The importance of context for effective public engagement: learning from the governance of waste

This paper takes a new look at the importance of context – institutional and political – in effective public engagement processes. It does so through a rare comparative opportunity to examine the effectiveness of processes of public engagement in two UK waste authorities, where the same waste company was involved as both the primary contractor for the delivery of the waste management service (including new energy-from-waste facilities) and, furthermore, the same staff delivered the public engagement. Interrogating these cases affords the opportunity to place flesh on the bones of the sometimes ‘abstract’ skeleton of context. While engagement processes support effective local governance in an era of partnerships and deliberative democracy, the paper identifies that the methods adopted cannot be played out devoid of detailed understanding and response to local context, including the strength of partnership working between the public and private sector, the degree of political support for engagement, and the extent to which a traditional institutional paternalism still dominates.     

人因可靠性数据库基础架构研究

针对人因可靠性分析中的数据匮乏问题,在技能-规则-知识(SRK)模型的基础上建立层次化的人因可靠性数据分类体系,其中包括人因失误模式和人因失误影响因素。结合对一些实际人因失误数据的考察,以及可控实验,确定人因可靠性数据库中基准人因失误概率。在人因数据外推系统中,使用层次分析法(AHP)来定量评价人因失误所处的情境的等级,并使用概率方法将基准人因失误概率与情境进行叠加,从而得到人因失误概率。人因数据库有助于人因可靠性数据的搜集和分析,形式化的外推方法减少了对主观因素的依赖。     

Response to perceived predation threat in fiddler crabs: trust thy neighbor as thyself?

Prey require information if they are to respond to predation threat in a risk-sensitive manner. One way that individuals can obtain this information is through the predator-mediated, threat-induced behavior of conspecifics. We examined such a possibility in a refuge-seeking species, the sand fiddler crab (Uca pugilator). Crabs were either exposed directly to a simulated predation threat (a moving cylinder) or the threat-induced response of a near neighbor. We found that fiddler crabs responded to the flight of their neighbors even when they, themselves, were not privy to the stimulus that induced their neighbors response. However, the wider range of behaviors exhibited by these crabs—which included no reaction, freezing, running back to the burrow entrance, and burrow retreat—suggest that non-threatened crabs either (1) perceived the gravity of the predation threat differently from their directly threatened neighbors and/or (2) engaged in behaviors that allowed them to acquire further information in the face of uncertainty. Conspecific behaviors also had an effect on the hiding duration of crabs, with individuals hiding longer if they saw both the predation threat and the flight of their neighbor. Our results suggest that cues provided by conspecifics can play an important role in guiding the antipredator response of refuge-seeking prey.     

Evaluating the use of Social Impact Assessment in the context of agricultural development projects in Iran

The utilisation of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in Iran is analysed in terms of its policy context and its application in practice. Five case studies where SIA was employed in conjunction with Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for agricultural development projects are evaluated. In addition, the performance of the policy context is assessed. This research revealed that there are legal and institutional constraints to the effective functioning of SIA in Iran, and that there are deficiencies in the operating guidelines. There were serious problems associated with the way SIA was undertaken in all five case studies. Recommendations to improve the policy framework for the conduct of SIA are made. The recommendations advocate for a higher profile of SIA within legislation, for social issues to have greater emphasis in official guidelines for the conduct of EIA and SIA, and for a range of measures to increase the professionalism of SIA practice.     

公众态度和机构监督对大气污染的影响

虽然以往对于环境库兹涅兹曲线（EKC）的研究中考虑了正式制度因素如政府机构监督,但是较少考虑非正式制度因素.本文重点检验两种制度情境的影响,微观层面的环境态度形成的非正式制度以及宏观层面的环保机构监督形成的正式制度对大气污染排放量的影响.基于CGSS2010-2013和2015年的数据库,从中提取出体现环境态度的问题,将其赋值指标化后,作为制度情境纳入环境方程.经过公开数据的收集,得到我国26个省份2010-2014年5年的面板数据.通过固定效应和随机效应模型,发现机构监督与人均GDP的交互项对氮氧化物、烟（粉）尘、二氧化硫排放都有影响,但是公众态度与人均GDP的交互项只对烟（粉）尘排放有影响,从而对不同制度情境下的环境库兹涅兹曲线进行了探索.     

How does the social context fuel the proactive fire? A multilevel review and theoretical synthesis

The role of social context (e.g., leadership, team climate, and organizational support) in shaping employee proactive behavior has received considerable attention and has been investigated across multiple forms of proactive behavior. However, the research has not been well integrated. In this review, we adopt a multilevel approach to synthesize what is known about how social context factors influence employees' proactive behavior, as well as what mechanisms underpin these effects. Our analyses show that leader‐, team‐, and organization‐related social context factors mainly influence employee proactivity through shaping “reason to,” “can do,” and “energized to” states (i.e., proactive motivational states) via individual‐, team‐, and cross‐level processes. That has been most frequently investigated is the effect of the discretionary social context, particularly leadership, on proactive behavior. We also review the interaction effects between social context factors and other factors on employee proactive behavior and found inconsistent support for the motivational‐fit perspective that stimuli with the same directions enhance each other's effect. We offer a research agenda to advance theoretical insights on this important topic.     

Matching Food Security Analysis to Context: the Experience of the Somalia Food Security Assessment Unit

This case study reviews the experience of the Somalia Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) of operating a food security information system in the context of a complex emergency¹ In particular, it explores the linkages between selected features of the protracted crisis environment in Somalia and conceptual and operational aspects of food security information work. The paper specifically examines the implications of context characteristics for the establishment and operations of the FSAU field monitoring component and for the interface with information users and their diverse information needs. It also analyses the scope for linking food security and nutrition analysis and looks at the role of conflict and gender analysis in food security assessment work. Background data on the food security situation in Somalia and an overview of some key features of the FSAU set the scene for the case study. The paper is targeted at those involved in designing, operating and funding food security information activities.     

面向船闸船舶的在线多目标跟踪技术研究

目的 满足船闸船舶在线跟踪要求,改善由于复杂背景、遮挡等因素导致轨迹不连续和身份变更的问题,提出一种增强上下文联系和上下文注意力的多目标跟踪方法。方法 基于设计的在线系统,采集连续帧图像,改进FairMOT多目标跟踪模型。首先,通过在骨干网络设计基于Bottleneck和Contextual Transformer的上下文建模模块,以加强上下文联系,增强场景理解的能力。其次,在迭代聚合后的特征图上应用全局上下文注意力,提高定位船舶目标的能力。结果 相对于原生的Fair MOT方法,设计上下文建模模块后,多目标跟踪准确度指标MOTA提高2.1%,继续添加全局上下文注意力MOTA,共计提高3.5%,同时在多项指标中取得了最佳表现。结论 改进的Fair MOT方法不仅拥有更强的轨迹保持能力,而且在身份维持方面更胜一筹。     

From concept to practice: Implementing cumulative impact assessment in New Zealand

In 1991, provisions for environmental impact assessment in New Zealand were changed significantly with the enactment of the Resource Management Act. Among other provisions, this act requires consideration of cumulative impacts in environmental assessment activities undertaken by planners in newly created regional authorities and district and city councils. The institutional context in which the act is being implemented offers both opportunities and constraints to cumulative impact assessment. A lack of methods for CIA is a recognized problem. However, methods that have been developed for environmental impact assessments can be modified to incorporate second-, third-, and fourth-order impacts as well as to identify the direction and magnitude of additive and synergistic impacts. Layered matrices and combined networks are examples of such methods. While they do not allow for scientific prediction, they do provide the practitioner with the ability to consider the cumulative impacts of decisions. This is crucial in New Zealand, where statutory requirements are ahead of established methodologies.     

Public Nutrition from an Approach to a Discipline: Concern's Nutrition Case Studies in Complex Emergencies

The Public Nutrition approach, like that of Public Health, is context specific. It places an emphasis on populations rather than individuals and is inter-disciplinary in nature. Both approaches seek to understand the complex aetiology of a clinical outcome such as malnutrition within the widest possible framework. Public Nutrition uses the UNICEF conceptual framework and adapts and expands it. The authors of this article argue – through the examination of a number of case studies taken from the work of Concern Worldwide (hereafter referred to as Concern) in southern Sudan, Rwanda, Angola, Tanzania and DRC – that there are two critical constituents of the Public Nutrition approach. These are: a contextual analysis (including the use of surveillance information for programme design and advocacy) and community involvement at all stages of the project cycle. Some of the key obstacles to the adoption of the Public Nutrition approach are identified by illustrating two practical programme settings. For the Public Nutrition approach to be more widely used, the authors recommend a number of key strategies including the further dissemination of case studies and the clarification of the scope and boundaries of the approach. These strategies will enable Public Nutrition to evolve both as a practical programme framework as well as an academic discipline.