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Before the Fukushima disaster unfolded in 2011, Japanese government and energy company officials were aware of the warning signs and risks of a potential crisis at the reactor site. They failed to use safety mechanisms or update regulations over time to address the vulnerabilities of the power plants. Because interest groups had led the public to believe the power plants were completely safe, the plants were run with little accountability. Following this disaster, Japan established a new nuclear regulatory commission and nuclear regulatory authority in and implemented new regulatory mechanisms. These efforts have been limited, however, and have shifted the issue from regulation to implementation. The enormous cost of meeting new safety protocols has created new barriers for restarting the power plants under updated regulations, but the energy demands of the country will remain. The tension between managing operational risks and meeting public energy needs will test the public and private sectors' ability to sufficiently revamp the nuclear industry and prevent crises in years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the oral and physical disruption of 'public' meetings in England in the spring of 1886, when such activity formed part of broader contests over the legitimacy of extra‐parliamentary responses to the Liberal government's Irish Home Rule Bill. Disruption is an important example of the diverse ways in which home rule energised politics outside Westminster and of the heatedness of grassroots responses to it. For those who engaged in it, disruption offered forms of political interaction and participation that, additionally, made claims to representation and opinion. However, disruption was a practice of contestation that was itself the subject of contention and it was decried as transgressing the bounds of appropriate political conduct. Disruption could be seen, in both intent and effect, as a permissive or subversive, inclusive or exclusionary, behaviour. It could therefore legitimise or undermine claims that popular feeling was on the side of or opposed to the policy. The 'politics of disruption' both reflected and generated intense debate about the state of politics in an age of 'mass democracy' – of which home rule was the first major crisis – and about the sanctity of political rights and liberties. This article argues that our understanding of political disruption is enhanced by examining its practice and reception at historical moments, outside the episodic election cycle, when contemporaries believed that it was critically important that 'public opinion' on a political issue be ascertained and voiced, and when the validity of such opinion was disputed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the application of the intersectionality framework to the Indian statutory institutional environmental public hearing (EPH) process that seeks to promote environmental justice. Intersectionality provides a framework to capture the processes of gender marginalization and exclusion. It critically demonstrates how the required gender participation in the regulatory EPH process is failing rural women in the state of Gujarat, India, thereby exacerbating discrimination and inequality. Building on the researchers' mixed‐methods (quantitative and qualitative) data, the article creates an evidence‐based 'fresh dossier' reflecting the non‐existent or limited participatory involvement of women as valuable stakeholders in the EPH process. Drawing on the evidence of lived experiences creates spaces for women's voices that are excluded from the social system due to dominant powers and institutional structures. We argue that respecting the diversity of interests and identities of rural Gujarati women within the institutionalized public sphere would promote participation and recognition of their knowledge and role as crucial stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US National Cancer Act of 1971 designated the director of the National Cancer Institute as responsible for coordinating federal agencies and nonfederal organizations to make progress against cancer. As part of her role, the immediate past director of the National Cancer Institute (MMB) led the development of a National Cancer Plan that was formally released on April 3, 2023. The plan includes 8 aspirational goals "to achieve a society where every person with cancer lives a full and active life and to prevent most cancers so that few people need to face this diagnosis." Research findings provide a foundation for each goal, and research gaps are included in the strategies for meeting each goal. The President's Cancer Panel, also created by the National Cancer Act, conducted an initial assessment of progress toward the plan goals by hearing from 12 organizations at a virtual public meeting on September 7, 2023. The purpose of this commentary is to orient the scientific community to the plan and call attention to related knowledge gaps that could benefit from research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this novel study, a gender audit was conducted to assess how the Seoul (Metro) and Jakarta (MRT) subway systems respond to women's needs. The audit revealed that both Seoul Metro and MRT Jakarta have made significant efforts to accommodate the needs of all passengers, including women. This is commendable because a public transit system that works well for women works better for everyone. With some improvements, both subways could achieve Universal Design standards. The audit protocol developed can be employed to periodically monitor other subway systems in Asia and measure progress towards gender mainstreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public art has long been recognized as a powerful medium for social and cultural expression, taking various forms and sizes across different settings. Generally designed for installation in public places, public art aims to engage the public by fostering participation, interaction, and critical thinking. One notable example is 'Red Shoes Australia', an adaptation of 'Los Zapatos Rojos' by Mexican artist Elina Chauvet. This installation features hundreds of pairs of red shoes in an iconic Australian public space, serving as a poignant memorial to the victims of domestic, gender, and family violence. First presented in 2022 as part of the Western Australian '16 Days in WA: Stop Violence Against Women' campaign, the event was a collaboration with the Western Australia Museum and continued as an impactful initiative in subsequent years. Beyond its role as an art exhibition, the event seeks to emphasize the impact of forensic research and practice in combating gender-based violence and empowering victims with a scientific voice against their perpetrators. The confluence of art, and forensics, leveraging 'The Red Shoes', underscores that positive change in systems and society is driven by knowledge, education, strategic research, and the development of educational programmes and community services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public art has long been recognized as a powerful medium for social and cultural expression, taking various forms and sizes across different settings. Generally designed for installation in public places, public art aims to engage the public by fostering participation, interaction, and critical thinking. One notable example is 'Red Shoes Australia', an adaptation of 'Los Zapatos Rojos' by Mexican artist Elina Chauvet. This installation features hundreds of pairs of red shoes in an iconic Australian public space, serving as a poignant memorial to the victims of domestic, gender, and family violence. First presented in 2022 as part of the Western Australian '16 Days in WA: Stop Violence Against Women' campaign, the event was a collaboration with the Western Australia Museum and continued as an impactful initiative in subsequent years. Beyond its role as an art exhibition, the event seeks to emphasize the impact of forensic research and practice in combating gender-based violence and empowering victims with a scientific voice against their perpetrators. The confluence of art, and forensics, leveraging 'The Red Shoes', underscores that positive change in systems and society is driven by knowledge, education, strategic research, and the development of educational programmes and community services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of recurrent multinomial sequences. Though there exists a quite considerable literature on modeling autocorrelation in numerical data and sequences of categorical outcomes, there is currently no systematic method of modeling patterns of recurrence in categorical sequences. This paper develops a means of discovering recurrent patterns by employing a more restrictive Markov assumption. The resulting model, which I call the recurrent multinomial model, provides a parsimonious representation of recurrent sequences, enabling the investigation of recurrences on longer time scales than existing models. The utility of recurrent multinomial models is demonstrated by applying them to the case of conversational turn-taking in meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Analyses are effectively able to discover norms around turn-reclaiming, participation, and suppression and to evaluate how these norms vary throughout the course of the meeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constituents in the United States have used local public meetings in recent years to shape policy on some of the most high-profile race-related issues. However, public meeting participation remains less studied relative to other modes of participation. This study investigates the extent to which race shapes the way a message is heard and evaluated by the public audience and the degree to which its impact depends on the issue of the message. To carry out the study, I set up a 2 × 3 experiment containing six short treatment videos in which I manipulated the race of the actor/speaker (Black or White) and the message issue (innocuous service request, race-related policy, and race-neutral policy). Subjects were randomly assigned to watch one of the six videos and then asked to evaluate the message in the video. The early results of this study show that unlike previous studies revealing racial bias in a range of political contexts in the United States, race exerts neither independent nor conditional effects on the evaluation of the message as reasonable. I discuss the limitations and implications of these findings and useful considerations to think about in expanding this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dieser Beitrag zeichnet die Konzeption und die Ausführung des Projekts „Kreative Freiräume" an den Leipziger Städtischen Bibliotheken nach. Auf der Grundidee des Dritten Ortes basierend entstand zunächst an der Leipziger Stadtbibliothek ein offener Treffpunkt. Der Raum wurde konzipiert und eingerichtet, um selbstorganisierte Aktionen und Veranstaltungen von Bibliotheksnutzer*innen zu ermöglichen. Das Konzept wurde mit jeweiligen thematischen Verankerungen angereichert und auf weitere Freiräume erweitert. Der Praxisbericht geht ferner auf die Frage des Veränderungsprozesses im Bibliotheksteam ein. This article traces the concept design and implementation of the "Creative open spaces" project at the Leipzig Municipal Libraries. Based on the idea of the Third Space, an open meeting space was initially created at the Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig. It was designed and set up for self-organised actions and events by external users and finally extended to other open spaces. As innovation the concept additionally comprises a thematical focus for each open space. The practical report also addresses the issue of the change process within the library team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shifted participatory planning processes from face-to-face to online meetings. Prior to the pandemic, public participation included online components, but only in support of face-to-face public meetings. Thus, there was very little guidance for practitioners on how to design and host online public meetings. We interviewed 32 professional planners and facilitators with experience hosting public meetings during the summer of 2020 and asked them to discuss their experience moving their practices online. We expected to see drastic changes in how these professionals approached their work, but our expectations were only partially met. Instead of revolutionizing participatory planning, online meetings only required modest adjustments to the practices used in face-to-face meetings. Our findings are limited because they represent a narrow window in time. More substantial changes to participatory planning practices may have taken place because of the pandemic and may not be reflected in our interview data. Face-to-face and online meetings may not be as different as popular opinion suggests, and many of the practices that planners have used to host face-to-face public planning meetings could be applied to online meetings. Moreover, the successful transition to online meetings during the pandemic also suggests that remote public meetings are a viable and legitimate option for participatory planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: This article aims to provide psychiatrists with an overview of early release of serving prisoners and parole, using the example of the Parole Board for England and Wales. The centrality of risk assessment and management and its clinical implications for release are reviewed. Offenders who come before a parole board and require a psychiatrist to be a member of the panel and who need evidence from psychiatrists on their disorder are often characterised by the complexity of their mental disorder. Offenders with complex mental disorder have difficulty assessing effective treatment and aftercare pathways, which can result in not being released. Offenders remitted back to prison following hospital transfer for treatment experience particular problems in being released. Three roles for psychiatrists in parole hearings are identified and guidance for effective participation in hearings is discussed. Commissioning implications of the difficulty assessing the need for community aftercare are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the socio-cultural and gender-based dynamics associated with place values, and their implications for women's access to water through case studies of upland and riverine communities in southern Nigeria. We used a range of fieldwork methods including public meetings, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, keen observations, key informants and other secondary sources. Our findings show that drinking water sources are a part of the many forms of visible material structures that embody and generate automatic reproduction of gender-based beliefs, attitudes, feelings and practices. The outcome of such practices affects men and women differently in relation to access, workload and capacity for hygiene and other socio-economic practices. In discussing access to essential public goods, social and economic capacities take priority focus over the impact of 'place values' either as standalone or intersectional elements. Research should be expanded to incorporate these elements and their intersectional perspectives in shaping access to water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews the current building seismic design approach based on the observed performance of modern building stock in recent earthquakes, highlights the inability of the current design approach in controlling seismic damage and losses, and proposes a conceptual framework for next generation seismic design codes that is likely to meet public expectations. In addition to ensuring life-safety in rare earthquakes, the proposed loss-optimization seismic design approach also aims to ensure quick functional recovery and minimum loss (i.e. repair, downtime, and injury/fatality) in moderate-strong earthquakes by limiting damage to building's structural and non-structural components. Based on comparison of performances of building stock in some recent major earthquakes in different countries, the paper presents some simple strategies to render buildings more resilient and suffer significantly less seismic damage (and consequentially incur less loss). Finally, the paper scrutinizes the efficacy of some commonly used low-damage technologies in minimizing building seismic losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the retreat meeting to the Open Space: Results of the Open Space in the course of the annual conference of the DGIP 2022 The method of Open Space as a large group moderation for structuring conferences is presented and explained. The advantages and disadvantages are discussed and presented based on the example of the AAI Aachen-Köln e. V. The results of the first Open Space in the course of the annual conference of the DGIP 2022 in Cologne are reproduced with the original contributions of the group speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks contemporary cultural heritage conservation principles by reviewing its history, starting from the 18th century, in practices, international documents, and the literature on this topic. It intends to lay a foundation to avoid damaging cultural heritages by misconducting conservation. This study first found that the conservation objects of cultural heritage include particularly important ones and general ones that are closely related to daily life, and they involve tangible and intangible aspects. Second, cultural heritage conservation involves document-based restoration when necessary as well as identifying the value of them to play their role nowadays. Third, integrating cultural heritage conservation within the context of sustainable development goals is essential for successfully balancing the relationship between the built and natural environments. Fourth, mobilising the public to participate in cultural heritage conservation enables the implementation of conservation to meet the expectations of the public, and may have a positive influence on people's consciousness. Fifth, as a treasure, cultural heritage conservation is a global responsibility that involves conjoint cooperation. Sixth, more cultural heritage conservation interdisciplinary methods have been developed and could be applied, but this should be limited in order to not destruct their authenticity and integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary aldosteronism is the most common single cause of hypertension and is potentially curable when only one adrenal gland is the culprit. The importance of primary aldosteronism to public health derives from its high prevalence but huge under-diagnosis (estimated to be <1% of all affected individuals), despite the consequences of poor blood pressure control by conventional therapy and enhanced cardiovascular risk. This state of affairs is attributable to the fact that the tools used for diagnosis or treatment are still those that originated in the 1970–1990s. Conversely, molecular discoveries have transformed our understanding of adrenal physiology and pathology. Many molecules and processes associated with constant adrenocortical renewal and interzonal metamorphosis also feature in aldosterone-producing adenomas and aldosterone-producing micronodules. The adrenal gland has one of the most significant rates of non-silent somatic mutations, with frequent selection of those driving autonomous aldosterone production, and distinct clinical presentations and outcomes for most genotypes. The disappearance of aldosterone synthesis and cells from most of the adult human zona glomerulosa is the likely driver of the mutational success that causes aldosterone-producing adenomas, but insights into the pathways that lead to constitutive aldosterone production and cell survival may open up opportunities for novel therapies. Primary aldosteronism is the most common cause of endocrine arterial hypertension and is characterized by the autonomous production of aldosterone from one or both adrenal glands. This Review describes the molecular discoveries and developments that have the potential to transform the clinical management of patients with this disease. Key points: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a common cause of hypertension; it is potentially curable when caused by a unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), but it can lead to resistant hypertension and a high cardiovascular risk in cases in which PA is undiagnosed. Current clinical guidelines and practice centres on risky tests and procedures, such as saline suppression, adrenal sampling and surgery, and poorly tolerated drugs such as spironolactone; these practices have remained largely unchanged over the past 30 years. By contrast, the discovery of somatic mutations over the past decade has identified these as the cause of autonomous aldosterone production in most patients with PA, including 80–90% of APAs; the identified mutations most commonly affect the ion-channel genes KCNJ5 and CACNA1D. Several distinct genotype–phenotype patterns and emerging clinical surrogates for genotype suggest the potential for molecular discovery to predict individual patient outcomes, permitting rational stratification of interventions. In vivo molecular ligands for aldosterone synthase have been validated for non-invasive PET CT detection of APAs; on the left side, ultrasound-guided endoscopic radiofrequency ablation of PET-imaged APAs seems to be a safe alternative to surgery. Genetic deletion models suggest curative potential for the suppression, rather than blockade, of aldosterone synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article explores how public librarians understand and perform the democratic mission of public libraries in times of political and social turbulence and critically discusses the idea of public libraries as meeting places. Design/methodology/approach: Five group interviews conducted with public librarians in southern Sweden are analyzed using a typology of four perspectives on democracy. Findings: Two perspectives on democracy are commonly represented: social-liberal democracy, focusing on libraries as promoters of equality and deliberative democracy, focusing on the library as a place for rational deliberation. Two professional dilemmas in particular present challenges to librarians: how to handle undemocratic voices and how to be a library for all. Originality/value: The analysis points to a need for rethinking the idea of the meeting place and offers a rare example of an empirically based argument for the benefits of plural agonistics for analyzing and strengthening the democratic role of public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2022 the first Dark Genome Symposium was held in Boston, USA. The meeting was hosted by Rome Therapeutics and Enara Bio, two biotechnology companies working on translating our growing understanding of this vast genetic landscape into therapies for human disease. The spirit and ambition of the meeting was one of shared knowledge, looking to strengthen the network of researchers engaged in the field. The meeting opened with a welcome from Rosana Kapeller and Kevin Pojasek followed by a first session of field defining talks from key academics in the space. A series of panels, bringing together academia and industry views, were then convened covering a wide range of pertinent topics. Finally, Richard Young and David Ting gave their views on the future direction and promise for patient impact inherent in the growing understanding of the Dark Genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) has the advantages of mobility and flexibility, rapid concealment and holistic vision. Coordinating with the intelligent and efficient precise dispatching of the "decision module" of the command centre, UAVs can meet the public safety needs of significant events. The marathon is an open, long-distance, gathering sporting event, so on-site security is hard to guarantee. To study the application of UAVs in marathon public security risk early warning, we examine the Hangzhou Marathon as an example, analysing the potential public security risks of a marathon and the application scenarios of UAVs by modelling the data of population and vehicles near the fundamental security early warning places of the marathon through theoretical discussion and modelling research. We propose a marathon risklevel intelligent identification and early warning model, establish the deployment and control scheme of UAVs in marathon public security, and conceive a comprehensive command platform for UAVs to promote the integration of UAVs into marathon security by taking intelligent security as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representative democracy is no longer enough for day-to-day governance as citizens demand more of their elected officials' time and more attention paid to matters that concern them. Public hearings, open houses and other traditional means of engaging with citizens, especially at the municipal level, are not sufficient for true participatory democracy. Nor is going to the polls on a set date enough to satisfy citizens' desires to interact more with elected officials. Done properly, engaging with the community can enable politicians to make better decisions. It can also broaden their perspectives on issues, offer opportunities for better communication and relationship-building with a diverse public and allow new ideas to come into play in the decisionmaking process. Although an Ipsos poll has revealed that just 20 per cent of Canadians have ever engaged in community engagement, those who did said they saw it as a positive experience. This paper examines the barriers to community engagement, including failure to reach people, time and place limitations, NIMBYism and the problem of strong voices dominating and making other people feel unheard. The City of Nanaimo offers a successful model of community engagement. When preparing an Affordable Housing Strategy, officials reached out to the public through pop-up events, workshops, surveys and one-on-one conversations. Follow-up included a white paper that incorporated the engagement process, public feedback and policy options. Later, a draft of the strategy was presented to the public during an open house which offered a question-andanswer period. Engaging with the public is not a small undertaking. However, this paper shows that problems such as divergent opinions, strongly vocal activists potentially hijacking the agenda, inevitable conflicts between factions and establishing the best times and places for engagement are not insurmountable. This paper offers recommendations for community engagement that can be adapted by both large and small municipalities. The key to successful engagement is advance preparation, including deciding which projects are best suited for this approach, public communication to ensure as many people as possible know about the opportunity to engage and starting the engagement process early. Taking the process to the people by going to popular local hang-outs and talking to citizens there helps mitigate the problem of inconvenient times and structured settings for many people. In smaller municipalities, officials can set up tables on Main Street, at libraries or local clubs. Combining online engagement with other efforts could help bring together ideas and perspectives from those more likely to engage online and those who prefer traditional methods of engagement, which will help to improve the quality of the whole process. Online engagement can supplement in-person connections and can help to set out rules around behaviour and enforcement of them. Municipalities can also partner with translators and cultural organizations to ensure that no one is left out of the process because of language or other barriers. Feedback and follow-up are two important parts of the engagement process as well. Citizens need to know that their input was valuable in determining final policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay calls upon scholars in the largely siloed fields of history of education and carceral studies to examine the history of American education and criminal legal systems in tandem rather than in isolation from one another. In introducing the special section's articles, it proposes a new template for historicizing the "school-to-prison pipeline" in particular and the intertwined evolution of the state's protective, preventative, and punitive power more broadly. Specifically, the essay discusses how the carceral state both moved into and emerged from within public schools prior to and following the 1960s and 1970s. It also notes that the relationship between public education and the carceral state evolved in highly localized and contingent ways based upon the actions of individuals, organizations, and institutions at the community, state, and federal level. The essay concludes with a discussion of considerations for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: In Australia, people with disability continue to experience low employment rates (48%), compared to the national average (79%), and employment is even lower (30%) for people with acquired brain injury (ABI). This paper evaluates a pilot study of a new mainstream employment pathway following ABI, called Employment CoLab. Method: Employment CoLab was piloted across multiple industries using a mix of reasonable employer adjustments, insurance-funded supports and/or access to capacity-building supports. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with four stakeholders; (1) Employees with ABI (n = 5, age 31–49 years, time since injury M(R) = 11(4–26) years); (2) Employers/co-workers (n = 3); (3) Allied health professionals/vocational providers (n = 4); and (4) Injury insurance funders who hold portfolio responsibility for disability employment (n = 5). An explorative economic evaluation was also conducted to compare the cost to the funder for Employment CoLab compared to traditional employment pathways. Results: Employment CoLab offered a new approach for people with ABI to gain and sustain open employment. Four major themes were identified from participant interviews: valuing employment and diversity; barriers to mainstream employment; reflections on being employed; and being supported over time. The economic evaluation was unable to detect if the pathway was, or was not, less costly when compared to traditional employment pathways. Conclusions: Employment CoLab is a person-centred collaborative approach which, together with effective social disability insurance approaches, has built new opportunities for inclusive mainstream economic participation following ABI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Committees are important units of parliaments around the world, but their use in public engagement has been underexplored. Committees can conduct public hearings, which have been analysed as tools for information processing. Following a conceptual overview, the article analyses data collected for the 2022 Global Parliamentary Report on hearings as a tool for public engagement. Based on the survey responses of 69 parliamentary chambers and interviews with MPs and staff, it explores how, and where hearings are used for engagement. Spotlighting innovations such as committee field hearings and core issues from committee practice, such as digital hearings, and mechanisms for the involvement of CSOs, it becomes clear that the perspective on hearings must be broadened beyond legislation and oversight and their role in public engagement must be taken seriously – both for academic study and political practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking as its starting point the nursery rhyme about the old woman who swallowed a fly, this autoethnographic performance text presents a fable of an old woman who first becomes invisible and then realizes that she can reclaim her power, but only once she rids herself of all the "rubbish" she has consumed. The text adopts the traditional format of a play script and references core themes of critical performance studies—gender, power, the body, presence, and meaning. Preserving the integrity of the play script as a literary form, there are no references; however, readers will recognize the implicit theoretical moves in the text. Readers may also note the inevitable challenge of translating the body-in-performance from stage to page. The text was performed by the author for a panel conceived and convened by Bryant Alexander, for the 19th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has demonstrated that participants in public meetings are unrepresentative of their broader communities. Some suggest that reducing barriers to meeting attendance can improve participation, while others believe doing so will produce minimal changes. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted public meetings online, potentially reducing the time costs associated with participating. We match participants at online public meetings with administrative data to learn whether: (1) online participants are representative of their broader communities and (2) representativeness improves relative to in-person meetings. We find that participants in online forums are quite similar to those in in-person ones. They are similarly unrepresentative of residents in their broader communities and similarly overwhelmingly opposed to the construction of new housing. These results suggest important limitations to public meeting reform. Future research should continue to unpack whether reforms might prove more effective at redressing inequalities in an improved economic and public health context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between radio broadcasting and post-World War II discourses of scientific and technological ambivalence, specifically looking at a special broadcast of the America's Town Meeting of the Air radio discussion program conducted at the 1946 George Westinghouse Centennial Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Titled 'Science: Salvation or Destroyer of Mankind?', the broadcast posited that there were two possible paths for science – one leading to future peace and prosperity, and the other bringing about world catastrophe. Here, the 'voice of science' – atomic scientist Harold C. Urey, microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, science reporter William L. Laurence, and medical doctor Herman N. Bundesen – addressed the new scientific challenges facing society after World War II, where the question of humanity's future was presented as a matter of life and death. An examination of the rhetoric of this broadcast within the broader historical context of the George Westinghouse Centennial Forum demonstrates how the liberating or dangerous potentials of science intersected with the challenges of presenting science on the air, revealing some of the inherent contradictions in broadcasting's relationship to science and placing radio itself in a position that parallels the 'two sciences' question posed on Town Meeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the field of political science has been exposed to two concomitant developments: a surge of Big Data (BD) and a growing demand for transparency. To date, however, we do not know the extent to which these two developments are compatible with one another. The purpose of this article is to assess, empirically, the extent to which BD political science (broadly defined) adheres to established norms of transparency in the discipline. To address this question, we develop an original dataset of 1555 articles drawn from the Web of Science database covering the period 2008–2019. In doing so, we also provide an assessment of the current level of transparency in empirical political science and quantitative political science in general. We find that articles using Big Data are significantly less likely than other, more traditional works of political science, to share replication files. Our study also illustrates some of the promises and challenges associated with extracting data from Web of Science and similar databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study costly communication in a common-pool resource (CPR) experiment as a proxy for two different forms of participatory processes: as a public good and as a club good. A public communication meeting, representing centralized participatory processes, occurs when all group members' monetary contributions reach a specified threshold. Club communication meetings, representing networked participatory processes, follow only among those members of the group who pay a communication fee. We test whether the way costly communication is provided affects the willingness of participants to contribute to communication, as well as the dynamics of such payments, and the content of communication. This is done by analyzing contributions to communication and communication content of 100 real-life resource users participating in a lab-in-field experiment. We find that contributions towards communication are higher when communication is public, and that club communication features more frequent but less inclusive communication meetings. Also, communication content is more oriented towards addressing the collective action problem associated with the management of the resource when communication groups are attended by all participants. The identified differences between the two ways to provide for communication can inform policies and the design of participatory processes in natural resource governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Code of Civil Procedure introduced, within the scope of Brazilian law, the institute of judicial precedent, as an alleged decisionmaking parameter of mandatory observance, edited by bodies of the Judiciary in the exercise of the jurisdictional function. However, the Code of Civil Procedure was not concerned with establishing a democratic system for the formation of judicial precedents. It is necessary to observe the call for public hearings for the dialogical formation of precedents as a result of the constitutional model of process brought by the Federal Constitution of 1988. The methodology used was the carrying out of theoretical and bibliographical research, with consultation of national and international doctrines, articles scientific papers from indexed journals, dissertations, theses and court decisions. At the end of this research, it was possible to conclude that the hypothesis analyzed obtained an affirmative result, that is, the system of formation of precedents in Brazil does not guarantee the democratic nature of the provisions that will be binding, since the participation of the interested parties affected by the decision, especially via holding a public hearing, which is not obligatory, and is a mere faculty of the judge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores transgenerational dynamics of memory in the individual and collective contexts in contemporary South Africa. By engaging in a conversation informed by psychoanalytic theory between the archive of the public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and narratives of the younger generation of black South Africans, the article offers a conceptual framework for how transgenerational transmission of memory in the lives of descendants of generations of victims of prolonged traumatic subjugation might be explained. A tri-directional perspective in which memory crosses and re-crosses past, present and future temporalities is proposed, and the movement and translation of memory between and across these temporalities are explained and conceptualised as a "triadic" view of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of DiMPAH (Digital Methods Platform for Arts and Humanities), an online course "e-spect@tor for performing arts" has been designed to make available digital methods created by the Digital Humanities project "The spectator's school" to the scientific community and the students. The main aim of this course is to train learners to analyse performative works from video recordings. Those analysis are notably achieved with the use of the digital tool e-spect@tor developed by "The spectator's school" to annotate live art videos with different features that allows to study performative aspects. While "Unit I" is focused on introducing the "Performing arts", "Unit II" is dedicated to the analysis of case studies proposed to serve as models. The course can be used on e-learning and in a hybrid teaching format through a possible course structure and aims as described and tested with students. Furthermore, by using digital technology, this course can be at the forefront of new stories for Europe in terms of pedagogy as it trains to enable new media literacy and to analyse any activity that is staged such as political discourses, public meetings, or interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, there persists a striking gender gap in political participation. Women's political participation is important both on normative grounds of inclusion and because when women participate, politics changes. I develop a theoretical model of women's political behavior, arguing that women's lack of political participation is the result of the structure of women's political networks in patriarchal societies. I then evaluate the effect of expanding women's networks by leveraging a natural experiment that created as‐if random variation in access to women‐only credit groups. Participation in these groups had a significant and substantial impact on women's political participation—women's attendance at public meetings doubled. I provide suggestive evidence of three mechanisms underlying this effect: (1) larger networks, (2) increased capacity for collective action within networks, and (3) development of civic skills. These findings contribute to our understanding of how networks affect political behavior and underlie gendered inequalities in political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace cultural diversity and community inclusion are two facets of a complex public issue that require a deliberative community-based problem-solving approach. This article reports findings from a qualitative analysis of fourteen focus groups (N  =   83 participants) held in a rural Midwestern community that centered on community members' experiences with workplace cultural diversity and community inclusion. Three themes emerged: (a) racism and micro-aggressions; (b) discomfort talking about and across cultural differences; and (c) lack of belonging. Of the 14 focus groups, five represented enclave groups with culturally diverse employees. By engaging with historically excluded groups, researchers communicated with affected stakeholders when framing the public issue and convening public meetings to discuss that issue. This use of enclave groups to make the initial stages of the deliberative cycle more inclusive has implications for practitioners of public deliberation, scholars of human communication, and citizens and their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To obtain and evaluate detailed descriptions of potential value propositions as seen by adults undergoing hearing rehabilitation with hearing aids. Design: Semi-structured interviews with patients and audiologists, a literature search, and the inclusion of domain knowledge from experts and scientists were used to derive value propositions. A two-alternative forced-choice paradigm and probabilistic choice models were used to investigate hearing aid users' preferences for the value propositions through an online platform. Study sample: Twelve hearing aid users (mean age 70, range 59–70) and eleven clinicians were interviewed. A total of 173 experienced hearing aid users evaluated the value propositions. Results: Twenty-nine value propositions as described by patients, clinicians, and hearing care experts where identified, from which twenty-one value propositions were evaluated. Results of the pair-wise evaluation method show that the value propositions judged to be the most important for the hearing aid users were: "13. To solve the hearing problem you have", "09. Thorough diagnosis of the hearing", and "16. The hearing aid solution is adapted to individual needs", which are related to finding the correct hearing solution and to be considered in the process. The value propositions judged to be least important were: "04 Next of kin and others involved in the process", "26. To be in the same room as the practitioner", and "29. The practitioner's human characteristics", related to the involvement of others in the process and the proximity and personal manner of the practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores our human relationship to wind. In the context of 'wind meeting' - a transversal durational performance experiment where I joined three interior designers to meet with wind in The Performance Arcade, a live art festival on Wellington's waterfront, Aotearoa/New Zealand (2018) - 'meeting' was explored as medium, matter and movement. At The Performance Arcade a shipping container, open on all sides, was covered in a white curtain, fluttering and billowing – responsive to drafts, puffs, sweeps, gusts, whirls, gales, lulls – offering up an invitation for us, the wind meeters, as well as visitors, invitees, passers-by, watchers and publics to meet wind. Here, to meet wind was an encounter, a thinking through and with meteorological forces in a reposing of current flows of people, power and values. In addition, audiences were invited to join our 'meetings', held four times a day, where we gathered around a round table for a period of stillness and refreshment. With a draft agenda each meeting was a period of time to review, re-orientate, discuss and propose new strategies for meeting wind. The meeting format afforded playful, earnest, inclusive 'scores' that enabled us to meet other kinds of flows. Draft minutes and actions taken at these meetings became both scores for future tactics and a recording of outcomes. This essay unfolds - through my practice of choreography and performance - how meeting wind in all its physical, cellular, dimensional and metaphoric resonances has become a way of opening up the potential of thinking, encountering and inhabiting air space i.e. the space above, below and between us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term social vulnerability refers to the condition of a person or a group of people who live in na unfavorable situation or in difficulties. This study aims to identify the problems and difficulties faced by children and adolescentes who are in a situation of social vulnerability. The research was carried out through a bibliographical review of the qualitative type, Where data collection took place through the selection of materials found in electronic portals such as: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO); Electronic Journals in Psychology (PEPSIC) e National Library of Medicine (PubMed), 917 studies were found, but only 11 answered the survey. So, from the analysis of the results, it was concluded that the problems found are not recent and that despite the creation of reception centers such as Social Assistance Reference Centers (1990), public plicies to meet these demands are still quite discreet [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid rise of digital platform-based transportation services over the past decade has begun to transform urban mobility. Fleets of dockless bicycles and scooters – or 'micromobility'– represent the newest horizon of investment, particularly in the United States. Micromobility platforms launch rapidly, with minimal public planning or funding and no fixed infrastructure, using inexpensive, GPS-connected vehicles stored in public space. These platforms represent a deepening of the neoliberalisation of transport, in which infrastructural properties emerge biopolitically from the dynamics of private platforms. This article examines public debates over the regulation of micromobility platforms in Austin, Texas, in early 2018. Drawing on interviews with city officials and bikesharing professionals, observation of public meetings and GIS analysis of usage data, we argue that conflicts we observed over new micromobility platforms – specifically 'clutter', equity in geographic coverage and data privacy – obscured the deeper political economy of platformisation and the austerity that limited the effectiveness of the existing public station-based bikeshare system. In Austin, the search for 'innovative' micromobility transportation at no public cost resulted in the further erosion of the underfunded public system. We argue that despite their flexible, low-carbon image, existing micromobility platforms in the United States largely exploit rather than address inadequacies of urban transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the practice of 'requisitioning' public meetings in Great Britain and Ireland. These written requests to office-holders emerged in Ireland and then Great Britain, following bitter contests over the authenticity and authority of addresses and meetings claiming to represent a county or town in the decade after 1769. If the Seditious Meetings Acts privileged meetings officially convened by local elites, they also codified the practice of householders signing their own advertisements to requisition meetings under magisterial oversight. This would, especially when revolutionary threats receded and local justices' sympathies permitted, allow local organisers some legal and constitutional claims to public assembly, even if Peterloo demonstrated the continuing threat of the Riot Act. Alongside bi-partisan opportunism encouraging public meetings, the article emphasises the creative use of constitutional and legal claims by 'political entrepreneurs'. Comparison with Ireland demonstrates ministers' greater recourse to new legislation and executive powers, but also the exchange of political practices with Great Britain. The prosecution of intimidating numbers, rather than seditious conduct, after 1842 diminished the role of requisitions, as did the hybridisation of 'public meetings'. This was not so much the loss of a demotic form of community deliberation, but a proliferation and multiplication of the meetings—and voices—claiming to represent public opinion. The changing uses of a subscriptional practice can illuminate the relationship between government initiatives and local enforcement, and highlight the talents of those forging new meanings of the law, the constitution, and the political nation from restrictive procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article approaches user reception of interpreting events by investigating video users' parasocial interactions about a specific interpreter on the danmu interface. The video of Chinese athlete Sun Yang's public hearing (facilitated by an ad hoc interpreter) hosted on the Chinese video-sharing site, Bilibili, was chosen as a case study. Proceeding from an adapted parasocial interaction framework that features nine underlying parasocial processes, this study categorizes and analyses users' danmu comments directed at the interpreter, mainly qualitatively but also quantitatively. It also examines them as manifestations or verbalizations of their parasocial interactions with the interpreter on screen in cognitive and affective dimensions. The findings show users' noticeable preference for engaging in evaluation- and comprehension-oriented interactions and expressing their sympathy and empathy towards the interpreter. The findings also show that the parasocial interaction framework usefully accommodates a plethora of user reactions to the interpreter and their performance and offers a way of investigating relevant utterances systematically in a seemingly chaotic danmu space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive growth of biomedical knowledge in computable formats poses a challenge for organizations as they consider mobilizing artifacts to be findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable, and trustable. Formed in 2016, the Mobilizing Computable Biomedical Knowledge (MCBK) community is taking action to ensure that health organizations have the infrastructure in place to access and apply computable knowledge; to develop national policies and standards that require all data to be discoverable and available for safe and fair use; and to promote the widespread adoption and implementation of health knowledge in support of healthcare, biomedical research, public health, and education. This report summarizes the main outcomes of the Fifth Annual MCBK meeting, also considered the first manifestly global MCBK meeting, which was held virtually July 12 to 13, 2022. Over 200 participants from diverse domains around the world joined this meeting to frame and address important dimensions for mobilizing CBK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of psychological professions working in the NHS and publicly funded care is increasing. There are also increases in training places across a range of psychological professions. Despite this, the routes into the psychological professions remain unclear and fragmented. Within the psychological professions, career development is affected by limited transferability, limited opportunity for further training and limited roles at more senior levels across the whole professional group. There is an opportunity to address these to develop a more coherent and consistent approach to the psychological professions to enable a sustainable increase to meet the public demand for psychological help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite research investment and a growing body of diverse evidence there has been no comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those in medicine and other public health fields. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an ad hoc committee to develop and use methods for grading and synthesizing diverse types of evidence to create a single certainty of intervention‐related evidence to support recommendations for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Research. A 13‐step consensus building method was used. Experts were first canvassed in public meetings, and a comprehensive review of existing methods was undertaken. Although aspects of existing review methodologies and evidence grading systems were relevant, none adequately covered all requirements for this specific context. Starting with a desire to synthesize diverse sources of evidence not usually included in systematic reviews and using GRADE for assessing certainty and confidence in quantitative and qualitative evidence as the foundation, we developed a mixed‐methods synthesis review and grading methodology that drew on (and in some cases adapted) those elements of existing frameworks and methods that were most applicable. Four topics were selected as test cases. The process was operationalized with a suite of method‐specific reviews of diverse evidence types for each topic. Further consensus building was undertaken through stakeholder engagement and feedback The NASEM committee's GRADE adaption for mixed‐methods reviews will further evolve over time and has yet to be endorsed by the GRADE working group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school learners have various information needs crucial for the acquisition of knowledge and skills in preparing them for future academic progress. This study set out to investigate the role of Georgetown public library in meeting the academic information needs of high school learners. It established the nature of academic information sought by learners, ascertained the learners’ information- seeking behaviour and determined the ways Georgetown public library (in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) uses to meet the academic information needs of high school learners. A quantitative research approach was adopted, and the survey research design was used. Through a systematic sampling technique, the study randomly administered 291 questionnaires to high school learners in the Georgetown public library in the Edendale area. Data were analysed following a descriptive analysis method. The results of the study revealed that, among others, the nature of academic information needs of learners included information to perform various school projects; doing assignments; improving reading skills; obtaining information for tasks given by teachers; and gaining access to computers and space. Some learners were familiar with library operations and possessed limited skills; therefore, they sought information on their own. However, some sought assistance from and heavily relied on library staff for seeking information to satisfy their information uncertainty, and for help with computer usage. Books were the main resource of the library utilised by high school learners, although other resources such as encyclopaedias, magazines, newspapers, CDs, study guides, textbooks, and dictionaries were also used. The study concluded that most learners understood their information needs, although they used different ways to satisfy them. The availability of computers and assistance from the librarians were crucial for them to meet their academic information needs. The study recommends that Georgetown public library should be aware of the needs of Grade 10 high school learners and understand their information-seeking behaviour to assist with guidance, knowledge and computer skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While few would advocate that policy decisions be based solely on interest group influence or political pandering, few would also agree that decisions be based solely on evidence from randomized trials devoid of context or attention to stakeholder concerns. Yet, this is the implicit tension that has emerged between scholars, who privilege rigorously established research evidence as the primary legitimate basis for policy decision-making, and their critics, who advocate for a broader evidence boundary. However, the policy literature has hitherto failed to suggest an appropriate means of processing various forms of evidence to inform the policy decision-making process. This challenge is especially apparent in public hearings, a frequently used participatory medium where a great variety of evidence is presented. In this paper, we aim to reevaluate the value of public hearings as a means of collecting evidence by exploring 189 testimonies across six public hearings on single-payer healthcare in New York State. At the same time, we evaluate and categorize the types of evidence invoked in public hearings and compare this against what might "count" as evidence from an EBP perspective. Results highlight nine types of "evidence", along two dimensions: observation span and form of knowledge. We find that applying a narrow boundary of research evidence, only one of nine types of evidence fit that classification: problem-based research. We conclude by suggesting that policy scholars expand their consideration of what types of evidence claims are useful to policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under-investment in public service journalism has led to growing interest in the possibility of philanthropic support for the sector. Though long associated with non-profit journalism in North America, there is little tradition of philanthropy in UK journalism. This paper explains how recognition of public interest journalism as charitable can be achieved through more constructive interpretations of the existing law. Despite its initially conservative response, the Charity Commission has recently taken important steps towards recognising defined forms of journalism as charitable under the existing law. This paper reviews the democratic imperatives fulfilled by public interest journalism which justify such developments; and seeks to demonstrate how this framework for defining public interest journalism aligns with the public benefit requirement in charity law, opening up the possibility of new forms of charitably funded 'public benefit journalism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of the pandemic, bioethics, once again, proved its scientific utility. In France, in particular, the academic approach (= peer-reviewed, scientific publications, etc.) should be given priority over the institutional approach (= public surveys, public meetings, etc.), in hospitals, research institutes, universities, and companies, with the professionalization that this would imply (i.e. bioethicists). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic participation is widely viewed as a crucial underpinning of legitimate governance; however, little is known about how this participation is practically accomplished. This study contributes to a better understanding of what democratic citizenship encompasses in actual practices of public engagement. Using conversation analysis and discursive psychology, we analyze interactions between government officials and citizens in Dutch public meetings on the effects of livestock farming. We examine situations where citizens treat officials' closing-implicative moves as "wanting to shelve" issues. We demonstrate how this uptake is preceded by officials treating citizens as not understanding what is within the scope of discussion, thereby challenging their democratic competence. Citizens subsequently turn the tables on the officials, treating them as not wanting to fulfill their democratic duties. We argue that these practices point to broader relational issues between government and citizens, transforming what seem mere agenda issues into negotiations about what constitutes good democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how National Assembly's legislation has facilitated or enhanced citizen's social welfare in Nigeria. Based on qualitative research methods and post‐colonial theory, the study argued that the National Assembly has primarily elevated its private interests (including the interests of the executive arm) above qualitative pro‐people legislation that could enhance citizen's social welfare. Between 2015 and 2018, only 12 out of the 86 bills passed and assented to by the President were related to, and had direct effects on citizen's social welfare in Nigeria. Hence, an estimated 86.9 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty. Unemployment rate increased from 10.57% of total labor force in 2012 to 22.56% in 2018. Key challenges include: poor communication between lawmakers and the citizens, frequent turnover of legislators, lack of experience/technical capacity, corrupt tendencies and executive–legislative crisis. Thus, citizens' engagement via town hall meetings and public interactions is imperative for the enactment of qualitative pro‐people legislation that improves people's lives and social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]