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The interest in portfolio management has grown in time, especially due to the economical restrictions of the recent years. Selecting the best portfolio of projects and manage it to reach the strategic goals is therefore crucial, but the criteria to consider in the evaluation are getting more complex. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) is one of the actors that operate in complex environment, dealing with different portfolios and different types of projects. In the management of these portfolios, the new strategic initiative is to bring sustainability among the set of criteria to be evaluated. This is creating a challenge where the importance in selecting the projects to form the portfolio and manage the existing portfolios actively has grown with the difficulty of handling inhomogeneous criteria, also difficult to measure. The structure of NPRA's portfolios has been investigated, conducting semi-structured interviews and analyzing strategic and organizational NPRA's documents and tools used for portfolio management. The paper describes the different portfolios for the NPRA and focuses on the actual system for the selection and management of the portfolio of projects, for chosen specific portfolios. For each of them, the strengths and weaknesses for the project portfolio selection and management in NPRA are discussed, with the focus on sustainability as evaluation criteria. Literature and portfolio practice is used to evaluate criticalities for the public agency and to suggest further work to develop a coherent and effective portfolio management focused on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization on 23rd July 2022, however cases of the disease have been detected in Nigeria since the 1970s and more recently since it began spreading in more urban areas of the country from 2017 onward. Nigeria has a strong track record of epidemic preparedness and response, spearheaded by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Despite being somewhat separate architectures on paper, epidemic response (in particular, integrated disease surveillance and response) relies on a foundation of primary health care, which is inadequately funded not only in Nigeria, but globally. Situating mpox response within this wider landscape, we draw on ethnographic research from September 2022–March 2023 in southwestern Nigeria on lived experiences of mpox and mpox response, focusing on the perspectives of frontline health workers and community-based suspected or confirmed mpox cases. We aimed to understand how prioritization and resource constraints shape mpox response at a local level, including effects on the everyday work of frontline health workers in public health and clinical care who are left to "make do." We analyze their experiences interfacing with two intersecting infrastructures, community-based surveillance and primary health care. Health workers' improvisation and "repair work," which we detail, enables the surveillance system to function in some capacity. However, health workers must regularly contend with competing priorities and routine care that may be sidelined during an outbreak or epidemic. We argue that this reveals the limitations of a global health security agenda as it materializes at a local level and the need for strengthening primary health care for longer-term sustainability. • This ethnographic study examined mpox response in southwestern Nigeria. • Epidemic response infrastructure depends on a strong primary health care system. • Primary health care is underfunded in Nigeria. • Frontline health workers engage in repair and improvisation. • This is unsustainable without further primary health system strengthening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surge in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle production has led to a rise in waste PET plastics. Recycling these waste PET plastics for infrastructural purposes offers a feasible solution to curb environmental pollution and the climatic impact caused by dumping vast quantities into landfills. Hence, efforts have been directed towards creating waste PET plastic composites reinforced with coated biodegradable natural kenaf fibers for infrastructural use. In the current research, waste PET plastic bottles (WPET) were processed into value-added composites compounded with coated kenaf natural fibers (CK) using the twin-screw extruder (TSE) and compression molding machines at an optimized temperature of 250 °C with a constant fiber weight percentage and epoxy coating concentration of 10 wt% and 25 % conc., respectively. The composites underwent analysis for mechanical, thermal, and microstructural properties based on relevant ASTM standards. Results indicate significant enhancement in surface interactions/interface and improved mechanical and thermal properties of kenaf fibers due to epoxy coating. Thermal stability improved to 409.4 °C from 397.0 °C due to coating, with a higher melting peak of 252.8 °C. These materials exhibit suitability for energy and building infrastructural applications, presenting an alternative, economical, and sustainable approach to managing the abundance of waste PET plastic bottles. • Waste PET bottles reinforced with coated kenaf fibers for infrastructure application. • The reinforcing coated fibers are necessary for improved interface and properties. • The developed waste plastic composites are of immersed benefits and viabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Africa has witnessed an upsurge in its infrastructure endowments mostly attributed to developments in the ICT sector. At the same time, while CO2 emission is reducing in other regions such as Europe, Africa is rather witnessing an upsurge. The objective of this study is to evaluate: (i) the effects of infrastructures on CO2 emission and (ii) how trade openness and governance contribute to mitigating these effects. The results from the system GMM methodology for 36 African countries between the 2003-2019 period show that infrastructural development exacerbates CO2 emission in Africa. This result is robust across different types of infrastructural development indexes. When the indirect effect regressions are carried out by interacting governance and trade openness with the different infrastructural development variables, the following results are obtained. Firstly, infrastructural development interacts with governance producing a positive net effect, up to a governance threshold estimate of 0.532 when the positive net effect is nullified. Secondly, infrastructures interact with trade openness producing a negative net effect up to a trade openness threshold of 78.066914 (% of GDP) when the negative net effect is nullified. Positive and negative synergy effects are also apparent. Practical policy implications are discussed based on the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid19 pandemic has led to speculation about the place of offices in the future world of work – while working-from-home was initially mandated by employers (and governments), recent research has reported that the practice has gained popularity among employees. However, most such research is based on experiences of workers in the Global North. The article challenges the conflation of the Global North with global and shifts the focus from 'flexible working' and 'work-life balance' to issues of access to work infrastructures, including space, internet, and care. It draws upon existing scholarship on home-based work and precarious work, especially gig work, to outlines ways to analyse the implications of working-from-home in diverse settings. Illustrated with the story of Prachi, a young e-commerce worker in Delhi, the article offers work-from/at/for-home as a wider framework that accounts for inequalities in labour and life conditions of workers around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living Labs are developed in widely diverse innovation domains, based on principles of users involvement and experimentation in 'real-world' contexts, inviting to question the various actors' roles within innovation systems. In the agricultural sector, the implementation of Living Labs may face incumbent routines for experimentation, actors' relationships, and information circulation, as 'users' are mostly farmers already embedded in innovation systems. How, beyond adhesion to inclusiveness principles, the actual practices related to an agricultural Living Lab development make possible to renew or redistribute actors' roles in the innovation process? To address this issue, we realized a case study, following the development of an agricultural Living Lab in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (France) by one year long immersion and participant observation. Our theoretical approach was to consider the Living Lab as a boundary object supposed to allow actors from different social worlds to work together in a new way, and relying on infrastructures in order to do so. We thus studied the intertwining between various rationales about the innovation model or the territory, the infrastructures on which the innovation process relied, and actors' roles construction. Our findings underline the divergent rationales conserved among the LIT's steering actors, associated with undefined roles, especially for farmers. We further show how these divergent rationales participated in maintaining existing infrastructures of the innovation system, preventing from effectively renewing actors' arrangements and respective roles. Among these, we describe the farmers' workshops, and the information sharing paths, both limiting the ownership of the process by non-incumbent actors. Complementarily to the distinctions of various roles in literature, we contribute to relate potentially neglected aspects of the Living Lab management (because not judged strategical) to the room for manoeuvre and possibilities for enactment of expected actors' roles. We finally discuss the relevant skills and their distribution among actors that our findings suggest for the development of an agricultural Living Lab within an existing innovation system. • We develop a framework to study an agro-Living Lab as a boundary object. • An agro-Living Lab built by incumbent actors of the innovation system is studied through a one-year immersion observation. • We underline divergent rationales regarding two notions underlying its design: innovation processes and territory. • Divergent rationales prevent the infrastructures of the innovation system and the arrangement of actors from being questioned. • We point out the governance issues in such agro-Living Lab in order to create room for redefining the roles of the actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The materials stocked in infrastructures are rapidly growing, and their distribution is uneven. • The gap in material stocks across different provinces is increasing. • Affluence is the major driving factor increasing MS, and the population and technology changes have different effects. • Relevant countermeasures and suggestions are proposed based on an analysis of different scenarios. The materials stocked in infrastructures comprehensively reflect resource consumption, waste generation and sustainable development; therefore, research investigating this topic is particularly important. First, this paper uses the bottom-up material flow analysis method to account for the material stocks (MS) in urban infrastructures and examines the spatial and temporal changes in the MS in China from 1997 to 2016. The results show that MS increased 4.04 times during this period and are spatially inclined to decrease from coastal regions to inland areas. Second, this paper combines the population and economic factors using the IPAT model (which considers the environmental Impact as a product of the Population, Affluence and Technology) and a panel data regression analysis to conclude that affluence is the major driving factor increasing MS, while the impact of technology has a negative effect throughout China. The effect of affluence in different regions is consistent with that throughout China, but the population and technology changes have different effects. Third, this study estimates the environmental impact under different scenarios and proposes suggestions and strategies for promoting sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Novel method forecasts interventions in deteriorating tunnel infrastructures. • Comprehensive tunnel data aids performance assessment. • Brazilian rail tunnel's degradation inspection. • Method reveals links between service levels and geology. • Inspection Digital Twin maps degradation zones, connects with database, enabling continuous digital structural oversight. Civil infrastructures inevitably undergo a degradation process due to extended periods of operation, frequent service requests, and weathering. This paper proposes a methodology for predicting necessary interventions and presents a database of inspection information for tunnels. The model developed correlates performance loss, measured by the tunnel serviceability index (TSI), to defects detected through a 2D grid composed of classified unit cells converted into a virtual representation. To support the framework developed, intervention time estimates were compared to stochastic degradation models presented in the literature. A limit analysis was performed using inverse exponential equations, utilizing data from different sources and supported by a digital representation of the analysis structure. This was done to estimate times with unitary inspection data, deterioration mapping control, and data connection to the developed inspection model. A railway tunnel for ore transport in northern Brazil was selected as a case study to apply the forecast model, as it showed an accelerated deterioration process within a few years of service. The tunnel was divided into four sections that were analyzed using the methodology developed through inspection-sensitive analysis. The section with the lowest service level (TS 1) matched the geological-geotechnical mapping, which indicated a rock mass with high metamorphic grade and susceptibility to weathering agents. The digital model resulted in an inspection digital twin (IDT) prototype that maps the zones with the greatest problems regarding the degradation process. Metadata is assigned to control elements, and there is online connection to a visual database of the tunnel. The target intervention time was set at 16 years by the developed structure, which falls within all forecast intervals calculated by the limit analyses. The inspection DT enables digital monitoring of the structure under analysis, allowing for efficient and optimized management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 raised critical questions about the functionalities of urban infrastructures, and in particular, practices of food provision, consumption and distribution. This paper focuses on the actions of non-commercial collaborative food sharing practices in Dublin city, incorporating surplus food redistribution initiatives, community kitchens, and community gardens, during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. Whilst initially curtailed under conditions of strict lockdowns, many of these food sharing initiatives became characterised as essential services as the crisis unfolded, offering infrastructures of mobility, accessibility and care. Focusing on urban food infrastructures, qualitative content analysis of online media debates around food sharing in Dublin during this period was conducted to explore how non-commercial food sharing initiatives have been affected by, and responded to, the COVID-19 outbreak in Dublin. The paper analyses forms of improvisation, institionalisation and impact that emerged through food sharing actions and reflects on whether food sharing initiatives prefigure more sustainable urban food systems. • Demonstrates how food sharing initiatives have been affected by, and responded to, the COVID-19 outbreak in Dublin, Ireland • Contributes to the research on critical urban infrastructures and food infrastructures in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical power distribution networks present one of the most essential infrastructure projects. Despite of the vitality of this sector and the huge budgets of their projects, but it is still depends on traditional manual routing techniques which are slow, expensive and inefficient comparing with the current AI revolutionary techniques. Hence, this research presented a novel AI model for optimizing "overhead power transmitting lines" (OHPTL) routing using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique. The proposed technique depends on the core routine (which can generate random and valid routes and estimate their total cost) and searching algorithm (which uses ACO technique to find the optimum route among the generated routes). As a prototype, the proposed technique was codes in "Visual Basic for Applications" VBA, while MS-EXCEL was used to handle the graphical inputs and outputs. The functionality of the technique was validated using three virtual case studies and its optimization capability was tested using a real-life case study. The results showed that the total cost of the optimized route is about 75% of the existing route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the spatial politics at play in the urban reception of refugees by proposing an infrastructural conceptualisation of humanitarian spaces. In doing so, it destabilises the assumption that urban infrastructures form the mere backdrop of humanitarian government by thinking the city as socio-technical networks. By advancing the notion of infrastructures of reception, we draw attention to those parts of urban space that establish relationships between refugees and the cities that host them. Thus, building on ethnographic material collected in and around a state-managed reception centre in Mannheim, Germany, the article advances a critical reading of the universal, humanitarian gestures the German state has employed towards refugees since 2015, juxtaposing the state's rhetoric with the actual spaces of refuge. An attention to the situated materiality of the reception centre and its policy framework exposes on one hand that Mannheim's reception gesture towards refugees was the outcome of risk-benefit calculations, and on the other that its spatiality contributes to its residents' immobility, containment and suspension. Ultimately, the article argues that an infrastructural approach to urban reception practices offers a pertinent theoretical and methodological tool to uncover its political trajectories through highlighting the refugee centre's ambivalent relationship with the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We examine the mediating role of interdependent infrastructural systems on WEF security risks in cities. • Urban WEF security hinges on interdependent factors taking place inside and outside city boundaries. • Complex technological and governance failures can amplify negative impacts from extremes. • Conversely, institutional actions and infrastructural supports can mitigate these impacts. • By understanding interdependencies, city actors can mitigate cascading effects on WEF systems. Abstract Across the planet, interacting threats are converging in urban areas beset with pressures brought on by global processes such as urbanization and climate change, and the challenges of creating water, energy and food (WEF) security for their populations. With an increased probability of floods and other extremes, goes a heightened potential for cascading effects as WEF security is at risk from an array of tightly bound interdependencies undergirding the WEF nexus. Such interdependencies heighten risk for generalized disruptions, as, for instance, when heavy precipitation triggers a breakdown of transportation infrastructure, leading to failures in energy generation, and provision of food and water. In this paper, we apply a framework to examine how interdependent WEF infrastructural systems mediate the risks that climate extremes pose to urban WEF security. Given that urban WEF security often hinges on dynamics that take place in regions outside city boundaries, we also examine the effect of this dependence on urban FEW security risk. We compare the pre- and post-event governance and infrastructural conditions shaping WEF security in four cities: Boulder Colorado and New York (USA) illustrative of WEF security risks posed by low probability high impact extreme events; and Accra (Ghana) and Mexico City (Mexico), illustrative of governance and infrastructural arrangements that can fail even under low risk high probability extreme events. We find that complex technological and governance failures can amplify negative impacts from extremes. Conversely, institutional actions and infrastructural supports can mitigate these impacts. By understanding interdependencies, cities can anticipate and avoid cascading effects on WEF systems. We reflect on how commonalities and differences in sociodemographic, economic, technological, environmental, and governance configurations relate to different capacities to mitigate risks and adapt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical probabilistic model for estimating the downtime of lifelines following earthquakes. Generally, the downtime of infrastructure varies according to several factors, including the characteristics of the exposed structure, the earthquake intensity, and the amount of available human resources. Having so many variables makes the process of estimating the downtime even harder. Therefore, it is necessary to have a simple and practical model to estimate the downtime of infrastructure systems. To do so, a large database has been collected from literature, which includes damage data for many earthquakes that took place in the last century. The database has been used to create restoration curves for four types of lifelines: Water distribution network, Gas network, Power system, and Telecommunication network. Different restoration curves have been developed based on several criteria, such as the earthquake magnitude, development level of the affected country, and countries with enough data. The restoration curves have been presented in terms of probability of recovery and time; the longer is the time after the disaster, the higher is the probability of the infrastructure to recover its functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The warming of high latitudes climate is enhancing the degradation of ground-ice and inducing important landscape changes across the Arctic. This new Arctic state affects geomorphological dynamics, hydrology, and ecosystems, and poses challenges to the stability of infrastructure and livelihoods of Arctic communities. This study focuses on the hamlet of Paulatuk within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Amundsen Gulf, south Darnley Bay, in northern Canada. In the summer of 2019, an ultra-high resolution aerial survey with a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was conducted, generating a 5 cm spatial resolution orthomosaic and Digital Surface Model (DSM). These, together with field observations were used to produce a very-high resolution geomorphological map of the settlement and surrounding coastal areas. Landscape changes were analyzed using historical aerial imagery of 1975 and 1993, the 2019 UAV survey and a very-high resolution Pléiades satellite scene from 2020. The area is a tundra terrace made up of sandy fluvioglacial sediments affected by a dense network of ice-wedge polygons, mostly high-centered, but also low-centered, showing signs of permafrost degradation. Air and ground temperatures have increased respectively by 0.8 and 1.9 °C over last two decades at Paulatuk, and inter-polygon ponds surface increased by 23,000 m2 since 1975 due to ice-wedge thawing. The airstrip enhanced thaw pond formation on its margins, especially after 1993. The DSM reveals a depression south of the airstrip, which can be potentially flooded due to its proximity to the coastal waters. • Air and ground temperatures increased significantly over the two last decades leading to permafrost degradation. • Infrastructures participate in increasing surficial water retention at their margin, disrupting ground-thermal regime. • High-centered ice-wedges polygons and inter-polygon ponds revealed advanced signs of degradation due to ground-ice thawing. • A low depression basin is subject to marine submersion associated with relative sea level rise scenarios by 2100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptive management for multifunctional forests. • Interdependencies in forest coupled systems. • Safe operating spaces for forest multifunctional management. • Viability theory for forest management. The sustainable management of forests is a critical global challenge that requires meeting human needs while also preserving forest ecosystems and the livelihoods they provide. To achieve this goal, forest management must encompass all goods and services provided by the forest, and increasingly, forests are being viewed as complex social-ecological systems that require adaptive and multifunctional management. One key aspect of sustainable and multifunctional forest management is the use of shared infrastructures, such as roads, to connect the capacity for production and multifunctional use. However, the provision of roads raises issues and dilemmas, particularly in contexts where different forest functions have conflicting objectives. Effective governance is essential to address these challenges. In this article, we propose a control problem framework with infinite horizon that integrates the role of roads and their governance into adaptive management. Our approach involves using a dynamical forest model that considers the roads related to forest functions as part of the mathematical viability theory problem. We distinguish between different scenarios of mono-functional and multifunctional forest management and examine the safe operating space of the exploited ecosystems for each scenario. Our results demonstrate the formalization of complex interactions within a multifunctional forest system and highlight how even small changes in infrastructure provision strategies can dramatically impact the safe operating space of the forest ecosystem. By incorporating shared infrastructures into adaptive forest management, we can ensure the sustainability of both the forest ecosystem and the human communities that depend on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the changing patterns and determinants of material stocks (MS) is important for understanding the interplay between socioeconomic development and environment conservation, and for addressing the challenges in sustainable development. This paper conducts a MS accounting for 10 materials in 6 major infrastructures in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, and probes into the driving factors behind the change within the 1978–2013 period through a logarithmic mean divisia index decomposition method. The results suggest that MS changes through a rapid enhancement in the 1980s, a steadily growth in the 1990s, and an acceleration after the 2000s. A relative decoupling phenomenon was detected in the development of economy and MS, which was largely caused by the decline of MS intensity. The policy implications include paying more attentions to the improvement of MS efficiency especially in buildings, substituting for less energy-intensive construction materials, controlling the extensive urban sprawl, and raising the population density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the role of oil infrastructures (upstream, midstream, downstream) in the light of the imminent territorial restructuring due to the Third Industrial Revolution. New socio-economic and energetic dynamics are going to reshape the Second Industrial Revolution's landscapes. It will be necessary to overcome the common vision of oil infrastructures as punctual elements which scatter the territories, so as to recognize their potential as “oil meshes” spread over vast territories. This will contribute to define innovative local development scenarios, integrating socio-ecological dimensions to ancient oil infrastructures (OILANDSCAPES). The paper proposes “Agro-energy parks” as a possible model to reconvert oil meshes through multi-scalar design tools (territorial/landscape/urban/architectural) aiming to couple renewable energies’ production processes to social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Practice-oriented frameworks are needed to generate actionable knowledge. • Development pathways unveil the complex dynamics of niche innovation processes. • System-centred perspectives reveal drivers, barriers and impacts of innovations. • Agency-centred perspectives identify activities to address drivers and barriers. • Linear and co-creative framework uses support actionable knowledge generation. We present a practice-oriented analytical framework that supports the generation of actionable knowledge for practice and policy actors to facilitate sustainable niche innovations to emerge and mature. Originating from an applied research context, the framework combines and operationalises existing transition-related concepts and frameworks to build on their respective strengths and make them more relevant for practice. The framework facilitates tracing the development pathways of niche innovations from system-centred and agency-centred perspectives to yield insights into both the complex dynamics of innovation processes and the options for actions by different actors. We apply the framework to three cases of innovative coupled infrastructures in Germany and reflect on the extent to which these gauged actionable knowledge. Far from being a silver bullet to realising transformative change, making theoretical frameworks applicable to practice, and applying them in collaborative ways is nevertheless an important step when aiming to generate actionable knowledge for sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A data transformation approach was developed to construct Bayesian network. • Bayesian-driven Monte Carlo approach was developed for schedule risk management. • A case study was conducted to verify the developed approach and tool. The construction of infrastructures has often been challenged by construction delays, which are disruptive and expensive. As the construction of infrastructures is more complex and riskier under uncertainty, the construction schedule risks are becoming more interconnected and occurring in a chain of cascading events in practice. However, past research typically ignored the interdependency between sequence of risk occurrence (e.g., chronological and causal relationships). This research aims to close this gap through developing a novel approach based on Bayesian-driven Monte Carlo (BDMC) simulation for managing these interdependent construction schedule risks of infrastructures under uncertainty. This approach integrates hybrid data processing and analytics methods to (1) construct Bayesian network for identifying risks and risk interdependencies (i.e., causal relationships), (2) conduct risk inference and construction duration prediction involving both of chronological and causal relationships between risks, and (3) identify critical and sensitive risks and provide the most appropriate strategy for risk mitigation. The approach firstly pre-processes the data from risks and risk interdependencies to construct the risk network. It further constructs the Bayesian network using deep-first search (DFS), adapted maximum-weight spanning tree (A-MWST) algorithms and leaky-MAX model. Then the approach is developed for risk mapping based on BDMC simulation and for risk mitigation based on sensitivity and scenario analysis. Finally, a real infrastructure project is selected as the case study to verify this developed approach. Compared to conventional methods, the results show that the developed approach can provide more accurate schedule prediction with least 0.166% error ratio through incorporating interdependent risks into schedule prediction. It is also more informative through proposing effective risk mitigation strategies for delay avoidance and uncertainty reduction, and more convenient in data acquisition and processing when developing a Bayesian network through the developed hybrid data transformation approach converting the risk network into Bayesian network. This research contributes a new way to understand and analyse the interdependencies of risks and their impacts on construction schedule. The developed approach can be beneficial to managing construction schedule risks of infrastructures under uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the value-added link between infrastructure and industrialization is fundamental to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, which consists of building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. The objectives of this paper are to analyse the effect of infrastructures on industrialization and how financial development and human capital modulate this effect in 33 African countries during the period 2003–2019 through the system GMM methodology. The results show that infrastructural development has a direct enhancing effect on industrialization in Africa. When the indirect effect regressions through the modulating effects of financial development and human capital are considered, the net effects are equally positive though the results vary across the different specifications of infrastructure and the specific transmission channel considered. For instance, the indirect effect through the interaction of electricity and transport infrastructures with financial development and human capital produced a negative net effect. The thresholds of financial development and human capital required to nullify these negative effects are provided and practical policy implications are discussed. • The effect of infrastructures on industrialisation is examined. • The modulating effects of financial development and human capital are put into evidence • The sample constitutes 33 African countries during the period 2003-2019 through the system GMM methodology. • Infrastructural development has a direct enhancing effect on industrialisation in Africa. • Financial development and human capital are have heterogeneous positive the net effects on industrialisation when interacted with infrastructures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify the long run determinants of productivity growth for the manufacturing sector of the Italian regions. Demand and supply-side factors are considered: on the demand side, we refer to the estimation of the Verdoorn effect, while, on the supply side, we explore the role of R&D expenditures and transport infrastructure endowments. Our estimation methodology consists of both pooled cross-section OLS and time series LIML estimators using data collected by CRENoS and Istat covering the period 1964–2009. We find evidence of a statistically significant Verdoorn effect. Labor costs, R&D and railway infrastructure have a positive impact on productivity growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider a government tendering a facility, such as an airport or railway, when one of the bidders is an ‘existing operator’ who owns another facility that is a substitute or complement to the tendered facility. In ‘standard auctions’, bidders compete on how much to pay to the government. We find that, all else equal, the existing operator offers to pay more than a ‘new bidder’ and the operator is therefore more likely to win the auction. In consumer-price auctions, bidders compete on the price they will charge. New bidders offer to set the price at their marginal cost. With complements, the existing operator strategically offers a price that is below its marginal cost; with substitutes, it offers a price that is above its marginal cost. Price auctions are better for welfare than standard auctions: they lead to lower mark-ups and are less affected by having an existing operator in the auction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently many university programs in the construction field do not take sustainability into account from a holistic viewpoint. This may cause a lack of sensitivity from future professionals concerning sustainability. Academics in construction must endeavor to instill a culture of sustainability in the curricula of their students. Therefore, this study proposes an active-learning method that allows graduate students in the construction field to take into consideration infrastructure sustainability from a variety of perspectives in a participatory process. The students applied an analytical hierarchical process to determine the appraisal degree of each criterion. A cluster statistical analysis was carried out, aiming to identify the profiles that influence decision-making. This method was applied to two classes of graduate students enrolled in the Master of Planning and Management in Civil Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València. This method identified a correlation between the profiles toward sustainability and the characteristics of the chosen infrastructure. It was also found that the method fulfills educational purposes: most of the students obtained more than 65% of the target learning outcomes. This approach promotes awareness and sensitivity to different points of view of the sustainability in a participatory context. It can be replicated in other contexts so as to obtain appraisals regarding various criteria that help enhance decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is likely to affect how society will function in this century. Because climate change effects may be severe, a next step is to study not only the effects on natural systems, but also the effects on built infrastructure systems and, in response to anticipated effects, the adaptation of those systems. Studies that discuss interconnected infrastructures, society's backbones, in light of climate change are emerging. We apply a socio-technical systems perspective in order to gain insight into the effects of climate change on our infrastructure systems and possible adaption strategies for the coming decades. We use this perspective to collect and describe the literature on adaptation of infrastructures to climate change. We find that the analysed papers predominantly focus on specific geographic areas and that various types of impacts on and interdependencies of built socio-technical systems are recognized, not only for energy and transport, but also for water infrastructures. A missing step is the modelling of adaptation measures. Recent literature enables an exploration of strategies for adaptation, which should be expected in the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the notion of ReligioCity as an analytical category to account for religious urbanism and urban influences on religion(s). This theoretical notion allows us to explore the ways religion and urban space are transformed together by current socio-political processes, but also to examine the ways the city's landscape encompasses new expressions of religious materiality in the urban environment. Taking Acre, a small multi-religious and multi-ethnic city in the north of Israel the paper explores religious processions, parades, and festivities as public rituals which encompass ways of being in the city and of taking temporary control of specific city spaces while engaging with urban infrastructures. In what ways these spatial religious manifestations are dictated by urban infrastructures and at the same time influence the city and how they serve as forms of being in the city for participants? The argument is that these religious manifestations and spatializations are ways of placing religion as an identity marker, with the possibility of sustaining, projecting or even reinventing a sense of self and community in the changing landscape of cities. • This study introduces the concept of ReligiCity as a way to account for the interconnectivity and reflexive relations between city and religion. • ReligioCity is offered as a concept for thinking through and appreciating the growing influence of religion(s) in cities worldwide. ReligioCity is not as a one size fits all cities but rather a place base dynamic notion. • The study follows processions and the interactions with city's landscape of different denominations and the differential engagement with urban infrastructure therein. • Processions are theorized as ways of spatializing religion(s) as part of place-making and taking place within everyday city life. • Contextualizing ReligioCity through the case study of Acre, a small size multi religious city in the north of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates, through a qualitative analysis of official documents, how certain imaginaries about technology filter into EU policymaking, allowing or accelerating the transformation of payment infrastructures into the platform economy. One of the ways in which socio-technical imaginaries filter into policymaking is, it turns out, by informing an image of the consumer which serves to justify measures for the realization of a desired future. In particular, the documents offer a view of the consumer as an actor that is empowered by digitisation. The thesis of this paper is that this view of the consumer is partial: the rhetoric of consumer technological empowerment outweighs and conceals much needed considerations about the vulnerability of consumers vis-a-vis data-intensive payment technologies. Ultimately, the fault lies with the future imaginaries upon which such image is grounded. The vision of the digital payment infrastructure portrayed in the documents is in fact problematic for two reasons. First, the technologies that are portraited as desirable are chosen based on industry interests and trends rather than considerations of benefits and risks that these technologies entail. Secondly, the assumption that a liberalized market will offer more and better choices is flawed, as platformisation entails risks of monopolization and abuses of market power. We suggest that policymakers in this domain should be more critical of the risks entailed by platformisation, and open their imagination to alternative technological futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We investigate the determinants of TFP growth of Italian manufacturing firms. Using stochastic frontier techniques, we consider three approaches for taking into account the influence of external factors, i.e., the determinants or drivers of growth. First, in our novel approach external factors may influence the technological progress, that is the shift of the frontier. To model this possible unexplored effect, we extend the standard time trend model to make it a function of the external factors. Then, following more standard approaches, we model external factors as either influencing the distance from the frontier, i.e., inefficiency, or the shape of the technology. Using a sample of manufacturing firms in 1998–2003, we find that technological investments and spillovers, human capital and regional banking inefficiency all have a significant effect on TFP growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The roads often cross territories dividing them according to logical entirely extraneous to their nature, because belonging to other places to be connected, but they can become also new axes of attraction on the trace of which the environment is modified, other layouts are directed, the constructions are prepared, suburbs and cities are born. One think about the road especially for what it conducts to see, often forgetting us that itself is something to see, it is a constitutive element of the prominent characters of a certain place. It is necessary therefore to review the forms and the ways of the road-layouts arranged to the lightening of the urban traffic and to the installation of new districts, doing so that their sustainability is environmental above all and it can contribute to the construction of a new landscape. An exemplification of such attitude can be seen in the proposal of fast-flowing road layout arranged to a substantial urbanization in the delicate scenery of the Venetian lagoon. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: R&D activities at Egis Environnement (a civil engineering-based environmental consultancy) facilitated the development of OptiFlux, a spatial analysis tool designed to predict and visualize the effects of implementing a linear infrastructure upon wildlife habitats. It also tests the relevance of positioning fauna passages to ensure the restoration of habitat connectivity and therefore allows the optimization of the number and location of potential fauna passages. OptiFlux makes use of habitat quality maps which correlated with ecological requirements of each studied species. The concept is based on the evaluation of the spatial distribution of wildlife in their natural habitats. It also allows the evaluation of the impact of a project that modifies landscape structures and contributes to territory fragmentation. OptiFlux is a project optimization instrument which helps in the decisionmaking process. Major applications are: [•] Identification of routes with the least impact on wildlife population fluxes and their habitats, [•] Optimization of the number and location of fauna passages for the benefit of wildlife and reduction of the conflict points between infrastructures (road, highway, railway) and ecological networks, [•] Simulation of the positive effects of the proposed fauna passages or biotopes (amphibian ponds, for example) for a better choice of installations and for a better reconnection of the fragmented habitats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Sewers, water pipes, and streets are elements of our civil infrastructure, the supporting structure of society. Infrastructure is a complex technical system that provides us with a varied range of essential services; a storehouse of resources and wealth that each generation inherits, uses, and passes on to succeeding generations. The asset management has a big influence on infrastructure development and use: undertaken and executed without fully recognizing the complexity, diversity, and social and technological evolution of the system almost inevitably squander economic, environmental, social, and cultural resources. The challenges of managing these assets most effectively are substantial: the inefficiencies are widespread and really easy to see: jammed traffic on roads designed to carry only a fraction of the current demand, newly-resurfaced city streets open to repair aged subsurface pipes, basements flooded in case of insistent heavy rain, etc. In existing asset management systems often information is not efficiently used in decisional process, which results in much waste in time and effort. It is necessary to develop life-cycle management systems of infrastructure to overcome this problem. The system must integrate geographic information, design data, inspection and maintenance data. Emphasis is placed on development of decision-support tools for municipal infrastructure management. The study identifies the challenges for maintenance, repair and renewal planning faced by asset owners and managers. Integration with existing systems such as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems, Geographic Information Systems, is seen as the largest challenge for developing and using decisionsupport tools in the area of asset management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the interplay between changes in infrastructural systems (or infrasystems) and societal context. The driving question of this paper is whether infrasystems which are inherently rigid and hard to change radically are likely to block desired transitions to sustainability, or that there are pathways in which infrasystem changes might be utilized as drivers for accelerating desired transitions. Based on synthesizing insights from research on infrastructures and on transitions, we present a typology for identifying different types of infrasystems (infrasystem architectures), what underlies infrasystem complexity (infrasystem interplays), and how infrasystems might respond to change in the form of alternative pathways. Our exploratory effort draws together different literatures in order to formulate a number of guiding conceptualizations and transition strategies for further debate and experiment. Our analysis suggests that an infrasystem transition depends on infrasystem architecture and on actors (regulators, planners versus users) given the multi-actor setting of infrasystems. We show that the transition management approach offers interesting insights when analyzing infrasystem change and that the topic of infrasystem transitions is highly relevant and needs to be further explored within the transitions field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The transition towards renewable energy production will not occur without the involvement of entrepreneurs who dare to take action amidst uncertainty. In an earlier article, a conceptual model was introduced for analyzing how perceived uncertainties influence the decisions and actions of entrepreneurs involved in innovation projects that aimed at developing and implementing renewable energy technologies. In this article, the conceptual model is applied to stand-alone biomass combustion projects in the Netherlands. Although none of the biomass combustion projects has been abandoned, some entrepreneurs clearly have more difficulty to turn their project into a success than others. To create insight into the underlying dynamics of these projects, the article analyzes what types of positive or negative interaction patterns occur over time between (internal or external) factors in the project environment, perceived uncertainties, motivation and entrepreneurial action and how these patterns can be stimulated or prevented. The results provide several lessons to take into account when designing policies for stimulating the development and implementation of biomass combustion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As a solution to the problem of persistent solid marine debris, a nationwide project began in Korea in 1999 to develop and popularize fundamental changes to the infrastructure. The ten year project, called “A Practical Integrated System for Marine Debris,” consists of four linked types of technology: prevention, deep-water survey, removal and treatment (recycling). These reflect the characteristics of marine debris, which though widespread, vary by location and time of generation. Each technical component has each representative outcome that has been outreached the local governments and marine debris-related associations. The in situ infrastructures lead to enhance the retrieval of the marine debris and create direct and indirect benefits to industry. Both end-of-pipe technology improvement and the introduction of front-of-pipe technology should be considered as we strive to reduce the generation of marine debris in Korean coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a novel method for evaluating facilities in regard to their designed intelligence. Facilities intelligence is defined as the designed capacity of a facility to acquire and process data and information to perform its adaptability to lifecycle circumstance changes in terms of people''s requirements of wellbeing and energy efficiency. This definition is then formulated to quantify the Index of Facilities Intelligence, the level of facilities intelligence, and the reliability of facilities evaluation. STEEP (social, technical, economic, environmental, and political) criteria and their sub-criteria are used to set up an ANP (analytic network process) model, and ANP result such as synthesized priority weights is then used to calculate those parameters related to facilities intelligence. An experimental case study is given to prove the effectiveness of applying the proposed method to evaluate the intelligence of facilities in practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Shanghai Administrative Region (SAR) is located on the deltaic deposit of the Yangtze River. The bed rock under SAR is generally buried in the depth of 200 m to 300 m except for several massifs, where the bed rock is exposed to the ground surface. The Quaternary deposit in Shanghai is soft sediment. The variation of palaeoclimate influenced the sea level and resulted in a very complicated sedimentary environment. The Quaternary deposit in SAR is composed of an alternated multi-aquifer-aquitard system (MAAS). The groundwater system is composed of one artesian aquifer and five confined aquifer layers with very high groundwater pressure head. The MAAS was formed mainly within the warm geological era updated to 2.6 million years ago. Between two aquifers, there is an aquitard which is composed of soft clayey soil formed mainly within the cold era. The aquitards are composed of very soft clayey silt with very high compressibility and humus content. The humus material was transformed into methane gas under a long-term geological process. With the development of economy, the infrastructures were (or are being) constructed in the top shallow soft clayey deposit, aquifer I and aquifer II. In SAR, the following geohazards occurred or possibly occur during the construction and maintenance of infrastructures: i) quicksand and piping hazards; ii) pumping-induced hazards and recharge-cutoff hazards; iii) long-term settlement due to the seasonal fluctuation of groundwater level; and iv) geohazards of methane gas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There are many initiatives taken to identify safety and security critical systems and activities, at different levels and in different contexts, ranging from infrastructures at the societal level to equipment on the production plant level. Different approaches are implemented to define the critical systems and activities. Some of these relate to vulnerabilities, others incorporate the probability dimension and are risk based. We also see approaches taking into account values of the decision-maker and relevant stakeholders. In this paper, we discuss the rationale for these approaches. Is vulnerability an adequate measure to be used as a basis for determining criticality? Is it meaningful to specify safety and security critical systems and activities without addressing risk? How should we take into account the limitations of the risk assessments? Should we extend the concept of criticality to also cover utility aspects? We bring new insights into the discussion by being precise on the key risk concepts—including uncertainty, probability and expected value—and considering alternative risk perspectives. A novel approach is suggested based on expected values and uncertainties in underlying phenomena and processes. Our main concern is activities with potential severe consequences and large uncertainties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper introduces a collection of case studies aimed at “Placing Splintering Urbanism”, in reference to the thesis developed by Graham and Marvin [Graham, S., Marvin, S., 2001. Splintering Urbanism. Networked Infractructures, Technoloical Moblilities and the Urban condition. Routledge, London]. Whilst acknowledging the value of the thesis as an analytical framework in opening the way to innovative understandings of contemporary urban dynamics, the paper argues that, taken together, the articles in this themed issue seriously challenge the “splintering urbanism” thesis theoretically, empirically and methodologically. They question in particular the postulated universality of the “modern infrastructural ideal” and of “unbundling” and “bypass” processes — all of which are key elements in Graham and Marvin’s argument — as well as the assertion that reforms in infrastructure sectors should generally result in more discriminatory, socially regressive patterns of provision of essential services and more splintered urban spaces. Based on these fundamental critiques, the paper concludes that one cannot speak of “splintering urbanism in general” — i.e., as a global trend — in any meaningful analytical way. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Purpose: The objective of the survey was to obtain detailed information on the use of brachytherapy through a web-based questionnaire. The present article describes the resources available in 2002. Methods and materials: The European area was divided into three groups: Group I included the 15 original member countries of the European Union plus 4 others according to economic wealth; Group II included the 10 most recent members of the European Union; and Group III included 14 other European countries. A national coordinator was designated for each country with a general coordinator to oversee the project to encourage the participation of every radiotherapy center. Results: Three hundred forty-eight (47.2%) of the responding centers provided brachytherapy services and, compared to data from 1997, most showed a significant increase in the mean number of brachytherapy patients per center. The average number of radiation oncologists involved in brachytherapy was similar in the three groups. The average workload estimated in hours per week at the cancer centers was, however, higher in Groups II and III. Most centers had at least one treatment planning system, although in Group I 7.7% of the centers had three or more treatment planning systems. Conclusions: Notable differences in brachytherapy treatment were observed, especially in the workload of radiation oncologists and physicists in Groups II and III, the two groups with largest number of patients. New surveys can provide a detailed analysis of changes over time, a potentially useful tool to eliminate the differences observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Agents are represented by nodes on a random graph (e.g., “small world”). Each agent is endowed with a zero-mean random value that may be either positive or negative. All agents attempt to find relief, i.e., to reduce the magnitude of that initial value, to zero if possible, through exchanges. The exchange occurs only between the agents that are linked, a constraint that turns out to dominate the results. The exchange process continues until Pareto equilibrium is achieved. Only 40–90% of the agents achieved relief on small-world graphs with mean degree between 2 and 40. Even fewer agents achieved relief on scale-free-like graphs with a truncated power-law degree distribution. The rate at which relief grew with increasing degree was slow, only at most logarithmic for all of the graphs considered; viewed in reverse, the fraction of nodes that achieve relief is resilient to the removal of links. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a possible approach to ranking geographic regions that can influence multiple infrastructures. Once ranked, decision makers can determine whether these regions are critical locations based on their susceptibility to terrorist acts. We identify these locations by calculating a value for a geographic region that represents the combined values to the decision makers of all the infrastructures crossing through that region. These values, as well as the size of the geographic region, are conditional on an assumed destructive threat of a given size. In our case study, the threat is assumed to be minor, e.g., a bomb that can affect objects within 7m of it. This approach first requires an assessment of the users of the system. During this assessment, each user is assigned a performance index (PI) based on the disutility of the loss of each infrastructure''s resource via multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). A Monte Carlo network analysis is then performed to develop importance measures (IM) for the elements of each infrastructure for their ability to service each user. We combine the IMs with the user PIs to a value that we call valued worth (VW) for each infrastructure''s elements independently. Then we use spatial analysis techniques within a geographic information system (GIS) to combine the VWs of each infrastructure''s elements in a geographic area, conditional on the threat, into a total value we call geographic valued worth (GVW). The GVW is displayed graphically in the GIS system in a color scheme that shows the numerical ranking of these geographic areas. The map and rankings are then submitted to the decision makers to better allocate anti-terrorism resources. A case study of this methodology is performed on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus. The results of the study show how the methodology can bring attention to areas that are important when several infrastructures are considered, but may be ignored when infrastructures are analyzed individually. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The mounting necessity for recycle and reuse of water presents global challenges to our abilities to meet ongoing needs for water suitable for human consumption. Coupled with this is the reality that current practices of treating the total water demands of communities to levels required for human consumption are not indefinitely sustainable. Viable alternative strategies that integrate more effective water recovery for potable reuse with improved means for production and delivery of higher quality water for human consumption are thus essential. Given the inherent advantages of flexibility and responsiveness associated with decentralization of complex functions and operations, the strategic dispersal of flexible advanced treatment and control technologies throughout water transport and storage networks is one logical alternative to consider. Integration of advanced technology satellite systems with cost-critical components of current water infrastructures would facilitate optimal cost-effective applications of highly sophisticated advanced technologies within the context of existing treatment and distribution/collection systems. Most importantly, it would provide markedly enhanced “personal water” quality and significant potential for energy recovery. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We explore the evolution of the mobile infrastructure in South Korea through the lens of actor network theory. In particular, we analyze the roles of standards in promoting, enabling and constraining innovation in broadband mobile services over a 10-year period. During this period, Korea moved from the position of a follower to the forefront of the mobile computing revolution by erecting one of the world''s most advanced broadband mobile infrastructures. Our study shows how CDMA standards shaped specific configurations of actor networks that enabled the fast and aggressive development and deployment of 2G mobile infrastructures and a rapid transition to 3G services. These actor networks span three separate and critical realms of activities: the regulatory regime, the innovation system, and the market place. Our in-depth case analysis shows how specific connections and events across these three realms promoted the rapid expansion and deployment of mobile services in Korea. Our study suggests that successful innovation and diffusion of broadband mobile services are collective achievements and firms need to deploy strategies that enable them to mobilize broad socio-technical networks that include technological, institutional, political and financial resources. At the heart of such strategies, standards play critical roles as they mediate different interests and motivations among participating actors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper devises a new indicator (ArCo) of technological capabilities that aims at accounting for developed and developing countries. Building on similar attempts as those devised by UN Agencies, including the UNDP Human Development Report''s Technology Achievement Index (TAI) and UNIDO''s Industrial Performance Scoreboard, this index takes into account a number of other variables associated with technological change. Three main components are considered: the creation of technology, the technological infrastructures and the development of human skills. Eight subcategories have also been included. ArCo also allows for comparisons between countries over time. A preliminary attempt to correlate ArCo to GDP is also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While much attention has been devoted to information and communication technologies, a more fundamental change at the start of the new millennium is the increasing importance of innovation for economic prosperity and the emergence of a learning society. The analysis in this paper shows that innovation should be understood as a broad social and economic activity: it should transcend any specific technology, even if revolutionary, and should be tied to attitudes and behaviors oriented towards the exploitation of change by adding value.We build on the idea of inclusive learning, which entails a process of shared prosperity across the globe following local specific conditions, and argue that it is crucial to understand the features of knowledge-induced growth in rich countries, as well as the challenges and opportunities for late-industrialized and less-developed countries. To achieve these objectives, we emphasize the relative importance of infrastructures and incentives, but considering the increasingly important role of institutions towards the development of social capital. This is because learning societies will increasingly rely on “distributed knowledge bases” as a systematically coherent set of knowledge maintained across an economically and/or socially integrated set of agents and institutions.This broad concept has motivated the work behind the present paper, which builds on material presented at the 5th International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation (ICTPI), which was held in Delft, The Netherlands, in June of 2001. Under the broad designation of “critical infrastructures,” the Conference brought together a range of experts to discuss technology, policy and management in a context much influenced by the dynamics of the process of knowledge accumulation, which drives learning societies. Thus, this special issue includes a set of extended contributions to the Delft conference, and the aim of this introductory paper is to set the stage for these contributions, with an original contribution on possible views on the role critical infrastructures play to foster innovation in the learning society. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ALLIANCE Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for radioecology is a living document that defines a long-term vision (20 years) of the needs for, and implementation of, research in radioecology in Europe. The initial SRA, published in 2012, included consultation with a wide range of stakeholders (Hinton et al., 2013). This revised version is an update of the research strategy for identified research challenges, and includes a strategy to maintain and develop the associated required capacities for workforce (education and training) and research infrastructures and capabilities. Beyond radioecology, this SRA update constitutes a contribution to the implementation of a Joint Roadmap for radiation protection research in Europe (CONCERT, 2019a). This roadmap, established under the H2020 European Joint Programme CONCERT, provides a common and shared vision for radiation protection research, priority areas and strategic objectives for collaboration within a European radiation protection research programme to 2030 and beyond. Considering the advances made since the first SRA, this updated version presents research challenges and priorities including identified scientific issues that, when successfully resolved, have the potential to impact substantially and strengthen the system and/or practice of the overall radiation protection (game changers) in radioecology with regard to their integration into the global vision of European research in radiation protection. An additional aim of this paper is to encourage contribution from research communities, end users, decision makers and other stakeholders in the evaluation, further advancement and accomplishment of the identified priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Argues for engagement with campus units that plan, implement, maintain, and support technologies for teaching and learning. • Historicizes the contexts within which these units, and writing teachers themselves, function as institutional actors. • Traces the historical effects of standards, legacies, conventions, and rituals on writing instruction and practice. • Provides a heuristic writing teachers can use to historicize and engage infrastructural contexts in their own institutions. • Illustrates the heuristic with a concrete example from university makerspaces. This article encourages writing teachers to consider historical dimensions as they work with academic IT units on teaching and learning initiatives. To help teachers with this critical task, I trace the connected histories of institutions, literacies, and technologies, specifically enduring questions from the field and institutional dimensions that shape how academic IT units function, demonstrating how these connected histories influence key decision-making processes. My purpose is to provide a heuristic teachers can use to understand how academic IT units function in historical terms, identify pedagogical spaces for meaningful engagement, and intervene productively to advance the practices and perspectives of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]