Local community engagement as a practice: an investigation of local community engagement issues and their impact on transport megaprojects' social value

Purpose: Transport megaprojects often struggle to offer social value (SV) that meets local communities' needs. This problem is embedded in how local communities' views are captured and incorporated into SV plans through local community engagement (LCE). By problematising the literature, this article aims to identify LCE issues and their impacts on SV plans at the front-end of transport megaprojects. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical lens of the study is the practice theory developed by Schatzki (2016, 2005). The authors conceptualised LCE as a practice and conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with UK practitioners. The authors collected data in three steps from three types of practitioners involved in LCE practice and SV planning: project managers, LCE experts and SV experts. Findings: The authors identified 18 LCE issues with thematic analysis and clustered them into five themes. These issues impact LCE with five mechanisms. Findings show that a weak link between LCE and SV plans due to the issues reduces LCE to a tick-box exercise and presents a distorted view of local communities. This reduces SV plans to the bare minimum for project approval instead of offering relevant SV to local communities. Addressing the issues goes beyond changing the approach of project teams to engagement (from instrumental to normative) and requires changing the practices. Originality/value: For the first time, the study uses practice theory to conceptualise LCE as a practice, following the notion of project as practice. The study problematises the literature to address the under-represented link between LCE and SV plans

What is value in the New Space Economy? The end-users’ perspective on satellite data and solutions

New industrial dynamics are disrupting the space sector. New stakeholders bringing in capital, technologies, and knowledge from other industries are developing next-generation space infrastructures and services. Both commercial and institutional space projects have to be valuable for a wider set of end-users, asking not only for economic returns but also social and environmental benefits. Space organizations urge understanding and fostering value in the New Space Economy ecosystem. Indeed, end-users are still struggling to enact the expected value of satellite data and solutions for their business. This paper aims to investigate the expected value and the level of adoption (enacted value) of satellite data and satellite-based solutions in the New Space Economy ecosystem from end-users’ perspective. We interviewed 21 managers from end-user organizations in different sectors (i.e., Insurance & Finance, Energy & Utility, Transportation & Logistics). Value is deeply discussed in general management literature, and we identify Value Theory as the theoretical lens with the most explanatory power for the phenomenon under examination. From the end-users’ perspective, we frame the expected value and the enacted value in taking strategic and tactical decisions regarding their activities, services and products, laying the foundations for further studies of value mechanisms in the New Space ecosystem. Our research set a theoretical and conceptual foundation on value in the New Space ecosystem. It also delineates the blurred boundaries of the New Space ecosystem, the main stakeholders involved, and their perception of value. Insights and implications for strategic and innovation management are also provided. Practitioners may exploit our research results and leverage the end-users-oriented framework to develop next-generation space projects in the New Space ecosystem. We also discuss the limitations and further developments of this research

Modularisation as enabler of circular economy in energy infrastructure

Existing energy infrastructure have a technical and/or economic lifecycle predetermined by the lifetime of certain components. In energy infrastructure, the residual lifetime of civil structure or other components with a longer life is usually wasted. Modular energy infrastructure can be reconfigurable decoupling the life of the infrastructure from their modules, and extending module and/or infrastructure lifecycle. Modularisation could become a cornerstone to enable circular economy (CE) and enhanced sustainability. Remarkably, despite the growing interest among policymakers, practitioners and academics in both CE and modularisation, there is a lack of knowledge about the link between CE and modularisation in energy infrastructure. Through a Systematic Literature Review, this paper derives the gap in knowledge regarding the link between CE and modularisation in energy infrastructure. This link is then investigated in other sectors identifying relevant implications such as reduction of construction waste and achievement of the closed-loop material cycle. Furthermore, the case of Yamal Liquefied Natural Gas project is used to compare and contrast two perspectives: “Traditional modularisation” and “Modular CE”. Lastly, the paper discusses existing policies, provides policy recommendations to foster “Modular CE” in energy infrastructure and suggests a research agenda

Yes, construction cost, time and scope are important, but there is more: a new action plan for infrastructure success

Purpose: During the planning and delivery, iron triangle criteria, are essential for internal stakeholders (e.g. owner, sponsors and delivery company), mostly ignoring external stakeholders such as local communities (often perceived as inconvenient) or end users. In the medium-long term, infrastructure cost and benefit are far more important for external stakeholders and the environment. Design/methodology/approach: The iron triangle criteria, i.e. delivering on time, budget and quality/scope, is the traditional perspective to assess the success of infrastructure projects. Delivering on cost and time is significant, but particularly for infrastructure, there are more relevant success criteria. The authors argue which criteria are important, and explain why. Findings: The authors challenge the traditional view of judging projects based on respecting time, budget and quality/scope. The authors explain that discussing the social value and contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is extremely relevant. Crucially these metrics keep changing, even after the project is terminated. Originality/value: The authors provide a new seven-step action plan for decision-makers to improve infrastructure provision by reflecting on SDGs and engaging with external stakeholders, particularly minorities and the weaker members of their communities. Such an action plan is focused on the cost and value for different stakeholders on different timeframes and progress toward social value and achieving SDGs

Coronavirus infections: epidemiological, clinical and immunological features and hypotheses

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large family of enveloped, positivestrand RNA viruses. Four human CoVs (HCoVs), the non-severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like HCoVs (namely HCoV 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1), are globally endemic and account for a substantial fraction of upper respiratory tract infections. Non-SARS-like CoV can occasionally produce severe diseases in frail subjects but do not cause any major (fatal) epidemics. In contrast, SARS like CoVs (namely SARS-CoV and Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, MERS-CoV) can cause intense short-lived fatal outbreaks. The current epidemic caused by the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 and its rapid spread globally is of major concern. There is scanty knowledge on the actual pandemic potential of this new SARS-like virus. It might be speculated that SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is grossly underdiagnosed and that the infection is silently spreading across the globe with two consequences: (i) clusters of severe infections among frail subjects could haphazardly occur linked to unrecognized index cases; (ii) the current epidemic could naturally fall into a low-level endemic phase when a significant number of subjects will have developed immunity. Understanding the role of paucisymptomatic subjects and stratifying patients according to the risk of developing severe clinical presentations is pivotal for implementing reasonable measures to contain the infection and to reduce its mortality. Whilst the future evolution of this epidemic remains unpredictable, classic public health strategies must follow rational patterns. The emergence of yet another global epidemic underscores the permanent challenges that infectious diseases pose and underscores the need for global cooperation and preparedness, even during inter-epidemic periods

Dynamics of two coupled vortices in a spin valve nanopillar excited by spin transfer torque

We investigate the dynamics of two coupled vortices driven by spin transfer. We are able to independently control with current and perpendicular field, and to detect, the respective chiralities and polarities of the two vortices. For current densities above $J=5.7*10^7 A/cm^2$, a highly coherent signal (linewidth down to 46 kHz) can be observed, with a strong dependence on the relative polarities of the vortices. It demonstrates the interest of using coupled dynamics in order to increase the coherence of the microwave signal. Emissions exhibit a linear frequency evolution with perpendicular field, with coherence conserved even at zero magnetic field

Genotyping of putative Urobenus brasiliensis Benham, 1886 (Clitellata: Rhinodrilidae) validates geographically clustered cryptic lineages including the type locality population.

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