NAPSNet 10 November 2011

You are here: Home » Mailing lists » NAPSNet » Weekly Report » NAPSNet 10 November 2011

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet 10 November 2011", NAPSNet Weekly Report, November 10, 2011, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-weekly/napsnet-10-november-2011/

NAPSNet 10 November 2011

DETERRENCE:  Nuclear materials and commodities smuggling, Daniel Joyner, NAPSNet Special Report (10 November 2011)

A multilateral treaty that makes nuclear materials and commodities smuggling an international crime could strengthen the effectiveness of the international legal regulation of nuclear materials and commodities smuggling, including clarification of the scope and criteria of this crime, and establishing universal jurisdiction of states over perpetrators.

DPRK: North Korea’s digital transformation: implications for North Korea policy, Peter Hayes, Scott Bruce, and Dyana Mardon, The Nautilus Institute (November 8, 2011)

The authors examine the implications of the rapid development of IT in North Korea given the DPRK’s social structure. The authors examine three responses to the change in IT use in the DPRK, circumventing the state’s controls to stimulate dissent, engaging the legitimate software industry in North Korea, or cultivating knowledge of development issues in North Korea by feeding information into the DPRK intra-net via “safe” countries.

ENERGY SECURITY: University develops nanodisk formation technology for highly efficient quantum-dot solar cells, Japan for Sustainability (5 November 2011)

A Tohoku University research group has developed a process for manufacturing “quantum dot” based solar photovoltaic (PV) cells with expected conversion efficiencies of 45% or more—about 3 times that of typical PVs in use today.   The process deposits 10-nanometer quantum nanodisk array structures onto a silicon substrate.  The group intends to experimentally manufacture nanodisk solar cells in 3 years, with commercialization in about 2020.

GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: KORUS FTA battle approaches railroad or referendum, The Hankyoreh (5 November 2011)

ROK legislators remain divided over ratification of the US-ROK FTA, with the ruling Grand National Party planning to raise a motion and the Democratic Party arguing for a national referendum to be held during the April 2012 elections. On Thursday, 2000 protestors rallied outside the National Assembly, clashing with police; meanwhile, a group of opposition lawmakers barricaded themselves in the National Assembly to prevent voting on the bill.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Climate change, disaster risk, and the urban poor: Cities building resilience for a changing world, The World Bank (June 2011)

The urban poor living in slums – now estimated at approximately one billion people – are at particularly high risk from the impacts of climate and natural hazards. The impacts of natural hazards and climate change can vary substantially with important distinction in spatial and location characteristics. The inter-linkages between climate change, disaster risk, and the urban poor need to be examined.

AUSTRAL SECURITY: Diggers want to catch rogue soldier alive, Australian (10 November 2011) [Subscription required]

The recent attack on three Australian soldiers by an Afghan soldier has raised multiple issues; did the afghan solider act alone or was he a part of a co-ordinated insurgent strategy to weaken trust. While the Government continues its commitment to Afghanistan and its US allies, Australians question the commitment and call for a troop withdrawal.

Subscribe to NAPSNet to receive free weekly email reports

Editors

Contributors