Language in migrant discourse

Discourse studies, in general, have captured how migrants position themselves, make sense of their migratory experiences, navigate social relations, and identify what matters to them in the diaspora. Language plays a crucial role in the migration experience, acting either as a tool to facilitate social participation in new networks or as a barrier that hinders interaction with other social groups. These discourses are context-dependent and continually shaped by evolving circumstances

Price optimization for round trip car sharing

Car sharing, car clubs and short-term rentals could support the transition toward net zero but their success depends on them being financially sustainable for service providers and attractive to end users. Dynamic pricing could support this by incentivizing users while balancing supply and demand. We describe the usage of a round trip car sharing fleet by a continuous time Markov chain model, which reduces to a multi-server queuing model where hire duration is assumed independent of the hourly rental price. We present analytical and simulation optimization models that allow the development of dynamic pricing strategies for round trip car sharing systems; in particular identifying the optimal hourly rental price. The analytical tractability of the queuing model enables fast optimization to maximize expected hourly revenue for either a single fare system or a system where the fare depends on the number of cars on hire, while accounting for stochasticity in customer arrival times and durations of hire. Simulation optimizationis used to optimize prices where the fare depends on the time of day or hire duration depends on price. We present optimal prices for a given customer population and show how the expected revenue and car availability depend on the customer arrival rate, willingness-to-pay distribution, dependence of the hire duration on price, and size of the customer population. The results provide optimal strategies for pricing of car sharing and inform strategic managerial decisions such as whether to use time- or state-dependent pricing and optimizing the fleet size

Advancing Justice in Marine Biodiversity Conservation

Drawing on contemporary political theory, this paper sets out several key normative standards that can be applied to the conservation of marine biodiversity. Such standards ensure that progress in mitigating the biodiversity crisis is achieved fairly and inclusively. The paper suggests that the costs of heading off the marine biodiversity crisis must be allocated in line with contribution to the problem, and ability to pay, and that there can be no justification for leaving the most disadvantaged to bear significant conservation costs. It also clarifies what kinds of activities can count as biodiversity conservation policies, in order to keep the environmental consequences of unsustainable consumption in the global North firmly in view. Finally, it argues that decision-making about marine biodiversity should be opened up much more widely, at all stages of the policy-making process, to ensure that all of those affected by conservation policies have a fair chance to be involved in formulating policies and priorities

An analytical lower bound for a class of minimizing quadratic integer optimization problems

Lower bounds for minimization problems are essential for convergence of both branching-based and iterative solution methods for optimization problems. They also serve an important role in evaluating the quality of feasible solutions by providing conservative optimality gaps. We derive a closed-form analytical lower bound for a class of quadratic optimization problems with binary decision variables. Unlike traditional lower bounds obtained by solving relaxed models, our bound is purely analytical and does not require numerically solving any optimization problem. This is particularly valuable for problem instances that are too large to even formulate or load into a solver due to memory limitations. Further, we propose a greedy heuristic for obtaining feasible solutions. Together, the analytical bound and heuristic provide a provable optimality gap without solving any optimization model. Numerical experiments demonstrate that we can solve real-world large-scale instances, that were previously unsolvable due to memory limitations, in under a minute with provable optimality gaps of under 7%. For smaller instances where the optimal solution is computable, our greedy solutions are about 1% away from the optimal. These results highlight the practical value and scalability of our approach when direct solution methods are computationally prohibitive.</p

Governing the deep: economic, ecological, and legal perspectives on deep-sea mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction

Environmental protection is a critical consideration for activities in the ocean to ensure the long-term sustainable use of marine resources, prevent irreversible ecological harm, and fulfill international legal obligations. In this article, we examine how economic interests in deep-sea mining, emerging scientific knowledge about environmental impacts, and recent legal developments under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shape States’ negotiation positions in the development of the Mining Code within the International Seabed Authority. We undertake a rigorous multidisciplinary review of economic, environmental, and legal literature to identify and critically assess the key factors influencing States’ strategies during these complex negotiations. By analyzing each domain, we clarify how competing economic imperatives, evolving scientific evidence on biodiversity and carbon cycle disruption, and shifting legal norms independently inform the negotiation process and its implications for the Mining Code’s substantive content and governance mechanisms. Drawing on recent jurisprudence from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which elucidates the relationship between UNCLOS and international climate frameworks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement, we highlight the increasing prominence of environmental protection within States’ legal duties. We argue that this evolving legal context supports the prioritization of precautionary and protective measures in the Mining Code and encourages cautious approaches that address scientific uncertainty and climate-related risks. This may include delaying the adoption of the Code or integrating stronger safeguards to prevent ecosystem collapse and promote responsible marine stewardship