By using the Weather Research and Forecasting (denoted as WRF) model driven by two super-high-resolution global models, High Resolution Atmospheric Model (denoted as HiRAM) and Meteorological Research Institute Atmospheric General Circulation Model (denoted as MRI), this study investigates the dynamical downscaling simulation and projection of extreme precipitation activities (including intensity and frequency) in Taiwan during the Mei-Yu seasons (May and June). The analyses focus on two time period simulations: the present-day (1979-2003, historical

This paper is summarized as follows. (1) Though population with malnutrition has decreased in the world lately, absolute malnutrition in Sub Sahara Africa has rather increased. In the region food and nutrition is likely to be shortage, a state of starvation is easily emerging, due to natural disaster and one caused by human being. (2) Scale of food demand is determined by increase of population and income per capita in the long

In conclusion, in the future it is estimated that demand and supply of world food will get to slightly oversupply and international price of food will make lower substantially. In the developing countries, food will be likely to get into shortage generally and food shortage will be filled up with import and aid. In order to increase food production, important points should be put on development and extension of agricultural technology, improvement on agricultural infrastructure and institution and capacity building of human resources, focusing on small farmers as principal food producer. Finally, it is considered that capacity enhancement of small farmer in the developing countries is key point on increase and stabilization of world food, poverty reduction and environmental conservation.

South Africa is a country that is prone to droughts, earthquakes and other disasters. In this environment, non-governmental stakeholders often provide a substantial part of the relief in affected areas. Non-governmental stakeholders have the experience needed to address the various disaster management challenges currently facing South Africa. This is especially true in the context of local disasters. Therefore an attempt is made in this report to investigate the relevant legal framework, which allows for the formalization of the involvement of non-governmental stakeholders in official disaster management activities in South Africa. Parts of the basic disaster management legislation, i.e. the Disaster Management Act no. 57/2002, contain definitions and requirements for the establishment of the relevant multi-stakeholder crisis management platforms, i.e. the “disaster management advisory forums.” This legislation is analysed in relation to the Hyogo Framework for Action and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Disaster management systems from two cities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, i.e. Knysna and Cape Town, were identified as models for the potential practical execution of these multi-stakeholder platforms at the local government level. Importance of additional aspects of the legal framework, e.g. the role of traditional leaders, are also outlined.

The present study attempts to examine the impact of smartphone-based healthcare technology (SHT) adoption in public healthcare services. System dynamics is used to understand the substantial impact of SHT adoption among patients and doctors would improve the discharge rate and patient’s medical costs. The results show that the changes in the proportion of SHT adoption among patients seem to be significant to the perceived medical expenses and the patient discharge rate from public hospitals. This is due to the fact that the increase in the proportion of patient using SHT would reduce the proportion of basic medical expenses incurred by patients and increase inpatient discharge rate as well. On the other hand, the proportion of both medical doctors and patients adoption of SHT for medical consultation is found to be vital to improve the number of patients being discharged from hospital wards. This impact is implicitly shown from the model through the effectiveness of health consultation using common available social networking apps. In conclusion, the findings of this work are hoped to provide an apprehension to the hospital management’s decision makers and doctors that smartphone devices are considered vital to improve healthcare delivery in Malaysian government hospital and to reduce the burden of medical costs.

　　 The Bhutanese government initiated the central school program as per the Bhutan Education Blueprint 2014-2024 to increase human capital accumulation, which subsidized education expenditures and was gradually extended over the years and currently covers about 28% of total students in Bhutan. Given the fiscal constraints, we use the two-period OLG model with endogenous growth fueled by human capital to calibrate a model using Bhutan’s existing central school policies and simulate the coverage to all students, and evaluate the effects on the economic growth rate. We found that the economic growth rate was initially higher by 2.285 percent on average when the increase in education subsidies is financed through debt. However, after the fourth period, the economic growth rate was higher by an average of 0.331 percent when the increased subsidy was financed through tax during the transition and at the steady growth path. Additionally, in light of the declining population growth rate in Bhutan, we simulated the effect of the decrease in population growth rate on the economy. We concluded that to finance the extension of central school program in the short-run, debt financing is preferable, however, in the long-run tax financing is preferable from the viewpoint of economic growth.

JEL Classifications:C68, E62, F35, H24, H62