The evolution of collaborative networks: A social network analysis of Chinese environmental protection policy

Interagency collaboration helps governments to better resolve various complex societal problems. This contribution examines the mechanisms underlying the collaboration of disparate national government agencies engaged in Chinese environmental protection. We test three dominant mechanisms, namely, the institutionalization of collaborative networks, resource interdependence and exchange, and preferential attachment. It is concluded that a collaborative network over time becomes cohesive, that national government agencies prefer to collaborate with popular agencies and tend to collaborate with those whose resources are different from their own, and that popular agencies tend to maintain their core positions over time. Our study enriches the current governance and policy literature through adding building blocks for the evolution of collaborative network and network partner selection.

Leader identification in a research collaborative network

There is considerable empirical evidence on the advantages of interorganizational research collaborative networks across societies and research institutes such as research and development (R&D) centers and universities. Identifying a leader in this contexts is important both theoretically for doing leadership studies, and practically for effective governmental funding allocation and private investments. Inconsistent definitions and non-homogeneous attributes with unidimensional measurement approaches such as subjective measuring of power or considering a central company as the leader made the previous efforts inefficient for identifying leaders in an interorganizational setting. This research aims to identify a leading organization among a set of homogenous R&D centers in a research collaborative network context through implementing the main leader’s attributes in different dimensions. The article presents a multidimensional common weight model based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in a parallel system with several operational dimensions each of which consumes a set of inputs (budget, lecturers, and students) to produce a set of outputs (scientific meetings and conferences, national and international papers). Centrality and visibility are two main leaders’ attributes combined with efficiency influence the contributions and outcomes of each collaborative network partner. It is demonstrated how the proposed model performs its high-efficiency score in the most influential R&D center named the “leader” among 47 R&D centers in medical universities in Iran. The comparative analysis of managerial results showed that reputation has a greater impact on leader identification than centrality. The results based on mathematical calculations showed a robust discriminating power for efficiency measurement of the proposed model.

Keratins determine network stress responsiveness in reconstituted actin-keratin filament systems

The cytoskeleton is a major determinant of cell mechanics, a property that is altered during many pathological situations. To understand these alterations, it is essential to investigate the interplay between the main filament systems of the cytoskeleton in the form of composite networks. Here, we investigate the role of keratin intermediate filaments (IFs) in network strength by studying in vitro reconstituted actin and keratin 8/18 composite networks via bulk shear rheology. We co-polymerized these structural proteins in varying ratios and recorded how their relative content affects the overall mechanical response of the various composites. For relatively small deformations, we found that all composites exhibited an intermediate linear viscoelastic behavior compared to that of the pure networks. In stark contrast, the composites displayed increasing strain stiffening behavior as a result of increased keratin content when larger deformations were imposed. This strain stiffening behavior is fundamentally different from behavior encountered with vimentin IF as a composite network partner for actin. Our results provide new insights into the mechanical interplay between actin and keratin in which keratin provides reinforcement to actin. This interplay may contribute to the overall integrity of cells, providing an explanation for the stability of stressed epithelial tissues due to their high keratin contents. Additionally, this helps us to understand the physiological necessity to exchange IF systems during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in order to suppress strain stiffening of the network, making cells more elastic and, thus, facilitating their migration through dense tissues.

Project-Process Model for Forming "School–University" Partnerships That Implements the Current Educational Paradigm of the Russian Federation

The article discusses the possibilities of forming partnerships in the “school – university” educational system, the features of the development of extended cooperation on the example of a model made in the IDEF0 notation, which is widely used in world practice. Possible ways to optimize approaches and planning of the educational process that would meet the latest trends of educational standards are analyzed. The problem of the need to introduce new pedagogical practices, which is caused by a change in the functional approach, is considered. Various methodologies and practices of process and project management that have the advantage of multi-level activity decomposition are analyzed. The graphical language and visualization of which helps to form a detailed representation of the overall picture for the full implementation of the tasks set. The purpose of the presented process model is to establish network partner relations between schools and universities. The step-by-step, waterfall process model proposed in the article clearly demonstrates the amount of resources needed and determines the step-by-step process of project implementation. The considered possibility of establishing partnership relations is aimed at attracting potential University applicants. The awakening of academic interest among potential applicants is formed through the use of various activities on the part of the educational institution and the activity team.

A report on the New Year's meteorite found near Cavezzo, Italy

<p>In this talk we report about the recent finding of two meteorite samples in Italy, near Cavezzo (Modena). The meteorite-dropping fireball was observed on the evening of New Year's Day 2020 by eight all-sky cameras of the PRISMA network, partner of FRIPON. The two fragments, weighing 4 g and 52 g respectively, were collected as a result of a dedicated field search and thanks to the involvement of the local population. </p>

Seamless Data Analysis, Visualizations and Sharing: Perspective from IRRI’s Rainfed Rice Breeding Program

Phenotypic data analysis is a key component in crop breeding to extract meaningful insights from data in making better breeding decisions. Each year the rainfed rice breeding (RRB) program at IRRI conducts trials in the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) network-partner sites across South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. Analyzing the data from the network trials and sharing the results with the partners in the best possible format is a daunting task. It is crucial to demystify data analysis to the NARES partners for making better breeding decisions. Here, we provide an overview of how RRB program at IRRI has leveraged R computational power with open-source resource tools like R Markdown, plotly , LaTeX and HTML to develop a unique data analysis workflow and redesigned it to a reproducible document for better interpretation, visualization and seamlessly sharing with partners. The generated report is the state-of-the-art implementation of analysis workflow and outputs either in text, tables or graphics in a unified way as one document. The analysis is highly reproducible and can be regenerated based at any time. The plots are built with enhanced dynamic and interactive visualizations to aid in better understanding and extract information with ease. Tables are highly interactive and manageable rendering liberty to be exported within the document in numerous formats. The source code and demo data set for download and use is available at https://github.com/whussain2/Analysis-pipeline . Conclusively, the analysis workflow and document we presented is not limited to IRRI’s RRB program but is applicable to any organization or institute with full-fledged breeding programs.

The Power of Ideas: The Fórum da Liberdade, 1988-2018

This is a study of the Fórum da Liberdade (FL), an annual event organised by the Brazilian think tank Instituto de Estudos Empresariais, an Atlas Network partner. Based on critical theory, this study is aimed at casting light on the role played by the FL in promoting US hegemony in the realm of ideas. Drawing on an analysis of all the forums over 30 years from its inception in 1988 until 2018, we demonstrate that this hegemony is based on the neoliberal economic model. We examine the presenters, the sponsors, the main themes and the award winners. We find that a) the FL privileges speakers who support the neoliberal ideal – mostly male politicians, entrepreneurs, and members of neoliberal think tanks in Brazil and elsewhere; b) the FL has been internationalising, embracing an absolute majority of speakers from the USA, and strengthening ties with its major partner, the North American Atlas Network; c) the FL helps build electoral platforms by privileging politicians who support its economic ideals; and d) the FL promotes the US neoliberal agenda via financial support from the entrepreneurs who fund the annual events, and an ‘intelligentsia’ that legitimises the ideas presented at those events. Fórum da Liberdade; think tanks; Atlas Network; neoliberalism; Critical Theory.

Organisation of work on the pedagogic support of the formation of personality in the networked form of the implementation of educational programmes

This article proposes the organisation of work on the basis of a network form of interaction; creating conditions for the formation of a single social and educational medium that ensures the development and socialisation of students is described as well as implementation of joint educational and socio-pedagogic projects that ensure the inclusion of students in various types of social practices; organising and conducting joint research aimed at finding and solving topical problems of education and upbringing; strengthening the human resource capacity of network partner organisations; expanding the material and technical base to improve the efficiency of interaction; improving the scientific and methodological work of pedagogues. Mechanisms of network interaction are described, as well as its logic and steps that correspond to the stages of the professional development of the personality of students on a particular course, while solving specific educational tasks. The model "institute – resource centre" was the leading model of network interaction. This model represents the integration of several educational organisations around one of them, which has the greatest material and personnel potential, which will play the role of a resource centre for other educational organisations.

The role of sexual networks in studies of how BV and STIs increase the risk of subsequent reinfection

Prior studies have demonstrated that both bacterial vaginosis (BV) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are strong independent risk factors for subsequent STI. In observational studies of this biological enhancement (BE) hypothesis, it is important to adjust for the risk of STI exposure so that the independent effect of BE can be assessed. We sought to model if two markers of local sexual network (partner concurrency and cumulative number of STIs) represented residual confounding in the models of risk for subsequent infection in a study that screened 3620 women for STIs every 3 months for a year. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios for an incident diagnosis ofChlamydia trachomatis,Neisseria gonorrhoeae,Trichomonas vaginalisand BV following a diagnosis of any of these four at the prior visit, controlling for the cumulative number of STIs and partner concurrency variables. We found that partner concurrency and cumulative number of STIs were each associated with incident infection, and in general, controlling for these variables reduced the strength of the association between prior and incident infections. We conclude that the frequently found association between prior and incident STIs is associated with both BE and sexual network structure.