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In the wake of local initiatives and developmental funding programs, interprofessionality is now included in national curricula in the German-speaking countries. Based on the 3P model (presage, process, product), this position paper presents the development of interprofessional education in recent years in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and places it in an international context. Core aspects as legal frameworks, including amendments to occupational regulations as well as the formation of networks and faculty development are basic requirements for interprofessional education. New topics and educational settings take shape in the process of interprofessional education: patient perspectives and teaching formats, such as online courses, become more important or are newly established. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on interprofessional education is explored as well. Among many new interprofessional courses, particularly the implementation of interprofessional training wards in Germany and Switzerland are positive examples of successful interprofessional education. The objective of interprofessional education continues to be the acquisition of interprofessional competencies. The main focus is now centered on evaluating this educational format and testing for the corresponding competencies. In the future, more capacities will be required for interprofessional continuing education and post-graduate education. Structured research programs are essential to ascertain the effects of interprofessional education in the German-speaking countries. In this position paper the GMA committee on interprofessional education encourages further advancement of this topic and expresses the aim to continue cooperating with other networks to strengthen and intensify interprofessional education and collaboration in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the Chinese customary ritual of burning paper money to commemorate the dead ancestors challenges the nature-culture dichotomy. The paper argues that the practice of burning paper money reflects a Chinese cosmology that is not based on a dichotomy between the living and the dead, instead, the dead is often mobilized to exert influential power over the living. The paper money that people use in such rituals are active actors that participates in people's social, cultural and economic life. The paper also investigates how the conflict between government policy and traditional practice demonstrates that the modernists' efforts to mobilize modern dichotomies have failed to triumph over the entanglement among networks of the living and the dead, the human and the spirit, the object and the subject, nature, culture, and super-nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is an often-held assumption that the engagement of clinicians and healthcare organizations in research improves healthcare performance at various levels. Previous reviews found up to 28 studies suggesting a positive association between the engagement of individuals and healthcare organizations in research and improvements in healthcare performance. The current study sought to provide an update. Methods: We updated our existing published systematic review by again addressing the question: Does research engagement (by clinicians and organizations) improve healthcare performance? The search covered the period 1 January 2012 to March 2024, in two phases. First, the formal updated search ran from 1 January 2012 to 31 May 2020, in any healthcare setting or country and focussed on English language publications. In this phase two searches identified 66 901 records. Later, a further check of key journals and citations to identified papers ran from May 2020 to March 2024. In total, 168 papers progressed to full-text appraisal; 62 were identified for inclusion in the update. Then we combined papers from our original and updated reviews. Results: In the combined review, the literature is dominated by papers from the United States (50/95) and mostly drawn from the Global North. Papers cover various clinical fields, with more on cancer than any other field; 86 of the 95 papers report positive results, of which 70 are purely positive and 16 positive/mixed, meaning there are some negative elements (i.e. aspects where there is a lack of healthcare improvement) in their findings. Conclusions: The updated review collates a substantial pool of studies, especially when combined with our original review, which are largely positive in terms of the impact of research engagement on processes of care and patient outcomes. Of the potential engagement mechanisms, the review highlights the important role played by research networks. The review also identifies various papers which consider how far there is a "dose effect" from differing amounts of research engagement. Additional lessons come from analyses of equity issues and negative papers. This review provides further evidence of contributions played by systems level research investments such as research networks on processes of care and patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the live music industry have received much attention, little consideration has been given to regional music production clusters more broadly. Evaluating the impacts of the pandemic on the music economy of North West England, this paper identifies key areas of support required as music businesses transition into a digitally-orientated post-COVID period. Findings demonstrate the ways in which the pandemic encouraged or forced music businesses to innovate with new digital ways of showcasing, promoting and distributing music. Yet, while digitalisation offers many opportunities, these are often difficult for businesses to capitalise upon. The paper argues the need to place business support at the heart of local cultural policy. More specifically, the paper makes the case for a soft institutionalist approach whereby local policymakers, the market and civil society work together to generate and distribute crucial resources of human, financial and social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting breakthrough papers holds great significance; however, prior studies encountered challenges in this task, indicating a need for substantial improvement. We propose that the failure to capture the dynamic structural-evolutionary features of citation networks is one of the major reasons. To overcome this limitation, this paper introduces a new method for constructing citation cascades of focus papers, allowing the creation of a time-series-like set of citation cascades. Then, through a thorough review, three types of structural indicators in these citation networks that could reflect breakthroughs are identified, including certain basic topological metrics, PageRank values, and the von Neumann graph entropy. Based on the time-series-like set of citation cascades, the dynamic trajectories of these indicators are calculated and employed as predictors. Using the Nobel Prize-winning papers as a landmark dataset, our prediction method yields approximately a 7% improvement in the ROC-AUC score compared to static-based prior methods. Additionally, our method advances in achieving earlier predictions than other previous methods. The main contribution of this paper is proposing a novel method for creating citation cascades in chronological order and confirming the significance of predicting breakthroughs from a dynamic structural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application of Random Matrix Theory (RMT) as a methodological enhancement for portfolio selection within financial markets. Traditional approaches to portfolio optimization often rely on historical estimates of correlation matrices, which are particularly susceptible to instabilities. To address this challenge, we combine a data preprocessing technique based on the Hilbert transformation of returns with RMT to refine the accuracy and robustness of correlation matrix estimation. By comparing empirical correlations with those generated through RMT, we reveal non-random properties and uncover underlying relationships within financial data. We then utilize this methodology to construct the correlation network dependence structure used in portfolio optimization. The empirical analysis presented in this paper validates the effectiveness of RMT in enhancing portfolio diversification and risk management strategies. This research contributes by offering investors and portfolio managers with methodological insights to construct portfolios that are more stable, robust, and diversified. At the same time, it advances our comprehension of the intricate statistical principles underlying multivariate financial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AGRA (formerly known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) was founded in 2006 by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation to initiate agricultural transformation in Africa. Although critics have argued that AGRA’s approach insufficiently addresses the needs of African smallholder farmers, there has been little analysis of the broader politics and networks that shape AGRA, a gap this paper aims to fill. Using a network analysis and key informant interviews, we identify the actors that constitute AGRA’s network, and describe related power constellations. Our paper illustrates that AGRA’s network is dominated by foundations, intergovernmental organisations and corporations, with decision-making located within Global North institutions. We reveal that the alliance displays characteristics of an ideological advocacy network and conclude that it can be considered a neoliberal food regime. We suggest better control mechanisms to hold accountable organisations without a political mandate, and to increase the transparency of their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years, we have exploited the bistability features that are commonly found in many individual sensors to develop a network-based [Acebrón et al., 2003; Bulsara et al., 2004; In et al., 2003a; In et al., 2003b; In et al., 2005; In et al., 2006; In et al., 2012; Palacios et al., 2005] approach to modeling, designing, and fabricating extremely sensitive magnetic- and electric-field sensors capable of resolving field changes as low as 150 pT and 100 fAmps, respectively. Higher sensitivity is achieved by exploiting the symmetry of the network to create infinite-period bifurcations that render the ensuing oscillations highly sensitive to symmetry-breaking effects from external signals. In this paper, we study the effects of noise on the response of a network-based electric-field sensor as well as the effects of parameter mismatch, which appear naturally due to material imperfections and noise. The results show that Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) increases sharply near the onset of the infinite-period bifurcation, and they increase further as the coupling strength in the network increases while passing the threshold that leads to oscillatory behavior. Overall, the SNR indicates that the negative effects of highly contaminated signals are well-mitigated by the sensitivity response of the system. In addition, computer simulations show the network-based system to be robust enough to mismatches in system parameters, while the deviations from the nominal parameter values form regions where the oscillations persist. Noise has a smoothing effect over the boundaries of these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the theoretical concept of perceived resource access security in order to assess the link between natural resource scarcity and interstate conflict. It develops the hypothesis that resource access through international trade is an important determinant for conflict behaviour of states arising from resource concerns, implying a shift in focus away from endowments and towards competition for access. The main analysis is conducted in the form of a unit fixed effects logistic regression covering country-dyads of the period 1962–2010 with military interstate dispute (MID) initiation as dependent variable. The empirical findings consistently demonstrate that a diversified position in resource supply networks mitigates the conflict propensity of states characterized by outside dependence for access to natural resources, and thereby help to determine conditions under which trade reduces conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a model of network formation in which agents create links following a simple heuristic — they invest their limited resources proportionally more in neighbours who have fewer links. This decision rule captures the notion that when considering social value more connected agents are on average less beneficial as neighbours and node degree is a useful proxy when payoffs are difficult to compute. The decision rule illustrates an externalities effect whereby an agent's actions also influence his neighbours' neighbours. Besides complete networks and fragmented networks with complete components, the pairwise stable networks produced by this model include many non-standard ones with characteristics observed in real life networks like clustering and irregular components. Multiple stable states can develop from the same initial structure — the stable networks could have cliques linked by intermediary agents while sometimes they have a core–periphery structure. The observed pairwise stable networks have close to optimal welfare. This limited loss of welfare is due to the fact that when a link is established, this is beneficial to the linking agents, but makes them less attractive as neighbours for others, thereby partially internalising the externalities the new connection has generated. • A network formation model of heuristic allocation of scarce resources is proposed. • Besides networks of complete components, many non-standard networks are pairwise stable. • The observed pairwise stable networks have close to optimal welfare. • The pairwise stable networks exhibit clustering and can have irregular components. • The stable networks can have cliques linked by intermediaries or a core–periphery structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper approaches Transnistria ghettos from a social perspective looking to recuperate the networks accessed by those ghettoized. My hypothesis is that networking was instrumental for survival and it was conditioned by local conditions, pre-dispositions inherited from pre-war times and the capacity of those ghettoized to adapt the latter to the former. The approach is both historical and sociological with the emphasis put on Cole’s argument for a spatial dimension of Holocaust survival and Bourdieu’s conceptualization of the ‘social space.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAlthough environmental education (EE) scholars celebrate the diversity of organizations that engage in this work, the challenge remains how to bring these organizations together. Over the last decade, scholars have called for building bridges, but we still know very little about organizational networking and integration processes in EE. In this paper, I analyzed a case study of the first local education office (LEO) to manage an EE network in California. Drawing on institutional theory, I found that the LEO cultivated a local EE organizational field through three complementary strategies of relational work: enabling connections, aligning the field, and holding space. These three strategic tools enabled EE organizations to connect, develop a shared meaning system, and grow their capacity to serve schools. Based on my findings, I propose a model for managing local EE networks, as well as theoretical constructs for understanding organizational processes within the evolving EE landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world of increasing pressures from climate change, water utilities need to maintain—or even improve—their ability to continue provision safe and secure water supply. To ensure capacity in service delivery, some providers have embraced different forms of interlocal collaboration. Yet, such interdependence engenders risk, thus driving some collaborating providers to enter into contractual agreements. While these agreements can reduce risk, but new complexities may still arise, especially when the agreement is capital intense and physically constrained. This study asks: i) How does perceived risk of from external climate-related pressures to public service provision affect preferences for the future of current contractual agreements? and ii) how do local efforts to offset need for collaboration shape these future preferences? This study examines how beliefs and local strategies (i.e., technical, managerial, or programmatic advances) affect contract preferences among community water systems linked through interlocal agreements. The paper discusses insights about ways ontological beliefs may shape operational decisions specific to interlocal collaboration and the potential for consolidation of water service operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of networks in the spatial diffusion of local economic shocks in Africa. We show that geographic connectivity, along with road and ethnic connectivity, are important for diffusing economic spillovers over longer distances. We then determine the key players, that is, which districts are key in propagating local economic shocks across Africa. Using these results, we conduct counterfactual policy exercises to evaluate the potential gains from policies that increase economic activity in specific districts or improve road connectivity between districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Countries' participation in green Framework Programmes enhances green competitiveness. • Domestic green innovation positively moderate the impact of international green collaboration on green exports. • Network policies should be combined with innovation policies. This paper studies the impact of environmental research networks on green exports by providing a unique contribution to the studies on the role of collaborative innovation for international competitiveness. Specifically, we adopt the technology gap model of international trade to study the impact of green innovation and the participation in European environmental research programs on green exports for 26 European countries over the period 2003 - 2015. We find that both environmental innovation and research networks positively impact on green exports and that they have a complementary effect that highlights the importance of green absorptive capacity. Moreover, all institutional sectors involved in the networks (firms, universities and public research centers) matter for green competitiveness, with universities playing a major role for institutional complementarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the social sciences, a direct relationship with societal actors is an extended practice of conducting research, particularly in fields entailing in-depth empirical fieldwork. This paper analyzes the interactive processes observed in knowledge production in social sciences. The aim is to understand how these relationships are constructed between academic and non-academic actors, which is the goal of researchers in approaching social actors in this way, and the scope of these relationships for generating knowledge and addressing societal problems. Given the modalities of social science research, two frameworks are essential to analyzing these processes. On the one hand, there is the notion of knowledge networks. On the other, knowledge mobilization concerns understanding these processes and their linearity or non-linearity. In this paper, integrating both frameworks helps explain interactive social research. Based on recent empirical information about social sciences research in Mexico, this paper analyzes the dimensions of the interactive character of knowledge generation in these disciplines. The purpose of the paper is to document how the interactions between academic and non-academic actors are built during research; the characteristics of such collaborations; how the mobilization of knowledge occurs emphasizing learning processes and trust generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the usefulness of public libraries. Through a literature review, we document the shift in their core mission as they transition from codex curators to community builders. This reflects a change in service logic, moving away from the mobilization of technical capabilities in a low interactivity context and toward the mobilization of human capabilities in a high interactivity context. Public libraries now stand as social innovators in that their activities modify interaction patterns among individuals. As a consequence, they stand as key players in the knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a simple model inspired by the seminal connections model of Jackson and Wolinsky (1996). Node-players can invest in links to connect with other nodes forming networks, but only direct links transmit value. Nodes may have different values and different decreasing returns abilities/technologies to form/strengthen links. The strength of a link depends on the amounts invested in it by the two nodes that it connects and is determined by a separable function of the investments of the players which form the link. Nash-stable and efficient networks are characterized, and a variety of their architectures identified for different configurations of values and technologies. • Network formation with heterogeneity in nodes' values and in endogenous links. • Characterization of Nash and efficient networks. • Core–periphery, nested split graph and bipartite networks emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure of cells to non‐optimal growth conditions or to any environment that reduces cell viability can be considered as a stress. In this paper, we are going to highlight the main factors that determine the danger of stress to a cell considered as a biochemical system. To this end, we introduce a new mathematical concept of biosystem stability, where we take into account a signal transduction by deep gene networks. Using this concept and known results on approximations by deep networks, we find asymptotic estimates of the size and the depth of gene regulation networks that define the stress response. We propose a new algorithm to find the gene network approximating a prescribed output. It allows us, with the help of Kolmogorov ϵ$$ \epsilon $$‐entropy and the deep neural network theory, to estimate the number of genes involved in regulation of responses on a stress (for example, a heat shock). We show that the main factors that increase the sensitivity of the systems with respect to a stress are the number of biochemical network parameters affected by the stress and sensitivities of kinetic rates with respect to these parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two groups produce a network good perceived by a third party, such as a police or military institution, as a 'public bad', referred to as 'crime' for simplicity. These two groups, considered mafias, are assumed to be antagonists, whether they are enemies or competitors in the same market, causing harm to each other's activities. This paper provides guidelines for the policymaker, typically the police, seeking to minimize overall crime levels by internalizing these negative externalities. One specific question is investigated: the allocation of resources for the police. In general, we recommend a balanced crackdown on both antagonists, but an imbalance in group sizes may lead the police to focus on the more criminal group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher-order network models are becoming increasingly relevant for their ability to explicitly capture interactions between three or more entities in a complex system at once. In this paper, we study homophily, the tendency for alike individuals to form connections, as it pertains to higher-order interactions. We find that straightforward extensions of classical homophily measures to interactions of size 3 and larger are often inflated by homophily present in pairwise interactions. This inflation can even hide the presence of anti-homophily in higher-order interactions. Hence, we develop a structural measure of homophily, simplicial homophily, which decouples homophily in pairwise interactions from that of higher-order interactions. The definition applies when the network can be modeled as a simplicial complex, a mathematical abstraction which makes a closure assumption that for any higher-order relationship in the network, all corresponding subsets of that relationship occur in the data. Whereas previous work has used this closure assumption to develop a rich theory in algebraic topology, here we use the assumption to make empirical comparisons between interactions of different sizes. The simplicial homophily measure is validated theoretically using an extension of a stochastic block model for simplicial complexes and empirically in large-scale experiments across 16 datasets. We further find that simplicial homophily can be used to identify when node features are valuable for higher-order link prediction. Ultimately, this highlights a subtlety in studying node features in higher-order networks, as measures defined on groups of size k can inherit features described by interactions of size ℓ< k. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the close interaction between environmental hazards and non-environmental factors inducing people to leave their areas of origin, augmented by the struggles they face and their urban survival strategies. Focusing on Aila-induced migrants in a slum in Khulna city, the study questions the conventional notion that environmental hazards singularly propel coastal inhabitants' migration. Instead, it asserts that migration results from a convergence of multi-causal factors, notably, the interplay between environmental hazards, socio-political and economic vulnerabilities, and proximity to ecologically fragile regions. Initially driven by subsistence needs, migration has transformed into something greater for many marginalized individuals. These migrants develop strong bonds with specific locations and location-specific networks, which facilitate their transition to urban life and allow them to mitigate the challenges associated with urban living. This study sheds light on the nuanced dynamics of climate-induced migration, emphasizing the necessity for comprehensive policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulp and paper is a major impact industry, in which environmental impacts can be seen to be complex, diverse and characterised by uncertainty and interdependence. A greening process within this industry requires wide ranging environmental knowledge. Also fundamental are effective networks for information exchange and greening is therefore dependent on changes to such networks. This study investigates the issue of how greening occurs, focusing on the process at the Fletcher Challenge New Zealand integrated pulp and paper mill situated in Tasmania, Australia. It was seen that effective greening within this industry relies on information processing capabilities to access external and internal knowledge and skills, and that this is fundamentally dependent on structural arrangements. Appropriate organisational structure and external networks are therefore essential for accessing information and facilitating its dissemination and integration, thereby enhancing the firm's ability to address environmental concerns. The study highlights interaction between the formal change process, one which sought limited change, and an informal change process that continued greening the company beyond the official aims. The reasons for this are located in the power of informal information exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on embeddedness in global production networks (GPNs) has begun to move beyond the dominant perspective on how lead firms embed into host countries to investigate how non-lead firms embed across multiple scales in a GPN. This paper builds on such work by examining both processes of how, and the extent to which, different Southern suppliers embed into GPNs, detailing the contestation, struggles, and synergies faced. Empirical evidence is provided through a case study of Kenyan horticulture. Using a mixed-method approach of interviews and surveys, the paper finds that Kenyan farmers and Kenyan export firms (KEFs) have varied ways in which they embed, with farmers more embedded (highly dependent on network relationships and participation in a GPN) and KEFs simultaneously less embedded (having a low degree of commitment towards farmers) in GPNs. Overarchingly, the results demonstrate the need to account for the complex ways in which non-lead firm actors like Southern suppliers embed in GPNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revives the work and reputation of artist Dolly Robinson, focusing on her as a lynchpin of many cultural circles in Dublin from the 1920s to the 1940s. Drawing on the archive of Robinson papers, it assesses her contribution to the development of a distinctive Irish theatrical tradition and reveals a woman with strong connections to the Irish artistic milieu of her day. Her work and collaborations reflect some of the many interactions between visual art and literary culture. Her exhibition of paintings and various Abbey set pieces are examined alongside the productions and adaptations of these years, and how they underpinned the output of some of the major literary figures of the era. Specifically, Robinson's literary influence on her husband and contemporaries is considered in the context of female collaboration, an enabling but overlooked presence that mirrored the role of many women in a newly independent Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout much of her career, Irish journalist Charlotte O'Conor Eccles (1863–1911) promoted other Irish women and supported better rights for working women. Along with this support was Eccles' belief that women should join social clubs and networks in order to excel in their own careers. Using both archival research and analysis of her journalism, this paper traces Eccles' involvement in nineteenth-century networks as she moved between Ireland and England. Eccles' participation in groups like the Literary Ladies' Dinner and the Writers' Club gave her access to various professional women, international and Irish, and influenced her writing, as indicated in this paper, in both her journalism and fiction. Furthermore, Eccles' comparison of private "at home" events or salons versus public social clubs in her novel The Matrimonial Lottery (1906), indicates her own feelings toward women's access to and the importance of these valuable professional networks. Tracing these networks is essential to uncovering the intricate connections Irish women, like Eccles, created as they not only succeeded in their careers but supported each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like the contributions to the other papers in this collection ('Object itineraries' and 'Instrumental networks'), those in this final section explore instrumental networks and object itineraries in order to tell new histories of observatory sites and their associated networks. (For a discussion of the genesis and thinking behind the collection of papers see the 'Introduction'). Here, however, they focus on object stories that highlight the opportunities for and importance of communicating with those outside the scientific community. They show, however, a wide range of potential and actual audiences to be mediated between, from closely associated scientific institutions and those holding the purse strings within government, to groups making up the local civic society and a wider and more diffuse audience for scientific outputs and achievements. The objects explored here are an 1850s model of electrically triggered time signals, associated with those at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; a late nineteenth-century astrographic telescope that, with approval of scientific and governmental audiences, brought the National Astronomical Observatory of Mexico into an international project and subsequently found new audiences through public display and artistic intervention; and a photoelectric relay that advertised the Yerkes Observatory to the Chicago and visiting public by forming part of a stunt, whereby the light of a distant star triggered the lighting of the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a group of three articles that bring together object stories relating to observatory history and networks. The three articles ('Instrumental networks', 'Object itineraries' and 'Observatory audiences') each bring together three object stories by different authors that contribute to the article theme. Here the genesis of the collection at the workshops of the Observatory Sites and Networks project is discussed, along with the approaches taken and the kind of insights that studies of material culture can shed on histories of observatories and the observatory sciences. The arrangement of the stories into three themes is outlined while common threads and recurring motifs that create connections and synergies across the thematic sections are highlighted. Together the collected papers make an argument for the use of objects in research, demonstrating the fruitfulness of investigating their histories and showing how they can expand our understanding of the networks of people, organisations and objects that were interested in or essential to the successful functioning of observatories. They also demonstrate the breadth and variety of interests and resources that were drawn into these networks, offering new ways of understanding and interpreting both observatory sites and museum objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents three pieces that use objects, or object types, to reveal the material, personal, institutional and commercial networks that surrounded the introduction and successful use of instruments, systems and techniques. The objects explored are: the Hourly Signal Relay, used within the time signal system of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from the mid-nineteenth century; photographic glass plates from the British 1874 transit of Venus expeditions; and an electronic imaging tube, Lallemand's camera, developed in Paris and used at the Lick Observatory in California in the 1960s. Each story uses examples of failure as a means of highlighting a lack of robustness in or effort required to maintain these networks. Once created, however, such networks could, as the second two stories note, go on to develop and support alternative approaches, helping to create success from apparent failure. Nevertheless, complexity, failure and fragility have also led to the underrepresentation or obscurity of these objects in museum collections, until given focused attention in these studies. The paper forms part of a collection of articles: Revealing observatory networks through object stories. The other papers in the collection are 'Object itineraries', and 'Observatory audiences' and the genesis of the collection is discussed in the 'Introduction'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the initial attempt to write a comprehensive overview of the involvement of Jews in photography. To the editorial board of the Encyclopaedia Judaica in the late 1960s, it was self-evident that Jews were represented well out of proportion to their number in the field of photography, and therefore, their project demanded that this be dealt with in a general article and individual entries. Peter Pollack, a pioneering curator and historian of photography, was selected to edit this sub-section. Pollack immediately devised a broad and penetrating survey. But his efforts were severely constrained because the editors did not deem this area to be very significant, and because the basic research they promised Pollack about Jews in photography simply did not exist. They were not about to undertake such an original, complicated and far-lung effort. Pollack's intuition, that this comprised both an important element of modern Jewish history and the history of photography, only came to partial fruition in the Judaica. But his papers held at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles) will be tremendously helpful for scholars wishing to further investigate the question of Jews and photography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a theoretical framework for categorizing organized crime groups based on what they do – whether they produce, trade or govern – as well as their aims. This paper then tests whether the internal structure of a heroin distribution organization in New York City, a Sicilian mafia group and the Provisional Irish Republican Army differ. Applying Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) methods to network data, we find the organizational structure of trade-type organized crime differs markedly from governance-type, as well as between financially-motivated and politically-motivated groups. Trade-type organized crime and financially-motivated groups display a high level of centralization, an even distribution of clustering values, short paths and low homophily. Governance-type organized crime and politically-motivated groups display the opposite features. We conclude that the core activity and aim of the group are crucial in understanding the organizational structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the concept of a Luxury Freeport to describe a novel form of offshore where art and other high-end goods can be stored indefinitely without tax and duty-payments being made. The paper makes three key contributions to our understanding of these new actors in the global political economy. First, it conceptualizes Luxury Freeports as part of what has been called the 'offshore world', showing that over the course of the last decade these previously understudied sites have become part of an evolving global ecosystem of tax avoidance. Second, the paper attributes the rise of this new form of offshore to meso-level spillover effects within the offshore world itself: this new model of offshore was born from a combination of the competitive 'push' of the rapid spread of Open Customs Warehouses at the turn of the century and the investment 'pull' of large pools of money needing new investment outlets in the wake of the recent multilateral effort to clamp down on banking secrecy. Third, it examines how the development and diffusion of the Luxury Freeport model has been shaped and constrained by this clampdown. Navigating the regulatory push against offshore and in an effort to mainstream and legitimize their activities, newer Luxury Freeports have aligned themselves both with the exclusive and high cultural capital environment of the art world and the ecosystem of specialized services offered by the wealth management industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the writer's experience and knowledge and observation of the Sudanese context. Data has also been collected from key informants using the interviews with three o members occupying leading positions in: civil society Organizations including, The Nuba Women Organization, The southern Sudanese women Organization and The Sudanese Council of Churches. This paper provides brief classification of faith-based organization (FBO) in Sudan, with an introduction to the evolution activities they perform and factors that led to minimum links between the (FBO) and Sudanese Women Empowerment for Peace and Development Network (SWEPD) and the way forward for possible links and engagement are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a novel model for parental decision-making about vaccinations against a childhood disease that spreads through a contact network. This model considers a bilayer network comprising two overlapping networks, which are either Erdős-Rényi (random) networks or Barabási-Albert networks. The model also employs a Bayesian aggregation rule for observational social learning on a social network. This new model encompasses other decision models, such as voting and DeGroot models, as special cases. Using our model, we demonstrate how certain levels of social learning about vaccination preferences can converge opinions, influencing vaccine uptake and ultimately disease spread. In addition, we explore how two different cultures of social learning affect the establishment of social norms of vaccination and the uptake of vaccines. In every scenario, the interplay between the dynamics of observational social learning and disease spread is influenced by the network's topology, along with vaccine safety and availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes deep neural network (DNN) models based on hyperparameter optimization for the prediction of the compressive strength of concrete. The novelty of this research lies in the implementation of optimized hyperparameters to train the DNN models with the aim to enhance their predictive accuracy. Utilizing the Keras Tuner library, the most effective hyperparameters for the DNN models were identified. These models are then trained and evaluated using an experimental dataset of 1030 instances, encompassing nine quantitative variables that include various concrete mix ingredients and age. The target variable for all models is the compressive strength of concrete. The assessment of model performance, based on metrics like mean squared error (MSE) and R² values, was conducted on previously unseen test data. The optimal configuration for the hidden layers in the model was identified as five layers, containing 12, 16, 16, 40, and 26 neurons, respectively. The optimal learning rate for the model was 0.001. With this set of optimal hyperparameters, the best DNN model achieved an MSE of 28.76 and an R² value of 0.89 on the testing data. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in the DNN models' performance when trained with the optimized hyperparameters. In comparison to the regression model, the performance of the DNN models was significantly better. Adopting the predictive models developed in this research offers the potential for substantial cost and time savings by circumventing the need for labour-intensive and time-consuming laboratory tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on classical theories of a gravitational nature and using statistical techniques supported by regression, correlation and conglomerate analyses, this paper analyzes the differential significance of Spanish centers in the air transport and high-speed rail (HSR) networks. The results show the strong distortion between the Spanish air and rail networks and hierarchies compared to the urban hierarchy. It is evident, therefore, that the transport networks do not respond exclusively to a demographic demand (relationship that exists in each airport or AVF station between the number of passengers that use it and the demographic volume that could be a potential user of these infrastructures), but other factors intervene that explain this disparity. This distortion between the networks and hierarchies will allow us to delve into an in-depth discussion that will analyze the particularities in the configuration of the Spanish air transport and HSR networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This work establishes parallels between elements of Green Infrastructure (GI) and basic sanitation services stipulated in the National Basic Sanitation Policy, and highlights possible benefits/functions of GI for each of these services, discussing the role of Municipal Basic Sanitation Plans (MBSP) in this context. Methodology: A bibliographical review and public policy analysis were carried out by studying the content of related legislation. Originality/Relevance: The paper includes the development of a framework relating the elements of GI and their potential benefits/functions in relation to the different elements of sanitation, in addition to the issue of water and sewage, more commonly related to GI in the literature, collaborating in a more comprehensive way for the discussion. Results: It is concluded that the environmental services provided by a GI network can contribute to greater sustainability of basic sanitation networks, thus highlighting the importance of GI being included in policy-making. In this sense, the MBSP have the potential to stimulate and subsidize the planning and implementation of GI by municipalities. Social/Management Contributions: Considering the current situation of basic sanitation in Brazil, the opportunity to use GI is discussed as a way to assist the provision of basic sanitation services in a more sustainable way and with a series of social, environmental and economic benefits. Linking these alternative solutions in the design of MBSP, mandatory for all municipalities, increases the opportunity for these solutions to be put into practice, in a complementary way to the gray infrastructure solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemic propagation on networks represents an important departure from traditional mass-action models. However, the high-dimensionality of the exact models poses a challenge to both mathematical analysis and parameter inference. By using mean-field models, such as the pairwise model (PWM), the high-dimensionality becomes tractable. While such models have been used extensively for model analysis, there is limited work in the context of statistical inference. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the PWM with the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) epidemic can be used to infer disease- and network-related parameters. Data from an epidemics can be loosely categorised as being population level, e.g., daily new cases, or individual level, e.g., recovery times. To understand if and how network inference is influenced by the type of data, we employed the widely-used MLE approach for population-level data and dynamical survival analysis (DSA) for individual-level data. For scenarios in which there is no model mismatch, such as when data are generated via simulations, both methods perform well despite strong dependence between parameters. In contrast, for real-world data, such as foot-and-mouth, H1N1 and COVID19, whereas the DSA method appears fairly robust to potential model mismatch and produces parameter estimates that are epidemiologically plausible, our results with the MLE method revealed several issues pertaining to parameter unidentifiability and a lack of robustness to exact knowledge about key quantities such as population size and/or proportion of under reporting. Taken together, however, our findings suggest that network-based mean-field models can be used to formulate approximate likelihoods which, coupled with an efficient inference scheme, make it possible to not only learn about the parameters of the disease dynamics but also that of the underlying network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on an implicit assumption of resource mobilisation theory in order to explain why civil society organisations stay on policy bandwagons. It demonstrates that, after the initial decision to engage with a policy issue, organisational maintenance explains ongoing contestation better than the structural factors which encourage them to get involved. It also adds three new findings which contribute to the existing literature on attention cascades: (1) at the actor level, the effect of salience on contestation is often short-lived; (2) organisational maintenance encourages factionalisation within groups of like-minded policy opponents; and (3) that survival strategies adapted to domestic political opportunity structures can limit CSOs' capacity to participate in European policy debates. The argument is tested using measures of network centrality from an online forum (Twitter) as a predictor for ongoing participation in campaigns against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The findings are of immediate relevance to trade scholars seeking to understand the reactions of civil society organisations to contestation; interest group scholars focused on the determinants of issue prioritisation; and EU integration scholars seeking to explain variation in the domestication of EU policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explain the transition to multicellularity as a consequence of the evolutionary response to stress. The proposed model is composed of three parts. The first part details stochastic biochemical kinetics within a reactor (potentially compartmentalized), where kinetic rates are influenced by random stress parameters, such as temperature, toxins, oxidants, etc. The second part of the model is a feedback mechanism governed by a genetic regulation network (GRN). The third component involves stochastic dynamics that describe the evolution of this network. We assume that the organism remains viable as long as the concentrations of certain key reagents are maintained within a defined range (the homeostasis domain). For this model, we calculate the probability estimate that the system will stay within the homeostasis domain under stress impacts. Under certain assumptions, we show that a GRN expansion increases the viability probability in a very sharp manner. It is shown that multicellular organisms increase their viability due to compartment organization and stem cell activity. By the viability probability estimates, an explanation of the Peto paradox is proposed: why large organisms are stable with respect to cancer attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a parsimonious model of network formation with introductions in the presence of intermediation rents. Introductions allow two nodes to form a new connection on favorable terms with the help of a common neighbor. The decision to form links via introductions is subject to a trade-off between the gains from having a direct connection at lower cost and the potential losses for the introducer from lower intermediation rents. When nodes take advantage of introductions, stable networks tend to exhibit a minimum amount of clustering. At the same time, intermediary nodes have incentives to protect their position, and stable networks can exhibit nodes exploiting structural holes, that is, bridges across otherwise unconnected parts of the network earning intermediation rents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares and contrasts the traditional planning approach to network investment, the regulatory treatment of capital expenditure within RPI–X price-cap regulation, and the use of auctions. It shows why auctions may be helpful in allocating existing capacity, but can only play a limited role in identifying future investment needs. Auctions cannot determine optimal investment. The application of auctions in the 2001 Transco price review is criticised and an alternative approach proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The activity state of neuronal networks can be characterized by the spatial-temporal grouping of their action potentials given a sufficiently large simultaneous recording sample. A sequence of action potentials (spike train) often has high frequency spike episodes that are generally called bursts. However, bursts are difficult to quantify and require operational definitions that reflect the type of activity and the interest of the experimenter. This paper presents a simple method for defining bursts as strings of spikes with only two parameters: a minimum number of spikes per burst and a maximum interspike interval. These two values represent a simple parameterization that is adequate for the description of temporal grouping in spike trains. Because this method has a minimal computation time, it allows implementation of burst analysis in real-time, including statistical changes in burst variables, histograms of burst types, and patterns in combinations of burst variables. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the many functions of the letters in several late medieval Franciscan Observant chroniclers. Through a comparative analysis of several chronicles originating from early sixteenth century Observant circles, I illustrate the main uses of letters in historical narratives, from their heavy presence and function as vehicles of information to a quasi-absence thereof. The integration of letters in chronicles contributes to the understanding of ideas of accuracy in a late medieval narrative: while chronicles that embed a smaller number of letters may raise questions about their reliability, those that include or simply mention a substantial number of letters appear to have aimed at providing a more precise account of events. In light of this diversity of usage, a question arises: what motivated certain chroniclers to prioritize the accuracy of information conveyed through letters, and conversely, why did other chroniclers favor a narrative discourse uninterrupted by epistolary documents? In the first part of the paper, I discuss several key features of epistolography in chronicle writing. Then, I move to the main areas in which we see letters at work: network formation, communication, decision making, moral instruction, transmission of knowledge, narrative, and character building. Finally, I examine how chronicles can be used to reveal new features of medieval epistolography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of a "social network" has become a popular term thanks to online tools such as Facebook or Twitter, allowing us to connect with everyone. Specific to archaeology, social network analysis (SNA) is well established as a method, but its theoretical application in maritime archaeology is an incipient initiative. This paper presents the use of SNA in maritime archaeology as a potential instrument to reinterpret underwater sites by integrating spatial and nonspatial patterns of cultural contact. The method implies an abstraction of an historical phenomenon in concepts of network analysis to be represented as network data. Using early Australian shipwrecks as examples, this paper shows how the application of SNA in maritime archaeological contexts can help to analyze and visualize flow of material goods, power, influence, and social control. As a result, it can be argued that exploring the structural position of actors in a network can reveal information about developing relationships in maritime contexts during the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method to design an “Intelligent Transportation System” for forecasting wireless communication network issues with cyber attacks. wireless communication networks(WCN) is a broadly classified and critical gateway for any communication devices because the wireless communication networks is operated at various frequency ranges in different locations. In order to maintain its performance and also to prevent any attacks due to its high data handling, we need an Intelligent transportation system (ITS) to analyse and detect the cyber-attacks before going to implement it in real time transportation. In general wireless communication networks is an IEEE 802.11 standard which can be operated at physical Transfer control protocol/Internet protocol(TCP/IP) layer as well OSI model. In this paper a novel approach to design, analyse and detect cyber-attacks is proposed for wireless communication networks transport system, called Intelligent transportation system (ITS) based cyber-attack detection. Stacked firewall system is used for reducing fake attacks and detecting real time attacks in transportation system. Hence any fake attacks or real time attacks captured by the ITS will be informed to the system controller to make decision to whether it is a false-positive or real attack. ITS is the main process of the stacked firewall system which in turn take responsible to control, maintain, and prevent any cyber-attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about a "crisis of expertise" have been raised recently in both scholarship and public debate. This article asks why there is such a widespread perception that expertise is in crisis, and why this "crisis" has posed such a difficult puzzle for sociology to explain. It argues that what has been interpreted as a crisis is better understood as a transformation: the dissolution of a regime of expertise organized around practices of social integration, and its displacement by a new regime organized around practices of expulsion. This article introduces a new framework that envisages expertise as an historically constituted phenomenon, which is the outcome of relational networks (which I call alliances). It argues that this approach, in which expertise(s) are understood as the historically contingent outcome of alliances between knowledge producers, problems, and modes of intervention, can better account for recent shifts. It does this by enabling us to reinterpret what has been described as a general crisis of expertise as, instead, the observed effects of the dissolution of specific alliances of knowledge and practice. This article demonstrates the power of this relational approach through two case studies: the dissolution of the expert alliances organized around the rehabilitative approach to crime and the counterinsurgency approach to irregular political violence. In each these cases, it finds that, as alliances of social expertise, characterized by policies and interventions that attempted to discipline problem actors and integrate them into society, unraveled, they were displaced by new alliances that sought to manage problems through practices of exclusion. The paper concludes with a theory of why the field of sociology has had such difficulty explaining the crisis of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using Gronwall's inequality and coincidence degree theory, the sufficient conditions of the globally exponential stability and existence are given for a Hebbian-type network with time-varying delays. The periodic behavior phenomenon is one of the hot topics in network systems research, from which we can discover the symmetric characteristics of certain neurons. The main theorems in the present paper are illustrated using a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Networks are being used to model an increasingly diverse range of real-world phenomena. This paper introduces an exploratory approach to studying loanwords in relation to one another, using networks of co-occurrence. While traditional studies treat individual loanwords as discrete items, we show that insights can be gained by focusing on the various loanwords that co-occur within each text in a corpus, especially when leveraging the notion of a hypergraph. Our research involves a case-study of New Zealand English (NZE), which borrows Indigenous Māori words on a large scale. We use a topic-constrained corpus to show that: (i) Māori loanword types tend not to occur by themselves in a text; (ii) infrequent loanwords are nearly always accompanied by frequent loanwords; and (iii) it is not uncommon for texts to contain a mixture of listed and unlisted loanwords, suggesting that NZE is still riding a wave of borrowing importation from Māori. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]