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AbstractDeliberation platforms are an important component of the multi-actor science-policy interface within the realm of environmental governance, increasingly characterized by the engagement of a diversity of actors. Deliberation platforms provide a mechanism through which stakeholders with diverse perspectives can both discuss problems and explore potential solutions related to environmental governance, integrating scientific and other knowledge. This study employs a Qualitative Content Analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews to investigate which elements of deliberation platforms are most central to their success and how these elements interact with one another from the perspective of public engagers. This fills a gap in the literature on the qualification of knowledge and experience of public engagers regarding the organization of multi-stakeholder deliberation platforms. Elements to consider in the organization of deliberation platforms were ranked, and five central elements were identified: (1) the selection of participants relevant to the topic and conducive to positive interactions, (2) openness as an attitude in both organizers and participants, (3) facilitation of interactions and the role of the facilitator, (4) communication and transparency between organizers and participants, and (5) fostering dialog between participants through various means. Different manifestations of these five central elements which can fit best within different particular contexts and suit various objectives are also investigated based on the interview material. The discussion summarizes the lessons learned with regards to organizing deliberation platforms from the perspective of public engagers, and explores the potential for trade-offs and co-benefits between central elements as a means to improve the efficiency and efficacy of organizing such platforms. Furthermore, the links between the central elements and social learning, as a particular, overarching objective of deliberation platforms, are discussed. This study is an important step towards further analysis of deliberation platforms, necessary in order to avoid the risks of convening actors with diverse perspectives to discuss politically-relevant topics. It provides insights relevant to public engagers and to future studies analyzing these increasingly important venues for engagement in environmental governance.

What distinguishes a loyal appointee from a competent one? Applying novel methodological tools to a unique data set of 3,366 resumes of individuals appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama across 51 different federal institutions, we (1) provide an operational definition of loyalty and competence and (2) demonstrate that there are subdimensions of loyalty and competence. We also provide initial insights into how George W. Bush and Barack Obama employed the various subdimensions of competence and loyalty. Our most important contribution is to provide the missing element in principal–agent models and presidential appointment power, by identifying the background characteristics and subdimensions of loyalty and competence.

International audience ; Funded by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) the NEXUS project aims at identifying innovations in energy storage and management (especially of intermittent renewables) at the level of eco-districts or city blocks. The multidisciplinary analysis involves technological, sociological, economic, city planning and political dimensions 1. The research analyses socio-energy nodes (SEN) at district or block level. SENs are seen as the place of the coordination among district stakeholders, from real estate, energy and city planning actors to constructors or investors. Deploying appropriate technical systems, SENs are supposed to be more or less replicable from a territory to another. The project studies the arrangement and deployment conditions of SENs at district level and describes them through a portfolio of contrasted scenarios (including smart grids) in view of a 2040 goal of dividing greenhouse gases by 4. These scenarios will propose visions of districts or blocks able to smoothen energy intermittencies, using assumptions about economic constraints, technological capacities, regulatory context and political decisions at local and national scales.

International audience ; Funded by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) the NEXUS project aims at identifying innovations in energy storage and management (especially of intermittent renewables) at the level of eco-districts or city blocks. The multidisciplinary analysis involves technological, sociological, economic, city planning and political dimensions 1. The research analyses socio-energy nodes (SEN) at district or block level. SENs are seen as the place of the coordination among district stakeholders, from real estate, energy and city planning actors to constructors or investors. Deploying appropriate technical systems, SENs are supposed to be more or less replicable from a territory to another. The project studies the arrangement and deployment conditions of SENs at district level and describes them through a portfolio of contrasted scenarios (including smart grids) in view of a 2040 goal of dividing greenhouse gases by 4. These scenarios will propose visions of districts or blocks able to smoothen energy intermittencies, using assumptions about economic constraints, technological capacities, regulatory context and political decisions at local and national scales.

International audience ; Funded by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) the NEXUS project aims at identifying innovations in energy storage and management (especially of intermittent renewables) at the level of eco-districts or city blocks. The multidisciplinary analysis involves technological, sociological, economic, city planning and political dimensions 1. The research analyses socio-energy nodes (SEN) at district or block level. SENs are seen as the place of the coordination among district stakeholders, from real estate, energy and city planning actors to constructors or investors. Deploying appropriate technical systems, SENs are supposed to be more or less replicable from a territory to another. The project studies the arrangement and deployment conditions of SENs at district level and describes them through a portfolio of contrasted scenarios (including smart grids) in view of a 2040 goal of dividing greenhouse gases by 4. These scenarios will propose visions of districts or blocks able to smoothen energy intermittencies, using assumptions about economic constraints, technological capacities, regulatory context and political decisions at local and national scales.

International audience ; Funded by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) the NEXUS project aims at identifying innovations in energy storage and management (especially of intermittent renewables) at the level of eco-districts or city blocks. The multidisciplinary analysis involves technological, sociological, economic, city planning and political dimensions 1. The research analyses socio-energy nodes (SEN) at district or block level. SENs are seen as the place of the coordination among district stakeholders, from real estate, energy and city planning actors to constructors or investors. Deploying appropriate technical systems, SENs are supposed to be more or less replicable from a territory to another. The project studies the arrangement and deployment conditions of SENs at district level and describes them through a portfolio of contrasted scenarios (including smart grids) in view of a 2040 goal of dividing greenhouse gases by 4. These scenarios will propose visions of districts or blocks able to smoothen energy intermittencies, using assumptions about economic constraints, technological capacities, regulatory context and political decisions at local and national scales.

International audience ; Funded by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) the NEXUS project aims at identifying innovations in energy storage and management (especially of intermittent renewables) at the level of eco-districts or city blocks. The multidisciplinary analysis involves technological, sociological, economic, city planning and political dimensions 1. The research analyses socio-energy nodes (SEN) at district or block level. SENs are seen as the place of the coordination among district stakeholders, from real estate, energy and city planning actors to constructors or investors. Deploying appropriate technical systems, SENs are supposed to be more or less replicable from a territory to another. The project studies the arrangement and deployment conditions of SENs at district level and describes them through a portfolio of contrasted scenarios (including smart grids) in view of a 2040 goal of dividing greenhouse gases by 4. These scenarios will propose visions of districts or blocks able to smoothen energy intermittencies, using assumptions about economic constraints, technological capacities, regulatory context and political decisions at local and national scales.

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11831-020-09526-x ; The objective of this article is to summarise the work that we have been doing as a group in the context of stabilised finite element formulations for viscoelastic fluid flows. Viscoelastic fluids are complex non-Newtonian fluids, characterised by having an irreducible constitutive equation that needs to be solved coupled with the momentum and continuity equations. The finite element approximation of this kind of fluids presents several numerical difficulties. It inherits obviously the problems associated with the approximation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. But, on top of that, now the constitutive equation is highly non-linear, with an advective term that may lead to both global and local oscillations in the numerical approximation. Moreover, even in the case of smooth solutions, it is necessary to meet some additional compatibility conditions between the velocity and the stress interpolation in order to ensure control over velocity gradients. The stabilised methods detailed in this work allow one to use equal order or even arbitrary interpolation for the problem unknowns (ss-uu-p) (elastic deviatoric stress-velocity-pressure) and to stabilise dominant convective terms, and all of them can be framed in the context of variational multi-scale methods. Some additional numerical ingredients that are introduced in this article are the treatment of the non-linearities associated with the problem and the possibility to introduce a discontinuity-capturing technique to prevent local oscillations. Concerning the constitutive equation, both the standard as the logarithmic conformation reformulation are discussed for stationary and time-dependent problems, and different versions of stabilised finite element formulations are presented in both cases. ; E. Castillo acknowledges the funding received from the Chilean Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT- FONDECYT 11160160). L. Moreno acknowledges the support received from the Spanish Government through a predoctoral FPI Grant. J. Baiges gratefully acknowledges the support of the Spanish Government through the Ramón y Cajal grant RYC-2015-17367. R. Codina acknowledges the support received through the ICREA Academia Research Program, from the Catalan government. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (author's final draft)