Territorial Agencies Research Articles

Climate sensitive growth and yield models in Canadian forestry: Challenges and opportunities

Growth and yield models in forest management planning are used to project future forest conditions and estimate quantities such as wood volume and biomass. These models are crucial for assessing forest sustainability, however, some models currently used in Canada do not adequately account for climate and other environmental variables, which limits their effectiveness under a changing climate. Climate-sensitive growth and yield models (CSGYMs) are therefore urgently needed to support forest management decisions. The Canadian Forest Service (CFS) has developed a strategic plan to advance climate-sensitive growth and yield modeling in Canada through collaboration with provincial and territorial agencies, as well as other partners. The primary objective of this plan is to provide a national-level modelling approach to predicting and managing forest growth, mortality, and other ecosystem services. The climate sensitive growth and yield modelling initiative emphasizes collaboration, open data, and open-source code principles to ensure widespread accessibility and uptake of models, thus contributing to the sustainable management of forest resources. This technical review reports on the status of growth and yield models currently applied in each province and territory, assesses the level of climate sensitivity associated with each of these models, synthesizes the relevant modeling approaches and input data required to implement climate sensitivity into these models, and suggests possible pathways for achieving CSGYM at a national scale. Widespread collaboration will be the key to advancing the development of CSGYMs.

КРАТКАЯ КРИМИНОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА ОСУЖДЕННЫХ, ОТБЫВАЮЩИХ НАКАЗАНИЕ ЗА КОРРУПЦИОННЫЕ И ДОЛЖНОСТНЫЕ ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЯ

The article analyzes empirical material obtained from various penal institutions of the territorial agencies of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, where the criminological profile of convicts sentenced for official malfeasance and corruption crimes is studied. Specific features of the criminal and legal characterization of the committed act are identified through the application of system and structural, and statistical research methods. The article considers indicators of correlation between the gravity of the crime, the term of the sentence, and types of complicity. Furthermore, the attention is paid to the existence or absence of an additional penalty imposed. The grounds for exemption from punishment for this type of convicts are examined. Convicted men and women are considered as separate groups, and comparison with the total number of convicted persons is conducted. As a conclusion, there is a need to study these characteristics in greater depth.

Public Health Reports in 2022: Impact Factor Increase; COVID-19 Coverage; Authorship by State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Agencies; and New Department on Public Health Ethics.

Public Health Reports in 2022: Impact Factor Increase; COVID-19 Coverage; Authorship by State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Agencies; and New Department on Public Health Ethics.

Current Positions of the Collegial Bodies of the FAS Russia on the Application of Antimonopoly Legislation in Cases of Anticompetitive Agreements (on the Example of the Cases of the II and III Quarters of 2022)

This article reveals the modern attitudes of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) applied by the agency when considering cases of violation of antimonopoly legislation in cases of anticompetitive agreements.The attitudes of the FAS Russia often play a significant role both for the FAS Russia territorial agencies and for courts in cases of violation of antimonopoly legislation. The cases considered by the Collegial Bodies of the FAS Russia are essential for the development of antimonopoly law enforcement practice and maintaining its consistency.To disclose the current positions of the FAS Russia more fully and practically on various issues of antimonopoly enforcement, the article will consider some examples of cases considered by the agency in the II and III quarter of 2022.

Attachment Theory: A Barrier for Indigenous Children Involved with Child Protection.

Background: Attachment theory is an established theoretical understanding of the intimate relationships between parental figures and children. The theory frames the ways in which a child can be supported to develop within a secure base that prepares them for adulthood, including entering into and sustaining intimate relationships. The theory, built on the work of John Bowlby following World War II, has extensive literature supporting its application across multiple cultures and nations, although its roots are heavily tied to Eurocentric familial understandings. However, the theory has also been heavily criticized as not being appropriate for child intervention decision-making. Further, its application to Indigenous caregiving systems is also under question. Yet courts rely heavily on applying the theory to questions of sustaining Indigenous children in non-Indigenous care when return to biological parents is deemed impossible. Methods: This article draws upon the consistent arguments used in leading Canadian child welfare legal decisions and case examples to show how Attachment Theory is applied relative to Indigenous children and families. Results: Attachment Theory drawing upon Eurocentric framing, and as applied in Canadian child protection systems, as seen in precedent court decisions, is given priority over living in culture. This occurs even though the research reviewed has shown that the traditional dyadic version of the theory is not valid for Indigenous peoples. Conclusions: While all children will attach to a caregiver or caregiving system, such as kinship or community, leading legal decisions in Canada tend to rely on Eurocentric versions of the theory, which is contrary to the best interests of Indigenous children. Child protection needs to reconsider how attachment can be used from appropriate cultural lenses that involve the communal or extended caregiving systems common to many Canadian Indigenous communities. Child protection should also recognize that there is not a pan-Indigenous definition of attachment and child-rearing, so efforts to build working relationships with various Indigenous communities will be needed to accomplish culturally informed caregiving plans. In addition, continued advocacy in Canada is needed to have child protection decision-making conducted by the Indigenous communities, as opposed to Eurocentric provincial or territorial agencies.

Кадровая составляющая процесса трансформации органов внутренних дел СССР: соотношение поставленных целей и их последствий. 1953-1962 годы

This article, based on principles of objectivity and systematicity of scientific analysis, uses historical-genetic, comparative-historical, and structural-functional methods to substantiate transformations of the law enforcement system in 1953–61 with regard to one-dimensional political task of strengthening the personal power of the new Soviet leadership. Consideration of the process of transformation of the internal affairs bodies in 1953–61 in historical and political context not only reveal the circumstances, but also substantiate the ultimate goal of the transformations. Law enforcement agencies, by nature of their construction and activities, attract attention of both state leaders and general public. Often it is the action or inaction of internal affairs bodies that accompanies changes in political situation. In the Russian history, the internal affairs bodies most often fulfilled government order to facilitate a political course. This explains periodical internal transformations of the law enforcement system. Depending on strategic or tactical goals, the state either weakened or strengthened the security wing. One of such points in the history of internal affairs bodies were the events of 1953–62, when the Soviet law enforcement agencies were subjected to a profound transformation and there was a large-scale renewal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel, both in the center and the periphery. A comprehensive scientific study of the issue has not yet been conducted. Most of the works available today are devoted to some particular point (staffing, educational level of personnel, etc.), while synthetical analytical study remains to be carried out. One of the negative results of the implementation of this task was destruction of professional personnel, both in the central apparatus and in its territorial agencies. The large-scale purge of personnel, alongside with systematic criticism of the government and unflattering publications in the media, caused serious damage to prestige and authority of the entire law enforcement. Party and government goals were to reduce unjustifiably high role of the security wing in state mechanism and to replace the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, thus placing law enforcement agencies under total control of the party and the government. Systematic solution of this task resulted in constant shortage and turnover of personnel, low educational level of common and commanding staff, and decreased efficiency of almost entire structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Attempts to remedy the personnel problems at ministerial and local level were doomed to failure without radical change in party and government policy.

“A Great Investment in Our Communities”: Strengthening Nunavut’s Whole-of-Society Search and Rescue Capabilities

Community-based organizations along with territorial, provincial, and federal agencies are responsible for search and rescue (SAR) in the Canadian Arctic. In delivering response capabilities at all hours of the day and for 365 days a year, the community-based organizations face a wide array of challenges. Using the data collected through the Kitikmeot Search and Rescue Project and the Kitikmeot Roundtable on SAR, coupled with academic and non-government organization literature, this article explores the major challenges facing community SAR organizations in Nunavut and builds a case for how targeted investment can best bolster community-based capabilities. We suggest novel, practical, and holistic solutions that have been proposed by or co-devised with community partners, are rooted in the unique context of Nunavut’s communities, and are reflective of a community resilience-building approach. One set of recommendations involves strengthening current programming, including the expansion of Nunavut Emergency Management’s inReach program, continued support for the enlargement of the CCGA, streamlining the process to activate Canadian Ranger patrols, and encouraging greater cooperation in the provision of training by federal and territorial agencies. We also propose new approaches, including a whole-of-society preventative SAR program centred on educational and youth programming, the adoption of a SAR equipment usage rate model, and the launch of a Community Public Safety Officer program in Nunavut. Finally, to justify greater investment at the community level, we argue that policymakers must change how they conceptualize community-based SAR capabilities in Nunavut. An effective SAR system is about more than the ability to respond to emergency events. It is a critical enabler to broader objectives and goals prioritized in the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework and other federal, territorial, and Inuit strategies.

Regional Development Corporations: Foreign Experience and Russian Practice

The article is focused on the chronology and classification of territorial development agencies (corporations) as an instrument of state regional policy. The paper shows the threat of transformation of the potentially constructive role of corporations into a negative plane. The example of Poland illustrates the EUʼs intervention in the countryʼs internal affairs through regional development corporations as contact points. In Kazakhstan, the first wave of social and entrepreneurial corporations, which were created in 2006–2007 on an extraterritorial basis, caused an internal conflict between the elites, which led to the reformatting of this institution and its subordination to the existing system of regional management (“one district – one region”). The pluralism of approaches to the formation of a network of regional development corporations (“bottom-up” – “top-down”, monoterritoriality – extraterritoriality, etc.) provides opportunities for managerial experimentation, the results of which in the territory of the Russian Federation were expressed in the mass of economic and managerial structures at the federal and regional levels. At the same time, the macroeconomic success of their joint activities remains unclear. For the Russian Federation, the model of consolidation and development of the internal economic space on the basis of corporations of macroregions representing a set of neighboring subjects of the Russian Federation and historically having economic ties of varying degrees of breadth and strength seems appropriate. The model under consideration is based on a new institution of state ownership (macroregion ownership), which allows solving the problems of economic integration of territories by building extraterritorial production and economic complexes.

Canadian historical Snow Water Equivalent dataset (CanSWE, 1928–2020)

Abstract. In situ measurements of water equivalent of snow cover (SWE) – the vertical depth of water that would be obtained if all the snow cover melted completely – are used in many applications including water management, flood forecasting, climate monitoring, and evaluation of hydrological and land surface models. The Canadian historical SWE dataset (CanSWE) combines manual and automated pan-Canadian SWE observations collected by national, provincial and territorial agencies as well as hydropower companies. Snow depth (SD) and bulk snow density (defined as the ratio of SWE to SD) are also included when available. This new dataset supersedes the previous Canadian Historical Snow Survey (CHSSD) dataset published by Brown et al. (2019), and this paper describes the efforts made to correct metadata, remove duplicate observations and quality control records. The CanSWE dataset was compiled from 15 different sources and includes SWE information for all provinces and territories that measure SWE. Data were updated to July 2020, and new historical data from the Government of Northwest Territories, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, and Hydro-Québec were included. CanSWE includes over 1 million SWE measurements from 2607 different locations across Canada over the period 1928–2020. It is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4734371 (Vionnet et al., 2021).

Agricultural services on the demand and supply for improving agricultural productivity in Benin

The Beninese government has undertaken far-reaching reforms in the agricultural service supply in Benin since 2016. The objective of the article was to assess the level of satisfaction of the agricultural services supply and demand and to analyze the determinants of the level of satisfaction of agricultural services in Benin. The primary data used was provided from entire national territory by taking into account all agricultural areas from a representative sample of 4,880 farmers using the seven Territorial Agencies for Agricultural Development (ATDA). Descriptive statistics and the ordered logit predictive model were the methods of analysis. The results showed an overall satisfaction rate of 18.9%. These results reflect a low level of satisfaction of farmers in Benin. The main determinants of satisfaction with the agricultural services supply were gender, proportion of income from agriculture, contact with an agricultural advice agent, use of chemical fertilizer, use of motorized traction and access to improved seeds/planting materials/suckers. As a result, efforts remain to be made to meet the demand of farmers in providing agricultural service by a better coverage of agricultural services to improve farmers’ income and contribute to food and nutritional security and improved living conditions. Key words: Agriculture, satisfaction, agricultural service, food security, Benin Republic.

Landslide size matters: A new data-driven, spatial prototype

The standard definition of landslide hazard requires the estimation of where, when (or how frequently) and how large a given landslide event may be. The geoscientific community involved in statistical models has addressed the component pertaining to how large a landslide event may be by introducing the concept of landslide-event magnitude scale. This scale, which depends on the planimetric area of the given population of landslides, in analogy to the earthquake magnitude, has been expressed with a single value per landslide event. As a result, the geographic or spatially-distributed estimation of how large a population of landslide may be when considered at the slope scale, has been disregarded in statistically-based landslide hazard studies. Conversely, the estimation of the landslide extent has been commonly part of physically-based applications, though their implementation is often limited to very small regions.In this work, we initially present a review of methods developed for landslide hazard assessment since its first conception decades ago. Subsequently, we introduce for the first time a statistically-based model able to estimate the planimetric area of landslides aggregated per slope units. More specifically, we implemented a Bayesian version of a Generalized Additive Model where the maximum landslide size per slope unit and the sum of all landslide sizes per slope unit are predicted via a Log-Gaussian model. These “max” and “sum” models capture the spatial distribution of (aggregated) landslide sizes. We tested these models on a global dataset expressing the distribution of co-seismic landslides due to 24 earthquakes across the globe. The two models we present are both evaluated on a suite of performance diagnostics that suggest our models suitably predict the aggregated landslide extent per slope unit. In addition to a complex procedure involving variable selection and a spatial uncertainty estimation, we built our model over slopes where landslides triggered in response to seismic shaking, and simulated the expected failing surface over slopes where the landslides did not occur in the past.What we achieved is the first statistically-based model in the literature able to provide information about the extent of the failed surface across a given landscape. This information is vital in landslide hazard studies and should be combined with the estimation of landslide occurrence locations. This could ensure that governmental and territorial agencies have a complete probabilistic overview of how a population of landslides could behave in response to a specific trigger. The predictive models we present are currently valid only for the 25 cases we tested. Statistically estimating landslide extents is still at its infancy stage. Many more applications should be successfully validated before considering such models in an operational way. For instance, the validity of our models should still be verified at the regional or catchment scale, as much as it needs to be tested for different landslide types and triggers. However, we envision that this new spatial predictive paradigm could be a breakthrough in the literature and, in time, could even become part of official landslide risk assessment protocols.

Supplemental Pay for Cash Collateral of Police Officers during Quarantine: Administrative Discretion of Authorized Officials on Deciding about Its Payment

The author has researched the norms of positive law, which contain instructions on the establishment and payment of supplemental pay to the cash collateral during quarantine for police officers. A comprehensive, complete and objective study of legal basis for the supplemental pay to the cash collateral of police officers during quarantine is impossible without understanding the law enforcement practices and interpretation used by authorized officials when deciding whether or not to make the supplemental pay to the cash collateral of police officers. The normatively determined grounds for the supplemental pay and the actual substantiation of the application of such payments for police officers have been analyzed. Objectivity and completeness are impossible without analyzing all the arguments, including those voiced by the representatives of the administration of the territorial agencies of the National Police, as legal entities of public law. It has been emphasized that the administrative discretion of authorized officials should embody the principles of the rule of law, respect for human rights and freedoms, and should not pursue the realization of economic private interests, including the interests of subjects of authoritative powers. Restrictions on the application of the supplemental pay to the cash collateral of police officers during quarantine are the direct restriction of the social rights of representatives of a particular profession – police officers. The legal position for protecting the social right of police officers for the supplemental pay, as well as the affiliation of this right to each police officer has been defended.
 At the same time, the legal position on the need for the supplemental pay for all police officers has been additionally substantiated, based on the tasks facing the National Police and the provision of police services to the population.
 The author has argued the legal position of the completeness of social rights of police officers during quarantine, which are impossible without appropriate the supplemental pay to the cash collateral of police officers during quarantine.

Changes in High Weight-for-Length among Infants Enrolled in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children during 2010-2018.

Background: Infants and young children with high weight-for-length are at increased risk for obesity in later life. This study describes prevalence of high weight-for-length and examines changes during 2010-2018 among 11,366,755 infants and young children 3-23 months of age in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Methods: Children's weights and lengths were measured. High weight-for-length was defined as ≥2 standard deviations above sex and age-specific median on World Health Organization growth charts. Adjusted prevalence differences (APDs) between years were calculated as 100 times marginal effects from logistic regression models. APD was statistically significant if 95% confidence interval did not include 0. Results: Adjusted prevalence of high weight-for-length decreased from 2010 to 2014, and leveled off through 2018 overall, in boys and girls, those 6-11 and 18-23 months of age, and non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and Asians/Pacific Islanders. For 12-17 months old and American Indian/Alaska Native infants and young children, adjusted prevalence decreased from 2010 to 2014, and then increased slightly through 2018. Among 56 WIC state or territorial agencies, 33 had significant decreases between 2010 and 2018, whereas 8 had significant increases. Between 2014 and 2018, prevalence decreased significantly in 12 agencies and increased significantly in 23. Conclusions: The results indicate overall declines in prevalence of high weight-for-length from 2010 to 2018, with a prevalence stabilization since 2014. Continued surveillance is needed. Obesity prevention strategies in WIC and multiple settings are important for ensuring healthy child growth.

The Role of Public–Private Partnerships to Increase Access to Contraception in an Emergency Response Setting: The Zika Contraception Access Network Program

The Zika Contraception Access Network (Z-CAN) program was a short-term emergency response intervention that used contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies to reduce Zika-related adverse birth outcomes during the 2016-2017 Zika virus outbreak in Puerto Rico. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that a collaborative and coordinated response was needed from governments and private-sector partners to improve access to contraception during the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico. In response, the National Foundation for the CDC, with technical assistance from CDC, established the Z-CAN program, a network of 153-trained physicians, that provided client-centered contraceptive counseling and same-day access to the full range of the Food and Drug Administration-approved reversible contraceptive methods at no cost for women who chose to prevent pregnancy. From May 2016 to September 2017, 29,221 women received Z-CAN services. Through Z-CAN, public-private partnerships provided a broad range of opportunities for partners to come together to leverage technical expertise, experience, and resources to remove barriers to access contraception that neither the public nor the private sector could address alone. Public-private partnerships focused on three areas: (1) the coordination of efforts among federal and territorial agencies to align strategies, leverage resources, and address sustainability; (2) the mobilization of private partnerships to secure resources from private corporations, domestic philanthropic organizations, and nonprofit organizations for contraceptive methods, physician reimbursement, training and proctoring resources, infrastructure costs, and a health communications campaign; and (3) the engagement of key stakeholders to understand context and need, and to identify strategies to reach the target population. Public-private partnerships provided expertise, support, and awareness, and could be used to help guide programs to other settings for which access to contraception could improve health outcomes.

TERRITÓRIO, PODERES TUTELARES E AGÊNCIAS INDÍGENAS: ANÁLISES PRELIMINARES SOBRE TRÂNSITOS, TROCAS E R-EXISTÊNCIAS NA FRONTEIRA BRASIL-GUIANA FRANCESA (1930-1945)

O artigo analisa as dinâmicas indígenas na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Guiana Francesa, no contexto da Era Vargas (1930-1945). Visa entender suas configurações territoriais e agenciamentos em face às políticas estatais de ocupação dos sertões fronteiriços, no norte amazônico. Utilizando as fontes do Serviço de Proteção aos Índios, dimensiona as vivências e estratégias adotadas pelos povos indígenas da região para reinterpretar, e ressignificar, as ações tutelares que visavam disciplinarizar e dominar seus corpos, mentes e culturas. Isso engendrou outras formas de existência grupal entre os indígenas, que atendiam as pressões da sociedade envolvente sem ocasionar, no entanto, a perda de suas complexidades sociopolíticas e cosmológicas. Logo, a pesquisa revela, ainda de forma preliminar, o dinamismo desse quadro de relações interétnicas na Guiana indígena.Palavras-chave: Amazônia; fronteiras; territórios; relações interétnicas; r-existências indígenas.

Formation and development of local self-government agencies in Ukraine (1991–2019)

Local self-government is an integral part of a democratic society, since it actively influ-ences the political and socio-economic conditions for the development of civil society, and becomes an important prerequisite for the creation of a democratic and legal state. The de-velopment of legislative principles of local self-government in the Ukrainian state is influ-enced by the experience of Western standards of local self-government, the practice of state building in Eastern European and other countries. An important factor for the devel-opment of self-government institutions is the process of globalization, which significantly changes socio-political relations, changes the principles of interaction of territorial com-munities, political organizations and local self-government agencies. The authors of the ar-ticle study the current theoretical and methodological, legal and practical aspects of local self-government in Ukraine. The historical regularities of the formation and development of local self-government in Ukraine (1991–2019) are studied. The stages of the formation and reform of local self-government and territorial organization of public power in Ukraine are determined, namely the authors have distinguished three stages: 1990-1996 (formation of the institution of local self-government of independent Ukraine before the adoption of the Constitution); 1996–2014 (development of the Constitutional principles of local self-government); from 2014 to the present day (reform of local self-government of Ukraine, decentralization). The current problems of ensuring the effective functioning of local self-government agencies are studied.

Разработка методики создания геоинформационной системы культурного наследия на примере Новосибирской области

The authors discuss the results of working at the development of methods for creating GIS of cultural heritage. A brief analysis of modern research in the field of geoinformation cultural heritage mapping had been made befor. The existing methods of creation GIS of cultural heritage objects basing upon the analysis of the performed experimental works are studied. The basic requirements to the methodology of GIS creation of cultural heritage objects are defined. The developed technique of creating GIS for cultural heritage objects on the basis of HTML, CSS and JavaScript-technologies is presented. In the course of the study, a prototype of the geographic information system “Cultural heritage of Novosibirsk region” was developed, it can be used by anyone for educational purposes, as well as by territorial agencies of cultural heritage protection, local governments, construction organizations, road enterprises, land use and subsoil use enterprises, educational and scientific organizations, as well as tour operators and other economic entities.

Telehealth: An Opportunity for State and Territorial Health Agencies to Improve Access to Needed Health Services.

Telehealth: An Opportunity for State and Territorial Health Agencies to Improve Access to Needed Health Services.

Is Training a Precondition for Enhancing Innovation Capacity? Current Perception of Employment Agencies’ Civil Servants in Romania

The civil servants’ training process plays a key role in developing the public employees’ skills and broadening their vision. The present paper seeks to examine the perception of Em­ployment Agencies’ civil servants regarding the effectiveness of training programs, measured through their impact on the number of projects initiated and implemented under Sectorial Oper­ational Programme for Human Resources Devel­opment 2007-2013. The role of training programs in enhancing civil servants’ innovation capacity is also investigated. The methodology consists in an analysis of 253 projects financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) during 2009-2015 and an empirical research using a representative sample of 337 civil servants who attended EU funded training courses in project management. The conclusions of this paper indicated a direct relation between the number of projects developing training cours­es in ‘project management’ and the number of projects initiated and implemented annually by the territorial Agencies for Employment. More­over, a positive correlation between the training programs and the innovation capacity of civil servants from County Agencies for Employment was also identified.

Improving recovery planning for threatened species through Bayesian belief networks

Threatened species management is a priority in global conservation. Despite many international and national initiatives, this strategy faces challenges posed by a wide range of institutional and organizational factors that influence planning and effective implementation. Empirical research of this issue is scarce given the complexity of addressing management issues. Systems analysis and participatory modeling were applied in this study to construct a conceptualization of a management system in the context of Australian governmental programs. This allowed examination of the structure, key elements and dynamics in order to address two research questions: a) which management factors have most influence on implementation of recovery planning? and b) what modifications could be made to improve recovery planning effectiveness? The methods employed comprised stakeholder interviews, expert workshops and qualitative and quantitative analyses to estimate management performance and effectiveness. The management system model was constructed using a Bayesian belief network to assess the most influential factors: a) coordination among federal, state and territory agencies, b) inconsistency of strategies and programs across jurisdictions, c) management of threatened species on private land, d) incorporation of science into recovery planning, e) prioritization schemes of conservation action and f) funding for plan implementation. Recovery planning effectiveness could be improved by establishing mandatory monitoring and review reports, creating a national forum on threatened species, designing an appropriate insurance regime for volunteers and establishing a national management information system.