Search

Can collaborative governance as understood through Western scholarship be enacted in strong state settings? We explore the perceived nature of voluntary participation and the role of the state in long-standing local efforts at cross-sector collaboration in grassland management in China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. We find that collaborative governance appears to be enacted but with variable levels of collaboration and with limited voluntary participation. We also find that the state plays multiple roles in collaboration governance, some coercive while others enabling of performance and that when voluntary participation is present, it raises levels of collaboration and performance outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether and how multi-membership in online communities might relate to life satisfaction within the Chinese population remain unclear. This study adopts a gendered perspective to explore the mediating role of voluntary participation in the relationship mentioned above based on a cross-sectional analysis of 2558 respondents from the 2019 Chinese Social Survey (CSS). Multivariable regressions and a mediation analysis were adopted for analyses. The findings reveal that a higher level of multi-membership in online communities is associated with greater life satisfaction for both males (B = 0.31, SE = 0.11) and females (B = 0.10, SE = 0.02). Specifically, the positive relationship is partially mediated (6.6%) by increased voluntary participation among females, where involvement in multiple types of online communities correlates with a heightened likelihood of engaging in voluntary activities (B = 0.006, Z = 3.910), which in turn contributes to higher levels of life satisfaction (B = 0.114, Z = 2.760). However, voluntary participation does not exhibit a significant mediating role in the relationship between multi-membership and life satisfaction among males. These findings provide valuable insights into the intricate ways in which online interactions can affect voluntary participation and life satisfaction, underscoring the importance of considering gender differences in these dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Reflection is widely used in all aspects of teaching and learning in dental education and makes a fundamental part of all learning activities for dental students. However, reflective tasks are often used with a clear purpose; for example, in completing e‐portfolios or dealing with critical incidences. This study explores the use of optional online journals that Postgraduate (PG) dental students were encouraged to use as part of their own development. Aim: To explore how PG dental students perceive the use of optional online journals. Materials and Methods: Data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire that included a word pool, Likert‐scale statements and free text comment sections. Results: Overall, 31 students (93%) responded to the questionnaire with high focus on the usefulness of the journal, with 58% selecting 'connecting with tutors' and 41% selecting 'keeping track' of their own learning and progress. The word 'reflection' was selected by 87% of participants when describing the use of the journal. Some participants, 29%, considered the journal as 'added pressure', and 41% felt it was 'extra work' as the journal, although voluntary, presented an added task to complete. All students made at least one entry in the online journal. Conclusion: The use of an optional online journal can be a useful tool in establishing connection between dental students and their tutors. Some postgraduate dental students valued the benefits of reflective journal without it being linked to assessments. Some concerns were reported around the time constraints as well as the added work related to taking part in such activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative researchers often encounter ethical challenges during their research process. Due to the large number of papers in which researchers reflect on specific and various ethical challenges within their projects, it proves difficult to keep track of them. To capture these reflexive practices, we conducted a literature review of 72 papers in sociology. Our review shows who reflects on research ethics and when and where such reflections occur. We identify 11 ethical issues that sociologists reflect on. Some issues address the challenges of implementing established ethical principles, such as (1) informed consent, (2) voluntary participation, (3) avoiding harm, (4) anonymization, and (5) confidentiality. Others go beyond these principles and refer to (6) the relationship between researchers and participants, (7) power asymmetries, (8) protecting yourself as a researcher, (9) deviant actions, (10) covert research, and (11) leaving the field. Our findings help researchers gain an overview of ethical challenges, enhancing their reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Management Academy is the property of Uluslararasi Yonetim Akademisi Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examine the problem of voluntary participation in negotiations regarding the provision of public goods. In contrast to earlier studies, in our model, a negotiation is followed by renegotiations. First, players decide whether to participate in a negotiation, and the participants produce a public good. The participants then renegotiate the level of the public good with nonparticipants in the preceding negotiations. We show that with these renegotiation opportunities, many players may participate in providing the public good in the preceding negotiation. In some cases, all players participate in the preceding negotiation and the public good is produced efficiently. Our findings indicate that more players participate in the provision of public goods if they have strong bargaining power in the renegotiations. Hence, this problem may not be as severe as reported by previous studies. Our results may be consistent with the recent developments in voluntary projects for international river management. • We present a simple model of voluntary negotiation on providing public goods. • Players can choose whether to join a negotiation providing public goods. • There are opportunities to renegotiate the agreement of the initial negotiation. • The opportunities may induce many players to join the public good provision. • The public goods may be supplied efficiently by the participation of all players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

【Purpose】In Mie Prefecture, it is assumed that there is a 70-80% probability of tsunami damage occurring within the next 30 years. As a secondary pediatric emergency medical facility and disaster base hospital, it is important for more hospital workers to be able to continue working after a tsunami. Approximately 20% of hospital workers leave their infants at nursery schools. Therefore, in order to determine whether hospital workers can continue working, we surveyed the actual tsunami evacuation plans and disaster countermeasures of nursery schools.【Methods】A total of 33 nursery schools in A city, Mie Prefecture, were surveyed using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire.【Results】29 facilities responded, resulting in a response rate of 87.9% (valid response rate: 100%). Of the 18 nursery schools (with a total of 691 children) in the tsunami inundation zone, five did not have a tsunami evacuation plan. Additionally, although they had stockpiles of items necessary for childcare, they lacked supplies related to crisis management, such as communication equipment. Furthermore, 18 facilities (60.7%) did not plan to continue or resume childcare services.【Conclusion】It was confirmed that the nursery schools' tsunami evacuation and business continuity plans were insufficient. Tsunami damage and disruption of childcare operations for infants and toddlers may hinder the increase in medical needs for pediatric emergencies and the staffing of hospital workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary participation in local groups or organizations varies by individual and across communities. Few studies examine the influence of structural resources on voluntary participation, with prior studies often considering it a single, binary action. Drawing from three data sources, we examined the extent to which individual-level and community-level factors—including the presence of nonprofit organizations—were associated with voluntary participation. We model participation as two distinct actions and estimate the likelihood of respondents participating in one organization or group compared with the likelihood of participating in multiple organizations or groups. We found individual characteristics such as homeownership, marriage, and better health were associated with participation in only one group or organization. Identifying as White, having some college education, more children per household, and church attendance were positively associated with participating in one group or organization and subsequent participation. At the community level, nonprofit density was positively associated with voluntary participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's tropical savannas are a vast landscape of grasslands with high biodiversity value. Effective biodiversity conservation in this landscape requires private contributions to complement the under-sized formal conservation estate. The landscape is dominated by rangelands, in particular extensive cattle grazing on pastoral stations which typically measure hundreds or thousands of square kilometers. The paper reports the results of a discrete–continuous (or "two-stage") choice experiment conducted with savanna pastoralists. A discrete choice experiment explored the stated willingness to participate in two long-term conservation strategies: (i) total exclusion of cattle from designated parcels of land with management of that land for biodiversity, and (ii) the implementation of rotational grazing systems governed by the requirements of biodiversity, among other contractual attributes. An extension question asked about the area that respondents were willing to supply and a contract they were willing to accept. Double-hurdle (type II tobit) modelling was used for combined data analysis. The results show that potential participation in voluntary conservation contracts by pastoralists is primarily influenced by contract attributes, namely, the conservation action required, the stewardship payment received, contract length and whether the contract contains flexibility provisions. Land productivity is also significant. The level of stewardship payment required to incentivize participation in the conservation of grasslands is in line with opportunity costs, in particular option value. The amount of land that pastoralists are willing to supply is determined by the conservation payment as well as farm size and intrinsic motivation. This research illustrates strategies for integrating biodiversity conservation into cattle grazing operations in Australia's tropical savannas, which are applicable to grasslands globally. It provides data of an economic nature to inform the development of multi-tenure biodiversity conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the voluntary contribution mechanism with any mechanism attaining Pareto-efficient allocations when each agent can choose whether he/she participates in the mechanism for the provision of a non-excludable public good. We find that, in our participation game, the voluntary contribution mechanism, because of its higher participation probability in the unique symmetric mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, may perform better than any Pareto-efficient mechanism in terms of the equilibrium expected provision level of the public good and the equilibrium expected payoff of each agent. Our results suggest that the voluntary contribution mechanism, which cannot realize Pareto-efficient allocations under compulsory participation, might be superior to any Pareto-efficient mechanism if we allow agents to voluntarily choose participation in the mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder. Although Internet use has been associated with depression, there is limited data on the association between smartphone use and depressive symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between smartphone use and depressive symptoms among older individuals in China. Methods: 5,244 Chinese older individuals over the age of 60 were selected as the sample from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) 2018 dataset. The dependent variable "depression symptoms" was measured using the 9-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. The study employed multiple linear regression to investigate the relationship between smartphone use (independent variable) and depressive symptoms in older people. Thorough analyses of robustness, sensitivity, and heterogeneity were conducted to ensure the robustness and sensitivity of the findings. Additionally, mediating effect analysis was performed to elucidate the mechanism through which the dependent and independent variables were related. Results: Empirical study indicated that smartphone use had a negative impact on depressive symptoms among older adults, specifically leading to a reduction in such symptoms. The above-mentioned result was verified through endogenous and robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis revealed that older individuals aged 70 years and above, male, and residing in urban areas exhibited a stronger association between smartphone use and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the mediating effect model indicated that political participation, voluntary participation, and active leisure participation mediated the relationship between smartphone use and lower levels of depression symptoms among the older adults. However, passive leisure participation had a suppressing effect on the relationship between smartphone use and reduced depressive symptoms among the older adults. Limitations: The causal relationship between variables required further investigation with a longitudinal design. Conclusion: These findings suggested that smartphone use may be considered an intervention to reduce depression symptoms among older people by increasing levels of political participation, voluntary participation, and active leisure participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A permit sharing problem is described by a list of countries, each of which owns a certain amount of emission permits and has a unique technology that requires permits to produce output. We consider the solutions of sharing the optimal global surplus generated beyond the autarky economy output. We divide countries into two groups based on the types of contribution, the technology contributors and the permit contributors. Suppose that the division of the total surplus between the two groups is fixed at an arbitrary ratio α ∈ [ 0 , 1 ] (Separation Principle of parameter α ). The fixed amount of surplus assigned to each group is distributed based on the contributions of the members of the group. By requiring that no subgroup of countries can increase their share by reallocating the total amount of their contributions among themselves (Permit Reallocation-Proofness and Technology Reallocation-Proofness), we characterize a family of solutions indexed by parameter α ∈ [ 0 , 1 ] , called the proportional solution of parameter α . By further requiring that each country receives at least the level of output it can produce with its own technology and permit (Voluntary Participation), we show that only the solution with α = 1 / 2 , called the equal share proportional solution, meets this requirement. Under this solution, the technology contributors and the permit contributors are treated equally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Discussion is a common method to engage students in large-enrollment lectures. Many instructors rely on voluntary participation from students, which can lead to inequitable student contributions and exposure to a narrow scope of opinions. Mandatory participation for which points are earned or lost can lead to student disengagement and have the unintended consequence of marginalizing students. A technique known as the rotating front row blends mandatory participation with student flexibility to provide space for all voices while lowering barriers in traditional discussions. Field tests in microbiology-based lectures showed a majority of nonmicrobiology majors (77.1%) and microbiology majors (76.1%) reported an increase in participation within discussions after engaging in the rotating front row. A slight majority of nonmajors (55.7%) and majors (55.1%) reported an increased understanding of the course material covered during participation in the rotating front row. Student responses indicated the rotating front row alleviated anxiety surrounding public speaking while deepening understanding of the course material. The rotating front row is an inclusive technique in which students hear multiple perspectives and an equitable technique that ensures all voices are given an opportunity to contribute within discussions.

The political upheaval known as the Islamic Awakening, which has gripped the Arab Middle East since 2011, in one case led to the overthrow of the ruling regime in Libya through Western military intervention. The military intervention came as Gaddafi's foreign policy shifted from an anti-Western orientation to voluntary engagement with the West, and relations seemingly normalized. But despite these changes, the onset of the internal Libyan crisis led to a practical and immediate response by the Western coalition aimed at overthrowing Gaddafi. This study, while theoretically studying Libyan foreign policy in the framework of James Rosena's theory and using a descriptive-explanatory method, seeks to answer the main question of why Gaddafi pursued an interactive and participatory foreign policy with the West in the last decade of his rule. But after the beginning of the popular uprising, the Western countries in the form of NATO began to intervene militarily in this country? The main hypothesis is that despite pursuing a policy of interaction with the West; Lack of trust between the parties and the lack of social, economic and political reforms and the continuation of internal discontent led the Western countries to support the fall of Gaddafi as the crisis in Libya began.

Australia’s tropical savannas are a vast landscape of grasslands with high biodiversity value. Effective biodiversity conservation in this landscape requires private contributions to complement the under-sized formal conservation estate. The landscape is dominated by rangelands, in particular extensive cattle grazing on pastoral stations which typically measure hundreds or thousands of square kilometers. The paper reports the results of a discrete–continuous (or “two-stage”) choice experiment conducted with savanna pastoralists. A discrete choice experiment explored the stated willingness to participate in two long-term conservation strategies: (i) total exclusion of cattle from designated parcels of land with management of that land for biodiversity, and (ii) the implementation of rotational grazing systems governed by the requirements of biodiversity, among other contractual attributes. An extension question asked about the area that respondents were willing to supply and a contract they were willing to accept. Double-hurdle (type II tobit) modelling was used for combined data analysis. The results show that potential participation in voluntary conservation contracts by pastoralists is primarily influenced by contract attributes, namely, the conservation action required, the stewardship payment received, contract length and whether the contract contains flexibility provisions. Land productivity is also significant. The level of stewardship payment required to incentivize participation in the conservation of grasslands is in line with opportunity costs, in particular option value. The amount of land that pastoralists are willing to supply is determined by the conservation payment as well as farm size and intrinsic motivation. This research illustrates strategies for integrating biodiversity conservation into cattle grazing operations in Australia’s tropical savannas, which are applicable to grasslands globally. It provides data of an economic nature to inform the development of multi-tenure biodiversity conservation strategies.

Awareness of People's Participation Barriers (PPBs) in the participatory implementation of Soil Conservation Projects (SCPs) is the prelude to promoting the levels of people's participation through relevant planning. This study aims to identify, classify, and prioritize barriers to people's participation in SCPs from the viewpoints of experts and the local community in the Vardij-Varish watershed, Iran. It also examines the agreement on the importance of PPBs in SCPs from the perspectives of both groups. In this study, 11 items were classified within the framework of demographic and planning components and related economic, social, executive, and educational-extension sub-components. PPBs were also prioritized based on Friedman's non-parametric test after confirming the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Accordingly, ignoring people's income and centralization of decision-making power in the government organization were ranked as the most important PPBs in SCPs from the perspectives of 200 residents and 28 experts, respectively. Results indicate that the dominance of the top-down process and the lack of incentives and economic benefits are the most important PPBs. Based on the two-samples Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the two groups had different perspectives on the importance of 64% of PPBs. In general, changing the approach from non-participatory watershed management to a participatory process and converging different perspectives through group decision-making are recommended to natural resource managers in the planning process to promote people's participation in SCPs. [Display omitted] • Barriers to participation were categorized into demographic and planning components. • The planning component has the most PPBs in soil conservation projects. • Experts and residents have different perspectives on the importance of 64% of PPBs. • Experts consider the concentration of decision-making power as the most important PPB. • Ignoring people's income is the most important PPB from the view of residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online discussion forums are an essential and standard setup in online courses to facilitate interactions among learners. However, learners' inadequate participation in online discussion forums is a long-standing challenge, which necessitates instructor intervention and the design consideration of online learning platforms. This research proposes and studies the role of mandatory participation, i.e., learners' participation in online course forums by instructors' requirements, in fostering their voluntary participation and boosting their learning performance. This novel effect link between mandatory participation and voluntary participation has not been assessed in previous research. An empirical study is conducted using a large-scale dataset of 27,767 learners from a leading massive open online course (MOOC) platform in China. The findings indicate that besides its direct effect on learning performance, learners' mandatory participation has a significant positive effect on their voluntary participation in online course forums, enhancing learning performance. Moreover, the effect of mandatory participation on voluntary participation varies across learner groups, being more prominent for early registrants than late registrants and part-time learners than full-time learners. This research contributes to the online learning literature by introducing mandatory participation as a viable approach to foster voluntary participation and boost learning performance through enhanced voluntary participation. It provides evidence on the effectiveness of the novel design feature of MOOC platforms that enables and facilitates the mandatory participation mechanism in online learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online discussion forums are an essential and standard setup in online courses to facilitate interactions among learners. However, learners’ inadequate participation in online discussion forums is a long-standing challenge, which necessitates instructor intervention and the design consideration of online learning platforms. This research proposes and studies the role of mandatory participation, i.e., learners’ participation in online course forums by instructors’ requirements, in fostering their voluntary participation and boosting their learning performance. This novel effect link between mandatory participation and voluntary participation has not been assessed in previous research. An empirical study is conducted using a large-scale dataset of 27,767 learners from a leading massive open online course (MOOC) platform in China. The findings indicate that besides its direct effect on learning performance, learners’ mandatory participation has a significant positive effect on their voluntary participation in online course forums, enhancing learning performance. Moreover, the effect of mandatory participation on voluntary participation varies across learner groups, being more prominent for early registrants than late registrants and part-time learners than full-time learners. This research contributes to the online learning literature by introducing mandatory participation as a viable approach to foster voluntary participation and boost learning performance through enhanced voluntary participation. It provides evidence on the effectiveness of the novel design feature of MOOC platforms that enables and facilitates the mandatory participation mechanism in online learning.

The average participation rate based on actions was significantly lower than the rates based on intentions (hypothetical program: I t i = 3.75, I p i = 0.0003; contingently modified program: I t i = 2.70, I p i = 0.0077), whereas the average participation rate in a hypothetical program was higher than that in a contingently modified program ( I t i = 2.54, I p i = 0.0117). Landowner participation behavior regarding a conservation program (e.g., set-aside) is likely to differ from behavior regarding a forestry management program (e.g., afforestation) due to different underlying motives or types of landowners (Lindhjem & Mitani 2012). Finally, our results showed that managers of forestry-oriented programs have a harder time upping participation rates than managers of conservation programs: conservation programs forecasted 25% higher participation rates than forestry or other management programs. Keywords: conservation easements; ecosystem services; incentive programs; landowner behavior; private forestland; voluntary participation; comportamiento del terrateniente; mitigación por conservación; participación voluntaria; programas de incentivos; servicios ambientales; tierras forestales privadas;: , , , , , EN conservation easements ecosystem services incentive programs landowner behavior private forestland voluntary participation comportamiento del terrateniente mitigación por conservación participación voluntaria programas de incentivos servicios ambientales tierras forestales privadas: , , , , , 1 14 14 03/02/22 20220201 NES 220201 Introduction In response to conflict-fraught and often unsuccessful direct regulation, voluntary incentive programs that encourage the provision of additional ecosystem services (ES) on private forest land have received increasing attention in recent years (Hanley et al. 2012; Ando & Langpap 2018; Langpap et al. 2018). [Extracted from the article]

This study examines whether voluntary participation in the Village Development Programme in rural Sri Lanka promotes personal social capital. We use an original survey of 595 households in six rural villages in Kalutara district, Sri Lanka, and apply matching methods. The analysis finds a positive effect of voluntary participation on personal social capital. However, once we consider the degree of participation by classifying participants into nominal and active participants, status changes from nonparticipants to nominal participants nurture personal social capital, but status changes from nominal to active participants fail to enhance personal social capital. Our findings suggest that increasing the level of participation does not necessarily contribute to social capital development in a linear way because active participation may bring about not just positive features—such as frequent interactions with others or experiences of successful collaboration—but also conflict among community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groves and Ledyard (Econometrica 45:783–809, 1977) constructed a mechanism attaining Pareto efficient allocations in the presence of public goods. After this path-breaking paper, many mechanisms have been proposed to attain desirable allocations with public goods. Thus, economists have thought that the free-rider problem is solved, in theory. Our view to this problem is not so optimistic. Rather, we propose fundamental impossibility theorems with public goods. In the previous mechanism design, it was implicitly assumed that every agent must participate in the mechanism that the designer provides. This approach neglects one of the basic features of public goods: non-excludability. We explicitly incorporate non-excludability and then show that it is impossible to construct a mechanism in which every agent has an incentive to participate.

Voluntary participation, as an effective mechanism to promote cooperation in game theory, has been widely concerned. In the meanwhile, reciprocal rewarding plays an important role in motivating individual initiative. Inspired by this phenomenon, we investigate the effect of reciprocal rewarding on the evolutionary cooperation in spatial social dilemmas, including prisoner's dilemma game and the snowdrift game with voluntary participation. In our model, a cooperative individual fitness will be redefined if one could obtain additional incentive bonus which is proportional to the number of cooperative neighbors. Moreover, each individual is a pure strategist in the spatial structured population and could only choose one of three strategies—cooperation, defection and being a loner. Through numerical simulations, we have confirmed that, compared with the traditional situation, reciprocal rewarding and the payoff of loner can significantly promote the cooperative behavior among the population, and the greater the contribution of reciprocal rewarding/payoff of loner, the more obvious the promoting effect on cooperation. In addition, we also find that there is a condition for loner to make the system fall into the three-strategy cyclic dominance, that is, the payoff of loner can not be too small or too large, which will destroy the situation of cyclic dominance. With regard to these results, it is strongly unveiled that reciprocal rewarding has a positive role to resolve the social dilemmas in the evolution of cooperation.

We consider inventory management decisions when manufacturing and warehousing are controlled by independent entities. The latter possess private information that affects their choices and are allowed to communicate via a mediator who attempts to streamline their decisions without restricting their freedom. The mediator designs a mechanism based on quantity discounts to minimize the overall system costs, attempting to reach a win–win situation for both entities. Using the Revelation Principle, we show that it is in the entities' self‐interest to reveal their information and we prove that coordination is attainable even under bilateral information asymmetry. The acceptable cost allocation is not unique, providing adequate flexibility to the mediator during mechanism design; the flexibility may reflect the relative power of the entities and is quantified in our work by a series of computational experiments. Our approach is motivated by inventory management practices in a manufacturing group and, thus, it is directly applicable to real‐life cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core concept of the search and rescue services is described by the term cooperation. In Norwegian the term used is "samvirke", which encompasses a broader set of connotations than cooperation in English. Empirical material from interviews with representatives for voluntary organizations is analysed on the basis of Sennett's theories on the social triangle (earned authority, mutual respect, cooperation) and craftsmanship. The findings suggest that the social triangle may explain the working elements of cooperation in the Norwegian search and rescue services. They may be summed up by the need to have confidence in each other, and between voluntary and public efforts. When trying to gain increased interest, especially among young people, for engaging as volunteers, it might be of value to build future strategies upon Sennett's theories on craftsmanship. Cooperation appears to be more than just cross-institutional cooperation in crises. A prerequisite is that voluntary organizations are regarded as competent providers of relevant craftsmanship. Cooperation in search and rescue services is not a principle that can be chosen by decision. It has to be established through processes in real life. This practical cooperation is organization, work and ideology; thus, it is more than ordinary cooperation or coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher behavioral diversity with participation in more behavioral studies over time. • No relationship between welfare and concurrent study participation. Voluntary participation in behavioural studies offers several scientific, management, and welfare benefits to non-human primates (NHPs). Aside from the scientific benefit of increased understanding of NHP cognition, sociality, and behaviour derived from noninvasive behavioural studies, participation itself has the potential to provide functional simulations of natural behaviours, enrichment opportunities, and increased control over the captive environment, all of which enhance welfare. Despite a developing consensus that voluntary participation offers these welfare enhancements, little research has empirically investigated the ways that participation in behavioural studies may affect welfare. In the current study, we investigated potential relationships between captive chimpanzee welfare and long-term, repeated voluntary participation in noninvasive behavioural studies. We collected behavioural data on 118 chimpanzees at the National Center for Chimpanzee Care (NCCC) in Bastrop, Texas, USA between 2016 and 2018 using 15-minute focal animal samples. Additionally, we collected information on 41 behavioural studies conducted between 2010 and 2018 with the NCCC chimpanzees that involved exposure to a stimulus or manipulation. The total number of behavioural studies in which chimpanzees had participated over the approximately eight-year period was then examined in relation to levels of behavioural diversity, abnormal behaviour, rough scratching, inactivity, and locomotion using a series of regression analyses that controlled for rearing status and age of the chimpanzee at the time of data collection. Analyses revealed significant, positive relationships between the total number of studies in which chimpanzees participated and 1) behavioural diversity scores, R2 adj = 0.21, F (3,114) = 11.25, p < 0.001; and 2) rough scratching, R2 adj = 0.11, F (3,114) = 6.01, p = 0.001. The positive relationship between behavioural diversity scores and the total number of studies in which chimpanzees participated seems unsurprising, although we cannot draw conclusions about the directionality of this relationship. The result that rough scratching and the total number of studies in which chimpanzees participated were positively correlated is unexpected. However, rough scratching made up less than 1% of all activity in the current study, and as such, this result may not be biologically meaningful. These findings suggest that participation in behavioural studies is not likely to be detrimental to chimpanzee well-being, and may even be beneficial. Data such as these, which empirically investigate existing recommendations can help inform decisions pertaining to the participation of chimpanzees in behavioural research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study international environmental agreements in the presence of a potential climate catastrophe between sovereign countries that are heterogeneous in their exposure to climate change. We do so by analyzing a stochastic game with an absorbing state. The equilibrium structure of this game is very different from the infinitely repeated games that are usually studied in the literature on environmental agreements. In particular, there is no "folk theorem" that guarantees that the social optimum can be sustained in a Nash equilibrium as long as players are sufficiently patient. However, often, it is feasible to implement an abatement scheme with the same level of aggregate abatement as in the social optimum, but the distribution of abatement among countries is sub-optimal. Moreover, the discount rate has a non-monotonic effect on the optimal environmental agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive effectiveness of energy policy instruments such as national carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) and energy performance certificates can be achieved by encouraging the voluntary participation of the public in the energy-saving campaign. Towards this end, this study aimed to develop a dynamic incentive and penalty program for improving the energy performance of existing buildings. Four types of incentive programs and four types of penalty programs were established based on three comparison criteria. As a building-level, the first comparison criterion is the averaging approach based on similar cases that can be retrieved using a simplified case-based reasoning model. As a community-level, the second comparison criterion is one-step higher operational and letter rating than the grade of a given building. As a national-level, the third comparison criterion is the operational and letter rating as the minimum criteria for achieving the national CERT. In this study, an elementary school facility located in Seoul, South Korea was selected to validate the applicability of the developed program. As a result, besides the category benchmark, the various comparison criteria should be provided to the public to encourage the voluntary participation of the public in the energy-saving campaign. First published online: 19 Feb 2017

Throughout the past three decades, changing governments in Denmark have been cultivating a more proactive role for civil society organizations by emphasizing the legitimacy of voluntary social work as part of the social service provision in a hard-pressed welfare state. At the same time, political and public actors praise the civic virtues and democratic skills that volunteers obtain when participating in any kind of voluntary organization. This notion of voluntary organizations as "schools for democracy" already lacks empirical grounding. Given the increased instrumentalization of voluntary social work, it becomes even more important to ask what the modes of participation look like among volunteers within the new organizational forms. In this article, we review key trends and changes at the institutional level and present data from a long-term ethnographic study that explores the mode of participation of volunteers within an organizational form that responds to the demands of the current civic landscape. We demonstrate that while the organizational form in question aptly and strategically navigates the competitive, welfare-oriented, institutional environment, the space for civic action among the volunteers is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary and active participation by a wide variety of actors is a prerequisite for successful societal transitions towards sustainability. The 'Commitment to Sustainable Development 2050' is a national-level initiative in Finland, aiming to mobilise a large-scale transition involving various societal actors through openly communicated commitments to concrete actions. Each commitment should focus on at least one of the eight nationally defined sustainability objectives connected to the global Sustainable Development Goals. This article assesses the implementation and the development needs of the commitment process based on a range of materials. The results highlight the importance of securing adequate resources for long-term coordination and continuous development of the commitment process, trust creation through long-term and open communication, and flexibility allowing for experimentation aimed at finding new modes of interaction between the public and private sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the challenges and issues of translating informed consent form in the local language in multilingual study design among culturally diverse migrants 'populations. From ethical and legal perspectives informed consent is an important requirement for conducting research where human participants are involved. The concept of informed consent was an integral part of the principles of the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki and the Belmont Report (Code, 1949, Puri et al., 2009, and Cassell, 2000). While applying application for ethical clearance the principal investigator needs to translate the informed consent form from English to local Language as part of the ethical guidelines. Nevertheless, in a multilingual setting among migrants, it is difficult to follow the ethical guidelines to translate into the local language. To overcome this hurdle, it is desirable to follow the common language speaking among the migrants. I follow common speaking language and simple English for the informed consent form while getting informed consent from the Northeast migrant workers as most of them use to communicate in English. It is helpful to establish trust and voluntary participation in the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary residential green infrastructure (GI) stormwater management retrofit programs can help cities comply with environmental regulations while also improving quality of life. Previous research has identified influential factors in residents’ willingness to adopt GI, but few have simultaneously studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of GI. I use a six-year record of participation in a voluntary residential GI program in Washington DC to explore how neighborhood characteristics and social influence affect GI adoption over time. Statistical regression and Monte Carlo permutation resampling techniques are used to explain the spatial-temporal patterns of growth of the program. I demonstrate empirical evidence that participation location is increasingly determined by the locations of previous participants. These findings suggest that past participants will increasingly influence spatial clustering of GI in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the interactions between cooperators (C) and defectors (D) can be partially avoided within a population, there may be an overall enhancement of cooperation. One example of such screening mechanism occurs in the presence of risk-averse agents (loners, L) that are neutral towards others, i.e., both L and its opponent, whatever its strategy, receive the same payoff. Their presence in the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) game sustains the coexistence of cooperators and defectors far beyond the level attained in their absence. Another screening mechanism is a heterogeneous landscape obtained, for example, by site diluting the lattice. In this case, cooperation is enhanced with some fraction of such inactive, interaction-averse sites. By considering the interplay of both mechanisms, we show that there is an explosive increase in the range of densities, just above the percolation threshold, where neutrality is prevented and loners become extinct, the behavior reverting to the pure PD game. Interestingly, this occurs despite defectors being usually abundant in that region. This has to be compared with the corresponding loner-free region in the undiluted case that, besides being very small, is dominated by cooperators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]