A practical water–energy–climate solution for sustainable and resilient coastal cities: smart use of seawater in municipal services

Municipal services for buildings in developed (sub)tropical coastal cities contributed 18% of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in 2020. One mitigatory solution is the direct use of seawater for district cooling and toilet flushing, which has been applied in Hong Kong on various scales and achieved 30% water and energy savings. However, no systematic evaluation and strategy for this solution are available. Herein, we develop a high-resolution quantitative scheme to elaborate the co-benefits and optimal strategies for expanding this use of seawater. We find that in Hong Kong, Jeddah, and Miami, using local seawater at the city-scale would achieve life-cycle GHG mitigation (42%–56%), energy savings (45%–49%), and freshwater savings (11%–43%). High-resolution analysis reveals that population density and district marginal performance are essential to optimize the efficiency of seawater use. Our scheme confirms the utility of seawater for municipal services and is an effective tool for innovative municipal-service enhancement.

Modern Problems of Staff Training for State and Municipal Services in Russia

This chapter is devoted to the description of the existing system of training, retraining, and advanced training of state and municipal employees in Russia and the proposal of options for solving the problems facing society and strengthening Russian statehood. The organization of training, retraining, and advanced training of state and municipal employees includes a system of measures to create new, re-profile, and improve existing educational institutions and optimize the mechanisms for competitive selection and selection of trainees and teachers. At the same time, education has a decisive role in training personnel for state and municipal service.

The Cliché of the Official Business Style and its Transfer from Russian into the Yakut Language

At present, the official business style of the Yakut language is more developed in comparison with the translations of the twentieth century, when this style was just beginning to be practiced. Along with this, the translation of official-business style texts is also developing. As state and municipal services are an integral part of our life and understanding the strengths and merits, which adds the translation to society, it is very important to translate the Yakut language information, regulatory documents of the population of our Republic and members of the institutions, namely the Standard of applicants to the State autonomous institution Multifunctional center for the provision of state and municipal services in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Rules of applicants. The aim of this work is to analyze the difficulties of transmission clich official-business style of Russian into Yakut language and the search approach solutions to these difficulties. The methodological basis of this study is the comparative and descriptive methods based on the data obtained by the continuous sampling method. As a result of the analysis, we identified lexical and grammatical difficulties in translating official-business style cliches from Russian into Yakut. Lexical words include borrowing words, words without equivalent correspondence and abbreviations in the cliche, where the first ones are most often transmitted to the Yakut language by transcription or remain by themselves, the second ones are translated by an adequate replacement, paraphrasing or description, and the third ones with the Russian version in a bracket. Grammatical difficulties include complex sentences with passive constructions and participial turns, which directly affect how the cliche will be translated into them. Cliches in complex sentences occur frequently, sometimes several times in the same sentence.

Assessment of Selected Municipalities’ Performance of Citizen-Centric Investment Planning, and Support for Youth Programming in Kosovo

This paper aims to assess selected municipalities’ performance of citizen-centric investment planning, governance and transparency, financial management, and support for youth programming in Kosovo. In completing this assessment, the Municipal Performance Management System of the Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA) in Kosovo was utilized. Selected municipalities are based on the Municipal Performance Report of 2019. Eight from Albanian majority municipalities in the top ranking, and two municipalities with higher scores from minority municipalities. The paper aims to highlight three critical local government issues in ten selected municipalities: 1) The way of governing municipalities assessed according to the applicable legislation and 2) The provision of services in terms of quantity and quality, when possible and 3) Youth-oriented capacity building for municipal staff for better youth services (Ministry of Local Government Administration, 2019). The paper will produce findings on capacity building needs and support needed on youth and citizen-centric investment and capacity building needs. A non-exhaustive list of needed capacities is produced, while the findings from the evaluation will be used to develop a capacity-building manual for municipal staff on youth-oriented municipal services.

Technology Anxiety on Attitude Towards Technology: The Moderating Effect of Age-friendly Environment

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of an age-friendly environment on the relationship between technology anxiety and attitude towards technology among Korean older adults. We collected data by online surveys in February 2021, and the sample was 324 Korean older adults aged 65 and above. The dependent variable was the attitude towards technology, which meant the appraisal about using a wearable robot for exercise. The independent variable was technology anxiety, meaning an individual’s apprehension of using a wearable robot. The moderating variable was age-friendly environment, which comprises domains of the physical environment, social environment, and municipal services. The higher the score is, the more age-friendly the environment was perceived. Control variables were age, sex, education, household income. The moderation effect was estimated by bootstrapping and PROCESS macro. Results showed that when older adults showed a higher level of technology anxiety, their attitude towards technology was less positive. Moreover, the moderation effect of an age-friendly environment was significant. Concretely, in the case of living in a less age-friendly environment, older adults with a higher level of technology anxiety were more likely to report a less positive attitude towards technology. However, the effect of technology anxiety on attitude towards technology was not significant among older adults living in a more age-friendly environment. It suggested that a practical intervention to reduce the level of technology anxiety is in need in order to promote a positive attitude towards technology, especially for older adults living in a less age-friendly environment.

Digitalisation of state and municipal services, using the federal state information system “Unified Population Register” as an example

The article formulates the prerequisites that prompted state authorities to implement the project of the federal state information system “Unified Population Register” in order to promptly obtain the most complete and reliable information on the citizens of the Russian Federation. The results of an overview of changes for citizens and government agencies from the introduction of a population information system have been presented. The relevance of the project has been analysed and the pros and cons have been considered. The creation of a single population register will simplify interdepartmental cooperation, facilitate the provision of e-services and social assistance to the population, help to combat crime more effectively, and further develop the information society.

Development of water supply services for the formation of eco-friendly city environment

The study of possibilities of the improvement of services of water supply of the services on the basis of the principles of resource-saving is the objective of this research. The authors analyzed the general trends, features and problems of providing the population with drinking water in the cities. The authors consider it expedient to use the classification of the water, used in the fleet, but also to correct it for houses. Some actions for management of the decrease in volumes of water consumption by the population were offered on the basis of this classification. The possibility of implementation of systems of water reuse in the course of rendering services of water supply to the population were technically and are economically proved. The perspective directions of the development of services of water supply of the city population were proved economically. The results and offers which are contained in this article can be useful for the authorities when developing city-planning projects, for employees of housing-and-municipal services, services responsible for ecological wellbeing in the cities, and for other specialists.

Sivistyksen ja soten yhteistyö kunnissa

Service integration has become essential way of the production of customer friendly and cost-effective municipal services. Recently, there has been also endeavors to extend service integration from social and health sectors to the education sector. This study pursues to increase the general understanding of the expanded service integration and to develop a framework that can be used in evaluating its nature and depth. The empirical data of the study comes from a survey targeted to the leaders in the health, social and education sectors. The focus is on child and family services. While on the general level the analysis indicates a deepening integration of services, the historical boundaries between the different sectors make the service integration difficult. The managers from the health and social sectors hold a more positive view of the current situation compared to their colleagues in education, which reflects longer experience of service integration in these sectors