Mongolian mining engagement with SIA and ESG initiatives

The shift to a low-carbon future places mineral-rich low- and middle-income countries at the forefront of the green transition. The focus on investment and extraction presents significant domestic challenges as countries endeavour to create viable development agendas. Framed by initiatives including environmental, social and governance (ESG), impact assessment (IA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international com- munity works to improve extractive practices. In Mongolia, the most mining-dependent country in Asia, addressing and mitigating industry impacts is key to continued resource extraction and economic progress. Whilst often a signatory to global programmes, government engagement is limited. Mongolia ranks 157th in ESG and though mining licenses cover 4% of the country, there is no social impact assessment (SIA) legislation. Extensive research on the development of SIA guidelines identified strong community interest yet dilatory official uptake and commitment. Ongoing engagement with civil society has seen regulations advanced and the legislative process initiated. Mongolia’s struggle identifies common challenges LMICs face in the implementation of global initiatives. Whilst well-intentioned, without government commitment ESG and IA will remain ambiguous terms for serious social and environmental issues in mining nations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Product and other fine structure in polynomial resolutions of mapping spaces

Let Map_T(K,X) denote the mapping space of continuous based functions between two based spaces K and X. If K is a fixed finite complex, Greg Arone has recently given an explicit model for the Goodwillie tower of the functor sending a space X to the suspension spectrum \Sigma^\infty Map_T(K,X). Applying a generalized homology theory h_* to this tower yields a spectral sequence, and this will converge strongly to h_*(Map_T(K,X)) under suitable conditions, e.g. if h_* is connective and X is at least dim K connected. Even when the convergence is more problematic, it appears the spectral sequence can still shed considerable light on h_*(Map_T(K,X)). Similar comments hold when a cohomology theory is applied. In this paper we study how various important natural constructions on mapping spaces induce extra structure on the towers. This leads to useful interesting additional structure in the associated spectral sequences. For example, the diagonal on Map_T(K,X) induces a `diagonal' on the associated tower. After applying any cohomology theory with products h^*, the resulting spectral sequence is then a spectral sequence of differential graded algebras. The product on the E_\infty -term corresponds to the cup product in h^*(Map_T(K,X)) in the usual way, and the product on the E_1-term is described in terms of group theoretic transfers. We use explicit equivariant S-duality maps to show that, when K is the sphere S^n, our constructions at the fiber level have descriptions in terms of the Boardman-Vogt little n-cubes spaces. We are then able to identify, in a computationally useful way, the Goodwillie tower of the functor from spectra to spectra sending a spectrum X to \Sigma ^\infty \Omega ^\infty X.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol2/agt-2-28.abs.htm

Herd It in the Gobi: Deserting pastoralism?

Global drylands host more than USD 1 trillion in resource extraction investments, which serve to reconfigure communities and landscapes. In Mongolia’s Gobi Desert mega-mining brings social challenges and environmental changes that question if nomadic herding and mining can coexist. Whilst company and community conflict are common, nascent frameworks and mediation models suggest alternate ways to resolve the mining–community conundrum. Here we investigate environmental transformations that herders encounter in the presence of the Oyu Tolgoi mega-mine in Mongolia’s Khanbogd soum (district). Using socio-economic and physical data collected through interviews, field studies and climate records, we assessed local engagement and adaptation to largescale mining. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods enabled us to examine the implications of mining for herder lives and lands in an integrated way. This study presents a holistic assessment of the roles of herders, governments and mines in reshaping pastoralism. In our chosen case study, we find that—contrary to common narratives—mining and herding can, and do, coexist in Khanbogd soum, though ongoing challenges exist which deserve critical attention.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structural brain complexity and cognitive decline in late life : A longitudinal study in the Aberdeen 1936 Birth Cohort

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPostprin

Electrostatic colloid-membrane complexation

We investigate numerically and on the scaling level the adsorption of a charged colloid on an oppositely charged flexible membrane. We show that the long ranged character of the electrostatic interaction leads to a wrapping reentrance of the complex as the salt concentration is varied. The membrane wrapping depends on the size of the colloid and on the salt concentration and only for intermediate salt concentration and colloid sizes we find full wrapping. From the scaling model we derive simple relations for the phase boundaries between the different states of the complex, which agree well with the numerical minimization of the free energy.Comment: 7 page, 11 figure

Cortical Thickness and Surface Area Networks in Healthy Aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and Behavioral Variant Fronto-Temporal Dementia

Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the support of the Maxwell compute cluster funded by the University of Aberdeen. We also gratefully acknowledge study investigators and the generosity of study participants.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Fuzzy approximate entropy analysis of resting state fMRI signal complexity across the adult life span

Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge the work of the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) fMRI community in creating the resting state database and making it publicly available within the framework of the 1000 Functional Connectomes project (https://www.nitrc.org/projects/fcon_1000/). M.O. Sokunbi was supported by an MRC grant G1100629.Peer reviewedPreprin

Klotho, APOEε4, cognitive ability, brain size, atrophy and survival : A study in the Aberdeen Birth Cohort of 1936

We thank the cohort participants who contributed to these studies. The study was supported by the University of Aberdeen Development Trust; the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); the Wellcome Trust; the Chief Scientist Office (Scotland); and the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (now ARUK).Peer reviewedPostprin