Resource Conflict Resolution Research Articles

Ecoregion-Based Environment Policy to Resolve Water Resource Conflicts at the Surakarta Ex-Residency

Introduction: This research studies the severe case of water resource conflicts at the Surakarta Ex-Residency, Indonesia. The researchers were interested in studying this case as they wanted to provide a solution to the water resource conflicts that happened at the Surakarta Ex-Residency through an eco-region-based environmental policy principle. This research aims: (1) To describe the water resource conflicts at the Surakarta ex-Residency, Central Java, Indonesia, (2) To identify the governmental policies on water resource management that cause water resource conflicts, and (3) To formulate ecoregion-based water resource management policy model to resolve water resource conflicts. Methods: This was socio-legal research with doctrinal and non-doctrinal approaches. Results: The research results show that the water resource conflicts between the society and the Municipal Waterworks that have control over the water resources happened due to policies that allowed water management for commercial interests. Conflicts also happened between Regional Governments, as a result of an inaccurate understanding of regional autonomy. This leads to the formulation of water resource management policies that are merely based on regional egos. Discussion: The Regional Government's policies on water resource management contribute to the emergence of water resource conflicts. This is because such policies are directed to various orientation forms, namely economic orientation, privatization, and the unsynchronized water resource management regulations between Regional Governments. The water resource conflict resolution policy with the ecoregional approach is carried out through a mutual agreement between Regional Governments, that will be followed up by each of those Regional Governments. Conclusion: The legitimization is in the form of Regional Regulations that regulate the imposition of responsibilities as well as the rights on the water resource management.

Dynamic pricing‐based integration for non‐cooperative ubiquitous sensing and communication network

AbstractAs 5G and early‐stage network technologies mature, a wealth of data and experience is accumulated. The ubiquitous sensing and communication network (USCN) can leverage these existing communication infrastructures to maximize resource utilization and reduce the costs of redeployment through integration with modern 6G and beyond 6G networks. However, implementing future integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) functions in USCN may possess different hardware capabilities and communication protocols, presenting significant challenges. This is due to the lack of a unified framework for managing and optimizing these heterogeneous resources, as well as the absence of reasonable performance metrics. This letter proposes a dynamic pricing coordinated resource allocation (DPCRA) mechanism to realize the emerging ISAC in legacy USCNs. The DPCRA is designed to optimize the spectrum efficiency (SE) of USCN and manages resource interactions between heterogeneous devices through price variables, thereby resolving resource conflicts and deadlocks. The novelties include: (1) employing a price mechanism to foster resource cooperation in non‐cooperative networks; (2) introducing an SE metric incorporating an information similarity factor for optimization; (3) dynamically selecting resources to enhance SE. Simulations demonstrate that the DPCRA effectively resolves device deadlock while maintaining high SE levels, promoting device collaboration.

Revisiting the success of co‐management in forest protected areas of Bangladesh: Untangling the interplay of power, participation, and community empowerment

AbstractThis narrative review critically assesses the implementation and purported success of co‐management in forest management in Bangladesh. Co‐management has gained global popularity, celebrated for its participatory approach to natural resource conflict resolution, yet critiqued for potential design flaws, susceptibility to elite capture, and perpetuating power imbalances in predominantly top‐down management cultures. Despite two decades of application and reports of positive outcomes in managing forest protected areas of Bangladesh, concerns persist regarding the authenticity of its success and sustainability, particularly in terms of power dynamics and effective community participation in decision‐making processes. The review delves into these aspects, revealing instances where successes might be superficial, overlooking the underlying issues of power disparity among stakeholders. It highlights the crucial role of enhancing social capital within co‐management frameworks to foster institutionalization and sustainability. Recommendations include advancing robust collaboration and communication, alongside the adoption of adaptive management practices to navigate the complex interplay of natural, social, and institutional challenges.

A Spacecraft Onboard Autonomous Task Scheduling Method Based on Hierarchical Task Network-Timeline

To address the inherent challenges of deep space exploration, such as communication delays and the unpredictability of spacecraft environments, this study focuses on enhancing spacecraft adaptability and autonomy, which are essential for Autonomous Space Scientific Exploration. A pivotal aspect of this endeavor is the advancement of spacecraft task scheduling, which is integral to increasing spacecraft autonomy. Current research in this domain predominantly revolves around mission timing planning and is primarily executed from ground stations. However, these plans often lack the granularity required for direct implementation by spacecraft. In response, our study proposes an innovative approach to augment spacecraft autonomy, introducing a method that articulately describes mission objectives and resource information. We designed a novel hierarchical task network-timeline (HTN-T) algorithm, an amalgamation of the HTN scheduling method and the distinctive elements of existing research. This algorithm addresses time constraints through horizontal and vertical expansions, building upon the resolution of logical constraints found in conventional planning methods. Furthermore, it introduces a priority-based strategy for resolving resource conflicts in spacecraft tasks. This algorithm is substantiated through validation, including proof-of-principle demonstrations and assessments within a Space–ground Collaborative Management and Control System encompassing both ground and spacecraft operations. The findings indicate that our proposed algorithm achieves high rates of scheduling success and operational efficiency within a feasible timeframe, thus effectively navigating the complexities of autonomous spacecraft task scheduling.

Land use planning and climate change adaptation in river-dependent communities in Nigeria

Land use planning and climate change adaptation are critical for ensuring sustainable development and resilience in river-dependent communities in Nigeria. This study examines land use planning and climate adaptation in river-dependent communities in the Lower Niger River region of Nigeria. The research utilizes a mixed-methods approach. Data for the study were gathered from 198 households through surveys, complemented by 17 qualitative interviews and remote sensing techniques to assess land use changes and community perceptions. Findings reveal a notable trend where poor farmers face heightened vulnerability to climate change due to financial constraints, hindering their adoption of adaptive land use strategies. Specifically, more than half of the sampled households possess individual land for agricultural purposes yet lack the resources to effectively mitigate climate-related risks. Among the studied communities, Odekpe emerged as particularly vulnerable, with a prevalence of vulnerability at 32.3% and higher exposure to flood-prone zones.The quantitative analysis delineates community engagement in land management practices, showcasing proactive resource allocation and conflict resolution efforts among over 60% of participants. However, a significant portion (57.6%) lacked awareness of hydrological changes, potentially impeding effective land use planning and adaptation measures.Further analysis through remote sensing and mapping techniques revealed shifts in land use land cover, highlighting a transition from predominantly vegetated areas to built-up regions over the past three decades. The flood vulnerability assessment maps underscored substantial vulnerability across the Lower Niger basin, especially in downstream regions, indicating heightened risks due to proximity to the Niger River and heavy rainfall.Qualitative insights from stakeholder interviews identified challenges impeding effective land use planning, including uncertain climate projections, insufficient data, institutional capacity constraints, and conflicting priorities. Additionally, participants emphasized the need for resilient land use decisions to address urbanization impacts, altered drainage patterns, and diminishing green spaces. The study recommends several key actions to enhance the effectiveness of land use planning and climate adaptation in the Lower Niger River region. These include the imperative to strengthen institutional capacities, improve stakeholder engagement processes, integrate traditional knowledge and practices into planning efforts, fortify legal frameworks governing land use, and prioritize the promotion of sustainable livelihoods among local communities.

Gendered Politics in Post-Independence Kenya: The Case of Lower Eastern Region

Women make up a significant proportion of the population, accounting for over half of the global population. Despite this, their participation in politics has always been lower than that of men. In Kenya, women constitute more than half of the entire population and form a sizable part of the electorate, yet they still face political exclusion. Political participation of women in politics is of great significance. This is because it is within the political realm that resource allocation and conflict resolution takes place. People join politics to individually or collectively pursue their interests and if women as a category are not equitably represented, it would mean that key policy and decisions are made without considering their aspirations. The objective of the study was to examine patterns of women's political mobilization in Kenya between 1963-2022. The study was guided by Social Relations Gender Approach. This theory is underpinned by the following assumptions: 
 
 Human well-being is the primary goal of development, 
 Social relations determine people's roles, rights as well as their power over others and 
 Societal institutions play an integral role in perpetuating social inequality. 
 
 The research employed an exploratory research design. It is held here that the Jomo Kenyatta regime perpetuated the colonial patriarchal ideology anchored on gender bias. The independence regime conceptualized the role of women’s organizations as mainly useful to improve the nation’s economy but deliberately muzzled their political aspirations. The Moi regime opened political space for women and it is the Kibaki administration through the promulgation of the 2010 Constituion that gave women the requisite platform towards achieving gender equity in politics.

Multilevel agent negotiation on service bindings for efficient multi-tasking in IoT environments

In Internet-of-Things (IoT) environments, various IoT resources are utilized to provide the services necessary to accomplish users’ tasks. Therefore, IoT resources must be effectively and efficiently allocated so that service providers can successfully generate their service capabilities utilizing IoT resources. Additionally, conflicting resource allocation must be avoided for services supporting multiple user tasks. Furthermore, resource allocation and conflict resolution must be performed dynamically because users perform their tasks spontaneously. To address these issues, we propose an agent-based service-binding approach for efficient resource allocation and conflict resolution through negotiations among resources, service providers, and task agents. Negotiation occurs when a task agent attempts to use a service that is currently occupied by another task agent. The task agent that uses the service is determined in the negotiation process by considering the transfer fee based on the usage price of the service and the availability of a substitute service. Negotiations can occur at the task-service or service-resource levels to support flexible service binding. To evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we compared its success rate with that of traditional resource allocation methods in terms of allocating resources successfully for multiple services. We also analyze the execution time to measure the overhead incurred by multilevel negotiation, which is an essential component of our approach. The proposed approach showed an average success rate of 79% which is 1.17%p lower than multi-objective optimization algorithms (MOOA), but the running time of the proposed approach was 98.3 s which was 56% of the running time of MOOA.

THE OVERLAPPING OF REGULATIONS ON MARINE RESOURCES LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CUSTOMARY LAW AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN THE KEI ISLANDS

<p><em>This research is socio-legal research with an ethnographic approach regarding the resolution of maritime resource conflicts in the Kei Islands and the conditions of current state laws and regulations. This article discusses how the overlapping of laws and regulations occurs in law enforcement on marine resource management and how customary law is an alternative for resolving conflicts over marine resources in the Kei Islands. This study found that so many laws and regulations besides helping to create legal order can also have an impact in the form of overlapping authorities between state agencies. On the other hand, the resolution of maritime resource conflicts in practice does not always depend on the positive law of the state alone. Another fact is often found that the community and even the state apparatus also accommodate customary law in resolving conflicts that occur. However, this form of settlement developed into a hybrid form.</em></p><em>Keywords: the overlapping regulations, Kei customary law, hybrid legal systems.</em>

Analysis on Human Resource Management and Conflict Resolution in The Long Road of Indonesian Era

As a nation, Indonesia is still in the process of nation-building. Since the beginning of Indonesia's independence, youth or young groups have played a key role in the nation-building process that determines the direction of the next development of the Indonesian state. Young people, from time to time, have distinctive characteristics that are influenced by the socio-cultural-political conditions in which they grow up. The interactions that occur between young people and the government will have an impact on future leadership styles. This paper aims to describe the pattern of human resource management in Indonesia's nation-building process, particularly in analysing the pattern of conflict resolution between the youth and the government in each era of Indonesian leadership (Old Order, New Order, and Post-Reformation)

Energy-Aware Computation Management Strategy for Smart Logistic System With MEC

As the most important part of a smart city and long-standing challenging issue, a highly efficient smart logistic system has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. In particular, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are ideal solutions for last-mile delivery scenarios in recent years due to their fast speed and easy deployment. However, because of the highly automatic delivery process, UAVs are still constrained by the limited payload, battery, and computing capacity for complex computational tasks. With the aid of the mobile edge computing (MEC) technology, UAVs can offload computational tasks to the MEC computational resources in various types of IoT environments. In spite of the task offloading which can enhance their task process capability, it also brings extra overhead, such as data transfer time and energy consumption. These extra overheads may significantly impact the efficiency and payload of UAV-based delivery systems. Therefore, taking the UAV last-mile delivery system with MEC as an example, this article investigates the energy-aware multi-UAV task computation management problem according to a realistic autonomous delivery network (ADNET). Specifically, we propose a computation management strategy, namely, the MEC-based task offloading and scheduling strategy (TOSS), to provide an integral approach covering both the static task offloading and scheduling algorithm, as well as the dynamic resource conflict resolution algorithm. Grounded on real-world scenarios, our experimental results show that TOSS can achieve a higher payload for UAVs by using minimum energy consumption and task makespan within the given constraints of the deadline compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

The Role of Environmental Justice in Promoting the Rule of Law in Natural Resource Conflict Resolution in Africa: A Case Study of Nigeria

The Role of Environmental Justice in Promoting the Rule of Law in Natural Resource Conflict Resolution in Africa: A Case Study of Nigeria

Toward epistemological identification of the four major mindscapes

PurposeJapanese American philosopher Magoroh Maruyama (1969) proposed the Mindscape theory, a macro model of cultural differences identification. The theory suggests inter-and intra-cultural heterogeneity and four major Mindscapes of H, I, S and G. He and his colleagues designed 64 graphic geometric patterns based on redundant and non-redundant complexity to recognize the Mindscapes in cultures. However, there is no method of identifying each Mindscape individually/separately. In other words, specificity is missing in this theory. Without such identification, the applicability of the Mindscape theory in international business is limited. This study aims to provide the needed specificity.Design/methodology/approachThe present study applies Harvey’s (1966) four epistemological systems to identify each of the four Mindscapes. According to Maruyama and Harvey, three of Harvey’s four systems are identical to the three Mindscapes of H, I and G. If the authors can match the three Mindscapes with the three Harvey’s systems, what remains the authors assume to be the fourth Mindscape.FindingsThe current study determined various graphic and geometric patterns associated with each of the four Mindscapes. In doing so, the study expanded the applicability of the theory in international business.Research limitations/implicationsHarvey (1966) administered nine psychological tests (instruments) to many subjects over nearly two decades to determine the four systems. Using nine major instruments is very challenging, demanding and time-consuming. For ease of application and saving time, the authors used one of these instruments as an example. Ideally, the authors should use all.Originality/valueMindscape theory suggests that each of the four salient Mindscapes is more relevant to a specific situation, such as human resource management, motivation, leadership, conflict resolution and others. By identifying each Mindscape, this study expands the use of Mindscape theory.

Application of an Encoding Revision Algorithm in Overlapping Coalition Formation

Overlapping coalition formation is a very active research field in multi-agent systems (MAS). In overlapping coalition, each agent can participate in different coalitions corresponding to multiple tasks at the same time. As each agent has limited resources, resource conflicts will occur. In order to resolve resource conflicts, we develop an improved encoding revision algorithm in this paper which can revise an invalid two-dimensional binary encoding into a valid one by checking the encoding for each row. To verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, differential evolution was used as the experimental platform and compared with Zhang et al. The experimental results show that the algorithm in this paper is superior to Zhang et al. in both solution quality and encoding revision time.

Application of an Encoding Revision Algorithm in Overlapping Coalition Formation

Overlapping coalition formation is a very active research field in multi-agent systems (MAS). In overlapping coalition, each agent can participate in different coalitions corresponding to multiple tasks at the same time. As each agent has limited resources, resource conflicts will occur. In order to resolve resource conflicts, we develop an improved encoding revision algorithm in this paper which can revise an invalid two-dimensional binary encoding into a valid one by checking the encoding for each row. To verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, differential evolution was used as the experimental platform and compared with Zhang et al. The experimental results show that the algorithm in this paper is superior to Zhang et al. in both solution quality and encoding revision time.

Diagnostics and making decision in conflict management at the enterprise

The period of overcoming crises in society due to pandemics, declining economic growth, social stratification, job loss in business is characterized by political and social instability, which creates conflict situations at all levels of the social hierarchy. The transformation of modern political and economic institutions, the development of processes of reforming society are accompanied by a deepening of the contradictions between the interests and needs of different social groups and individuals. The purpose of the article is to review the main sources and causes of conflicts, and also ways to solve them in the enterprise. The main methods of resolving resource conflicts are: negotiations, information and clarification of conflicts. Conflicts of goals, values and communications are also resolved using the most effective methods inherent in these types of conflicts.

A three-stage decomposition algorithm for decentralized multi-project scheduling under uncertainty

Decentralized management of multiple projects is a common practice in areas such as maintenance service, supply chain management, and globalized manufacturing. Nevertheless, the resolution of resource conflicts among multiple projects caused by management independence is a challenging task in generating a multi-project baseline schedule. Various unexpected events may also affect the project execution phase, leading to resource disruptions that can cause the baseline schedule to become infeasible and necessitate its repair. Here, we study the decentralized multi-project scheduling problem subject to global resource disruption, which is NP-hard. To obtain high-quality baseline schedules and effectively repair disrupted schedules, we formulated a three-stage decomposition model. Then, we developed a three-stage decomposition algorithm with a task-scoring mechanism (TDA-TS), which is generic for the processes of schedule generation and repair. Proposed new priority rules were developed that used information about the local schedules and were organized as TDA-TS to further improve its performance. A comprehensive experiment was conducted on the Multi-Project Scheduling Problem LIBrary dataset. The experimental results indicated that the proposed algorithm outperformed several existing centralized and distributed algorithms in the generation of baseline schedules and that it could effectively repair disrupted schedules even for large instances. Furthermore, we saw that the newly proposed priority rule embedded in TDA-TS significantly outperformed other priority rules in repairing the disrupted schedules. The results of this research are valuable for managers who need to effectively repair disrupted schedules in a decentralized multi-project environment facing various disruptions.

Mars Land Use Policy Implementation: Approaches and Best Methods

Sending humans to Mars has been a component of the official US space policy of multiple presidential administrations. Additional stakeholders with interests in visiting Earth's terrestrial neighbor in the coming decades include private companies and the space agencies of other spacefaring nations. Numerous motivations exist for humans to explore and settle on the Martian surface, including environmental suitability and species survival, the search for life, scientific and technological development, economic profitability, and fundamental human nature. However, if human settlement and sustainability on Mars is expected to become a reality, existing legal regime deficiencies must be addressed, six of which I have identified: (1) national jurisdiction and responsibilities, (2) resource utilization, (3) conflict resolution and central authority, (4) environmental protection, (5) future settler legal status, and (6) social justice. This article examines the feasibility of various land use policies applied to the Mars case. I conduct a policy option evaluation of the following proposed land use approaches using assessment criteria based on the identified legal deficiencies: (1) bounded first possession by landfall [Collins, 2008], (2) bounded possession with planetary parks [Bruhns and Haqq-Misra, 2016], (3) liberating Mars [Haqq-Misra, 2015], (4) a Mars tax [Collins, 2008], and (5) planetary parks [Cockell and Horneck, 2004]. Based on this analysis, I recommend approach (2), which allows for bounded possession and creates planetary parks. This approach sufficiently addresses all assessment criteria by permitting occupation and resource rights to limited plots of land on the Martian surface, advocating for a Mars Secretariat as a conflict mediation method, implementation of a planetary park system to protect valuable lands, and designating the application of laws within and outside of land claim areas. Implications of the findings presented here are valuable not only for the future exploration and settlement of Mars but other solar system bodies where human activity may be an eventual reality.

A compact reformulation of the two-stage robust resource-constrained project scheduling problem

This paper considers the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with uncertain activity durations. We assume that activity durations lie in a budgeted uncertainty set, and follow a robust two-stage approach, where a decision maker must resolve resource conflicts subject to the problem uncertainty, but can determine activity start times after the uncertain activity durations become known.We introduce a new reformulation of the second-stage problem, which enables us to derive a compact robust counterpart to the full two-stage adjustable robust optimisation problem. Computational experiments show that this compact robust counterpart can be solved using standard optimisation software significantly faster than the current state-of-the-art algorithm for solving this problem, reaching optimality for almost 50% more instances on the same benchmark set.

Value of Advance Care Directives for Patients With Serious Illness in the Era of COVID Pandemic: A Review of Challenges and Solutions.

Advance care directives (ACDs) are instructions regarding what types of medical treatments a patient desires and/or who they would like to designate as a healthcare surrogate to make important healthcare decisions when the patient is mentally incapacitated. At end-of-life, when faced with poor prognosis for a meaningful health-related quality of life, most patients indicate their preference to abstain from aggressive, life-sustaining treatments. Patients whose wishes are left unsaid often receive burdensome life sustain therapy by default, prolonging patient suffering. The CoVID pandemic has strained our healthcare resources and raised the need for prioritization of life-sustaining therapy. This highlights the urgency of ACDs more than ever. Despite ACDs' potential to provide patients with care that aligns with their values and preferences and reduce resource competition, there has been relatively little conversation regarding the overlap of ACDs and CoVID-19. There is low uptake among patients, lack of training for healthcare professionals, and inequitable adoption in vulnerable populations. However, solutions are forthcoming and may include electronic medical record completion, patient outreach efforts, healthcare worker programs to increase awareness of at-risk minority patients, and restructuring of incentives and reimbursement policies. This review carefully describes the above challenges and unique opportunities to address them in the CoVID-19 era. If solutions are leveraged appropriately, ACDs have the potential to address the described challenges and ethically resolve resource conflicts during the current crisis and beyond.

You Calculate and I Provision: A DRL-Assisted Service Framework to Realize Distributed and Tenant-Driven Virtual Network Slicing

This article studies the problem of virtual network (VNT) slicing in datacenter interconnections (DCIs), and proposes a novel service framework to better balance the tradeoff between cost-effectiveness, and time-efficiency. Our idea is to partition a DCI into non-overlapped subgraphs, divide the VNT slicing in each subgraph into four collaborative steps, and get tenants involved in the calculation of virtual network embedding (VNE) schemes. With our proposal, an agent of infrastructure provider (InP) leverages deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to price, and advertise the substrate resources in one subgraph, motivates tenants to request resources in a load-balanced manner, and accepts VNE schemes from the tenants to avoid resource conflicts. Meanwhile, the tenants' task is to compute their own VNE schemes independently, and distributedly according to the resource information (i.e., the available resources, and their prices) advertised by the agent. We first design the DRL model based on the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG), and develop a VNT compression method based on auto-encoder (AE) to generalize the DRL's operation. Then, we study how to resolve resource conflicts among the distributedly-calculated VNE schemes, build a conflict graph (CG) to transform the VNE selection into finding the maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) in the CG, and design a polynomial-time approximation algorithm to solve the problem. Extensive simulations confirm that compared with the centralized service framework relying solely on the InP for VNE calculation, our proposed DRL-assisted distributed framework provisions VNT requests with significantly shorter computation time, and comparable blocking performance.