Context Of Transition Research Articles

Towards a research agenda for City-regions in Vietnam

City-regional research in Vietnam is not new, yet the literature has been rather scattered and research gaps are perceptible. The current transitional context in spatial and socio-economic development planning in Vietnam presents new requirements for management and policy-making as well as a more comprehensive approach to city-regions - the urban form that has increasingly become the living and working reality of urban residents. The purpose of the article is to invite the attention of the scientific community towards the study of city-regions in the future. Through a systematic review of relevant contemporary studies; the article identifies three groups of current research ‘gaps’ from which four practical, output-focused research directions in the coming time are proposed: (1) research in association with the improvement of the legal framework for city-regions, (2) theoretical research to further clarify the understanding of city-regions in the specific conditions of Vietnam, (3) empirical research on city-regions given the availability of existing data as well as research methods that can be utilized when data availability is improved, (4) research on institutions and governance at the city-regional level. Hopefully with more active academic engagement, the city-regions will soon receive the recognition and attention worthy of their status as important socio-economic units in the urban system and the territorial development management system in Vietnam in the future.

Designing urban mobility policies in a socio-technical transition context

The fast-changing behaviour of people in metropolitan areas is creating several challenges to local authorities in managing the urban space. These changes are strongly related to the evolution of technology and its adoption by companies and citizens. Current regulations need, therefore, to be rapidly updated to respond to the new urban dynamics. However, the gap between local authorities and citizens and the communication difficulties are increasing as urban centres grow, creating obstacles to innovation and hindering the deployment of new mobility solutions. The low levels of participation in public consultation actions decrease the quality of new policies, as well as their acceptance by the community. Not only do cities need to be reinvented, but local authorities also need to rethink how to interact with citizens, competing for attention in a digital world. Although digital tools are easily accessible, they are not available to everyone, and municipalities need to consider both digital and non-digital interactions to ensure that all citizens can participate. In this work, we analyse and compare a set of measures that municipalities have been adopting to increase citizens’ engagement, and we develop a methodology to help local authorities increase public participation and improve citizens’ commitment towards the city.

Towards social Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems: a case study on offshore wind farms from companies’ perspective

Within the energy transition context, private and public decision-makers must choose between different energy scenarios. Hence, environmental, and social impacts incurred from the development of renewable energies need to be investigated to ensure their alignment with energy transition objectives. Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is one of the most appropriate methods to analyse social and socio-economic impacts with a life cycle perspective. However, social impacts included in sustainability analyses of energy systems mostly focus on employment or health and safety issues. Few studies in the literature present a rigorous approach to account for social impacts affecting different stakeholder categories. The present work is supported by a close collaboration with key industrial partners of the energy sector to overcome the above-mentioned limitation. Hence, it contributes to the definition of the goal and scope phase of a S-LCA study through the integration of companies’ perception. Thus, it aimed to highlight the priority of social impact subcategories and related stakeholdersin the context of offshore wind farms (OWF). As a result, a core set of impactcategories that were perceived as the most relevant is proposed.

Securing legal reforms to the use of force in the context of police militarisation in Uganda: The role of public interest litigation and structural interdict

This article argues that the failure by the Ugandan government to put in place clear regulations governing the use of force and firearms by the police and armed security forces, particularly during joint police and military operations, as part of arrest and crowd control operations, threatens to violate the right to life, the right to freedom from inhumane treatment, the right to assemble and the right to a remedy under the Ugandan Constitution. It argues that the constitutional, statutory law and case law framework in Uganda can facilitate public interest litigation in order to secure the adoption by the Ugandan government of comprehensive and internationally-accepted standards on the use of force and firearms by police and armed security forces. The article draws on a recent progressive decision of the High Court in James Muhindo & 3 Others v Attorney-General, and the Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2019 to expound on the proactive potential of article 50 of Uganda's Constitution to deliver expedited institutional and human rights-oriented reforms and to afford the courts oversight functions in the implementation of these reforms through structural interdict. These aspects of the public interest litigation framework in Uganda offer a pathway to civilian-led reform in a highly state-controlled, politicised and militarised police and security sector over which Ugandans otherwise have no civilian oversight. Thus, the article explores the potential of public interest litigation as an empowering tool in competing approaches to state formation in transitional contexts and positions public interest litigation as a transformative response to militarisation in a fragile state.

The role of the pre-Alpine polycrystalline basement in the paleogeographic configuration of multiple Neotethyan oceanic basins

AbstractThe study provides a deeper understanding of the early Mesozoic paleogeogeographic spatial-temporal relationship by studying the two Adria-Europe intervening basement blocks. The Drina-Ivanjica and Pelagonian crustal fragments play important role in the internal early Alpine oceanic constitution further controlling the late Jurassic emplacement of Tethyan Dinaric-Hellenic ophiolites. The proposed paleogeographic reassessment is driven by the new paleocontinental inheritance data associated with the Variscan – pre-Variscan basement terranes. The recently published data suggest an Avalonian-type inheritance of the Pelagonian basement block which indicates a different pre-Variscan plate-tectonic journey, including separate spatial arrangement during Variscan amalgamation. In turn, Cadomian-type basement inheritance has been documented within the sliced Adria microplate. Thus, the Avalonian inheritance place the Pelagonian block away from the Apulia/Adria (Dinarides). In the investigated context of Paleozoic-Mesozoic paleogeographic transition, the Pelagonian block may represent a segment of the Cimmerian ribbon continent or southernmost segment of the Variscan Europe. With regards the nearby Adria microplate, a Triassic-Jurassic oceanic opening led to the decoupling (spreading away from the main Adria microplate) of the Drina-Ivanjica block. The rifting is in line with the simultaneous yet opposite or westward-directed drift of the Pelagonides. The breakup of south European Variscan configuration eventually result in the spatial alignment of the two basement fragments referred to as the “Drina–Pelagonide continental splinter”. By linking the paleogeographic pre-Jurassic–Jurassic relationship between these continental units, the two landlocked Neotethyan Vardar s.l. basins are extrapolated, “Dinaric Tethys” / Inner Dinaric-(Mirdita-Pindos) and the main Vardar Ocean (Western Vardar Zone).

The Impact of European Environmental Policies on Energy Prices. Possible Solutions in the Black Sea Region

Even if in Europe the costs of the transition to a green economy are reflected in the final consumer’s bills and in the prices of finished products - an effect already felt in the Community - the necessity to clean up the economy cannot be disputed. However, Europeans need to determine if the priority is to give up conventional energy or to develop the green energy production, because it is becoming increasingly clear that the two objectives cannot be achieved simultaneously without affecting the purchasing power of Europeans. Within this context, the study involves: a) the statistical analysis of the impact of the conventional energy overtaxation and the renewable energy subsidization on the average price charged by suppliers for final consumers on the Romanian market in the first three quarters of 2021 and b) to identify the correlation coefficient between the spot price for energy on the Romanian market and the share of renewable energy in the national mix for the same period. The objective of the research is to assess the costs paid by the final consumers within the context of the energy transition and the production capacity of renewable sources that must be added to the National Energy System for their amortization. The results show the importance of the Black Sea basin in the regional energy equation and its potential to become a point of attraction for European energy investments.

Potential bottleneck in the energy transition: The case of cobalt in an accelerating electro-mobility world

Within the context of the energy transition, decarbonization of the transport sector is the cornerstone of many public policies. As a key component in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries and nickel metal hydride batteries used in electric or hybrid vehicles, cobalt is expected to face a dynamic demand in the coming decades. Numerous questions are arising regarding the criticality risks of this key metal of the energy transition. In order to assess the availability of cobalt until 2050, we rely on our linear programming world energy-transport model, TIAM-IFPEN. Two climate scenarios were considered (2 °C and 4 °C), each with two different mobility scenarios (Business-as-Usual mobility and Sustainable mobility) and for each mobility scenario, three lithium-ion battery chemistry mix trajectories were considered (high, central and low cobalt content) by 2050. Results show that in the most stringent scenario 83,2% of cobalt resources identified in 2013 would be extracted from the ground by 2050 to satisfy global consumption. Two Thirds of world production is from Africa while China consumes 1/3 of the total demand by 2050. We identify several ways to meet the increasing demand for cobalt resources. Public policies must therefore focus on 3 complementary axes: promoting the development of sustainable mobility; prioritizing low cobalt content batteries in electric vehicles; and concentrating efforts on the implementation and the deployment of a system for recovering, sorting and recycling waste.

Stable‐isotope analysis of collective burial sites in Southern France at late Neolithic/early Bronze Age transition

AbstractThe northwestern Mediterranean has been an area favored for bioanthropological and biogeochemical investigations for almost 20 years now. Recent studies have demonstrated that, contrary to previous thought, the diets of Neolithic people were highly diversified and could be influenced by the organizational system and specific mobility of the people. Due to the presence of numerous single burial sites in southern France, most of the stable‐isotope data obtained on human remains come from the Early–Middle Neolithic periods. Currently, very little data are available on the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. This study presents preliminary research on collective burial sites in this transitional context. A bioarchaeological analysis combined with a multi‐element (CNS) stable‐isotope analysis on human (n = 28) and animal (n = 12) bone collagen was performed for four sites in Southern France. This area provides an exceptional environment where wild and domestic terrestrial resources can be exploited, as well as river resources. Settlement documentation for the area is rare, and no relationship analysis can be performed between the burial sites and the little archaeozoological/archaeobotanical data available for the area. Although this investigation is preliminary, our results demonstrate the importance of domestic herbivores in the protein portion of the human diet, and we cautiously suggest a shift between caprine and bovine sources during the transition to the early Bronze Age. The sulfur data also indicate different environments exploited for some individuals and possibly different geographical origins, without the influence of biological (health status, sex, or age) and/or cultural (funerary treatment) parameters.

Determinants of continuance intention to use mobile self-scanning applications in retail

PurposeRetailers are increasingly using self-service technologies to improve customer experience and reduce costs. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that could explain the level of continuance intention of mobile self-scanning applications in retail. Based on previous theoretical streams, the present study integrates technology readiness (TR) and service quality into the technology acceptance model.Design/methodology/approachUsing data collected through an online survey of 217 users of a mobile self-scanning application of a large supermarket chain operating in Portugal, the study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that the continuance usage of the self-scanning apps is directly driven by users' satisfaction and perceived usefulness. Findings also show that TR has a positive and significant impact on ease of use and perceived usefulness. Ease of use has a positive impact on users' satisfaction and perceived usefulness but has no direct effect on the continuance intention to use the application. Perceived quality has a positive direct effect on satisfaction and a positive indirect effect on continuance intention. Finally, need for interaction has a negative effect on TR.Originality/valueThis work contributes to a better understanding of the emerging market for mobile self-scanning applications in retail applications, particularly relevant in a digital transition context.

Rise and Fall of Human Research and the Improvement of Talent Development in Digital Economy

Abstract This is a critical paper (based in knowledge review & constructivist proposal), under the global economics & cross-cultural management approach, as a comparative research to have an overview of the complex issue, with a bootstrapping method of analysis and some singular cases to illustrate. It offers a balance of the labour relations development into the welfare state economy and the current fall in post-globalization and digital economy. There is a diagnoses of the transition in progress (with the 4th industrial revolution in digital era), from the human resources departments for replicate-workers in traditional bureaucratic corporations, to the emergence of the talent development areas for creative-collaborators in agile business organizations. Also, there are complementary explanations about the transitional context from the gig economy to wellbeing economics (the new stage of digital economy and new challenges for the collaborators).

National Truth Commission in Brazil: the Thread of History and the Right to Memory and Truth

The article aims to problematize the issues of memory and Transitional Justice from the context of the establishment of the Brazilian National Truth Commission – (CNV, in Portuguese). The disputes about what to remember, how to remember, and what to forget (or not to forget) can become very complex in times of political polarization. By problematizing the Brazilian case between 2008 and 2014, we seek to highlight how the institution path of the CNV dealt with legislative and empirical obstacles around memory, history, forgetting, and resentment. Methodologically, the research used primary sources (legislative and judicial documents, reports, opinions) and secondary sources (specialized literature on the subject). Using the descriptive method, we present the Brazilian transitional context and the course of the CNV to demonstrate how the tension between resentment and the right to memory and the right to truth were organized by the Commission. While the outcome of the CNV Report is relevant, the accountability of human rights violators in Brazil is neutralized by the justice system. The promise of a public policy on memory remains in oblivion controlled by political elites.

Truth and Reparation for the U.S. Imprisonment and Policing Regime

AbstractIn the literature on transitional justice, there is disagreement about whether countries like the United States can be characterized as transitional societies. Though it is widely recognized that transitional justice mechanisms such as truth commissions and reparations can be used by Global North nations to address racial injustice, some consider societies to be transitional only when they are undergoing a formal democratic regime change. We conceptualize the political situation of low-income Black communities under the U.S. imprisonment and policing regime in terms of three criteria for identifying transitional contexts: normalized collective and political wrongdoing, pervasive structural inequality, and the failure of the rule of law. That these criteria are met, however, does not necessarily mean that a transition is taking place. Drawing on the American political development and abolition democracy literatures, we discuss what it would mean for the United States to transition out of its present imprisonment and policing regime. A transitional justice perspective shows the importance of not only pushing for truth and reparation, but for an actual transition.

The socio-political context of energy storage transition: Insights from a media analysis of Chinese newspapers

The development of energy storage (ES) technology is essential for a sustainable energy transition; however, the socio-political context of ES tends to make its large-scale development challenging, which requires more attention. Given the role of media discourse in both reflecting and influencing such socio-technical processes, we initially analysed the national media representation of ES in China based on the Socio-Political Evaluation of Energy Deployment (SPEED) framework. We did this by analysing 156 ES-related articles from two Chinese mainstream newspapers, People’s Daily and China Daily. Through investigating the framing and frequency of articles, the particular ES technology mentioned, and the stakeholders involved, we identify (1) a generally promising pathway of ES development due to its transformative role in China’s low-carbon energy transition and its alignments with other national priorities and interests; (2) some uncertainties about ES development regarding local institutional inertia and how people interact with ES technologies, which could hinder an ES transition; and (3) domestic complexity and dynamics underpinning ES technologies, reflecting a supportive attitude of the Chinese government and a top-down governance system. Our findings help to uncover the unique socio-political environment around ES in China, how audiences are informed, and the support provided to stakeholders’ strategies.

Teaching and Learning During the Pandemic: Challenges ‎and Merits of International Co-Designing and Instruction ‎

This design case describes the design process and decisions of facilitating a week-long course on virtual teaching strategies taught by three facilitators, one in Vietnam and two in the United States at the onset of the COVD-19 pandemic. Participants were K-12 and college educators in Vietnam. The goal of the course was to introduce the Vietnamese educators to educational technology and pedagogical strategies for teaching virtually. The case also reports the facilitators’ self-reflection and biases prevalent within a Western curriculum culture as they attempted to deliver the content knowledge and connect with the Vietnamese learners. Finally, their insights into designing and implementing a cross-cultural, multilingual international online course within a rapid transition context are also shared. The intercultural online teaching experience provided a broader understanding of how students learn and what is valued.

Scaffolding Natural Selection

Darwin provided us with a powerful theoretical framework to explain the evolution of living systems. Natural selection alone, however, has sometimes been seen as insufficient to explain the emergence of new levels of selection. The problem is one of “circularity” for evolutionary explanations: how to explain the origins of Darwinian properties without already invoking their presence at the level they emerge. That is, how does evolution by natural selection commence in the first place? Recent results in experimental evolution suggest a way forward: Paul Rainey and his collaborators have shown that Darwinian properties could be exogenously imposed via what they call “ecological scaffolding.” This could solve the “black box” dilemma faced by Darwinian explanations of new levels of organization. Yet, despite “scaffolding” recently becoming a popular term in the study of cognition, culture, and evolution, the concept has suffered from vagueness and ambiguity. This article aims to show that scaffolding can be turned into a proper scientific concept able to do explanatory work within the context of the major evolutionary transitions. Doing so will allow us to once again extend the scope of the Darwinian model of evolution by natural selection.

Genome-Wide Identification of Polyadenylation Dynamics with TED-Seq.

Polyadenylation and deadenylation of mRNA are major RNA modifications associated with nucleus-to-cytoplasm translocation, mRNA stability, translation efficiency, and mRNA decay pathways. Our current knowledge of polyadenylation and deadenylation has been expanded due to recent advances in transcriptome-wide poly(A) tail length assays. Whereas these methods measure poly(A) length by quantifying the adenine (A) base stretch at the 3' end of mRNA, we developed a more cost-efficient technique that does not rely on A-base counting, called tail-end-displacement sequencing (TED-seq). Through sequencing highly size-selected 3' RNA fragments including the poly(A) tail pieces, TED-seq provides accurate measure of transcriptome-wide poly(A)-tail lengths in high resolution, economically suitable for larger scale analysis under various biologically transitional contexts.

Transferring and piloting the Belgian best practice of community-based mental health networks in participating countries to the JA ImpleMENTAL

Abstract Community-based mental health services are key to improving mental health systems and health outcomes. Across Europe, mental health systems still stand at different levels of a change process that involves elaborating, testing and refining diverse models of interorganisational collaboration for mental health service delivery in local settings. Central to these endeavours are the principles that community-based mental health service delivery is patient-centred, integrates medical, psychological and social interventions, including prevention, health promotion and rehabilitation, and contributes to improving continuity of care. The transfer and piloting of the Belgian practice of community-based service networks is the focus of a specific work package which involves 14 countries working together under the leadership of the German Federal Centre for Health Education and the Italian Lombardy Region. The presentation gives an overview of main features and lessons learned from the Belgian practice and presents the work package activities conducted within a four-step approach entailing a preparatory, analysis, piloting and evaluation phase. The whole process is supported by a training action and the use of indicators for assessing networks and services. The six-months preparatory phase involves mobilising relevant stakeholders at various levels and elaborating a conceptual framework for transfer and piloting of selected elements of the Belgian practice in a wide variety of countries and regions in terms of socio-economic, cultural and political context and stages of transition towards deinstitutionalisation of mental health service delivery. This will help identifying challenges and facilitators of network development and collaboration across sectors and framing a tailored approach that allows for flexibility in addressing the heterogeneity of pre-existing practices, implementation scale and field preparation. Early findings of this phase will be shared with the audience.

Humans and animals in the Postclassic Cuchumatanes: the archaeological fauna from Chiantla Viejo (Huehuetenango, Guatemala)

Recent excavations at the highland site of Chiantla Viejo (Huehuetenango De- partment, Guatemala) were conducted to refine the site stratigraphy and understand population movements during the late Postclassic and early Contact era (AD 1250-1550). Excavations re- covered animal remains from these transitional contexts. This analysis represents one of the first zooarchaeological studies of a faunal assemblage in the Guatemalan highlands at the end of the pre-Hispanic period and into Spanish contact. The results highlight the changes and also the continuities experienced by the residents of this region during the early Colonial period: the persistence of long-distance exchange networks, the continuation of wild game hunting, and the early introduction of Eurasian domesticates.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Electricity Demand and Generation in Japan

This research considered changes in monthly electricity generation and demand in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Observed network electricity demand and generation type for the January–June 2020 period were compared to forecast values (using a triple exponential smoothing method) based on trends established from 2016 to 2019. Regional level electricity demand data showed little variation from expected trends for domestic energy users, but lower than expected business and industrial network demand, particularly in the 50–2000 kW cohort. Electricity demand was most likely to deviate from existing trends in May 2020, which is in-line with the voluntary lockdown activities. These results are consistent with observed patterns from other international studies into the impact of COVID-19 on electricity demand. Generation was found to be reduced in May and June of 2020, without significant impacts to the generation makeup, largely due to Japan’s positioning within a broader energy transition context. These findings validate previous studies and add to the broader discussions on drivers and the rationale for electricity demand behaviors between user scales. Previous studies examined the electricity demand reductions of full and partial lockdowns. This analysis adds to this discourse by documenting the impacts of a voluntary lockdown.

Peak oil and the low-carbon energy transition: A net-energy perspective

Since the Pennsylvania oil rush of 1859, petroleum has quickly become the dominant fuel of industrial society. The “Peak Oil” debate focused on whether or not there was an impending production crunch of cheap oil, and whilst there have been no shortages across the globe, a shift from conventional to unconventional oil liquids has occurred. One aspect of this shift was not fully explored in previous discussions–although of some importance in a low-carbon energy transition context: the extent to which the net-energy supply of oil products is affected by the use of lower quality energy sources. To fill this gap, this paper incorporates standard EROI (energy-return-on-investment) estimates and dynamic decline functions in the GlobalShift all-liquids bottom-up model on a global scale. We determine the energy necessary for the production of oil liquids (including direct and indirect energy costs) to represent today 15.5% of the energy production of oil liquids, and growing at an exponential rate: by 2050, a proportion equivalent to half of the gross energy output will be engulfed in its own production. Our findings thus question the feasibility of a global and fast low-carbon energy transition. We therefore suggest an urgent return of the peak oil debate, but including net-energy issues and avoiding a narrow focus on ‘peak supply’ vs ‘peak demand’.