Trafficability Prediction Using Depth-to-Water Maps: the Status of Application in Northern and Central European Forestry

Purpose of Review Mechanized logging operations with ground-based equipment commonly represent European production forestry but are well-known to potentially cause soil impacts through various forms of soil disturbances, especially on wet soils with low bearing capacity. In times of changing climate, with shorter periods of frozen soils, heavy rain fall events in spring and autumn and frequent needs for salvage logging, forestry stakeholders face increasingly unfavourable conditions to conduct low-impact operations. Thus, more than ever, planning tools such as trafficability maps are required to ensure efficient forest operations at reduced environmental impact. This paper aims to describe the status quo of existence and implementation of such tools applied in forest operations across Europe. In addition, focus is given to the availability and accessibility of data relevant for such predictions. Recent Findings A commonly identified method to support the planning and execution of machine-based operations is given by the prediction of areas with low bearing capacity due to wet soil conditions. Both the topographic wetness index (TWI) and the depth-to-water algorithm (DTW) are used to identify wet areas and to produce trafficability maps, based on spatial information. Summary The required input data is commonly available among governmental institutions and in some countries already further processed to have topography-derived trafficability maps and respective enabling technologies at hand. Particularly the Nordic countries are ahead within this process and currently pave the way to further transfer static trafficability maps into dynamic ones, including additional site-specific information received from detailed forest inventories. Yet, it is hoped that a broader adoption of these information by forest managers throughout Europe will take place to enhance sustainable forest operations.

Cancer Research in the Time of COVID-19: A Colombian Narrative

Cancer research is deficient in Colombia and efforts and resources diverted due to the COVID-19 pandemic could worsen the situation. We explore the impact of the pandemic on cancer research funding, output, and conduct. We sought information at national level and used the experience of an academic reference center to contrast the impact at institutional level. We searched databases and official documents of national governmental institutions, trial registries, hospital registries, and the Web of Science. We interviewed principal investigators (PIs) to retrieve information on the conduct of cancer research. A decline in resource availability and new proposals was observed at the national level with a shift to COVID-19 related research. However, at institutional level there was no decline in the number of cancer research proposals. The predominance of observational studies as opposed to the preponderance of clinical trials and basic science in high-income countries may be related to the lower impact at institutional level. Nevertheless, we found difficulties similar to previous reports for conducting research during the pandemic. PIs reported long recovery times and a great impact on research other than clinical trials, such as observational and qualitative studies. No significant impact on research output was observed. Alternatives to ensure research continuity such as telemedicine and remote data collection have scarcely been implemented given limited access and low technology literacy. In this middle-income setting the situation shows a notable dependency of international collaborations to develop research on COVID-19 and cancer and to overcome challenges for cancer research during the pandemic.

Teaching international comparative public management through a development lens

The article tackles the question, how to provide students with a comparative orientation to public administration. We eschew the older tradition of comparing major systems such British parliamentary system or French bureaucratic approaches to organizations’ structure. Rather, we seek to understand public administration in countries with different cultures, histories, and political regimes by focusing on international development. Our students are drawn from the Master of Public Administration degree program and the Master of International Affairs degree program. What unites them is an interest in international affairs and the desire to work internationally; international students take what they learn and apply it in their home countries. We ground the course on a model of international development with a strong focus on development in governance. We spend the first third of the class creating a development lens for understanding global practices in public management in which they use what they learned in the first part of the course to analyze a range of public management issues within governmental institutions and/or in working in the nongovernmental organizations and intergovernmental organization sectors. We use detailed case studies drawn from several case data banks to apply some of the core concepts of public administration such as leadership, stakeholder analysis, complexity, and implementation to development challenges such as fiscal issues, poverty alleviation, interorganizational collaboration, and human rights. We do this with a range of in-class exercises and assignments that students do out of class. One goal we have is to provide students with knowledge and skills to enhance their ability to work internationally since many have gone on to work for donor and various implementing organizations in international development. We believe that this is a reasonable measure of success of the approach we have taken to comparative public administration.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Agroecological Family Farming in the Backlands Territory from Araripe in Pernambuco

The present reality of the Pandemic caused by the COVID-19, is characterized by new adaptations in the decrease of the social and economic activities, with the social isolations, in cities and countryside communities, causing a decrease in the commercialization of food by the familiar agriculture, damaging the activities of social organization and rural technical advice in the sustainable development of agricultural activities, by the non-governmental institutions and representative entities of the civil society, in the implementation of public policies assisted to the farmers, having a greater consequence in the social vulnerability and rural poverty. The present article aims to study the effects of the pandemic on family farming in the territory of the backlands from Araripe in the state of Pernambuco, describing the strategies adopted in the social organization of countryside communities, in reducing the social impacts of the pandemic on family farming. Through a bibliographical research, based on academic literature, newspapers and institutional reports, on the activities of rural technical assistance with principles of agro-ecology, developed during the period of incidences of the pandemic. As a result, technological strategies were identified in the remote media, for the activities of rural technical assistance, organization of marketing of food products from family farming, at home, in greengrocers and emporiums of solidary marketing, assisted by non-governmental institutions, in the development of motivational initiatives for rural families, in overcoming social and economic difficulties, during this phase of social isolation and safety protocols to the health of countryside area families and the entire world population.

انتشار التعليم الأهلي: دراسة جغرافية تحليلية لعوامل ظهوره وانتشاره وكفاءته الوظيفية في مدينة بغداد

The research aims to assess the functional efficiency of private education institutions when performing their task at a high level to satisfy the needs of the city’s residents. It has been recently noticed that people favor private education to government institutions education; a matter which has led to the phenomenon of its spread, and to access its consequences. Its spread has competed not only the governmental institutions, but also the private institutions among themselves in providing the best educational services and survive accordingly. The present paper further examines the pressing negative side on the teaching faculty, especially with regard to their monthly income. The positive and negative points altogether have made it urgent to find the best and proper solutions to enhance faculty members’ output, and increase their positive sides to serve the educational service. Such steps cannot be achieved without conducting tests inside these private educational institutions to interpret all their scientific queries. The study has used the descriptive, functional and analytical approach, and adopted a field study by collecting relevant data and information for the purpose of the research and its problem based on the reality of the facilities of this service for the year (2020). The first two questionnaire forms were distributed to a sample of (1520) parents of students in private schools, by taking one student per family. The second sample amounted to (200) survey forms distributed to the teaching faculty. Results have shown that the high percentage of students registered in the primary stage greatly surpassed the rest of the educational stages. Besides, the increase in the educational level provided by these institutions is the reason for its spread; that is why, the level of students’ parents’ satisfaction has increased to (good) level.

Forms of Public Communication That are Written to Build Relations Between The Audience and Governmental Institutions: A Case Study of Governmental Institutions' Electronic Sites

The electronic site is one of the latest forms of communication facilities that governmental institutions use to establish public relations with their audiences. Governmental institutions utilize a variety of services and initiatives to develop good relationships with their audiences. To bring their work and actions to the majority of the public, they use various forms of mass media. The title of this research (Forms of public communication that are written to build relations between the audience and governmental institutions: a case study of governmental institutions' electronic sites). The significance of this research has focused on all of the subjects reported on the official websites of governmental institutions, as well as the review of the subjects and all of the aspects to know how to write the subjects and to be aware of all of the activities that the institutions conduct. Thus, all organizations must maintain their main sites and be able to better guide their matters to the public, which is one of the most critical circles of contact between governmental institutions and local and international audiences. The main question of this study is to determine what type of public relations writing is used, in which area, and what governmental institutions' activities are. The study aims to demonstrate the most popular writing styles and genres for public relations, as well as to be aware of the principles of writing, and to illustrate the subjects and actions that the institution does. Knowing the details and specifics of the topics published on the institution's website is also essential. This thesis is a descriptive study using the content analysis approach, intending to analyze the subjects of the main site of the governmental institutions in Sulaimaniyah. For this reason, the Directorate of the Sulaimaniyah Appeals Court, the Passport Office of Sulaimaniyah Province, and the Sulaimaniyah Traffic Directorate have set out all matters for six months from December ١, ٢٠١٩ to January ٦, ٢٠٢٠. As a consequence, the working style is one of the methods that the three institutions have used most often, and the articles written adhere to the standards of public relations writing. The majority of their activities included (visiting, conferences, courses, gathering) the majority of their publications, and then mentioning the institution's services, which were solely focused on news.

Otonomi Kolektif dan Operasionalisasi Kesadaran Publik dalam Gerakan Solidaritas Pangan Jogja (SPJ)

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the pattern of interaction and socialization of community members. One of them is an effort to build awareness and social solidarity to help each other, especially in the dimension of domestic needs, such as food fulfillment. The Jogja Food Solidarity Movement (Solidaritas Pangan Jogja/SPJ) represents a collective action that grew because of the awareness of individuals and groups to distribute food aid to informal workers and marginalized groups in Yogyakarta. This paper examines two main points; first, how SPJ manages its social network pattern during the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, why the SPJ movement is autonomous. Using a qualitative approach and case study method, this paper finds that the SPJ movement maximizes social capital through networks and social support from non-governmental institutions, activist groups, artists, students, and the Kulon Progo Coastal Farmers Association (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai/PPLP) to distribute food. to the public. The SPJ movement is formed organically, autonomously and rationally, which is a manifestation of systematically organized collective action. Through the analysis of the Resource Mobilization Theory (Teori Mobilisasi Sumber Daya/TMSD), the SPJ movement is needed to create and show collective dissatisfaction, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, namely without which dissatisfaction is only at the individual level.

URBAN PLANNING OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MODEL FOR LIBYAN CITIES

The present sustainable metropolitan cities and the urban planning procedures in Libya are mainly aimed at reducing the impact on the environment due to the use of resources and improving life quality. Thus, the primary objective of this investigation is to create a model that focuses on reliable and valid urban planning of sustainable development, which highly reflects the Islamic way of live concerning the Libyan cities. The projected study model was tested experimentally using a review of 307 suitable samples, which included urban planning associated parties/industries, like the governmental institutions, academic research institutes, developer consultants, and planning and design engineers. Moreover, evaluations were done using the statistical software package Smart-PLS 2.0. The outcome shows that Libyan urban cities should comprise four major elements: social sustainability, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and institutional markers. The indicators for every element are studied in detail later in this investigation, which contributed significantly to gaining a better insight into the model for urban planning of sustainable development concerning the Libyan cities. The results provide useful insights for the urban planning industry in order to introduce the UPSD (Urban Planning of Sustainable Development) model, which is helpful as a strategy for Libyan organizations, urban planning contribution, and development to improve Libyan cities. Also, UPSD can be used to assess developed urban areas to analyze the quality of those areas and finally indicate the areas of enhancement.

Settlement system in the Angara coastal area in the 17th21st centuries in terms of strategic planning

One of the fundamental urban planning tasks is currently a study of the settlement system properties. In Russian and foreign historical and urban planning science, settlement is studied according to the hierarchical location of settlements. Small and medium-sized settlements are considered as elementary lower units of large cities, their structure and formation processes are not studied. Accordingly, they are rarely considered in elaborating strategic programs of the regional development. The paper proposes the urban retrospective method, which provides a deep and large-scale analysis of the settlement system in the coastal area of the Angara River.Research is based on the cartographic sources developed by governmental institutions whose the activity depends on statistical data. Here belong Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Railways. The comparative analysis of the sources provides modeling and identification of the settlement system with respect to small settlements in the coastal area of the Angara River in different periods. Significant results include the quantitative data on small settlements, since they are not interesting to urban planners of today.

Commentary: the unintended consequences of digital service technologies

Purpose This commentary puts forth a conceptual framework, referred to as the consumer, organization, government framework of unintended digital technology service failures, that specifies consumer, organizational and governmental shortcomings that result in digital technologies failing in terms of negatively affecting consumer, communal, national and/or global welfare. Design/methodology/approach The authors conceptualize an original framework by engaging in a literature review regarding marketplace failures associated with digital service technologies. Findings The framework shows that three drivers explain why commercial digital technologies often fail. The first driver highlights misuse or criminal intent from individuals. The second involves organizations failing to prevent or to address technology failures. The third pertains to failures that stem from governmental institutions. Research limitations/implications The authors encourage researchers to build on their framework by putting forth research questions. To prevent or lessen opportunities for digital technologies to result in service failures, the authors also offer practitioners a “digital technology service failure audit.” This audit shows how digital technology creators and managers can anticipate and address consumer, organizational and governmental factors that often cause digital service technologies failures. Social implications Despite the absence of industry-specific regulations and the existence of some regulatory immunities, digital technology providers have an ethical duty, and may be obligated under applicable tort law principles, to take steps to prevent unintended harm to consumers before launching their service technologies. Originality/value This work reveals that digital technologies represent new and different threats to vulnerable consumers, who often rely on, but do not fully understand, these technologies in their everyday living. The framework helps consumers, organizations and government agencies to identify and remedy current and potential instances of harmful digital technologies.