores twice as high where permafrost subsidence is factored in, new research finds appeared first on GeoSpace.