[Research Objective] In the context of the rapid development of digital governance, understanding and analyzing the burden level of digital tools in the process of serving digital governance from multiple perspectives is an important prerequisite for improving the capacity and accuracy of government digital governance, promoting sustainable public participation, and maximizing digital value in the new era. [Research Method] By constructing a model of the burden of digital tools caused by technical, organizational and environmental factors on the public based on the TOE framework, using SPSS for data testing based on 275 research questionnaires, and using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the linkage ways and paths of the burden-increasing effect of digital tools in a holistic perspective. [Research findings] does not constitute a necessary condition for high levels of digital tool affordances under a single condition, but improving users' digital literacy plays a more general role in optimising the efficiency of digital tool use. According to the results, there are five dominant patterns that have a significant impact, i.e. the driving paths that lead to high levels of digital tool affordability are characterised by a "homogeneous approach". In the cross-group study, significant differences were found in the driving paths of high digital tool affordability by group, depending on the level of digital tool mastery. This paper suggests that the government should continue to pay attention to affordability levels, rationalise the use of financial resources, improve the level of digital tool adaptation, and innovate the existing performance evaluation system for digital governance indicators.

In community-based participatory projects, needs assessments are one of the first steps to identify priority areas. Access-related issues often pose significant barriers to participation for rural and remote communities, particularly Indigenous communities which have a complicated relationship with academia due to a history of exploitation and trauma. In order to bridge this gap, work with Indigenous communities requires consistent and meaningful engagement. The prominence of digital devices (i.e., smartphones) offers an unparalleled opportunity to ethically and equitably engage citizens across jurisdictions, particularly in remote communities. We propose a framework to guide needs assessments which embed digital tools in partnership with Indigenous communities. Guided by this framework, a needs assessment was conducted with a subarctic Métis community in Saskatchewan, Canada. This project is governed by a Citizen Scientist Advisory Council which includes Traditional Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and youth. An environmental scan of relevant programs, key informant interviews, and focus groups were conducted to systematically identify community priority areas. Given the timing of the needs assessment, the community identified the Coronavirus pandemic as a key priority area requiring digital initiatives. Recommendations for community-based needs assessments to conceptualize and implement digital infrastructure are put forward, with an emphasis on self-governance and data sovereignty.

Specific climate adaptation and resilience measures can be efficiently designed and implemented at the regional and local level. Climate and environmental databases are of critical importance to achieving sustainability goals (SDGs) and for the efficient planning and implementation of suitable mitigation measures: Available databases can serve municipalities as a vital starting points to determine requirements, prioritize resources and allocate investments under consideration of commonly tight budget restrictions. High-quality geo, climate and environmental data are now available – data from remote sensing, i.e. Copernicus services will be of crucial importance. Forward-looking approaches exist to using such data to derive forecasts for urban planning process optimization for municipal administrations. On municipal level, however, the existing data have so far only been used to a limited extent, since there are no practical tools for urban planning that can be used to merge and meaningfully combine remote sensing data with local data and to further process and apply in municipal planning processes. Therefore, our project CoKLIMAx aims at the development of new digital products, advanced urban services and procedures, such as the development of practice-oriented technical tools that acquire various remote sensing and in-situ data sets for validation and further processing.

The COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the importance of digital transformation of SMEs and has served as an accelerator. Digital transformation empowers SMEs to rethink the way they make decisions and apply technology in meaningful and sustainable ways. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of digital transformation, fostered by COVID-19, and its potential contribution to the sustainability of SMEs. This paper examines a new conceptual framework designed on resource-based theory perspectives by using a survey data of 246 SMEs in Latvia and employing mediation analysis. The main findings of the study are that digital orientation and digital capability have direct positive effects on digital transformation; higher levels of digital orientation and capability, mediated by digital transformation, lead to higher revenue; as well as a more sophisticated business model in the case of digital orientation. Even if we cannot confirm that higher digital capability, mediated by digital transformation, leads to a more sophisticated business model, we found statistically significant direct effects from digital capability to digital transformation and from digital transformation to business model. These findings can be useful for policymakers, managers and practitioners to clarify how digital orientation, digital capability intermediated through digital transformation affect sustainability of SMEs.

Currently, large volumes of data are being collected on farms using multimodal sensor technol-ogies. These sensors measure the activity, housing conditions, feed intake, and health of farm animals. With traditional methods, the data from farm animals and their environment can be collected intermittently. However, with the advancement of wearable and non-invasive sensing tools, these measurements can be made in real-time for continuous quantitation relating to clinical biomarkers, resilience indicators, and behavioral predictors. The digital phenotyping of humans has drawn enormous attention recently due to its medical significance, but much research is still needed for the digital phenotyping of farm animals. Implications from human studies show great promise for the application of digital phenotyping technology in modern livestock farming, but these technologies must be directly applied to animals to understand their true capacities. Due to species-specific traits, certain technologies required to assess phenotypes need to be tailored ef-ficiently and accurately. Such devices allow for the collection of information that can better inform farmers on aspects of animal welfare and production that need improvement. By explicitly ad-dressing farm animals’ individual physiological and mental (affective states) needs, sensor-based digital phenotyping has the potential to serve as an effective intervention platform. Future re-search is warranted for the design and development of digital phenotyping technology platforms that create shared data standards, metrics, and repositories.

Livestock contribute towards household food security in rural communities through income generation and provision of animal-source food. However, livestock system are fragile for example, in Zimbabwe, communities face challenges such as fewer buyers, poor infrastructure, and information asymmetry when selling livestock. Emerging digital platforms promise opportunities to address these challenge but only anecdotal evidence exist. This paper uses data from Beitbridge to explore the potential of digital platforms to revitalise the livestock auction system. Study findings show that digital platforms are designed with affordances which can help overcome challenges within the livestock system. However, these digital platforms are also fraught with hidden complexities such as power dynamics. Thus, despite digital platforms’ affordances, their design inherently extends beyond technical functions. Therefore, there is an urgent need for discussions exploring the contrast between affordances and complexities to enable target users to make informed decisions on the adoption and use of digital platforms.

Digital transformation of companies is often referred to as a future track and a strategic path towards ensuring the survival and sustainability of companies. In this paper, we aim to outline this transformation process in Tunisian companies and identify its driving factors and finally explain its key success factors. To this end, we examine a sample of 70 companies operating in all economic sectors. The results indicate that such a digital strategy has a significant and a positive effect on the success of digital transformation of companies. Leadership has an effect at a low level of digital maturity. On the other hand, corporate culture does not have a significant effect on digital transformation. These results contribute to explaining this emerging phenomenon by focusing on the driving factors as well as the factors that contribute to its success.

This paper provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art digital twin and digital thread technology in industrial operations. Both are transformational technologies that have the advantage of improving the efficiency of current design and manufacturing. Digital twin is an important element of the Industry 4.0 digitalization process; however, the huge amount of data that are generated and collected by digital twin offer challenges in handling, processing and storage. The paper aims to report on the development of a new framework that combines the digital twin and digital thread for better data management in order to drive innovation, improve the production process and performance, and to ensure continuity and traceability of information. The digital twin/thread framework incorporated behavior simulation and physical control components, in which these two components rely on the connectivity between the twin and thread for information flow and exchange to drive innovation. The twin/thread framework encompasses specifications that include organizational architecture layout, security, user access, cloud computing set-up, and hardware and software requirements. It is envisaged that the framework will be applicable to enhancing optimization of operational processes and traceability of information in the physical world, especially in Industry Shipyard 4.0.

Background: Over the past decade, the use of digital tools has grown and research evidence suggests that traditional media and new media offer both benefits and health risks for young children. The abilities to understand and use language represent two of the most important competencies developed during the first 3 years of life through the interaction of the child with people, objects, events, and other environmental factors. The main goal of our study is to evaluate the relationship between digital devices use and language abilities in children between 8-36 month, considering also the influence of several variables. Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study on 260 healthy children (140 males = 54%) aged between 8-36 months (mean=23.5±7.18 months). All the parents completed a self-report questionnaire investigating the use of digital devices by their children, and a standardized questionnaire for the assessment of language skills (MacArthur). Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between different variables. Subsequent moderation analysis were performed to verify the influence of other factors. Results: W found a statistically significant negative correlation between the total daily time of exposure to digital devices and the Actions and Gestures Quotient (ß=-0.397) in children between 8-17 months, and between the total daily time of exposure to digital devices and Language Quotient (ß=-0.224) in children between 18-36 months. Sex, level of education/job of parents, modality of use/content of digital device do not significantly affect these relationships. Conclusion: In our study we found that a longer time of exposure to digital devices was related to lower mimic-gestural skills in children from 8-17 months and to lower language skills in children between 18-36 months, regardless of age, sex, socio-economic status, content and modality of use. Further studies are needed to confirm and better understand this relationship, but parents and pediatricians are advised to limit the use of digital devices by children and encourage the social interaction to support the learning of language and communication skills in this age group.

Digital competence is one of the 8 key competences for life-long learning developed by the European Commission, and is requisite for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment in the knowledge society. To accompany young learners in the development of the competence, and to guarantee optimal implementation of ICTs, it is necessary that teachers are, in turn, literate. We had 43 Secondary School teachers in initial training to assess their own level of competence in the 21 sub-competences in 5 areas identified by the DIGCOMP project, using the rubrics provided in the Common Framework for Digital Competence of Teachers (Spanish Ministry of Education). Overall, pre-service teachers' conceptions about their level of Digital Competence was low (Initial). Students scored highest in Information, which refers mostly to the operations they performed while being students. Secondly, in Safety and Communication, excluding Protection of Digital Data and Preservation of the Digital Identity. Lowest values were achieved in Content Creation and Problem Solving, the dimensions most closely related with the inclusion of ICTs to transform teaching-learning processes. The knowledge or skills they exhibit are largely self-taught and, so, we perceive an urgent need to purposefully incorporate relational and didactic aspects of ICT integration.

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged education systems worldwide to quickly pivot their teaching-learning processes from in-person to virtual modes in order to control the spread of the virus. In a short period of time, teachers were forced to adopt new remote teaching methods to ensure the continuation of education. This paper examines how teachers in Pakistan leveraged mobile technology as an alternative teaching strategy to provide access to education during these unprecedented times. Through in-depth individual interviews with selected teachers, the study explores the potential of mobile technology to transform traditional teaching methods into interactive learning environments. The findings highlight the importance of embracing new pedagogical possibilities offered by mobile technology and the need for effective teacher professional development in the post-pandemic era. The study offers valuable insights into how mobile technology can be effectively utilized in education, even in the most challenging circumstances.

COVID-19 poses a significant burden to healthcare systems. Healthcare organisations with a better health innovation infrastructure have faced a reduced burden and achieved success in curbing COVID-19. In Saudi Arabia, digital technologies have played a vital role in fighting SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this paper, we aimed to summarise the experience of optimising digital health technologies in Saudi Arabia as well as discuss capabilities and opportunities during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature review was conducted up to September 2021 to retrieve peer-reviewed articles that critique the use of digital health technology platforms (DHTPs) in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 outbreak. A small but significant body of literature examined the digital response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Health officials succeeded in optimising and maintaining a strategy to mitigate the spread of the virus via different digital technologies, such as mobile health applications, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The quick digital response in Saudi Arabia was facilitated by governmental support and considering users and technology determinants. Future research must concentrate on establishing and updating the guidelines for using DHTPs.

The article considers the peculiarities of practical implementation of the narrative-digital approach in the process of studying disciplines of literary cycle at philological faculties. The authors emphasize that the key to the effective transition to distance and combined forms of studying is creation of a productive national information and didactic space, with involvement of IT and appropriate level of training of all participants in the pedagogical process. Under these conditions, the application of the narrative-digital approach is promising, which in literary education of philologists is based on interdisciplinary interactive basis, which combines possibilities of narrative methods with computer technology. The integration of digital technologies into philological field causes a number of methodological difficulties, requires all subjects of educational activity to develop digital skills that are not related to professional humanities knowledge, but meet the requirements of trained competitive and highly qualified specialists. The authors conducted a sociological study on the readiness of students of philological specialties of pedagogical universities to implement the narrative-digital approach to educational practice. Research provides optimal software that allows you to implement this approach in practice, offers a selection of didactic tasks, substantiates feasibility of their use in classes of different types.

In this paper we will present a simplified approach for extracting the ground level – a digital terrain model (DTM) – from the surface provided in a digital surface model (DSM). Most existing algorithms try to find the ground values in a digital surface model. Our approach works the opposite direction by detecting probable above ground areas. The main advantage of our approach is the possibility to use it with incomplete DSMs containing much no data values which can be e.g. occlusions in the calculated DSM. A smoothing or filling of such original derived DSMs will destroy much information which is very useful for deriving a ground surface from the DSM. Since the presented approach needs steep edges to detect potential high objects it will fail on smoothed and filled DSMs. After presenting the algorithm it will be applied to a test area in Salzburg and compared to a terrain model freely available from the Austrian government.

The digital transition processes have demonstrated an enormous capacity to develop and implement sustainable solutions, which allow solving several problems such as poverty, high rates of species extinction and lack of equal opportunity. However, little attention is paid to the connection between the digital transition and sustainability. Thus, a systematic review of the bibliometric literature was developed to fill this knowledge gap and demonstrate the potential contributions of the digital transition to environmental, economic and social sustainability aspects. In environmental sustainability, the digital transition involves the application of technologies such as AI, big data analytics, IoT, and mobile technologies that are used to develop and implement sustainability solutions in areas such as sustainable urban development, sustainable production and pollution control. In economic sustainability, emerging digital technologies can drive transformation into the more sustainable circular economy, the digital sharing economy, and establish sustainable manufacturing and infrastructure design. In the digital transition to social sustainability, the studies analyzed demonstrate the need for multidimensional policy perspectives to address the current digital divide. For effective management of the digital transition that achieves sustainability goals, the study discusses alternative approaches that include innovation through experimentation, and dynamic and sustainable advantages achievable through temporary benefits.

This qualitative study explores the implementation and conformation process of digital devices in teaching and learning before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. Using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation Theory as a framework, the study examines the adoption and adaptation of digital devices by in-service secondary mathematics teachers (n=62) and their perceptions and preferences towards instructional modality. The findings suggest that despite the increased reliance on digital devices during the pandemic, there is a less likelihood of using them in face-to-face classrooms in developing countries like Nepal. The adoption of online learning has not yet reached the confirmation stage, even after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, online learning was not widely implemented or confirmed by teachers in developing countries societies. The study also provides important insights into the challenges and opportunities of using digital devices in post-COVID-19 classrooms, and its implications for policymakers and educators in Nepal.

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic forced academia to go virtual. Educational institutions around the world have stressed online learning programs in the aftermath of the pandemic. However, because of insufficient access to ICT, a substantial number of students failed to harness the opportunity of online learning. This study explores the latent digital divide exhibited during the COVID-19 pandemic while online learning activities are emphasized among Bangladeshi students. It also investigates the digital divide exposure and the significant underlying drivers of the divide. A cross-sectional survey was employed to collect quantitative data mixed with open-ended questions to collect qualitative information from the student community. The findings revealed that despite the majority of students have physical access to ICT but only 32.5% of students could attend online classes seamlessly, 34.1% of the students reported the data prices as the critical barrier, and 39.8% of students identified the poor network infrastructure is the significant barrier for them to participate in online learning activities. Although most students possess physical access to the device and the Internet, they face the first-level digital divide due to the quality of access and maintaining subscriptions. Consequently, they fail to take advantage of physical access, resulting in the third-level digital divide (Utility Gap) and submerging them into a digital divide cycle. This paper aimed to explore the underlying issues of the digital divide among Bangladeshi students to assist relevant stakeholders (e.g., the Bangladesh government, Educational Institutions, Researchers) in providing the necessary insights and theoretical understanding to arrange adequate support for students to undertake conducive online learning activities.

Without impacting the dental sciences, breakthroughs in technology and applications could not be accomplished. In the advancement of technology and information technology, dentistry and dental materials have been fully active, so much so that they have revolutionized dental techniques. Material & methods; We want to produce the first series of articles in this review on the use of digital techniques and software, such as Smile Concept Digital. The goal is to gather all the findings on the use of this program and to highlight the fields of use. The analysis included forty-nine articles, the latter discussing the use of Digital Smile Design and the area of use. The research aims to classify the dental fields are using "digitization." Change is constant in this field and will be increasing Interest in dentistry by recommending the speed and reliability of outcomes for care planning. Conclusion: As seen in the study, the digital workflow facilitates recovery that is reliable both from an aesthetic and functional point of view. The current area of use of Digital Smile Design techniques in the different branches of medicine and dentistry as well as knowledge have emerged from this research

Purpose- This study seeks to investigate the collaboration between Digitalization and traditional manufacturing industry and investigate, how digitalized management brings new chances and challenges of management. Design/methodology/approach – The author designed a content analytical study researching the role of digitalization in traditional manufacturing industries. The article presents a selective but systematical review of recent digitalization trend and digital twin to be applied for innovative management in Industry 4.0 era. Findings– Digitalization is highly correlated with traditional manufactory in Industry 4.0 era. The study brings a new outlook on the next wave of Digitalization and review of associated challenges and opportunities for management and innovation in traditional manufacturing industries. Research limitations/implications – The research focuses on two branches of traditional industries only: machine tools building and metalworking industries. Future research needs to examine other traditional industries. The research is limited to 2 high related traditional manufacturing industries, machine tools and metalworking industry. Practical implications – The study and application of digitalization should be highly recommended and launched in traditional manufacturing industries. Universities, institutes and vocational schools should update, optimize their courses systems according to prediction of future industry. Originality/value – The paper enhances understanding about the collaboration between digitalization and traditional manufacturing industry. This paper analyzes an important issue the digitalization serves traditional industries. It is unique in its broad analysis of the related terms – Digitalization, Machines 4.0, Industry 4.0 and innovative management in Industry 4.0 era.

Digital twin technology is already improving efficiencies and reducing costs across multiple industries and sectors. As the earliest adopters, space technology and manufacturing sectors have made the most sophisticated gains with automobile and natural resource extraction industries following close behind with recent investments in digital twin technology. The application of digital twins within the livestock farming sector is the next frontier. The possibilities that this technology may fuel are nearly endless as digital twins can be used to improve large-scale precision livestock farming practices, machinery and equipment usage, and the health and well-being of a wide variety of farm animals. Currently, many pioneers of digital twins in livestock farming are already applying sophisticated AI technology to monitor both animals and environment around the clock, which leads to a better understanding of animal behavior and distress, disease control and prevention, and smarter business decisions for the farmer. Mental and emotional states of animals can be monitored using recognition technology that examines facial features such as ear postures and eye white regions. Used with modeling, simulation and augmented reality technologies, digital twins can help farmers build more energy-efficient housing structures, predict heat cycles for breeding, discourage negative behaviors of livestock, and potentially much more. As with all disruptive technological advances, the implementation of digital twin technology will demand a thorough cost and benefit analysis by individual farms. Digital twin application will need to overcome challenges and accept limitations that arise. However, regardless of these issues, the potential of digital twins promises to revolutionize livestock farming in the future.

The Circular Economy has been of growing significance within academic, policymaking and industry groups. Latest developments in the field of Circular Economy has led to an expansion of CE studies focused on interrogating CE as a paradigm, its relationship with sustainability and concepts and definitions of the Circular Economy. Research has also identified the significant potential of applying circular approaches to areas of the economy, including manufacturing and Industry 4.0, which, with data, is enabling latest the advances in digital technologies. This is the first review paper to integrate the fields of CE and digital technologies resulting in a framework which provides directions for policymakers and guidance for future research. To achieve this, we conduct a systematic literature review of the empirical literature related to digital technologies, industry 4.0 and circular approaches, from the point of the 9 Rs. The systematic literature review (SLR) is based on peer-reviewed articles published between 2000-2018. The findings reveal that while research on the circular economy has been on an annual rise, research on digital technologies enabled circular economy is still relatively an untouched area of research across all nine (9) circular approaches. As such this is an area rife for further research. This paper also presents illustrative charts and graphs to summarize the current trends in circular economy research in manufacturing. From this, a framework for future circular economy research for manufacturing for digital technologies is proposed.

During most of the lifespan of the Venetian republic, doges or presidents were elected for life. However, a long tenure was a rare event, which effectively resulted in term limits, as has already been deported by several authors. In this paper we examine these tenures and its evolution during the existence of the Venetian republic, trying to prove Smith et al. thesis, but also the event or events that effectively caused that limitation by design. Finally, we will discuss for the causes of this limitation and its effective consequences.

The runoff coefficient (C) represents the relationship between the surface runoff volume and the precipitated volume. It is used in engineering projects for flood estimation methods. Although C values are tabulated and consecrated in hydrological engineering, as if they were constant, they may not correspond to the reality, because in the same catchment, they can vary according to the intensity, temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation events, humidity conditions, and ground cover. This study had the objective of analyzing extreme events of precipitation and the corresponding flows to obtain experimental runoff coefficients (C) and compare them with the tabulated values. The study was conducted in four experimental catchments in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, with different land uses and soils. The runoff coefficients (C) were obtained from the analysis of hydrograms and using a digital filter, which allowed the separation of the direct runoff, of the total flow. When analyzing flow and precipitation data in different seasons of the year, selecting events of the floods of catchments and separating the flows, we observed a variation of the flow coefficient values, different from those obtained from tables.

This paper looks at key elements of global culture that are driving a new paradigm shift in museums causing them to question their raison d'être, their design and physical space, recognizing the need to accommodate visitor interaction and participation, and to reprioritize institutional outcomes and goals reexamining their priorities. As heritage sharing in online spaces reaches across national, political, and social boundaries on platforms and networks, this has been driven by museum engagement with Internet life during the pandemic. Museum relationships and interactions with communities both local and global, continue to challenge core values and precepts, leading to radical changes in how museums define their roles and responsibilities. In this new cultural landscape, museums are responding to human digital identity in a tidal wave of human interactions on the Internet, from social media to online sharing of images and videos. This is revealing shared perspectives on cultural conflict as being tied to freedom of expression of one’s heritage embedded in digital identity.

The emergence of precision and digital livestock farming presents an opportunity for sustainable animal farming practices that enhance animal welfare and health. However, this transformation of modern animal farming through digital technology has several implications for the technological, social, economic, and environmental aspects of farming. It is crucial to analyze the ethical considerations associated with the digitalization of modern animal farming, particularly in the context of human-animal relationships and potential objectification. This analysis can help develop frameworks for improving animal welfare and promoting sustainability in animal farming.One of the primary ethical concerns of digital livestock farming is the potential for a digital divide between farmers who have access to advanced technologies and those who do not. This could lead to a disparity in animal welfare and health outcomes for different groups of animals. Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence in digital livestock farming may lead to a loss of personal connection between farmers and animals, which could impact the animal's well-being. Another ethical concern of digital livestock farming is the potential for objectification of animals as mere data points. The use of sensors and other monitoring technologies can provide valuable data on animal health and behavior, but it is important to remember that animals are sentient beings with complex emotional and social needs. The use of digital technologies should not lead to neglect of animal welfare or a lack of human responsibility towards animals.Furthermore, social context becomes essential while integrating technologies in the livestock farming to overcome ethics. By considering the cultural and societal norms of different communities, we can ensure that the use of digital technologies does not undermine these values. To address these ethical challenges, the development of standards and codes of conduct for the adoption and implementation of digital livestock farming tools and platforms can help ensure that animal welfare and sustainability are prioritized. This can help alleviate the privacy concerns of stakeholders and improve sustainability in animal farming practices. Additionally, the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies can provide a way to enhance human-animal interactions and provide more personalized care to animals, further promoting animal welfare.

Many dedicated designs for real-time operations provide functionality on fixed-sized operators, but where speed, scalability, and flexibility are required, extensive research is demanded. Dedicated designs can provide real-time processing for many applications. This paper presents an FPGA-based design of a general image processor. The proposed design is based on a fixed-point representation of binary numbers. The proposed design provides a mechanism to manage matrices on-chip along with matrix arithmetic. The matrices are represented with simple identifiers and microinstruction that assist in the computation of many operations which are useful for solving complex problems. The design was successfully implemented and tested using VHDL language. The proposed design is an efficient architecture as a standalone processor with all embedding computational resources necessary for an embedded image processing application.

Egyptian cotton is one of the most important commodities to the Egyptian economy and is renowned globally for its quality, which is currently graded by manual inspection. This has several drawbacks including significant labour requirement, low inspection efficiency, and influence from inspection conditions such as light and human subjectivity. This current work uses a low-cost colour vision system, combined with machine learning to predict the cotton lint grade of the cultivars Giza 86, 97, 90, 94 and 96. Unsupervised and supervised machine learning approaches were explored and compared. Three different supervised learning algorithms were evaluated: linear discriminant analysis, decision trees and ensemble modelling. The highest accuracy models (77.3-98.2%) used an ensemble modelling technique to classify samples within the Egyptian cotton grades: Fully Good, Good, Fully Good Fair, Good Fair and Fully Fair. The unsupervised learning technique k-means showed that human error is more likely to occur when classifying lint belonging to the higher quality grades and underlined the need for an intelligent system to replace manual inspection.

The most popular schemes of digital potentiometers (DP) and digital-to-analog converters (DAC) are considered. DP and DAC use how elements of parameter adjustment of active RC-filters. The circuits of the DAC on the Kelvin-Varley divider, the Kelvin divider based on the R-2R matrix, and the architecture of the DAC with a segmented circuit are shown. The internal structure of DP an Analog Devices and Intersil company is shown, and also the DP switching circuits in a tunable low-pass filter and a band-pass filter, a programmable inverting amplifier and a voltage regulator are presented.

Core-shell particles are heterogenous micro- or nanoparticles with solid, liquid or gas core encapsulated by a protective solid shell. The unique composition of core and shell materials imparts smart properties to the particles. Core-shell particles are gaining increasing attention as tuneable and versatile carriers for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications including targeted drug delivery, controlled drug release, and biosensing. This review first provides an overview of fabrication methods for core-shell particles, followed by a brief discussion on their application and a detailed analysis on manipulation including assembly, sorting, and triggered release. We compile current methodologies employed for manipulation of core-shell particles and demonstrate how existing methods of assembly and sorting micro/nanospheres can be adopted or modified for core-shell particles. Various triggered release approaches for diagnostics and drug delivery are also discussed in detail.

In this paper, we address the problem of compatibility between digital signature schemes and in-network aggregation approaches. In the IoT world, the gateways alter the signed network flows when performing in-network aggregation. Therefore, existing conventional approaches are not suitable for verifying the authenticity of the original flows. This raises the need for energy-effective and secure schemes that enable the destination to validate aggregated network flows. In this regard, a lightweight homomorphic signature scheme is proposed which supports the implementation of aggregation procedures without affecting the verification process. We demonstrate the unforgeability and the privacy of our scheme. We also perform an analytical study of its energy-efficiency. The results suggest that the proposed scheme considerably decreases the processing overhead of the existing set-homomorphic signature schemes. Moreover, it does not add any communication overhead to traditional (non-homomorphic) signature schemes. This, in turn, improves the energy consumption by 30% compared to existing homomorphic signature techniques.

(1) Background: Spain launched an official campaign, #EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos, to try and unite the efforts of the entire country through citizen cooperation to combat coronavirus. The research goal is to analyze the Twitter campaign’s repercussion on general citizen feeling. (2) Methods: The research is based on a composite design that triangulates from a theoretical model, a quantitative analysis and a qualitative analysis. (3) Results: Of the 7357 tweets in the sample, 72.32% were found to be retweets. Four content families were extracted: politics, education, messages to society and defense of occupational groups. The feelings expressed ranged along a continuum, from unity, admiration and support at one end to discontent and criticism regarding the health situation at the other. (4) Conclusions: The development of networked sociopolitical and technical measures that enable citizen participation facilitates the development of new patterns of interaction between governments and digital citizens, increasing citizens’ possibilities of influencing the public agenda and therefore strengthening citizen engagement vis-à-vis such situations.

Digital Evidence is considered as an important type of evidence in many legal cases. Many legislations have dedicated laws to the collection, handling and admissibility of digital evidence. New technologies and new devices are rapidly being developed, which creates new sources of digital evidence. This presents a challenge to law enforcement agencies and digital investigators to stay up to date with the rapid development in the digital field. This paper discusses a relatively new source of digital evidence which is the evidence extracted from Wearable devices. A Fitbit fitness tracker is one of the most common wearable devices used by many people today. This paper presents a case study whereby data extracted from a Fitbit was used as a digital evidence. The admissibility and the challenges of using Wearables as digital evidence is also discussed.

The inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) is a model-based technique to compute the displacement (and then the strain) field of a structure from strain measurements and a geometrical discretization of the same. Different literature works exploit the error between the numerically reconstructed strains and the experimental measurements to perform damage identification in a Structural Health Monitoring framework. However, only damage detection and localization are performed, without attempting a proper damage size estimation. The latter could be based on machine learning techniques, however, an a priori definition of the damage conditions would be required. To overcome these limitations, the present work proposes a new approach in which the damage is systematically introduced in the iFEM model to minimize its discrepancy with respect to the physical structure. This is performed with a maximum likelihood estimation framework, where the most accurate damage scenario is selected among a series of different models. The proposed approach is experimentally verified on an aluminum plate subjected to fatigue crack propagation, which enables the creation of a Digital-Twin of the structure itself. The strain field fed to the iFEM routine is experimentally measured with an Optical Backscatter Reflectometry fiber and the methodology is validated with independent observations of lasers and the Digital Image Correlation.

Background and Aims: Nurses are increasingly engaging with digital technologies to enhance safe, evidence-based patient care. Digital literacy is now considered a foundational skill and an integral requirement for lifelong learning, and includes the ability to search efficiently, critique information and recognise the inherent risk of bias in information sources. However, at many universities, digital literacy is assumed. In part, this can be linked to the concept of the Digital Native, a term first coined in 2001 by the US author Marc Prensky, to describe young people born after 1980 who have been surrounded by mobile phones, computers, and other digital devices their entire lives. The objective of this paper is to explore the concept of the Digital Native and how this influences undergraduate nursing education. Materials and Methods: A pragmatic approach has been used for this narrative review, working forward from Prensky’s definition of the Digital Native and backward from contemporary sources of information extracted from published health, education, and nursing literature. Results: The findings from this narrative review will inform further understanding of digital literacy beliefs and how these influence undergraduate nursing education. Recommendations for enhancing the digital literacy of undergraduate nursing students are also discussed. Conclusions: Digital literacy is an essential requirement for undergraduate nursing students and nurses, and is linked with safe, evidence-based patient care. The myth of the Digital Native negates the reality that exposure to digital technologies does not equate with digital literacy and has resulted in deficits in nursing education programs. Digital literacy skills should be a part of undergraduate nursing curricula, and National Nursing Digital Literacy competencies for entry into practice as a Registered Nurse should be developed and contextualised to individual jurisdictions.

This study analyzes the academic performance of students from an official school in Bogotá (Colombia) who had asymmetric access to Information and Communication Technologies during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Classical Linear Regression Model is employed using data from a survey of a representative group of students in the year 2020. Results show technological gaps between students that are associated with asymmetric academic performance against students with limited or null access to the Internet and electronic devices. Results also show that, among students with permanent access to the Internet, women have better scores compared to men’s scores, which implies that women can achieve better academic results than men in virtual education. It is also noted that the sole access to an electronic device does not guarantee good academic achievements if there is no full access to the Internet, and if ICT-use skills have not been developed.

Degradation of environment quality is currently the prime cause of the recent occurrence of natural disasters; it also contributes in the increase of the area that is prone to natural disasters. This research is aimed to map the potential of areas around Pesanggrahan river in DKI Jakarta by segmenting the Digital Elevation Model derived from LIDAR data. The objective of this segmentation is to find the watershed lines of the DEM image. Data processing in this research is using LIDAR data which take the ground surface data, which is overlaid with Jakarta river map and subsequently, the data is then segmented the image. The expected result of the research is the flood potential area information, especially along the Pesanggrahan river in South Jakarta.

We report on the application of time-resolved inline digital holography to study the nonlinear optical properties of quantum dots deposited onto the sample glass. Fresnel diffraction patterns of the probe pulse due to noncollinear degenerate phase modulation induced by the femtosecond pump pulse were extracted from the set of inline digital holograms and analyzed. Absolute values of the nonlinear refractive index of both sample glass substrate and the deposited layer of quantum dots were evaluated using the proposed technique. To characterize the inhomogeneous distribution of samples’ nonlinear optical properties we proposed to plot an optical nonlinearity map calculated as a local standard deviation of diffraction patterns intensity induced by noncollinear degenerate phase modulation.

This paper presents the design and implementation of a digital control system for modular multilevel converters (MMC) and its use in a 5-kW small scale prototype. To achieve higher system control reliability and multi-functionality, the proposed architecture has been built with an effective split of the control tasks between a master controller and six slave controllers, one for each of the six arms of the converter. The MMC prototype have been used for testing both converter and system level controls in a reduced scale laboratory set up of a Multi-Terminal DC transmission network (MTDC). The whole control has been tested in order to validate the proposed control strategies. The tests performed at system level allowed to explore the advantages of using an MMC in a MTDC system.

A number of research projects and a rich literature have dealt with the theme of abandoned medieval villages in Sardinia since the end of the 60s of the last century. Some more or less precise catalogues and reviews of villages in limited territories have been published. Only recently, however, this subject is being addressed in an interdisciplinary manner, combining traditional historical research with the results of archaeological surveys and excavation campaigns, geo-archaeology, toponymy, paleoclimatology. This allows us to have a picture of the landscape and human settlement evolution with its historical changes, conditioned not only by institutional superstructures but also by human and natural traumatic events. Particular attention will be given to the sudden changes that occurred between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To carry out this survey, it is possible to use some very powerful IT tools which, through the aggregation, organization, correlation and management of information, allow the geo-localization of abandoned villages as proven by the documentary evidence. Thus, on this documentation, existing and acquired in the future, is founded the construction of the related information system. The most easy and suitable tools for this purpose are the CMSs (Content Management Systems) which, in association with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) engines, allow spatial and contextual analysis of the settlements, as they were inserted in their territory. This type of tools aggregates different peculiarities of the object of study, supporting a multidisciplinary reading on the argument. The computerized tools, integrated as a system, offer the possibility to implement it, feeding it and correcting it continuously, basing on new acquisitions. In this study, we will examine a historical areal, for which we have a sufficient number of sources available: Sarrabus, Colostrai and Quirra, adding to the geographical visual information, the temporal visual evolution.

Using digital media has become the most popular leisure activity for children and adolescents. The effects of digital media use on the developing brain and cognitive processes of children are subject to debate. Here, we examine the effect of digital media use on attention subdomains in children aged 6 to 10 years. In total, 77 children participated in the study. Selective and divided attention as well as switching between attentional demands were quantified by the SwAD task. Parents were asked to assess the screen time of their children (TV, smartphone, laptop/PC, game console, tablet). Results show no main or interaction effects of screen time on any of the attention conditions investigated. Based on the present findings, as well as previous studies, we suggest a possible non-linear relationship between the amount of screen time and attention function. Furthermore, we emphasize the relevance of considering the socio-economic background of children and a need for longitudinal studies.

Malaria is a long-standing disease and one of the top life-threatening diseases, yet its treatment has not changed, while the world has already embraced the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). A wave of research on digitizing monitoring mechanisms of such a deadly disease has surfaced. Automated malaria screening is one of the detection processes which are gaining popularity in the research domain. However, the process needs to be coupled with other processes aiming a nationally or regionally contextualised malaria monitoring system. This paper proposes a digital malaria monitoring system in the context of an African country or region. One advantage of such a digital system is that is enables a novel disease spread forecasting model based on the dynamics of different malaria types. The architecture of the diagnosis system is described, and the disease spread model is mathematically modelled in terms of a SPITR (Susceptible- Protected- Infected-Treated- Recovered) epidemic model which is further analysed. The forecasting model is expressed and analysed whereas experiments are conducted using a Monte Carlo simulation method. The design of the monitoring system has inspired how predictions can be made in the complex cases such as mixed infections. Results show that reinforcing the model parameter makes a significant improvement on the disease prediction.

The world is growing very rapidly concerning technology. In the next-generation Internet, the existing architecture requires to be upgraded from Host-Centric Networking paradigm to Information-centric networking architecture. The unique aspect of information-centric networking is in-network cashing. Due to the system augmentation and In-network cashing technique, this novel system needs extremely high content security to ensure system integrity and maintenance. 5G network may be supported by the Information-Centric Network due to its high data transmission rate. In order to handle the serious security issues such as attack on confidentiality, authentication and integrity of the content, a Digital Signature based Access Control Mechanism in Information-Centric Network (DSAC) scheme is proposed to enhance security of ICN. Briefly, this new scheme uses Digital Signature, hash function, Trusted Third Party (TTP) and Proxy TTP. The client request for content, after receiving a request, the content provider generates and encrypts content with the digital signature and random value ‘k’ hash function and send it to TTP. After the signing process, the TTP sends the encryption hash key to Proxy TTP. In this proposed scheme authentication, confidentiality, the integrity aspects of the content security are improved.

The research study examines the Digital government strategies of different countries and compare it with the Digital Pakistan Policy 2018. Different countries focus on the different factors/themes as per requirement of their countries and need of their citizens. Therefore, a requirement for re-search that compares the different digital government strategies has been identified. Secondary data on eGovernment strategies of different governments have been examined to investigate best practices in other countries. The qualitative data analysis software program NVivo has been used to facilitate code-based analysis of different digital government strategies. The findings and recommendations can be successfully utilized for the improvement of digital government strate-gies and its alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

This paper presents a case study analyzing which learning cognitive strategies are employed by students who play digital games in both in-school and out-of-school learning contexts. As a Case Study, it falls within the qualitative research category. The researcher integrated themselves to the subjects' learning facility for data-gathering, following all recommended ethical protocols for research involving underage subjects. The following data collection instruments were used: research diary, questionnaire, and interviews, conducted with teenagers who play digital games during formal learning activities. Analysis involved data-crossing and checking our data against existing studies and theories, as well as a cartographic production. Data indicates that digital games enhance student usage of cognitive strategies and favor competencies and abilities-based learning over formal learning contents.

Re-creation of the past of historical buildings sits at the intersection of the spatio-temporal manifestation of cultural memories, socio-cultural meanings, values and identity re-moulds and refines the existing understanding and sense of place. Digital technologies have become a popular tool in re-creation of the past by creating a new body of knowledge and historical discourse based on identifying the gaps within our written histories. Designers and policymakers around the world have been exploring various tools and technologies such as diachronic modelling yet there is a gap in evidence-based understanding regarding the actual functioning and success of application for place making. This paper, therefore, sets out to scrutinise the role of digital technologies in facilitating digital place making. To do so, it investigates the potential of a new “digital heritage” narrative in the revival of the lost architectural narrative of the Dennys Lascelles Wool Store, Geelong. The proposed paper aims to investigate the potential of a new “digital heritage” narrative and story-telling as a means towards digital place making framework. While exploring the new and unique capabilities provided by the digital narrative in capturing, simulating and disseminating ‘lost’ heritage it will further imbue a sense of place by connecting the everyday city dweller.

As technology evolves, our digital footprint keeps increasing. Now, everything we do is largely related to us being online, connected and logged. Therefore, if someone’s online data is exposed, then their life will be compromised. This is called identity theft and in this era of technology, it has become one of the most serious forms of crime. When someone’s data is compromised, there is a huge chance of harming the person financially, morally and socially. New technology and the knowledge gap it creates when it first comes out is perfect for identity thieves to exploit. If we are not cautious, our future will be very different than what we dream of due to the very technology created to make it better. Hence, we need to understand the technology, identify the loopholes and educate ourselves to avoid being held captive by our digital footprint.

In this paper, a technique of image watermarking using multiple images as watermarks is presented. The technique is based on transform domain functions including discrete wavelet transform (DWT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) with an image as the host signal i.e. the watermarks will be used as proofs of the authenticity of the host image. The technique is executed by performing multilevel DWT followed by applying DCT and SVD to both the host and watermark. Multiple watermarks are used for the insurance of better security level. The scheme is immune to common image processing operations & some attacks and exhibits PSNR of 108.3781dB, normalized cross correlation (NCC) over 0.99 and normalized correlation (NC) over 0.99.

This article conducts a literature review of current and future challenges in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in cyber physical systems. The literature review is focused on identifying a conceptual framework for increasing resilience with AI through automation supporting both, a technical and human level. The methodology applied resembled a literature review and taxonomic analysis of complex internet of things (IoT) interconnected and coupled cyber physical systems. There is an increased attention on propositions on models, infrastructures and frameworks of IoT in both academic and technical papers. These reports and publications frequently represent a juxtaposition of other related systems and technologies (e.g. Industrial Internet of Things, Cyber Physical Systems, Industry 4.0 etc.). We review academic and industry papers published between 2010 and 2020. The results determine a new hierarchical cascading conceptual framework for analysing the evolution of AI decision-making in cyber physical systems. We argue that such evolution is inevitable and autonomous because of the increased integration of connected devices (IoT) in cyber physical systems. To support this argument, taxonomic methodol- ogy is adapted and applied for transparency and justifications of concepts selection decisions through building summary maps that are applied for designing the hierarchical cascading conceptual framework.

The concept of a metaverse, a shared virtual space that brings together the physical and digital worlds, has been a topic of interest for decades. With recent advancements in technology, particularly in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and blockchain, the metaverse has become a rapidly evolving and promising ecosystem. This paper provides a review of the metaverse, exploring its history, evolution, and current state of development. The paper delves into the different types of the metaverse, including fully immersive VR metaverses, hybrid metaverses that blend the physical and virtual worlds, and decentralized metaverses that are powered by blockchain. Additionally, the paper examines the impact of web 3.0 on the metaverse, as well as the various technologies used to create and sustain the metaverse, including VR, AR, and blockchain. Furthermore, the paper explores the concept of digital ownership and the potential for marketing and commerce within the metaverse. This paper serves as a review of the metaverse and its various components, providing insights into its history, development, and prospects, and is intended to provide a foundation for further research into this exciting and rapidly evolving ecosystem.

The objective of this research is to establish a better understanding of the current landscape of digital learning research and sustainable development by using CiteSpace. First, we retrieved published publications from the Web of Science (2004–2022). Following that, we examined the primary research strengths and important subjects of digital learning from two perspectives: collaboration networks (including collaborative networks across countries, institutions, and authors) and co-citation networks. We examined the co-citation network from three perspectives: cluster analysis, the most active citers, top references. Furthermore, referenced journals, popular themes, and rising trends were examined. These findings indicate the primary study subjects in the field of digital learning, the most intriguing research literature, and each period's emerging research hotspots. Finally, we proposed further study ideas for future paths.

The rapid transmission of COVID-19 in school communities has been a major concern. To ensure that mitigation systems were in place and support was available, a digital intervention to encourage and facilitate infection control behaviours was rapidly adapted and optimised for implementation as a whole school intervention. Using the person-based approach, ‘Germ Defence’ was iteratively adapted, guided by relevant literature, co-production with Patient and Public Involvement representatives, and think aloud interviews with forty-five school students, staff, and parents. Suggested infection control behaviours deemed feasible and acceptable by the majority of participants included handwashing/hand-sanitising and wearing a face covering in certain contexts such as crowded public spaces. Promoting a sense of collective responsibility was reported to increase motivation for the adoption of these behaviours. However, acceptability and willingness to implement recommended behaviours seemed to be influenced by participants’ perceptions of risk. Barriers to the implementation of recommended behaviours in school and at home primarily related to childcare needs and physical space. We conclude that it was possible to rapidly adapt Germ Defence to provide an acceptable resource to help mitigate against infection transmission within and from school settings. Adapted content was considered acceptable, persuasive, and accessible.

While a raft of existing Chinese literature examines the associations between the outbreak of the pandemic and students’ mental health, rarely do Chinese studies assess the nuanced relationships between digital learning, parenting, and students’ mental health since the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Such a rarely discussed topic has substantial scholarly value as mismanagement of digital learning and parenting, such as the exposure to cyberbullying and negative parenting during the public health crisis, could add substantial, unforeseeable psychological burdens for Chinese students. In this article, the author applied a systematic review to find all relevant Chinese literature that contains the words “digital learning”, “children/adolescents”, “mental health”, and “parenting” published since January 2020. As such a complex topic has rarely been addressed in Chinese contexts, the author was only able to find four related scholarly articles. The author summarises the arguments and empirical findings to explore the nuanced relationships between a) digitalisation, isolation, parenting, and children’s mental health, b) parenting, teacher-student relationships, and students’ mental health, and c) maternal and paternal parenting styles.

Museums increasingly recognize the need to address advances in digital culture which impact the expectations and needs of their audiences. Museum collections of real objects need to be presented both on their own premises and digitally online, especially as social media becomes more and more influential in people’s everyday lives. We investigate these challenges magnified by advances in digital and computational media and culture looking particularly at recent and relevant reports on changes in the ways museums interact with the public. We find that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many of the changes driving museum transformation. We believe that museums must be more prepared than ever to adapt to unabated technological advances set in the midst of cultural and social revolution, now intrinsic to the digital landscape in which museums are inevitably connected and participating across the global digital ecosystem where they inevitably find themselves entrenched.

Studies show that executive functions and motor development are associated among each other and with learning ability. A more technological lifestyle, related with digital culture, should be considered an important component to stimulate children. In addition, digital games constitute an element of the digital culture in which children are inserted. The aim of this study is to present a systematic mapping of the literature involving executive functions, motor development and the use of digital games in intervention programs for elementary school children, from 6 to 11 years old. Four databases were searched: PubMed, Scielo, Science Direct and SCOPUS, including publications between 2012 and March 2021. The initial results indicated 4881 works. After the selection process, 15 investigations that presented the central theme of the study were selected. The main results indicate that intervention strategies are quite heterogeneous. Most of the studies demonstrated significant positive effects after intervention protocols and were conducted in Europe and 46% of the studies were conducted in a school environment. No researches were identified that involved technological solutions involving executive functions, motor development and digital games in an integrated manner, constituting a field of future scientific research.

The newly discovered coronavirus (COVID-19) has disrupted traditional methods of conducting research, particularly qualitative research. However, there remains a number of methods by which qualitative data can still be collected. These include the use of digital voice, video, and text-based tools, online surveys, and content analysis. Text-based sources can help to overcome the limitations of time and space, and also can be cost-effective. This chapter draws from data collected from 12 participants across Zimbabwe and demonstrates how these tools can be used to generate data or to sample data that is already available to satisfy research questions and meet research objectives. It recommends researchers to experiment with new ways of collecting qualitative data while also observing safety protocols and ethical considerations.

PIK3CA is a gene usually mutated in breast cancer and has an important role in tumor progression and treatment. Therefore, there is required a technique to detect low-rate PIK3CA mutations improving the clinical conduct. This study aimed to compare chip-based dPCR and Sanger sequencing to detect PIK3CA mutations in breast cancer patients. Fifty-seven tumor samples from breast cancer patients were collected and analyzed by Sanger sequencing and dPCR for PIK3CA mutations (E545K, H1047R, and H1047L). Digital PCR sensitivity, specificity, and overall performance were estimated by contingency tables, receptor operator characteristic (ROC), and area under the curve (AUC). Sanger sequencing identified PIK3CA mutations in six patients (10.5%), two with H1047R, and four with E545K. Digital PCR confirmed those mutations and identified 19 additional patients with at least one mutation. Comparison between dPCR and Sanger sequencing showed a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI 53-100%), and a specificity of 84.2% (95% CI 83 - 84.2%). Besides, H1047R mutation showed a significant association with breast cancer phenotype (p =0.019) and lymphatic node infiltration (p =0.046). Digital PCR showed a high sensitivity to detect mutations in tumor samples and it might be capable to detect low-rate mutations and tumor subpopulations not detected by Sanger sequencing.

Character education is essential for the current millennial generation and must be applied in everyday life in the surrounding community. The character of the millennial generation is different from the previous generation, which requires us to pay more attention to character education which is starting to erode along with the times. The Millennial generation is a generation that in everyday life can never be separated from science and technology. In this digital era, the millennial generation has a social function of strength in technology. In this study, there are research questions that will be discussed in this article, namely the first regarding what problems occur in the millennial generation who occupy the digital era?. Second, what is the important role and influence of the digital era on character education for the millennial generation in Indonesia?. Writing this article uses a qualitative research method, namely a literature review study, where researchers use or look for references from journals or books. Samples of respondents were taken randomly from each region, and there were ten respondents. From this research, it is found that the millennial generation in the digital era chooses to use social media to access the latest news and information rather than reading print media that contains education. This article aims to find out the importance of character education for the millennial generation, which is starting to erode with the times in the digital era. Many people underestimate character education, especially for the current millennial generation. Therefore, we must implement educational programs at any level, especially in Indonesia, because the character shows the national identity. This article will discuss the vital role and influence of character education for millennials who live in the digital era to be aware of the importance of character education in citizenship.

ABSTRACT Education is the most important instrument in human life because education can increase human dignity. In addition, education can also be a benchmark for human quality and an example of the progress of a nation. The history of education in Indonesia has evolved from the colonial era to the digital era. These developments have influenced government policies in every era. In the 21st century, the development of education in Indonesia is starting to show progress. This is because it is supported by the rapid growth of information and technology. This research article aims to analyze the educational policies carried out by the government from the colonial era to the digital era to be used as evaluation material at this time so that in the future education in Indonesia is even better. To achieve this goal, this research focuses on the question of how is the transformation of education in Indonesia from the colonial era to the digital era? and what is the paradigm of education in Indonesia when viewed from a historical perspective?. The research method used is the Literature Review method from 27 sources in journal articles, websites, and data reports for 2019-2021. The results of this study found that changes in the Indonesian education system from time to time have a positive influence on the progress of the Indonesian nation. The development of education in Indonesia also has an impact on increasing the Human Development Index (HDI). This shows that the quality of Indonesian society is increasing. Based on the results obtained, it is hoped that it can provide information about the transformation of education in Indonesia from the colonial era to the digital era from a historical perspective. This article is suitable as a reference source for education observers in Indonesia to know the history of education and its policies from the colonial era to the digital era and useful for academics to know the history of education in Indonesia. This research has limitations, namely this research is only limited to the development of education in Indonesia from the colonial era to the digital era and the paradigm of education development in Indonesia from a historical perspective.

From professors overwhelmed by anxiety-driven e-mails from students, through faculty and administrative staff wasting valued time on e-mail minutia, misuse of electronic mail in the academy has become ubiquitous. After a brief overview of the unique features of e-mail communication, this study provides insight and guidelines to plan new educational activities on healthy and productive utilization of e-mail in the academy of the digital era. The overall aim is to prioritize scholarly deep work by focusing on teaching and research work, freeing working time wasted on unproductive use of e-mail.

Biocultural heritage preservation relies on ethnobotanical knowledge and the paleoethnobotanical data used in (re)constructing histories of human-biota interactions. Biocultural heritage, defined as the knowledge and practices of Indigenous and Local peoples and their biological relatives, is often guarded information, meant for specific audiences and withheld from other social circles. As such, these forms of heritage and knowledge must also be included in the ongoing data sovereignty discussions and movement. In this paper we share the process and design decisions behind creating an online database for ethnobotanical knowledge and associated paleoethnobotanical data, using a content management system designed to foreground Indigenous and local perspectives. Our main purpose is to suggest the Mukurtu content management system, originally designed for physical items of cultural importance, be considered as a potential tool for digitizing and ethically circulating biocultural heritage, including paleoethnobotanical resources. With this database, we aim to create access to biocultural heritage and paleoethnobotanical considerations for a variety of audiences while also respecting the protected and sensitive natures of Indigenous and local knowledges.

Fundamental science and applied research and technology development (RTD) are facing significant challenges that particularly compound to the notorious credibility, reproducibility, funding and sustainability crises. The underlying, serious shortcomings are substantially amplified by a metrics-obsessed publication culture, and a growing cohort of academics fishing for fairly stagnant (public) funding budgets. This work presents, for the first time, a groundbreaking strategy to successfully address these severe issues; the novel strategy proposed here leverages the distributed ledger technology (DLT) “blockchain” to capitalize on cryptoeconomic mechanisms, such as tokenization, consensus, crowdsourcing, smart contracts, reputation systems as well as staking, reward and slashing mechanisms. This powerful toolbox, which is so far widely unfamiliar to traditional scientific and RTD communities (“TradSci”), is synergistically combined with the exponentially growing computing capabilities for virtualizing experiments through digital twin methods in a future scientific “metaverse”. Project contributions, such as hypotheses, methods, experimental data, modelling, simulation, assessment, predictions and directions are crowdsourced using blockchain, and captured by so-called non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”). The so enabled, highly integrative approach, termed decentralized science (“DeSci”), is destined to move research out of its present silos, and to markedly enhance quality, credibility, efficiency, transparency, inclusiveness, sustainability, impact, and sustainability of a wide spectrum of academic and commercial research initiatives.

First came the digital banks without offices, and then the “fintech” companies that combined technology and finance to achieve greater efficiency and new business models. Later was the turn of transport and logistics, understood as the sector whose economic activities derived from the transport of people and goods, while on the one hand, it has had a new spring thanks to factors such as online sales. Then, perhaps catalyzed by the pandemic scenario, the turn has reached education, where years ago was only a complement of traditional education, now is a central part with multiple modern methodologies. Numerous studies exist about using or implementing these e-learning procedures, but technical analysis is barely found in references. This work aims to analyze the digital transformation of the main sectors of our society, including finances, transport, and education, together with several examples of how technology was helping to fight the pandemic scenario.

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational large language model (LLM) was launched in November 2022 namely, “ChatGPT”. Despite the wide array of potential applications of LLMs in healthcare education, research and practice, several valid concerns were raised. The current systematic review aimed to investigate the possible utility of ChatGPT and to highlight its limitations in healthcare education, research and practice. Using the PRIMSA guidelines, a systematic search was conducted to retrieve English records in PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar under the term “ChatGPT”. Eligibility criteria included the published research or preprints of any type that discussed ChatGPT in the context of healthcare education, research and practice. A total of 280 records were identified, and following full screening, a total of 60 records were eligible for inclusion. Benefits/applications of ChatGPT were cited in 51/60 (85.0%) records with the most common being the utility in scientific writing followed by benefits in healthcare research (efficient analysis of massive datasets, code generation and rapid concise literature reviews besides utility in drug discovery and development). Benefits in healthcare practice included cost saving, documentation, personalized medicine and improved health literacy. Concerns/possible risks of ChatGPT use were expressed in 58/60 (96.7%) records with the most common being the ethical issues including the risk of bias, plagiarism, copyright issues, transparency issues, legal issues, lack of originality, incorrect responses, limited knowledge, and inaccurate citations. Despite the promising applications of ChatGPT which can result in paradigm shifts in healthcare education, research and practice, the embrace of this application should be done with extreme caution. Specific applications of ChatGPT in health education include the promising utility in personalized learning tools and shift towards more focus on critical thinking and problem-based learning. In healthcare practice, ChatGPT can be valuable for streamlining the workflow and refining personalized medicine. Saving time for the focus on experimental design and enhancing research equity and versatility are the benefits in scientific research. Regarding authorship in scientific articles, as it currently stands, ChatGPT does not qualify to be listed as an author unless the ICJME/COPE guidelines are revised and amended. An initiative involving all stakeholders involved in healthcare education, research and practice is urgently needed to set a code of ethics and conduct on the responsible practices involving ChatGPT among other LLMs.

Digitalisation is one of the European Union's priorities. The European Parliament is shaping and helping to shape new legislation in this area. Digitisation should also help in the transition to a greener economy and in achieving climate neutrality. E-government is one area of digitisation that has been under way for several years in European countries. In this paper, we have focused on identifying different indices that are aimed at measuring digitalization or e-Government. The results of the analysis showed that there are several indices that focus on this area within the EU, such as EGDI, EPI, LOSI, DGI, e-Government benchmark, Eurostat - internet use, GII, DSGI, Going Digital toolkit and DESI. Subsequently, the index areas to be used in the DEA method to measure the effectiveness of e-Government related inputs and outputs within the EU were identified. As can be seen from the analysis, the DEA method has various uses. In order to be able to use the method properly it was necessary to select the most appropriate parameter and to verify their suitability by means of correlation analysis. Among the input and output indices were chosen Internet usage, DSGI, GII, e-Government benchmark, Interaction with public administration online. From the analysis 3 inputs and 3 outputs were used. After implementing the correlation, it can be said that the values between the selected sub-variables are suitable for DEA analysis. Two models were chosen for the calculation, namely CCR and BCC model. CCR model evaluated 10 states as efficient and BCC model evaluated 13 states as efficient. In addition, in the close analysis, we have taken a closer look at the CCR model's inference. Countries such as Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Malta, Portugal, etc. were efficient outliers. When comparing the regions within the EU, we can conclude that the countries of Northern Europe are the most efficient in the field of digitalization (e-Government). As many as 4 countries out of 7 are efficient. In a future study it would be useful to use the SBM model and try to measure the impact of digitalization on selected areas such as economy, society, environment, etc.

Background: In order to achieve the best possible hearing and understanding with a cochlear implant (CI), regular hearing speech therapy treatment is necessary after implantation. This treatment should also be accessible to the growing proportion of hearing-impaired people with a migration background. This requires an alternative to therapy in the therapist's native language. The aim of this study was to evaluate six multilingual conversation applications with regard to their usefulness for therapy. Material and Methods: The six most commonly used applications were reviewed in terms of accuracy of content and grammatical translation, as well as pronunciation for English, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, and Russian by native speakers. The number of available languages, availability, cost, and additional features were also analyzed. The accuracy of the content and grammatical translation as well as the pronunciation were statistically evaluated, and the differences were highlighted. The results of the different applications were compared with the performance of a native speaker. Results: All applications tested differed significantly from the native speaker level, with Google Translator showing the closest approximation to the native speaker level. All apps offer translations for multiple languages and, with exceptions, are available in both app stores. Furthermore, all apps have additional therapist-facilitating features. Conclusion: Multilingual conversation apps can make speech therapy in a foreign language much easier when used with patients. An adaptation of the software to the specific requirements of a hearing speech therapy is necessary to achieve a linguistic level that corresponds to the native language of the therapist and to enable an easy use in the therapy.

Digital technologies play a key role in reviving the world economy. The EU has pledged to combine recovery support with resilient digital transformation. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the lack of digitization in Slovakia and the shortcomings of digital skills in citizens and communication with institutions. Digital skills are important and should form part of educational policy. ICT skills can help people succeed in the labour market and improve communication with public administration. Digitization and globalization increase the importance to communicate through the Internet, applications and other e-based gadgets. Digital skills are one of the essential parts of e-Government, so people can use e-Government services in communication with public administration. The current crisis citizens' use of online services. In-dices concerning the digital economy are analysed, such as the digital economy and society index DESI and e-government digital skills (EGDI) from 2018 to 2021 revealed a stagnant state in 2018 and 2019 and 2020, there was a decrease in basic digital skills". The next index is E-Government Digital Index It focuses on human capital and digital skills in these indices. The paper analyses and identifies the digital skills of citizens in the context of e-Government development and describes the use of e-Government services by EU citizens with a focus on the Slovak republic. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey with citizens in Slovak republic's digital skills according to selected categories, the use of e-Government services as well as awareness of e-Government services. Solutions that improve e-government in the Slovak Republic are gradually being implemented. Improving digital skills according to National Coalition for Digital Skills and professions in the Slovak republic and is one of the priorities of The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic which has adopted an action plan for 2019 – 2022 to improve the results in the DESI index by 2025 and focus on the digital skills required by employers. The survey revealed that in Slovakia, the majority of schools offer only weak support for digital education (about the EU-27 average of 68% and 45%, respectively). The research revealed also decreased level of digital literacy among young people. These competencies are very important to gain a position in the labour market in the digital society. The projects aim to support the development of digital skills of primary and secondary school students, and the integration of new technologies into teaching.

Analyzing the records of Advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational observatories, we found a specific time-domain asymmetry inherent only to the signals of their gravitational detectors. Experiments with different periodic signals, Gaussian and non-Gaussian noises, made it possible to conclude that the noise of gravitational detectors is an unusual mixture of signals. We also developed a specialized Pearson correlation analyzer to recognize the gravitational-wave events. It turned out that the LIGO detectors’ output signals include a significant (– 6 dB) component, which has the properties of records of reliably recognized gravitational waves. It allows us to argue that the gravitational background noise is largely due to the processes of merging astronomical objects. Since the specific signal is registered by the detectors continuously, we can consider the sub-kilohertz band gravitational oscillations field as detected. Our analysis method also allows us to estimate the contribution of the gravitational background component to the total signal energy. With its help, it will be possible not only to provide the radio-frequency estimation of the magnitude of gravitational disturbances but also, possibly, to construct a map of the gravitational noise of the sky.

The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has brought with it an increase in the use of digital platforms and an exponential increase in the number of scientific papers worldwide. The purpose of this study is to show a global overview of the digital transformation from 1975 to the present (2021). The main collection of the Web of Science database was used to retrieve global scientific production on digital transformation. Bibliometric indicators of production, visibility, impact, and collaboration were analyzed to assess research progress on the topic. The results show that digital transformation is a construct of recent development, increasingly relevant and transdisciplinary, with a clear growth after the declaration of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen of China from 2011 to 2018 and the digital inclusive finance index of Peking University (2011-2018), this paper empirically tests the impact of digital finance development on corporate social responsibility in various provinces of China and its impact mechanism. The results show that: (1) the development of digital finance helps to promote the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility; (2) the influence mechanism of the development of digital finance to promote the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility lies in that it reduces the cost of debt financing and leads to the improvement of corporate social responsibility.(3) Further research shows that the positive relationship between digital finance and corporate social responsibility is more significant in private enterprises. At the same time, the impact is more significant in areas with poor market environment. The above research shows that the development of digital finance has a significant positive effect, which will improve the level of corporate social responsibility.

With roots beyond behavioural economics to psychology, nudges can be applied for influencing healthy behaviours such as food choice and portions to decrease obesity for better public health outcomes. However, the effectiveness of the type of nudges are contentious with conflicting literature. In this pilot study, we conducted a 23-day study surveying the food choices that included portion, locus of control, demographic data, and psychological measures of personality, perceived stress, narcissism, regulatory focus, food choice motive and dietary restraint, with the participants given four intervention conditions of 12 instant messaging sent every two days through WhatsApp. The messages were either factual (control), focused on consequences, through social comparison, or persuasive. Running over the COVID19 pandemic, 17 participants completed the full surveys showing significant effects between the experimental conditions with the psychological parameters except for diet confidence and extraversion and conscientiousness, as well as cognitive restraint. We found BMI and waistline measurements to be suitable measurements, with promising results from the fear and social comparison nudges for food-related behaviours and exercise. Our pilot findings have implications to the use of nudges upon which future studies investigating psychological factors can build on.

Background: Currently, Indonesia is entering an era that is all digital and uses technology in all fields of activity. The internet has a lot to do with their behavior or character. Millennials are the nation's next generation. The emergence of the digital era caused by globalization has made the millennial generation less appreciative and practicing the values ​​of Pancasila. In this case, character education is something that must be applied to the millennial generation. Purpose: This study aims to analyze the characteristics of the millennial generation, the role of character education in realizing the values ​​of Pancasila in the daily life of the millennial generation, how to cultivate an attitude of patriotism and nationalism towards the nation by practicing Pancasila, and provide motivation for the millennial generation to realize these values. Pancasila values. Methods: This study uses a literature review method. The search for journals was carried out using the google scholar database with the keywords “Character Education”, “millenial generation”, and “Pancasila”. The journals selected are journals from 2019 to 2020. Results: By applying character education to the millennial generation, it will make it easier for them to practice the values ​​of Pancasila. Pancasila should be the way of life of the millennial generation. Recommendation and limitation: As millennials, we must protect the country from values ​​that are contrary to Pancasila. Character education must be applied following the nature of the millennial generation itself. Of course, the applied character education must prioritize and be based on the values ​​of Pancasila as well.

Quantum computers are invaluable tools to explore the properties of complex quantum systems. We show that dynamical localization of the quantum sawtooth map, a highly sensitive quantum coherent phenomenon, can be simulated on actual, small-scale quantum processors. Our results demonstrate that quantum computing of dynamical localization may become a convenient tool for evaluating advances in quantum hardware performances.

One of the oldest and common methods of diagnosing heart abnormalities is auscultation. Even for experienced medical doctors, it is not an easy task to detect abnormal patterns in the heart sounds. Most of the digital stethoscopes are now capable of recording and transferring the heart sounds. Moreover, it is proven that auscultation records can be classified as healthy or unhealthy via artificial intelligence techniques. In this work, an artificial intelligence-powered mobile application that works in a connectionless fashion is presented. According to the clinical experiments, the mobile application can detect heart abnormalities with approximately 92% accuracy which is comparable if not better than humans since only a small number of well-trained cardiologists can analyze auscultation records better than artificial intelligence. Using the diagnostic ability of artificial intelligence in a mobile application would change the classical way of auscultation for heart disease diagnosis.

The effect of the strain rate on damage in carbon black filled EPDM stretched during single and multiple uniaxial loading is investigated. This has been performed by analysing the stress-strain response, the evolution of damage by Digital Image Correlation (DIC), the associated dissipative heat source by InfraRed thermography (IR), and the chains network damage by swelling. The strain rates were selected to cover the transition from quasi-static to medium strain rate conditions. In single loading conditions, the increase of the strain rate yields in a preferential damage of the filler network while rubber network is preserved. Such damage is accompanied by a stress softening and an adiabatic heat source rise. Conversely, increasing the strain rate in cyclic loading conditions yields in a filler network accommodation and a high self-heating whose combined effect is proposed as a possible cause of the ability of filled EPDM to limit damage, by reducing cavities opening during loading and favoring cavities closing upon unloading.

This article presents a methodology for the design of rehabilitation devices that considers factors involved in a clinical environment. This methodology integrates different disciplines that work together. The methodology is composed by 3 phases and 13 stages with specific tasks, the first phase includes the clinical context considering the requirements of the patient and therapist during the rehabilitation, the second phase is focused in engineering based on the philosophy of digital twin, and in the third phase is evaluated the device. This article explains the characteristics of the methodology and how it was applied in the design of an exoskeleton for passive rehabilitation of the upper limb.

COVID-19 has been a major issue in most countries throughout the world with 213 countries being affected till date due to the disease. The pandemic has raised concerns over the healthcare facilities available in various countries and question the government decisions made during this period of outbreak. Despite having the best healthcare facilities several countries across Europe and America have found it difficult to contain the disease outbreak questioning the available solutions to contain an area. This paper focuses on presenting information on solutions available to control outbreaks in order to prevent another pandemic occurring in the future. The paper also highlights the strategies and plans implemented by various governments who have been successful in combatting the disease with minimum damage. By using available resources such as technology, scientific innovation and digitalized healthcare this paper focuses on providing solutions which are already available to be utilized in the right manner.

The study sought to gauge the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in unleashing digital transformation in the education sector in South Africa. In order to gauge the impact, the study tracked the rate at which the 4IR tools were used by various institutions during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data were obtained from secondary sources, mainly newspaper articles, magazines and peer-reviewed journals. The findings are that, in South Africa, during the lockdown, a variety of 4IR tools were unleashed from primary education to higher and tertiary education where educational activities switched to remote learning (online learning). These observations point to the fact that South Africa generally has, some pockets of excellence to drive the education sector into the 4IR, which has the potential to increase access. Access to education, particularly at a higher education level, has always been a challenge due to a limited number of spaces available. Much as this pandemic has brought with it massive human suffering across the globe, there is an opportunity to assess successes and failures of deployed technologies, costs associated with them, and scaling these technologies to improve access.

The article is devoted to the assessment of the network community as a collective subject, as a group of interconnected and interdependent persons performing joint activities. According to the main research hypothesis, various forms of group subjectness, which determine its readiness for joint activities, are manifested in the discourse of the network community. Discourse constitutes a network community, mediates the interaction of its participants, represents ideas about the world, values, relationships, attitudes, sets patterns of behavior. A procedure is proposed for identifying discernible traces of the subjectness of a network community at various levels (lexical, semantic, content-analytical scales, etc.). The subjective structure of the network community is described based on experts’ implicit representations. The revealed components of the subjectness of network communities are compared with the characteristics of the subjectness of offline social groups. It is shown that the structure of the subjectness of network communities for some components is similar to the structure of the characteristics of the subjectness of offline social groups: the discourse of the network community represents a discussion of joint activities, group norms and values, problems of civic identity. The specificity of network communities’ subjectness is revealed, which is manifested in the positive support of communication within the community, the identification and support of distinction between “us” and “them”. Two models of the relationship between discursive features and the construct “subjectness” are compared: additive-cumulative and additive. The equivalence of models is established based on the discriminativeness and the level of consistency with expert evaluation by external criteria.

Buildability, i.e. the ability of a deposited material bulk to retain its dimmensions under increasing load, is an inherent prerequisite for formwork-free digital construction (DC). Since DC processes are relatively new, no standard methods of characterization are available yet. The paper at hand presents practice-oriented buildabilty criteria by taking various process parameters and construction costs into consideration. In doing so, direct links between laboratory buildability tests and target applications are established. A systematic basis for calculating the time interval (TI) to be followed during laboratory testing is proposed for the full-width printing (FWP) and filament printing (FP) processes. The proposed approach is validated by applying it to a high-strength, printable, fine-grained concrete. Comparative analyses of FWP and FP revealed that to test the buildability of a material for FP processes, higher velocities of the printhead should be established for laboratory tests in comparison to those needed for FWP process, providing for equal construction rates.

In order to solve the problems of waveform distortion and signal delay by many physical and electrical systems with linear low-pass transfer characteristics with multiple complex poles, a general digital-signal-processing (DSP)-based method of real-time recovery of the original source waveform from the distorted output waveform is proposed. From the convolution kernel representation of a multiple-pole low-pass transfer function with an arbitrary denominator polynomial with real valued coefficients, it is shown that the source waveform can be accurately recovered in real time using a particular moving average algorithm with real-valued DSP computations only, even though some or all of the poles are complex. The proposed digital signal recovery method is DC-accurate and unaffected by initial conditions, transient signals, and resonant amplitude enhancement. This method can be applied to most sensors and amplifiers operating close to their frequency response limits or around their resonance frequencies to accurately deconvolute the multiple-pole characteristics and to improve the overall performances of data acquisition systems and digital feedback control systems.

Growth hormone (GH) deficiency affects up to 1 in 4,000 children and is usually treated with daily injections of GH whilst the child is still growing. With children typically diagnosed around 5 years old, this can mean over 10 years of therapy, which can place a considerable burden on the child and parent. Over three-quarters of children are estimated to be not fully compliant with therapy, which can compromise their chances of attaining their target height. In recent years, interactive mobile health (smart phone or tablet) interventions using game-like concepts, so called ‘gamification’, have increased in popularity and have demonstrated success in promoting positive self-management behaviour in children with chronic conditions, such as diabetes. The application of gamified interventions has the potential to support adherence to therapy and positive behaviour in children with GH deficiency in a number of ways: 1) By providing education in a format that the child understands and accepts (e.g. using behavioural constructs to facilitate explaining why adherence is important); 2) By providing a mechanism to reduce the anxiety and stress associated with administering the injection (e.g. diversion with a virtual pet); and 3) By providing feedback to encourage on-going engagement (e.g. rewards, progression through levels).

For its enthusiasts, the blockchain is an archivist's dream come true: an immutable historical record that is publicly accessible and immune from censorship. Proposals like Juried Protocol Galleries could enable bots to compute the provenance of digital artworks and their appearance in exhibitions and publications. Distributed file systems like IPFS claim to store creative works in a redundant, networked fashion outside the control of any single cloud provider. Projects designed to work with blockchains like Filecoin and Arweave propose a dedicated cryptocurrency as financial incentive to support the cost of governing and sustaining this "permaweb." As dreamy as this picture sounds, many of these promises depend on technologies that have yet to be sufficiently developed or adopted. Rather than forecast the future, we can separate the hype from the reality in the present day by examining a real-life example, namely the 2021 auction of Andy Warhol's digital art with NFTs. This essay will focus less on blockchain's general promise as a preservation medium and more on the particular case of the digital Warhols, which both in form and spirit would seem a perfect application of NFTs to preserve historically important works of digital art. Which promises of the crypto-dream of permanent access to digital heritage ring true for this case study, and which are overblown?

Structure from Motion with Multi-View Stereo photogrammetry (SfM) is increasingly utilised in geoscience investigations as a cost-effective method of acquiring high resolution (sub-meter) topographic data, but has not been thoroughly tested in gullied savanna systems. The aim of this study was to test the accuracy of topographic models derived from aerial (via an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, ‘UAV’) and ground-based (via a handheld digital camera, ‘Ground’) SfM in modelling a hillslope gully system in dry-tropical savanna, and to assess the strengths and limitations of the approach at different scales. A UAV survey covered an entire hillslope gully system (0.715 km²), whereas a Ground survey covered a single gully within the broader system (650 m²). SfM topographic models, including Digital Surface Models (DSM) and dense point clouds, were compared against RTK-GPS point data and a pre-existing airborne LiDAR Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Results indicate UAV SfM can deliver topographic models with a resolution and accuracy suitable to define gully systems at a hillslope scale (e.g., 0.1 m resolution with ~ 0.5 – 1.3 m elevation error), while ground-based SfM is more capable of quantifying gully morphology (e.g., 0.01 m resolution with ~ 0.1 m elevation error). Key strengths of SfM for these applications include: the production of high resolution 3D topographic models and ortho-photo mosaics, low survey instrument costs (< $AUD 3,000); and rapid survey time (4 and 2 hours for UAV and Ground survey respectively). Current limitations of SfM include: difficulties in reconstructing vegetated surfaces; uncertainty as to optimal survey and processing designs; and high computational demands. Overall, this study has demonstrated great potential for SfM to be used as a cost-effective tool to aid in the mapping, modelling and management of hillslope gully systems at different scales, in tropical savanna landscapes and elsewhere.

In recent years, Chinese manufacturing enterprises compete to chase the wave of "digital revolution", digital empowerment has become an important strategic path of technological reform for many manufacturing enterprises. Based on the micro data of listed companies, this paper investigates the impact of digital transformation of Chinese listed companies on the quality of their export products. It is found that digital transformation can significantly improve the quality of enterprises' export products. After a series of robustness tests, this conclusion is still valid, and there are two ways to improve innovation performance and total factor productivity. The export product quality enhancement effect of enterprise digital transformation also has the heterogeneity of ownership, region and industry. In the further study, this paper also examines the impact of digital transformation on the internal salary gap of enterprises, and finds that digital transformation may increase the internal salary gap of enterprises, and form a "masking effect" on the quality of export products. To a certain extent, this paper deepens the understanding of the study of enterprise digital transformation on the quality of export products and its differences, and provides certain guidance for enterprises to implement the strategy of digital transformation.

A single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background: place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; (2) Methods: describe briefly the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article’s main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article, it must not contain results which are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.

The coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has emerged as a global phenomenon that significantly affects almost all sectors, irrespective of whether they have a well-established economic system. The inception of COVID-19 pandemic has increased and accelerated the demand for opera industry embrace digit technology to continue to produce performances and reach audiences. The brutality of the Covid-19 pandemic has affected most sectors, and opera artists are significantly affected in the Global South. South Africa, among others, is at the receiving end. The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc and exacerbated the existing vulnerability of opera artists. Opera artists have difficulty obtaining employment and finding funding for performing arts organisations have caused seriously challenged opera artists to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study is aimed to examine the quest for new digital skills for opera artists and opera companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. A qualitative research method was adopted using interviews with opera artists, selected retired opera practitioners and managers of opera companies. In this study, scholarly documents were reviewed to yield trustworthy findings. The findings demonstrate a high demand for opera artists to upgrade their current skills to meet the demand for digital skills. This demand for digital skills is partially attributable to the closed and suspension of live theatre performances due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings also reveal that digital connectivity in the performing arts sector become an essential driver of economic growth. This study concludes by affirming that digital skills are key skills required for resuscitating the opera industry.

Hospital Pulau Pinang is the general hospital in Malaysia which targeting energy savings of 10% within five years from 2015 and other sustainability targets such as 3-star Energy Management Gold Standard and Green Building Certification. The targets are beneficial for the hospital itself to establish the Smart Building Program to improve its energy efficiency concurrent with the green policy of the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. This paper reviews the background of Hospital Pulau Pinang energy data , energy consumption trending, energy-saving trending, and energy conservation measures taken for the hospital from 2015 to December 2021.The yearly energy consumption baseline taken in 2016 was 27,496,731.00 kWh. It reduced significantly to 21,356,063 kWh in 2021 due to energy conservation measures. As a result, Hospital Pulau Pinang has achieved energy-saving about 16% at approximately RM7.3 million reduction in operational expenditure. The main objective of this paper is to provide further potential energy savings by studying the energy reduction by implementing solar photovoltaics using the simulation method. The simulation method can predict that Hospital Pulau Pinang can achieve another 5,130,000 kWh energy savings annually. This type of simulation has never been done before at a public hospital, and it will give further enhancing strategies to the Smart Building Program itself. Furthermore, the potential of smart building can be maximized to the next level by simulation, which helps the hospital energy committee make the potential decision on the energy-saving investment.

Histologically poor differentiation is associated with lymph node metastasis. Thus, pathological evaluation of biopsy specimens is crucial when treating stomach cancers. Deep learning of WSIs is challenging because the images are enormous. Given the computing limitations, patch-level supervised learning methods have been proposed. However, valuable information is lost when dividing WSIs into smaller patches. Another drawback is the need for pixel-level annotation by a pathologist. It is acceptable to differentiate, i.e., grade, gastric cancer at the holistic tissue level (i.e., under low magnification). We developed a weakly supervised learning technique for tissue-level gastric adenocarcinoma histological differentiation (well-to-moderately or poorly differentiated) and applied global reasoning to tissue-level features. The tissue-level AUROCs of the histological differentiation classifiers were 0.953, 0.969, and 0.943, respectively when data from five hospitals were subjected to threefold cross-validation. Comparison of the Grad-CAM heatmaps of the trained classifier and the pathologists’ annotations confirmed that our weakly supervised model exhibited performed well.

(1) Background: The usage of digital technologies in hospital nursing provides potential solutions to the shortage of qualified nurses and current pandemic challenges. The process involves changes and requires willingness to learn. In this respect, leaders can motivate nurses. Therefore, this vignette study examined which motives and values leaders must address in order to promote nurses’ motivation to use different digital technologies. (2) Methods: We asked hospital nurses in an online vignette study to assess fictitious situations about the imminent introduction of a digital technology. The situations differed regarding the devices (tablet/smart glasses), addressed motives (extrinsic/intrinsic), and values (efficiency/patient orientation). (3) Results: We included 299 responses in the analysis. The tablet vignettes caused especially high motivation, more than the vignettes of the smart glasses (Z = -6.653, p = <0.001). The leader was more motivating when emphasizing effi-ciency rather than patient orientation (Z = -2.995, p =0.003). The dataset did not give significant re-sults regarding extrinsic and intrinsic motives. (4) Conclusions: The results suggest efficiency as a motive for using known digital technologies. Management actions can provide the structural framework and training so that responsible leaders can ensure their staff’s engagement to also use unknown devices.

As use of composite materials increases, the search for suitable automated processes gains relevance to guarantee production quality by ensuring uniformity of the process, minimizing the amount of generated scrap and reducing time and energy consumption. Limitations on production by traditional means such as hand lay-up, vacuum bagging and in-autoclave methods, tend not to be as efficient when the size and shape complexity of the part being produced increases, motivating the search for alternative processes such as the Automated Tape Laying (ATL). This work aims to describe the process of modelling and simulating a composite ATL with in situ consolidation by characterizing the machine elements, using the finite differences method in conjunction with energy balances, in order to create a digital twin of the process for further control design. The modelling approach implemented is able to follow the process dynamics when changes to the heating element are imposed as well as to predict the composite material temperature response, making it suitable to work as a digital twin of a production process using an ATL machine.

This study is the first to examine whether the performance of credit rating, one of the most important data-based decision-making of banks, can be improved by using banking system log data that is extensively accumulated inside the bank for system operation. This study uses the log data recorded for the mobile app system of Kakaobank, a leading internet bank used by more than 14 million people in Korea. After generating candidate variables from Kakaobank's vast log data, we develop a credit scoring model by utilizing variables with high information values. Consequently, the discrimination power of the new model compared to the credit bureau grades was significantly improved by 1.84% points based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistics. Therefore, the results of this study imply that if a bank utilizes its log data that have already been extensively accumulated inside the bank, decision-making systems, including credit scoring, can be efficiently improved at a low cost.

Industrial discrete event dynamic systems (DEDSs) are commonly modelled by means of Petri nets (PNs). PNs have the capability to model behaviours such as concurrency, synchronization, and resource sharing, compared to a GRAphe Fonctionnel de Commande Etape Transition (GRAFCET) which is a particular case of a PN. However, there is not a systematic way to implement a PN in a programmable logic controller (PLC), and so it is very common the implementation of such a controller outside a PLC, in some external software that will communicate with the PLC. There have been some attempts to implement PNs within a PLC, but they are dependent on how the logic of places and transitions is programmed for each application. This work proposes a novel application-independent and platform-independent PN implementation methodology. This methodology is a systematic way to implement a PN controller within industrial PLCs. A great portion of the code will be validated automatically prior to PLC implementation. Net structure and marking evolution will be checked on the basis of PN model structural analysis, and only net interpretation will be manually coded and error-prone. Thus, this methodology represents a systematic and semi-compiled PN implementation method. A use case supported by a digital twin (DT) is shown where the automated solution required by a manufacturing system is carried out and executed in two different devices for portability testing, and the scan cycle periods are compared for both approaches.

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes, including stereolithography (SL), can fabricate complex ceramic parts layer by layer using computer-aided design (CAD) models. A ceramic slurry with high solid loading is usually used in SL to fabricate the desired shape, which is further sintered to produce the final part. The traditional SL system utilizes a tank filled with printable material, known as a vat, which for ceramic slurry contributes several limitations and operational difficulties, and further renders it non-recyclable mainly due to its high viscosity and the fragility of the green state. In this study, we utilized a continuous film supply (CFS) printer integrated with a tape casting system using in-house-designed ceramic slurry to print standard prototype specimens. Various printing parameters, including viscosity, layer thickness control, and slurry recycling efficiency, were studied. In addition, post-processing optimizations of the prototype, characterizations, and the microhardness of sintered samples were studied to determine their properties and compare them with traditional methods. The effectiveness of slurry reusability was demonstrated by printing with original and recycled slurry to produce consistent densification of final parts. Post-processing was optimized to achieve a relative sinter density of 99.02% and microhardness of 12.59 GPa. This method provides new opportunities to realize dense complex ceramic features with final properties comparable to those produced by subtractive machining and traditional SL. Furthermore, slurry recycling helps to reduce the overall cost and material consumption.

Landscapes evolve due to climatic conditions, tectonic activity, geological features, biological activity, and sedimentary dynamics. These processes link geological processes at depth to surface features. Consequently, the study of landscapes can reveal essential information about the geochemical footprint of ore deposits at depth. Advances in satellite imaging and computing power have enabled the creation of large geospatial datasets, the sheer size of which necessitates automated processing. We describe a methodology to enable the automated mapping of landscape pattern domains using machine learning (ML) algorithms. From a freely available Digital Elevation Model, derived data, and sample landclass boundaries provided by domain experts, our algorithm produces a dense map of the model region in Western Australia. Both random forest and support vector machine classification achieve about 98\% classification accuracy with reasonable runtime of 48 minutes on a single core. We discuss computational resources and study the effect of grid resolution. Larger tiles result in a more contiguous map, while smaller tiles result in a more detailed, and at some point, noisy map. Diversity and distribution of landscapes mapped in this study support previous results. In addition, our results are consistent with the geological trends and main basement features in the region.

Background: Industry revolution 4.0 (IR.4.0) paradigm, nurses were required to have adequate competencies to carry out their professional duties. Digital information should be mastered by the nursing student. Purpose: This study aims to explain digital literacy competencies on nursing students in the era of IR 4.0 in the Indonesian context. Methode: A literature review was conducted in this study using Rayyan Systematic Reviews Software. Results: There was 14 literature analyzed describing Student’s Information literacy competency and Internet of Thing. Conclusion: Digital literacy for nursing students today is an inevitability, and nursing students who have digital literacy competencies have the potential to be able to increase nursing knowledge and skills as ontological competencies in their learning process.

Dynamic simulation of district heating and cooling networks has an increased importance in the transition towards renewable energy sources and lower temperature district heating grids, as both temporal and spatial behavior need to be considered. Even though a lot and research and development has been performed in the field, there are several pitfalls and challenges towards dynamic district heating and cooling simulation for everyday use. This article presents the experiences from working with district heating and cooling projects, along with relevant research, corresponding research gaps and proposed research directions.

Climate change and food security are the most relevant issues to be considered in sustainable agricultural development. The FAO’s initiative of climate-smart agriculture has attracted international attention. Since then, the smart agriculture (SA) has been recognized as the most influential trends in contributing to agricultural development. Therefore, encouraging farmers to adopt digital technologies and mobile devices into farming practices becomes a policy priority worldwide. However, there is limited literature available on psychologic factors that drive farmers’ intentions to adopt SA technologies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how farmer’s knowledge and attitude toward SA affects their adoption of smart technologies in Taiwan. A total of 321 farmers participated in the project’s survey in 2017 and 2018, from which the data was used to perform an OLS regression model of SA adoption. This study contributes to a preliminary understanding of relationship between innovation and adoption of SA technologies in a small-scale farming economic context. The findings suggest that the policy makers and R&D institutes need to concentrate on improving market access for well-known and high important SA technologies.

The use of machine learning (ML) approaches to target clinical problems is called to revolutionize clinical decision-making. The success of these tools is subjected to the understanding of the intrinsic processes being used during the classical pathway by which clinicians make decisions. In a parallelism with this pathway, ML can have an impact at four levels: for data acquisition, predominantly by extracting standardized, high-quality information with the smallest possible learning curve; for feature extraction, by discharging healthcare practitioners from performing tedious measurements on raw data; for interpretation, by digesting complex, heterogeneous data in order to augment the understanding of the patient status; and for decision support, by leveraging the previous step to predict clinical outcomes, response to treatment or to recommend a specific intervention. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art, as well as the current clinical status and challenges associated with each of these tasks, together with the challenges related to the learning process, the auditability/traceability, the system infrastructure and the integration within clinical processes.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the 3D point cloud density derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and structure from motion (SfM) and multi-view stereopsis (MVS) techniques, the interpolation method for generating a digital terrain model (DTM), and the resolution (grid size) of the derived DTM on the accuracy of estimated heights in small areas, where a very accurate high spatial resolution is required. A UAV-photogrammetry project was carried out on a bare soil of 13 × 13 m with a rotatory wing UAV at 10 m flight altitude (equivalent ground sample distance = 0.4 cm). The 3D point cloud was derived, and five sample replications representing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90% of the original cloud were extracted to analyze the effect of cloud density on DTM accuracy. For each of these samples, DTMs were derived using four different interpolation methods (Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Multiquadric Radial Basis Function (MRBF), Kriging (KR), and Triangulation with Linear Interpolation (TLI)) and 15 DTM grid size (GS) values (20, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.67, 0.5, and 0.4 cm). Then, 675 DTMs were analyzed. The results showed, for each interpolation method and each density, an optimal GS value (most of the cases equal to 1 cm) for which the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is minimum. IDW was the interpolator which yielded best accuracies for all combination of densities and GS. Its RMSE, considering the raw cloud, was 1.054 cm. The RMSE increased 3% when a point cloud with 80% extracted from the raw cloud was used to generate the DTM. When the point cloud included the 40% of the raw cloud, RMSE increased 5%. For densities lower than 15%, RMSE increased exponentially (45% for 1% of raw cloud). The grid size minimizing RMSE for densities of 20% or higher was 1 cm, which represents 2.5 times the ground sample distance of the pictures used for developing the photogrammetry project.

With the rapid progress of genetic engineering and gene therapy, World Anti-Doping Agency has alerted to gene doping and prohibited its use in sports. However, there is no standard method available yet for detection of transgenes delivered by recombinant adenoviral (rAdV) vectors. Here we aimed to develop a detection method for transgenes delivered by rAdV vectors in a mouse model that mimics gene doping. rAdV vectors containing mCherry gene was delivered in mice through intravenous injection or local muscular injection. After five days, stool and whole blood samples were collected, and total DNA was extracted. As additional experiments, whole blood was also collected from mouse tail tip until 15 days from injection of the rAdv vector. Transgene fragments from different DNA samples were analyzed using semi-quantitative PCR (sqPCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). In the results, transgene fragments could directly be detected from blood cell fraction-DNA, plasma-cell free DNA and stool-DNA by qPCR and ddPCR, depending on specimen type and injection methods. We observed that a combination of blood cell fraction-DNA and ddPCR was more sensitive than other combinations used in this model. These results could accelerate the development of detection methods for gene doping.