Participatory Decision Making

Coastal delta regions experiencing long-term ecological degradation and sudden natural disasters require restoration approaches that are adaptive, process-based, and context-specific. The Samandag􀀀 coastline in southern Turkey, part of the Mediterranean Asi River Delta, has faced hydrological disruption, habitat fragmentation, and governance complexity, compounded by the 2023 earthquakes. Objectives: This study develops a socio-ecological restoration model grounded in the reference ecosystem framework to guide post-disaster recovery. The model integrates historical baselines, local ecological memory, and participatory governance across three nested zones: Milleyha Wetland, the Coastal Dune Belt, and the Settled Coastal Strip.
Fieldwork combined geospatial analysis, stakeholder interviews, and archival cartography to reconstruct ecological func-tions and identify priority interventions. Restoration actions were sequenced into four phases, aligning ecological urgency with insti-tutional feasibility and community legitimacy.
The model emphasizes process-based recovery; reactivating sediment dynamics, restoring hydrological flow, and enabling species recolonization, while embedding governance as a design parameter. Proposed interventions include debris removal, hydrolog-ical reconnection, dune stabilization, negotiable retreat of vulnerable settlements, and scenarios for coastal highway. Although the model has not yet been implemented, the adaptive and consultative process contributed to early governance outcomes, including expanded legal protection of the Milleyha Wetland. An adaptive monitoring framework integrates biophysical indicators with social metrics to support iterative learning and adjustment.
The Samanda􀀀g model demonstrates how reference ecosystems can serve as dynamic planning tools in contested deltaic landscapes. By coupling ecological restoration with spatial negotiation and cultural sensitivity, the approach reframes recovery as both ecological engineering and spatial reconciliation, positioning the reference ecosystem as a living framework for governance and adap-tive decision-making under uncertainty.

Abstract

This article proposes Open Image Cognitive Ecology as a theoretical framework for overcoming the fragmentation of human experience frequently found in contemporary psychology, education, visual culture, and technological systems. While many modern approaches isolate cognition, emotion, perception, imagination, embodiment, or behavior into separate domains, this study argues that human flourishing emerges through the ecological cultivation of multiple perceptual potentials operating simultaneously.

Drawing upon the works of Freud, Jung, Warburg, Bachelard, Winnicott, Merleau-Ponty, Bergson, Gibson, Suely Rolnik, Tim Ingold, Spinoza, and Deleuze & Guattari, the article develops a transdisciplinary model that understands perception not as passive reception nor as behavioral adaptation, but as active participation in the continuous creation of self and world. Within this perspective, artistic images are no longer treated as representations, messages, or symbolic containers. Instead, they function as living perceptual ecologies capable of sustaining emergence, imagination, affective resonance, ecological participation, and ongoing meaning generation.

The study introduces the concepts of Perceptual Emergence, Adult Playfulness, Vibratile Participation, Oncological Dust, Surface Parallax, and Habitable Irresolution as mechanisms through which images preserve openness rather than closure. These concepts describe how perceptual fields may cultivate grounding, vitality, agency, affection, expression, imagination, contemplation, and ecological belonging without reducing experience to predetermined interpretations or behavioral outcomes.

The central argument is that the purpose of the image is not to communicate meaning, regulate behavior, or stabilize interpretation, but to preserve and expand the human capacity for world-making. Open Image Cognitive Ecology therefore proposes a shift from behavioral optimization toward ecological participation, offering a model in which perception, imagination, memory, body, environment, and symbolic life remain dynamically interconnected.

Ultimately, the article suggests that the most powerful images are not those that provide answers, but those that sustain the conditions through which perception continues creating reality. In this sense, art becomes an ecology of emergence and a practice of cultivating the full spectrum of human perceptual potentials.

Keywords: Open Image; Cognitive Ecology; Perceptual Emergence; Ecological Perception; Symbolic Imagination; Adult Playfulness; Vibratile Body; World-Making; Habitable Irresolution; Participatory Meaning-Making.


One of the central assumptions underlying many contemporary psychological, educational, and technological systems is the fragmentation of human experience. Cognition is frequently separated from affect, perception from imagination, body from environment, and meaning from participation. This fragmentation appears not only in scientific frameworks but also in visual culture. Images are often designed to capture attention, reinforce behavioral responses, optimize engagement, or transmit predetermined messages. Such approaches privilege specific cognitive functions while suppressing others. Open Image Cognitive Ecology proposes a different hypothesis. Human flourishing may depend upon the simultaneous cultivation of multiple dimensions of experience rather than the optimization of isolated functions. Across diverse traditions, similar intuitions emerge. In yogic systems, this appears through the symbolic organization of the chakras. In phenomenology, it appears through embodied perception. In ecological psychology, through affordances. In Winnicott's work, through transitional space. In Suely Rolnik's theory, through the vibratile body. In Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, through the flesh of the world. In Jung's psychology, through symbolic imagination. Despite their differences, these approaches converge toward a common insight: Human experience functions as an integrated ecology. No single dimension should dominate. Perception without imagination becomes mechanical. Imagination without embodiment becomes dissociated.

Storytelling has always moved across artistic forms and media. Literature, film, painting, music, dance, photography, and performance continually reshape narratives through processes of intermedial transformation. This Special Issue explores how stories emerge, migrate, and evolve between textual, visual, sonic, and performative environments, foregrounding storytelling as a dynamic practice of artistic translation and reconfiguration. Rather than focusing solely on adaptation, the volume examines how artistic forms themselves generate narrative structures and experiences. Visual images, rhythms, sounds, gestures, and movements may all function as narrative forces, challenging the limits of language and opening new possibilities for representation and interpretation. The issue engages with debates in intermedial studies, adaptation theory, visual culture, film studies, music and sound studies, and performance studies. Topics may include literature and visual arts; music and narrative; dance and embodied storytelling; film as intermedial space; adaptation and transmedial storytelling; artistic form as narrative structure; and ethics/poetics of translating non-verbal arts into language

The idea of ‘climate compatible development’ is gaining ground in international policy circles. It is aimed at fusing the climate change adaptation and mitigation agendas with the mainstream development agenda. This raises a key set of questions, especially where African cities – and other developing world cities – are concerned. What opportunities and challenges does this present in the context of rapidly growing cities across the African continent, where two key features are widespread: informality and deeply entrenched inequality? Informality comes in many forms, including settlement on unplanned land without public services and bulk infrastructure; unregistered housing construction and transfer; informal and insecure jobs; and unregulated trade and service provision. In the light of the threats posed by changing climatic conditions and the prevailing realities of economic and political disempowerment, how might we go about grounding and working with the idea of climate compatibl...

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215

Community development in Tanzania, as in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, has historically been shaped by externally driven approaches that prioritise donor agendas over community needs and aspirations. While significant financial resources have been committed to development programmes across rural and peri-urban Tanzania, many projects have struggled to achieve lasting impact once external support is withdrawn. This paper argues that genuine local ownership-understood not merely as community participation in project activities, but as meaningful control over project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation-is the most critical determinant of sustainable community development outcomes. Drawing on participatory development theory, empirical evidence from Tanzania's community development landscape, and lessons from international practice, the paper examines how ownership operates at the individual, household, and community levels, and why externally managed projects so frequently fail to produce durable change. The paper concludes with a framework of principles to guide practitioners and policymakers toward more ownership-centred approaches in Tanzania and comparable contexts.

The American Red Cross (ARC) self-reports post-disaster efforts annually, potentially biased for public image. The lack of formal reviews of ARC interventions' social impacts further exacerbates the issue. This scoping review aims to address both issues by summarizing and evaluating the social impact of ARC's national disaster interventions. As a secondary objective, this review will also provide important information to guide ARC and other organizations in truly fulfilling their missions. The inclusion criteria involve participants of all age groups, marginalized communities, displaced individuals, and ARC disaster responders. Opinionated statements, except for anecdotes, were excluded. This review involves all United States (US) areas that have been affected by disasters and required assistance from ARC. With no search limits, all evidence was searched on PubMed from July to August 2023. Two stages of screening were conducted by two independent reviewers: title/abstract screening and full-text screening. During each stage, each paper underwent a quality assessment. Disagreements in each stage were resolved before proceeding to the next stage. Through 22 academic papers, the review outlines key themes in ARC comprehensive interventions on disaster preparedness and on-site disaster interventions. However, research gaps were found in ARC recovery interventions, especially their impact on evacuees. This investigation found that ARC makes general efforts to address the needs of communities they assist before, during, and after disasters. Because the results suggest that ARC is moving in the correct direction in reducing the nationwide harm disasters cause, ARC's social impact on studied populations is mostly positive.

This paper aims to clarify the roles of mass media as well as community media including temporary disaster radio stations in case of a serious and multiple disaster, based upon researches in relation to Great East Japan Disaster in 2011. For this purpose, firstly, the data of questionnaire to TV stations in Tokyo and those in three main disaster areas are analysed. Secondly, interview data of community FM broadcasters, including temporary disaster FM broadcasters of the disaster areas are examined. Thirdly, as a concrete example, "Voice of Fukushima," that is a remarkable activity for sending individuals' voices in Fukushima to the world by means of media, is discussed as a case study. After these discussions, it is clarified what was severe and what was lacked for each of media. In conclusion, important and alternative roles of media are reconsidered.

Wolfram Kinzig I. Einleitung: Katastrophen als antike Alltagserfahrungen »Gott ließ die Erde mehrmals am Tag erzittern, so dass die meisten Menschen sich bäuchlings auf die Erde warfen, um zu beten, weil der Boden bebte. Ich glaubte währenddessen, das Meer sei sicherer als die Erde und lief eilends hinunter zum Hafen…« 2

from Tokyo to Sendai from where I could easily join the locations of my meetings. I will go into more details in the chapters centered on these cities to explain how they have suffered and recovered from the disaster. My project became a reality thanks to the wonderful people I met before and during my trip to Japan. Here are the main actors I met who supported me and provided me with assistance during my research: I renew my thanks to them and the honor it was to be able to meet and work with them.

This study examines how platform infrastructures, algorithmic visibility structures, and commercial logics reshape folkloric practices in digital meme communities. It investigates whether these communities reflect traditional folklore transposed online or represent algorithmically constituted cultural formations with transformed dynamics. Using a digital ethnographic approach, the research participants were 342 members of Reddit, Twitter, and TikTok who actively participate in meme culture. Data were gathered through online surveys, a contextual meme-evaluation task using 480 trending memes, and semi-structured interviews with 72 participants. Quantitative data were analysed using MANOVA and logistic regression, while qualitative data were analysed using constructivist grounded theory and thematic coding. Findings show that platforms actively shape cultural authority, aesthetic conventions, and community autonomy, with creators deploying strategies such as aesthetic gatekeeping, platform migration, and ironic subversion. The study theorizes platform-mediated folk culture as a hybrid system where community validation, algorithmic amplification and reflexive meta-cultural awareness transform traditional folkloric mechanisms under commercially extractive conditions .

é arquiteto e urbanista formado pela UFRGS (1981), especialista em Conservação e Restauração de Monumentos e Conjuntos Históricos pela UFBA (1984), mestre em História pela PUCRS (1996) e doutor em Arquitetura e Urbanismo pela UFBA (2005). Nesta entrevista, destacou-se o período em que Rhoden atuou no IPHAN (1983IPHAN ( -2017)), mais especificamente na época em que foi coordenador dos inventários de conhecimento do RS, na década de 1990. Inicialmente, a entrevista tinha como objetivo a coleta de dados para as pesquisas acadêmicas das autoras. No entanto, a riqueza das informações obtidas motivou-as a compartilhar a contribuição de Rhoden com outros pesquisadores interessados nos tópicos abordados por ele. Dessa forma, foram selecionados excertos da entrevista para publicação, abrangendo conteúdos que se destacaram como potencialmente pertinentes aos leitores interessados. O encontro virtual ocorreu em 22 de junho de 2021, no contexto da pandemia de Covid-19, sendo realizado pelo Google Meet, com entrevistadoras e entrevistado em suas respectivas residências. A conversa teve a duração de 1 hora e 13 minutos, sendo gravada e

Introduction
S’il y a un mot qui a été le plus galvaudé en cette fin et début
de siècle, c’est bien le mot communication. Dans l’administration
aujourd’hui, il est de coutume d’entendre justifier tout échec d’un
programme gouvernemental par un problème de communication :
c’est un problème de communication, Il n’y a pas eu de
communication sur tel ou tel sujet, on ne communique pas chez
nous, etc.
La communication publique, l’expression est suffisamment
évocatrice, de prime abord pour signifier les acteurs et/ou les
utilisateurs de ce couloir de la communication des organisations.
Mais à toucher du doigt sa pratique, l’on note illico la difficulté
qu’il y a pour les agents publics chargés de la mettre en œuvre de
cerner les angles professionnels de cette spécialité de la
communication des organisations. En effet, les responsables des
institutions publiques sensés être les plus aguerris à s’exprimer sur
la question restent encore dans une inculture quant à faire
comprendre ce concept aux profanes et à lui trouver une
justification évidente.
Pourtant, le défi est grand et les enjeux énormes puisqu’il s’agit
de mettre en lumière les activités des institutions publiques aux
citoyens qui en ont besoin car étant les principaux bénéficiaires
des actions que mènent ces institutions. C’est aussi un devoir du
côté des premiers et un droit pour les seconds. L’information, plus
que ce dont nous parlons ici, est devenue un produit qui se
consomme chaque jour. Mais lorsqu’elle provient d’un ministère
ou d’une collectivité décentralisée ou encore d’une institution
publique ou parapublique, il s’agit d’un droit pour les récepteurs
(les citoyens) à partir du moment où tout ce que l’on fait dans ces
institutions est en faveur de l’intérêt général.
Aussi est-il question, et l’enjeu devient plus grand, d’un
échange entre les pouvoirs publics et la population pour qui on
travaille. Faciliter la compréhension et l’acceptation par les
publics des lois, des décisions et de la réglementation en relation
avec l’action publique apparaît très important tant en interne qu’en
externe, puisqu’il faut vulgariser les missions et les construire,

Participatory decision-making (PDM) in an organisation is critical to employees' performance. Stemming from goal-setting theory, this research examines the dimensions of participatory decision-making and employee performance in the health sector from a developing economy's perspective. The study employed an explanatory research design rooted in a positivist philosophical orientation and 460 employees were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. Primary data was collected using a validated questionnaire and analysed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling. Overall, the study revealed that participatory decision-making significantly relates to the performance of health workers. Specifically, both the depth and scope of participatory decision-making are significantly related to employee performance in the health sector. However, there was a non-significant relationship between forms of participatory decision-making and health workers' performance. The study concluded that the depth and scope of participatory decision-making are very necessary for enhancing employee performance in the health sector. The findings alerted the management of health facilities to encourage participatory decision-making among nurses at the various health facilities. Management should consider the level at which employees are engaged in the decision-making process.

This paper examined participatory communication approaches for sustainable development in Cross River State. As such, two selected developmental projects in Cross River State were acknowledged as case studies. Participatory Communication Theory (PCT) was adopted as the theoretical framework to guide this study. A Case Study Analysis was employed to gain insight into successful participatory communication approaches for sustainable development initiatives. The major findings of the study revealed that actively highlighting the involvement of various stakeholders through participatory communication approaches help communities sustain development efforts. The study concluded that communication process should be inclusive and ultimately empowering communities for developmental goals. It recommended that participatory communication should be embraced across every level of development projects for sustainability.

This study provides a window on many aspects of Mangghuer culture, through the lens of singing performances in traditional weddings. Drawing on field work in the Mangghuer community over an entire generation, Wen Xiangcheng provides insights about how traditional rituals were conducted and what their significance was in community life; he also shows how these ritual events have evolved in the last 25 years. The songs on which the study is based are transcribed from performances by cultural insiders, and provide not only insights about culture but also invaluable facts about the Mangghuer language and its use in these forms of oral literature.
本书以传统婚礼中的歌唱表演为窗口，生动而细腻地呈现了三川土族文化的诸多层面。文祥呈基于其在三川土族地区进行的长达一代人的田野调查，凭借深厚的学术造诣与丰富的文化理解，深入剖析了传统仪式的举办方式在社群生活中的意义和价值，并清晰勾勒出这些仪式活动近 25 年来的演变轨迹。本研究所依据的歌曲均来自族群内部成员的实际演唱，不仅为我们解读三川土族文化提供了独特的观察视角，更为考察三川土族语言及其在口头文学中的具体运用，留存了极为珍贵的语言样本。
Keith W. Slater, University of North Dakota

This is an impressive, detailed, and thorough study of marriage ritual and song which greatly expands our linguistic and cultural understanding of the Mangghuer.
本书对婚姻仪式与婚礼歌谣展开了详尽且深入的研究，极大地拓展了我们对三川土族语言与文化的认知，其学术价值极具分量。
Keith Dede, Lewis and Clark College

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded ten research networks to explore and develop various aspects of disability-inclusive sustainable development. In addition, a separate project was funded to coordinate the portfolio of networks, presenting a unique opportunity to facilitate connections, explore opportunities for synergies, and share learning. The coordination brought together the principal investigators (PIs), partners, and participants from across the portfolio to improve networking and develop opportunities for cross-institutional collaboration. It also delivered a series of interventions to develop the research skills and capabilities of the early career researchers (ECRs) from within the networks. Through the coordination, a participatory process was undertaken to explore potential agendas for future disability-inclusive arts and humanities research. Learning from across the networks was also synthesised and presented to inform future research policy considerations. Finally, examples of impact achieved by the projects in the portfolio were highlighted, presenting avenues for increased impact, engagement, communications, and outreach. This report summarises the learnings and outcomes of the coordination of the portfolio.

An estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide experience disability and are a part of human diversity. People with disabilities remain underrepresented in development programmes and research. People with disabilities must be included in development initiatives to ensure that no one is left behind. This issue presents a collection of articles written by researchers and practitioners involved in the UK aid-funded Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme. The articles explore a range of topics relating to disability and development such as health, education, safeguarding, transport, stigma, including the most marginalised groups, the imperative role of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, and disability-inclusive approaches to research and evaluations. This issue presents robust evidence produced under the DID programme to show what is known, makes practical suggestions for what needs to be done to achieve inclusion going forward, and highlights persisting evidence and funding gaps.

Participatory research, which is built on the guiding philosophy of enabling and empowering people to play an active and influential role in research that affects their lives, is an approach which can contribute to realising meaningful inclusion. Drawing on experiences gained through developing and employing participatory research methods under the Disability Inclusive Development Inclusive Futures programme, this article explores the methodological opportunities, challenges, and nuances of such an approach. It offers reflections based on the experience of undertaking research focused on inclusive education in Nigeria and Kenya, inclusive livelihoods in Bangladesh, and exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people with disabilities across multiple countries. We analyse both successful practices from these participatory research projects and also highlight those that could have been more collaborative and inclusive. Finally, we look forward, offering reflections and recommendations to guide others who are interested in designing and delivering disability-inclusive participatory research.

Whilst significant progress has been made in recent years with regard to ensuring that development interventions are more inclusive, people with disabilities still remain underrepresented in development programmes and research. The landmark adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006 changed how disability is considered within society, as well as within the development sector. But there is still so much to do before all interventions are meaningfully inclusive of people with disabilities.

This issue of the IDS Bulletin presents a collection of articles written by researchers and practitioners involved in the UK aid-funded Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme. In particular, the articles include a focus on three broad themes: strengthening the evidence base; cross-cutting issues relevant to disability-inclusive development; and the central role of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs).

Drawing together key insights and lessons across the DID programme, the articles explore a range of topics relating to disability and development such as health, education, safeguarding, transport, stigma, the most marginalised groups, the imperative role of OPDs, and disability-inclusive approaches to research and evaluations.

Despite growing institutional interest, university–small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) collaborations often underperform, stalling before generating sustainable innovation. This study adopts a systems thinking perspective to diagnose such persistent failures as structural—rather than individual—challenges. Using OSTİM Technical University (OSTİMTECH) as a case study, the research employs participatory causal loop diagrams (CLDs) to visualize key feedback dynamics affecting trust, incentives, and knowledge flows. Central to the analysis is the “Success to the Successful” archetype, which explains how dominant academic incentives reinforce publication-oriented behaviors while marginalizing collaboration and applied innovation. The resulting model reveals why certain loops—like academic reputation— gain momentum while others—such as ecosystem learning—remain underdeveloped without intentional redesign. By identifying leverage points for institutional reform, including incentive recalibration and long-term partnership support, the paper offers actionable insights for third-generation universities. Ultimately, reframing collaboration through a systemic lens enhances understanding of complex innovation ecosystems and guides more credible, sustainable approaches to university–industry engagement.
KEYWORDS: Systems Thinking, University–Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Collaboration, OSTİM Technical University (OSTİMTECH), Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs), Success to the Successful Archetype, Innovation, Third-generation Universities

This paper focuses on decentralized individual self-help in the aftermath of a disaster, instead of the traditionally adopted model of centralized disaster response management. It presents the results of a controlled field experiment that compares a new disaster response model involving civilians participating with smartphones with the traditional centralized model. In the new system, the affected people lead themselves to safety, and at the same time serving as distributed active sensors that share observations of the disaster area. The results show that the proposed system is more effective, preferred, and reduces the workload in guiding affected people safely to their destinations.

This study examines how lyric poetry can be adapted into cinematic form without being subordinated to narrative-driven conventions. Focusing on the adaptation of Jante Arkidam, the research employs an art-based approach that integrates semiotic-hermeneutic analysis, intersemiotic theory, and creative practice. Rather than treating poetry as a latent narrative to be expanded into plot, the study approaches lyric poetry as a dense semiotic system whose meaning is symbolic, affective, and relational. The findings formulate a three-stage model of poetry-to-film adaptation consisting of poetic interpretation, intersemiotic reconfiguration, and narrative containment. Poetic interpretation identifies the symbolic and affective core of the source text; intersemiotic reconfiguration redistributes poetic meaning across cinematic modalities such as image, sound, rhythm, and spatial composition; and narrative containment provides minimal coherence without imposing causal closure. Together, these stages demonstrate that poetic meaning can be sustained cinematically when it is treated as semiotically transferable rather than narratively fixed. The study further shows that the commonly perceived incompatibility between poetry and cinema does not originate from poetry itself, but from cinema's conventional reliance on narrative clarity and linear causality. When cinematic form recalibrates these expectations, ambiguity, non-linearity, and affective intensity emerge as productive meaning-making strategies. Although grounded in a Sundanese cultural context, the research proposes a transferable methodological framework applicable to lyric poetry across cultures. By integrating intersemiotics and art-based research, the study contributes to broader debates on non-prose adaptation and creative media epistemology, positioning poetic logic as a viable foundation for cinematic form.

s from the panel Envisioning the future by learning from the past: Arts and memory in interdisciplinary disaster risk reduction research How did we get to this? Understanding social construction of risk and capacities from the neighborhood history Corresponding Author: Elisa Puga Cevallos FLACSO Ecuador [email protected]

Nos últimos trinta anos, as políticas públicas de São Paulo, a mais populosa cidade do Brasil, têm reconhecido as favelas como parte integrante da metrópole. Ainda assim, historicamente, as favelas são representadas como áreas vazias nos mapas oficiais. Por um lado, essa situação reforça a persistente invisibilidade dessas áreas, por outro, demonstra a carência de informações para intervenções. Os levantamentos topográficos tradicionais in loco ou até mesmo os levantamentos gerados a partir de restituições aerofotogramétricas são deficitários para a representação da complexidade morfológica das favelas. Este artigo pretende analisar as potencialidades e limitações das imagens captadas por drones em favelas para a produção de material de projeto de intervenções que tenham como objetivo a melhoria do ambiente habitado. Serão analisados estudos dos casos de levantamentos realizados nas favelas Jardim Colombo e Antonico, ambas integrantes do Complexo Paraisópolis, a favela mais populosa de São Paulo.

Keterbukaan Informasi Publik merupakan salah satu dari dampak perkembangan zaman yang mengedepankan transparansi. Pemerintah baik itu pusat dan daerah memiliki kewajiban untuk membuka seluas-luasnya informasi mengenai kebijakan ataupun kegiatan pembangunan di masyarakat. Jaminan atas Hak Mendapatkan Informasi bagi masyarakat diatur dalam Undang-Undang Keterbukaan Informasi nomor 14 tahun 2008. Subjek hukum yang wajib memberikan informasi kepada masyarakat disebut badan publik. Badan Publik adalah lembaga eksekutif, legislatif, yudikatif, dan badan lain yang fungsi dan tugas pokoknya berkaitan dengan penyelenggaraan negara, yang sebagian atau seluruh dananya bersumber dari Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara dan/atau Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah, atau organisasi non pemerintah sepanjang sebagian atau seluruh dananya bersumber dari

This article compares democratic participation research in Scottish schools over a 10year period. The comparison reveals how 'organic' aspects of decision-making arise in arenas of school activity. We argue that research heretofore has focussed on pupil councils to the exclusion of more everyday embedded and embodied choices. Primary researchers in the studies revisited data, drawing on their respective theoretical frameworks, to consider how new materialist perspectives offer ways to attend differently to the recursive, relational dynamics of participation.

Properties of polymers can be optimized through processing methods or by the addition of nanofillers. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained attention due to their promising behavior. Carbon nanotubes are essentially a sheet of graphene wrapped into a cylindrical shape with either a single or multiple walls. Tube diameters are approximately nanometres, but they can be micrometres in length. Due to the unique properties of nanotubes, they offer promise in composite materials with current research dedicated to embedding them in a polymer matrix. If improvements are to be made , the nanotubes need to be in an aligned configuration. This presents challenges due to the strong intermolecular forces that cause nanotube agglomeration leading to poor quality dispersion and random CNT orientations. Thus, there are two particular challenges to the formation of polymer composites based on CNTs: dispersion and alignment, and these are the focus of this chapter. We consider recent developments in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes and their properties. Next, we detail the challenges of dispersion and alignment that are presented in the preparation of polymer/CNT composites. Finally, we review the literature to identify progress made in preparing high performance polymer/CNT composites and their properties and present one particular solution.

Le temps s'impose comme un critère déterminant dans le débat public sur le nucléaire. À partir du cas du nucléaire en Lorraine, l'article montre que la temporalité peut problématiser les situations de controverse. L'approche communicationnelle développée ici se focalise sur les expériences de cet ordre qu'induit le nucléaire, ainsi que sur la périodisation des désaccords entre les acteurs. Loin d'être une donnée abstraite, le temps est aussi un enjeu politique dans le rapport de force entre les opposants et les promoteurs du nucléaire. Ces derniers projettent leur vision des projets contestés dans l'avenir, faisant du temps une thématique forte pour peser dans le débat public.

Le temps s'impose comme un critère déterminant dans le débat public sur le nucléaire. À partir du cas du nucléaire en Lorraine, l'article montre que la temporalité peut problématiser les situations de controverse. L'approche communicationnelle développée ici se focalise sur les expériences de cet ordre qu'induit le nucléaire, ainsi que sur la périodisation des désaccords entre les acteurs. Loin d'être une donnée abstraite, le temps est aussi un enjeu politique dans le rapport de force entre les opposants et les promoteurs du nucléaire. Ces derniers projettent leur vision des projets contestés dans l'avenir, faisant du temps une thématique forte pour peser dans le débat public.

This study assesses the contribution of media to disaster management during fire disasters in Hargeisa, Somaliland, with particular focus on the Ministry of Information, Culture, and National Guidance. Hargeisa, as the national hub for governance, media operations, and emergency communication, has experienced recurrent urban fire incidents, most notably the Waaheen Market fire, which highlighted both the potential and the gaps in media-based disaster communication. The study examines how traditional media and social media platforms are utilized across the phases of disaster management—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
A mixed-methods approach is employed, combining qualitative data from key informant interviews and document reviews with quantitative data from surveys administered to ministry officials, media practitioners, and community members. The analysis explores the role of media in early warning dissemination, public awareness creation, real-time emergency updates, coordination of response efforts, and post-disaster recovery communication. Special attention is given to social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter (X), and YouTube, which have increasingly influenced information flow and public engagement during fire emergencies.
Findings are expected to show that media plays a critical role in enhancing disaster communication by facilitating timely information dissemination, fostering two-way communication between authorities and the public, shaping community perception, and supporting institutional coordination. However, challenges related to misinformation, limited verification mechanisms, and institutional capacity constraints may affect the effectiveness of media engagement. The study contributes to academic knowledge, informs policy and institutional practice, and offers community-level insights for strengthening media integration in disaster management strategies in Somaliland.

Despite covering only 2% of the Amazon basin, floodplains are rich environments with fertile soils sustaining abundant natural resources. Throughout the history of human occupation, floodplains have played a central role in the economy of the Amazon region. Despite the importance of the region, land tenure in these areas has always been ambiguous. Since 2006, the government created 15 Agro-extractive Settlement Projects (PAE) in Lower Amazon floodplains to regulate land ownership and to encourage the process of community participation in the management of natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact brought about by the creation of PAE in the governance of common natural resources and land regulation in the region. Data for this study were obtained through field visits, literature review, focus groups and interviews with 29 community leaders. The study area is located in three Agro-extractive Settlement Projects in the Lower Amazon floodplain of the municipality of Santarém. Among the PAE's communities analysed, 86% had some sort of community fishing agreements for internal control of the use of fishery resources in lake communities. In the interviews with community leaders, 82% of interviewees expressed dissatisfaction towards the process of PAE implementation in the region. In relation to the Utility Plan (UP), 33% interviewees believe that the rules hinder the development of floodplains, and yet, 77% think that the UP is necessary for proper functioning of the settlement. The main problems of land regulation pointed out in the study include the lack of dialogue between the community and governmental entities such as INCRA, the non-delivery of land titles and the lack of definition regarding land occupation by cattle rangers in the region. Authors' contributions: Shaji Thomas collected data and the scientific writing; Oriana Almeida contributed with the gereral supervision of the research; Elysângela Sousa Pinheiro contributed with literature review and the scientific writing.