National Settlement Research Articles

The North Carolina Model for Opioid Settlements: Partnering to Equip Local Governments’ Overdose Response

Guided by the North Carolina Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), local governments are investing national opioid settlement funds to respond to the overdose crisis. Community Opioid Resources Engine for North Carolina (CORE-NC) partners have developed tools and resources that local governments are using as they plan, implement, and report on their opioid overdose response.

The Pendulum: The Need to Develop a Safe, Effective, and Equitable Management Strategy for Opioids in Cancer Patients.

The opioid epidemic has caused major morbidity and mortality to Americans. Although there are multiple sources of this staggering issue, one inciting factor has been the use of opioids to manage pain. Although recent efforts have changed care pathways for patients with chronic pain, the first-line management of cancer pain remains opioids. Despite this, there is very little evidence and no guidelines/regulations to assist in the management of these patients. Although the literature suggests a number of current barriers to identifying and managing the challenges (such as the preferred management of patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), the optimal approach to taperering, or approaches to disparities), there are no concrete strategies for providers to manage these circumstances. Investing in further research utilizing the national opioid settlement funding, exploring the equity gaps using community based participatory research and community health worker models, and increasing provider education pathways are all potential approaches to improving this issue. These solutions could help identify and address some of the gaps that affect cancer patients taking opioids for pain.

The Regulation and Litigation of Cumulative Effects on Indigenous Rights Following the Yahey Decision and Blueberry River First Nation Settlement and the Potential Effects on the Energy Industry

The British Columbia Supreme Court issued a groundbreaking decision in Yahey v. British Columbia: the Crown had failed to uphold its treaty obligations due to the cumulative effects of over 100 years of development. In response to the 2021 decision, British Columbia and Blueberry River First Nation have reached a multi-million dollar investment agreement which includes joint decision-making powers regarding future development. Yahey’s novel reasoning has significant implications for energy and resource development, treaty relations, and litigation across Canada. Similar claims have now been filed in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, including Duncan’s First Nation seeking to apply Yahey’s reasoning in northwest Alberta. If courts across Canada adopt Yahey, land management decision-making could fundamentally change across much of the country.

Миссионерская работа Ханты-Мансийской митрополии в поселениях Ханты-Мансийского автономного округа – Югры в 2016-2022 гг. (на примере Югорской епархии)

The study is devoted to determining the main areas of the missionary work of the Khanty-Mansi Metropolia in the settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra in 2016-2022, using the example of the Beloyarsk and the Berezovsk deaneries of the Yugra diocese. The paper describes the functions, the results of educational and missionary activities of the Yugra diocese in urban and rural settlements of the district, including in national settlements where representatives of indigenous peoples (Khanty, Mansi) live. The main areas of the anti-sectarian activity of the Yugra diocese in the settlements of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra are revealed. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that, using the example of territorial church structural divisions and on the basis of documents introduced for the first time into scientific use, the modern experience of the missionary activity of the Khanty-Mansi Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church in the territory classified as the regions of the Far North is characterized. The study has shown that in modern conditions, when it comes to the forms and methods of missionary work, their targeted orientation – internal and external missions – is clearly distinguished. It is noted that in regional church divisions, especially in territories remote from direct transport links with difficult natural and climatic conditions, where the deaneries of the Khanty-Mansi Metropolia perform missionary work, the “mission of presence” is relevant and in demand.

Overcoming the constraints of competitive clientelism? Explaining the success of Ghana's poorest region in reducing maternal mortality.

Maternal mortality remains a health challenge that many developing countries struggle to address. Drawing on 64 key informant interviews, this article shows how Ghana's most impoverished administrative region, the Upper East, emerged as a bureaucratic 'pocket of effectiveness' in reducing maternal mortality in a context where national political settlement dynamics are undermining progress in improving maternal health. At the national level, Ghana's progress in reducing maternal mortality has been disappointing because public investments are disproportionately directed to reforms that contribute to the short-term political survival of ruling elites. Competitive electoral pressures have contributed to greater elite commitment towards health sector investments with visual impact, while weakening elite incentives for dedicating resources to interventions that are necessary for enhancing the quality of health. The relatively better performance of the Upper East Region in reducing maternal mortality has been driven by a hybrid form of accountability that combines top-down pressures from the regional health directorate with horizontal forms of accountability that result in a competitive spirit among health workers. These findings show that even in contexts where resources are limited, the capacity of sub-national leaders in devising local solutions to local problems can lead to improved performance of health systems at the sub-national level. The findings also suggest the need for academic debates to go beyond the binary distinctions regarding the usefulness of top-down versus bottom-up accountability measures and focus on building effective and legitimate forms of accountability that run both top-down and bottom-up when seeking to improve health service delivery.

Settlement scaling law reveals population-land tensions in 7000+ African urban agglomerations

Allometric urban scaling law quantifies disproportional relationships between urban indicators and city size, which has been reported across developed countries and parts of the global south, but its applicability in Africa is neglected. Here, taking built-up areas derived from remote sensing in more than 7000 African agglomerations in 2015 as examples, we systematically investigate this settlement scaling law from continental, regional, and country levels. Results show that the built-up area linearly scales with population across the African continent and within northern and western Africa, while it sub-linearly scales with population in southern (β = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.808–0.891) and central (β = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.906–0.957) Africa, but super-linearly (β = 1.10, 95% CI:1.068–1.121) in eastern Africa. National settlement scaling exponents (β) vary from 0.65 to 1.25 with an average of 0.96, whose 63.6% variance can be explained by their share of built-up area, share of metropolitan population, GDP per capita, and proportion of slum dwellers. Residuals of scaling fitting reflect local population-land tensions. Western and eastern Africa are relatively rich in buildable land resources, while northern Africa is relatively poor. This study expanded the settlement scaling theory in Africa and multiple indicators are needed to further understand the rapidly evolving African urban systems.

Development of Traditional Communities of the Khabarovsk Territory During the Population Policy of 1970s-1980s of Russia

This paper examines the state demographic policy in relation to the indigenous minorities of the Khabarovsk Territory in 1970- 1980s in Russia. Its intention is to identify the factors and dynamics of quantitative changes in the national settlements of the region. The paper also aims to unravel the main directions of this policy and the implementation of its programs in various spheres. It examines unpublished sources in a scientific review as a research method. This research is based on previously unknown documents, found in state and municipal archives, is brought into scientific field. The paper identifies the main directions and particularities of the Soviet demographic policy, analyzes the implementation of the main programs in relation to the indigenous minorities of the Khabarovsk Territory, and evaluates the trends in the change of a number of indigenous minority ethnic groups during this period. It concludes that this policy has led to the establishment of a new form of education, construction of a new structure of national sectors functioning, and formation of a state system of medical education. Finally, it argues that the implementation of the Soviet demographic policy has had controversial consequences for the development of the indigenous minorities.

Comparative analysis of the role of second-tier cities in the development of European countries and Russia

ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss the role of second-tier cities in the socio-economic and innovative development of countries. A methodological approach is proposed for carrying out a comparative analysis of the contribution of second-tier and capital cities in the national settlement systems of Europe and Russia. The proposed approach was tested by analysing the contribution of second-tier cities to the demographic development of several countries. In European countries, a more homogeneous distribution of the population between capitals and second-tier cities was observed. This finding indicates a higher competitiveness of European cities in comparison, for example, with Russian cities in terms of human capital attraction and retention. In Russia, the national settlement system traditionally pivots around Moscow and St. Petersburg. On the other hand, the population dynamics of second cities in Eastern Europe is negative for most countries, thereby indicating a migration outflow of their inhabitants toward national capitals. The conducted comparison of the key economic indicators (GDP and GDP per capita) of urbanized areas in all analysed countries showed second-tier cities to be less competitive than national capitals. In this respect, European cities seem to be more successful on a national scale compared to Russian cities with a population of over one million people. The contribution of second-tier cities to innovative development is higher in Western European countries, compared to Eastern Europe, where the innovation potential is largely concentrated in capitals. In terms of this indicator, Russia occupies an intermediate position.

The influence of modernization processes on the formation of a network of settlements in the Yamalo-Nenets National District in the 1920s and 1930s

In the modern world, the Arctic region retains its important strategic importance. Close interest in the formation and development of a network of settlements in the polar countries can be traced in modern research. The purpose of the work is to trace the influence of modernization processes on the transformation of the settlement network on the example of the Yamalo-Nenets National District in the 1920s and 1930s. The object is the settlement network of the studied region, the subject is its spatial and quantitative characteristics. The analysis of the data obtained takes into account the influence of natural, geographical, socio-economic and other conditions for the development of a network of settlements. In the study of the processes of settlement network formation and its transformation, various methodological approaches are traced. In this regard, the modernization theory of social development is of interest, where, according to the concept, urbanization is viewed through the prism of not only demographic, but settlement processes in both cities and rural areas. The work is based on the materials of the Circumpolar Census of 1926-1927 and the All-Union Census of 1939. To analyze documentary sources, a set of statistical methods was used, as well as historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-typological research methods, methods of graphical representation of the obtained statistical data. Based on the newly introduced and published sources of statistical accounting of the population of the Yamalo-Nenets National District, the influence of modernization processes on the development of the settlement network is traced. The factors contributing to the growth of the number of settlements have been identified. In 1939, the national settlements of the indigenous inhabitants of the tundra were the most numerous – out of 222 settlements, almost half were yurts (107), more than a quarter (44) were trading posts. During the 1920s and 1930s, new features in the settlement network of the district can be traced on the territory of the district: the district center was transformed into a city; the number of working settlements increased; new types of settlements appeared, most of their names reflected the features of industrial and economic activity (fishing, fish patch, sand, St. John's wort, forest patch, state farm, farm, weather station, radio station). Thus, against the background of the preservation of the complexity of the economic life of the population and the traditional types of settlement, some features of urbanization were traced.

Cascading effects of elephant–human interactions and the role of space and mobility in sustaining biodiversity

AbstractOur study monitored the changes in elephant numbers, distribution, and ecological impacts over a 50‐year period. During this period, the free‐ranging intermingled movements of wildlife and traditional subsistence pastoralists across the Amboseli ecosystem were disrupted by a national park, livestock ranches, farms, settlements, and changing lifestyles and economies. Elephants compressed into the national park by poaching and settlement turned woodlands to grassland and shrublands, and swamps into short grazing lawns, causing a reduction of plant and herbivore diversity and resilience to extreme events. The results echo the ecological findings of high‐density elephant populations in protected areas across eastern and southern Africa. The impact has led to the view of elephants in parks as being incompatible with biodiversity and to population control measures. In contrast to Amboseli National Park, we found woody vegetation grew and plant diversity fell in areas abandoned by elephants. We therefore used naturalistic and exclosure experiments to determine the density‐dependent response of vegetation to elephants. We found plant richness to peak at the park boundary where elephants and livestock jostled spatially, setting up a creative browsing‐grazing tension that caused a patchwork of habitats and peak of plant richness. Prehistorical and historical literature reviews lend support to the Amboseli findings that elephants and people, the two dominant keystone species in the savannas, have been intimately entangled and coexisted prior to the global ivory trade and colonialism. The findings point to the need to view specific elephant populations in historical perspective and, as far as possible, create connectivity beyond protected areas to allow mobility on an ecosystem and landscape scale. The Amboseli study underscores the significance of space and mobility in the keystone role of elephants, and community‐based conservation as a way to foster coexistence at an ecosystem and landscape scale. Space and mobility also alleviate the ecological disruption of compressed populations, and minimizes population management.

О некоторых вопросах функционирования учетной системы рынка ценных бумаг Российской Федерации в условиях санкционных ограничений

The article analyzes the main functions and tasks facing the central depository in the Russian Federation, as well as its interaction with international depositories under sanctions restrictions. Special attention is paid to the largest European depositories — Belgian Euroclear and Luxembourg Clearstream, which since the beginning of March 2022 have blocked securities and cash in various currencies on the accounts of the National Settlement Depository, which led to problems related to the disposal of securities and receiving payments on them. The author investigates the impact of increasing sanctions pressure of foreign states on the national securities market, and also describes the prospects for unblocking national assets. The article describes what problems have arisen among the subjects of legal relations arising during the cross-border circulation of securities in the conditions of sanctions restrictions.

Determinants of Deteriorated Self-Perceived Health Status among Informal Settlement Dwellers in South Africa

Self-perceived health (SPH) is a widely used measure of health amongst individuals that indicates an individual's overall subjective perception of their physical or mental health status. As rural to urban migration increases, the health of individuals within informal settlements becomes an increasing concern as these people are at high health and safety risk due to poor housing structures, overcrowding, poor sanitation and lack of services. This paper aimed to explore factors related to deteriorated SPH status among informal settlement dwellers in South Africa. This study used data from the first national representative Informal Settlements Survey in South Africa conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in 2015. Stratified random sampling was applied to select informal settlements and households to participate in the study. Multivariate logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to assess factors affecting deteriorated SPH among the informal settlement dwellers in South Africa. Informal settlement dwellers aged 30 to 39 years old (OR = 0.332 95%CI [0.131-0.840], p < 0.05), those with ZAR 5501 and more household income per month (OR = 0.365 95%CI [0.144-0.922], p < 0.05) and those who reported using drugs (OR = 0.069 95%CI [0.020-0.240], p < 0.001) were significantly less likely to believe that their SPH status had deteriorated compared to the year preceding the survey than their counterparts. Those who reported always running out of food (OR = 3.120 95%CI [1.258-7.737], p < 0.05) and those who reported having suffered from illness or injury in the past month preceding the survey (OR = 3.645 95%CI [2.147-6.186], p < 0.001) were significantly more likely to believe that their SPH status had deteriorated compared to the year preceding the survey than their counterparts. In addition, those who were employed were significantly (OR = 1.830 95%CI [1.001-3.347], p = 0.05) more likely to believe that their SPH status had deteriorated compared to the year preceding the survey than those who were unemployed with neutral SPH as a base category. Overall, the results from this study point to the importance of age, employment, income, lack of food, drug use and injury or illness as key determinants of SPH amongst informal settlement dwellers in South Africa. Given the rapid increasing number of informal settlements in the country, our findings do have implications for better understanding the drivers of deteriorating health in informal settlements. It is therefore recommended that these key factors be incorporated into future planning and policy development aimed at improving the standard of living and health of these vulnerable residents.

Роль корреспондентских отношений в системе трансграничных платежей в условиях цифровизации

The current state of the network of banking correspondent relations serving a significant part of cross-border payments and international transactions is of concern to specialists and international organizations. The relevance of the tasks of improving the efficiency of cross-border settlements through correspondent banks determined the choice of the subject and the purpose of the study. The subject of the study is correspondent banking relations in the system of cross—border payments. The purpose of the work is to identify trends in the development of banking correspondent relations in the modern system of global payments, which is being transformed under the influence of digital technologies. The article analyzes the state and development trends of the global network of correspondent banks. As a result of the conducted research, it is concluded that correspondent relations are gradually losing their leading role in national jurisdictions due to the digitalization of national payment systems. However, they are still used in cross-border payments, ensuring the interconnection of payment systems of various levels and multilateral platforms. Digitalization of national and international settlement systems leads to the spread of alternative models of their implementation and the reduction by banks of networks of foreign correspondents to increase the efficiency of the use of funds and reduce costs and risks. However, the gradual degradation of the global system of correspondent banking relations is becoming a serious problem, fraught with an increase in the cost of cross-border payments, a decrease in the availability of settlement and payment financial services for participants in international economic relations, and in the context of increasing sanctions pressure on correspondent banks - fragmentation of the existing global system of cross—border payments.

Evolution of Educational Migration Development and Current State of Administrative and Legal Regime of Educational Migration in the Russian Federation

The analysis of strategic planning acts in the socio-economic, demographic, migration sphere, in the sphere of ensuring national security, regional socio-economic development allows us to determine three strategic goals of the state management impact on migration processes: their socio-economic goal, the goal of ensuring national security and spatial settlement goal. Achieving these goals is possible through strategic management of migration flows using the system of migration legal regimes. Based on the migration regime approach to strategic management of the implementation of the state migration policy of Russia in the field of educational migration, the paper substantiates the concepts and content of the migration flow of educational migration, which consists of educational, pedagogical and scientific immigration of foreign citizens and stateless persons. The paper analyzes the evolution of the administrative and legal regulation of educational migration in the Russian Federation. It is recognized that the formation of the administrative and legal regulation commenced after the adoption of the Federal Law «On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation» and it concerned only educational migration. The author proposers the ways of improving an administrative and legal regulation of this migration flow through legislative consolidation of migration elements and legal regime of educational immigration of foreign citizens and the migration and legal regime of pedagogical and scientific immigration of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation. Proposals define the purpose, principles, tasks, priorities, rules, procedures and guarantees of regime regulation of migration law relationships. The approach described in the paper aims at the development of administrative and legal regulation of educational migration. It consists of educational immigration of foreign citizens and stateless persons and scientific (pedagogical) immigration of foreign citizens and stateless persons. This approach through the formation of regime legal regulation of this migration flow will effectively implement strategic management of the state migration policy in the area of territorial mobility of people.

Towards development of a national human settlement layer using high resolution imagery: a contribution to SDG reporting

This study investigated the automation of the building extraction using SPOT 6 satellite imagery. The proposed methodology uses variance textural information derived from 1.5m panchromatic image to detect built-up areas from non-built-up areas. Once detected, detailed segmentation is performed on built-up class to create individual building objects. Canny edges, SAVI and spectral properties of the objects were used to classify building structures from other land use features using a thresholding technique. The methodology was tested in different areas including formal, rural village and informal and new development settlement types without modifying segmentation and classification parameters. The proposed methodology successfully detected built-up from non built-up areas in all different settlement types. The detection of individual structures achieved more than 70% in formal, rural village and new development areas while less than 50% of building structures in informal settlement were detected. The proposed method can contribute towards monitoring of human settlement developments over a larger area which is vital during spatial planning, service delivery and environmental management. This work will contribute towards the development of a National Human Settlement Layer developed and maintained by SANSA.

Устройство мировой биржевой инфраструктуры. Новые вызовы для российского рынка

The article is devoted to the problems of mutual settlements with the international central depository, which provides liquidity to the vast majority of foreign securities held by private and institutional investors, residents of the Russian Federation. The paper gives a description of the modern design of the exchange infrastructure of the Russian market. Methodical research tools: analysis of normative legal acts and resolutions, methodological instructions of the national settlement depository. As the study showed, the interests of Russian investors who make transactions with foreign securities are extremely vulnerable in the current version of interaction with foreign counterparties. It is concluded that the national organizers of the auction need to revise the structures of mutual settlements. The author put forward options for reducing the regulatory and transactional risks of transactions with foreign securities.

The effect of border closure on road potential accessibility in the regions of the EU-27. The case of the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of the paper is to show how the national border closures within the EU-27 have an impact on changes in potential accessibility in individual transport at the NUTS3 level. We are referring to the situation that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Europe in March 2020. The study distinguishes between long and short trips, comparing the situation before the pandemic with that after the complete closure of national borders by all EU countries, thus showing which areas of the EU will suffer from accessibility losses for both long and short trips. We conclude that the spatial pattern of regions at risk of peripheralisation for short trips well defines the zones in which a serious crisis threatens local cross-border commuting. The threat of peripheralisation for long trips mainly concerns those parts of countries which are closer to the demographic and economic core of the European Union. Nevertheless, it is also compounded by other factors: including the national settlement and road networks.

Mindful of history, observers express guarded optimism on opioid spending

It will be many years and decision‐making cycles before community leaders can draw firm conclusions on whether proceeds from litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies prove to be a boon to substance use disorder (SUD) services. For the moment, observers have expressed cautious optimism that states are taking important steps to ensure no repeat of the empty promises that characterized the national tobacco settlement of the 1990s.

The Slovak Amnesty case before the CJEU: respect for national constitutional identity and (pre-) settlement with the past

The Slovak Amnesty case before the CJEU: respect for national constitutional identity and (pre-) settlement with the past

From Homes to Assets and From Pioneers to Shareholders: An Evolving Frontier Terminology

Frontier settlements played a key role in the formation of Israeli society and its territorial project. In the pre-statehood years and during the first decades after the establishment of the state of Israel, settling the frontiers formed one of the main national objectives, securing the nation’s control over space while promoting a unified local identity. Appropriately, settlement practices and discourse focused on pioneer rural communities and industrial towns, with a clear emphasis on housing units and residential estates. With the privatisation of the local economy, the national settlement development mechanism was privatised as well, the former state-led enterprise was harnessed to the interests of the market, and the earlier focus on housing was thus replaced by a property-oriented approach. This article studies the transformations in Israeli frontier settlement practices while analysing their changing modes of spatial production and the terminology they relied on. Studying the development process of Tzur-Yitzhak and Harish, two Israeli localities on the border with the occupied Palestinian West Bank, this article demonstrates how they first emerged as small-scale rural settlements and eventually turned into corporate-led projects. Presenting the geopolitical and societal interests behind both case studies, as well as the manner their proposed planning altered over the years, this article illustrates the transforming modes of production and the evolution of the local settlement terminology, demonstrating the shift from a pioneer-oriented to a market-led frontier settlement.