Search results for: decision making support systems

Authors: Fatemeh Zare, Kaveh Bazrafkan, Alireza Bolhari

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Quality of life is one of the most recent issues in today's architectural world. It has numerous criteria and has diverse aspects in different nation's cultures. Social sustainability, on the other hand, is frequently a positive attitude which is manifested by integration of human beings and equity of access to fundamental amenities; for instance, transportation, hygienic systems, equal education facilities, etc. This paper demonstrates that achieving desired quality of life is through assurance of sustainable society. Choosing a sustainable approach in every day's life becomes a practical manner and solution for human life. By assuming that an architect is someone who designs people's life by his/her projects, scrutinizing the relationship between quality of life and architectural buildings would reveal hidden criteria through Datascapes technique. This would be enriched when considering this relationship with everyone's basic needs in the society. One the most impressive needs are the particular demands of physically challenged people which are directly examined and discussed.

Keywords: sustainable design, social sustainability, disabled people, datascapes technique

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Authors: Hanieh Mohammadi, Sarah Fraser, Anil Nigam, Frederic Lesage, Louis Bherer

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A chronically higher cerebral pulsatility is thought to damage cerebral microcirculation, leading to cognitive decline in older adults. Although it is widely known that regular physical activity is linked to improvement in some cognitive domains, including executive functions, the mediating role of cerebral pulsatility on this link remains to be elucidated. This study assessed the impact of 6 months of regular physical activity upon changes in an optical index of cerebral pulsatility and the role of physical activity for the improvement of executive functions. 27 older adults (aged 57-79, 66.7% women) with cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) were enrolled in the study. The participants completed the behavioral Stroop test, which was extracted from the Delis-Kaplan executive functions system battery at baseline (T0) and after 6 months (T6) of physical activity. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was applied for an innovative approach to indexing cerebral pulsatility in the brain microcirculation at T0 and T6. The participants were at standing rest while a NIRS device recorded hemodynamics data from frontal and motor cortex subregions at T0 and T6. The cerebral pulsatility index of interest was cerebral pulse amplitude, which was extracted from the pulsatile component of NIRS data. Our data indicated that 6 months of physical activity was associated with a reduction in the response time for the executive functions, including inhibition (T0: 56.33± 18.2 to T6: 53.33± 15.7,p= 0.038)and Switching(T0: 63.05± 5.68 to T6: 57.96 ±7.19,p< 0.001) conditions of the Stroop test. Also, physical activity was associated with a reduction in cerebral pulse amplitude (T0: 0.62± 0.05 to T6: 0.55± 0.08, p < 0.001). Notably, cerebral pulse amplitude was a significant mediator of the link between physical activity and response to the Stroop test for both inhibition (β=0.33 (0.61,0.23),p< 0.05)and switching (β=0.42 (0.69,0.11),p <0.01) conditions. This study suggests that regular physical activity may support cognitive functions through the improvement of cerebral pulsatility in older adults with CVRF.

Keywords: near-infrared spectroscopy, cerebral pulsatility, physical activity, cardiovascular risk factors, executive functions

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Authors: Hahido Samaras

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In many cases, especially with the pandemic playing a major role in fast-tracking the growth of the digital industry, online learning has become a necessity or even a standard educational model nowadays, reliably overcoming barriers such as location, time and cost and frequently combined with a face-to-face format (e.g., in blended learning). This being the case, it is evident that students in many parts of the world, as well as their parents, will increasingly need to become aware of the pros and cons of online versus traditional courses. This fast-growing mode of learning, accelerated during the years of the pandemic, presents an abundance of exciting options especially matched for a large number of secondary school students in remote places of the world where access to stimulating educational settings and opportunities for a variety of learning alternatives are scarce, adding advantages such as flexibility, affordability, engagement, flow and personalization of the learning experience. However, online learning can also present several challenges, such as a lack of student motivation and social interactions in natural settings, digital literacy, and technical issues, to name a few. Therefore, educational researchers will need to conduct further studies focusing on the benefits and weaknesses of online learning vs. traditional learning, while instructional designers propose ways of enhancing student motivation and engagement in virtual environments. Similarly, teachers will be required to become more and more technology-capable, at the same time developing their knowledge about their students’ particular characteristics and needs so as to match them with the affordances the technology offers. And, of course, schools, education programs, and policymakers will have to invest in powerful tools and advanced courses for online instruction. By developing digital courses that incorporate intentional opportunities for community-building and interaction in the learning environment, as well as taking care to include built-in design principles and strategies that align learning outcomes with learning assignments, activities, and assessment practices, rewarding academic experiences can derive for all students. This paper raises various issues regarding the effectiveness of online learning on students by reviewing a large number of research studies related to the usefulness and impact of online learning following the COVID-19-induced digital education shift. It also discusses what students, teachers, decision-makers, and parents have reported about this mode of learning to date. Best practices are proposed for parties involved in the development of online learning materials, particularly for secondary school students, as there is a need for educators and developers to be increasingly concerned about the impact of virtual learning environments on student learning and wellbeing.

Keywords: blended learning, online learning, secondary schools, virtual environments

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Authors: Zintle Sikhunyana

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Management of public finance in many countries such as South Africa is affected by political decisions and by policies around fiscal decentralization amongst the government spheres. Economic success is said to be determined by efficient management of public finance and by the policies or strategies that are implemented to support efficient public finance management. Policymakers focus on pay attention to how economic policies have been implemented and how they are directed into ensuring stable development. This will allow policymakers to address economic challenges through the usage of fiscal policy parameters that are linked to the achieved rate of economic growth and development. Efficient public finance management reduces the likelihood of corruption and corruption is said to have negative effects on economic growth and development. Corruption in public finance refers to an act of using funds for personal benefits. To achieve macroeconomic objectives, governments make use of government expenditure and government expenditure is financed through tax revenue. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the potential impact of public finance management on economic growth and development in South Africa. The secondary data obtained from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and World Bank for 1980- 2020 has been utilized to achieve the research objectives. To test the impact of public finance management on economic growth and development, the study will use Seeming Unrelated Regression Equation (SURE) Modelling that allows researchers to model multiple equations with interdependent variables. The advantages of using SUR are that it efficiently allows estimation of relationships between variables by combining information on different equations and SUR test restrictions that involve parameters in different equations. The findings have shown that there is a positive relationship between efficient public finance management and economic growth/development. The findings also show that efficient public finance management has an indirect positive impact on economic growth and development. Corruption has a negative impact on economic growth and development. It results in an efficient allocation of government resources and thereby improves economic growth and development. The study recommends that governments who aim to stimulate economic growth and development should target and strengthen public finance management policies or strategies.

Keywords: corruption, economic growth, economic development, public finance management, fiscal decentralization

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Authors: Ruchi Agarwal

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In today’s world, companies are operating in dynamic, uncertain and ambiguous business environments. Globally, more companies are failing due to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors than ever. Corporate governance and risk management are intertwined in nature. For decades, corporate governance and risk management have been influenced by internal and external factors. Three schools of thought have influenced risk governance for decades: Agency theory, Contingency theory, and Institutional theory. Agency theory argues that agents have interests conflicting with principal interests and the information problem. Contingency theory suggests that risk management adoption is influenced by internal and external factors, while Institutional theory suggests that organizations legitimize risk management with regulators, competitors, and professional bodies. The conflicting objectives of theories have created problems for executives in organizations in the adoption of Risk Governance. So far, there are many studies that discussed risk culture and the role of actors in risk governance, but there are rare studies discussing the role of risk culture in the adoption of risk governance from a leadership style perspective. This study explores the adoption of risk governance in two contrasting industries, such as the Insurance and energy business, to understand whether risk governance is influenced by internal/external factors or whether risk culture is influenced by leaders. We draw empirical evidence by comparing the cases of an Indian insurance company and a renewable energy-based firm in India. We interviewed more than 20 senior executives of companies and collected annual reports, risk management policies, and more than 10 PPTs and other reports from 2017 to 2024. We visited the company for follow-up questions several times. The findings of my research revealed that both companies have used risk governance for strategic renewal of the company. Insurance companies use a transactional leadership style based on performance and reward for improving risk, while energy companies use rather symbolic management to make debt restructuring meaningful for stakeholders. Overall, both companies turned from loss-making to profitable ones in a few years. This comparative study highlights the role of different leadership styles in the adoption of risk governance. The study is also distinct as previous research rarely studied risk governance in two contrasting industries in reference to leadership styles.

Keywords: leadership style, corporate governance, risk management, risk culture, strategic renewal

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Authors: Ha Thi Nguyen, Guangya Yang, Arne Hejde Nielsen, Peter Højgaard Jensen

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Automatic voltage regulator (AVR) plays an important role in volt/var control of synchronous condenser (SC) in power systems. Test AVR performance in steady-state and dynamic conditions in real grid is expensive, low efficiency, and hard to achieve. To address this issue, we implement hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) test for the AVR of SC to test the steady-state and dynamic performances of AVR in different operating conditions. Startup procedure of the system and voltage set point changes are studied to evaluate the AVR hardware response. Overexcitation, underexcitation, and AVR set point loss are tested to compare the performance of SC with the AVR hardware and that of simulation. The comparative results demonstrate how AVR will work in a real system. The results show HiL test is an effective approach for testing devices before deployment and is able to parameterize the controller with lower cost, higher efficiency, and more flexibility.

Keywords: automatic voltage regulator, hardware-in-the-loop, synchronous condenser, real time digital simulator

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Authors: Ioanna Taouki, Marie Lallier, David Soto

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Metacognition refers to the capacity to reflect upon our own cognitive processes. Although there is an ongoing discussion in the literature on the role of metacognition in learning and academic achievement, little is known about its neurodevelopmental trajectories in early childhood, when children begin to receive formal education in reading. Here, we evaluate the metacognitive ability, estimated under a recently developed Signal Detection Theory model, of a cohort of children aged between 6 and 7 (N=60), who performed three two-alternative-forced-choice tasks (two linguistic: lexical decision task, visual attention span task, and one non-linguistic: emotion recognition task) including trial-by-trial confidence judgements. Our study has three aims. First, we investigated how metacognitive ability (i.e., how confidence ratings track accuracy in the task) relates to performance in general standardized tasks related to students' reading and general cognitive abilities using Spearman's and Bayesian correlation analysis. Second, we assessed whether or not young children recruit common mechanisms supporting metacognition across the different task domains or whether there is evidence for domain-specific metacognition at this early stage of development. This was done by examining correlations in metacognitive measures across different task domains and evaluating cross-task covariance by applying a hierarchical Bayesian model. Third, using robust linear regression and Bayesian regression models, we assessed whether metacognitive ability in this early stage is related to the longitudinal learning of children in a linguistic and a non-linguistic task. Notably, we did not observe any association between students’ reading skills and metacognitive processing in this early stage of reading acquisition. Some evidence consistent with domain-general metacognition was found, with significant positive correlations between metacognitive efficiency between lexical and emotion recognition tasks and substantial covariance indicated by the Bayesian model. However, no reliable correlations were found between metacognitive performance in the visual attention span and the remaining tasks. Remarkably, metacognitive ability significantly predicted children's learning in linguistic and non-linguistic domains a year later. These results suggest that metacognitive skill may be dissociated to some extent from general (i.e., language and attention) abilities and further stress the importance of creating educational programs that foster students’ metacognitive ability as a tool for long term learning. More research is crucial to understand whether these programs can enhance metacognitive ability as a transferable skill across distinct domains or whether unique domains should be targeted separately.

Keywords: confidence ratings, development, metacognitive efficiency, reading acquisition

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Authors: Paulina Pergoł, Paulina Pergoł, Tomasz Kryczka

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Aging of societies is a phenomenon that is visible all over the world. The above has social, economic, and medical consequences. Many methods of pro-health stimulation of the elderly, improving cognitive functions and quality of life, are described in the world literature. The most frequently used method of activating the elderly is physical activity, in which, in addition to standard exercise programs, activities such as dance, tai chi, and yoga are often introduced. The introduction of physical activity may be limited due to the disability that often accompanies people aged 65+. Other activating methods mentioned in the literature are therapies with the participation of animals - animal therapy or plant therapy - hortitherapy, as well as music therapy, which is increasingly popular. All of the above-mentioned therapeutic methods require the involvement of a person who would conduct the so-called occupational therapist, which can be a financial barrier for many nursing homes. Researchers all over the world are trying to find solutions that can be applied in any care institution, even in those where financial support for running such centers is small. One of the forms of therapy that is recommended in the group of elderly people and which does not require large financial outlays is the so-called reminiscence therapy based on recalling personal experiences and experiences. Thanks to reminiscence therapy, seniors can return to happy moments in their lives. Research shows that reminiscence therapy increases self-esteem and reduces symptoms of depression. The method of activating older people with the use of correspondence can be an effective and low-cost form of therapy, as shown by the pilot study conducted in 2019 as part of the Queen Silvia Nursing Award competition, consisting in a systematic exchange of correspondence between volunteers and residents of the Nursing Home. This study was conducted with the participation of a small group of participants, therefore, in order to identify and prove the beneficial effect of this form of activation, it should be carried out on a larger group of respondents using standardized scales assessing various psychological parameters.

Keywords: nursing, elderly care, psychiatry, psychology

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Authors: R. Ueda

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Today global society is seeking resilient partnership in local organizations and individuals, which realizes multi-stakeholders relationship. Although it is proposed by modern global framework of sustainable development, it is conceivable that such affiliation can be found out in the traditional local community in Japan, and that traditional spirit is tacitly sustaining in modern context of disaster mitigation in society and economy. Then this research is aiming to clarify and analyze implication for the global world by actual case studies. Regional and urban resilience is the ability of multi-stakeholders to cooperate flexibly and to adapt in response to changes in the circumstances caused by disasters, but there are various conflicts affecting coordination of disaster relief measures. These conflicts arise not only from a lack of communication and an insufficient network, but also from the difficulty to jointly draw common context from fragmented information. This is because of the weakness of our modern engineering which focuses on maintenance and restoration of individual systems. Here local ‘circles’ holistically includes local community and interacts periodically. Focusing on examples of resilient organizations and wisdom created in communities, what can be seen throughout history is a virtuous cycle where the information and the knowledge are structured, the context to be adapted becomes clear, and an adaptation at a higher level is made possible, by which the collaboration between organizations is deepened and expanded. And the wisdom of a solid and autonomous disaster prevention formed by the historical community called’ Waju’ – an area surrounded by circle embankment to protect the settlement from flood – lives on in government efforts of the coastal industrial island of today. Industrial company there collaborates to create a circle including common evacuation space, road access improvement and infrastructure recovery. These days, people here adopts new interface technology. Large-scale AR- Augmented Reality for more than hundred people is expressing detailed hazard by tsunami and liquefaction. Common experiences of the major disaster space and circle of mutual discussion are enforcing resilience. Collaboration spirit lies in the center of circle. A consistent key point is a virtuous cycle where the information and the knowledge are structured, the context to be adapted becomes clear, and an adaptation at a higher level is made possible, by which the collaboration between organizations is deepened and expanded. This writer believes that both self-governing human organizations and the societal implementation of technical systems are necessary. Infrastructure should be autonomously instituted by associations of companies and other entities in industrial areas for working closely with local governments. To develop advanced disaster prevention and multi-stakeholder collaboration, partnerships among industry, government, academia and citizens are important.

Keywords: industrial recovery, multi-sakeholders, traditional culture, user experience, Waju

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Authors: Yanqun Li, Hong Geng

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The occurrence of Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 has led to severe damage to the rural areas of Chengdu city, such as the rupture of the social network, the stagnation of economic production and the rupture of living space. The post-disaster reconstruction has become a sustainable issue. As an important link to maintain the order of rural social development, social network should be an important content of post-disaster reconstruction. Therefore, this paper takes rural reconstruction communities in earthquake-stricken areas of Chengdu as the research object and adopts sociological research methods such as field survey, observation and interview to try to understand the transformation of rural social relations network under the influence of earthquake and its impact on rural space. It has found that rural societies under the earthquake generally experienced three phases: the break of stable social relations, the transition of temporary non-normal state, and the reorganization of social networks. The connotation of phased rural social relations also changed accordingly: turn to a new division of labor on the social orientation, turn to a capital flow and redistribution in new production mode on the capital orientation, and turn to relative decentralization after concentration on the spatial dimension. Along with such changes, rural areas have emerged some social issues such as the alienation of competition in the new industry division, the low social connection, the significant redistribution of capital, and the lack of public space. Based on a comprehensive review of these issues, this paper proposes the corresponding response mechanism. First of all, a reasonable division of labor should be established within the villages to realize diversified commodity supply. Secondly, the villages should adjust the industrial type to promote the equitable participation of capital allocation groups. Finally, external public spaces should be added to strengthen the field of social interaction within the communities.

Keywords: social relations, social support networks, industrial division, capital allocation, public space

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Authors: Sara Alzahrani, Samia Bokari, Patan Khan, Muneera Alshareef, Rania Safwat, Mohammed Galal, Hamdi Alqadi, Ameerah Alzahrani, Rehab Alboraie

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Introduction & Background: Diabetes in COVID-19 patients is individual risk factor and documented in worldwide studies to contribute to disease severity, increased length of stay and higher mortality. Aggressive management of blood sugars and acute diabetic complications reduce the length of stay and mortality. Methods: Randomly selected 200 patients admitted with diabetes and COVID-19 studied. The unified treatment protocol applied for all patients and blood sugars monitored closely and optimized .Data collected on bimonthly basis and analyzed. Patients’ characteristics taken from data extraction tool (Oasis) of hospital. Median values for length of stay and post discharge FBS and RBS were calculated via Microsoft Excel tool. Mortality rates were calculated by percentages. The results monitored in the post discharge clinic was 130 mg/dl and 170 mg/dl respectively. The results compared with the standard international studies. Discussion: Diabetes in COVID-19 patients posed great challenge as increased severity and mortalities reported compared to non-diabetic. Taking a pre-emptive strategy to combat this problem by aggressively manage diabetes help in reducing length of stay and morbidity. The length of stay in studded population was 3 days as compared to 13 days in a major international study. Financial saving come from rapid turnover of beds. The mortality was 2.5 % compared to reported 7.3% in a major study, reflecting the implications of aggressive management of diabetes. Regular follow-up and support by running post-discharge clinic definitely help reducing readmissions and acute complications of uncontrolled diabetes. Conclusion: Aggressive management of diabetes in COVID-19 patients by tailored treatment protocols and dedicated teams will help to decrease the morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: diabetes, covid-19, management, mortality

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Authors: Diego Caballero Vélez

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In 1997 the Schengen Convention was incorporated in the mainstream of EU law by the Amsterdam Treaty. It came into effect in 1999 with the abolition of internal border controls in the EU, a milestone in the European integration project. In the meantime, due to the Yugoslav wars, nearly 700,000 asylum applications were filed in the European countries provoking a major refugee crisis. During this period, the opening of Eastern Europe fostered more cooperation and policy-making at the EU level in migration issues. Currently, a similar migratory crisis is taking place in Europe. The Syrian war has caused the most massive influx of immigrants in Europe since World War II. Nevertheless, the EU is adopting different migration policies from those implemented during the Yugoslav migration crisis. The current crisis has not led to a common European position but national responses have been offered on migration policies and responsibility for border security and asylum-seekers. A lot of factors can explain this change from a cooperation scenario to a no cooperation one, such as the economic crisis, but this research is focused on the premise that 'threat perception' lies at the core of some states grand strategies towards migration and it also influences in multilateral or unilateral responses. Migration rests at the nexus of three dimensions of security, including geopolitical interests, material production, and internal security. According to some scholars, migration policy is an 'integral instrument' of state grand strategy in that context. Political integration at the EU might be altered with the emergence of existential threats. In other words, some areas of the European cooperation can be transformed when a 'critical juncture' occurs, for instance a migration crisis. In that instance, Member states could see migration as a matter of threat that modifies their national interests and willingness to embrace international cooperation. This research will focus on EU Member states´ perceptions of the 90´s migration crisis and the current one. The goal is to evaluate to what extent the perceptions of threat are one of the main factors for explaining the transition from a cooperation scenario to a no-cooperation one in European asylum and security policies. To analyze threat perception in both migration crisis, some relevant Member states are treated as cases of study and a comparative analysis is carried out based on public opinion polls, public and policy discourse in migration, voting practices and deconstruction of the migration policies themselves both at EU level and a national one.

Keywords: cooperation, migration crisis, national responses, threat perception

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Authors: P. P. L. Kwan, D. K. S. Chan

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Organizations are constantly changing in today’s business environment. Research findings have revealed that overcoming resistance and getting employees ready for change is a crucial driver for organizational change success. Thus, change adaptability has become a more prominent selection criterion used in many organizations. Although change readiness could be situation-specific, employees’ personality, emotion, and cognition should also be crucial factors in shaping their readiness. However, relatively little research has focused on the roles of individual characteristics in organizational changes. The present study examines the relations between individual characteristics and change readiness with the aim to validate a model, which proposes three types of individual attributes as antecedents to change readiness. The three attributes considered are trait cynicism, positive affectivity, and personal valence covering personality, emotional, and cognitive aspects respectively. The model also hypothesizes that relations between the three antecedents and change readiness will be moderated by a positive mental resource known as psychological capital (PsyCap), which consists of hope, optimism, efficacy and resilience; and a learning culture within the organization. We are currently collecting data from a targeted sample size of 300 Hong Kong employees. Specifically, participants complete a questionnaire which was designed to measure their perceived change efficacy in response to three scenarios commonly happened in the workplace (i.e., business acquisition, team restructuring, and information system change) as a measure of change readiness, as well as the aforementioned individual characteristics. Preliminary analysis provides some support to the hypotheses. That is, employees who are less cynical in personality and more positive in their cognition and affectivity particularly welcome the potential changes in their organizations. Further data collection and analyses are continuously carried out for a more definitive conclusion. Our findings will shed light on employee selection; and on how strengthening positive psychological resources and promoting the culture of learning organization among employees may enhance the chance to succeed for organizations undergoing change.

Keywords: learning organization, psychological capital, readiness for change, employee selection

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Authors: Isa Raquel Alves Soeiro, Cristina Isabel Branco de Sá

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In Portugal, since 2008, there has been a requirement to export the Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes (SAF-T) standard file (in XML format). This file thus gathers tax-relevant information from a company relating to a specific period of taxation. There are two types of SAF-T files that serve different purposes: the SAF-T of revenues and the SAF-T of accounting, which requires taxpayers and accounting firms to invest in order to adapt the accounting programs to the legal requirements. The implementation of the SAF-T accounting file aims to facilitate the collection of relevant tax data by tax inspectors as support of taxpayers' tax returns for the analysis of accounting records or other information with tax relevance (Portaria No. 321-A/2007 of March 26 and Portaria No. 302/2016 of December 2). The main objective of this research project is to verify, through quantitative analysis, what is the cost of compliance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the district of Leiria in the introduction and implementation of the tax obligation of SAF-T - Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes of accounting. The information was collected through a questionnaire sent to a population of companies selected through the SABI Bureau Van Dijk database in 2020. Based on the responses obtained to the questionnaire, the companies were divided into two groups: Group 1 -companies who are self-employed and whose main activity is accounting services; and Group 2 -companies that do not belong to the accounting sector. In general terms, the conclusion is that there are no statistically significant differences in the costs of complying with the accounting SAF-T between the companies in Group 1 and Group 2 and that, on average, the internal costs of both groups represent the largest component of the total cost of compliance with the accounting SAF-T. The results obtained show that, in both groups, the total costs of complying with the SAF-T of accounting are regressive, which appears to be similar to international studies, although these are related to different tax obligations. Additionally, we verified that the variables volume of business, software used, number of employees, and legal form explain the differences in the costs of complying with accounting SAF-T in the Leiria district SME.

Keywords: compliance costs, SAF-T accounting, SME, Portugal

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Authors: J. Stejskal, P. Hajek

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The goal of this article is the analysis of knowledge transfer at the regional level of the Czech Republic. We show how goals of enterprises´ innovative activities are related to the rate of cooperation with different actors within regional innovative systems as well as in other world regions. The results show that the most important partners of enterprises are their suppliers and clients in most Czech regions. The cooperation rate of enterprises correlates significantly mainly with enterprises´ efforts to enter new markets and reduce labour costs per unit output. The meaning of this cooperation decreases with the increase of partner’s distance. Regarding the type of a cooperating partner, cooperation within an enterprise had to do with the increase of market share and decrease of labour costs. On the other hand, cooperation with clients had to do with efforts to replace outdated products or processes or enter new markets. We can pay less attention to the cooperation with government authorities and organizations. The reasons for marginalization of this cooperation should be submitted to further detailed investigation.

Keywords: knowledge, transfer, innovative process, Czech republic, region

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Authors: Diego R. Boiarski, Camila M. Toigo, Thais M. Sobjak, Andrey F. P. Santos, Silvia Romao, Ana T. B. Guimaraes

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Anthropogenic activities promote changes in the community’s structures and decrease the species abundance of amphibians. Biological communities of fluvial systems are assemblies of organisms that have adapted to regional conditions, including the physical environment and food resources, and are further refined through interactions with other species. The aim of this study was to assess neurotoxic alterations and in the antioxidant system on tadpoles of Lithobates catesbeianus exposed to waters from Cascavel River, in the south of Brazil. A total of 420 L of water was collected from the Cascavel River, 140 L from each of the three different locations: Site 1 – headwater; Site 2 – stretch of the stream that runs through an urbanized area; Site 3 – a stretch from the rural area. Twelve tadpoles were acclimated in each aquarium (100 L of water) for seven days. The water from each aquarium was replaced with the ones sampled from the river, except the one from the control aquarium. After seven days, a portion of the liver was removed and conditioned for ChE, SOD, CAT and LPO analysis; other part of the tissue was conditioned for histological analysis. The statistical analysis performed was one-way ANOVA, followed by post-hoc Tukey-HSD test, and the multivariate principal components analysis. It was not observed any neurotoxic effect, but a slight increase in SOD activity and elevation of CAT activity in both urban and rural environment. A decrease in LPO reaction was detected, mainly among the tadpoles exposed to the waters from the rural area. The results of the present study demonstrate the alteration of the antioxidant system, as well as liver histopathologies in tadpoles exposed mainly to waters collected in urban and rural environments. These alterations may cause the reduction in the velocity of the metamorphosis process from the tadpoles. Further, were observed histological alterations, highlighting necrotic areas mainly among the animals exposed to urban waters. Those damages can lead to metabolic dysfunction, interfering with survival capacity, diminishing not only individual fitness but for the whole population. In the interpretation synthesis of all biomarkers, the cellular damage gradient is perceptible, characterized by the variables related to the antioxidant system, due to the flow direction of the stream. This result is indicative that along the course of the creek occurs dumping of organic material, which promoted an acute response upon tadpoles of L. catesbeianus. and it was also observed the difference in tissue damage between the experimental groups and the control group, the latter presenting histological alterations, but to a lesser degree than the animals exposed to the waters of the Cascavel river. These damages, caused by reactive oxygen species possibly resulting from the contamination by organic compounds, can lead the animals to a series of metabolic dysfunctions, interfering with its metamorphosis capacity. Interruption of metamorphosis may affect survival, which may impair its growth, development and reproduction, diminishing not only the fitness of each individual but in a long-term, to the entire population.

Keywords: American bullfrog, histopathology, oxidative stress, urban creeks pollution

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Authors: Pavlo Selyshchev, Samuel Akintunde

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A theoretical approach to consider formation of chemical compound layer at the interface between initial substances A and B due to the interfacial interaction and diffusion is developed. It is considered situation when speed of interfacial interaction is large enough and diffusion of A-atoms through AB-layer is much more then diffusion of B-atoms. Atoms from A-layer diffuse toward B-atoms and form AB-atoms on the surface of B-layer. B-atoms are assumed to be immobile. The growth kinetics of the AB-layer is described by two differential equations with non-linear coupling, producing a good fit to the experimental data. It is shown that growth of the thickness of the AB-layer determines by dependence of chemical reaction rate on reactants concentration. In special case the thickness of the AB-layer can grow linearly or parabolically depending on that which of processes (interaction or the diffusion) controls the growth. The thickness of AB-layer as function of time is obtained. The moment of time (transition point) at which the linear growth are changed by parabolic is found.

Keywords: phase formation, binary systems, interfacial reaction, diffusion, compound layers, growth kinetics

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Authors: Peter Fornaro, Lothar Schmitt

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The Digital Humanities Lab and the Institute of Art History at the University of Basel are collaborating in the SNSF research project ‘Digital Materiality’. Its goal is to develop and enhance existing methods for the digital reproduction of cultural heritage objects in order to support art historical research. One part of the project focuses on the visualization of a small eye-catching group of early prints that are noteworthy for their subtle reliefs and glossy surfaces. Additionally, this group of objects – known as ‘paste prints’ – is characterized by its fragile state of preservation. Because of the brittle substances that were used for their production, most paste prints are heavily damaged and thus very hard to examine. These specific material properties make a photographic reproduction extremely difficult. To obtain better results we are working with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), a computational photographic method that is already used in archaeological and cultural heritage research. This technique allows documenting how three-dimensional surfaces respond to changing lighting situations. Our first results show that RTI can capture the material properties of paste prints and their current state of preservation more accurately than conventional photographs, although there are limitations with glossy surfaces because the mathematical models that are included in RTI are kept simple in order to keep the software robust and easy to use. To improve the method, we are currently developing tools for a more detailed analysis and simulation of the reflectance behavior. An enhanced analytical model for the representation and visualization of gloss will increase the significance of digital representations of cultural heritage objects. For collaborative efforts, we are working on a web-based viewer application for RTI images based on WebGL in order to make acquired data accessible to a broader international research community. At the ICDH Conference, we would like to present unpublished results of our work and discuss the implications of our concept for art history, computational photography and heritage science.

Keywords: art history, computational photography, paste prints, reflectance transformation imaging

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Authors: K. Kanja, M. Mweemba, K. Malungwa

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Due to the rampant population growth coupled with retrenchments currently going on in the Copper mines in Zambia, a number of people are resorting to land clearing for agriculture, illegal settlements as well as charcoal production among other vices. This study aims at assessing the rate of expansion of agricultural fields and illegal settlements in protected areas using remote sensing and Geographic Information System. Zambia’s Mwekera National Forest Reserve was used as a case study. Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique (ISODATA), as well as maximum likelihood, supervised classification on four Landsat images as well as an accuracy assessment of the classifications was performed. Over the period under observation, results indicate annual percentage changes to be -0.03, -0.49 and 1.26 for agriculture, forests and settlement respectively indicating a higher conversion of forests into human settlements and agriculture.

Keywords: geographic information system, land cover change, Landsat TM and ETM+, Mwekera forest reserve, remote sensing

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Authors: Andreas Kapardis, Maria Krambia-Kapardis, Sofia Michaelides-Mateou

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Corruption and economic crime is a serious problem affecting the sustainability of businesses in the 21st century. Nowadays, many corruption or fraud cases come to light thanks to whistleblowers. This article will first discuss the concept of whistleblowing as well as some relevant legislation enacted around the world. Secondly, it will discuss the findings of a survey of whistleblowers or could-have-been whistleblowers. Finally, suggestions for the development of a comprehensive whistleblowing framework will be considered. Whistleblowing can be described as expressing a concern about a wrongdoing within an organization, such as a corporation, an association, an institution or a union. Such concern must be in the public interest and in good faith and should relate to the cover up of matters that could potentially result in a miscarriage of justice, a crime, criminal offence and threats to health and safety. Whistleblowing has proven to be an effective anti-corruption mechanism and a powerful tool that helps deterring fraud, violations, and malpractices within organizations, corporations and the public sector. Research in the field of whistleblowing has concentrated on the reasons for whistleblowing and financial bounties; the effectiveness of whistleblowing; whistleblowing being a prosocial behavior with a psychological perspective and consequences; as a tool in protecting shareholders, saving lives and billions of dollars of public funds. Whilst, no other study of whistleblowing has been carried out on whistleblowers or intended whistleblowers. The study reported in the current paper analyses the findings of 74 whistleblowers or intended whistleblowers, the reasons behind their decision to blow the whistle, or not to proceed to blow the whistle and any regrets they may have had. In addition a profile of a whistleblower is developed concerning their age, gender, marital and family status and position in an organization. Lessons learned from the intended whistleblowers and in response to the questions if they would be willing to blow the whistle again show that enacting legislation to protect the whistleblower is not enough. Similarly, rewarding the whistleblower does not appear to provide the whistleblower with an incentive since the majority noted that “work ethics is more important than financial rewards”. We recommend the development of a comprehensive and holistic framework for the protection of the whistleblower and to ensure that remedial actions are immediately taken once a whistleblower comes forward. The suggested framework comprises (a) hard legislation in ensuring the whistleblowers follow certain principles when blowing the whistle and, in return, are protected for a period of 5 years from being fired, dismissed, bullied, harassed; (b) soft legislation in establishing an agency to firstly ensure psychological and legal advice is provided to the whistleblowers and secondly any required remedial action is immediately taken to avert the undesirable events reported by a whistleblower from occurring and, finally; (c) mechanisms to ensure the coordination of actions taken.

Keywords: whistleblowing, business ethics, legislation, business

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Authors: Saroj Pandey

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COVID-19, declared by the World Health Organization a pandemic (WHO,2020), has created an unprecedented crisis world over endangering the human survival itself. Corona induced lockdowns forced approximately 140 million students of 190 countries at various levels of education from preprimary to higher education to remain confined to their homes. In India, approximately 360 million students were affected by the forced shut down of schools due to the countrywide lockdown in March 2020 and resultant disruption of education. After the initial shock and anxiety the Indian polity and education system bounced back with a number of initiatives, and online education came as a major rescuer for the education system of the country. The distance and online mode of learning that was treated as the poor cousin of conventional mode and often criticized for its quality became the major crusader overnight changing the entire ecosystem of traditional teaching -leaning towards the virtual mode. Teachers who were averse to technology were forced to remodel their educational pedagogies and reorient themselves overnight to use various online platforms such as Zoom, Google meet, and other such platforms to reach the learners. This metamorphosis through ensured students was meaningfully engaged in their studies during the lockdown period but it has its own set of challenges. This paper deals with the government initiatives, and teachers' self-efforts to keep the channel of teaching learning on providing academic and socio emotional support to students during the most difficult period of their life as well as the digital divide between the rich and poor, rural and urban, and boys and girls in India and resultant challenges. It also provides an overview of few significant self-initiatives of teachers to reach their students during the crisis period, who did not have internet and smartphone facilities as well as the initiatives being taken at the government level to address the learning needs and mitigate the learning gaps of learners, bridge the digital divide, strategic planning and upskilling of teachers to overcome the effect of COVID-19 crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19, online education, initiatives, challenges

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Authors: Chinedu Bevis Dibia, Hom Nath Dhakal

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Effective waste management in sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as a means of resolving the wicked problems posed by climate change. Municipal solid waste management in Nigeria could be argued to be ineffective and unsustainable, despite the tag of sustainable ascribed to most municipalities’ waste management. Relatively, few studies have enquired on the evolution of Sustainable Municipal Waste Management (SMWM) in Nigeria. The main objective of this research is to examine the evolution of SMWM in Nigeria using Lagos state as a case study. A qualitative method was used as methodology, soft systems analysis is the main tool of evaluation. Results indicated that effective policy implementation and management is the main challenge to the proper evolution of SMWM. These findings highlight the relevance of effective stakeholder’s engagement and management, policy consistency as major determinants in SMWM.

Keywords: high income localities, low middle income localities, SMWM, upper middle income localities, waste collection, waste disposal

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Authors: B. S. Chaudhary

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The severity and frequencies of different disasters on the globe is increasing in recent years. India is also facing the disasters in the form of drought, cyclone, earthquake, landslides, and floods. One of the major causes of disasters in northern India is flood. There are great losses and extensive damage to the agricultural crops, property, human, and animal life. This is causing environmental imbalances at places. The annual global figures for losses due to floods run into over 2 billion dollar. India is a vast country with wide variations in climate and topography. Due to widespread and heavy rainfall during the monsoon months, floods of varying magnitude occur all over the country during June to September. The magnitude depends upon the intensity of rainfall, its duration and also the ground conditions at the time of rainfall. Haryana, one of the agriculturally dominated northern states is also suffering from a number of disasters such as floods, desertification, soil erosion, land degradation etc. Earthquakes are also frequently occurring but of small magnitude so are not causing much concern and damage. Most of the damage in Haryana is due to floods. Floods in Haryana have occurred in 1978, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2010 to mention a few. The present paper deals with the Remote Sensing and GIS applications in preparing flood risk maps in parts of Haryana State India. The satellite data of various years have been used for mapping of flood affected areas. The Flooded areas have been interpreted both visually and digitally and two classes-flooded and receded water/ wet areas have been identified for each year. These have been analyzed in GIS environment to prepare the risk maps. This shows the areas of high, moderate and low risk depending on the frequency of flood witness. The floods leave a trail of suffering in the form of unhygienic conditions due to improper sanitation, water logging, filth littered in the area, degradation of materials and unsafe drinking water making the people prone to many type diseases in short and long run. Attempts have also been made to enumerate the causes of floods. The suggestions are given for mitigating the fury of floods and proper management issues related to evacuation and safe places nearby.

Keywords: flood mapping, GIS, Haryana, India, remote sensing, space technology

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Authors: Mercedes Rodriguez Sanchez, Laura Luceño Casals

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With the rise of social media, creative people and brands everywhere are constantly generating content. The students with Bachelor's Degrees in Fashion Design use platforms such as Instagram or TikTok to look for inspiration and entertainment, as well as a way to develop their own ideas and share them with a wide audience. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have become a central aspect of higher education, virtually affecting every aspect of the student experience. Following the current trend, during the first semester of the second year, a collaborative project across two subjects –Design Management and History of Fashion Design– was implemented. After an introductory class focused on the relationship between fashion and cinema, as well as a brief history of 20th-century fashion, the students freely chose a work team and an iconic look from a movie costume. They researched the selected movie and its sociocultural context, analyzed the costume and the work of the designer, and studied the style, fashion magazines and most popular films of the time. Students then redesigned and recreated the costume, for which they were compelled to recycle the materials they had available at home as an unavoidable requirement of the activity. Once completed the garment, students delivered in-class, team-based presentations supported by the final design, a project summary poster and a making-of video, which served as a documentation tool of the costume design process. The methodologies used include Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), debates, Internet research, application of Information and Communications Technologies, and viewing clips of classic films, among others. After finishing the projects, students were asked to complete two electronic surveys to measure the acquisition of transversal and specific competencies of each subject. Results reveal that this activity helped the students' knowledge acquisition, a deeper understanding of both subjects and their skills development. The classroom dynamic changed. The multidisciplinary approach encouraged students to collaborate with their peers, while educators were better able to keep students' interest and promote an engaging learning process. As a result, the activity discussed in this paper confirmed the research hypothesis: it is positive to propose innovative teaching projects that combine academic research with playful learning environments.

Keywords: cinema, cooperative learning, fashion design, higher education, upcycling

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Authors: Małgorzata Osowiecka

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Negative emotions are rather seen as creativity inhibitor. On the other hand, it is worth noting that negative emotions may be good for our functioning. Negative emotions enhance cognitive resources and improve evaluative processes. Moreover maintaining a negative emotional state allow for cognitive reinterpretation of the emotional stimuli, what is good for our creativity, especially cognitive flexibility. Writing a diary or writing about difficult emotional experiences in general can be the way to not only improve psychical health, but also – enhance creative behaviors. Thanks to translating difficult emotions to the verbal level and giving them ‘a name’ or ‘a label’, we can get easier access to both emotional content of an experience and to the semantic content, without the need of speaking out loud. Expressive writing improves academic results and the efficiency of working memory. The classical method of writing about emotions consists in a long-term process of describing negative experiences. Present research demonstrate the efficiency of this process over a shorter period of time - one writing session, on school children sample. Participants performed writing task. Writing task had two different topics: emotions connected with their negative emotions (expressive writing) and content not connected with negative emotional state (writing about one’s typical day). Creativity was measured by Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task. Results have shown that writing about negative emotions results in the higher level of divergent thinking in all three parameters: fluency, flexibility and originality. After the writing task mood of expressive writing participants remained negative more than the mood of the controls. Taking an expressive action after a difficult emotional experience can support functioning, which can be observed in enhancement of divergent thinking. Writing about emotions connected with negative experience makes one more creative, than writing about something unrelated with difficult emotional moments. Research has shown that young people should not demonize negative emotions. Sometimes, properly applied, negative emotions can be the basis of creation. Preparation was supported by a The Young Scientist University grant titled ‘Dynamics of emotions in the creative process’ from The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Keywords: creativity, divergent thinking, emotions, expressive writing

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Authors: Elisabeth Unterfrauner, Christian Voigt

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Since the foundation of the first Fab Lab by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about 17 years ago, the Maker movement has spread globally with the foundation of maker spaces and Fab Labs worldwide. In these workshops, citizens have access to digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters to develop and test their own ideas and prototypes, which makes it an attractive place for start-up companies. Know-How is shared not only in the physical space but also online in diverse communities. According to the Horizon report, the Maker movement, however, will also have an impact on educational settings in the following years. The European project ‘DOIT - Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world’ has incorporated key elements of making to develop an early entrepreneurial education program for children between the age of six and 16. The Maker pedagogy builds on constructive learning approaches, learning by doing principles, learning in collaborative and interdisciplinary teams and learning through trial and error where mistakes are acknowledged as learning opportunities. The DOIT program consists of seven consecutive elements. It starts with a motivation phase where students get motivated by envisioning the scope of their possibilities. The second step is about Co-design: Students are asked to collect and select potential ideas for innovations. In the Co-creation phase students gather in teams and develop first prototypes of their ideas. In the iteration phase, the prototype is continuously improved and in the next step, in the reflection phase, feedback on the prototypes is exchanged between the teams. In the last two steps, scaling and reaching out, the robustness of the prototype is tested with a bigger group of users outside of the educational setting and finally students will share their projects with a wider public. The DOIT program involves 1,000 children in two pilot phases at 11 pilot sites in ten different European countries. The comprehensive evaluation design is based on a mixed method approach with a theoretical backbone on Lackeus’ model of entrepreneurship education, which distinguishes between entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial knowledge. A pre-post-test with quantitative measures as well as qualitative data from interviews with facilitators, students and workshop protocols will reveal the effectiveness of the program. The evaluation results will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: early entrepreneurial education, Fab Lab, maker education, Maker movement

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Authors: Martina Dickson, Hanadi Kadbey, Melissa Mcminn

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Research has shown that anxiety and trepidation towards learning about science is prevalent among elementary school teachers in Western countries. It has also been shown repeatedly that pre-service and in-service teachers who show signs of anxiety towards science are; a) less likely to teach it at all, where they have some autonomy over this, b) less likely to teach it effectively c) ultimately that their students have lower attainment scores in science. It is therefore critically important to gauge pre-service teachers’ science anxiety levels early on whilst there are still possibilities to overturn some of the reasons behind these fears and avert these serious issues occurring later on. This study takes place in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) in the context of training local elementary school teachers. In the U.A.E., where Emirati teachers are already in the vast minority and attrition rates are high, it is important to offer as much support to pre-service teachers as possible. If pre-service teachers are graduating with high levels of science anxiety unabated, according to the research there is a very real concern that as generalist primary school teachers, their science teaching will be far from optimal. The aims of this research study were to ascertain the science anxiety levels of pre-service elementary teachers and to identify particular areas of their science anxiety, if appropriate. We surveyed 200 Emirati pre-service teachers and found that levels of science anxiety were directly related to their perceptions of performance in science exams, laboratory experiments and inquiry approaches to science learning. Whilst some studies have shown that science anxiety can decrease as students gain confidence in science knowledge by studying courses, we did not see this effect in our study. This is based upon a theoretical framework which holds that in some cases, science anxiety is related to lack of exposure to, or insecurity with science content itself which in some cases is alleviated by the students’ covering of material and greater confidence in the subject. Exploring this variable allowed us to explore whether students educated in schools influenced by the educational reform in Abu Dhabi have differing science anxiety levels from those who were educated prior to the reforms. We discuss the possible implications of these findings to the future teaching of science in Abu Dhabi public schools.

Keywords: pre-service teachers, science anxiety, United Arab Emirates, educational reform

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Authors: Yahia A. M. AlKhoudary

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This Study presents the outcome of an investigation to evaluate the importance of autonomous learning as a means of motivation. However, very little research done in this field. Thus, the aims of this study are to ascertain the needs of the learners and to investigate their attitudes and motivation towards the mode of learning. Various suggestions made on how to improve learners’ participation in the learning process. A survey conducted on a sample group of 60 Omani College students. Self-report questionnaires and retrospective interviews conducted to find out their material-type preferences in a self-access learning context. Achieving autonomous learning system, which learners is one of the Ministry of Education goals in the Sultanate of Oman. As a result, this study presents the outcome of an investigation to evaluate the students’ performance in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It focuses on the effect of autonomous learning that encourages students to learn English, a research conducted at Buraimi city, the Sultanate of Oman. The procedure of this investigation based on four dimensions: (1) sixty students are selected and divided into two groups, (2) pre and posttest projects are given to them, and (3) questionnaires are administered to both students who are involved in the experiment and 50 teachers (25 males and 25 females) to collect accurate data, (4) an interview with students and teachers to find out their attitude towards autonomous learning. Analysis of participants’ responses indicated that autonomous learning motivates students to learn English independently and increase the intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation to improve their English language as a long-life active learning. The findings of this study show that autonomous learning approach is the best remedy to empower the students’ skills and overcome all relevant difficulties. They also show that secondary school teachers can fully rely on this learning approach that encourages language learners to monitor their progress, increase both learners and teachers’ motivation and ameliorate students’ behavior in the classroom. This approach is also an ongoing process, which takes time, patience and support to be lifelong learning.

Keywords: Omani, autonomous learning system, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), learning approach

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Authors: Dyah Larasati, Karishma Alize Huda, Sri Kusumastuti Rahayu, Martin Daniel Siyaranamual

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Indonesia continues to reform its social protection system to provide the needed protection for its citizen. Indonesia Social Protection consisted of social assistance programs (non-contributory/tax-financed) specifically targeted for the poor and at-risk and social security/insurance program (contributory system). The social assistance programs have mostly been implemented since 1998. The national health insurance has been implemented since 2014 and the employment social insurance since 2015. One major reform implemented has been improving the targeting performance of its major social assistance portfolios including (1) Food Assistance for the poor families (Rastra and BPNT/noncash foods assistance); (2) Education Assistance for poor children; (3) Conditional Cash Transfer for poor families (PKH); and (4) Subsidized beneficiaries of National Health Insurance (JKN-PBI) for the poor and at-risk individuals. For the Social Insurance (through BPJS Employment program), several initiatives have been implemented to expand the program contributing members, although it mostly benefits the formal sector workers. However, major gaps still exist especially for the emerging middle-income groups who typically work at the informal sectors. They have yet to get the protection needed to sustain their social and economic growth. Since 2017, TNP2K (the National Team for Poverty Reduction) under the Vice President office has led the social protection discourse as the government understands the need to address vulnerabilities across the lifecycle and prioritize support to the most at-risk population particularly the elderly, young children and people with disabilities. Discussion and advocacy to recommend for more investment is continuing in order for the government to establish a comprehensive social protection system in the near future (2020-2024) that protects children through an inclusive child benefit program; build a system to benefit more working-age adults (including individuals with disabilities) and a three-tier elderly protection as they reach 65 years.

Keywords: poverty reduction, social assistance, social insurance, social protection

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Authors: A. Escoffier, A. Albrecht, F. Consigny

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In order to host the Football Euro in 2016, many French cities have launched architectural competitions in recent years to improve the quality of their stadiums. The winning project in Nice was designed by Wilmotte architects together with Elioth structural engineers. It has a capacity of 35,000 seats. Its roof structure consists of a complex 3D shape timber and steel lattice and is covered by 25,000m² of ETFE, 10,500m² of PES-PVC fabric and 8,500m² of photovoltaic panels. This paper focuses on the ETFE part of the cover. The stadium is one of the first constructions to use flat single layer ETFE on such a big area. Due to its relatively recent appearance in France, ETFE structures are not yet covered by any regulations and the existing codes for fabric structures cannot be strictly applied. Rather, they are considered as cladding systems and therefore have to be approved by an “Appréciation Technique d’Expérimentation” (ATEx), during which experimental tests have to be performed. We explain the method that we developed to justify the ETFE, which eventually led to bi-axial tests to clarify the allowable stress in the film.

Keywords: biaxial test, creep, ETFE, single layer, stadium roof

Procedia PDF Downloads 227