Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Nominally the highest decision-making body in the Chinese Communist Party, the Party Congress is responsible for determining party policy and the selection of China's leaders. Guoguang Wu provides the first analysis of how the Party Congress operates to elect Party leadership and decide Party policy, and explores why such a formal performance of congress meetings, delegate discussions, and non-democratic elections is significant for authoritarian politics more broadly. Taking institutional inconsistency as the central research question, this study presents a new theory of 'mutual contextualization' to reveal how informal politics and formal institutions interact with each other. Wu argues that despite the prevalence of informal politics behind the scenes, authoritarian politics seeks legitimization through a combination of political manipulation and the ritual mobilization of formal institutions. This ambitious book is essential reading for all those interested in understanding contemporary China, and an innovative theoretical contribution to the study of comparative politics\"-- Provided by publisher.

NOABSTRACTOne of the new trends in modern economies is the development of platform-mediated work (PMW), also known as the gig economy. The current article aims to discuss the results of the original survey to determine the number and structure of gig workers among the adult residents of Poland; this discussion is based on the broader context of the existing knowledge on the subject pertaining to society and also focuses on the plans for the future.This article is based on the systematic literature review and the findings of the survey conducted on a representative nationwide sample of 3,165 Polish residents aged 18–70.The survey carried out in July 2021, showed that, in Poland, online or offline PMW was performed by about 16% of the investigated population over the year and by about 8% over the month. Moreover, an increase in the interest in platform work is expected.PMW is a relatively rare phenomenon, which is difficult to measure. The present article proposes a research approach that can be used to establish the prevalence and prospects of PMW in Poland.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2026 11(1), 113-138 | Article | (Table of Contents) 1. Introduction: operation and scope of digital labour platforms. – 2. The risks for decent work in the gig economy. – 2.1. Fundamental principles and rights at work. – 2.2. Employment creation. – 2.3. Social protection and social dialogue. – 3. The EU Platform Work Directive. – 3.1. Legal qualification of people working via DLPs. – 3.2. The algorithmic management. – 4. The ILO project for a Convention on platform work. – 4.1. Is there a need for a specific regulation? – 4.2. The draft Convention. – 5. Conclusions. | (Abstract) Digital Labour Platforms (DLPs) have drastically transformed the labour market over the past fifteen years, creating new and flexible job opportunities while also undermining the fundamentals of decent work. People who work via DLPs frequently experience unfair treatment, including discrimination, poor wages, and uncontrolled exploitation. This article explores the various responses to the phenomenon so far elaborated at the EU and international level, with the aim to emphasise their benefits and defects in terms of decent work. In particular, a thorough reading will be offered of both the recent 2024 EU Platform Work Directive and the upcoming ILO Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy, currently under debate before the ILO General Conference.

Platform-mediated work (PMW) represents a highly unregulated and individualized segment of the labor market, with significant implications for psychosocial work environment and limited occupational health and safety (OHS) management efforts. The use of algorithmic management (AM) by digital platforms extensively directs and disciplines remote workers in PMW, and may exacerbate risks. This study employs the affordance concept initially introduced into safety science by Vicente and Rasmussen in 1992 and later applied in social media studies. Adopting a platform-sensitive approach, this study examines how digital mediation facilitates encounters between platform workers and customers across three types of PMW, and in turn affects harassment among platform workers. The analysis draws on 22 qualitative interviews with young platform workers supplemented by three workshops involving 13 stakeholder participants, informed by the Canadian Knowledge Transfer–Exchange approach. The findings identify three high-level affordances that significantly shape risks of harassment: (1) platforms’ ability to transcend physical space; (2) a digital blurring of private–professional boundaries; and (3) the amplification of asymmetric power relations among platform workers’ customers and platforms, relations that are gendered, classed, and racialized. The type and severity of harassment differ across the three types of platforms explored.

Within the next couple of years, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) will start the deployment of its next-generation geostationary meteorological satellites. The Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) is composed of four imaging (MTG-I) and two sounding (MTG-S) platforms. The satellites are three-axis stabilized, unlike the two previous generations of Meteosat that were spin stabilized, and carry two sets of remote sensing instruments each. Hence, in addition to providing continuity, the new system will provide an unprecedented capability from geostationary orbit. The payload on the MTG-I satellites are the 16-channel Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and the Lightning Imager (LI). The payloads on the MTG-S satellites are the hyperspectral Infrared Sounder (IRS) and a high-resolution Ultraviolet–Visible–Near-Infrared (UVN) sounder Sentinel-4/UVN, provided by the European Commission. Today, hyperspectral sounding from geostationary orbit is provided by the Chinese Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) satellite Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) instrument, and lightning mappers are available on FY-4A and on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-16 and GOES-17 satellites. Consequently, the development of science and applications for these types of instruments have a solid foundation. However, the IRS, LI, and Sentinel-4/UVN are a challenging first for Europe in a geostationary orbit. The four MTG-I and two MTG-S satellites are designed to provide 20 and 15.5 years of operational service, respectively. The launch of the first MTG-I is expected at the end of 2022 and the first MTG-S roughly a year later. This article describes the four instruments, outlines products and services, and addresses the evolution of the further applications.

Diverse forms of offshore oil and gas structures are utilized for a wide range of purposes and in varying water depths. They are designed for unique environments and water depths around the world. The applications of these offshore structures require different activities for proper equipment selection, design of platform types, and drilling/production methods. This paper will provide a general overview of these operations as well as the platform classifications. In this paper, a comprehensive review is conducted on different offshore petroleum structures. This study examines the fundamentals of all types of offshore structures (fixed and floating), as well as the applications of these concepts for oil exploration and production. The study also presents various design parameters for state-of-the-art offshore platforms and achievements made in the industry. Finally, suitable types of offshore platforms for various water depths are offered for long-term operations. An extension of this study (Part II) covers sustainable design approaches and project management on these structures; this review helps designers in understanding existing offshore structures, and their uniqueness. Hence, the review also serves as a reference data source for designing new offshore platforms and related structures.

We analyse an urban platform (Alibaba’s City Brain) to show how smart city development is evolving in urban China. In order to do so, we base our analysis on two strands of literature: that on platform urbanism, and on the experimental city. The paper identifies two processes that are shared across both bodies of work on platform urbanism and experimental cities: relational co-production and territorialisation. These processes can also be applied to the case of City Brain as both a platform and an urban experiment. We conclude by reflecting on the significance of urban platforms on the co-production of data-enabled urban governance; local urban context; and citizenship.

Wildfires are increasing in size across the western US, leading to increases in human smoke exposure and associated negative health impacts. The impact of biomass burning (BB) smoke, including wildfires, on regional air quality depends on emissions, transport, and chemistry, including oxidation of emitted BB volatile organic compounds (BBVOCs) by the hydroxyl radical (OH), nitrate radical (NO3), and ozone (O3). During the daytime, when light penetrates the plumes, BBVOCs are oxidized mainly by O3 and OH. In contrast, at night or in optically dense plumes, BBVOCs are oxidized mainly by O3 and NO3. This work focuses on the transition between daytime and nighttime oxidation, which has significant implications for the formation of secondary pollutants and loss of nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) and has been understudied. We present wildfire plume observations made during FIREX-AQ (Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality), a field campaign involving multiple aircraft, ground, satellite, and mobile platforms that took place in the United States in the summer of 2019 to study both wildfire and agricultural burning emissions and atmospheric chemistry. We use observations from two research aircraft, the NASA DC-8 and the NOAA Twin Otter, with a detailed chemical box model, including updated phenolic mechanisms, to analyze smoke sampled during midday, sunset, and nighttime. Aircraft observations suggest a range of NO3 production rates (0.1–1.5 ppbv h−1) in plumes transported during both midday and after dark. Modeled initial instantaneous reactivity toward BBVOCs for NO3, OH, and O3 is 80.1 %, 87.7 %, and 99.6 %, respectively. Initial NO3 reactivity is 10–104 times greater than typical values in forested or urban environments, and reactions with BBVOCs account for >97 % of NO3 loss in sunlit plumes (jNO2 up to 4×10-3s-1), while conventional photochemical NO3 loss through reaction with NO and photolysis are minor pathways. Alkenes and furans are mostly oxidized by OH and O3 (11 %–43 %, 54 %–88 % for alkenes; 18 %–55 %, 39 %–76 %, for furans, respectively), but phenolic oxidation is split between NO3, O3, and OH (26 %–52 %, 22 %–43 %, 16 %–33 %, respectively). Nitrate radical oxidation accounts for 26 %–52 % of phenolic chemical loss in sunset plumes and in an optically thick plume. Nitrocatechol yields varied between 33 % and 45 %, and NO3 chemistry in BB plumes emitted late in the day is responsible for 72 %–92 % (84 % in an optically thick midday plume) of nitrocatechol formation and controls nitrophenolic formation overall. As a result, overnight nitrophenolic formation pathways account for 56 %±2 % of NOx loss by sunrise the following day. In all but one overnight plume we modeled, there was remaining NOx (13 %–57 %) and BBVOCs (8 %–72 %) at sunrise.

Platformski rad (rad preko digitalne platforme) novi je oblik rada koji je omogućila digitalna tehnologija 21. stoljeća. Karakterizira ga trostrani odnos izmed strok signu digitalne platforme, pružatelja usluge (osobe koja obavlja rad i/ili je primila narudžbu za odred strok signeni rad putem digitalne platforme, tzv. platformski radnik) i primatelja usluge (tzv. klijent). Platformski rad u praksi poprima različite oblike od kojih su najčešći: 1) rad koji nudi lokalnu uslugu prijevoza i isporuke, 2) rad koji se obavlja na mjestu krajnjeg korisnika ili kupca, 3) rad podijeljen u vrlo male radne zadatke koji se izvodi na daljinu i isporučuje putem interneta i 4) rad koji se sastoji od visokokvalificiranog rada koji se izvodi na daljinu i isporučuje putem interneta. Platformski rad može se obavljati na temelju različitih ugovora s prestacijom rada (radnik na temelju ugovora o radu ili kao samozaposlena osoba obavljajući rad npr. na temelju ugovora o djelu ili autorskom djelu), pa stoga predstavlja izazov u primjeni propisa radnog i poreznog zakonodavstva te sustava socijalne sigurnosti. Osim izazova koje takav rad predstavlja u nacionalnom kontekstu, platformski rad s prekograničnim elementima još je specifičniji i složeniji. Stoga smo u ovom radu istražili prikladnost pravne stečevine EU-a u području slobode kretanja radnika i koordinacije sustava socijalne sigurnosti u tri moguće situacije s prekograničnim elementom: 1) platformski radnik koji obavlja posao u matičnoj državi članici za platformu i/ili krajnjeg korisnika smještenog u drugoj državi članici, 2) platformski radnik koji se fizički preseli u drugu državu članicu ili obavlja rad u drugoj državi članici; 3) platformski radnik koji istodobno radi u različitim državama članicama. Provedena pravna analiza složenih propisa EU-a relevantnih za prekogranične situacije upućuje na moguće probleme u primjeni na platformski rad s prekograničnim elementima. Naime, unatoč vrlo širokom konceptu pojma \"radnik\" razvijenom u sudskoj praksi Suda EU-a, osobni djelokrug Uredbe 492/201, Direktive 2014/54/EU i Direktive 2014/50 u potpunosti ne odgovaraju potrebama platformskih radnika, posebno ako su zaposleni kao samozaposlene osobe (npr. prikriveno samozaposlene ili ovisne isključivo o jednom naručitelju). Konačno, unatoč relativno jasnim kolizijskim pravilima propisanim Uredbom 593/2008, Uredbom 883/2004 i Uredbom 987/2009, istraživanje je otkrilo neke zagonetke u primjeni s problematičnim praktičnim implikacijama u vezi s pitanjem utvrd strok signivanja mjerodavnog prava.

On 30 December 2021, the Marshall Fire devastated the Boulder, Colorado region. The fire initiated in fine fuels in open space just southeast of Boulder and spread rapidly due to the strong, downslope winds that penetrated into the Boulder Foothills. Despite the increasing occurrence of wildland‐urban interface (WUI) disasters, many questions remain about how fires progress through vegetation and the built environment. To help answer these questions for the Marshall Fire, we use a coupled fire‐atmosphere model and Doppler on Wheels (DOW) observations to study the fire's progression as well as examine the physical drivers of its spread. Evaluation of the model using the DOW suggests that the model is able to capture general characteristics of the flow field; however, it does not produce as robust of a hydraulic jump as the one observed. Our results highlight limitations of the model that should be addressed for successful WUI simulations. Plain Language Summary Wildland‐urban interface (WUI) fires are increasing in the United States and around the world as the built environment continues to expand into the wildland. To better inform real‐time management of active wildfires, it is critical that the scientific community can better predict WUI fire spread. In this study, we rely on multiple observational platforms, including the “Doppler on Wheels” radar, to investigate the performance of a state‐of‐the‐art fire behavior model that links with a weather model during the Marshall Fire, which was a recent WUI fire that occurred in Colorado. While the modeling system performs well during the fire's initial propagation in fine fuels, it is unable to accurately predict spread in the built environment. While turbulence‐resolving simulations can accurately represent atmospheric flow features, more reliable predictability of wildfire behavior in the WUI will require consideration of urban fuels and fire ember spotting. Key Points Complex meso‐ and micro‐scale meteorology, along with fire ember spotting, were responsible for rapid spread of the Marshall Fire Radar observations from “Doppler on Wheels” elucidates three‐dimensional flow structures that impact fire and plume evolution Initial fire propagation in dry, fine fuels is well‐represented by the coupled WRF‐Fire model, but urban spread remains a challenge