Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Professional Networking

Creating an ecosystem of mentorship and sponsorship requires institutional commitment and the collaboration of faculty and administrators from diverse backgrounds. From 2012 to 2018, the UC Davis ADVANCE Mentorship and Networking Initiative (MNI) partnered with the campus leadership to implement several programs and activities to support mentorship, sponsorship, and professional networking for STEM women faculty across career levels. During this award period, pilot programs aimed to provide strong mentorship for newly recruited faculty, including scholars affiliated with the Center for Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) as well as mid-career faculty, with the intention of scaling efforts across campus units. MNI committee projects included piloting “Launch Mentoring Committees” for 43 new faculty, support for faculty-led “New Faculty Network” monthly networking mixers, implementation of the Associate Professor Network listserv, annual co-hosting of the Fall Welcome for Women Faculty, and development of the ADVANCE Scholar Award Distinguished Lecture and Networking Reception. Though all MNI programs and activities were well-received, both faculty mentors and mentees evaluated the Launch Mentoring Committees especially positively. This program emerged as a recommended best practice for engaging new faculty and building a sense of community that crosses disciplinary and intersectional boundaries.

The migration component in the demographic development of Russia in the post-war period (1951–2020)

The concept of unconditional basic income (UBI), which provides for the introduction (instead of or in addition to existing forms of social protection) of regular universal cash payments on an individual basis in favor of all members of the community without any preconditions, is attracting increasing interest among experts and scholars, international organizations, charitable foundations, municipal and regional authorities. Estimating the possible consequences of introducing a basic income, however, remains an equation with too many unknowns. As a result, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which demanded unprecedented measures in the social sphere, preference was given to traditional mechanisms to support the economy, employment, and living standards. The results of experiments with basic income, carried out over the past half-century, due to their limited scope, are still clearly insufficient to make an unambiguous conclusion about the viability of this scheme and the feasibility of its implementation on a national scale. At the same time, these experiments showed that basic income, when incorporated into existing social protection systems, can become an effective tool for smoothing regional disparities, the vulnerable position of a certain age and gender groups, as well as improving physical and mental health indicators. Moreover, they allow us, with some caution, to conclude that concerns about the negative impact of basic income on employment are grossly exaggerated. With regard to Russia, promising directions for the implementation of pilot programs could be as following: stimulating the development of lagging regions of the Federation, supporting young people who have recently entered the labor market and citizens of pre-retirement age, as well as, in light of unfavorable demographic trends, the introduction of unconditional cash payments for minor children

Can Trust Motivate Farmers to Purchase Natural Disaster Insurance? Evidence from Earthquake-Stricken Areas of Sichuan, China

Natural disasters cause great losses of property and life in many areas of China. However, rural residents do not always insure themselves against these losses. Measuring the correlation between trust and farmers’ behavior related to the purchasing of natural disaster insurance is of great significance to the implementation of natural disaster insurance pilot programs and insurance systems in China. This article analyzes data from a survey of 327 households in four districts and counties of Sichuan Province, China, that were affected by the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes. According to the relevant theories of trust, trust was divided into three dimensions: authority trust, collective trust, and relationship trust. Then a technology acceptance model was built, and PLS-SEM was used to comprehensively analyze the correlation between different dimensions of trust and farmers’ insurance purchase behavior. The results show that (1) only relationship trust was directly and significantly positively correlated with insurance purchasing behavior. Although there was no direct significant correlation between authoritative trust or collective trust and buying behavior, relationship trust was found to indirectly affect buying behavior. (2) Younger farmers and those with higher incomes are more likely to buy disaster insurance if they live in a disaster-threat zone, have experienced disasters, and are risk averse. We then discuss the correlations between farmers’ trust and natural disaster insurance purchasing in areas threatened by earthquake disasters. This provides a policy inspiration for the promotion of disaster insurance and the construction of insurance systems in China.

Carbon-Trading Pilot Programs in China and Local Air Quality

China emits twice as much CO_2 as the United States. Launched in seven regions in 2013-2014, China's pilot carbon-trading programs cover roughly 7 percent of China's CO_2 emissions. These market-based policies offer the best existing evidence as to whether the national carbon-trading program starting in 2021 will curb emissions. Here, we analyze changes in air quality using visibility measures from weather stations. We find the pilot programs improved local air quality, and this was likely a co-benefit of reduced carbon emissions. However, these improvements were modest, and there is some evidence of pollution leakage to the nonpilot regions.

Harnessing Small Country Collaboration Opportunities to Advance Energy Innovation and Joint Investments

Greater international collaboration is required to catalyze research and development (R&D) investment flows in energy technologies. Successful deployment of such technologies requires innovative funding mechanisms, intellectual property, and data-driven analyses to make smarter, sustainable investment decisions. As small countries are increasingly dealing with effects of climate change, some are projected to lose large portions of their economy. This chapter discusses ways that smaller countries, both in the developed and developing world, can harness international cooperation to advance energy innovation and mitigate such impact. In contrast to collaboration with larger countries, smaller country collaboration can build more agile, balanced partnerships in which participating countries co-develop and co-own R&D and training, and define pilot programs that target their own needs. Leveraging each other’s strengths, small countries can become catalysts for global change. Smaller country collaboration is explored through a proposed model of collaboration in energy innovation between Singapore and Estonia, often considered gateways to Southeast Asia and the EU plus Russia, respectively. Specifically, Singapore and Estonia have the opportunity to leverage each other’s startup ecosystems, innovation systems, knowledge-based economies, and regional markets to build a niche in clean energy technologies, particularly energy storage innovation, with potential global impact on larger markets.

Strengthening the Response to Disasters and Trauma

Chapter 10 opens with the Gulf Research Program’s Lauren Alexander Augustine presenting four pilot programs from around the country that illustrate the cornerstones of community resilience. Next, Benjamin Springgate examines resilience as a reflection of individual communities and describes a research network that promotes research on resilience-strengthening practices. Lourdes J. Rodríguez and Sheila B. Savannah then explain how neighborhoods that are striving for resilience should be involved like patients in the process of healing. Finally, three contributors offer unique perspectives on resilient communities: Traci L. Birch looks at why resilience efforts should also focus on inland communities that are no longer immune to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather. And Joie B. Acosta and Elka Gotfryd encourage us to think broadly about resilience as they explore opportunities to build responsive social infrastructure through engaged citizen participation.

Factors influencing on residents’ household waste separation behavioral intention: Evidence from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Household solid waste has become a serious problem in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam over the last 10 years, resulting in significant side effects on the environment. Although various programs of waste separation at source have been deployed, they have stopped at the level of the pilot - programs and have generally not been replicable. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study was examined the key factors influencing waste separation behavioral intention of residents in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s economic center. By using SPSS 20.0 software for the sample size of 487 residents, the regression models are used to process and explain data. The research detects six factors, namely Attitude towards waste separation; Social norms; Perceived behavioral control; Knowledge about waste separation; Laws and regulations; Propaganda that significantly directly affected residents ‘behavioral intention, Knowledge about waste separation being the strongest construct significantly to predict individuals’ intention. Of the six above-listed constructs, only Perceived behavioral control had a negative impact on residents’ waste separation behavioral intention. The findings from this research may help policy-makers have a better understanding of residents’ waste separation behavioral intention.

The Fragmented State

Atlanta represents municipalities with a supportive housing policy in municipalities that are majority Black and in states that have not expanded Medicaid. Atlanta’s Continuum of Care is integrated into municipal government. Atlanta’s move to integrate the Continuum of Care into local government occurred when the Continuum of Care restructured, moving from a trijurisdictional arrangement to separate city and county institutions. The restructuring was prefaced by an investment in homelessness and chronic homelessness prevention and services by the city of Atlanta. Subsequently, the city adopted a supportive housing policy and implemented pilot programs to reduce policing of persons experiencing chronic homelessness. Despite positive changes, Atlanta still suffers from barriers to policy implementation resulting from: histories of race and segregation, including separate policy efforts mobilizing police to move persons experiencing chronic homelessness to other jurisdictions; limited governmental funding and reliance on nongovernmental actors as providers and funders; and metropolitan fragmentation inhibiting policy coordination.