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Beyond international guidelines and agreements, over the last decade the focus of the global development community turned to collaboratively designing technical methodologies and tools to support women’s access to land. The Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) provides a prime example of one of these technical initiatives. Whilst LADM was developed with the aim to support the access to land for women and vulnerable groups as a key design criterion, many other potentially conflicting requirements influenced the developed model. Moreover, after a decade of the standard being in practice and applied in various country contexts, there now exists the impetus and opportunity to assess whether the LADM can support the access to land for women and vulnerable groups in practice, including an assessment of the standard against new international standards and agreements emerging over the previous decade. This paper therefore assesses the gender sensitivity of the LADM, from a technical perspective, which is needed to better understand and therefore support and strengthen the documentation and recordation of women’s land rights through standard based systems, and basic datasets. The research type ‘modelling’ is followed to identify requirements from related land administration literature, and to model and match these with the current Edition I of the LADM. The status of the current version of the LADM with regards to whether, and if how it deals with these requirements was assessed. Potential actions for improvements to the LADM were recorded and some examples illustrate options of people to land relationships considering a women perspective and how the LADM would currently model those people-to-land relationships. The assessment shows that the LADM contains significant functionality to support women’s access to land and hence support the implementation of a gender sensitive land administration system. The potential and importance of standards, such as the LADM, and their role in the recognition of women’s land rights is shown and therefore future developments and uptake of such standards are seen as imperative for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The development of multicellular organisms relies on a symphony of spatiotemporally coordinated signals that regulate gene expression. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest group of transmembrane receptors that play a pivotal role in transducing extracellular signals into physiological outcomes. Emerging research has implicated neurotransmitter GPCRs, classically associated with communication in neuronal tissues, as regulators of pattern formation and morphogenesis. However, how these receptors interact amongst themselves and signaling pathways to regulate organogenesis is still poorly understood. To address this gap, we performed a systematic RNA interference (RNAi)-based screening of 111 GPCRs along with 8 Gα, 3 Gβ, and 2 Gγ protein subunits in Drosophila melanogaster. We performed a coupled, machine learning-based quantitative and qualitative analysis to identify both severe and more subtle phenotypes. Of the genes screened, 25 demonstrated at least 60% penetrance of severe phenotypes with several of the most severe phenotypes resulting from the knockdown of neuropeptide and neurotransmitter GPCRs that were not known previously to regulate epithelial morphogenesis. Phenotypes observed in positive hits mimic phenotypic manifestations of diseases caused by dysregulation of orthologous human genes. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and meta-analysis of RNA expression validated positive hits. Overall, the combined qualitative and quantitative characterization of GPCRs and G proteins identifies an extensive set of GPCRs involved in regulating epithelial morphogenesis and relevant to the study of a broad range of human diseases.

Summary Individual land titling will not deliver land tenure security to the majority of people by 2030. Nevertheless, tenure security is implicit to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and deep-rooted in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Land tenure security underpins the SDGs related to poverty reduction, food security, disaster risk management and gender equality. The cross-cutting benefits of land tenure security with regards to sustainable development suggests equally cross-cutting conceptual frameworks, management cooperation and data sharing are needed within, and between, those sectors. Additionally, previous research in the land administration domain developed approaches, frameworks and data models linking across different domains. This latter achievement showed how developments using standardised modelling approaches and domain terminologies can be used to support gathering, organising and disseminating information relevant to reporting on and monitoring of the SDGs. From the perspective of data sharing, domain models - such as the Land Administration Domain Model LADM (ISO 19152), a globally recognized standard - are seen as supporting this capability. In response, this paper explores whether and how LADM, in terms of data model additions and adaptations, could support other SDG-relevant domains. The approach used is exploratory, including elements of literature review, case study analysis, conceptual data modelling, and synthesis. It shows the potential and added value of an integrated data modelling approach, with regards to Land Administration and its intrinsic feature to other fields of study including poverty reduction, food security, and gender equality.

Is source discernment at the root of all information literacy? In today’s media landscape, finding information is easy. Finding information that is scientifically correct and trustworthy is much more difficult. An added problem for students today is that all this available information come in similar formats. When all information is presented as a pdf on your screen, how do you know what you ́re reading? How is a first year student with no previous academic experience really supposed to discern between a scholarly article, a book chapter, a conference article, a white paper, a popular science article, a scientific report and a doctoral thesis? And yet the ability to do so is fundamental for the information evaluation process. If you are not sure what you are reading, how can you evaluate the quality of the information? To ease our students’way into academic writing we now start our information literacy teaching with identifying different sources of information. Reference writing and information searching are then taught from this angle. Student assignments and feedback from teachers show that this seems to improve the quality of the sources the students use in their work as well as their ability to write correct references. We would like to discuss this with colleagues from other universities with similar or other experiences. The questions we would like to focus on are: How a first year student with no previous academic experience is really supposed to discern between different types of scholarly and non-scholarly information materials and how we as library instructors can help our students with this? What are the experience of other librarians and are there any good examples of strategies or classroom exercises?

A contemporary review of land administration, from the perspective of systems maintenance, is provided. A special emphasis is placed on emerging fit-for-purpose land administration solutions. The research synthesis uses reputable sources from the contemporary era. Results show the challenges of maintaining land administration systems and the data held are long recognized. The 1970s–1980s gave the issue impetus as data and processes moved from paper-based and manual to digital and automated. The 1990s recognized concerns on maintenance, albeit as a secondary issue: system establishment was the primary concern. The 2000s placed more emphasis on more holistic sociotechnical systems but, again maintenance was supplementary. The fit-for-purpose era deliveres a vast range of new social and technological innovations; however, scaled and sustainable implementations still struggle with system maintenance. From the findings, a consolidated model for analyzing maintenance problems and solutions at jurisdictional level is developed. Maintenance of a land administration system can be understood by identifying the level of change, method for change, components to change, and options for what to change to. The United Nations-endorsed Framework for Effective Land Administration is then used to identify specific maintenance challenges and available solutions. It is suggested that due to the scope and size of what can be considered maintenance issues, there exists no single solution—instead the country should identify its persistant maintenance problems, and the most appropriate solution set from the suite of available options. Emerging solutions and challenges include ensuring interlinkage to maintenance of spatial planning, land valuation, and marine administration; exploiting survey data ‘back capture’ initiatives; supporting grassroots IT; and giving serious attention to cybersecurity concerns.

Contemporary global policy development is increasingly shaped through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In parallel, the United Nations initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) plays a leading role in the development and diffusion of policy frameworks with regard to geospatial information. Specifically, two frameworks, the Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA) and the Strategic Framework for Geoinformation Services for Disaster (SFGISD), are under development to tackle global issues in relation to tenure security and natural disasters. In order to harmoniously diffuse those global goals and frameworks into national laws and regulations, and to local community initiatives and policies, policy transfer is required to occur between governance layers. This paper seeks to assess ‘whether’ and ‘how’ this policy transfer occurs, focusing specifically on identifying limitations and its opportunities for its enhancement. Results reveal that the approach so far used for policy transfer is taking conventional institutional means to do this in both domains land administration and disaster risk management (DRM) domains. There appears to be an opportunity to utilize a networked approach instead of the conventional institutional for a more robust and further-reaching uptake of the policies. This could also give space to provide better mechanisms for feeding results from local level initiatives and successes into the global frameworks.

Disaster prevention, response and recovery require information about land tenure. Though, in many high-risk contexts, such records are non-existent or not up to date. As a result, vulnerable groups are often passed over by the government during risk management activities. At present there exists no dedicated tool for supporting land tenure recordation of all people-to-land relationships for the purposes of disaster risk management. More specifically, the required supportive data models and standards that could enable integration of concepts from the respective domains of land administration and disaster risk management are also lacking. Standardized data models could support software and service designs. This paper introduces a model linking the domains of land administration and disaster risk management – with the goal of supporting resilience against natural disasters and providing an approach for collecting data once, and using it multiple times. A design approach was used to develop the model – with adaption of the international Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) standard acting as a basis. Key features of the model include the support of interoperability through standardisation, the inclusion of all people-to-land relationships including those specific to disaster contexts, and the potential of the model to contribute to each of the disaster phases. The model is suggested to be highly applicable in natural disaster contexts where no land tenure information exists or the national mapping authority already uses a land administration system compatible with LADM. Overall, the model is considered as a step toward an implementable strategy for applying responsible land administration in the context of disaster risk management.

Is source discernment at the root of all information literacy? In today’s media landscape, finding information is easy. Finding information that is scientifically correct and trustworthy is much more difficult. An added problem for students today is that all this available information come in similar formats. When all information is presented as a pdf on the screen, how do you know what you´re reading? How is a first year student with no previous academic experience really supposed to discern between a scholarly article, a book chapter, a conference article, a white paper, a popular science article, a scientific report and a doctoral thesis? And yet the ability to do so is fundamental for the information evaluation process. If you are not sure what you are reading, how are you supposed to be able to evaluate the quality of the information? In 2019 we switched our approach to information literacy teaching to start with identifying different sources of information and then teach reference writing and information searching from this angle. Preliminary results from student assignments and feedback from teachers show that this seems to improve the quality of the sources the students use in their work as well as their ability to write correct references. We would like to discuss this with colleagues from other universities with similar or other experiences. The questions we would like to focus on are: How a first year student with no previous academic experience is really supposed to discern between different types of scholarly and non-scholarly information materials and how we as library instructors can help our students with this? What are the experience of other librarians and are there any good examples of strategies or classroom exercises?

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) may facilitate the implementation of fit-for-purpose land administration (FFPLA), however, the approach can be compromised when funding for land registration is insufficient or donor projects end. This paper aims to introduce a new form of PPP to the literature on FFPLA, further extending the discourse and options available on PPPs for FFPLA. A background review finds that whilst PPPs have had long standing application in land administration, there is room to explore approaches that seek increased involvement of non-conventional land sector actors. A case study methodology is applied to analyse recent developments of FFPLA in Côte d’Ivoire that includes a partnership between the government and a consortium of private sector companies. Results describe the novelty, challenges, opportunities, and success factors for the approach, when compared to existing forms of PPPs. It is found that the innovative partnership approach may create novel avenues for financing FFPLA in developing countries and for more active forms of participation of the private sector in improved land tenure governance. The model potentially creates sustainable buy-in from private sector corporations, who whilst not conventionally closely undertaking land administration efforts, rely intrinsically on it to achieve corporate social responsibility objectives.

There exists an intensifying and multifaceted relationship between rapid population growth, the increasing occurrence of natural disasters, and demands for land tenure security. Consequently, there is growing agreement on the need to adopt pro-poor land administration approaches, ones that better address the needs of the poor living in disaster prone contexts. Vulnerable communities and exposed lands could benefit from emerging pro-poor land administration, however, thus far, application of the pro-poor mind-set has gained minimal traction in the disaster risk management agenda. Using a research synthesis, existing evidence is analysed and consolidated, and a new inclusive conceptual framework is built; one that illustrates the underutilised potential for pro-poor land administration in disaster risk management. The developed framework explains the interactions between three identified and fundamental global change forces (people, land and disaster) and the three disaster risk drivers (vulnerability, exposure and hazard). The framework illustrates how pro-poor approaches can simultaneously have impacts on both land tenure security and disaster risk management. The conceptual framework is considered a first step toward an implementable strategy for applying pro-poor land administration technologies in the context of disaster risk management. Ultimately, pro-poor land administration should enable the poor to minimise vulnerabilities and disaster risks through an inclusive land tenure security approach to prevent, mitigate, prepare and respond to natural disasters.