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Neutrinos are one of the most promising messengers for signals of new physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). On the theoretical side, their elusive nature, combined with their unknown mass mechanism, seems to indicate that the neutrino sector is indeed opening a window to new physics. On the experimental side, several long-standing anomalies have been reported in the past decades, providing a strong motivation to thoroughly test the standard three-neutrino oscillation paradigm. In this Snowmass21 white paper, we explore the potential of current and future neutrino experiments to explore BSM effects on neutrino flavor during the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence suggests that science and engineering fields suffer from gender biases. In this paper, we study the physics community, a discipline where women are still under-represented and gender disparities persist. To reveal such inequalities, we perform a paper matching analysis using a robust statistical similarity metric. Our analyses indicate that women's papers tend to have lower visibility in the global citation network, a phenomenon significantly influenced by the temporal aspects of scientific production. Within pairs of similar papers, the authors that publish first tend to obtain more citations. From the group perspective, men have cumulative historical advantages due to women joining the field later and at a slower rate. Altogether, these results indicate that the first-mover advantage plays a crucial role in the emergence of gender disparities in citations of women-authored papers in the physics community. Many ways of assessing gender gap in citations have been proposed, and many explanations for such gap advanced. Here the authors analyze the gender difference in citations in physics, and claim that timing is one of the main driving forces of the gender difference in citations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer review underpins the integrity of the scientific archive and has done so for over 350 years. Over the past ten years or so, this integrity has come under pressure due to the introduction of predatory publishers and journals. Papers in predatory journals have, typically, not gone through robust peer review, if any at all. If these papers enter the scientific archive, its integrity will deteriorate. Moreover, legitimate journals will cite papers from predatory journals, which further dilutes the integrity of the scientific archive. The scholarly community has struggled to address the problems brought about by predatory publishers and journals. In this paper, we propose an approach, which draws on the fine art world. They use the concept of a catalogue raisonné to list all the validated work by a given artist and, by extension, identify fakes. A scholarly version will have some differences to the art discipline, but the central idea is the same. A publisher is analyzed, through a peer reviewed paper. This catalogue can be used by authors, and other stakeholders (e.g. librarians, promotion panels and hiring committees), to make more informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are ongoing calls in the humanitarian and development sectors to localise aid, make it more participatory and involve communities. A common response to these calls by INGOs and national governments is to work with local actors to jointly deliver local, community-based, participatory aid. However, this setup tends to be hierarchical, with external actors taking the lead on project design and local actors on implementation. As a result, key outcomes envisioned for localisation and participation in aid often do not materialise. This paper explores the role legitimacy work plays in maintaining this unhelpful status quo. To this end, it provides a qualitative case study analysis of an aid project in Ethiopia (2016–2020) that was initiated by two INGOs and built on government structures designed to facilitate mass volunteering at community level: the Women's Development Army. The paper argues that externally driven localisation is often organised around project models that are shaped by two contradictory paradigms: one centring resilience and one centring surveillance. As a result, local aid workers and civil servants are faced with incompatible legitimacy requirements in their work. This paper uses a paradox perspective as a theoretical lens to explore how these local actors navigate these conflicting needs. It finds that they use impression management, especially visuals and performances, to sidestep the contradictions. This imagery conceals the disconnects between project strategy, implementation and the reality on the ground. As a side effect, it renders the problems with the externally driven approach invisible and legitimises the hierarchical status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the concept of satellite settlements in relation to working environment in Steptoe City, Nevada. Characteristics of satellite settlements; Existence of neighborhoods in company towns; Role of marginal neighborhood on socioeconomic system.

EU-US data transfers for health research remain a particularly thorny issue in view of the stringent rules of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the challenges related to US mass surveillance programs, particularly the manner in which US law enforcement and national security agencies can access personal data originating from the EU. Since the entry into force of the GDPR, evidence of impeded collaborations is increasing, particularly in the case of sharing data with US public institutions. The adoption of a new EU-US adequacy decision in July 2023 does not hold the promise for a long-lasting solution due to the risks of being challenged and invalidated – yet again – at the Court of Justice of the EU. As the research community is calling for answers, the new proposal for a European Health Data Space regulation may hold a key to solving some of the existing issues. In this paper, we critically discuss the current rules and outline a possible way forward for transfers between public bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide an extensive analysis of the indicators that have been used for measuring industrial sustainability. To achieve this objective, a systematic review was carried out to explore the indicators in peer-reviewed articles relevant to industrial sustainability performance measurement. A total of 1041 indicators were identified and analyzed, with 290 for economic, 410 for environmental, and 341 for social dimensions. The majority were mentioned only once in the reviewed literature, showing a lack of consistency in their application (i.e., a lack of consensus regarding a single set of indicators) for measuring sustainability performance in different manufacturing industry contexts. Few of the indicators had been frequently used to measure industrial sustainability performance. These indicators had been used to measure industrial sustainability performance associated with financial benefits, costs, market competitiveness, resources, emissions, wastes, employees, customers, and community. This paper links the different indicators to the potential organizational goals used to improve industrial sustainability performance and contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals. It provides a comprehensive view of the indicators considering the triple bottom line approach. Our results have significant implications and will provide a strong basis for future academic and practitioner work on measuring industrial sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview for the Special Issue (SI) of Clean Technology and Environmental Policy journal (CTEP), and it includes accepted papers from 16th Conferences on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) held from October 10–15, 2021, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Considering CTEPs policy of high-quality research papers, guest editors have invited 35 research articles, presented at the SDEWES 2021 conference. After a vigorous review process, 12 papers have been accepted for publication in this special issue. All 12 accepted papers are briefly presented in this overview together with a wider view that presents research efforts within the SDEWES community published through previous SDEWES special issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prison foodways offer a unique opportunity to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of an underserved population, yet prison food is often rejected in favour of 'junk' food. Improved understanding of the meanings of food in prison is necessary to inform prison food policy and enhance the prison environment. Results: A meta-ethnographic synthesis of 27 papers integrated first-hand experiences of food in prison from 10 different countries. The lived experience for most in custody is of poor-quality prison-issued meals, necessarily consumed at a time and place at odds with socio-cultural norms. Beyond nutrition, food carries clear symbolic meanings in prison; through everyday food activities in prison, especially cooking, empowerment, participation, agency and identity are negotiated and performed. Cooking (with others or alone) can reduce anxiety and depression and increase feelings of self-efficacy and resilience in a socially, psychologically, and financially disadvantaged population. Integrating cooking and sharing food into the routine of prison life strengthens the skills and resources available to prisoners, empowering them as they move from the prison environment to the community. Conclusions: The potential of food to enhance the prison environment and support improvements in prisoner health and wellbeing is limited when the nutritional content is inadequate and/or where food is served and eaten impacts negatively on human dignity. Prison policy which provides opportunities for cooking and sharing food that better reflects familial and cultural identity has the potential to improve relationships, increase self-esteem, build and maintain life skills needed for reintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of Cloud Computing into a service utility, along with the pervasive adoption of the IoT paradigm, has promoted a significant growth in the need of computational and storage services. The traditional use of cloud services, focused on the consumption of one provider, is not valid anymore due to different shortcomings being the risk of vendor lock-in a critical. We are assisting to a change of paradigm, from the usage of a single cloud provider to the combination of multiple cloud service types, affecting the way in which applications are designed, developed, deployed and operated over such heterogeneous ecosystems. The result is an effective heterogeneity of architectures, methods, tools, and frameworks, copying with the multi-cloud application concept. The goal of this study is manifold. Firstly, it aims to characterize the multi-cloud concept from the application development perspective by reviewing existing definitions of multi-cloud native applications in the literature. Secondly, we set up the basis for the architectural characterization of these kind of applications. Finally, we highlight several open research issues drawn up from the analysis carried out. To achieve that, we have conducted a systematic literature review (SLR), where, a large set of primary studies published between 2011 and 2021 have been studied and classified. The in-depth analysis has revealed five main research trends for the improvement of the development and operation DevOps lifecycle of "multi-cloud native applications". The paper finishes with directions for future work and research challenges to be addressed by the software community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood cohesion is a concept describing the residents' sense of community, engagement in acts of neighbouring, and attractiveness of living in the neighbourhood. Since 2000's the term 'cohesion' has also been used in geography and in spatial policy to represent the distribution of functions and opportunities in space. The two approaches seem be complementary, but they lack consistency and appropriate conceptual framework. This paper aims at developing an integrated methodological framework which will include both social and spatial aspects of cohesion at the local level. Its empirical content refers to studies conducted in 2017–2019 in five locations in Poland. Three methods of spatial analysis are presented depicting various aspects of territorial cohesion of a neighbourhood: functional balance, accessibility of facilities and match between supply and demand. Such approach enables effective measurement and comparison of neighbourhoods representing various settlement types. The results show that the highest levels of cohesion were obtained for large cities where the density of amenities is the highest, and the lowest levels were noted in suburban settlements which confirms their malfunctioning character. The paper concludes with a critical revision of the concept of neighbourhood cohesion which can serve as a guideline for local urban policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a systematic review to better understand this gap and analyzed i) in which global regions are studies usually conducted, ii) the taxon studied, iii) sampling methods and iv) how authors collaborated in these studies. We also tested the relationship between different types of land use and land cover and adult EPT communities using a meta-analysis. We searched for relevant articles on the website Web of Science, using specific words related to the subject. We found 454 papers and selected 31 of them for the scientometric analysis, as they were in accordance with our objectives, and eight for the meta-analysis. Among this subset, we observed that study areas and collaborations among authors were largely restricted to a few countries in Europe and North America. Most studies used the group Trichoptera, probably due to its diversity and the longevity of the adults compared to other groups. Light traps were the most common sampling method, most likely due to their efficiency in capturing flying insects with nocturnal habits. The greatest differences in adult EPT communities were found between open areas (moorland and prairie) and forest areas. This result indicated that the conversion of forest habitats into open areas negatively impacts adult EPT communities. Our systematic review can be an important tool to help researchers choose appropriate collection methods and taxonomic groups to work with in studies on impacts of land use change on adult EPT communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science studies view community wellbeing to be a cumulative construct of multiple dimensions which include social, economic, environmental, physical, political, health, education indicators and more. The study of community wellbeing is compounded by climate change as it increases the frequency of disasters affecting all dimensions of community wellbeing. It becomes crucial for communities to build community resilience and address the impact on community wellbeing in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction and sustainable development. This systematic literature aimed to understand how community wellbeing is affected by climate change. It analysed 23 papers from Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Google Scholar, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, to address three research questions: (i) how do climate change scholars understand community wellbeing, (ii) how community wellbeing is affected by specific climate change factors/conditions and the nature of impact, and (iii) how the impact on community wellbeing as a result of climate change is being addressed. The study found that climate change scholars hold mixed and multiple views or understanding of community wellbeing and climate change led to mental stress decreasing community wellbeing. The solutions to improve community wellbeing in the context of climate change suggests that adaptation should be the main policy instrument supplemented by mitigation strategies and recommends building a vibrant research culture in wellbeing and climate studies, among others. This review provides insights into the complex relationship between community wellbeing and climate change and identifies areas for future research and policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of Walkable Neighborhood Systems is about neighborhoods as systems of land use, mobility, and transportation pricing, and how they can be understood as dense areas delineated by attractive walking distances. To date, four papers have been published in this field: Neighborhood density and travel mode (Lewis in Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2017.1321052), Walkable Neighborhood Systems (Lewis and Adhikari), San Francisco's neighborhoods and auto dependency (Lewis and Grande in Cities, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.12.017), and the Mismeasurement of Mobility for Walkable Neighborhood Systems (Lewis et al., Mismeasurement of Mobility for Walkable Neighborhood Systems, Mineta Transportation Institute, 2020). This paper summarizes the concepts and definitions of the field and replicates for Boston the methodology used in the San Francisco case study. We found 54 Boston neighborhoods using maps in a GIS and guidelines to determine neighborhood boundaries based on walking distances and land use. We establish much higher accuracy than using census blocks. We analyze neighborhood density as our independent variable and three dependent variables: sustainable modes (mode split), food sources, and walk score. The data is presented in tables, correlations, and choropleth-based graphics. Density correlated strongly with the dependent variables. The paper concludes with ideas about how to improve the performance of Walkable Neighborhood Systems for affordability, sustainability, mobility, health and safety, design, and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a geophysical reality, water deficit is a natural reality whereas risk community is a social reality. The interconnectivity between the three is intense with each variable having a chain reaction with the other two. Studies on climate change and water scarcity are abundant and are taking an escalating trend. But there is a dearth of literature relating to the interlinkage of the aforesaid variables. So, this has become the backdrop of the present article. The paper is fully backed by secondary literature and has taken its parameters to look at the individual phenomenon and establish its connectivity. The study areas selected are the Bolangir and Bargarh districts of Odisha, which encounter acute water stress for agricultural and domestic purposes. No such research study is found to date. Thus, the paper has tried to establish how climate change is rapidly taking place bringing water scarcity and stress is responsible for generating risk communities. Finally, the article culminates with certain ways forwards to bring solutions to such issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Simien Mountains National Park's (SMNP) exoneration from the List of World Heritage Endangered is the recent story of the park. It is in September 2017 that the park has restored its place in UNESCO. Significant and sustainable reduction of human population within the park was one of the four basic standards set by the UNESCO World Heritage Commission in order to undo their decision. To fulfill UNESCO's standard, the local government undertook relocations but inconsistently. By employing anthropological insights, this paper narrates the tale of the relocated Gich and Arkwazeye communities in the SMNP. The research used in-depth interview, discourse analysis and household surveys. Contrary to local government's discourse on compensations, the Gich community suffered both socially and economically as a result of involuntary relocation. All the problems attached to this community are the result of the government's non-participatory relocation plan which thus has created a dispensable subject. The Arkwazeye community, on the other hand, is experiencing a relatively stable life as they have maintained all social assets they have created as a community. The paper, therefore, recommends to the local government to individually take care of the lives of the Gich community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the issue of wastewater due to oil spills and pollution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which has led to significant environmental and socioeconomic consequences for local communities. The study employed a secondary data collection approach, drawing on various sources, including published research articles, reports, official records, and satellite imagery. Through a systematic review and synthesis of the available literature, the paper identified key challenges, mitigation and remediation strategies, policy recommendations, and areas for future research. The findings of this study revealed that the existing regulatory framework has not been fully effective in preventing and addressing oil spills and pollution in the Niger Delta region due to factors such as weak enforcement, inadequate resources, and overlapping responsibilities among regulatory agencies. Moreover, existing measures for oil spill response, clean-up, compensation, and remediation have had limited success, leaving affected communities to continue suffering from the impacts of oil spills and pollution. Short conclusion: The paper highlights the potential of innovative approaches and technologies, such as advanced oil spill detection and monitoring technologies, bioremediation, and renewable energy, to enhance the effectiveness of mitigation and remediation efforts. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the importance of collaboration and cooperation among various stakeholders, including government agencies, oil companies, local communities, civil society organizations, and international partners, in addressing the challenges posed by oil spills and pollution in the Niger Delta region. Based on the findings, the paper presents several policy recommendations, such as strengthening the regulatory framework, enhancing transparency and accountability, promoting community participation and empowerment, and encouraging investment in sustainable development and clean technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the boosting ridge (BR) framework in the extreme learning machine (ELM) community and presents a novel model that trains the base learners as a global ensemble. In the context of Extreme Learning Machine single-hidden-layer networks, the nodes in the hidden layer are preconfigured before training, and the optimisation is performed on the weights in the output layer. The previous implementation of the BR ensemble with ELM (BRELM) as base learners fix the nodes in the hidden layer for all the ELMs. The ensemble learning method generates different output layer coefficients by reducing the residual error of the ensemble sequentially as more base learners are added to the ensemble. As in other ensemble methodologies, base learners are selected until fulfilling ensemble criteria such as size or performance. This paper proposes a global learning method in the BR framework, where base learners are not added step by step, but all are calculated in a single step looking for ensemble performance. This method considers (i) the configurations of the hidden layer are different for each base learner, (ii) the base learners are optimised all at once, not sequentially, thus avoiding saturation, and (iii) the ensemble methodology does not have the disadvantage of working with strong classifiers. Various regression and classification benchmark datasets have been selected to compare this method with the original BRELM implementation and other state-of-the-art algorithms. Particularly, 71 datasets for classification and 52 for regression, have been considered using different metrics and analysing different characteristics of the datasets, such as the size, the number of classes or the imbalanced nature of them. Statistical tests indicate the superiority of the proposed method in both regression and classification problems in all experimental scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed hybrid energy systems are innovative means of effectively addressing energy and environmental issues in the age of carbon neutrality. This paper proposes the distributed energy hierarchical network planning model for distributed energy systems at the community level, which combines distributed energy planning and renewable energy use. This model incorporates the energy flow between nodes and line length into the optimization objective and analyzes its capability to improve the stability and cost-effectiveness of the network. A community is selected as an example, and the model is compared with single-layer network planning and node distance planning. The stability of the distributed energy hierarchical network planning model is demonstrated by the network efficiency, the node degree distribution in the low-value region and the relatively small number of effective connection edges. The total line length of the model decreases by 22% compared to the single-layer plan and by 43% compared to the node distance plan. By optimizing the topological connection structure of the network, the total length of transmission lines in energy communities can be significantly reduced, which affects line construction costs and transmission losses, and therefore, saving money on the operation and maintenance of power lines as well as management costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Search is the problem of querying networks in order to discover dense subgraphs-communities-that satisfy given query parameters. Most community search models consider link structure and ignore link weight while answering the required queries. Given the importance of link weight in different networks, this paper considers both link structure and link weight to discover top-r weighted k-truss communities via community search. The top-weighted k-truss communities are those communities with the highest weight and the highest cohesiveness within the network. All recent studies that considered link weight discover top-weighted communities via global search and index-based search techniques. In this paper three different algorithms are proposed to scale-up the existing approaches of weighted community search via local search. The performance evaluation shows that the proposed algorithms significantly outperform the existing state-of-the-art algorithms over different datasets in terms of search time by several orders of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing AI systems for automatic train operation (ATO) requires developers to have a deep understanding of the human tasks they are trying to replace. This paper fills this gap and translates the regulatory requirements from the context of German railways for the AI developer community. As a result, tasks such as train's path monitoring for collision prediction, signal detection, door operation, etc. are identified. Based on this analysis, a functionally justified sensor setup with detailed configuration requirements is presented. This setup was also evaluated by a survey within the railway industry. The evaluated sensors include RGB/IR cameras, LIDARs, radars and ultrasonic sensors. Calculations and estimates for the evaluated sensors are presented graphically and included in this paper. However, the ultimate sensor setup is still a subject of research. The results of this paper also address the lack of training and test datasets for railway AI systems. It is proposed to acquire research datasets that will allow the training of domain adaptation algorithms to transform other datasets, thus increasing the number of available datasets. The sensor setup is also recommended for such research datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to bypass assumptions that researchers in critical algorithmic studies and urban studies find it difficult to study algorithmic systems due to their black-boxed nature. In addition, it seeks to work against the assumption that advocating for transparency in algorithms is, therefore, the key for achieving an enhanced understanding of the role of algorithmic technologies on modern life. Drawing on applied assemblage thinking via the concept of the urban assemblage, I demonstrate how the notion of urban assemblage can work as an alternative way to explore the distributed and potential dimensions of what has been termed as Urban AI phenomena. Rather than seeing Urban AI phenomena as black-boxed, unknown and opaque, the notion of urban assemblage locates such entities within the wider contests of the city: urban places, communities and politics, where human-algorithmic relationships gather and disperse. In addition, this approach focuses on the potentialities of Urban AI phenomena—how algorithmic systems can operate differently through different aspects of the city—which can be seen to manifest new forms of resistance, collective actions and democracy. I use a case study of an algorithmic system designed to facilitate digital democracy—vTaiwan—to exemplify how assemblage methodology foregrounds the role of cities as spaces and places for exploring the democratic possibilities of algorithmic systems. This paper concludes with discussion of how the assemblage methodology contributes to serve as a bridge between critical algorithm studies and recent studies of platform urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of needy-students who cannot afford their university fees has become a phenomenon in countries like Jordan. Thus, supporting such students by establishing a reliable cloud-based platform for collecting donations from wealthy people is a very noble action. Such donations will enable needy-students to continue their education to up their development, reduce their poverty, improve their health, scale-up their gender equality, promote peace across their communities, enhance stability in their societies, and enrich the field of cloud-based services development. This paper proposes a new cloud-based platform that aims at connecting donors with needy-students in a very discrete way that preserves and honors the privacy and confidentiality of their information. We claim that our proposed cloud-based platform depicts a unique novelty that can be easily anticipated from the perspectives of its status as a cloud-based donations and financial support services platform; its ability to interconnect its users privately and confidentially; and its ability to easily verify the credentials of its users and confirm their eligibility to receive financial support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a dataset V of points from some metric space, a popular robust formulation of the k-center clustering problem requires to select k points (centers) of V which minimize the maximum distance of any point of V from its closest center, excluding the z most distant points (outliers) from the computation of the maximum. In this paper, we focus on an important constrained variant of the robust k-center problem, namely, the Robust Matroid Center (RMC) problem, where the set of returned centers are constrained to be an independent set of a matroid of rank k built on V. Instantiating the problem with the partition matroid yields a formulation of the fair k-center problem, which has attracted the interest of the ML community in recent years. In this paper, we target accurate solutions of the RMC problem under general matroids, when confronted with large inputs. Specifically, we devise a coreset-based algorithm affording efficient sequential, distributed (MapReduce) and streaming implementations. For any fixed ε > 0 , the algorithm returns solutions featuring a (3 + ε) -approximation ratio, which is a mere additive term ε away from the 3-approximations achievable by the best known polynomial-time sequential algorithms. Moreover, the algorithm obliviously adapts to the intrinsic complexity of the dataset, captured by its doubling dimension D. For wide ranges of k , z , ε , D , our MapReduce/streaming implementations require two rounds/one pass and substantially sublinear local/working memory. The theoretical results are complemented by an extensive set of experiments on real-world datasets, which provide clear evidence of the accuracy and efficiency of our algorithms and of their improved performance with respect to previous solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the counted power system emission factors of North China Power Grid, a community carbon emissions sample database is constructed. The support vector regression (SVR) model is trained to forecast the power carbon emissions, which is optimized by genetic algorithm (GA). A community carbon emission warning system is designed according the results. The dynamic emission coefficient curve of the power system is obtained by fitting the annual carbon emission coefficients. The time series SVR carbon emission prediction model is constructed, while the GA is improved to optimize its parameters. Taking Beijing Caochang Community as an example, a carbon emission sample database is generated based on the electricity consumption and emission coefficient curve to train and test the SVR model. The results show that the GA–SVR model fits well with the training set and the testing set, and the prediction accuracy of the testing set reaches 86%. In view of the training model in this paper, the carbon emission trend of community electricity consumption in the next month is predicted. The carbon emission warning system of the community is designed, and the specific strategy of community carbon emission reduction is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how different institutions of Loba communities of the Upper Mustang work together and facilitate the community to cope with the environmental dynamics in the region. The indigenous institutions are place-based, and their evolution is concerned with reducing vulnerability and enhancing the resilience capacity of place-based communities to cope with and adapt to local natural and socio-cultural environmental dynamics. The paper is based on anthropological fieldwork. Qualitative data were collected by applying observation and interviews. The paper presents the role of the galbo, (Lo King), ghenba (Village Chief), Lama (Monk), and dhongba (Household) as local institutions that act in close relation and make community-level decisions. The findings reveal that the King is seen as the leader whose governance best suited to the local natural environment, cultural practices, and economy. The Lama plays a major role in reinforcing local rules, while the Ghenba is an agent who mediates the Lo King and people in materializing rules and operationalizing institutional mechanisms. The Dhongbas are units of production of the local social-ecosystem that are entitled to use local resources within the context of the institution's agreed rules, norms, and values. These local institutions are cooperating well, successfully regulating, managing, and protecting agricultural, forest, and pasture lands, and maintaining the monuments in Lo-manthang for centuries. However, recent social-environmental dynamics such as climate change, migration, and modernization are reducing the relevancies of traditional norms and practices. Nevertheless, the institutions are working hard to continue their existence by frequently modifying their rules and norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main purpose is to highlight and clarify the gaps between CSR regulations and human rights abuses caused by business organizations. From a historical perspective, natural resources have been recognized as a common reason for pushing the CSR agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially with the presence of big businesses in the outcome of globalization. However, despite a development-oriented CSR agenda and therefore on African local needs such as hospitals, housing, and roads, big businesses that have embarked on CSR activities are often involved in human rights violations. This is despite the insertion of human rights in some African state regulations, the UN Global Compact, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in which those businesses are signatories. This is the case in Gabon, Nigeria, and South Africa whose regulations were established by the respective states indicate business' broader societal priorities directed towards stakeholders (local communities in particular) but in terms of corporate obligations, 'Human Rights appear to be a blind spot in CSR'. The reasons for that are indicated in the findings of this qualitative inquiry, which reveals deep problems of corporate governance and little understanding of corporate human rights in domestic legislation. According to international law, human rights fulfillment focuses on nation-states as sole bearers. This means other non-state actors have indirect human rights responsibilities. Therefore, the challenge remains to extend and interpret existing domestic and international frameworks to include CSR alongside traditional state obligations. This could make corporate human rights more 'applicable' to businesses. Previous research by Visser and Amodu has focused on proposing models to respond to the challenges of CSR in Africa. This paper clarifies the challenges of CSR with human rights issues and suggests an extension of the current legislative framework covering CSR. The article is qualitative and has used a Desk Research study approach that includes published academic papers, government documents some secondary data such as case studies, interviews, and discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to highlight the significance of youth dormitory system of the Liangmai Naga of Manipur. This traditional institution played a vital role in imparting value education and maintaining the social fabric among the pre-literate Liangmai community. In the past, it serves as the cultural center, where young boys and girls are molded to become responsible adult members of the community. However, this highly developed institution of the Liangmai Naga has now disintegrated. Change in religious belief and the advent of modern education has been attributed for the decline of khangchiu. The paper reflexively analyzes the origin and decline of this traditional institution as well as the roles and functions it played in the traditional Liangmai society. The main objective of the paper is to document the systematic operation of the youth dormitory system so as to bring better understanding of this traditional institution to the younger generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the nature of a community-based participatory research. Involvement of community representatives and organizations in all stages and aspects of the research process; Contribution of participatory research on the improvement of care and outcomes of populations at risk; Extension of participatory research in clinical and health services.

Gulangyu Island is a special case of social development and changes since modern China. In the past, Chinese and foreign people lived together and Chinese and Western cultures coexisted, resulting in an international community with outstanding cultural diversity and modern quality of life. As a functional carrier, space is of great reference significance to the research on the spatial evolution path of the Gulangyu international community with the accelerating globalization and rapid expansion of urbanization. Based on the interpretation of historical maps and the integration of historical geographic information, this paper explores the evolution path of Gulangyu community space in modern times from the perspective of actor-network theory. It is found that: (1) The change of key actors promotes the spatial evolution of the Gulangyu international community. (2) In the stage of foreign culture dissemination (1840–1902), foreign nationals, as key actors, promoted the formation and development of actor-networks through administrative recruitment and other means, and promoted Gulangyu Island to change from a traditional Minnan community to a modern community form, with the embryonic form of an international community beginning to emerge. (3) In the stage of multicultural integration (1903–1940), overseas Chinese returning home became key actors. The concept of a combination of Western cultures was not only embodied in community management but also acted on space practice to promote the multicultural integration of the Gulangyu international community. This paper summarizes the effects of various factors on the evolution of community space, to provide a reference for other coastal cities to rationally develop islands and promote the multicultural integration of local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to have youth participate in the design and implementation of a research project set within a child rights framework to better understand high schoolers' perceptions of safety in their school and community. Results: Between June 2020 and March 2021, a team of East Harlem, New York high school students, participated as co-researchers to modify the United Nations Children's Fund Child Friendly Cities Initiative Survey to suit their needs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final survey was conducted through an online remote classes system during advisory school classes, accompanied by brief focused group discussions. The novel process of conducting an interactive qualitative and quantitative virtual survey during a pandemic via youth participatory action research is outlined in this paper. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that youth participatory action research can be utilized as part of a child rights framework approach to assess the views of youth regarding community safety and violence prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organic agricultural production system is considered to be the best alternative to the conventional system in order to solve agricultural externality problems. The adoption of such systems provide environmental, social, and financial benefits to the related communities. The related community may receive economic benefits although they might not recognize those benefits. The current paper examines prospective organic wheat production's positive impacts on Turkish economy. This research seeks to find the optimal cultivated land requirement to be allocated for organic wheat production, and contributes to the available literature by measuring environmental and social effects using the proxy values of regular wheat production in the country. Results dictate that the social optimum amount of conventional wheat production must be 1.3 million hectares. If the annual negative externality of wheat production, which is 227.5 USD/ha, is taken into account, the total annual external cost would be 1,416,061,536 USD/year. The importance of conversion and superiority of organic farming are stressed in the literature only at the micro-level or farm-level rather than the macroeconomic level. Macroeconomic results examined in the current paper complete micro-level studies in the context of agricultural externalities. The study indicates that macroeconomic efficiency of organic production is higher than the conventional system. However, it is suggested that a mild transition path be implemented for better land conversion in developing countries such as Turkey. The system of good agricultural practices may have some advantages for this path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper celebrates the scientific discoveries and the service to the automated reasoning community of Lawrence (Larry) T. Wos, who passed away in August 2020. The narrative covers Larry's most long-lasting ideas about inference rules and search strategies for theorem proving, his work on applications of theorem proving, and a collection of personal memories and anecdotes that let readers appreciate Larry's personality and enthusiasm for automated reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The p resent research paper aims to investigate the relations between "power" and "places". It tried to find out the ethnic construct of place identity and its attachment to the sense of power. It analyses the questions as, How the ethnic identity of social groups constructs the meaning of "place" and transformed themselves into ethnic places? How do the "places" intervene in the identity of "selves"? This research undertakes Kurdish identity and their imbibed notion in order to contextualize the 'ethnic place' and questions of "selves". In this connection, it studies the ethnic places as the phenomenological product of ethnic and social experiences. It discusses ethnic places and their sense of power within the framework of place identity. The central theme of this paper is the Kurdish identity of Turkey to be placed in the spatial adjustment to which they belong. The image of Kurdistan as a place seems to empower them and ultimately causes their sense of security. The method of research is purely theoretical and descriptive on the bases of spatial-analytic approaches. However, in this research, phenomenological analysis of the concepts of place and experiences are argued with relation to power, place and ethnic identity. The phenomenological experiences of community behavior have been seen with respect to their cognitive relations to the living environment of the Kurdish group. Generally, this study is based on secondary sources and archival materials. A case study of Kurdish ethnic identity assertion is seen with respect to the theoretical applicability of place, power, and security concepts. It analyses Turkish Kurds and their identity assertion in the context of demand for the place, associated with the "power" as well as their cognitive environment and sense of belongingness. Ethnic place emerges in "relative isolation" as ethnic selves differing from other-selves. Hence, the demand for the place by the Kurdish group in Turkey is seen as a preservation of ethnic places to be empowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, research increasingly has paid attention to resilience as a way to strengthen electricity systems against the cascading impacts caused by electricity disruptions. Although much of the electricity resilience literature has focused on scale of large grids, a growing segment of research has focused on smaller-scale electricity systems, particularly with applications for communities. Research on financing these systems could encourage their uptake in local communities, particularly by including community in the ownership or operation of these systems; however, much of this research remains comparatively nascent. This paper seeks to review what previous studies have identified as some of the conditions that shape financing electricity resilience in local communities in G7 countries and how this field uses the term "electricity resilience" compared to broader uses of electricity resilience. The review provides a technical overview of smaller-scale systems for communities and a review of three socio-economic research areas—governance, cost-benefits, and business models—which shape financing electricity resilience in local communities. The discussion section finds that costs and the level of community involvement seem to play a fundamental role in shaping the conditions for financing electricity resilience across much of the research. Comparing this field to broader uses of "electricity resilience" suggests that more work is needed to understand the role of adaptation in financing electricity resilience for local communities, particularly over the long term. We posit that the field's approach costs and its inclusion of the community in electricity resilience may contribute to its general lack of attention to long-run adaptation. Despite potential benefits of continued advancements from technical research, the maturity of the field and age of some of the early cases suggests that researchers could begin to study adaptation to electricity disruptions at the community level more than in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to show an application of variety engineering in the social realm (Beer in The heart of enterprise. Wiley, Chichester, 1979, in Brain of the firm. Wiley, Chichester 1981, in diagnosing the system for organizations. Wiley, Chichester, 1985). It focuses on reducing environmental complexity by catalysing self-organizing processes (Espejo and Reyes in Organizational systems: managing complexity with the VSM. Springer, London, 2011). This catalysis is based on the use of Sen and Nussbaum's capabilities approach (Sen in Development as freedom. Oxford University Press, New York, 1999; Nusbaum in Women and human development: the capabilities approach. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2000). By doing this an organization may improve the quality of the relations with their clients by transforming environmental agents into new suppliers. This approach opens a new dimension of social responsibility for organizations. A particular case is presented in which a regional university in Colombia faces the challenge of attending low-income students coming from small municipalities. They designed a strategy to offer low-cost housing and a daily balanced meal without using the university's own resources. Instead, they managed to involve some agents of the community by developing their capabilities. This kind of variety engineering shows the possibility of new forms of social responsibility in universities by incorporating the capabilities approach into their managerial practices. This is something that is currently under study in other universities (Boni et al. in Science and engineering ethics. Springer, London, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative theoretical techniques for understanding the substructure of jets at the LHC enable new insights into the dynamics of QCD, and novel approaches to search for new physics. Recently, there has been a program to reformulate jet substructure in terms of correlation functions, E n → 1 E n → 2 ⋯ E n → k , of light-ray operators, E n → , allowing the application of techniques developed in the study of Conformal Field Theories (CFTs). In this paper we further develop these techniques in the particular context of the three-point correlator E n → 1 E n → 2 E n → 3 , using recently computed perturbative data in both QCD and N = 4 sYM. We derive the celestial blocks appearing in the light-ray operator product expansion (OPE) of the three-point correlator, and use the Lorentzian inversion formula to extract the spectrum of light-ray operators appearing in the expansion, showing, in particular, that the OPE data is analytic in transverse spin. Throughout our presentation, we highlight the relation between the OPE approach, and more standard splitting function based approaches of perturbative QCD, emphasizing the utility of the OPE approach for incorporating symmetries in jet substructure calculations. We hope that our presentation introduces a number of new techniques to the jet substructure community, and also illustrates the phenomenological relevance of the study of light-ray operators in the OPE limit to the CFT community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflection on 3 years of youth engagement in neighbourhood-based geographic research on the state of social infrastructure in East Scarborough, Toronto, Canada. It revolves around the evolution of LIFT, a youth-led advocacy group with the mandate to engage youth in community-based research to identify gaps in resources and inform local organizations about youth priorities. Using critical reflection as research method, we explore how community geography can be a responsive approach to the needs of youth to analyze their lived experience and collect data to influence decision-making in their communities. We articulate a series of propositions and core assumptions to inform a non-adultist, youth-focused community geography, highlight the ethical dimensions of this work, as well as discuss the often-complicated institutional and interpersonal dynamics that shape the success and sustainability of youth-led community geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Geography offers researchers, community groups, and students opportunities to engage in action oriented applied geographical research. Creating and sustaining these research programs can be challenging, programs can involve many partners from both academic and the community, have different goals and purposes, and utilize a variety of methods to perform research. In this paper we offer a framework of three primary overarching principles for implementing CG projects; (1) Who, (2) Why, and (3) How. (1) "Who" describes who is involved in CG, including researchers, community partners, academic institutions, (2) "Why" describes the justifications and benefits of taking this approach. (3) "How" explains how CG borrows methodologies from many disciplines within geography and beyond. Our examples are not exhaustive; rather, they serve as starting points to inspire researchers interested in CG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experience of a service-learning course which used community geography to study a proposed research and community center in DeKalb, IL. The center was proposed as a jointly-developed project by the Northern Illinois University and local governmental entities. The original goal of the course was to explore the viability of the proposed project and solicit feedback from the community through traditional engaged planning and public participation. As students began interacting with university and residential communities, it became clear that both communities had input for the center, and found similarities in their experiences and perceptions. While noted divisions in interest groups are known in DeKalb, both communities found themselves surprisingly interested in meaningful discussion to better understand each other through their shared experiences. In response, our theoretical approach shifted to community geography. Students, university employees, and local residents introduced and analyzed questions together as researchers and participants, and developed recommendations to address shared concern. Students then prepared a report advocating for those concerns to submit to university and community leaders. Following the evolution of this project, this paper presents lessons learned and areas for application of community geography as a pedagogical technique, as an important component of geography curriculum, and as a research framework for town-gown relationship inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with the methodological and ethical complexities of conducting research across diverse sites of power and privilege, specifically by drawing upon twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork on the ecological restoration of the Ventura River in Southern California. The design of this project incorporates people from multiple, conflicting positions, including people who are homeless and living in riverbottom encampments, people in the environmental field working to restore the riverbottom, and people in social services working to house the homeless. Throughout my fieldwork various groups attempted to assert agency over my research methods and priorities, pulling me in multiple directions. However, despite this tension, this research design also afforded me the opportunity to develop trusting relationships across difference, which facilitated the opening of a new (and potentially more just) socio-ecological imaginary for the Ventura River. This paper demonstrates how one can create change across diverse positions of power, and the role community-engaged researchers can play in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean to conduct community-based and praxis-oriented research at a time when those whose lives you study and with whom you work are the subjects of increasing levels of xenophobia, marginalization, and demonization? How does one conceive of research ethics, of the relationship between the roles of scholars, teachers, and citizens in light of such dynamics? In what ways can scholarship help to intervene in the world around us, in particular to improve the perception and amplify the voices of marginalized groups and individuals? This paper considers these issues in the context of research ethics and the growing field of community geography. I draw in particular on an example from a multi-year study of refugee resettlement in non-traditional destinations across the US. When the study began, refugee policies and settlement patterns were little known to the general public in the US. Since then, refugees and migration more broadly have become increasingly prominent and controversial worldwide. In this paper I explore some of the challenges regarding collaborations between university researchers and community partners, highlighting the tensions exposed through the use of the visualization technique known as Photovoice, meant to provide alternative perspectives on ideas for urban change amongst participants. I also consider some ideas for steps to address these challenges, including the building of networks and training for researchers and formalized partnership processes for community groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) organize themselves into clusters by sharing a set of limited resources to achieve the holistic success of the cluster. However, these SMEs often face conflicts and deadlock situations that hinder the fundamental operational dynamics of the cluster due to varied reasons, including lack of trust and transparency in interactions, lack of common consensus, and lack of accountability and non-repudiation. Blockchain technology brings trust, transparency, and traceability to systems, as demonstrated by previous research and practice. In this paper, we explore the role of blockchain technology in building a trustworthy yet collaborative environment in SME clusters through the principles of community self-governance based on the work of Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom. We develop and present a blockchain commons governance framework for the three main dimensions i.e., interaction, autonomy, and control, based on the theoretical premise of equivalence mapping and qualitative analysis. This paper examines the role of blockchain technology to act as a guiding mechanism and support the smooth functioning of SMEs for their holistic good. The study focuses on sustainability and improving productivity of SMEs operating in clusters under public and private partnership. This is the first study to address the operational challenges faced by SEMs in clusters by highlighting the dimensions of blockchain commons governance dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of scientific collaborations has been the object of intense study both for its importance for innovation and scientific advancement, and as a model system for social group coordination and formation thanks to the availability of authorship data. Over the last years, complex networks approach to this problem have yielded important insights and shaped our understanding of scientific communities. In this paper we propose to complement the picture provided by network tools with that coming from using simplicial descriptions of publications and the corresponding topological methods. We show that it is natural to extend the concept of triadic closure to simplicial complexes and show the presence of strong simplicial closure. Focusing on the differences between scientific fields, we find that, while categories are characterized by different collaboration size distributions, the distributions of how many collaborations to which an author is able to participate is conserved across fields pointing to underlying attentional and temporal constraints. We then show that homological cycles, that can intuitively be thought as hole in the network fabric, are an important part of the underlying community linking structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of climate change on people and ecosystems have been studied at both local and global levels. The environment is expected to change significantly, and the role of local communities in shaping more resilient landscapes is considered crucial. This research focuses on rural regions highly susceptible to climate change impacts. The objective was to enhance conditions for climate resilient development on a microlocal level by encouraging diverse stakeholders to participate in developing sustainable landscape management. This paper introduces a novel interdisciplinary mixed-method approach to landscape scenario development, combining research-driven and participatory approaches and integrating quantitative methods with qualitative ethnographic inquiry. Two scenarios for 2050 were built: a research-driven, business-as-usual scenario accounting for mandatory adaptation policies and an optimistic scenario combining research-driven and participatory approaches, including additional feasible community-based measures. While the differences between the projected land use seem to be relatively subtle, the optimistic scenario would in fact lead to a considerably more resilient landscape. The results highlight the role of interdisciplinarity and ethnography in gaining good local knowledge and building an atmosphere of trust. These factors supported the research credibility, strengthened the legitimacy of the intervention in local affairs, and contributed to the active participation of the stakeholders. We argue that despite its time, intense effort and limited direct policy impact, the mixed-method approach is highly suitable for the microlocal level. It encourages citizens to think about how their environment is threatened by climate change impacts and increases their willingness to contribute to climate resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the world is facing a global issue as a result of the depletion of the environment's natural resources. This is a consequence of conventional building techniques that exploit these resources without considering the negative consequences on the environment and the future. This is the reason why there is an urge to preserve these resources for the sake of future generations. Sustainability's main aim is to preserve the environment's natural resources, like water and energy, to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Based on this, the United Nations initiated a global trend to face this challenge through sustainable building. This paper investigates the positive impact of sustainable building on the environment and the users in order to provide a better quality of life. The case study investigates Madinaty city, which is a gated community situated to the east of Cairo city center. Initially, sustainability is analyzed based on global and local criteria, and its impact on the environment and user is evaluated. Based on the global assessment, the results show that Madinaty has succeeded in achieving sustainable design; however, some issues need to be improved such as housing affordability, availability of services, and preserving the cultural heritage. On the local level, all criteria are met except for the balance between supply and demand. When evaluating these results, it is concluded that Madinaty has succeeded in having a positive impact on the environment and the users, eventually providing a better quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and anthropogenic pressure are among the main drivers of coastal environment degradation in Mauritius, a small island developing state. Globally, mitigation and adaptation strategies applied to the complex socio-ecological coastal systems offer effective solutions in curbing the adverse impacts. In environmental protection, Non-Governmental Organisations' (NGOs) role was first recognised in the 1992 UN Agenda 21 for Sustainable Development, and they are now integrated with most coastal environmental rehabilitation programmes. This paper describes two climate-based adaptation projects undertaken about a decade ago by an NGO in Mauritius. The projects were community-driven in all phases of implementation. The first project focussed on the Ecosystem-based-adaptation (EbA) approach of restoring a mangrove ecosystem and improving community life at Le Morne Village. The second project aimed at the rehabilitation of a historical site and the consolidation of a degraded coastline at Poudre d'Or Village. Components of 'hard' and 'soft' adaptive measures were applied as pathways to guide project implementation. The projects required extensive field visits, focus group interviews, and participatory inputs from all stakeholders. A 10-year assessment of the processes applied in the conceptualisation, implementation, and in evaluating the outcomes was gleaned from regular visits to local inhabitants, stakeholders, and NGO members since the completion of the projects. In 2022, an informal interview at Le Morne and a survey at Poudre d'Or showed that both projects resulted in positive outcomes. Good governance capacity and rigour in the management of the project team were highlighted as crucial attributes to the success of the projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts are increasingly interested in incorporating environmental and climate action into all projects. Mining projects face a broader range of environmental concerns. Since most mines nowadays rely on blasting operations, a considerable volume of dust is released into the atmosphere. The environmentally destructive mining practices contradict the principles of green and climate-smart mining and substantially impact the sustainability of mining communities. Estimating emissions and assessing risks associated with mine dust are critical components of blast design in mining projects. The main research objective is to model the monitored blast-induced dust emission in surface mines. In mining and civil projects, the rock engineering system (RES) is a common method for conducting risk analyses by considering causal–effect relationships between involve parameters in the system. However, conventional RES deals with uncertain and imprecise information. Therefore, the current study incorporates the Z-number theory with the conventional RES for presenting a reliability-based rock engineering system (RRES) to address erroneous and defective information resulting in uncertainty and to increment reliability of decision-makers. In fact, the novelty of this paper is integration of Z-number concept with RES. This approach is developed to evaluate the cause–effect relationship between effective parameters and distribution of blast-induced dust emission (DBID). Dealing with incomplete information is one of the most obvious main challenges of this research. The proposed approach eliminated the uncertainty of expert-based systems and increased the accuracy of modeling results, which is one of the main advantages of Z-number. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is carried out using the cosine amplitude method (CAM) to find the most influential parameter on the DBID. Based on obtained results, the vulnerability index (VI) was 49.08 regarding to recorded dust emission data in the Asgaeabad2 limestone mine located in Iran, which this value indicated that the ecological risk relevant to dust dispersion is medium to high. Results reveal that hole diameter (R), specific gravity (SG), and porosity (P) have high weights among the influential parameters. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the powder factor is the most influential parameter of DBID. The performance and accuracy level of the developed RRES model were compared with the statistical models using evaluation indicators, involving variance accounted for (VAF), coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute relative error (MARE), and balance relative error (BIAS). Obtaining the R2, MARE, VAF and BIAS values of (0.942, 0.022, 94.159, 1.086) and (0.751, 0.044, 75.075, 2.135) for the RRES and statistical model, respectively, showed the success of RRES in predicting and assessing risk value of dust emission due to bench blasting. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed RRES is a reliable technique for both risk assessment and dust emission prediction. Clean blasting: dust emissions forecasting by reliability-based rock engineering system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The national Stepping Up Initiative has attracted over 500 counties interested in reducing the use of jail for individuals with mental health disorders. This paper identifies socioeconomic, criminal legal, and health care factors that predict the likelihood of counties joining Stepping Up. Results: After performing variable selection, logistic regression models were performed on 3,141 U.S. counties. Counties designated as medically underserved and/or mental health staffing shortage areas were less likely to participate in this initiative. Logistic regression models showed that larger counties (populations over 250,000) with better health care infrastructure, more mental health providers per capita, higher percent of Medicaid funded drug treatment services, and at least one medical school, were more likely to join Stepping Up. These counties had lower per capita jail populations, higher concentration of police resources, and higher pretrial incarceration rate. Conclusions: County-level health care delivery factors are major contributors to a county's likelihood, or willingness, of engaging in Stepping Up reform efforts to reduce jail population with mental health disorders issues. Therefore, improving availability and accessibility of medical and behavioral health care in different communities, may facilitate efforts to address the unnecessary incarceration of individuals with mental health disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many natural resource projects, the impact on Indigenous communities is a primary concern. Therefore, governance arrangements that account for the interests of companies, communities, and government are critical for the project's success. This paper looked at two successful mining projects in northern Canada, McArthur River and Diavik, to examine the governance arrangement that led to mutually beneficial outcomes. Through an analysis of interviews and documents, we assessed both governing institutions and interactions to understand how the respective companies and communities established a high level of trust. In both cases, government took a less prominent role in the management of resources, allowing the Indigenous communities to hold a stronger role in the governance of the resources. Both Indigenous communities, therefore, built partnerships with the company around socio-economic benefits along with environmental monitoring – redefining 'community' in governance arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]