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Copyright of Andrologie (11662654) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 'Justice and Nature', Thomas Nagel claims that social institutions are not responsible for inequalities caused primarily by nature, as opposed to socially caused inequalities. I evaluate this claim. To do so, I distinguish causal responsibility from substantive responsibility. I argue that Nagel rightly identifies conditions in virtue of which social institutions are not substantively responsible for an inequality, but the causal responsibility of nature is irrelevant for that assessment. The natural/social distinction is, I hold, misleading, and I offer two pragmatic reasons to stop using it. Besides, past criticisms to the natural/social distinction have questioned whether identifying the causal responsability of nature for an inequality is descriptively meaningful, epistemically possible, and morally relevant. My reconstruction of Nagel's view avoids these criticisms, I explain, by depriving the causal responsibility of nature of any role to identify an inequality as naturally caused. Moreover, I show that my reconstruction of Nagel's view, purged of the natural/social distinction, helps to justify the asymmetrical treatment of class-based inequalities and inequalities among people with different native endowments in the Rawlsian principle of fair equality of opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the cost sharing issue resulting from the maintenance of a hazardous waste transportation network represented by a sink tree. The participating agents are located on the nodes of the network and must transport their waste to the sink through costly network portions. We introduce the Liability rule, which is inspired by the principles applied by the courts to settle cost-allocation disputes in the context of hazardous waste. We provide an axiomatic characterization of this rule. Furthermore, we show that the Liability rule coincides with the Priority Shapley value, a new value on an appropriate domain of multi-choice games arising from hazardous waste transportation problems. Finally, we also axiomatize the Priority Shapley value on the full domain of multi-choice games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Geriatric Medicine (GM), concerned with well-being and health of older adults, can play a crucial role in the alignment of healthcare systems to the needs of the aged populations. However, countries have varying GM development backgrounds. The goal of PROGRAMMING- COST 21,122 Action is to propose the content of education and training activities in GM for healthcare professionals across various clinical settings, adapted to local context, needs, and assets. Defining relevant stakeholders and addressing them on both an international as well as a country-specific level is crucial for this purpose. In this paper we are describing the methods used in the PROGRAMMING Action 21,122 to map the different categories of stakeholders to be engaged in the Action. Methods: Through conceptualizing a model for stakeholders by literature research, and online discussion group meetings, a synthesis for the potential stakeholders was defined as a template, and pilot applications were requested from participant countries. Results: There were 24 members from 14 countries (6 males/18 females) of multidisciplinary professions involved in this study. A model for the list of stakeholders to be addressed was developed and, after seven online discussion meetings, a consensus framework was provided. Invited countries completed the templates to pilot such operationalization. Conclusion: Our framework of stakeholders will support the research coordination and capacity-building objectives of PROGRAMMING, including the participation into the assessment of educational needs of healthcare professionals. Identified stakeholders will also be mobilized for purposes of dissemination and maximization of the Action's impact. By defining and mapping multidisciplinary stakeholders involved in older people's care specific to countries, particularly where GM is still emerging, GM tailored educational activities will be facilitated and optimally targeted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile ecosystems are complex productive realities, in the eye of the cyclone when it comes sustainability-related analysis. Being characterised by very complex value-chains and interconnection of productive actors, textiles production and use represent one of the most crucial challenges for the circular and sustainable transition. Their deployment is esteemed to be in growing for the next years, therefore reflections on how to improve product and materials circularity in this sector is of increasing interest in research and industrial practice. In this contribution, authors will try to map the material properties that can influence textiles application in the fashion sector, focusing on the coupling of material selection activity and application of design strategies to anticipate at best the reflections upon textiles use and recirculation. Results of this activity are then shown and discussed to question the applicability of the reported data into a fashion design activity, to promote awareness and critical reflections upon materials use while designing new fashion goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of 'Parsimony and inference to the best mathematical explanation' argues for platonism by way of an enhanced indispensability argument based on an inference to yet better mathematical optimization explanations in the natural sciences. Since such explanations yield beneficial trade-offs between stronger mathematical existential claims and fewer concrete ontological commitments than those involved in (as it were) merely good mathematical explanations, one must countenance the mathematical objects that play a theoretical role in them via an application of the relevant mathematical results. The nominalist's challenge is thus to undermine the platonistic force of such explanations by way of alternative nominalistic ones. The author's contention is that such nominalistic explanations should provide a paraphrase of the proofs of the mathematical results being applied. There are reasons to doubt that proofs, construed here as formal derivations, actually contribute to the platonistc force to be undermined and, by parity, that nominalized proofs should bear responsability for the corresponding undermining. A discussion of two examples (Baker's magicicadas, the hexagonal shape of honeycombs) and of associated arguments by Lange, Pincock, Steiner and Tallant, point to a a wealth of worries concerning the construal of this explanatory role. Among those figure the distinction between the weak and strong role of proofs, the distinction between causal or 'ordinary' explanations and genuine mathematical ones, and the unifying role of optimization explanations. More generally, the very idea that the explanatory advantages yielded by applied mathematical claims may be construed as gradual or progressive and the associated notion that the feasibility of their nominalistic paraphrases decreases as the generality and force of these claim increases, deserves a closer attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalisation is a way for companies' growth and economic development in transition economies with the potential to contribute to a more sustainable world. Social and solidarity economy cooperatives (SSECs) have a lower internationalisation trend than developed economy companies due to their aversion to possible economic losses and lack of knowledge of the global market. This study aims to propose an internationalisation model for non-financial SSECs through factor analysis and evolutionary genetic computing to improve structural competitiveness within the framework of sustainable development in an emerging country. The study methodology includes: (1) information analysis related to internationalisation indicators; (2) statistical analysis of variables from the national survey of popular and solidarity economy organisations; (3) internationalisation model through a genetic algorithm; and (4) strategies related to sustainability. The results show internationalisation models with significant indicators such as number of partners, social capital, social benefit, access to international markets and employment. These models have goodness of fit with a high degree of precision (> 80%) and are a novel proposal to estimate the internationalisation of social capital cooperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most frequent type of violence experienced by women, with devastating consequences for their physical and mental health. Due to exposure of women to the violence, their perceptions and interpretations of the situation may be distorted, making it difficult to leave the violent relationship. Exploring the obstacles that women must confront to verbalize their situation or ask for help is critical in preventing IPV against women (IPVAW). For this purpose, two studies were implemented: Study 1 included a focus group of seven victims of IPVAW and Study 2 included 550 women (n = 258 suffering IPVAW and n = 292 not suffering IPVAW). In Study 1, women reported that perceptions (e.g., minimization of the situation), interpretations (e.g., justifying the aggressor), and feelings (e.g., guilt) were the main obstacles in leaving a violent relationship. Study 2 revealed that participants who suffered IPVAW obtained lower scores in perceived severity, and attribution of responsibility to the aggressor, as well as higher scores in feelings of embarrassment and guilt than those who had not suffered IPVAW. No significant differences were found in risk assessed and feelings of fear. These findings highlight the serious consequences of exposure to IPVAW, requiring the implementation of preventive programs to address the distortion of reality due to the aggressor's manipulation, as well as the influence of sociocultural factors on the construction of women's roles in relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Annals of Telecommunications is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The COVID-19 virus was unveiled to the world as a health crisis and later also as an economic crisis. For some organisations, it has become an ethical crisis. This is certainly the case for large organisations in Australia, where the way many enterprises handled a government wage subsidy called JobKeeper led to a public backlash, media pressure, and a variety of responses ranging from 'We acted legally' to the full return of the subsidy. Some organisations later reported profits, and the public response indicated concern about this behaviour, many considering it immoral despite it being legally compliant. It is, we contend, a question to which stakeholder theory can be applied, examining how organisations view and respond to the public. We use content analysis of mainstream media to provide information about public reactions and information from official sources to confirm corporate action. We show that there is a significant ethical component in the public response to the behaviour of organisations as they respond to the crisis. COVID has been an ethical, health, and financial crisis for these organisations. Public pressure, exerted in and through the media, made the general public a definite stakeholder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social inequalities are partly caused by habitual organizational practices. In this vein, to overcome those, organizations now need to develop new organizational capabilities aimed at enhancing their attention towards societal issues. In our study, we apply the theory of mindfulness to explain how it may help organizations overcome habitual organizing that fuels social inequalities. Guided by the microfoundational perspective of organizational capability, we conceptualize individual characteristics, processes, and structures that collectively form mindfulness capability for social justice. We perceive it as an organizational capability that reflects the extent to which an organization possesses a collective social justice awareness, i.e., awareness of the impact on social justice in society through its organizational practices. We argue that, when adopted by organizations, mindfulness, by increasing the awareness of the organizational impact on society, helps notice, examine, and question the correctness of taken-for-granted organizational practices. From our perspective, this new capability will lead to changes in organizational practices that fuel social inequalities. Our study contributes to the literature on sustainable organizational development and mindfulness research in organizations. Managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following global warming and climate change issues, environmental policies are receiving renewed interest in the context of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Using a panel of 17 African countries over the period 2000–2019 and based on ordinary least squared, Driscoll and Kraay standard error and generalized method of moment, this paper empirically analyses the effect of environmental tax regulation on industrialization. Our results establish a negative and significant effect of environmental regulation through green tax scheme on industrialization. These findings are consistent and robust to the use of an alternative dependent variable (Manufacturing) and other estimation methods. Also, by splitting the sample into monetary zone, the initial result is found to be consistently significant only in Non FCFA zone. Moreover, Quantile analysis reveals some heterogeneity across the industrialization distribution. Indeed, there is a threshold discrepancy between lower (0.25)–median (0,50) income countries in which the effects of environmental tax on industrialization is confirmed to be significantly negative and upper-income countries (0.75) where the effect is positive but not significant. These findings suggest that green tax regulations in our sample of selected African countries, destroy more industries than they could create. We therefore recommend that environmental tax policies should be moderate on African countries at least in the short run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study committees whose task is to make a binary decision where the correct decision depends on the state of the world that is imperfectly known. Committee members can exert effort to learn about the true state of the world, and their efforts are linked in a team production function. This allows to explore the externalities between the committee members' efforts in the search for the truth and the different interactions between them. We compare committees made up of neutral members (neutral committees) to committees including biased members (polarized committees). We show that polarized committees may be more efficient than neutral committees when members' efforts to acquire information are strategic substitutes, but not when efforts are strategic complements. Qualitatively, our results still hold when biased members have mixed preferences, i.e., they have a bias for one decision outcome but also care about matching the decision to the true state of the world. Our results have implications, for instance, for the rules governing committees in international arbitration and allow us to better understand how the committee composition affects the committee's efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Preventive Medicine is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors describe the microradiographical and histological aspects of ill sutures in cases of trigonocephalies, brachycephalies and oxycephalies. This is based on the study of fragments coming from 30 cases of craniostenosis. They question the responsability of the dura mater and invoke an encephalic cause producing by error forces at the level of the sutural areas. They also stress the absence of chondroid tissue at this particular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cell therapy can be defined as the in vivo use of autologous, allogeneic or xenogeneic cells for the prevention, treatment or attenuation of disease. The definition of cell therapy products has been the source of a recent controversy in France. Presently, cell therapy is associated with biological products and manufacturing processes which are frequently poorly defined. A stringent evaluation of cell therapy, as well as the establishment of an optimal regulatory environment, are therefore justified. In France, a recent law (05.28.96) defines cell therapy products as biological products with therapeutic purpose. Cell therapy centers will receive an agreement from the Health Ministry. The French Drug Agency will have responsability for clinical protocol approval and monitoring, as well as ensure overall quality control. Hopefully, these decisions will contribute to the emergence of cell therapy as a well established, high quality, therapeutic procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Der Schmerz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The pragmatic view of urban resilience has re-framed long-lasting social issues as chronic social stresses that can be addressed by building strong social networks in urban environments. This practice, inspired by disaster management, is problematic because it presupposes a community whose members share the same fate. Conversely, social vulnerability emerges from the asymmetrical distribution of agency in the social order, so that a low social position jeopardises life chances. Hence, we argue that the social dimension in urban resilience should focus on the role of social positions and individuals' agentic predispositions to control their life chances if faced with adversity (i.e., their Mastery). Using structural equation modelling and data from a 2018 public Dutch survey, we found that when mediated by Mastery, socioeconomic status drives the individual's positive adaptation behaviour. In contrast, Interaction with Primary Networks, Neighbourhood Cohesion, and Membership in Voluntary Associations have an unsubstantial relationship to positive adaptation. These empirical results suggest that Mastery is crucial for people's resilience in their daily life. In view of the recent shift towards negotiation in resilience thinking, we propose Mastery as the guiding factor for transforming arrangements that shape social positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes whether cultural heritage determines gender differences in educational expectations to go to university of first- and second-generation immigrants in Italy. The analysis relies on the "Integration of Second-Generation Survey" (INTEG2GEN) carried out by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2015. INTEG2GEN is a national representative survey of students living in Italy and attending lower and upper secondary school. Our findings suggest that parents' cultural background plays a non-negligible role for their daughters' and sons' expectations. Nevertheless, there is a gender difference in the way they react to it. Males are more sensitive to cultural orientations towards education. Females are more responsive to gender inequality issues and tend to conform to gender roles deemed appropriate according to their cultural tradition. Nevertheless, females seem more open to changes and opportunities they face in the new country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how a strategy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions combined with economic cycles can lead to particular consumption behaviours. We are assuming the existence of an "economic" demand for "non-green" goods and a "social" demand for "green" goods. We are also assuming the existence of a dispersion of household characteristics organised around an average profile in each class. In times of sustained economic recession, incomes of individual agents fall. Therefore, the budgetary constraint becomes stronger, and falling incomes will have a negative impact on the demand for "green" goods. Consumers with higher incomes will reduce their demand for "green" goods, creating pressure on prices and quantities. As consumers abandon the "green" goods market, they will switch to the "non-green" goods market, especially as prices are lower there, which will stimulate demand and create a new upward pressure on the demand for "non-green" goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine macroalgae are important indicators of healthy nearshore groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), which are emergent global conservation priorities. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) supports abundant native algal communities in GDEs via elevated but naturally derived nutrients. GDEs are threatened by anthropogenic nutrient inputs that pollute SGD above ambient levels, favoring invasive algae. Accordingly, this case study draws on the GDE conditions of Kona, Hawai'i where we evaluated daily photosynthetic production and growth for two macroalgae; a culturally valued native (Ulva lactuca) and an invasive (Hypnea musciformis). Manipulative experiments—devised to address future land-use, climate change, and water-use scenarios for Kona—tested algal responses under a natural range of SGD nutrient and salinity levels. Our analyses demonstrate that photosynthesis and growth in U. lactuca are optimal in low-salinity, high-nutrient waters, whereas productivity for H. musciformis appears limited to higher salinities despite elevated nutrient subsidies. These findings suggest that reductions in SGD via climate change decreases in rainfall or increased water-use from the aquifer may relax physiological constraints on H. musciformis. Collectively, this study reveals divergent physiologies of a native and an invasive macroalga to SGD and highlights the importance of maintaining SGD quantity and quality to protect nearshore GDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite advances in women's access to managerial positions, the glass ceiling still restricts women's participation in corporate decision-making. Theoretical studies have examined the determining factors and career alternatives for women's professional development to understand the roots of this problem. However, analysis aimed at establishing the causal relationships and exploring the implications of this phenomenon is missing from the literature. To fill this gap, this paper provides an overview of the determinants of the career development of women executives and explores how these factors influence their alternatives for professional development. A sample of Spanish women executives is examined using multicriteria decision techniques, and associations are established between factors and alternatives for women executives' career development. This paper contributes to the topic of gender in management literature by enhancing the theoretical foundations and empirical validation surrounding the phenomenon of the glass ceiling. It has managerial implications in providing companies with an empirical basis for understanding the orientation of women's career development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within contests, adjudication errors imply at the same time the exclusion of a meritorious candidate and the inclusion of a non-meritorious one. We study theoretically how adjudication errors affect bids in all-pay auctions, by disentangling the respective effects of exclusion and inclusion errors, and showing how they interact with the framing of incentives (prize or penalty) under different assumptions on preferences. We test our theoretical predictions with an experiment where we manipulate the presence of exclusion errors, inclusion errors, and the framing of incentives. The experimental evidence indicates that errors of either exclusion or inclusion significantly decrease bids in all-pay auctions relative to a setting without errors, interacting negatively, with no significant difference in the size of their effects. Bid levels are significantly higher in a penalty framing relative to a prize framing, both in the absence of errors and in the presence of adjudication errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juvenile justice systems around the globe are becoming increasingly more similar to criminal justice systems. In Brazil, previous legislations focused on the individuals themselves and did not distinguish between young offenders and children in precarious conditions, but a new legislation in 1990 marked a rupture and introduced elements of criminal law. We leverage a unique data set representative of every adolescent who has been through the juvenile justice system in the state of São Paulo between 1990 and 2006 and provide a quantitative assessment of the changes in sentencing patterns in the period. Results suggest that judges increasingly prioritise violent and drug-related offenses when convicting adolescent defendants, indicating that the Brazilian juvenile justice system progressively resembles the criminal justice rationale by emphasising the ideal of proportionality between crime and punishment. We conclude with a discussion on pendular justice, suggesting that juvenile justice in Brazil is moving from a positivist-inspired to a classic-inspire justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate climate initiatives such as the Science-Based Targets initiative and RE100 have gained significant prominence in recent years, with considerable increases in membership and several ex-ante studies stating how they could bring substantive emissions reductions beyond national goals. However, studies evaluating their progress are scarce, raising questions on how members achieve targets and whether their contributions are genuinely additional. Here we assess these initiatives by disaggregating membership by sector and geographic region and then thoroughly evaluating their progress between 2015–2019 using public environmental data disclosed by 102 of their largest members by revenue. Our results show that the collective Scope 1 and 2 emissions of these companies have fallen by 35.6%, with companies generally on track or exceeding scenarios keeping global warming below 2 °C. However, most of these reductions are concentrated in a small number of intensive companies. Most members show little evidence of emission reductions within their operations, only achieving progress via renewable electricity purchases. We highlight how intermediate steps regarding data robustness and implementation of sustainability measures are lacking: 75% of public company data is independently verified at low levels of assurance, and 71% of renewable electricity is obtained through low-impact or undisclosed sourcing models. More companies are setting climate targets, but detailed evaluations remain scarce, raising questions on their effectiveness. Here, authors assess the progress of 102 of the largest companies in the world by revenue for the period 2015–2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual health-related behavior is among the most influential yet modifiable factors affecting both climate change and chronic disease. To encourage behaviors bringing about environmental and health co-benefits, it is important to understand the underlying factors of behavior change for healthy and sustainable lifestyles. One area of potential overlap concerns people's health consciousness. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between health consciousness and pro-environmental behavior. We investigated whether health consciousness correlates with five clusters of pro-environmental behaviors: sustainable food consumption, recycling, green purchasing, sustainable mobility, and energy saving. Research data were collected via cross-sectional survey involving a representative sample of n = 1011 Italian citizens. Statistically significant differences emerged in the frequency of the different classes of pro-environmental behaviors: people living in Italy most frequently implement sustainable behaviors related to energy saving and recycling while sustainable mobility behaviors are the least implemented. Moreover, the stepwise linear regression model demonstrated the predictive role of citizens' health consciousness on the adoption of specific classes of pro-environmental behaviors showing how higher involvement in one's own health determines higher levels of pro-environmental behaviors. These results highlight the relevance of developing and testing complex programs featuring educational, sensitization, and structural strategies to increase citizens involvement in public health and pro-environmental behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences (DI4A) at the University of Udine, in collaboration with Friuli Venezia Giulia regional authorities, within northeastern Italy, set up a wildlife monitoring and surveillance regional network, named InfoFaunaFVG. Here we describe the development and application of this data repository system based on a novel progressive web application, and report the data gathered in the first two and a half years of its use. InfoFaunaFVG is made of a Web Database and an integrated WebGIS system. In particular, the following open source softwares are used: Apache HTTP Server, Oracle MySQL, Symfony, Apache Tomcat, GeoServer, OpenLayers. The web app can be accessed from any web browser or by installing the progressive web application in the desktop or mobile devices. In short, operating from November 2019, InfoFaunaFVG currently (April 2022) contains a total of 40,175 records, from 300 different users, from 16 institutions. Among all species recorded, mammals were 40% (16,018) of the total, whereas avian species represented 59% (23,741), and others (reptiles and amphibians) 1% (416), respectively. Two hundred twenty-six different species (175 avian and 51 mammals) were recorded. Details about causes of death and live animal rescue were reported. To date, InfoFaunaFVG has proven to be a successful wildlife data repository system providing high quality consistent, accurate and traceable data. These had a considerable impact on regional wildlife governance. In the authors’ knowledge, InfoFaunaFVG is the first example described in literature of such a progressive web application, coordinated on an institutional level, and not based on voluntary-citizen observations. InfoFaunaFVG has the potential to become the largest wildlife monitoring and surveillance data repository system on a national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognition of legal personhood in contemporary international and domestic law is a matter of signs. Those signs identify the existence of the legal person: human animals, corporations and states. They also identify facets of that personhood that situate the signified entities within webs of rights and responsibilities. Entities that are not legal persons lack agency and are thus invisible. They may be acted on but, absent the personhood that is communicated through a range of indicia and shapes both legal and popular understanding of powers and obligations, they lack standing in judicial fora. They are signified as entities that are the subjects of action by legal persons, for example exploitation through rights regarding natural resources or commodification of 'wild', companion and other non-human animals. They are also signified as members of a diverse class of non-persons such as 'nature' and 'the environment'. This article explores the consequences of law's signification of personhood and the natural world before asking whether we both should and could recognise domains such as specific rivers, forests or even Antarctica as a type of legal person. Recognition might acknowledge the salience of nature in the ontologies of colonised First Peoples. It might also underpin a global response to climate change as the existential crisis of the Anthropocene. In understanding law as a matter of signifiers and syntaxes the article cautions that ostensible recognition of some domains as persons has been aspirational rather than substantive, with observers misreading the sign as necessarily transforming power relationships. The article also cautions that personhood for nature or particular domains may be contrary to the self-determination of colonised First Peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new biotechnology raises expectations for modifying human behaviour through its use. This article focuses on the ethical analysis of the not so remote possibility of rehabilitating criminals by means of neurotechnological techniques. The analysis is carried out from a synthetic position of, on the one hand, the consequentialist conception of what is right and, on the other hand, the emphasis on individual liberties. As a result, firstly, the ethical appropriateness of adopting a general predisposition for allowing the neurorehabilitation of prisoners only if it is safe and if they give their consent will be defended. But, at the same time, reasons will be given for requiring, in certain circumstances, the exceptional use of neurotechnology to rehabilitate severely psychopathic prisoners, even against their will, from the same ethical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Especially in antiquity, rivers would both consist of a great resource, and they would exert a fearsome destructive power—vis cui resisti non potest, as Roman jurists used to assert. To prevent the risk of floods, Romans would not only carry out important public works, but also establish technical-juridical rules to induce both private individuals and communities to take care of the problem. Those rules were partly drawn up in public documents (such as praetorian edicta, leges dictae and so on), partly conceived by Roman jurists in a continuous debate starting at least from the first century AD to the third century AD and partly developed by discussions among Roman land surveyors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is a crucial resource for life, and it is increasingly scarce in many regions of the globe. In addition, retail water use is responsible for up to 19% of public water globally supplied. Hence, this study has set out to explore the technical and economic feasibility of rainwater harvesting systems as an alternative water source for a retail store located in southern Portugal. Water consumption data from 2018 to 2021 was collected from water bills, placing average monthly water consumption at around 400 m3. Next, rainfall data was collected from the nearest meteorological station, comprising 54 years of daily rainfall data between 1932 and 2008 with an annual average of 685 mm. The simulation of a rainwater harvesting system was performed, resorting to the mass-balance model. The optimal tank size was found to be 100 m3 considering simply the relation with the relative water savings variation on the graph relating the water savings with the tank size. Results show that the simulated rainwater harvesting system would allow saving 32–36% of the water consumed, despite the store's location in a dry climate, representing a financial gain of €330–372 per month. Findings suggest a substantial potential for the technical and economic feasibility of rainwater systems in retail stores, which makes them relevant solutions to achieve important water-savings in the retail sector, thus positively influencing retailers' direct water footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian networks (BNs) are recognized worldwide for their ability to work with reasoning involving uncertainty. BNs are formed by a directed acyclic graph whose nodes are random variables with different states with associated conditional probabilities. BN allows identifying and prioritizing where to act first and simulating its results to avoid costs with changes without significant results. On the other hand, the lean office (LO) philosophy is recognized for focusing on reducing waste (which does not add value to the product or service) applied to the office environment. One of its main tools is the value stream mapping (VSM), which assists in the lean transformation, aiming at the visualization and elimination of wastes. In this context, this paper aims to propose a framework for using BNs as a guide in the VSM elaboration to implement the LO, with prioritization of lead time (LD) reduction more reliably. To evaluate the validity of the proposed framework, a case study was conducted in a product development department of an electronics industry. The results demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework. Accordingly, the contributions of this paper are twofold. In theoretical terms, it promotes increased knowledge by exploring the combination of BNs with LO. In practical terms, the proposed framework is easy to apply and understand, allowing managers and professionals to implement it to reduce lead time in other types of processes in different industries. Thus, it can support decision-makers in eliminating waste in their processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Engineering Geology & the Environment is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From an exclusive national sample of Brazilian university laboratories, this study examines the relationship between the intensity of university-industry collaboration (UIC) and the scale of research resources and the scope of activities at the laboratory level. We defined the scale of the laboratories' research resources in terms of staff and capital stock. The staff of laboratories was proxied by the number of permanent researchers, non-permanent researchers, and non-researchers who made up their personnel structure. The capital stock was proxied by the value of the laboratories' equipment infrastructure. The scope of activities conducted in the laboratories covered teaching, research, technological development, the provision of technological services, and technological extension. Results of the ordered logit model indicated that the number of non-researchers in the laboratory staff is positively associated with the intensity of the UIC, emphasizing the relevance of the non-academic experience for the establishment of links between laboratories and industry. A new type of evidence showed that the latent variable for the UIC intensity increased with the scale of the equipment infrastructure. We also found a positive relationship between UIC and technological activities at the laboratory level. Idiosyncrasies concerning the knowledge fields of the laboratories are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retail water use accounts for up to 19% of public water globally supplied. However, the water intensity of retail stores and its drivers remains largely unexplored. This study is the first of its kind to provide water intensity indicators for retail buildings, namely Water Intensity per store Area (WIA), Water Intensity per Store (WIS), Water Intensity per Worker (WIW) and Water Intensity per Revenue (WIR), providing metrics for better water management in the retail sector. The water intensity of the world's highest revenue retailers was assessed through data published online in their sustainability reports. A statistical analysis on location, store size, number of workers and revenue was also performed to evaluate the influence of these variables in water intensity indicators. Results confirm that the number of workers, location, store size, and sales revenue statistically influence some of the four water intensity indicators analysed. These results contribute to assist retailers in setting best practice water consumption reference levels and to better understanding water variability, thus offering tools for improved sustainability and water efficiency across the retail sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunded microloans are a suitable tool for financing basic economic activities in developing as well as developed countries, favouring female empowerment. Despite the loans being relatively small, the widespread use of this instrument merits analyzing the factors affecting the microloan. One of these factors is gender because microloans are an important tool to finance projects promoted by women in many developing countries where microfinance is widely diffused. This research aims to determine if the gender of crowdfunded micro-borrowers is related to the main features which define the conditions of a microloan: amount, term, number of lenders, length of time to contact with borrowers and repayment system. The methodology used is the multinomial logit regression. The sample used in this study has been obtained by applying sampling techniques to a extensive public database from Kiva. This provided information on microloans from 56 countries around the world. The results based on amount, term, repayment method and recruitment period indicate that women are the best borrowers. All these variables, except the term, are significant at a 5% level. These findings may be useful to improve financial inclusion and outreach, consistently with the Sustainable Development Goals. Future research is needed to assess how "green and pink" microfinance (with environmental strategies particularly favored by women) can attract more ESG-compliant crowdfunding resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online event-based perception techniques on board robots navigating in complex, unstructured, and dynamic environments can suffer unpredictable changes in the incoming event rates and their processing times, which can cause computational overflow or loss of responsiveness. This paper presents ASAP: a novel event handling framework that dynamically adapts the transmission of events to the processing algorithm, keeping the system responsiveness and preventing overflows. ASAP is composed of two adaptive mechanisms. The first one prevents event processing overflows by discarding an adaptive percentage of the incoming events. The second mechanism dynamically adapts the size of the event packages to reduce the delay between event generation and processing. ASAP has guaranteed convergence and is flexible to the processing algorithm. It has been validated on board a quadrotor and an ornithopter robot in challenging conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]