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Objective: to review the results of the 7th Siberian Anti-Corruption Forum “Incentives and Restrictions in the System of Anticorruption Security” held in Krasnoyarsk on December 15-16, 2023 (organizers: Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk Krai Governor’s Administration, Krasnoyarsk Krai Prosecutor’s Office, Krasnoyarsk Krai Department of the Ministry of Justice of Russia for Krasnoyarsk Krai, Krasnoyarsk Regional Branch of the Russian Lawyers’ Association).Methods: general scientific method of dialectical cognition, as well as a number of private scientific methods, such as historicallegal, system-structural, comparative-legal, formal-logical (deduction, induction, definition and division of the concept), etc.Results: the forum discussed the following key topics: anti-corruption security as an integrative scientific category, the role of incentives and restrictions in the system of its provision; history of development, concept, types and system of anti-corruption incentives and restrictions; international legal regulation of incentives and restrictions in the system of anticorruption security; foreign and Russian experience of resource provision of anti-corruption incentives and restrictions; the role of law enforcement agencies and civil society institutions in providing anti-corruption security; anti-corruption potential of digitalization processes, etc.Scientific novelty: the leading idea of the Forum scientific and practical dialogue was harmonization of anti-corruption incentives and restrictions, since the search for a successful combination of these tools will create legal prerequisites for a qualitative transition to a new model of anti-corruption activities and ensure the security of individuals, society and the state from various corruption threats.Practical significance: based on the Forum results, the author formulated proposals aimed at improving the state policy in the field of combating corruption, as well as the anti-corruption activities of various subjects. These results are of interest to scientists, educators, law enforcement officials, and all those interested in the issues of combating corruption.

The increasing frequency and severity of plant diseases pose significant threats to global food security and agricultural sustainability. This research paper addresses the urgent need for an integrated framework that combines machine learning algorithms and preventive measures to mitigate the impact of plant diseases. The study explores the development of a predictive model to forecast potential outbreaks. Its machine learning algorithms analyze datasets, learning patterns that are often imperceptible to the human eye enabling it to diagnose multiple diseases affecting various plants. The paper also investigates the implementation of preventive measures. The paper offers a comprehensive framework for early detection and proactive management of plant diseases. Ultimately, this research seeks to pave the way for a more resilient and efficient agricultural ecosystem in the face of evolving challenges posed by plant diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Learning from incidents for accident prevention is a two-stage process, involving the investigation of past accidents to identify the causal factors, followed by the identification and implementation of remedial measures to address the identified causal factors. The focus of past research has been on the identification of causal factors, with limited focus on the identification and implementation of remedial measures. This research begins to contribute to this gap. The motivation for the research is twofold. First, previous analyses show the recurring nature of accidents within the Ghanaian mining industry, and the causal factors also remain the same. This raises questions on the nature and effectiveness of remedial measures identified to address the causes of past accidents. Secondly, without identifying and implementing remedial measures, the full benefits of accident investigations will not be achieved. Hence, this study aims to assess the nature of remedial measures proposed to address investigation causal factors. Method: The study adopted SMARTER from business studies with the addition of HMW (H – Hierarchical, M – Mapping, and W – Weighting of causal factors) to analyse the recommendations from 500 individual investigation reports across seven different mines in Ghana. Results: The individual and the work environment (79%) were mostly the focused during the search for causes, with limited focus on organisational factors (21%). Forty eight percentage of the recommendations were administrative, focussing on fixing the problem in the immediate affected area or department of the victim(s). Most recommendations (70.4%) were support activities that only enhance the effectiveness of control but do not prevent/mitigate the failure directly. Across all the mines, there was no focus on evaluating the performance of remedial measures after their implementation. Conclusion: Identifying sharp-end causes leads to proposing weak recommendations which fail to address latent organisational conditions. The study proposed a guide for effective planning and implementation of remedial actions.

The Northern Marmara Motorway is a project that aims to alleviate the heavy traffic congestion in the provinces of İstanbul, Tekirdağ, Kocaeli and Adapazarı. Within the 5th section bounded by "the Motorway Port Connection Road" and "İzmit Intersection", mass movements of slide (Y1, Y2) and flow (Y3) types were observed along the route. This study investigated the causes of mass movements in the Korucu Formation, which consists of sandstone and shale alternation. It also evaluated the support systems to prevent these movements. The analysis considered project criteria, both static and dynamic conditions, types of mass movements and triggering factors. The study identified a combination of factors, including the water table and surface waters, which lead to progressive weathering and mass movement. Stability analyses were conducted for specific right-cut slope sections. These analyses included assessments of soil structure, soil–rock mechanics, engineering geology and geotechnics, as well as examination of field and laboratory test results. These analyses aimed to comprehensively investigate and understand the factors influencing the occurrence of mass movements, particularly for km: 170 + 300–170 + 400, km: 170 + 640 and km: 175 + 297–175 + 463. At Y1, pile retaining walls are proposed using Slide2 software to reduce the slope angle from 22° to 17°. At Y2, a translational landslide occurred with recommendations for the adjustment of the slope angle and protective measures considering the disturbance factors (D = 0.3 and D = 0.5). Y3 was a flow-type movement that required protection of the slope with riprap due to the different geological conditions and disturbance factors. This study underlines the need for a comprehensive geological analysis and structural measures to ensure safety in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the analysis of a potentially unstable cutting in weak rocks and a design of its remediation. It is described here the collection of information, its interpretation and stability analysis of the cutting, which focuses on deeper than just surface slip surfaces to assess the risk of slope movements with significant safety and economic impact. Based on the results of the evaluation, appropriate remediation measures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost overrun has long been a significant concern in the construction sector, posing obstacles to project profitability and financial viability. It occurs when actual costs exceed the initial budget estimates, leading to financial hardship, delays, and stakeholder disagreements. This paper investigates the impact of project management techniques on construction project cost overruns. The study aims to identify various techniques used at different stages of construction projects and analyze their effects on cost performance. Additionally, it explores the reasons behind cost overruns and proposes solutions to prevent them in the future. This research highlights efficient methods with which to manage and prevent cost overruns, providing valuable insights for project managers to use when improving cost performance and enhancing project success. It contributes to the knowledge on project management in the construction sector and aids stakeholders in navigating cost overrun challenges. Future research should explore context-sensitive issues related to cost overruns and consider robust, adaptive, and agile cost management strategies based on project management skillsets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalyptus pellita is currently the predominant tree species deployed for tree plantation establishment in many parts of Borneo, particularly in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. This study evaluates the occurrence of end-splitting in four-year old plantation grown E. pellita in Sabah as affected by site and growth attributes. An existing progeny tree breeding trial, involving seeds originated from Papua New Guinea, China, Vietnam, Australia and Sabah with 101 individual families, was used to carry out the split assessment. The trial trees were planted on two contrasting sites which differed significantly in soil type, soil texture, soil physical conditions, effective rooting depth and drainage capacity. Logs from the second thinning were cut into 2.2 m long sections. The end splits were evaluated by using a designated split scoring system. Plastic s-hooks, a wax emulsion end sealer and a bitumen end sealer were used as remediation measure and were compared against a control of no remedial application. The study showed that significant variation exists in log end-splitting, comparing the two sites, in combination with significant variation in tree growth. The variation in log end-splitting is attributed to the variation in tree growth as a response to the different growing conditions. Application of plastic s-hooks reduced split occurrence and severity significantly (49.62%), while the wax and bitumen end sealers had no effect on reduction of growth strain related splits. The findings suggested that end-splitting is caused by complex genetic-environment/site-growth interactions. It is vital to better understand factors involved in log end-splitting to optimise E. pellita plantation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motorway infrastructure consists of pavements, bridges, tunnels, noise barriers, drainage systems, electro‐mechanical equipment and road furniture. All of them need to be at the adequate performance levels to ensure appropriate availability, comfort and safety. To fulfill this condition, road authorities must regularly carry out maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction works. As engineering structures have various service lives, performing remedial works for each individual structure at the optimal time would result in frequent road closures on the same road sections, significantly reducing the road availability for the users. Consequently, a works programme of remedial measures is needed which combines the measures on the same road section to the same time frame. The times planned for performing remedial measures therefore cannot be optimal for every structure in the road network, however they can be optimal from the road's availability and total costs perspective. An appropriate coordination between individual types of infrastructure, selection of measures and a method of merging these measures to the individual road sections must be performed. The paper discusses the integration of the results of individual management systems into a unified works programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major threats to South African estuaries include freshwater flow alterations, urbanisation, habitat transformation, deteriorating water quality, increased biological invasions and resource over-exploitation. Although South African estuary restoration is in its infancy, important lessons have been learnt through past efforts undertaken in some of the most impacted systems. This review presents case studies focused on hydrological and physical restoration actions, while recognizing the need to implement urgent remedial measures to restore the populations of targeted estuary-associated marine fish species. Common interventions designed to arrest declining estuary health include artificial management of estuary mouths and the use of artificial structures to restore tidal action and remediate erosion damage. Limited natural habitat restoration actions have been conducted on the subcontinent. Fortunately, estuaries are resilient ecosystems and can recover fairly rapidly if appropriate restoration interventions are successfully applied. Restoration needs to be co-ordinated through a national strategy which is currently not in place. It is particularly important to address the root cause of deterioration through active restoration and/or rehabilitation measures rather than only managing symptoms. The implementation of existing and future conservation legislation regarding the exploitation of natural resources within estuaries needs to be prioritised, so that over-exploited angling and subsistence fish species populations can recover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost overrun has long been a significant concern in the construction sector, posing obstacles to project profitability and financial viability. It occurs when actual costs exceed the initial budget estimates, leading to financial hardship, delays, and stakeholder disagreements. This paper investigates the impact of project management techniques on construction project cost overruns. The study aims to identify various techniques used at different stages of construction projects and analyze their effects on cost performance. Additionally, it explores the reasons behind cost overruns and proposes solutions to prevent them in the future. This research highlights efficient methods with which to manage and prevent cost overruns, providing valuable insights for project managers to use when improving cost performance and enhancing project success. It contributes to the knowledge on project management in the construction sector and aids stakeholders in navigating cost overrun challenges. Future research should explore context-sensitive issues related to cost overruns and consider robust, adaptive, and agile cost management strategies based on project management skillsets.

With the rise in population and the continued and rapid expansion of the economy, soil, and water the foundation for human survival, have been subjected to unprecedented pollution, posing a threat to human health. As a result, it is critical to investigate the impact of soil on human health. This study offers a unique viewpoint on the effects of environmental contamination from the perspectives of water and soil pollution. Humans, animals, and trees/plants are all affected by soil waste contamination consequently of diseases and complications. One of the most critical concerns that experts have been examining and searching for creative answers to is pollution and its direct and indirect detrimental effects on humans and animals. Therefore, present study clarifies the origins and effects of contaminants on the ecosystem. It also takes into account the problem of soil and water pollution caused by the improper treatment of factory, home, and other waste, as well as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are damaging to water, and soil environment. Management of contaminants necessitates addressing a number of difficult issues, such as balancing goals of encouraging recycling while also protecting consumers from harmful chemical substances in recycled materials; insufficient data collection; quality aspects of recycling; waste energy recovery; and waste prevention. The potential mostly pertain to a shift toward a more circular economy, which has environmental and human health benefits in addition to economic ones. Waste management must become more sophisticated as we move toward a more sustainable society. Because it lacks flexibility and long-term thinking, the standard reductionist approach is unsustainable. Therefore, a sustainable waste management system integrates feedback loops, is process-oriented, embraces flexibility, and diverts trash from landfills. Identification and implementation of leverage points that impact change are necessary for transitioning to a sustainable waste management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates a complex slope failure that occurred in Chongqing Xi railway station. The studied slope belongs to a under-dip shale slope. Onsite surveys and UDEC numerical modelling were conducted to describe the deformation characteristics and potential failure mechanism of this slope. The simulated results suggest that sliding, buckling and toppling can occur in the deformation process, which is verified by the actual deformation characteristic of the slope and monitoring results. Moreover, the effects of bedding dip angle, slope angle, bed thickness on the deformation characteristics of the slope were also investigated with UDEC models. Finally, the possible slope structure for occurrence of slide-buckling-toppling failure and several numerically validated remedial measures were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides are the major problem in the Himalayan region and cause severe socio-economic disturbances. In the hilly areas, roads are the worst affected part by the landslides. In this study, we conducted the slope stability analysis of Strawberry Hill Landslide and adjoining slopes near Malyana town along NH-5, Shimla using kinematic analysis, rock mass rating (RMR), and slope mass rating (SMR). National Highway-05 (NH-5) connects the remote districts of Kinnaur, Kullu of Himachal Pradesh, and the China border to the rest of the country and is important in terms of socio-economic as well as national security perspective. The route has been severely affected by the landslides in Shimla city as well as its nearby localities in the recent past. Kinematic analysis of joint data shows that rocks are prone to mainly wedge and planar failures. The RMR results show that the slopes belong to fair (class III) and weak (class IV) category. The SMR results for the slopes show that out of 12 slopes 7 slopes lie in the completely unstable (class V) category, 4 in the unstable (Class IV) category and 1 slope in the partially stable (class III) category. The factor of safety (FOS) was calculated for the slopes with the minimum SMR value using the fast-track method of friction-only charts for the wedge failure case. The results show that all the slopes are unstable with a FOS value of less than 1. We identified the highly unstable slopes along NH-5 due to the unfavourable orientation of the discontinuities. Human interventions and rainfall further aids to the triggering of the landslides. The possible remedial measures for the study area are anchored walls, gravity walls, systematic shotcrete, and deep drainage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the important natural disasters which lead to maximum severity to human among all others. The vulnerability increases with the resource poor nature of developing and under developing nations. Considering the extent of rainfed area in India, the vulnerability to drought is higher compared to other peer nations. It has implications on agriculture, livestock, fisheries, rural employment, human nutrition and health. However, the impact initiates with crop production and encompasses livestock in medium term which has severe economic implications for farmer. Therefore, it is desirable to present an extensive study on the impact of drought on major crops and livestock in India. Further, we have also emphasized on the remedial measures to be followed for crop production and livestock.

Rock slope projects are often available with insufficient investigation data for rock properties due to involvement of high costs, manual efforts, geological complexities, etc., in testing. Support estimation performed by traditional approaches for slope failure mitigation could be highly inaccurate due to inaccuracies in the estimated statistics of properties. This article describes a computationally efficient re-sampling stochastic framework to overcome this issue by coupling the Advanced Re-Sampling Reliability Approach (ARRA) with deterministic and Target Reliability Approach (TRA) to estimate the required support for rock-slides mitigation with limited data. The proposed methodology was demonstrated for the support design to mitigate two massive rockslides along a rockslide-prone highway, i.e., Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway (NH-58) in India. It was concluded that the limited data invokes uncertainties in the statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) and distributions of properties. Support estimated using traditional approaches with the inaccurate statistics of input properties can result in inaccurate support estimates in the presence of insufficient data. Proposed methodology couples ARRA with traditional methods and evaluates the final support design by quantifying the uncertainty in the reliability index induced by the statistical uncertainties of input properties statistics. This improves the overall accuracy, efficiency, and the designer's confidence in the estimated support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the important natural disasters which lead to maximum severity to human among all others. The vulnerability increases with the resource poor nature of developing and under developing nations. Considering the extent of rainfed area in India, the vulnerability to drought is higher compared to other peer nations. It has implications on agriculture, livestock, fisheries, rural employment, human nutrition and health. However, the impact initiates with crop production and encompasses livestock in medium term which has severe economic implications for farmer. Therefore, it is desirable to present an extensive study on the impact of drought on major crops and livestock in India. Further, we have also emphasized on the remedial measures to be followed for crop production and livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coalbed methane development primarily relies on hydraulic fracturing and drainage gas extraction processes. The intrusion of external fluids and long-term drainage and extraction contribute to the water blocking effect, which becomes one of the crucial factors affecting production capacity. In this study, the coal reservoir of a certain coalbed methane in Hancheng, Shaanxi Province, was selected as the research object. The experimental method was employed to comprehensively evaluate the correlation between factors such as coal sample moisture content, permeability, porosity, properties of external liquids, and water blocking damage. The results indicated that there was a positive correlation between coal sample moisture content, liquid surface tension, and water blocking damage. On the other hand, coal sample pore permeability characteristics, liquid contact angle with rock samples, and water blocking damage showed a negative correlation. Building upon the aforementioned research, an investigation into remedial measures for water blocking damage was conducted. Additionally, a chemical treatment study using the compound surfactant system JSS-1 as a water-blocking agent was performed to manage the water blocking effect. The results demonstrated that JSS-1 as a water-blocking agent significantly reduced the surface tension of the wellbore fluid and improved its wetting behavior on the coal-rock surface. The laboratory experiments confirmed the capability of JSS-1 in managing the water blocking effect.

Rivers are one of the most commonly transformed aquatic ecosystems. Most papers present significantly negative effects of activities such as dredging or channel regulation on the ecological status of rivers. The purpose of this work was to compare the response of various groups of invertebrates (Mollusca, Hydrachnidia, Odonata, Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Trichoptera) to an intervention involving dredging in conjunction with the removal of riparian vegetation. Habitat diversity increased after the dredging, and more individuals and species were caught than before the dredging. The increase in habitat diversity after the dredging translated into an increase in the species diversity of most investigated groups. Individual groups of invertebrates showed varied responses to the dredging, depending on the role of the terrestrial phase in their life cycle: the greater the role of the terrestrial phase in the life cycle, the more the group was affected by changes in the terrestrial environment following the intervention. In consequence, the intervention had the greatest negative impact on insects, and among these, on adult Odonata. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Dredging can benefit a previously anthropogenically transformed river ecosystem by increasing habitat diversity; (2) Odonata are particularly useful for assessing the impact of this type of intervention on invertebrate communities. They can be considered good indicators of habitat disturbances in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Various developmental projects and economic actions such as mining, industries, urban expansion, and agricultural activities contribute toxic heavy metals into the soils and it adversely affects to human health and broadly the environment. For the scientific study (coal mining region of Eastern India) around 120 soil samples were collected from top (0 – 20 cm) and subsurface soil (20 – 50 cm) of coal mining, semi mining and non mining type of land use sites to assess ten heavy metals applying standard methods and indices for the assessment of pollution load and human health risk. Statistical analysis clearly indicated that Fe, Mn, Zr are the most dominantly distributed in the study region. Coefficient of variance (CV)showed that there was very less variation in the metal values among samples of any particular landuse site. Correlation coefficient (0.05% level of significance) depicts that metals were very strongly correlated with each other in every site of Neturia block. Igeo (Geo- accumulation index) values of Fe and As indicated moderate to low pollution in the topsoil of study area. It is because of their regional background value. Enrichment Factor (EF) also showed thatcontamination of Fe ismainly supplied by natural factors (EF < 2)i.e., weathering of parent rock in all over the study area. All other heavy metals indicated their anthropogenic sources (EF > 2)on top and subsurface soil both of three landuse site. Degree of contamination (Cdeg), modified degree of contamination (mCdeg), contamination factor (CF) and pollution load index (PLI) clearly suggest that topsoil of coal mining sites is most polluted than two other sites. Subsurface soil of mining sites also indicated comparatively higher pollution load than subsoil of semi mining or non mining sites. PLI values have been classified into four groups i.e., high pollution (> 6), medium pollution (6 -3), low pollution (3 – 1) and no pollution (< 1) zone. There was no PLI value < 1 in topsoil of the study area. But subsurface soil of non mining site indicated no pollution to the soil. Spatial mapping using Inverse Distance Weightage (IDW) on Arc GIS 10.4 software showed clear variation of metal concentration and pollution load to the top and subsoil of the study area. Human health risk of non – carcinogenic typeisdue to heavy metals intake of topsoil through three exposure pathwaywhich indicates the health risk of HI dermal> HI ingestion> HI inhalation for both the adult and children. Mean values of total HI showed that children are more prone to health risk in comparison with adult. There was no soil sample that exceeds its HI values > 1 for adults and thus no obvious health risk was found from soil heavy metals for adults.On the other hand, topsoil of mining sites indicated HI values >1;therefore, children are prone to health risk in this site. The present investigation suggests that coal mining region is highly polluted by their heavy metal burden on soil. Industrial and semi urban areas of semi mining region are also affected by heavy metal dust to its soil. Agricultural activities in non-mining region indicated lower pollution than other landuse sites. Remedial measures are highly needed to control heavy metal pollution of different landuse sites at colliery region to sustain environmental quality and human health as well. Modern scientific technologies and public awareness should be very useful on this way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers are one of the most commonly transformed aquatic ecosystems. Most papers present significantly negative effects of activities such as dredging or channel regulation on the ecological status of rivers. The purpose of this work was to compare the response of various groups of invertebrates (Mollusca, Hydrachnidia, Odonata, Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Trichoptera) to an intervention involving dredging in conjunction with the removal of riparian vegetation. Habitat diversity increased after the dredging, and more individuals and species were caught than before the dredging. The increase in habitat diversity after the dredging translated into an increase in the species diversity of most investigated groups. Individual groups of invertebrates showed varied responses to the dredging, depending on the role of the terrestrial phase in their life cycle: the greater the role of the terrestrial phase in the life cycle, the more the group was affected by changes in the terrestrial environment following the intervention. In consequence, the intervention had the greatest negative impact on insects, and among these, on adult Odonata. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Dredging can benefit a previously anthropogenically transformed river ecosystem by increasing habitat diversity; (2) Odonata are particularly useful for assessing the impact of this type of intervention on invertebrate communities. They can be considered good indicators of habitat disturbances in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost all sectors had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic onslaught. Face-to-face class and laboratory activities required physical interactions and in its absence, higher education was one of the areas which had been most severely impacted. Higher education institutions (HEI) were obligated to cease face-to-face classes once it was determined that the virus can be transmitted through proximity with the infected person, direct contact with surfaces in the immediate area with infected people or things used by infected people (WHO, 2020). As a result, the colleges and universities hurried to build virtual and remote teaching programmes. In this article, we discuss the challenges posed by Covid-19 in the higher education and possible remedial measures required from the perspective of government agencies, institute administrations, teachers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing problem of daily urban traffic congestion in Kuwait has been attracted the attention of the public, the private sector, and the authorities at the highest level of national policy making. A 'floating car' method was utilised to measure the actual time-delays due to congestion at a representative sample of routes. Nearly, 64% of the sample population included the Kuwaiti national and 71.5% were male. About 1/3 drove their children to school. Nearly 93% either drove, or were driven to work places. Less than 5.5% used the public bus transit system. Approximately 48% spent one hour or less in traffic jams daily. Those who lost more than 2 h each day constituted more than 8%. The mean time-loss due to congestion was nearly 67 min per day. A parking charge of at least $100 per month with the provision of a 'free transit' system combined, may possibly shift about 50% of the sample population to public bus transit. Excluding the cost of accidents, carbon dioxide air pollution, stress and fatigue, lower work productivity, and the cost of feeling in accessibility, a total of KD 1960 * 106 (US $6.9 * 109) was estimated as the annual cost of time-loss, fuel-waste and air pollution due to traffic congestion in Kuwait in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]