Degree Of Urgency Research Articles

The EU’s Environmental Implementation Review: An Emerging Tool for Supervising Policy Delivery.

The aim of this short article is to provide a brief overview and reflections on theUnion’s relatively recent introduction of a biennial Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) cycle as part of its activities in monitoring EU Member States’ (MS) implementation of Union environmental law and policy. The EIR reflects an increased level of interest on the part of the Union in seeking to identify ways in which MS may improve upon their track records in implementing EU environmental legislative requirements at national level. Notably, it envisages a more intense form of engagement and dialogue on the part of the European Commission with MS authorities on identifying strengths and weaknesses in terms of individual MS performance as well as identifying common challenges at national level. The article assesses what key outcomes may have emerged thus far with the two EIR cycles that have been completed and how the EIR relates to the other principal supranational supervisory tool used by the EU for the purpose overseeing compliance with the EU environmental acquis, namely the use of law enforcement action via infringement proceedings. Ultimately, the article posits the view that the tools of EIR and law enforcement may be best seen to be in a complementary and mutually supportive relationship, each needing the other to be able to make a sufficient impression and impact on MS in terms of inducing them to address the subject of implementation with the degree of importance and urgency it deserves. Environmental Implementation Review, supranational supervision, implementation, infringements, compliance assurance, European Commission, Court of Justice of the European Union.

How Does the Urgency of Borrowing in Text Messages Affect Loan Defaults? Evidence from P2P Loans in China

In P2P loans with information asymmetry, the text information described by the borrower plays an important role in alleviating the information asymmetry between borrowers and lenders. To explore the borrowing described in text information and its relationship with default behavior, this article selects credits from April 2014 to October 2016 as the repayment period and studies default data. This is performed based on the length of the excavated text, purpose of the loan, repayment ability, willingness to reimburse, five text variables, and degree of loan urgency. The empirical results show that text length has a significant negative correlation with the default probability of borrowers. Different loan purposes have different default risks. Interestingly, the more urgent a loan is, the more likely the borrower is to default. However, repayment ability information and repayment willingness information have no significant effect on default behavior. In addition, the Nagelkerke R2 improved by nearly 3% in the logistic regression model with the addition of text variables. In short, fully excavating loan description information is helpful in reducing the risk of loan default.

Clinical outcome of sacrospinous fixation following pelvic organ prolapse surgery

Aims: To evaluate the midterm outcome of sacrospinous fixation done during surgical management of pelvic organ prolapse.
 Methods: This was an interview based cross sectional follow up study done among the patients who underwent sacrospinous fixation procedure along with pelvic organ prolapse surgery in Kathmandu Model Hospital and Paropakar Maternity Hospital. This was conducted between 15 th February 2021 and 15 th April 2021. Post-operative cases 22 to 30 months (average 2 years) from the day of surgery were included.
 Results: Out of 321 eligible SSF patients from both the hospital, 156 agreed to participate. Among them, 77 (48%) were in 60-69 years of age and 82% were postmenopausal; 33% were more than para 3; 20% had right gluteal pain that was decreased to 1.9% by 2 years; and 20% had some degree of urgency and stress incontinence.
 Conclusion: Sacrospinous fixation is safe and effective procedure which can be done during pelvic organ prolapse surgery with good success rate and minimal post-operative complications.

Non-dynamic graciloplasty is an effective treatment for patients with passive fecal incontinence.

Fecal incontinence is a multifactorial problem and its etiology is complex. Various therapies are available and different success rates have been described. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of non-dynamic graciloplasty in patients with passive fecal incontinence. We retrospectively studied charts of patients with fecal incontinence treated with graciloplasty at our institution from November 2015 until June 2018. Patients were included according to the following criteria: (1) presence of predominantly passive fecal incontinence and (2) presence of a lax perineal body. Primary outcome was the effectiveness, defined as a significant reduction or absence of the complaints of passive fecal incontinence at 3, 6 and 12months after surgery. Second, we studied the safety of the procedure evaluating the complications within 30days after surgery. Thirty-one patients met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-six of them, in addition to passive incontinence as the main symptom, had some degree of fecal urgency. The median age at the first visit to the outpatient clinic was 64.0years (IQR 52-68). Most patients were female (n = 29, 94%). At 3months after graciloplasty, 71% (22 of 31) of patients were successfully treated for their passive fecal incontinence. At 6months, the success rate of the graciloplasty increased to 77%. At 12months among the patients who were still seen in the clinic, the success rate was 58% (18/31). Two patients cancelled follow-up visits after 3months, because of failure to control symptoms in 1 case. After 6months, 9 patients were given the choice to do telephone follow-up only. Of these 11 patients without in-person follow-up, 10 were contacted 1year after surgery and in 7 of them, the graciloplasty was effective in controlling their passive fecal incontinence for an overall success rate of 80% (25/31). Of the 26 patients with mixed passive and urge incontinence, 6 (23%) still complained of urge incontinence at 1year. Of these patients with persistent urge incontinence, 6 underwent sacral nerve stimulation which was successful in 4. Two serious complications occurred within 30 days. A rectal perforation requiring temporary colostomy and a recto-vaginal fistula which was successfully repaired. Non-dynamic graciloplasty is an effective treatment for passive fecal incontinence. Differentiation based on subtypes of fecal incontinence might be important for a pattern-specific approach to treatment. More research is necessary to determine the right indications for more invasive treatments of fecal incontinence.

Conversion of epidural analgesia to anesthesia for cesarean section

The frequency of cesarean sections is increasing from year to year, and the choice of optimal anesthetic management is important. Regional anaesthesia is the anaesthesia of choice for the cesarean section because it reduces maternal and neonatal risks. If an epidural pain relief of labor is performed, then this epidural catheter can be successfully used for conversion to epidural anaesthesia. The choice of drug for conversion depends on the degree of urgency; the highest rate of onset of anesthesia is shown by lidocaine with adjuvants (fentanyl, sodium bicarbonate). Conversion failure occurs in 0–21% of cases; the main risk factors for conversion failure are inadequate epidural analgesia and patient height. The management of failed conversion depends on the category of urgency and other factors and may include spinal, combined spinal-epidural, or general anesthesia

Анализ применения кислотных составов в высокотемпературных карбонатных коллекторах

The use of hydrochloric acid treatment goes back a century. For the first time the company “Ohio Oil” applied acid for formation stimulation in 1895, and the patent for acidizing limestone was obtained by the company "Standard Oil". However, with a significant increase in production volumes, it turned out that acid solutions caused very strong corrosion of downhole equipment. Therefore, the hydrochloric acid treatment method had not been used for 30 years. The discovery by John Grib of “Dow Chemical” in 1931 – slowing down the effect of hydrochloric acid on the metal with arsenic – made it possible to return to this method, and three years later “Halliburton Oil Well Cementing” began to practice acidizing on an industrial scale. As the analysis of the field material has shown, there are many technologies with the use of modified acids intended for acidizing, which are characterized by a high degree of success. Nevertheless, according to the estimates of different authors, the treatments success varies in the range from 60 to 80%, and for repeated treatments – less than 50 %. The urgency degree of the problems associated with acid treatment of the bottomhole formation zone and the tendencies of its development was investigated. Analysis of patent information according to the International Patent Classification for 17 years (from 1997 to 2013 inclusive) for Russian patents and for 15 years (from 1999 to 2013 inclusive) – for American ones showed stable activity of Russian organizations, while foreign organizations showed in this respect a significant growth of interests and achievements. Foreign experts mainly investigated the modeling of acid treatment [6–11], while Russian specialists were more inclined towards service support of acid treatment. It was revealed that there were no methods for calculating the risks of falling out of heavy oil components during acid treatment, depending on the geological and physical conditions of the target.

Instruments and spaces of waste governance in Lebanon

This article examines local authorities’ capacity to stabilise waste governance and the political effects of this change in local public action. The analytical framework used belongs to the sociology of public-policy instruments and follows the policies that municipal authorities have put in place to deal with an urgent problem. The study focuses on Lebanon because of its ongoing and still-unresolved waste crisis, which has led to widespread protests. More specifically, it focuses on three municipalities outside or at the margins of the capital region – Saida, Zahle and Bikfaya – where different types of (technologically and/or politically) innovative solutions have been implemented. We document the development of municipal policies for managing solid waste by looking at contracts, financing, communication, urban planning, operating areas, and the environment. We examine the political effects of the stabilisation of these assemblages of governance instruments from the point of view of the legitimation of local power, the construction of a local or regional cooperation area, and the relations between local and central power. Our research draws on press analysis and interview surveys conducted in the relevant localities and with the authorities making these policies. Results show that policy choices depend very strongly on the type of local political networks and on the degree of urgency of decision-making temporalities.

The peak load shaving assessment of developing a user-oriented vehicle-to-grid scheme with multiple operation modes: The case study of Shenzhen, China

The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology creates a cost-effective alternative solution for the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into smart grids. Two mainstreams of operation modes exist for the V2G implementation, viz. the centralized and decentralized V2G operation mode. In previous studies, researchers used to assume that EV users involved would participate in a special mode for the coordinated V2G strategy. In fact, the requirements of EV users on the V2G operation vary from individual to individual, depending on the type of EV usage, the charging preference of EV users, and the urgency degree of EV charging. Therefore, it is essential to develop a user-oriented V2G scheme with multiple operation modes to make more EVs participate in the V2G operation for coordinated charging. In this paper, the peak shaving capacity of a user-oriented V2G scheme with multiple operation modes is surveyed compared to the conventional charging mode. The city of Shenzhen, China, is taken as a case study to evaluate the power demand of EV charging during peak hours for different scenarios. In order to obtain the coordinated EV charging strategy, the global/divided scheduling optimization model is developed for the centralized/decentralized V2G strategy. The global scheduling method devotes to minimizing the total EV charging costs whereas the divided scheduling method aims to minimize the individual EV charging costs based on the time of use pricing system. Results reveal that the power demand during peak periods is decreased by 0.93 GW or 5.89 % for a modest case in a user-oriented V2G scheme in contrast to the conventional charging mode.

Trijaža u ne-kovid ustanovi za vreme KOVID-19 pandemije

At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Emergency Center of the University Clinical Center of Serbia (EC-UCCS), although a non-covid hospital, had to adapt to taking care of a large number of critically ill and, at the same time, potentially contagious patients. In this paper, we present the ways that the EC-UCCS has adjusted to the conditions of the pandemic, where no precise protocols had previously been established for acting in these types of situations. In March 2019, the Admissions Triage Facility of Emergency Medicine (ATFEM) was established. The main task of this facility was to separate patients with epidemiological risk (ER) from patients without risk and to carry out their further isolated care. ER assessment involves completing an epidemiological questionnaire, a targeted brief history, body temperature measurement, and assessment of the patient's respiratory status. The complete triage process, initial diagnosis, and treatment of patients with ER is the task and responsibility of emergency medicine specialists. Between March 15, 2020 and March 15, 2021, about 155,000 patients were examined in triage, of whom 9,519 had ER and were taken care of in the ATFEM. This triage method minimizes the spread of infection while taking care of all critically ill patients, regardless of ER. However, both patients with low and high risk of COVID-19, were all admitted to the same facility, due to the shortage of available space. Also, triage relates only to "covid triage" and not to triage according to the degree of urgency of the patients, which is the primary task of every modern emergency center.

With a Little Help from My Friends: Debt Renegotiation and Climate Change

The economic crisis from the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a fall in tax revenues and an increase in the need for public spending in most economies throughout the world. This situation has led to a substantial increase in the sovereign debt levels and has dramatically reduced the fiscal space of governments. For upper- middle-income countries (UMICs), current access to financing is limited and this can potentially limit the space for climate action in the short and medium run. However, delaying climate action can generate a negative signal on fiscal sustainability due to the physical and transition risks of climate change. Unsustainable production practices will result in a deterioration of the productive capacity of natural assets reducing potential tax income. Simultaneously there will be a stronger need for public spending to face the future damages associated to greenhouse gases emissions. Therefore, in order to address the current crisis, we need an integral approach that considers the climate crisis as a challenge with a high degree of urgency. For this approach to be feasible, sufficient international climate finance needs to be available, and it should help to steer relief and recovery efforts into a direction in which these are also compatible with climate targets. In this document, we propose a sovereign debt negotiation scheme in which the conditions of the debt depend on the climate policies undertaken by the debtor countries. Likewise, we point out that the feasibility of beneficial agreements for debtors and the implementation of good climate policies depend positively on the size of the debt and each country's potential to affect the current trend of climate change. For these reasons, the formation of coalitions of debtor countries can be a key factor for debt relief and the implementation of climate policies.

CURRENT TRENDS IN ENSURING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF COUNTRIES IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Introduction. Modern development of the world economy and especially the processes of globalization of the world economy, increasing the interdependence of economies, the formation of global commodity and financial markets have led to increased interest in the problem of increasing the competitiveness of countries involved in these processes. Issues of competitiveness at the level of the economy in the degree of urgency are among the issues of national importance, as they are closely linked to the achievement of dynamic economic development of the country and improving the living standards of its population. Methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the fundamental provisions of economics, the work of domestic and foreign economists to study the competitiveness of countries in the global economy. Materials of publications in periodicals, monographs on the researched problem are used in the article. Results. The main theoretical approaches to determining the competitiveness of countries in the global economy are considered in the article. The main functions of the state in strengthening the position of competitiveness of countries in the context of strengthening globalization are highlighted. Ukraine's positioning in the ranking of countries by the level of globalization is made and proposals are made to increase its competitiveness in the global economy. Discussion. The analysis of the positions of competitiveness of countries in the global economy provides an opportunity to deepen the theoretical and methodological foundations and development of practical recommendations for improving the competitiveness of Ukraine, which forms the prospects for further scientific research. Key words: competitiveness of countries, global economy, globalization, national economies, national interests, internationalization, economic development.

Development of Case Numbers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Center of Maximum-Care for Traumatology and Orthopedic Oncology.

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant change in the utilization of trauma surgery and tumor orthopedic hospital facilities. (2) Methods: In a monocentric retrospective analysis, the weekly numbers of cases requiring intra-clinical treatment in the first four months of 2020 were compared with those of 2019. Patients’ visits to the emergency department and shock room, consultation hours, work-related accidents, case numbers in the normal and intensive care units, ventilation hours, the “Simplified Acute Physiology Score/ Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System” (SAPS/TISS), the average length of stay in hospital, the number of operations and their degree of urgency, as well as deaths, were analyzed in a study based on the data from 7606 outpatient consultations in 2019 and 6755 in 2020, as well as 993 inpatient cases in 2019 and 950 in 2020. (3) Results: There was a significant reduction in the number of treatments per week in the emergency department (261 ± 29 vs. 165 ± 25; p < 0.001) with the same number of shock room treatments and fewer consultation hour contacts (226 ± 29 vs. 119 ± 65; p = 0.012). There were fewer inpatient cases (66 ± 7 vs. 42 ± 11; p = 0.001), resulting in a fall in the days of hospitalization (492 ± 63 vs. 308 ± 78; p < 0.001) and number of operations (73 ± 7 vs. 55 ± 10; p = 0.012), especially elective procedures (20 ± 3 vs. 7 ± 7; p = 0.008). The SAPS/TISS score was lower (1351 ± 1213 vs. 399 ± 281; p = 0.023). Fewer fracture treatments and septic surgeries were performed, while the number of procedures to treat orthopedic malignancies remained constant. (4) Conclusions: During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a significant reduction in the number of cases treated in orthopedics. While the number of multiple-injured patients was unchanged, fewer patients presented for primary and regular care. Treatment of acute injuries and malignant tumor diseases was not at risk. There was no effect on in-house mortality. We see a potential for the recruitment of medical staff from the outpatient department, operating room, and the ward. In the event of a future second wave, our results may allow for early planning, particularly of the all-important human resources. Reorganization by hospitals and decreased patient numbers in trauma surgery can enable the reallocation of medical staff, equipment, and beds to increase capacity for COVID-19 patients.

Use Characteristics and Triage Acuity of a Digital Symptom Checker in a Large Integrated Health System: Population-Based Descriptive Study.

BackgroundPressure on the US health care system has been increasing due to a combination of aging populations, rising health care expenditures, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses to this pressure are hindered in part by reliance on a limited supply of highly trained health care professionals, creating a need for scalable technological solutions. Digital symptom checkers are artificial intelligence–supported software tools that use a conversational “chatbot” format to support rapid diagnosis and consistent triage. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new attention to these tools due to the need to avoid face-to-face contact and preserve urgent care capacity. However, evidence-based deployment of these chatbots requires an understanding of user demographics and associated triage recommendations generated by a large general population.ObjectiveIn this study, we evaluate the user demographics and levels of triage acuity provided by a symptom checker chatbot deployed in partnership with a large integrated health system in the United States.MethodsThis population-based descriptive study included all web-based symptom assessments completed on the website and patient portal of the Sutter Health system (24 hospitals in Northern California) from April 24, 2019, to February 1, 2020. User demographics were compared to relevant US Census population data.ResultsA total of 26,646 symptom assessments were completed during the study period. Most assessments (17,816/26,646, 66.9%) were completed by female users. The mean user age was 34.3 years (SD 14.4 years), compared to a median age of 37.3 years of the general population. The most common initial symptom was abdominal pain (2060/26,646, 7.7%). A substantial number of assessments (12,357/26,646, 46.4%) were completed outside of typical physician office hours. Most users were advised to seek medical care on the same day (7299/26,646, 27.4%) or within 2-3 days (6301/26,646, 23.6%). Over a quarter of the assessments indicated a high degree of urgency (7723/26,646, 29.0%).ConclusionsUsers of the symptom checker chatbot were broadly representative of our patient population, although they skewed toward younger and female users. The triage recommendations were comparable to those of nurse-staffed telephone triage lines. Although the emergence of COVID-19 has increased the interest in remote medical assessment tools, it is important to take an evidence-based approach to their deployment.

Analysis of pick-up and delivery and dial-a-ride problems dynamization methods and benchmark instances

As instâncias de benchmark disponíveis para as versões dinâmicas do problema de coleta e entrega com janelas de tempo (PDPTW - Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows) e do problema dial-a-ride (DARP - Dial-A-Ride Problem) não compartilham as mesmas características e não necessariamente cobrem todas as características de situações reais. Analisa-se conjuntos de instâncias de PDPTW e DARP dinâmicos (DPDPTW e DDARP) atualmente disponíveis para uso e os métodos usados para gerá-los a partir de instâncias estáticas. Cada método de dinamização é aplicado a cada instância estática originalmente usada por eles. As instâncias dinâmicas resultantes são analisadas com as medidas de grau de dinamismo e urgência, bem como pelo número de pedidos estáticos e a correlação entre os limites inferiores das janelas de tempo de coleta e os instantes de chegada dos pedidos. Os resultados mostram que os conjuntos estudados apresentam baixa variabilidade de grau de dinamismo e urgência independentemente do método ou da instância estática usados para a dinamização.

Real-Time Ambulance Redeployment: A Data-Driven Approach

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are of great importance to saving people's lives from emergent accidents and diseases by efficiently picking up patients using ambulances. The transporting capability of an EMS system (e.g., defined as the average pickup time of patients) significantly depends on the real-time redeployment strategy of ambulances. That is, which station should an ambulance be redeployed to, after it becomes available (after it transports a patient to a hospital or after it finishes the in-site treatment for a patient)? However, it is a challenging task concerning with the multiple data D1-D5 as detailed in Introduction. To this end, in this paper, we propose a data-driven real-time ambulance redeployment approach that redeploys an ambulance to a proper station after it becomes available, so as to optimize the transporting capability of an EMS system, considering the aforementioned multiple data D1-D5. Specifically, the proposed approach is comprised of two stages to well consider the D1-D5. First, we propose a method (a safety time-based urgency index) to incorporate D1, D2, and D3 into each ambulance station's urgency degree (D*). Second, we propose an optimal matching algorithm to combine D*, D4, and D5 into the redeployment of the current available ambulance. Experimental results using data collected in real world demonstrate the significant advantages of our approach over many baselines. Comparing with baselines, our approach can save $\sim$ ∼ 4 minutes ( $\sim$ ∼ 35 percent) of the average pickup time for each patient, improve the ratio of patients picked up within 10 minutes from 0.684 and 0.803 ( $\sim$ ∼ 17 percent), and largely enhance the survival rate of patients ( $\sim$ ∼ 12 percent for patients in category A1 and $\sim$ ∼ 17 percent for patients in A2).

Análisis de la sostenibilidad energética del transporte aéreo y su impacto en el turismo

El transporte aéreo es un elemento indispensable en el desarrollo de un turismo globalizado. Las previsiones de crecimiento de ambos sectores son unánimes. En este trabajo se analiza la sostenibilidad del transporte aéreo desde una perspectiva energética y se compara el grado de criticidad de la disponibilidad de petróleo, frente a la de la amenaza del cambio climático por efecto de las emisiones de gases. Se analizan la evolución y proyecciones de los sectores de la energía, aviación y el turismo, elaborando una visión integral de las cuestiones de sostenibilidad energética y medioambiental. Se emplea una metodología mixta, triangulando el análisis de las proyecciones de entidades de la energía, el transporte aéreo y el turismo con la utilización de métodos cualitativos de observación participante y entrevistas a expertos.El estudio confirma la mayor urgencia por trabajar en la prevención de una posible crisis medioambiental frente a una de escasez energética. Dado que el paradigma energético de la propulsión de aeronaves no cambiará en el medio plazo, y que la aviación y el turismo continuarán creciendo, la relevancia de ambos como contribuidores al problema del cambio climático irá en aumento. Las mejoras en otros sectores de mayor consumo energético y generación de emisiones relativizarán la importancia del crecimiento de las emisiones globales del transporte aéreo. Los esquemas de compensación de emisiones serán necesarios para permitir al sector progresar hacia una estabilización de las mismas, advirtiendo de las dificultades y riesgos de su implementación si se convierten en un puro instrumento mercantil.

Waste pickers organizations and municipal selective waste collection: Sustainability indicators

Brazilian municipalities face several difficulties while carrying out the municipal selective waste collection (MSWC); at the same time, waste pickers organizations (WPOs) need to overcome many challenges to compete in the waste management market. In order to reach the requirements of the Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy (NSWP), it is necessary to know which factors interfere in the performance of MSWC programs and WPOs to understand the relationships between these factors. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the sustainability of MSWC programs and WPOs in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, and propose a new methodological strategy. For data collection, questionnaires were given to municipal civil workers from 24 municipalities and managers of 23 WPOs to calculate sustainability indicators and their correlations. Means and frequencies were calculated to analyze indicators in relation to sustainability; peer-to-peer correlation analyses were performed to the construct graphs that obtained correlation coefficients, which were applied to study the normality distribution. For each indicator, we provided necessary investments to practical solutions. As a result, a methodological proposal was presented to improve their actions, which was hierarchized by degrees of temporal urgency for their implementation. The design of the actions has great potential to improve and develop sustainability practices in WPOs and MSWC programs. Due to the low quality of primary data collected, we recommend the creation of the data control systems to continuously monitor.

“Smack in the Middle”: Urban Governance and the Spatialization of Overdose Epidemics

In recent years, cities in North America have declared public health emergencies in response to opioid–related overdoses and fatalities. Municipalities are reacting with various interventions and degrees of urgency, whereas harm reduction organizations coordinate the street–level fight against death. Though drug use has long been concentrated in urbanized and downtown areas, these neighborhoods are being addressed with new national attention. This article draws on qualitative interviews with participants in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) in Vancouver and the Tenderloin in San Francisco. I highlight two interconnected themes: (1) the legacy of distrust between municipal officials and drug users and (2) the disconnection between “epidemics” as narrowly constructed public health emergencies and the needs of communities. Findings show ongoing struggles with “progressive” urban agendas. San Francisco minimized fatalities thanks to the early introduction of unregulated naloxone; however, new anti–homelessness legislation and police–led initiatives continue to create social upheaval for drug users. In comparison, the rollout of Vancouver's naloxone program arrived 10 years too late. Organizations are attempting to amplify access to safe injection and overdose prevention sites in the DTES. Using interurban analysis, overdose epidemics can be conceptualized as sociospatial fields of power, providing greater insight into urban marginality and health inequalities.

“COLLECTION OF COMPULSORY RESOLUTIONS ISSUED BY CITIES AND ZEMSTVOS OF THE NOVGOROD PROVINCE” AS A SOURCE ON THE HISTORY OF NORMING THE INTERACTION OF TOWNS INHABITANTS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

The problems of sanitary condition of the urban environment became the object of the policy of the city public administration as a result of the city reform of Alexander II. The city reform 1870 gave the rights to the City Dumas to publish the Compulsory Resolutions on issues of urban improvement and public health. These Resolutions were based on existing laws, but their content depended on the decisions of specific City Dumas. The existing Compulsory Resolutions could be supplemented with new ones over time and could be rewritten. In this context, of particular interest are the first attempts by local self-government bodies to legally regulate sanitary problems of the urban environment. The article is devoted to the analysis of the historical source “Collection of Compulsory Resolutions issued by cities and zemstvos of the Novgorod province” in terms of the information presented in it on the regulation of interaction between citizens and the components of the natural environment in the cities in the last third of XIX century. This historical source is valuable for researchers of urban environmental history, because it allows to identify the degree of urgency of local problems associated with urban pollution and disease for local self-government.

Allocation of Flood Drainage Rights Based on the PSR Model and Pythagoras Fuzzy TOPSIS Method.

To minimize losses caused by flooding of areas in a river basin, flood risk management may sacrifice the interests of some areas. Because of regional differences in natural and urban conditions, rankings of the urgencies of flood drainage rights allocations in different regions are of great practical significance to the realization of optimal allocations and reduction of damages. Based on the “pressure–state–response” (PSR) framework, this study designed an index system of flood drainage rights allocations in river basins for the comprehensive consideration of the different attributes of regional societies, environments, and technologies, as well as the differences in the quality of technical management and in the levels of social and economic development. A Pythagoras fuzzy TOPSIS method was used to evaluate the urgencies and determine the management of allocations in different areas. Eight cities in Jiangsu Province in the Huai River Basin were selected as the research objects. The results showed that pressure factors played dominant roles in the degrees of urgency. Among the cities, Nantong had the highest degree, followed by Taizhou, whereas Lianyungang had the lowest. The degrees in the central region of Jiangsu were higher than in the northern region.