Social Workers’ Causal Attributions for Poverty: Does the Level of Spatial Concentration of Disadvantages Matter?

Social workers may play an important role in the implementation of welfare policies targeted at the poor. Their norms, beliefs, and attitudes form local anti-poverty programmes and affect discretionary practices with their clients. Despite this, we know little about how social workers’ exposure to poverty shapes their attitudes towards poverty and their causal attributions for poverty. This study investigates social workers’ poverty explanations and the extent to which they depend on the level of local poverty. Data from a survey conducted among Hungarian social workers were analysed using multilevel linear regression models. To measure local poverty, we used a composite index of poverty, as well as a subjective measure of exposure to poverty. Our analysis revealed that most social workers explained poverty with structural causes, but individual blame was also frequent. Contrary to our hypothesis, the level of local poverty did not significantly increase the adoption of structural explanations but did raise the occurrence of individualistic ones. However, the effect of local poverty was non-linear: social workers tended to blame the poor for their poverty in the poorest municipalities, where multiple disadvantages are concentrated, while moderate poverty did not lead to such opinions. Our results suggest that efforts should be made to improve the poverty indicator framework to better understand the phenomenon of spatial concentration of multiple disadvantages and its consequences for the poor.

A Triple Bottom Line Analysis of the Smart Cities Projects in GCC Countries

Cities are tackling their economic, social, and environmental challenges through smart city solutions. To demonstrate that these solutions achieve the desired impact, an indicator-based assessment system is needed. This chapter presents the process of developing CITYkeys performance measurement systems for target setting and monitoring. This European smart city indicator framework was developed by analyzing cities' needs, existing indicators, and gaps. The current research sets out to review several indicators, KPI, and performance measurements, along other indicator frameworks on the case studies involving the conceptualisation, development, and monitoring of smart cities in Lebanon and in Malta for comparative purposes. For this purpose, a mixed methods approach was adopted, whereby both interviews and structured surveys were used to collect primary data pertaining to the analyses of the respectively investigated smart cities.

Integrating Ecosystem Services Into Water Resource Management: An Indicator-Based Approach

Natural ecosystems are fundamental to local water cycles and the water ecosystem services that humans enjoy, such as water provision, outdoor recreation, and flood protection. However, integrating ecosystem services into water resources management requires that they be acknowledged, quantified, and communicated to decision-makers. We present an indicator framework that incorporates the supply of, and demand for, water ecosystem services. This provides an initial diagnostic for water resource managers and a mechanism for evaluating tradeoffs through future scenarios. Building on a risk assessment framework, we present a three-tiered indicator for measuring where demand exceeds the supply of services, addressing the scope (spatial extent), frequency, and amplitude for which objectives (service delivery) are not met. The Ecosystem Service Indicator is measured on a 0–100 scale, which encompasses none to total service delivery. We demonstrate the framework and its applicability to a variety of services and data sources (e.g., monitoring stations, statistical yearbooks, modeled datasets) from case studies in China and Southeast Asia. We evaluate the sensitivity of the indicator scores to varying levels data and three methods of calculation using a simulated test dataset. Our indicator framework is conceptually simple, robust, and flexible enough to offer a starting point for decision-makers and to accommodate the evolution and expansion of tools, models and data sources used to measure and evaluate the value of water ecosystem services.

Use of Indicators in Strategic Environmental Assessments of Urban-Planning Instruments: A Case Study

The monitoring of the impact of cities on sustainable development initiatives has led several nations to adopt the use of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) instrument to enhance environmental management efforts. The use of indicators within this process is essential since they enable authorities to monitor and mitigate any adverse effects that may arise as a consequence of urbanization. Over a decade after the implementation of this instrument in Chile, a review of the indicators used in the SEA framework to monitor the impacts of urban planning has yet to be executed. Since there is no standardization of indicators under Chilean regulations, this study applied international classifications including the Pressure-State-Response indicator framework devised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in addition to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 37120. Under these criteria, the environmental-monitoring indicators utilized in the most populous regions in Chile were classified. Results show a limited use of indicators that can be categorized as related to urban-focused environmental monitoring. This paper concludes by posing certain questions that should be considered for future improvements to monitoring impacts generated by urbanization.

A Generalized Stress State and Temperature Dependent Damage Indicator Framework for Ductile Failure Prediction in Heat-Assisted Forming Operations

Heat-assisted forming processes are becoming increasingly important in the manufacturing of sheet metal parts for body-in-white applications. However, the non-isothermal nature of these processes leads to challenges in evaluating the forming limits, since established methods such as Forming Limit Curves (FLCs) only allow the assessment of critical forming strains for steady temperatures. For this reason, a temperature-dependent extension of the well-established GISSMO (Generalized Incremental Stress State Dependent Damage Model) fracture indicator framework is developed by the authors to predict forming failures under non-isothermal conditions. In this paper, a general approach to combine several isothermal FLCs within the temperature-extended GISSMO model into a temperature-dependent forming limit surface is investigated. The general capabilities of the model are tested in a coupled thermo-mechanical FEA using the example of warm forming of an AA5182-O sheet metal cross-die cup. The obtained results are then compared with state of the art of evaluation methods. By taking the strain and temperature path into account, GISSMO predicts greater drawing depths by up to 20% than established methods. In this way the forming and so the lightweight potential of sheet metal parts can by fully exploited. Moreover, the risk and locus of failure can be evaluated directly on the part geometry by a contour plot. An additional advantage of the GISSMO model is the applicability for low triaxialities as well as the possibility to predict the materials behavior beyond necking up to ductile fracture.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Governance of Global Public Goods

This chapter analyses the relationship between global public goods (GPGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It argues that the Global 2030 Agenda of the United Nations constitutes an example of how the concept of GPGs has been given a normative dimension in international law, as well as of the difficulties that may be encountered in the process of operationalization of GPGs. The normative framework for the implementation of the SDGs relies on the use of indicators to evaluate state performance in achieving the SDGs. The choice of such indicators is crucial for appropriate decision making. However, both the usefulness and the legitimacy of indicators have been put into question. The chapter contends that the indicators are in fact normative – and intrinsically politically-driven – instruments. For this reason, the development of a global indicator framework should be expected to follow a democratic procedure involving all the relevant stakeholders.