The Importance of Institutional Design for Distributed Local-Level Governance of Groundwater: The Case of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

In many areas of the world, groundwater resources are increasingly stressed, and unsustainable use has become common. Where existing mechanisms for governing groundwater are ineffective or nonexistent, new ones need to be developed. Local level groundwater governance provides an intriguing alternative to top-down models, with the promise of enabling management to better match the diversity of physical and social conditions in groundwater basins. One such example is emerging in California, USA, where new state law requires new local agencies to self-organize and act to achieve sustainable groundwater management. In this article, we draw on insights from research on common pool resource management and natural resources governance to develop guidelines for institutional design for local groundwater governance, grounded in California’s developing experience. We offer nine criteria that can be used as principles or standards in the evaluation of institutional design for local level groundwater governance: scale, human capacity, funding, authority, independence, representation, participation, accountability, and transparency. We assert that local governance holds promise as an alternative to centralized governance in some settings but that its success will depend heavily on the details of its implementation. Further, for local implementation to achieve its promise, there remain important complementary roles for centralized governance. California’s developing experience with local level groundwater management in dozens of basins across the state provides a unique opportunity to test and assess the importance and influence of these criteria

The Deep Subsurface Biosphere in Igneous Ocean Crust: Frontier Habitats for Microbiological Exploration

We discuss ridge flank environments in the ocean crust as habitats for subseafloor microbial life. Oceanic ridge flanks, areas far from the magmatic and tectonic influence of seafloor spreading, comprise one of the largest and least explored microbial habitats on the planet. We describe the nature of selected ridge flank crustal environments, and present a framework for delineating a continuum of conditions and processes that are likely to be important for defining subseafloor microbial "provinces." The basis for this framework is three governing conditions that help to determine the nature of subseafloor biomes: crustal age, extent of fluid flow, and thermal state. We present a brief overview of subseafloor conditions, within the context of these three characteristics, for five field sites where microbial studies have been done, are underway, or have been proposed. Technical challenges remain and likely will limit progress in studies of microbial ridge flank ecosystems, which is why it is vital to select and design future studies so as to leverage as much general understanding as possible from work focused at a small number of sites. A characterization framework such that as presented in this paper, perhaps including alternative or additional physical or chemical characteristics, is essential for achieving the greatest benefit from multidisciplinary microbial investigations of oceanic ridge flanks

Protectors of Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Roles for Gratitude and Tragic Optimism in a UK-Based Cohort

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global threat to physical and mental health worldwide. Research has highlighted adverse impacts of COVID-19 on wellbeing but has yet to offer insights as to how wellbeing may be protected. Inspired by developments in wellbeing science and guided by our own theoretical framework (the GENIAL model), we examined the role of various potentially protective factors in a sample of 138 participants from the United Kingdom. Protective factors included physical activity (i.e., a health behaviour that helps to build psychological wellbeing), tragic optimism (optimism in the face of tragedy), gratitude (a prosocial emotion), social support (the perception or experience of being loved, cared for, and valued by others), and nature connectedness (physical and psychological connection to nature). Initial analysis involved the application of one-sample t-tests, which confirmed that wellbeing (measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale) in the current sample (N = 138; M = 46.08, SD = 9.22) was significantly lower compared to previous samples (d = −0.36 and d = −0.41). Protective factors were observed to account for up to 50% of variance in wellbeing in a hierarchical linear regression that controlled for a range of sociostructural factors including age, gender, and subjective social status, which impact on wellbeing but lie beyond individual control. Gratitude and tragic optimism emerged as significant contributors to the model. Our results identify key psychological attributes that may be harnessed through various positive psychology strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of hardship and suffering, consistent with an existential positive psychology of suffering

Power dissipation in nanoscale conductors: classical, semi-classical and quantum dynamics

Modelling Joule heating is a difficult problem because of the need to introduce correct correlations between the motions of the ions and the electrons. In this paper we analyse three different models of current induced heating (a purely classical model, a fully quantum model and a hybrid model in which the electrons are treated quantum mechanically and the atoms are treated classically). We find that all three models allow for both heating and cooling processes in the presence of a current, and furthermore the purely classical and purely quantum models show remarkable agreement in the limit of high biases. However, the hybrid model in the Ehrenfest approximation tends to suppress heating. Analysis of the equations of motion reveals that this is a consequence of two things: the electrons are being treated as a continuous fluid and the atoms cannot undergo quantum fluctuations. A means for correcting this is suggested

Predictors of Functional Outcomes following Operative Treatment of Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures

Introduction: Previous studies involving operative management of Achilles tendon ruptures have attempted to determine if patient factors influence outcomes. No previous study has attempted to identify outcome predictors in patients exclusively undergoing surgical repair. The purpose of this study is to determine if any injury or patient variables were predictive of outcomes following operative management of Achilles ruptures. Methods: Patient demographics including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, depression, anxiety), mechanism of injury (sports, non-sports), and date of injury were collected. Postoperative notes were reviewed to determine compliance. Patients completed the Foot & Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM)-Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and –Sports subscales, and visual analog scale (VAS) for pain. Multivariable regression analysis was performed, and regression coefficients with 95% confidence intervals and p-values were reported. Results: Female sex was associated with lower FAAM-Sports score (-10.11 [-19.73,-0.50]) and a lower Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation score from the FAAM-Sports subscale (-13.79 [-26.28,-1.30]; p=0.0325). History of anxiety was related to a lower FAAM-ADL score (-29.02 [-45.68, -12.36]; p=0.0009), FAAM-Sports score (-33.41 [-64.46, -2.37]; p=0.0368), and a higher VAS pain score (19.83 [4.43, 35.23]; p=0.0128). Age, BMI, a history of depression or diabetes mellitus, mechanism of injury, timing of repair, and patient compliance were not predictive. Discussion: Females and patients with anxiety have significantly poorer outcomes following Achilles tendon repair. Further study is indicated to determine whether these factors are also predictive of outcomes of Achilles ruptures treated non-surgically and how this may affect surgical indications in these patients

Risk, precaution and science: towards a more constructive policy debate. Talking point on the precautionary principle

Few issues in contemporary risk policy are as momentous or contentious as the precautionary principle. Since it first emerged in German environmental policy, it has been championed by environmentalists and consumer protection groups, and resisted by the industries they oppose (Raffensperger & Tickner, 1999). Various versions of the principle now proliferate across different national and international jurisdictions and policy areas (Fisher, 2002). From a guiding theme in European Commission (EC) environmental policy, it has become a general principle of EC law (CEC, 2000; Vos & Wendler, 2006). Its influence has extended from the regulation of environmental, technological and health risks to the wider governance of science, innovation and trade (O'Riordan & Cameron, 1994)

Testing umbrella species and food-web properties of large carnivores in the Rocky Mountains

Despite criticisms, the umbrella species concept remains a fundamental conservation tool for protecting biodiversity in the face of global change, yet it is rarely tested. Food web theory provides a tool to test both umbrella-species' suitability and their ecological function, which we investigate in a large-mammal food web. Using data from 698 camera trap locations in the Canadian Rockies, we develop hierarchical occupancy models to predict the co-occurrence of 16 large mammal species. We draw upon previous diet studies in the Canadian Rockies to describe the meta food-web (meta-web) for these species. Next, we filtered the meta-web using predicted occupancy to estimate realized food webs at each camera location. We tested the umbrella species concept using predicted occupancy across all 698 camera sites. We then tested for carnivore effects using realized food webs on 5 food-web properties: species richness, links, connectance, nestedness and modularity using generalized linear models while accounting for landscape covariates known to affect food web dynamics. Our multispecies occupancy models reflected factors previously demonstrated to affect large mammal occurrence. Our results also demonstrated that grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis), a generalist carnivore, was the best umbrella carivore species, and explained species richness the best. When considering food web properties, however, wolves (Canis lupus) and cougars (Felis concolor) served as better umbrellas that also captured food web properties such as connectance, links and nestedness that better reflect ecological interactions. Our results support the role of large carnivores as umbrella and ecologically interactive species in conservation planning

Is the 2010 Affordable Care Act Minimum Standard to Identify Disability in All National Datasets Good Enough for Policy Purposes?

Using linked 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS)-Annual Social and Economic Supplement/Social Security Administration records data and a definition of disability based on the six-question disability sequence (6QS) in the CPS-Basic Monthly Survey, we perform a face validity test that shows that the 6QS captures only 66.3 percent of those who administrative records confirm are receiving Social Security benefits based on their disability. Adding a work-activity question to the 6QS increases our capture rate by another 23.1 percentage points for a total of 89.3 percent. We find little difference in the distribution of conditions between those who only report a 6QS-based disability and those who only report a work activity-based disability. The four function-related questions in the 6QS do a relatively good job of capturing those receiving benefits based on these conditions. But the work-activity question does a far better job of capturing those receiving benefits than the two activity-related questions in the 6QS.Social Security Administration, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Researchhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106402/1/wp267.pd

Physical restraint in residential child care : the experiences of young people and residential workers

There have long been concerns about the use of physical restraint in residential care. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study which explores the experiences of children, young people and residential workers about physical restraint. The research identifies the dilemmas and ambiguities for both staff and young people, and participants discuss the situations where they feel physical restraint is appropriate as well as their concerns about unjustified or painful restraints. They describe the negative emotions involved in restraint but also those situations where, through positive relationships and trust, restraint can help young people through unsafe situations