Common Resources Research Articles

Groundwater Extraction for Irrigation Purposes: The Case of Asymmetric Players

In this paper, we address the problem of groundwater exploitation by heterogeneous farmers for irrigation purposes. In particular, we study the possible inefficiencies that can arise in this type of common resource problem by considering the dynamic and strategic interactions between groundwater users. To this end, we build a two-player differential game in which two types of farmers (or many farmers grouped into two types, with a representative farmer for each group) display different characteristics related to their agricultural activity. More precisely, they can have different water demand functions, extraction costs, crop productivity, land types and time-preferences. Conditions are studied for the existence and uniqueness of the cooperative and non-cooperative solutions asymptotically converging to a steady state. The model is then applied to the case study of the Western La Mancha aquifer. Effects of the different heterogeneities on the degree of inefficiency of non-cooperative solutions with respect to cooperative solutions are analyzed. Numerical results show that cooperation is always beneficial for the environment and for the agents: It results in higher levels of groundwater stock and total welfare. Moreover, considering heterogeneous time preferences is crucial for reducing the inefficiency of non-cooperation with respect to cooperation, regardless of the other asymmetries between farmers.

A forest peacebuilding mechanism for the world’s most fragile states

Resource scarcity within a fragile state can lead to cooperation or within-state conflict. Cooperation is more likely when local peacebuilding mechanisms are part of a national peace framework. A new local peacebuilding mechanism, shared forest cooperatives (SFC), is proposed here. Designed to stabilize peace in rural communities, SFC refers to a network of local councils. Each council manages a living bank, namely annual dividends harvested from a forest ecosystem or other perennial plants. SFC’s backbone for managing forest dividends is Elinor Ostrom’s common-pool resource principles. Each SFC group relies on the backbone when choosing its own rights, rules and obligations. Ostrom’s monitoring principle of higher-level support, or polycentrism, presents difficulty for fragile states. Outside intervention covers binding decisions, technical expertise and hosting neutral space for face-to-face dialogue initially. SFC’s design, theory and practice draws from four elements: 1) where SFC fits within the current intervention practices, 2) SFC’s reliance on shared land usage and occupancy typical for most of the world’s nine most fragile states, namely Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Sudan, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Syria, 3) adapting Elinor Ostrom’s common-pool resource principles for sharing each living bank’s dividends 4) better governance based on local peace council experiences. Elements are folded into a synthesis and its critique then policy implications. Socially fragile, SFC is proposed as a 2-for-1 mechanism for building peace in rural communities while minimizing forest loss.

Arbitrary Amplification of Quantum Coherence in Asymptotic and Catalytic Transformation.

Quantum coherence is one of the fundamental aspects distinguishing classical and quantum theories. Coherence between different energy eigenstates is particularly important, as it serves as a valuable resource under the law of energy conservation. A fundamental question in this setting is how well one can prepare good coherent states from low coherent states and whether a given coherent state is convertible to another one. Here, we show that any low coherent state is convertible to any high coherent state arbitrarily well in two operational settings: asymptotic and catalytic transformations. For a variant of asymptotic coherence manipulation where one aims to prepare desired states in local subsystems, the rate of transformation becomes unbounded regardless of how weak the initial coherence is. In a non-asymptotic transformation with a catalyst, a helper state that locally remains in the original form after the transformation, we show that an arbitrary state can be obtained from any low coherent state. Applying this to the standard asymptotic setting, we find that a catalyst can increase the coherence distillation rate significantly-from zero to infinite rate. We also prove that such anomalous transformation requires small but nonzero coherence in relevant modes, establishing the condition under which a sharp transition of the operational capability occurs. Our results provide a general characterization of the coherence transformability in these operational settings and showcase their peculiar properties compared to other common resource theories such as entanglement and quantum thermodynamics.

The evolution of environmentally mediated social interactions and posthumous spite under isolation by distance.

Many social interactions happen indirectly via modifications of the environment, e.g. through the secretion of functional compounds or the depletion of renewable resources. Here, we derive the selection gradient on a quantitative trait affecting dynamical environmental variables that feed back on reproduction and survival in a finite patch-structured population subject to isolation by distance. Our analysis shows that the selection gradient depends on how a focal individual influences the fitness of all future individuals in the population through modifications of the environmental variables they experience, weighted by the neutral relatedness between recipients and the focal. The evolutionarily relevant trait-driven environmental modifications are formalized as the extended phenotypic effects of an individual, quantifying how a trait change in an individual in the present affects the environmental variables in all patches at all future times. When the trait affects reproduction and survival through a payoff function, the selection gradient can be expressed in terms of extended phenotypic effects weighted by scaled relatedness. We show how to compute extended phenotypic effects, relatedness, and scaled relatedness using Fourier analysis, which allow us to investigate a broad class of environmentally mediated social interactions in a tractable way. We use our approach to study the evolution of a trait controlling the costly production of some lasting commons (e.g. a common-pool resource or a toxic compound) that can diffuse in space and persist in time. We show that indiscriminate posthumous spite readily evolves in this scenario. More generally, whether selection favours environmentally mediated altruism or spite is determined by the spatial correlation between an individual's lineage and the commons originating from its patch. The sign of this correlation depends on interactions between dispersal patterns and the commons' renewal dynamics. More broadly, we suggest that selection can favour a wide range of social behaviours when these have carry-over effects in space and time.

Applicant Use of Residency Program Websites During Virtual Interviews [ID 2683623

INTRODUCTION: Program websites are the most common online resource applicants use to access information about residency programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online resources have had to take place of site visits when interviews transitioned to the virtual setting. At this time, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education does not have a plan for a transition back to in-person interviews. The objective of this study is to assess applicant use, and information that is sought for development of high-quality residency websites. METHODS: A survey was shared to interviewees on their interview day with Creighton University–Phoenix obstetrics and gynecology residency during the 2022–2023 application cycle. To remove the possibility of influence or coercion, the survey was kept anonymous. This was found to be IRB exempt. RESULTS: Of the 88 survey respondents, 100% marked they visited the program website. Only 32 of the 88 respondents indicated they did not find the information they were looking. The most-sought information by respondents was current resident profiles (75% of respondents), hospital/training site information (68%), rotation schedule (63%), and faculty profiles (60%). Other notable categories respondents were hoping to find information about included the following: surgical training, family planning training, and benefits offered by the program. CONCLUSION: Program websites are highly utilized by residency applicants. Information traditionally shared on interview day is now found through online resources; most-sought information included resident and faculty profiles, rotation schedules, and training site information.

Decentralized project delivery on the crypto commons: Conceptualization, governance mechanisms, and future research directions

This paper presents a first conceptualization for decentralized project delivery through the combination of blockchain technology and common pool resource governance theory, also known as the ”crypto commons”. While previous literature on project delivery models identifies the use of decentralized governance, there is not yet a holistic conceptualization nor a specific overview of governance applications that can be applied. To develop the concept, we use a literature review to synthesize fourteen blockchain governance mechanisms useful for managing the crypto-commons. Subsequently, we use systematic combining to identify twenty-two specific applications for decentralized project delivery in the construction industry, one of the largest project-based industries. Each application is briefly reviewed, and examples of their relevance to realize decentralized project delivery models are provided. We discuss the potential for novel forms of project delivery, but also the need for future research on the applications, as well as on the system level implications, the system design challenges, and the implementation barriers in the specific context of the construction industry. Overall, the concepts and mechanisms presented provide a theoretical foundation upon which future researchers can use to design novel decentralized project delivery models.

Effect of emotional stimulus on response inhibition in people with mild cognitive impairment: an event-related potential study.

A few studies are emerging to explore the issue of how aging promotes emotional response inhibition. However, there is a lack of empirical study concerning the impact of pathological cognitive impairment on emotional response inhibition. The present study investigated the effect of emotion on response inhibition in people with mild cognitive impairment, the stage of cognitive impairment before dementia. We used two emotional stop-signal tasks to explore whether the dual competition framework considering limited cognitive resources could explain the relationship between emotion and response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment. The results showed that negative emotions prolonged N2 latency. The Go trial accuracy was reduced in the high-arousal negative conditions and the stop-signal reaction time was prolonged under high-arousal conditions. This study also verified impaired response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment and found that negative emotions prolonged P3 latency in mild cognitive impairment. Emotional information interferes with response inhibition in mild cognitive impairment populations, possibly because emotional information captures more attentional resources, thus interfering with response inhibition that relies on common-pool resources.

Between the Camp and the Makerspace: Commoning Practices, Temporal Autonomy and Care

ABSTRACT The paper explores the chronopolitics of place-making in the refugee makerspace Habibi-Works and the neighbouring Katsikas refugee camp in Ioannina, in Northern Greece. Camps are created to be ephemeral and this ephemerality is reflected in their materiality and conditions the possibilities available to those that inhabit them. Camp temporalities work by way of destabilising the residents' sense of self in the present, severing their connections with the past and limiting their future aspirations. In sheer antithesis to the camp, the makerspace disrupts these (temporal) dynamics: it enables the camp residents to manage time as a common resource (commoning), creating autonomous communities of collective care. Through mundane encounters and practices, the makerspace plays an instrumental role in enacting the residents' autonomy by facilitating access to digital technologies, low-tech manufacturing tools, and skills to reproduce a sense of lost normality. We adopt an ethnographic approach to engage with the makerspace and the camp as well as the various people involved (migrants, volunteers, makers) and understand how migrants narrate their past, negotiate their present and imagine their futures in the context of everyday life. Building on the concepts of peer production, temporal autonomy and radical care, we argue that Habibi-Works opens up a new socio-political space between the camp, the makerspace and the world.

Optimizing energy efficiency in brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO): A comprehensive study on prioritizing critical operating parameters for specific energy consumption minimization

Reverse osmosis (RO) systems offer a viable solution for treating brackish water (BW), a common but underutilized water resource. However, the energy-intensive nature of brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems poses affordability challenges to water supply, necessitating a focus on minimizing their energy consumption to support SDG6's goal of providing safe and affordable drinking water for all. This study addresses the critical need to minimize the specific energy consumption (SEC) of a typical BWRO system, defined as the energy consumed per unit of water recovered, mathematically and experimentally. Empirical models were developed proving there is a global minimum SEC while adjusting the operating conditions. Furthermore, we identified the key operating factors influencing SEC and their priority levels, along with their interactive effects. Notably, no prior study has discussed the significance and interaction of these operating factors (e.g., feed water salinity, temperature, pressure, flowrate and membrane permeability) on SEC of a BWRO system. Employing a full factorial experimental design with mixed levels of operating parameters, the study developed regression models that elucidate the mechanistic interaction between these parameters and system performance. Moreover, the models were validated experimentally, with a new dataset demonstrating their accuracy and reliability. ANOVA statistical analysis identified feed salinity, pressure, flow rate, feed flow rate×pressure, salinity×pressure, and temperature as influential operating parameters in reducing SEC, in descending order of importance. Operating within the determined optimum range resulted in a 36 % decrease in SEC and a more than fourfold increase in water recovery. The study's systematic approach and findings can be extrapolated to optimize the performance of other desalination technologies and diverse feed water types, contributing significantly to global water sustainability efforts.

Integrating geoenvironmental and socioenvironmental analyses for flood vulnerability assessment in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

The escalating impacts of climate change necessitate a focused analysis of flood vulnerability in ecologically fragile and densely inhabited mountain areas, particularly in the Himalayan region. This study concentrates on the Kullu Valley within the Beas Basin, Himachal Pradesh, India, a locale characterized by its intricate terrain and dynamic climatic conditions. Employing an integrated approach of using satellite imagery, Geographic Information System (GIS), and field surveys, the research evaluates the region's topographical and hydrological attributes alongside land use patterns to discern flood vulnerabilities. Key findings from this study include, the identification of zones with elevated runoff potential, high-risk settlements, and vulnerable agricultural lands. The complex interplay of steep slopes and intricate stream networks exacerbates the susceptibility to flash floods in the region. The study's socio-environmental analysis resulted in the delineation of five zones, each exhibiting distinct adaptive capacities, exposures, and sensitivities. Particularly, Zones 5 and 4 emerged as highly vulnerable due to dense settlements and economic dependence on agriculture and tourism. This study suggests implementing a 100-m buffer zone along the river and monitoring the use of Common Property Resource (CPR) lands to mitigate flood risks. Our recommendations extend to enhancing emergency response protocols, improving disaster management team preparedness, improving communication and transport infrastructures, and ensuring medical facility accessibility. Overall, this research offers a comprehensive perspective on flood risk factors in mountainous landscapes, serving as a guide for policymakers and disaster management authorities in formulating resilient and sustainable flood mitigation strategies.

Collective participation in conservation easements in rural China: Evidence from the Qianjiangyuan National Park

Conservation easements (CE), as an emerging conservation strategy in China, have gained successful collective participation within the Qianjiangyuan National Park with all its collectively-owned forestlands under easements. This study uses an analytical framework developed from the social-ecological systems (SES) framework to explore systemic inter-dependencies among social, economic, political, and natural processes that contextualize the agreements and patterns of interaction where collective participation is achieved. The results indicate that broader-scale variables under socio-ecological contexts, by affecting the resource system, government system, actor system variables, and their interactions, play a more important role in CE participation than sole individual variables. At the regional scale, changing socio-political factors have influenced rural communities' resource utilization and reduced economic dependency on logging activities, facilitating CE adoption. Within the focal action situation, collective participation was achieved under the rural governance system in which actors interact to form community-level consensus through rural self-governance and consultation, influenced by the mobilizing power of the authority. The case study in China demonstrates the feasibility of using CE as a forest co-management strategy in densely populated protected areas under a common-property regime and the necessity of considering both regional-scale factors and local dynamics in CE design and implementation.

A scoping review of the literature on the application and usefulness of the Problem Management Plus (PM+) intervention around the world.

Given the high rates of common mental disorders and limited resources, task-shifting psychosocial interventions are needed to provide adequate care. One such intervention developed by the World Health Organization is Problem Management Plus (PM+). This review maps the evidence regarding the extent of application and usefulness of the PM+ intervention, i.e. adaptability, feasibility, effectiveness and scalability, since it was introduced in 2016. We conducted a scoping review of seven literature databases and grey literature from January 2015 to February 2024, to identify peer-reviewed and grey literature on PM+ around the world. Out of 6739 potential records, 42 met the inclusion criteria. About 60% of the included studies were from low- and middle-income countries. Findings from pilot/feasibility trials demonstrated that PM+ is feasible, acceptable and safe. Results from definitive randomised controlled trials at short-term follow-up also suggested that PM+ is effective, with overall moderate-to-large effect sizes, in improving symptoms of common mental health problems. Although PM+ was more effective in reducing symptoms of common mental disorders, it was found to be costlier compared to usual care in the only study that evaluated its cost-effectiveness. Our findings indicate that PM+, in its individual and group formats, can be adapted and effectively delivered by trained helpers to target a wide range of common mental health concerns. More effectiveness and implementation evidence is required to understand the long-term impact of PM+, its cost-effectiveness and scalability, and moderators of treatment outcomes such as gender and delivery formats.

The Robustness of Common-Pool Resource Governance in the Gulf of Mottama Ramsar Wetland, Myanmar under Pre- and Post-Political Crisis Conditions

This study examines the role of communities, local institutions, conservation organizations and government agencies in the governance of large-scale common-pool resources (CPR) at the Gulf of Mottama Ramsar wetland, Myanmar before and one year after the 2021 coup d’état. The research employed a mixed method approach in two villages in the GOM on common alluvial land, waterbirds, and fisheries CPRs. The robustness of CPR governance is evaluated with Ostrom’s eight design principles. We found that pre-coup the formation of local user associations, livelihood incentive strategies, and co-management approaches were increasingly effective to conserve fisheries and waterbirds CPRs, while land conflicts over new common alluvial land persisted. One year following the coup, offshore fisheries especially faced challenges from illegal practices by outsiders, due to significantly weakened co-management practices and accountability of local authorities and large-scale commercial fishers to the fishing communities.

Synergistic analysis of performance appraisal and job rotation in enterprise renewal and optimization

As the rate of change in the business world accelerates, organizations strive to enhance their performance and adjust to novel challenges. Performance appraisal and job rotation are common human resource management methods that have been proven to significantly influence employee performance and organizational effectiveness. Nevertheless, their cumulative influence on business renewal and optimization remains underexplored. Therefore, this study utilizes a mixed-methods approach to quantitatively examine performance appraisal and job rotation practices in a selected group of companies. Additionally, it involves qualitative interviews with managers and employees to offer further insight. The findings indicate that a coordinated strategy in evaluating performance and rotating job responsibilities can enhance employee motivation, develop skills, and improve organizational flexibility. Furthermore, an all-encompassing method to managing human resources, considering the interplay between diverse practices, can result in sustained competitive advantage and organizational accomplishment. The study emphasizes integrating these practices with the organization's strategic goals. Its objective is to investigate the synergies between performance appraisal and job rotation in the context of corporate renewal and optimization. The study elucidates how integrating these strategies can drive corporate renewal and optimization.

Self-Governance in Condominium Housing in Tanzania

Despite the ever-growing preference of self-governance in a set of diverse, multi-unit buildings being built in cities around the world, scholarly discussion of how this form of housing is governed and potential inefficiencies with the self-governing since at least the 2010s in the context of countries of the global South is both limited and presented in anecdote. Reflecting on Ostrom’s (1990) common pool resources principles, the study aimed to highlight patterns of interaction; and to see whether commonly held views about self-governance are borne out in practice. A case study approach that involved surveys of condominium homeowners, and interviews with house management committee chairs or members, along with document review was applied. Findings showed underlying forces that preclude functional and sustainable self-governing communities are unsatisfactory participation and weak enforcement of house rules, which are in turn driven by conflicting interests among homeowners, the lack of adequate information, discrepancies in the legal mechanism, and ineffective dispute resolution mechanisms. These issues can give rise to serious damage to building fabrics and social cohesion, hence the emphasis on implementing plausible dispute resolution mechanisms, preparing guidelines and standards on how condominiums can be effectively governed and ensuring individual cooperate and free-riding issues are avoided. Understanding the behavior of individuals within a space for interaction is also crucial for self-governing institutions to function successfully

НОВЫЕ ТРАЕКТОРИИ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ БИЗНЕСА ПОД ВЛИЯНИЕМ ЦИФРОВИЗАЦИИ НА ПУТИ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ УСТОЙЧИВОГО СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ОБЩЕСТВА В РФ

The article considers the processes of globalization in conditions of high turbulence of business, developing today on the basis of digitalization and qualitatively new information exchange, which leads to a significant transformation of social relations. In the field of transformation of business architecture and management technologies, an understanding is formed that the competitive advantages of companies can be best realized through the joint use of common resources, competencies, network effects, and institutional conditions. This circumstance determines the need for economic and managerial research of new objects, which includes the "business ecosystem". The purpose of the study is to substantiate the directions of creating institutional conditions necessary for the establishment and functioning of ecosystems as a new organizational and economic form of doing business in the conditions of ensuring self-preservation of the natural ecosystem. The authors used an institutional approach to the subject of the study, based on the synthesis of economic and organizational theory, systems theory, innovation theory, and the concept of sustainable development. The main results are based on the generalization of historical stages of formation and comparative characteristics of functioning of different models of business ecosystems in banks, determination of value properties of complex banking products.

Us and Ours

Abstract: In this work, we investigate how parochial concerns for common resources, such as tax-funded goods, relate to prejudice against immigrants. Previous experimental work showed majority groups assume minorities will exploit common resources without contributing toward their maintenance. We relate predictions about, and support for, various types of common resources to prejudice against immigrants in two correlational studies. Prejudice against immigrants was negatively associated with support for universal, but positively with security-related resources. Participants' prediction that minority groups would contribute less to the management of communally shared resources was reflected in the degree of negative attitudes they expressed against immigrants in particular. We discuss these results in view of political narratives about immigrants and common resource management policies.

Degradable, anti-swelling, high-strength cellulosic hydrogels via salting-out and ionic coordination

Cellulosic hydrogels are widely used in various applications, as they are natural raw materials and have excellent degradability. However, their poor mechanical properties restrict their practical application. This study presents a facile approach for fabricating cellulosic hydrogels with high strength by synergistically utilizing salting-out and ionic coordination, thereby inducing the collapse and aggregation of cellulose chains to form a cross-linked network structure. Cellulosic hydrogels are prepared by soaking cellulose in an Al2(SO4)3 solution, which is both strong (compressive strength of up to 16.99 MPa) and tough (compressive toughness of up to 2.86 MJ/m3). The prepared cellulosic hydrogels exhibit resistance to swelling in different solutions and good biodegradability in soil. The cellulosic hydrogels are incorporated into strain sensors for human-motion monitoring by introducing AgNWs. Thus, the study offers a promising, simple, and scalable approach for preparing strong, degradable, and anti-swelling hydrogels using common biomass resources with considerable potential for various applications.

Population parameters of Drosophila larval cooperative foraging

Cooperative foraging behavior can be advantageous when there is a common exploitable resource. By cooperating, members of the group can take advantage of the potential of increased efficiency of working together as well as equitable distribution of the product. An experimental signature of cooperative foraging is an Allee effect where at a certain number of individuals, there is a peak of fitness. What happens when there are intruders especially ones that do not contribute to any work required for foraging? Drosophila larvae secrete digestive enzymes and exodigest food. Under crowded conditions in liquid food these larvae form synchronized feeding clusters which provides a fitness benefit. A key for this synchronized feeding behavior is the visually guided alignment between adjacent larvae in a feeding cluster. Larvae who do not align their movements are excluded from the groups and subsequently lose the benefit. This may be a way of editing the group to include only known members. To test the model, the fitness benefit from cooperative behavior was further investigated to establish an Allee effect for a number of strains including those who cannot exodigest or cluster. In a standard lab vial, about 40 larvae is the optimal number for fitness. Combinations of these larvae were also examined. The expectation was that larvae who do not contribute to exodigestion are obligate cheaters and would be expelled. Indeed, obligate cheaters gain greatly from the hosts but paradoxically, so do the hosts. Clusters that include cheaters are more stable. Therefore, clustering and the benefits from it are dependent on more than just the contribution to exodigestion. This experimental system should provide a rich future model to understand the metrics of cooperative behavior.

Socio-Economic Heterogeneity and Income Distribution: Evidence from Common Property Resource Management

The author assesses the relationship between socio-economic heterogeneity and equity of resource distribution by reviewing the theoretical literature. He finds mixed results as regards whether resource management and utilization undercommunity based management is equitable and has the potential for positive impact on the livelihood of very poor and marginalized section of the community. He concludes that inequality among resource users has negative impact on thelocal level collective action. Finally, the author relates the theoretical review findings with observations in community forestry in Nepal, and concludes that equity impact is not positive as a result of inequality among resources users.