Search results for: team conflict

Authors: Sahar Navabakhsh, Rokia Raslan, Yair Schwartz

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Decision-making on regeneration of housing estates, whether to refurbish or re-build, has been mostly triggered by economic factors. To enable sustainable growth, it is vital that environmental and social impacts of different scenarios are also taken into account. The methodology used to include all the three sustainable development pillars is called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which comprises of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the assessment of environmental impacts of buildings. Current practice of LCA is regularly conducted post design stage and by sustainability experts. Not only is undertaking an LCA at this stage less effective, but issues such as the limited scope for the definition and assessment of environmental impacts, the implication of changes in the system boundary and the alteration of each of the variable metrics, employment of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods and use of various inventory data for Life Cycle Inventory Analysis can result in considerably contrasting results. Given the niche nature and scarce specialist domain of LCA of buildings, the majority of the stakeholders do not contribute to the generation or interpretation of the impact assessment, and the results can be generated and interpreted subjectively due to the mentioned uncertainties. For an effective and democratic assessment of environmental impacts, different stakeholders, and in particular the community and design team should collaborate in the process of data collection, assessment and analysis. This paper examines and evaluates a participatory approach to LCSA through the analysis of a case study of a housing estate in South West London. The study has been conducted throughout tier-based collaborative methods to collect and share data through surveys and co-design workshops with the community members and the design team as the main stakeholders. The assessment of lifecycle impacts is conducted throughout the process and has influenced the decision-making on the design of the Community Plan. The evaluation concludes better assessment transparency and outcome, alongside other socio-economic benefits of identifying and engaging the most contributive stakeholders in the process of conducting LCSA.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, participatory LCA, life cycle sustainability assessment, participatory processes, decision-making, housing estate regeneration

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Authors: Joyce K. Anastasi, Bernadette Capili

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Community Engagement Strategies to Assist with the Development of an RCT Among People Living with HIV Our research team focuses on developing and testing protocols to manage chronic symptoms. For many years, our team designed and implemented symptom management studies for people living with HIV (PLWH). We identify symptoms that are not curative and are not adequately controlled by conventional therapies. As an exemplar, we describe how we successfully engaged PLWH in developing and refining our research feasibility protocol for distal sensory peripheral neuropathy (DSP) associated with HIV. With input from PLWH with DSP, our research received National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding support. Significance: DSP is one of the most common neurologic complications in HIV. It is estimated that DSP affects 21% to 50% of PLWH. The pathogenesis of DSP in HIV is complex and unclear. Proposed mechanisms include cytokine dysregulation, viral protein-produced neurotoxicity, and mitochondrial dysfunction associated with antiretroviral medications. There are no FDA-approved treatments for DSP in HIV. Purpose: Aims: 1) to explore the impact of DSP on the lives of PLWH, 2) to identify patients’ perspectives on successful treatments for DSP, 3) to identify interventions considered feasible and sensitive to the needs of PLWH with DSP, and 4) to obtain participant input for protocol/study design. Description of Process: We conducted a needs assessment with PLWH with DSP. From our needs assessment, we learned from the patients’ perspective detailed descriptions of their symptoms; physical functioning with DSP; self-care remedies tried, and desired interventions. We also asked about protocol scheduling, instrument clarity, study compensation, study-related burdens, and willingness to participate in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a placebo and a waitlist group. Implications: We incorporated many of the suggestions learned from the need assessment. We developed and completed a feasibility study that provided us with invaluable information that informed subsequent NIH-funded studies. In addition to our extensive clinical and research experience working with PLWH, learning from the patient perspective helped in developing our protocol and promoting a successful plan for recruitment and retention of study participants.

Keywords: clinical trial development, peripheral neuropathy, traditional medicine, HIV, AIDS

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Authors: J. Casteleiro- Pitrez

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The interest in Virtual Reality (VR) keeps increasing among the community of designers. To develop this type of immersive experience, the understanding of new processes and methodologies is as fundamental as its complex implementation which usually implies hiring a specialized team. In this paper, we introduce a case study, a platform that allows designers to easily create complex VR experiences, present its features, and its development process. We conclude that this platform provides a complete solution for the design and development of VR experiences, no-code needed.

Keywords: creatives, designers, virtual reality, virtual reality design platform, virtual reality system, no-coding

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Authors: T. S. Beerenahally, S. Amruthavalli, C. M. Munegowda, Leelavathi, Nagarathna

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Introduction: In majority of urban India, the health system is split between different authorities being responsible for the health care of urban population. We believe that, apart from poor awareness and financial barriers to care, there are other health system barriers which affect quality and access to care for people with diabetes. In this paper, we attempted to identify health system complexity that determines access to public health system for diabetes care in KG Halli, a poor urban neighborhood in Bengaluru. The KG Halli has been a locus of a health systems research from 2009 to 2015. Methodology: The source of data is from the observational field-notes written by research team as part of urban health action research project (UHARP). Field notes included data from the community and the public primary care center. The data was generated by the community health assistants and the other research team members during regular home visits and interaction with individuals who self-reported to be diabetic over four years as part of UHARP. Results: It emerged during data analysis that the patients were not keen on utilizing primary public health center for many reasons. Patient has felt that the service provided at the center was not integrated. There was lack of availability of medicines, with a regular stock out of medicines in a year and laboratory service for investigation was limited. Many of them said that the time given by the providers was not sufficient and there was also a feeling of providers not listening to them attentively. The power dynamics played a huge role in communication. Only the consultation was available for free of cost at the public primary care center. The patient had to spend for the investigations and the major portion for medicine. Conclusion: Diabetes is a chronic disease that poses an important emerging public health concern. Most of the financial burden is borne by the family as the public facilities have failed to provide free care in India. Our study indicated various factors including individual beliefs, stigma and financial constraints affecting compliance to diabetes care.

Keywords: diabetes care, disintegrated health system, quality of care, urban health

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Authors: Sani Shehu, Mohd Afandi Salleh

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Parliament is a law making body which provided at national, state, province and territorial level playing a parliamentary role of representing people, law making, peace, and conflict resolution, ratifying and incorporating international convention into municipal law. Parliaments are created globally to give solid legitimacy to good governance under democratic system of government, and the representatives must be elected by the people, so the ECOWAS parliament is entitled to have this legitimacy, where members must be elected by adult people among the citizens of ECOWAS member states. This paper will discuss on the roles that ECOWAS parliament plays for the achievement of regional integration and economic goals of development and cooperation in the sub-region.

Keywords: ECOWAS parliament, composition, competence, power

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Authors: Bo Kampmann Walther

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This essay provides an in-depth interpretation of the ancient Babylonian origin narrative, The Enuma Elish, through the lens of game theory. It examines the strategic interactions among the deities in the myth as if they were players in a game, focusing on understanding the dynamics of conflict, cooperation, and equilibrium within the narrative. The pivotal game theory concept known as Nash Equilibrium is given prominent consideration, but saddle points and optimal strategies will also be employed to uncover the decision-making processes of the divine figures, particularly in the cosmic battle for supremacy. This analysis demonstrates that the ancient narrative, beyond its mythological content, illustrates timeless principles of strategic behavior in the pursuit of game success.

Keywords: Enuma Elish, game theory, Nash Equilibrium, Babylonian mythology, strategic interaction

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Authors: Alexandra Papagianni, George Filis, Panagiotis Papadopoulos

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The liberalization of the energy market and the increasing penetration of fluctuating renewables (e.g., wind and solar power) have heightened the importance of the spot market for ensuring efficient electricity supply. This is further emphasized by the EU’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The day-ahead market (DAM) plays a key role in European energy trading, accounting for 80-90% of spot transactions and providing critical insights for next-day pricing. Therefore, short-term electricity price forecasting (EPF) within the DAM is crucial for market participants to make informed decisions and improve their market positioning. Existing literature highlights out-of-sample performance as a key factor in assessing EPF accuracy, with influencing factors such as predictors, forecast horizon, model selection, and strategy. Several studies indicate that electricity demand is a primary price determinant, while renewable energy sources (RES) like wind and solar significantly impact price dynamics, often lowering prices. Additionally, incorporating data from neighboring countries, due to market coupling, further improves forecast accuracy. Most studies predict up to 24 steps ahead using hourly data, while some extend forecasts using higher-frequency data (e.g., half-hourly or quarter-hourly). Short-term EPF methods fall into two main categories: statistical and computational intelligence (CI) methods, with hybrid models combining both. While many studies use advanced statistical methods, particularly through different versions of traditional AR-type models, others apply computational techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs). Recent research combines multiple methods to enhance forecasting performance. Despite extensive research on EPF accuracy, a gap remains in understanding how forecasting strategy affects prediction outcomes. While iterated strategies are commonly used, they are often chosen without justification. This paper contributes by examining whether the choice of forecasting strategy impacts the quality of day-ahead price predictions, especially for multi-step forecasts. We evaluate both iterated and direct methods, exploring alternative ways of conducting iterated forecasts on benchmark and state-of-the-art forecasting frameworks. The goal is to assess whether these factors should be considered by end-users to improve forecast quality. We focus on the Greek DAM using data from July 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. This period is chosen due to significant price volatility in Greece, driven by its dependence on natural gas and limited interconnection capacity with larger European grids. The analysis covers two phases: pre-conflict (January 1, 2022, to February 23, 2022) and post-conflict (February 24, 2022, to March 31, 2022), following the Russian-Ukraine conflict that initiated an energy crisis. We use the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and symmetric mean absolute percentage error (sMAPE) for evaluation, as well as the Direction of Change (DoC) measure to assess the accuracy of price movement predictions. Our findings suggest that forecasters need to apply all strategies across different horizons and models. Different strategies may be required for different horizons to optimize both accuracy and directional predictions, ensuring more reliable forecasts.

Keywords: short-term electricity price forecast, forecast strategies, forecast horizons, recursive strategy, direct strategy

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Authors: Pei-Shan Liang

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Objective: This article explores the care experience of a terminal lung cancer patient who developed lower limb paralysis after surgery for aortic dissection. The patient, diagnosed with aortic dissection during chemotherapy for lung cancer, faced post-surgical lower limb paralysis, leading to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness as they approached death with reduced mobility. Methods: The nursing period was from July 19 to July 27, during which the author, alongside the intensive care team and palliative care specialists, conducted a comprehensive assessment through observation, direct care, conversations, physical assessments, and medical record review. Gordon's eleven functional health patterns were used for a holistic evaluation, identifying four nursing health issues: "pain related to terminal lung cancer and invasive procedures," "decreased cardiac tissue perfusion due to hemodynamic instability," "impaired physical mobility related to lower limb paralysis," and "hopelessness due to the unpredictable prognosis of terminal lung cancer." Results: The medical team initially focused on symptom relief, administering Morphine 5mg in 0.9% N/S 50ml IVD q6h for pain management and continuing chemotherapy as prescribed. Open communication was employed to address the patient's physical, psychological, and spiritual concerns. Non-pharmacological interventions, including listening, caring, companionship, opioid medication, and distraction techniques like comfortable positioning and warm foot baths, were used to alleviate pain, reducing the pain score to 3 on the numeric rating scale and easing respiratory discomfort. The palliative care team was also involved, guiding the patient and family through the "Four Paths of Life," helping the patient achieve a good end-of-life experience and the family to experience a peaceful life. This process also served to promote the concept of palliative care, enabling more patients and families to receive high-quality and dignified care. The patient was encouraged to express inner anxiety through drawing or writing, which helped reduce the hopelessness caused by psychological distress and uncertainty about the disease's prognosis, as assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, reaching a level of mild anxiety but acceptable without affecting sleep. Conclusion: What left a deep impression during the care process was the need for intensive care providers to consider the patient's psychological state, not just their physical condition, when the patient's situation changes. Family support and involvement often provide the greatest solace for the patient, emphasizing the importance of comfort and dignity. This includes oral care to maintain cleanliness and comfort, frequent repositioning to alleviate pressure and discomfort, and timely removal of invasive devices and unnecessary medications to avoid unnecessary suffering. The nursing process should also address the patient's psychological needs, offering comfort and support to ensure that they can face the end of life with peace and dignity.

Keywords: intensive care, lung cancer, aortic dissection, lower limb paralysis

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Authors: Hyeon-Seung Kim, Sang-Mi Park, Sun-Ju Han, Leen-Seok Kang

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As BIM (Building Information Modeling) application continually expands, the visual simulation techniques used for facility design and construction process information are becoming increasingly advanced and diverse. For building structures, BIM application is design - oriented to utilize 3D objects for conflict management, whereas for civil engineering structures, the usability of nD object - oriented construction stage simulation is important in construction management. Simulations of 5D and 6D objects, for which cost and resources are linked along with process simulation in 4D objects, are commonly used, but they do not provide a decision - making function for process management problems that occur on site because they mostly focus on the visual representation of current status for process information. In this study, an nD CAD system is constructed that facilitates an optimized schedule simulation that minimizes process conflict, a construction duration reduction simulation according to execution progress status, optimized process plan simulation according to project cost change by year, and optimized resource simulation for field resource mobilization capability. Through this system, the usability of conventional simple simulation objects is expanded to the usability of active simulation objects with which decision - making is possible. Furthermore, to close the gap between field process situations and planned 4D process objects, a technique is developed to facilitate a comparative simulation through the coordinated synchronization of an actual video object acquired by an on - site web camera and VR concept 4D object. This synchronization and simulation technique can also be applied to smartphone video objects captured in the field in order to increase the usability of the 4D object. Because yearly project costs change frequently for civil engineering construction, an annual process plan should be recomposed appropriately according to project cost decreases/increases compared with the plan. In the 5D CAD system provided in this study, an active 5D object utilization concept is introduced to perform a simulation in an optimized process planning state by finding a process optimized for the changed project cost without changing the construction duration through a technique such as genetic algorithm. Furthermore, in resource management, an active 6D object utilization function is introduced that can analyze and simulate an optimized process plan within a possible scope of moving resources by considering those resources that can be moved under a given field condition, instead of using a simple resource change simulation by schedule. The introduction of an active BIM function is expected to increase the field utilization of conventional nD objects.

Keywords: 4D, 5D, 6D, active BIM

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Authors: Mehmet Savsar

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Industrial Engineering is one of the engineering disciplines that deal with analysis, design, and improvement of systems, which include manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, communication, and general service systems. Industrial engineers involve with comprehensive study of a given system, analysis of its interacting units, determination of problem areas, application of various optimization and operations research tools, and recommendation of solutions resulting in significant improvements. The Senior Design course in Industrial Engineering is the culmination of the Industrial Engineering Curriculum in a Capstone Design course, which fundamentally deals with systems analysis and design. The course at Kuwait University has been carefully designed with various course objectives and course outcomes in mind to achieve several program outcomes by practices and learning experiences, which are explicitly gained by systems analysis and design. The Senior Design Course is carried out in a selected industrial or service organization, with support from its engineering personnel, during a full semester by a team of students, who are usually in the last semester of their academic programs. A senior faculty member constantly administers the course to ensure that the students accomplish the prescribed objectives. Students work in groups to formulate issues and propose solutions and communicate, results in formal written and oral presentations. When the course is completed, they emerge as engineers that can be clearly identified as more mature, able to communicate better, able to participate in team work, able to see systems perspective in analysis and design, and more importantly, able to assume responsibility at entry level as engineers. The accomplishments are mainly due to real life experiences gained during the course of their design study. This paper presents methods, procedures, and experiences in teaching a Senior Design Course in Industrial Engineering Curriculum. A detailed description of the course, its role, its objectives, outcomes, learning practices, and assessments are explained in relation to other courses in Industrial Engineering Curriculum. The administration of the course, selected organizations where the course project is carried out, problems and solution tools utilized, student accomplishments and obstacles faced are presented. Issues discussed in this paper could help instructors in teaching the course as well as in clarifying the contribution of a design course to the industrial engineering education in general. In addition, the methods and teaching procedures presented could facilitate future improvements in industrial engineering curriculum.

Keywords: senior design course, industrial engineering, capstone design, education

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Authors: Thomas Njuguna Kibutu

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The ability to access justice is an important facet of securing peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, as recognized by Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Goal 16 calls for peace, justice, and strong institutions to promote the rule of law and access to justice at a global level. More specifically, Target 16.3 of the Goal aims to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. On the other hand, it is now widely recognized that Alternative Dispute Resolution (hereafter, ADR) represents an efficient mechanism for resolving disputes outside the adversarial conventional court system of litigation or prosecution. ADR processes include but are not limited to negotiation, reconciliation, mediation, arbitration, and traditional conflict resolution. ADR has a number of advantages, including being flexible, cost-efficient, time-effective, and confidential, and giving the parties more control over the process and the results, thus promoting restorative justice. The methodology of this paper is a desktop review of books, journal articles, reports and government documents., among others. The paper recognizes that ADR represents a cornerstone of Africa’s, and more specifically, Kenya’s, efforts to promote inclusive, accountable, and effective institutions and achieve the objectives of goal 16. In Kenya, and not unlike many African countries, there has been an outcry over the backlog of cases that are yet to be resolved in the courts and the statistics have shown that the numbers keep on rising. While ADR mechanisms have played a major role in reducing these numbers, access to justice in the country remains a big challenge, especially to the subaltern. There is, therefore, a need to analyze the opportunities and challenges facing the application of ADR mechanisms as tools for accessing justice in Kenya and further discuss various ways in which we can overcome these challenges to make ADR an effective alternative to dispute resolution. The paper argues that by embracing ADR across various sectors and addressing existing shortcomings, Kenya can, over time, realize its vision of a more just and equitable society. This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of the application of ADR in Kenya with a view to sharing the lessons and challenges with the wider African continent. The paper concludes that ADR mechanisms can provide critical pathways to justice in Kenya and the African continent in general but come with distinct challenges. The paper thus calls for concerted efforts of respective stakeholders to overcome these challenges.

Keywords: mediation, arbitration, negotiation, reconsiliation, Traditional conflict resolution, sustainable development

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Authors: Alison C. Essary, Victor Trastek

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Introduction: The current state of the health care system in the U.S. is characterized by an unprecedented number of people living with multiple chronic conditions, unsustainable rise in health care costs, inadequate access to care, and wide variation in health outcomes throughout the country. An estimated two-thirds of Americans are living with two or more chronic conditions, contributing to 75% of all health care spending. In 2013, the School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (SHCD) was charged with redesigning the health care system through education and research. Faculty in business, law, and public policy, and thought leaders in health care delivery, administration, public health and health IT created undergraduate, graduate, and executive academic programs to address this pressing need. Faculty and students work across disciplines, and with community partners and employers to improve care delivery and increase value for patients. Methods: Curricula apply content in health care administration and operations within the clinical context. Graduate modules are team-taught by faculty across academic units to model team-based practice. Seminars, team-based assignments, faculty mentoring, and applied projects are integral to student success. Cohort-driven models enhance networking and collaboration. This observational study evaluated two years of admissions data, and one year of graduate data to assess program outcomes and inform the current graduate-level curricula. Descriptive statistics includes means, percentages. Results: Fall 2013, the program received 51 applications. The mean GPA of the entering class of 37 students was 3.38. Ninety-seven percent of the fall 2013 cohort successfully completed the program (n=35). Sixty-six percent are currently employed in the health care industry (n=23). Of the remaining 12 graduates, two successfully matriculated to medical school; one works in the original field of study; four await results on the MCAT or DAT, and five were lost to follow up. Attrition of one student was attributed to non-academic reasons. Fall 2014, the program expanded to include both on-ground and online cohorts. Applications were evenly distributed between on-ground (n=70) and online (n=68). Thirty-eight students enrolled in the on-ground program. The mean GPA was 3.95. Ninety-five percent of students successfully completed the program (n=36). Thirty-six students enrolled in the online program. The mean GPA was 3.85. Graduate outcomes are pending. Discussion: Challenges include demographic variability between online and on-ground students; yet, both profiles are similar in that students intend to become change agents in the health care system. In the past two years, on-ground applications increased by 31%, persistence to graduation is > 95%, mean GPA is 3.67, graduates report admission to six U.S. medical schools, the Mayo Medical School integrates SHCD content within their curricula, and there is national interest in collaborating on industry and academic partnerships. This places SHCD at the forefront of developing innovative curricula in order to improve high-value, patient-centered care.

Keywords: delivery science, education, health care delivery, high-value care, innovation in education, patient-centered

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Authors: Mauro Callejas-Cuervo, Andrea C. Alarcon-Aldana

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It is evident that there has been progress in the development and innovation of tools, techniques and methods in the development of software. Even so, there are few methodologies that include the human factor from the point of view of motivation, emotions and impact on the work environment; aspects that, when mishandled or not taken into consideration, increase the iterations in the requirements elicitation phase. This generates a broad number of changes in the characteristics of the system during its developmental process and an overinvestment of resources to obtain a final product that, often, does not live up to the expectations and needs of the client. The human factors such as emotions or personality traits are naturally associated with the process of developing software. However, most of these jobs are oriented towards the analysis of the final users of the software and do not take into consideration the emotions and motivations of the members of the development team. Given that in the industry, the strategies to select the requirements engineers and/or the analysts do not take said factors into account, it is important to identify and describe the characteristics or personality traits in order to elicit requirements effectively. This research describes the main personality traits associated with the requirements elicitation tasks through the analysis of the existing literature on the topic and a compilation of our experiences as software development project managers in the academic and productive sectors; allowing for the characterisation of a suitable profile for this job. Moreover, a psychometric test is used as an information gathering technique, and it is applied to the personnel of some local companies in the software development sector. Such information has become an important asset in order to make a comparative analysis between the degree of effectiveness in the way their software development teams are formed and the proposed profile. The results show that of the software development companies studied: 53.58% have selected the personnel for the task of requirements elicitation adequately, 37.71% possess some of the characteristics to perform the task, and 10.71% are inadequate. From the previous information, it is possible to conclude that 46.42% of the requirements engineers selected by the companies could perform other roles more adequately; a change which could improve the performance and competitiveness of the work team and, indirectly, the quality of the product developed. Likewise, the research allowed for the validation of the pertinence and usefulness of the psychometric instrument as well as the accuracy of the characteristics for the profile of requirements engineer proposed as a reference.

Keywords: emotions, human attitudes, personality traits, psychometric tests, requirements engineering

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Authors: James Newman

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Process mining is an emerging technology that looks to serialize enterprise data in time series data. It has been used by many companies and has been the subject of a variety of research papers. However, the majority of current efforts have looked at how to best create process mining from standard relational databases. This paper is the first pass at outlining a database custom-built for the minimal viable product of process mining. We present Block Miner, a blockchain protocol to store process mining data across a distributed network. We demonstrate the feasibility of storing process mining data on the blockchain. We present a proof of concept and show how the intersection of these two technologies helps to solve a variety of issues, including but not limited to ransomware attacks, tax documentation, and conflict resolution.

Keywords: blockchain, process mining, memory optimization, protocol

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Authors: Faiz Ul Haque Zeya

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In this paper, Fapitow’s bidding strategy and approach to participate in Travel Agent Competition (TAC) is described. Previously, Fapitow is designed using the agents provided by the TAC Team and mainly used their modification for developing our strategy. But later, by observing the behavior of the agent, it is decided to come up with strategies that will be the main cause of improved utilities of the agent, and by theoretical examination, it is evident that the strategies will provide a significant improvement in performance which is later proved by agent’s performance in the games. The techniques and strategies for further possible improvement are also described. TAC provides a real-time, uncertain environment for learning, experimenting, and implementing various AI techniques. Some lessons learned about handling uncertain environments are also presented.

Keywords: agent, travel agent competition, bidding, TAC

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Authors: Filip Ščerba, Veronika Pochylá

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Performing of the acts within criminal proceedings usually takes too long and thus this phenomenon can be regarded as one of the most burning problems which have plagued the criminal justice not only in the Czech Republic but at least all over Europe for the last few decades. This problem obviously has to be dealt with and thus the need to tackle this issue has resulted in the trend which is sometimes called Criminal Justice Rationalization, i.e. introducing and enforcing methods supporting the increase in efficiency of the criminal justice in order to make the criminal proceedings shorter and administrative procedure easier. This resulted in the introduction of institutes such as e.g. diversions in criminal proceedings or other forms of shortened pre-trial proceedings, which may be used primarily for dealing with less serious crimes. But also the institute, which was originally mentioned in connection with the system of criminal law in the countries belonging to the Anglo-Saxon legal order where it is frequently called of plea bargaining, has been introduced into the criminal law of many European countries, and it may be applied also in cases of serious crimes. All these special and shortened forms of criminal proceedings are connected with limited extent of process of evidence; in fact, some of these specific forms of criminal proceedings are designed for the purpose to simplify the process of evidence. That is also the reason, why some of these procedures are conditioned with the defendant’s confession. Main hypothesis: Limited process of evidence represents also a potential conflict with certain fundamental principles upon which the criminal proceeding in the Continental legal system is based. (A conflict with principle of material truth may be considered as the most important problem. This principle states that the bodies in criminal proceedings must clarify the facts of the case beyond reasonable doubt to such extent that a decision can be made; the defendant’s confession does not mean that these bodies are freed from the duty to review all the circumstances and facts of the case. Such principle is typical for criminal law in Central European region.) Basic methodologies: The paper is going to analyze such a problem of weakening of the principle of material truth in modern criminal law. Such analysis will be provided primarily on the base of the Czech criminal law, but also other legal regulations will be taken into consideration, and its result may have some relevance for all legal regulations belonging to the Continental legal system, so the paper offers also a comparison with legal systems of other Central European countries.

Keywords: burden of proof, central European countries, criminal justice rationalization, criminal proceeding, Czech legislation, Czech republic, defendant, diversions, evidence, fundamental principles, plea bargaining, pre-trial proceedings, principle of material truth, process of evidence, process of evidence

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Authors: Myunghoun Jang

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Most engineering colleges in South Korea have engineering design classes in order to develop and enhance a student's creativity and problem-solving ability. Many cases about engineering design class are shown in journals and magazines, but a case lasting many years is few. The engineering design class in the Department of Architectural Engineering, Jeju National University was open in 2009 and continues to this year. 3-5 teams in every year set up their problems found their solutions and produced good results. Three of the results obtained patents. The class also provides students with opportunities to improve communication skill because they have many discussions in solving their problems.

Keywords: engineering design, architectural engineering, team-based learning, construction safety

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Authors: Abigail Ekeigwe, Bethany McGowan, Loran C. Parker, Stephen Byrn, Kari L. Clase

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There are growing calls in the literature to develop and implement competency-based regulatory sciences education (CBRSE) in sub-Saharan Africa to expand and create a pipeline of a competent workforce of regulatory scientists. A defined competence framework is an essential component in developing competency-based education. However, such a competence framework is not available for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this research is to identify entry-level competencies for inclusion in a competency framework for regulatory scientists in sub-Saharan Africa as a first step in developing CBRSE. The team systematically reviewed the literature following the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and based on a pre-registered protocol on Open Science Framework (OSF). The protocol has the search strategy and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for publications. All included publications were coded to identify entry-level competencies for regulatory scientists. The team deductively coded the publications included in the study using the 'framework synthesis' model for systematic literature review. The World Health Organization’s conceptualization of competence guided the review and thematic synthesis. Topic and thematic codings were done using NVivo 12™ software. Based on the search strategy in the protocol, 2345 publications were retrieved. Twenty-two (n=22) of the retrieved publications met all the inclusion criteria for the research. Topic and thematic coding of the publications yielded three main domains of competence: knowledge, skills, and enabling behaviors. The knowledge domain has three sub-domains: administrative, regulatory governance/framework, and scientific knowledge. The skills domain has two sub-domains: functional and technical skills. Identification of competencies is the primal step that serves as a bedrock for curriculum development and competency-based education. The competencies identified in this research will help policymakers, educators, institutions, and international development partners design and implement competence-based regulatory science education in sub-Saharan Africa, ultimately leading to access to safe, quality, and effective medical products.

Keywords: competence-based regulatory science education, competencies, systematic review, sub-Saharan Africa

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Authors: Sylvie Michel, Emmanuelle Gagnou, Joanne Hamet

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New major ethical dilemmas are posed by artificial intelligence. This article identifies an existing gap between the ethical questions that AI/robotics researchers grapple with in their research practice and those identified by literature review. The objective is to understand which ethical dilemmas are identified or concern AI researchers in order to compare them with the existing literature. This will enable to conduct training and awareness initiatives for AI researchers, encouraging them to consider these questions during the development of AI. Qualitative analyses were conducted based on direct observation of an AI/Robotics research team focused on collaborative robotics over several months. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 members of the team. The entire process took place during the first semester of 2023. The observations were analyzed using an analytical framework, and the interviews were thematically analyzed using Nvivo software. While the literature identifies three primary ethical concerns regarding AI—transparency, bias, and responsibility—the results firstly demonstrate that AI researchers are primarily concerned with the publication and valorization of their work, with the initial ethical concerns revolving around this matter. Questions arise regarding the extent to which to "market" publications and the usefulness of some publications. Research ethics are a central consideration for these teams. Secondly, another result shows that the researchers studied adopt a consequentialist ethics (though not explicitly formulated as such). They ponder the consequences of their development in terms of safety (for humans in relation to Robots/AI), worker autonomy in relation to the robot, and the role of work in society (can robots take over jobs?). Lastly, results indicate that the ethical dilemmas highlighted in the literature (responsibility, transparency, bias) do not explicitly appear in AI/Robotics research. AI/robotics researchers raise specific and pragmatic ethical questions, primarily concerning publications initially and consequentialist considerations afterward. Results demonstrate that these concerns are distant from the existing literature. However, the dilemmas highlighted in the literature also deserve to be explicitly contemplated by researchers. This article proposes that the journals these researchers target should mandate ethical reflection for all presented works. Furthermore, results suggest offering awareness programs in the form of short educational sessions for researchers.

Keywords: ethics, artificial intelligence, research, robotics

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Authors: Madhavi-Priya Singh, Liam Lowe, Farouk Arnaout, Ludmilla Pillay, Giordan Perez, Luke Mischker, Steve Costa

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An Emergency Department consultant identified the failure of medical students to complete the task of clerking a patient in its entirety. As six medical students on our first clinical placement, we recognised our own failure and endeavoured to examine why this failure was consistent among all medical students that had been given this task, despite our best motivations as adult learner. Our aim is to understand and investigate the elements which impeded our ability to learn and perform as medical students in the clinical environment, with reference to the prescribed task. We also aim to generate a discussion around the delivery of medical education with potential solutions to these barriers. Six medical students gathered together to have a comprehensive reflective discussion to identify possible factors leading to the failure of the task. First, we thoroughly analysed the delivery of the instructions with reference to the literature to identify potential flaws. We then examined personal, social, ethical, and cultural factors which may have impacted our ability to complete the task in its entirety. Through collation of our shared experiences, with support from discussion in the field of medical education and ethics, we identified two major areas that impacted our ability to complete the set task. First, we experienced an ethical conflict where we believed the inconvenience and potential harm inflicted on patients did not justify the positive impact the patient interaction would have on our medical learning. Second, we identified a lack of confidence stemming from multiple factors, including the conflict between preclinical and clinical learning, perceptions of perfectionism in the culture of medicine, and the influence of upward social comparison. After discussions, we found that the various factors we identified exacerbated the fears and doubts we already had about our own abilities and that of the medical education system. This doubt led us to avoid completing certain aspects of the tasks that were prescribed and further reinforced our vulnerability and perceived incompetence. Exploration of philosophical theories identified the importance of the role of doubt in education. We propose the need for further discussion around incorporating both pedagogic and andragogic teaching styles in clinical medical education and the acceptance of doubt as a driver of our learning. Doubt will continue to permeate our thoughts and actions no matter what. The moral or psychological distress that arises from this is the key motivating factor for our avoidance of tasks. If we accept this doubt and education embraces this doubt, it will no longer linger in the shadows as a negative and restrictive emotion but fuel a brighter dialogue and positive learning experience, ultimately assisting us in achieving our full potential.

Keywords: medical education, clinical education, andragogy, pedagogy

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Authors: Piret Pernik

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Based on strategic, operational, and technical analysis of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, this paper will examine the opportunities and risks of using small commercial drones (dual-use unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV) for military purposes. The paper discusses the opportunities and risks in the information domain, encompassing both cyber and electromagnetic interference and attacks. The paper will draw conclusions on a possible strategic impact to the battlefield outcomes in the modern armed conflicts by the widespread use of dual-use UAVs. This article will contribute to filling the gap in the literature by examining based on empirical data cyberattacks and electromagnetic interference. Today, more than one hundred states and non-state actors possess UAVs ranging from low cost commodity models, widely are dual-use, available and affordable to anyone, to high-cost combat UAVs (UCAV) with lethal kinetic strike capabilities, which can be enhanced with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Dual-use UAVs have been used by various actors for intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, situational awareness, geolocation, and kinetic targeting. Thus they function as force multipliers enabling kinetic and electronic warfare attacks and provide comparative and asymmetric operational and tactical advances. Some go as far as argue that automated (or semi-automated) systems can change the character of warfare, while others observe that the use of small drones has not changed the balance of power or battlefield outcomes. UAVs give considerable opportunities for commanders, for example, because they can be operated without GPS navigation, makes them less vulnerable and dependent on satellite communications. They can and have been used to conduct cyberattacks, electromagnetic interference, and kinetic attacks. However, they are highly vulnerable to those attacks themselves. So far, strategic studies, literature, and expert commentary have overlooked cybersecurity and electronic interference dimension of the use of dual use UAVs. The studies that link technical analysis of opportunities and risks with strategic battlefield outcomes is missing. It is expected that dual use commercial UAV proliferation in armed and hybrid conflicts will continue and accelerate in the future. Therefore, it is important to understand specific opportunities and risks related to the crowdsourced use of dual-use UAVs, which can have kinetic effects. Technical countermeasures to protect UAVs differ depending on a type of UAV (small, midsize, large, stealth combat), and this paper will offer a unique analysis of small UAVs both from the view of opportunities and risks for commanders and other actors in armed conflict.

Keywords: dual-use technology, cyber attacks, electromagnetic warfare, case studies of cyberattacks in armed conflicts

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Authors: Abbas Rezaei Samarin

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In October 2022, protests began following the death of Mahsa Amini and were followed by the deaths of those arrested by Iran's morality police which Iran's official media and foreign Persian-language satellite channels presented to the audience different narratives of how they were killed. These two types of media produced two different and sometimes conflicting narratives when faced with the news of a certain person's death, and the conflict is found between the narratives in some cases. This study has focused on the semiotics of these narratives, the interpretation of discourses supporting the narratives, and finally, their analysis within the framework of narrative theories. In the present study, the researcher has used a qualitative approach and has concluded that the narrative of both types of media is structured around the functions of the existing and ideal political system.

Keywords: narrative, iran, fake news, protests, manipulation of reality

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Authors: K. M. Anusha, R. Krishnaveni

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Crossing a decade of the 21st century, the paradigm of human resources can be seen evolving with the strategic gene induced into it. There seems to be a radical shift descending as the corporate sector calls on its HR team to become strategic rather than administrative. This transferal eventually requires the metrics employed by these HR teams not to be just operationally reactive but to be aligned to an evidence-based strategic thinking. Realizing the growing need for a prescriptive metric model for effective HR analytics, this study has designed a conceptual framework for a basic metric model that can assist IT-HRM professionals to transition to a practice of evidence-based decision-making to enhance organizational performance.

Keywords: metric model, evidence based HR, HR analytics, strategic HR practices, IT sector

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Authors: Shuhong Wang, Xiang Yi

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Through a survey of approximately 340 employees from four Chinese companies and employing cross-level analysis, this study reveals that certain cultural syndromes may exert both direct and indirect influences on such behaviors. Notably, individuals with a strong individualistic self-concept are more inclined towards innovative actions compared to their less individualistic counterparts. This research also identifies several moderating factors. For instance, trust amplifies the positive relationship between individualism and innovative actions, particularly at higher trust levels. The paper concludes by highlighting its theoretical contributions, and practical implications, and suggesting directions for future research.

Keywords: Innovation, Self-Determination Theory, Trust, Team dynamic, Allocentrism

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Authors: Margarita Santi Becerra Santiago

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The following document addresses the descriptive analysis under the qualitative approach of resilient leadership that allows us to know the importance of the application of a new leadership model to face the new challenges within the gastronomic companies in Mexico. Likewise, to know the main factors that influence resilient leaders and companies to develop new skills to elaborate strategies that contribute to overcoming adversities and managing change. Adversities in a company always exist and challenge us to move and apply our knowledge to be competitive as well as to strengthen our work team through motivation to achieve efficiency and develop in a good organizational climate.

Keywords: challenges, efficiency, leadership, resilience skills

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Authors: Annalise Weckesser, Alex Wade, Clara Joergensen, Jerome Turner

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Introduction: Digital mobile technologies afford Generation M a number of opportunities in terms of communication, creativity and connectivity in their social interactions. Yet these young people’s use of such technologies is often the source of moral panic with accordant social anxiety especially prevalent in media representations of teen ‘sexting,’ or the sending of sexually explicit images via smartphones. Thus far, most responses to youth sexting have largely been ineffective or unjust with adult authorities sometimes blaming victims of non-consensual sexting, using child pornography laws to paradoxically criminalise those they are designed to protect, and/or advising teenagers to simply abstain from the practice. Prevention strategies are further skewed, with sex education initiatives often targeted at girls, implying that they shoulder the responsibility of minimising the risks associated with sexting (e.g. revenge porn and sexual predation). Purpose of Study: Despite increasing public interest and concern about ‘teen sexting,’ there remains a dearth of research with young people regarding their experiences of navigating sex and relationships in the current digital media landscape. Furthermore, young people's views on sexting are rarely solicited in the policy and educational strategies aimed at them. To address this research-policy-education gap, an interdisciplinary team of four researchers (from anthropology, media, sociology and education) have undertaken a peer-to-peer research project to co-create a sexual health intervention. Methods: In the winter of 2015-2016, the research team conducted serial group interviews with four cohorts of students (aged 13 to 15) from a secondary school in the West Midlands, UK. To facilitate open dialogue, girls and boys were interviewed separately, and each group consisted of no more than four pupils. The team employed a range of participatory techniques to elicit young people’s views on sexting, its consequences, and its interventions. A final focus group session was conducted with all 14 male and female participants to explore developing a peer-to-peer ‘safe sexting’ education intervention. Findings: This presentation will highlight the ongoing, ‘old school’ sexual double standards at work within this new digital frontier. In the sharing of ‘nudes’ (teens’ preferred term to ‘sexting’) via social media apps (e.g. Snapchat and WhatsApp), girls felt sharing images was inherently risky and feared being blamed and ‘slut-shamed.’ In contrast, boys were seen to gain in social status if they accumulated nudes of female peers. Further, if boys had nudes of themselves shared without consent, they felt they were expected to simply ‘tough it out.’ The presentation will also explore what forms of supports teens desire to help them in their day-to-day navigation of these digitally mediated, heteronormative performances of teen femininity and masculinity expected of them. Conclusion: This is the first research project, within UK, conducted with rather than about teens and the phenomenon of sexting. It marks a timely and important contribution to the nascent, but growing body of knowledge on gender, sexual politics and the digital mobility of sexual images created by and circulated amongst young people.

Keywords: teens, sexting, gender, sexual politics

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Authors: Nada Mouchfiq, Ahmed Habbani, Chaimae Benjbara

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The security aspect of the IoT occupies a place of great importance especially after the evolution that has known this field lastly because it must take into account the transformations and the new applications .Blockchain is a new technology dedicated to the data sharing. However, this does not work the same way in the different systems with different operating principles. This article will discuss network security using the Blockchain to facilitate the sending of messages and information, enabling the use of new processes and enabling autonomous coordination of devices. To do this, we will discuss proposed solutions to ensure a high level of security in these networks in the work of other researchers. Finally, our article will propose a method of security more adapted to our needs as a team working in the ad hoc networks, this method is based on the principle of the Blockchain and that we named ”MPR Blockchain”.

Keywords: Ad hocs networks, blockchain, MPR, security

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Authors: T. Damak, S. Houidi, M. A. Ben Ayed, N. Masmoudi

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The Versatile Video Coding standard (VVC) is actually under development by the Joint Video Exploration Team (or JVET). An Adaptive Multiple Transforms (AMT) approach was announced. It is based on different transform modules that provided an efficient coding. However, the AMT solution raises several issues especially regarding the complexity of the selected set of transforms. This can be an important issue, particularly for a future industrial adoption. This paper proposed an efficient hardware implementation of the most used transform in AMT approach: the DCT II. The developed circuit is adapted to different block sizes and can reach a minimum frequency of 192 MHz allowing an optimized execution time.

Keywords: adaptive multiple transforms, AMT, DCT II, hardware, transform, versatile video coding, VVC

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Authors: June Keeling, Christina Athanasiades, Vaiva Hendrixson, Delyth Wyndham

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Recognition and education in violence, abuse, and neglect for medical and healthcare practitioners (REVAMP) is a trans-European project aiming to introduce a training programme that has been specifically developed by partners across seven European countries to meet the needs of medical and healthcare practitioners. Amalgamating the knowledge and experience of clinicians, researchers, and educators from interdisciplinary and multi-professional backgrounds, REVAMP has tackled the under-resourced and underdeveloped area of domestic violence and abuse. The team designed an online training programme to support medical and healthcare practitioners to recognise and respond appropriately to survivors of domestic violence and abuse at their point of contact with a health provider. The REVAMP partner countries include Europe: France, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Norway, and the UK. The training is delivered through a series of interactive online modules, adapting evidence-based pedagogical approaches to learning. Capturing and addressing the complexities of the project impacted the methodological decisions and approaches to evaluation. The challenge was to find an evaluation methodology that captured valid data across all partner languages to demonstrate the extent of the change in knowledge and understanding. Co-development by all team members was a lengthy iterative process, challenged by a lack of consistency in terminology. A mixed methods approach enabled both qualitative and quantitative data to be collected, at the start, during, and at the conclusion of the training for the purposes of evaluation. The module content and evaluation instrument were accessible in each partner country's language. Collecting both types of data provided a high-level snapshot of attainment via the quantitative dataset and an in-depth understanding of the impact of the training from the qualitative dataset. The analysis was mixed methods, with integration at multiple interfaces. The primary focus of the analysis was to support the overall project evaluation for the funding agency. A key project outcome was identifying that the trans-European approach posed several challenges. Firstly, the project partners did not share a first language or a legal or professional approach to domestic abuse and neglect. This was negotiated through complex, systematic, and iterative interaction between team members so that consensus could be achieved. Secondly, the context of the data collection in several different cultural, educational, and healthcare systems across Europe challenged the development of a robust evaluation. The participants in the pilot evaluation shared that the training was contemporary, well-designed, and of great relevance to inform practice. Initial results from the evaluation indicated that the participants were drawn from more than eight partner countries due to the online nature of the training. The primary results indicated a high level of engagement with the content and achievement through the online assessment. The main finding was that the participants perceived the impact of domestic abuse and neglect in very different ways in their individual professional contexts. Most significantly, the participants recognised the need for the training and the gap that existed previously. It is notable that a mixed-methods evaluation of a trans-European project is unusual at this scale.

Keywords: domestic violence, e-learning, health professionals, trans-European

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Authors: Ramesh Chinnasamy, Srishti Semalty, Vishnu S. Nair, Thirumurugan Vedagiri, Mahesh Ganeshan, Gautam Talukdar, Karthy Sivapushanam, Abhijit Das

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Snakes form an integral component of ecological systems. Human population explosion and associated acceleration of habitat destruction and degradation, has led to a rapid increase in human-snake encounters. The study aims at understanding the level of awareness, knowledge, and attitude of the people towards human-snake negative interaction and role of awareness programmes in the Moyar river valley, Tamil Nadu. The study area is part of the Mudumalai and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves, which are significant wildlife corridors between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The data was collected using questionnaire covering 644 respondents spread across 18 villages between 2018 and 2019. The study revealed that 86.5% of respondents had strong negative perceptions towards snakes which were propelled by fear, superstitions, and threat of snakebite which was common and did not vary among different villages (F=4.48; p = <0.05) and age groups (X2 = 1.946; p = 0.962). Cobra 27.8% (n = 294) and rat snake 21.3% (n = 225) were the most sighted species and most snake encounter occurred during the monsoon season i.e., July 35.6 (n = 218), June 19.1% (n = 117) and August 18.4% (n = 113). At least 1 out of 5 respondents was reportedly bitten by snakes during their lifetime. The most common species of snakes that were the cause of snakebite were Saw scaled viper (32.6%, n = 42) followed by Cobra 17.1% (n = 22). About 21.3% (n = 137) people reported livestock loss due to pythons and other snakes 21.3% (n = 137). Most people, preferred medical treatment for snakebite (87.3%), whereas 12.7%, still believed in traditional methods. The majority (82.3%) used precautionary measure by keeping traditional items such as garlic, kerosene, and snake plant to avoid snakes. About 30% of the respondents expressed need for technical and monetary support from the forest department that could aid in reducing the human-snake conflict. It is concluded that the general perception in the study area is driven by fear and negative attitude towards snakes. Though snakes such as Cobra were widely worshiped in the region, there are still widespread myths and misconceptions that have led to the irrational killing of snakes. Awareness and innovative education programs rooted in the local context and language should be integrated at the village level, to minimize risk and the associated threat of snakebite among the people. Results from this study shall help policy makers to devise appropriate conservation measures to reduce human-snake conflicts in India.

Keywords: Envenomation, Health-Education, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Neglected Tropical Disease, Snakebite Mitigation, Traditional Practitioners

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