Urgent Changes Research Articles

Newest challenges of the European Union’s energy policy - legal aspects

In the face of the most recent geopolitical events in Europe that have been carrying the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there have been significant changes on the European Union’s energy market. The aim of this article is to analyse and assess the practice of managing energy in the European Union from the perspective of EU energy in the context of these crises. It will present legislative changes at the Union level in the energy policy sector that are driven by these events and that force a change in attitudes towards energy management. It will use methods typical to law studies, that is the analysis of the law in force, the analysis of the development of relevant laws in history and legal comparison. Research results and conclusions point out that urgent binding legislative changes on the EU forum are necessary to adjust the energy policy to the existing reality and to face the most recent trials. Further legislative steps will be necessary to become independent from Russian raw materials and, primarily, to adapt the provisions of the European Green Deal and to provide further guidance to eliminate administrative barriers and to protect consumers on the energy market. The final part of the article identifies measures the EU must take in the short-, mid- and long-term perspective.

Walking the Walk: Democratizing Change in Teacher Education

In this essay, as a group of teacher educators, we discuss our experience of “walking the walk” of teacher education transformation at a time of urgent change. We reflect upon our process of integrating three key priorities in our preservice teacher education courses: education for sustainability; trauma-informed practice; and Indigenizing curriculum. Specifically, we reflect on how these processes were adapted according to the needs of individual courses and units, while at the same time making space for our strengths and our “unlearnings” as academics, and for the ethical considerations that troubled us. In this essay, we explore walking the walk of change and integrating social, environmental, and cultural justice principles in our work together toward equipping and enabling new teachers to be themselves agents of change.

Organizational preparation of central public administration bodies to manage the implementation of defense tasks Part III. Concept of tasks and organization of the organisational units of administrative offices of chief bodies of government administration for the management of the implementation of defence tasks

Such bodies as the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister and ministers in charge of departments of government administration, in order to exercise competencies in the field of defence, should have the ability to perform administrative functions to satisfy missions, goals and tasks in this matter assigned to them by the legislator. Their authority and duties in the defence field are closely related to their authority and duties in other areas of national security, so there is a need to arrange the organisational units set up for this purpose in such a way that their scope of action includes matters corresponding to the authority’s competence in the field of national security and defence, taken as a whole. Given the rank of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister in Poland, and their competencies in the area of national security, urgent changes are required to adapt the organisational units of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (KPRM), and above all the Government Centre for Security (RCB). The RCB needs to be transformed so that it is able to fulfil the role of a national security and defence headquarters under the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister. It would be an analytical-planning-coordination office, ensuring staff coordination of coherent, uninterrupted and continuous state activities in the field of state security and defence. Innovation in this respect would be accompanied by minor changes in the jurisdiction and structure of the organisational units comprising the KPRM. Following this, given the existing needs identified in the previous articles in this series, it seems necessary to make changes in ministries to implement a unified model of a national security organisational unit (e.g. Department for Security and Defence Affairs). In principle, these units should have similar missions and composition in all ministries, but some reasonable exceptions would occur in the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. In others, there are and should be separate departments specific to those ministries (e.g. combating economic crime, international security policy, nature conservation, air protection and others).

The Effectiveness of Employee Performance Appraisal System in Health Sector: Evidence from Iranian organizations

Introduction: Performance appraisal is a formal process to review and improve the organizational performance of employees regularly. Despite the appropriate organizational frameworks for performance appraisal, they are not apparently addressing the operational realities of health care organizations. This study thus aimed to examine the effectiveness of the current performance appraisal system of employees at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) from the perspective of employees. Methods: The data were collected from 504 TUMS employees using researcher-developed questionnaire following the validation. It consisted of 46 questions covering such various dimensions as performance expectations, communication of performance objectives to employees, self-assessment, performance metrics, surveyors, and performance appraisal results. ANOVA, t-test, Post hoc and Tukey statistical tests were used during analysis process by SPSS 22. Results: The performance appraisal system was not found as effective as expected from the employees’ perspective and the scores for all its dimensions dropped below the average. The overall performance appraisal score was 2.71 (out of 5). There was also a significant correlation between the employees’ education and organizational job group and the score of performance appraisal (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The current appraisal system according to the results is not well functioning. Therefore, it seems necessary to make urgent changes. The lack of active participation from employees and managers in performance appraisal development process, and the subsequent low motivation to improve their performance seems to be a persistent challenge. A fairly desirable solution might be to decentralize the appraisal processes rendering more authority to managers and supervisors along with empowering managers.

SOLAR PHYSICS AND THE CLIMATE PROBLEM

When I delivered a paper on solar activity at the first SPD meeting, none of us thought it had anything to do with Earth's climate. Scientists of earlier generations had published correlations between solar variations and one or another terrestrial phenomenon, but by 1970 modern statistical analysis had driven out everyone but cranks. However, in 1976 Jack Eddy boldly nailed down the existence of a long period of low solar activity coinciding with the 'Little Ice Age' familiar to climate historians. Meanwhile solar activity was increasing to historic highs—and so was global temperature. Most experts thought the global warming was caused by emissions of greenhouse gases, but corporations that profited from emissions and others who despised government regulation exploited the hypothetical solar-climate connection to deny that we faced dangerous climate change. Debate exploded, invoking complex mechanisms whereby solar activity might affect Earth's atmosphere. These arguments collapsed when solar activity dropped yet global temperature climbed ever faster. Nevertheless, the zombie belief that global warming is a harmless 'natural cycle' persists, helping to impede urgent policy changes.

Respon Lembaga Pendidikan Formal Berbasis Pesantren pada Masa Pandemi

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has hampered education in Indonesia, resulting in changes to the curriculum and learning media. This change is the most crucial factor so that teaching and learning activities can be carried out, achieve educational goals and educate the nation. The researcher aims to determine the response of Islamic boarding school-based formal education during the pandemic. In this study, the type of qualitative research is descriptive analysis. The data collection carried out in this study was using interview, observation and documentation techniques. Analysis of the data used is a flow model. The results of this study stated that the curriculum and learning media underwent very urgent changes in response to the pattern of life and social order during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Achieving peaceful climate change adaptation through transformative governance

• In this article we ask how urgent climate change adaptation can be realised on the ground without furthering conflicts. • We develop a theoretical framework on transparent and adaptive governance for peaceful climate change adaptation. • We emphasise a learning methodology to cooperatively produce locally relevant and adaptive knowledge. • We highlight the study of climate change adaptation in ‘glocal’ cross-border cases through a bottom-up approach. • Taken together we propose a transformative governance approach vital for peaceful climate change adaptation. Which form of governance is required to bridge tensions that stem from the urgent need of climate change adaptation (CCA) on the one hand, and the imperative of upholding peace and social stability in vulnerable areas on the other? This article proposes transformative governance as a framework and methodology for addressing this question. It recognizes that the increased pace of climate change requires urgent and thorough adjustments to actual or expected climate change effects through a transformation of societies to increase their capacity to build sustainability. Our framework for transformative governance approach responds to this imperative and is based on three components: a theoretical framework for peaceful CCA governance derived from the fields of sustainability governance, political ecology and peacebuilding, second, a ‘glocal’ and bottom-up approach illustrated by two examples of cross-border collaboration, that demonstrate peaceful CCA governance as necessarily glocal, thirdly a learning methodology that implies context-based, goal-oriented, pluralistic and interactive co-production of knowledge. These are argued to be vital conditions for implementing CCA governance that is transformative and supports peaceful societies.

A Research by Design Strategy for Climate Adaptation Solutions: Implementation in the Low-Density, High Flood Risk Context of the Lake District, UK

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research by design strategy, focusing on the generation of innovative climate adaptation solutions by utilizing the Design Thinking Process. The proposed strategy has been developed and tested in a research and design studio, which took place in 2020 at a Master of Architecture degree program in the Netherlands. The studios focused on the sparsely populated, high flood risk region of the Lake District, UK. The Lake District faces urgent climate change challenges that demand effective solutions. On the other hand, the area is a UNESCO heritage site, characterized by massive tourism and tending towards museumification (sic). Three indicative design research projects were selected to illustrate the proposed research by design strategy. The results reveal that this strategy facilitates the iterative research by design process and hence offers a systematic approach to convert the threats of climate change into opportunities by unraveling the potentials of the study area. The findings lay the groundwork for more systematic studies on research by design as an effective strategy for climate change adaptation design. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to the critical theories on climate adaptation design and research by design methodologies.

THE CONCEPT OF EXTENDING THE TERMS OF LOCOMOTIVE OPERATION

Due to the reliability standard set during the design and even when it reaches orexceeds the standard service life of more than 90 % of locomotives, railway transport continues toperform its functions. Many years of experience in the operation of locomotives confirm thecorrectness of the norms laid down in the standards for their design to the design loads andindicators of dynamics and strength of load-bearing structures: the standard stock ratio (2) ensurestheir operation during the service life.(25 ... 30 years) In many countries, as part of the extension of the service life of TRS at onetime had to solve complex scientific and applied problems. For example, most recently in Europeancountries, rolling stock depreciation was up to 65% of service life. In the interaction of TRSproducers and users, the concept of repair and modernization of TRS at the facilities ofmanufacturers was adopted, and the amount of modernization depended on customer requirements.After the modernization of the extension of the service life of TRS, it could be used on certainsections of the railway or in other types of work: economic, export, shunting. In our country, thelong-term operation of the TRS of a small number of series led to the fact that the rolling stock wasalmost not renewed and the problem of extending the service life was not solved. Now difficultpolitical and environmental factors have led to the fact that after some time it will be dangerous touse rail transport. As the world and domestic experience of TRS operation shows, urgent changes inall links of the industry and operation are necessary. The resource of TRS put in production allowsto keep and maneuver in a choice of strategy of management of the maintenance of TRS. Inconnection with the aging of rolling stock and the development of the assigned service life arerelevant to the study of the original and residual resources of the structure. To do this, thestandards must be clarified and supplemented on the basis of accumulated operating experienceand taking into account modern knowledge to assess and ensure the necessary durability and safetyof operation of vehicles. Based on this, the topic of changing the system of extending the service lifeis relevant. The article considers the concept of general approaches to extending the service life oflocomotives.

Rapid adaptation of a local healthcare digital system to COVID-19: The experience in Birmingham (UK)

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressure on hospitals globally. Digital tools developed before the crisis provided novel aspects of management, and new digital tools were rapidly developed as the crisis progressed. In our institution, a digitally mature NHS Trust in England which builds software systems, development during the early months of the crisis allowed increased patient safety and care, efficient management of the hospital and publication of data. The aim of this paper is to present this experience as a case study, describing development and lessons learned applicable to wider electronic healthcare record development. MethodsRequest, triage, build and test processes for the digital systems were altered in response to the pandemic. Senior Responsible Officers appointed for the emergency triaged all changes and were supported by expert opinion and research active clinicians. Build and test cycles were compressed. New tools were built or existing ones modified in the central Electronic Healthcare Record, PICS (Prescribing, Information and Communication System), Clinical Dashboards and video platforms for remote consultation were developed. Findings2236 patients were admitted to UHB with suspected COVID-19 between March and May 2020. Dashboards and visualisation tools enabled by efficient real-time data collection for all new patients, contributed to strategic, operational and clinical decision making.Over 70 urgent changes were made to digital systems, including a screening proforma, improved infection control functions, help and order panels, data dashboards, and updated prescribing features. Novel uses were found for existing functions. InterpretationDigital tools contributed to a co-ordinated response to COVID-19 in an area with a high disease burden. Change management processes were modified during the pandemic and successfully delivered rapid software modifications and new tools. Principal benefits came from the ability to adapt systems to rapidly changing clinical situations. Lessons learned from this intense development period are widely applicable to EHR development. Lay summaryDigital tools, which are well designed, can help clinicians and safeguard patients. Health crises such as the COVID pandemic drove rapid development of digital tools. This case study outlines accelerated development within a governance framework that successfully reused existing tools and built new ones. The lessons from this development are generalizable to digital developments in healthcare.

Myroslav Skoryk's opera "Moses" based on a poem by Ivan Franko as a narrative of the classical-romantic ideal

The purpose of the article is to explore the main narratives of Myroslav Skoryk's opera "Moses" based on the poem by Ivan Franko, from the point of view of the classical-romantic aesthetic platform of the struggle for the ideal. The crisis of modern society motivates the composer to fulfill the role of the Guide, which requires urgent changes in the vector of artistic development in the direction of highly spiritual philosophical, and ethical orientation. The methodology is to consider the psychological narrative of the romantic creative orientation of I. Franko (R. Golod), to analyze modern problems of opera in Ukraine (I. Gamkalo), to use comparative analysis of epoch-making problems in Ukraine of early XX - XXI centuries and to compare egalitarian and elitist understanding the orientation of the work of M. Skoryk (L. Kiyanovska). The scientific novelty of the approaches is related to the consideration of the composer's narrative discourse as an appeal to the generalized intonation and figurative symbolism of musical stylistics, rather than the stylization of certain historical or ethnic components. For the first time, M. Skoryk's opera "Moses" was considered as a work that foretells a difficult path to freedom, prosperity, and happiness. Conclusions. The work expresses a narrative focus on the synthesis of the classical-romantic compositional-formative construct with a generalized-symbolic "timeless" understanding of philosophical and poetic imagery. In this context, the church's monodic trichord or appeal to the figurative sphere of M. Lysenko's vocal works express narratives of turning to God and the idea of the dream homeland, which ultimately forms a personal mythological space of existence.

Building a Global Open Extensible Biodiversity Commons Network

Recent global events reinforce the need for local to global coalitions to address a variety of socio-environmental challenges such as the current COVID-19 pandemic (Cook et al. 2020) and biodiversity loss in general. Scientists reviewing data and fitness for current and future use note urgent necessary changes needed in data collection, specimen collection and preservation, infrastructure, human capacity, and standards-of-practice (Raven and Miller 2020, Morrison et al. 2017, Cook et al. 2020). Multi-faceted research questions often require cross-disciplinary collaboration. A recent paper analyzed conservation and disease mitigation research author networks and discovered that certain disciplines do not work together unless the research has outcomes that serve all groups involved (Kading and Kingston 2020). This research reinforces the finding that common goals offer a powerful way to build effective cross-disciplinary networks, speed up collaboration, and more effectively take on complex research. To move toward a Digital Extended Specimen (DES), the alliance for biodiversity knowledge is engaging in community building. The above summary when coupled with conversations from our alliance-led online consultations reinforces known threads and reveals some emerging themes about partnerships and collaborations. Our group continues to work on defining what a Digital Specimen is (or is not) and then communicating that succinctly to the worldwide community. At the same time we recognize the need for an extensible digital specimen object, we note the need for an extensible network. We note that groups need to and are motivated to solve local issues (as in for their town, or their country or continent). So, looking for and selecting common threads across these regional scales will be key to realizing and motivating effective partnerships and networks. Foremost, this includes expanding participation beyond Europe and North America. We recognize the need to form new partnerships to expand our network and learn from our new partners. For example, the Digital Humanities community would like to talk about the intersection of the humanities, social sciences, biology, and collections that can help each other to do better research. With this talk, and through participation in TDWG2021, we seek to share information and insights gathered so far about next steps and about building and sustaining the network we need to realize a biodiversity data commons and get input from those who participate in our session.

Analysis of Elementary School Students’ Leisure Time during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Unforeseen circumstances in the form of the COVID- 19 disease outbreak have brought urgent changes to various sectors. The government's recommendation to stay at home and physical and social distancing must be followed by a change in the face-to-face learning mode to online so that a lot of free time is left at home. The purpose of this study was to analyse the planning of activities carried out in free time for elementary school students’ during the covid-19 pandemic. The study used a quantitative approach using a pre-experimental method in the form of a one-group pre-test - post-test design. The results of the research show that the average post-test score of students’ is 84.7%, greater than the average pre-test score of 69.3% which has a difference of 15.4%. Therefore, it is hoped that students’ can plan positive activities to fill their spare time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five steps for astronomers to communicate climate change effectively

Astronomers are trusted voices in the communication of science; our community should resist inundating people with facts and figures but use its advantage to encourage the public to listen to climate change experts and encourage the need for urgent cross-sectoral systemic change.

Programs and investments in disruptive technologies in defence

Hybrid Threats and Wars in 21st Century - Making Society and Critical Infrastructure Resilient are extremely important for us to respond to different future threats and challenges. Defence leadership has acknowledged that they must make significant and urgent changes to its people, processes, organisations and culture if they are to keep pace with its strategic competitors and sustain its national security posture.

Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power, edited by Susan Liddy

Over the last decade, particularly in the second half of it, a notable cultural shift has occurred across screen industries worldwide, bringing issues of gender equity to the fore. Three years after the watershed moment of #metoo, Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power brings together seventeen chapters from scholars around the globe, exposing the scale of ongoing inequality for female-identifying practitioners, and exploring what is being done to address the problem. This timely anthology highlights common themes across territories in relation to structural barriers, policy frameworks and practitioner perspectives. By celebrating the work of the activists that have driven change thus far, and by highlighting the limitations of government interventions, the book is a rallying cry for further, urgent change

Predicted Shifts in the Distributions of Atlantic Reef-Building Corals in the Face of Climate Change

Many species drive the diversity of ecosystems by adding structural complexity to the environment. In coral reefs, stony corals act as habitat-forming species, increasing niche availability for other organisms. Some coral species play key roles as reef builders due to their abundance or morpho-functional characteristics. Thus, changes in the distributions of these species can entail cascading effects in entire ecosystems. With climate change, many coral species are experiencing shifts in their distributions, threatening the preservation of coral reefs. Here, we projected the current and future distributions of three key reef builders of the Atlantic (Mussismilia hispida, Montastraea cavernosa, and the Siderastrea complex) under three relative concentration pathway scenarios: the most optimistic, the most pessimistic and one moderate scenario (RCP2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). Our models revealed that all the above species will undergo habitat loss in the future (2100) in the most pessimistic scenario, although new areas could become suitable, including regions in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, when considering only its actual range of occurrence, M. hispida will lose habitats under all future scenarios. Moreover, in some regions of both the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic (TNA) and the Brazilian coast, these three species could disappear, with detrimental consequences for the associated communities. We highlight the need for an urgent change of course to guarantee functional reefs in the Atlantic in the future.

Responding to Climate Change Disaster

Abstract. Climate change-induced disasters (e.g., bushfires, droughts, and flooding) occur more frequently and with greater intensity than in previous decades. Disasters can at times fuel social change but that is not guaranteed. To understand whether disasters lead to status quo maintenance or social change, we propose a model (Social Identity Model of Post-Disaster Action; SIMPDA) which focuses on the role of leadership in the aftermath of a disaster. Looking specifically at climate change-related disasters, we propose that intragroup and intergroup dynamics in both the pre-disaster as well as the post-disaster context affect whether leadership (a) has the potential to mobilize social identity resources to enable social change, or else (b) fails to capitalize on emerging social identity resources in ways that ultimately maintain the status quo. Given the importance of urgent climate change action, we predict that status quo maintenance is associated with post-disaster paralysis. In contrast, social change that is set in train by capitalizing on social identity-based resources holds the promise of greater post-disaster learning and enhanced disaster preparedness when it is focused on addressing the challenges brought about by climate change. We apply this model to understand responses to the 2019/2020 bushfires in Australia. Our analysis suggests that while an emerging sense of shared identity centered on acting to tackle climate change provides a window of opportunity for securing increased disaster preparedness, this opportunity risks being missed due to, among other things, the absence of leaders able and willing to engage in constructive identity-based leadership.

Додержання вимог режиму секретності при організації та здійсненні негласних (слідчих) розшукових дій

The purpose of the article is to highlight the problematic issues of compliance with the operational and investigative units, as well as prosecutors in the organization and implementation of covert investigative (investigative) actions in criminal proceedings and finding solutions, especially at the legislative level. Scientific novelty. The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in terms of ensuring secrecy in the implementation of covert investigative (search) actions and the use of their results in evidence, the Law of Ukraine «On state secrets», bylaws, which determine the organization of secrecy in the implementation of covert measures in law enforcement activities. The shortcomings in the legal regulation of the secrecy regime in the procedural activities of law enforcement agencies are identified, recommendations for their elimination are provided with specific proposals for making the necessary changes and additions to the current laws of Ukraine and bylaws. Conclusions. Criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine in terms of regulation of compliance with the requirements of secrecy in making procedural decisions on covert investigative (investigative) actions, their direct conduct, registration and practical use in criminal proceedings, the results remain insufficiently defined, requires careful analysis and improvement. The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On state secrets», and the Code of Information Constituting a State Secret require urgent changes. The authors propose to make a number of changes to these and some other laws and regulations that will eliminate the existing contradictions and promote compliance with the secrecy regime, make it impossible to declare evidence inadmissible due to violations of procedural rules.

Editorial: Refashioning stories for celebrity counterpublics

Using celebrity narratives as a starting point, this Special Issue explores the social significance of storytelling for social change. It builds on the 8th Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies conference, which brought together scholars and media practitioners to explore how narratives inspired by the lives of celebrities, public intellectuals, critics and activists offer useful rhetorical tools to better understand dominant ideologies. This editorial further problematizes what it means to be a popular ‘storyteller’ using the critical lens of celebrity activism and life-writing. Throughout the issue, contributors analyse the politics of representation at play within a wide range of glamourous narratives, including documentaries, memoirs, TED talks, stand-up performances and award acceptance speeches in Hollywood and beyond. The studies show how we can strategically use aesthetic communication to shape identity politics in public personas and bring urgent social change in an image-driven celebrity culture.