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Natural language processing techniques can be used to analyze the linguistic content of a document to extract missing pieces of metadata. However, accurate metadata extraction may not depend solely on the linguistics, but also on structural problems such as extremely large documents, unordered multi‐file documents, and inconsistency in manually labeled metadata. In this work, we start from two standard machine learning solutions to extract pieces of metadata from Environmental Impact Statements, environmental policy documents that are regularly produced under the US National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. We present a series of experiments where we evaluate how these standard approaches are affected by different issues derived from real‐world data. We find that metadata extraction can be strongly influenced by nonlinguistic factors such as document length and volume ordering and that the standard machine learning solutions often do not scale well to long documents. We demonstrate how such solutions can be better adapted to these scenarios, and conclude with suggestions for other NLP practitioners cataloging large document collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Kumanan Rasanathan 1,*, Sara Bennett 2, Vincent Atkins 3, Robert Beschel 4, Gabriel Carrasquilla 5, Jodi Charles 6, Rajib Dasgupta 7, Kirk Emerson 8, Douglas Glandon 2, Churnrurtai Kanchanachitra [...]

The article presents the discussion on depth of understanding of multiple social science disciplines, theories, and research traditions extending beyond the field of public administration. Topics include phenomena being attached to the value and purpose as well as the creation and distribution of a great range of public services and public goods; and investigating individual motivation, cognition, and behavior, group dynamics and performance, institutions, and organizational development.

This is the last of four Last Lectures delivered by George Frederickson before his death in 2020. In "Public Management and Authentic Innovation," Frederickson draws on key studies to demythologize the claims around the origins and diffusion of innovation in the private and nonprofit sectors. He compares and contrasts the managed innovation model with a sustaining innovation model and provides provocative insights into the relevant contributions and limitations of rankings, awards and report cards; strategic planning; and the iron cage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the performance of collaborative governance regimes (CGRs) necessitates an understanding of how stakeholders and their interactions evolve over time. However, few studies assess the evolution of the structure or process dynamics of CGRs over time. This paper contributes to our understanding of the longitudinal dynamics of CGRs. We apply a modified grounded theory approach to a dataset of collaboration case studies to develop empirically-based theory about how often CGRs persist over time, how different components of CGRs evolve over time, what conditions support or hinder this evolution, and how different developmental trajectories lead to differences in the outputs and outcomes achieved by these groups. We find that CGRs follow a variety of trajectories, from failing to initiate, to achieving their work in a relatively quick time, to sustaining their operations for decades, to incurring slow or rapid declines in health. Additionally, many characteristics of CGRs, including leadership, collaborative process, accountability, and outputs/outcomes, peak at the midpoint of the observed time, suggesting that at some point, even stable and healthy collaborations incur some decline in their robustness. As an exploratory study, this work highlights the need for a better accounting of how CGRs develop, sustain, evolve, and decline over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 requires federal agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of proposed actions that could impact the human environment, as well as consult the public before determining whether to proceed. Despite many thousands of environmental reviews over a 50-year history, there remains limited understanding of what NEPA has achieved and the factors that contribute to effective environmental review. While NEPA has been the subject of many empirical studies, this scholarship only rarely makes use of theories that would help scholars predict whether and why environmental impact assessment processes are effective. To aid scholars in the ongoing effort to assess NEPA's effectiveness, we connect the literature on environmental impact assessment with social science concepts and theories that can improve scholars' ability to explain whether and why environmental impact assessment practices are effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on understanding racism for recommitting social equity and justice. Topics include persistent dedication to social equity, accountability, innovation, and theory building for shaping the trajectory of the research and practice in PPMG; and perspectives on theory development being offered in the subfields of behavioral public administration and leadership studies.

The article presents the discussion on Perspectives on Public Management and Governance (PPMG) considering competing logics of probability such as social science and possibility like management practice.

This empirical study of fifty-two environmental conflict resolution (ECR) processes is based on an evaluation framework that specifies key conditions and factors that contribute to ECR outcomes. Data were collected on a range of ECR processes and applications. This article reports on findings from a multilevel modeling analysis that focuses on three primary outcomes: reaching agreement, the quality of agreement, and improved working relationships among parties. Effective engagement of parties is identified as a major contributor to all three outcomes. Other key factors that operate directly and indirectly through effective engagement are involvement of appropriate parties, the skills and practices of ECR mediators and facilitators, and incorporation of relevant and high-quality information. Findings generally support the ECR evaluation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges to successful environmental management, such as costly litigation, planning delays, and contentious stakeholder relations, suggest a need for improved environmental governance. The need for improvement does not, however, in and of itself make a case for alternatives that engage diverse interests collaboratively in environmental decision making, commonly referred to as environmental conflict resolution (ECR). To better make the case for ECR and to understand what contributes to ECR success, a group of federal and state agencies developed an ECR evaluation framework. This article describes the evolution, structure, associated instrumentation, and current applications of this ECR evaluation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on article of E. Franklin Dukes about environmental conflict resolution which appeared in the September 2004 issue of the "Conflict Resolution Quarterly". Application of environmental conflict resolution beyond its initial use in the litigation context to the enforcement arena, rule making and policy and site-specific plan development; Need for better model specification for collecting data about environmental conflict resolution.

Examines key issues at the forefront of developments in the regulatory takings field. Effect on private rights in property, government regulation and judicial recovery coverage; Implications in field of public administration.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the American public administration, collaborative management and governance, and risk reduction in local government consolidation.

This article focuses on strategic political incivility intended to shut down or disrupt local arenas for public discourse. Professional facilitators who design and manage public discourse and democratic deliberation are the subject of this survey research. Survey questions elicited specific incidences of strategic political incivility and facilitators' responses to these events. The results from this exploratory study suggest that strategic political incivility at the local level may not be as unmanageable a problem for professional facilitators as media reports purport. Recommendations for improving practice emerge from this study, along with promising avenues for future research on uncivil discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]