This paper presents the results of a study aimed at understanding how technology maturity level influences the incidence of university technology transfer to the private sector. The study examined the topic from the perspective of private sector organizations. It used data from a random sample of patent applications filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a theoretically guided sampling of multiple cases of private sector organizations that contemplated obtaining and assimilating technologies created at universities in the United States. The patent application data were analyzed using nonparametric statistical techniques and the case data were analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The findings of the study suggest that the typical maturity level of technologies created at U.S. universities is a TRL-5 or lower on as scale adapted from the NASA technology readiness level (TRL) scale. A technology maturity level of TRL-6 or higher is likely an insufficient but necessary part of at least one unnecessary but sufficient configuration of conditions that tends to result in the occurrence of university technology transfer. However, under certain circumstances, a technology maturity level of at least TRL-6 could be a sufficient but unnecessary condition for the occurrence of university technology transfer. These findings have several important implications. First, they provide support for the notion that university technology transfer is subject to causal complexity. Moreover, it may be possible to increase the incidence of university technology transfer in the United States by implementing public policy and practices that explicitly take technology maturity level into consideration.

This paper presents an alternative conceptualization and definition of technology in the context of university technology transfer. The ambiguity regarding the conceptualization of technology is apparent in the technology transfer literature. An expanded conceptualization of technology potentially opens new approaches to researching the topic of technology transfer. It may also cause policymakers to think more comprehensively about what it means to successfully transfer technologies derived from federally funded research to the private sector for use that benefits the public interest. This paper integrates constructs and ideas in the related literature to provide a new perspective of technology that can support future scholarly research and public policy formulation about technology transfer in general, and university technology transfer specifically. Although the paper focuses on university technology transfer to the private sector in the United States, the insights it presents are relevant to technology transfer more broadly and applicable in other geopolitical contexts.

Background: An oscilloscope is a basic tool for measuring electrical quantities, as well as studying all types of waveforms. Generally, measurement of a quantity is regarding peak voltage, frequency, phase difference, pulse width, delay time, etc. However, what about the oscilloscope technology that existed in the early the 21st-century? Purpose: Aim of this study is to identify and analyze the application and use of current oscilloscopes in the early 21st-century. Method: The research methodology used is qualitative research with a systematic literature review by taking journals from 2019-2020 on the IEEE, IOP, Science Direct, ArXiv, and Measurement Science Review journal databases. Results: The results obtained are a batch of 12 articles showing the application and use of oscilloscope technology at the beginning of the 21st century. Conclusion: The conclusions applied to the application of oscilloscope technology in the early 21st-century are centered on the field of education in the measurement of physical quantities and the use of measurement technology which has high efficiency and low cost.

The underlying assumption of the discourse about technology transfer is that government intervention is legitimate. Little scholarship has examined whether this assumption is valid or not and on what basis. Legitimacy is an important construct in the context of public policy. Government intervention can only be sustained if the public views such action as legitimate. The creation and transfer of technologies to the private sector is an area where there is significant government intervention. This paper reconceptualizes political legitimacy in the context of technology transfer policy. The analysis illuminates several concerns and challenges regarding the traditional approach to understanding whether specific government interventions in technology transfer are legitimate. It subsequently applies social constructionism and the notion of morality tales to describe an alternative conceptualization of political legitimacy that integrates aspects of other frameworks. In doing so, it reimagines political legitimacy as less of an unattainable normative principle of limited practical value to policymakers and more of a descriptively understood social phenomenon that policymakers can apply while formulating not only technology transfer policy, but other kinds of public policy as well. The paper demonstrates that there is a broader basis for claims of political legitimacy for government intervention in technology transfer, there is likely a more expansive range of technology transfer problems with which the government can rightly concern itself as well as possible solutions that policymakers can justifiably consider for addressing those problems, and that the political consequences of potential overreach in technology transfer policy are likely minimal.

Estimates by the World Health Authority suggest that 1 billion people do not have access to the assistive technologies they require. Over the past decade, the design of products that empower people with a disability has shifted from specialised and dedicated products designed only for those with a disability to features and functions integrated into cost-effective consumer technologies for the benefit of all. The opportunity for expansion of the availability of such technologies is at risk of being ignored as a result of models of delivery that are founded in medical devices and which have failed to reflect trends in our understanding of technology and the choices and preferences expressed by persons with a disability. This research undertaken suggests that the opportunities of such expansion offer significant benefits to people with a disability and better both economic and social return on investment for authorities.

As the global human population increases, animal agriculture must adapt to provide more animal products while also addressing concerns about animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and public health. The purpose of this review is to discuss the digitalization of animal farming with Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies, specifically biosensors, big data, and block chain technology. Biosensors are noninvasive or invasive sensors that monitor an animal’s health and behavior in real time, allowing farmers to monitor individual animals and integrate this data for population-level analyses. The data from the sensors is processed using big data-processing techniques such as data modelling. These technologies use algorithms to sort through large, complex data sets to provide farmers with biologically relevant and usable data. Blockchain technology allows for traceability of animal products from farm to table, a key advantage in monitoring disease outbreaks and preventing related economic losses and food-related health pandemics. With these PLF technologies, animal agriculture can become more transparent and regain consumer trust. While the digitalization of animal farming has the potential to address a number of pressing concerns, these technologies are relatively new. The implementation of PLF technologies on farms will require increased collaboration between farmers, animal scientists, and engineers to ensure that technologies can be used in realistic, on-farm conditions. These technologies will call for data models that can sort through large amounts of data while accounting for specific variables and ensuring automation, accessibility, and accuracy of data. Issues with data privacy, security, and integration will need to be addressed before there can be multi-farm databases. Lastly, the usage of blockchain technology in animal agriculture is still in its infancy; blockchain technology has the potential to improve the traceability and transparency of animal products, but more research is needed to realize its full potential. The digitalization of animal farming can supply the necessary tools to provide sustainable animal products on a global scale.

The R&D and propagation of sustainable appropriate technology requires the provision of stable funding. Crowdfunding is a form of funding whereby small sums of investments or contributions are collected from among the general public and used to finance the development of goods or services. This method has been in use widely in arts and culture fields, and presents a useful alternative means for funding appropriate technology projects. The aim of this study is to identify the factors influencing the backers who participate in appropriate technology projects through crowdfunding platforms, analyzing the relationships between these factors, and thereby establishing the usefulness of crowdfunding as a viable new alternative. The analysis results indicate that key factors influencing user intention to crowdfund appropriate technology projects include social influence, effort expectancy, and perceived trust. In contrast to the findings of previous studies, performance expectancy was not found to have a significant effect. This reflects the fact that, compared to the crowdfunding conducted for other purposes, crowdfunding for appropriate technology is closer in nature to donations. These findings indicate that for funding to be successful, aggressive online exposure using the SNS of backers should be pursued from the early stages of funding.

The development in information technology has played an influential role in transforming the restaurant industry services. Therefore, this research’s main agenda is to investigate factors that motivate employees to adopt and continue using information technology services by integrating two famous information system (IS) theories, namely, task technology fit (TTF) and technology continuance theory (TCT). The extant integrative perspective model details the cause-effect relationship between technology adoption and continuance intention. The positivist paradigm forms the basis of this research design, and the approach followed is quantitative research. Using the stratified random sampling technique, the empirical data was collected from 417 restaurant industry employees in the US (United States) on a five-point Likert scale. The PLS-SEM technique was utilized to analyze data while using Smart PLS 3 because of its suitability and wider application currently in the hospitality sector. Results suggest that the recently developed integrated technology continuance research model has considerable influence on predicting pre- and post-adoption behavior with continuance intention for technology usage within the restaurant industry. All hypotheses were found significant except one for the direct association of hedonic motivation and continuance intention of technology adoption. Moreover, the results revealed that factors like perceived security & information privacy and assisting conditions were the most important factors in determining the usage of information technology with continuance intention. Unlike previous research studies that focus majorly only on issues before adoption of informational technology usage, the current focus on investigating continuance intention toward information technology usage by focusing on factors that can also boost post-adoption behavior and pre-adoption usage information technology.

The adoption of health information technology (HIT) has increased considerably, contributing to better communication between physicians and patients and providing technological bases for learning and institutional improvement. This type of technology brings many challenges; therefore, understanding its adoption and assimilation is important to assess its potential for engendering desirable outcomes in health management. The assimilation of health information systems should be highlighted as their importance in health organisations is now recognised as a key facilitator assisting in providing better health outcomes. Thus, this study aimed to analyse HIT adoption based on models such as Technology, Organisation and Environment (TOE), which analyses at the organisational level, with other models, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which analyses at the individual level, and the assimilation of the adopted technologies.

It is postulated in this research that the paradox of “advances in technology and management not keeping pace with the ever-increasing urban problems” is due to the poor understanding of person-focused governance of societal, environmental and economic entities. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present an adaptive institutional model of person-driven effectiveness and ineffectiveness. The model proposes that human, ecologic and economic outcomes are heavily influenced by a complex system of systems, spanning from individually unique “non-physical influencers” to a broader set of social and environmental influencers that have a common impact on the larger society-environment-economy (SEE) system. At the heart of the model is an analytic formulation that explains the phenomena of non-physical blocker, enhancer and indifferent that are responsible for the adaptation and maladaptation of social agents, and accordingly for the sustainability and unsustainability of SEE systems. Examples are provided to illustrate the model applications: (a) the non-physical and maladaptive syndromes as antecedents of multi-morbidity and (b) the broadened and narrowed minds as sources of sustainability and unsustainability at the SEE system level within the context of emerging technologies such as engineered nanomaterials.

Disruptive technologies can be conceptualized in different ways. Depending on how they are conceptualized, different ethical issues come into play. This article contributes to a general framework to navigate the ethics of disruptive technologies. It proposes three basic distinctions to be included in such a framework. First, emerging technologies may instigate localized “first-order” disruptions, or systemic “second-order” disruptions. The ethical significance of these disruptions differs: first-order disruptions tend to be of modest ethical significance, whereas second-order disruptions are highly significant. Secondly, technologies may be classified as disruptive based on their technological features or based on their societal impact. Depending on which of these classifications one adopts and takes as the starting point of ethical inquiry, different ethical questions are foregrounded. Thirdly, the ethics of disruptive technology raises concerns at four different levels of technology assessment: the technology level, the artifact level, the application level, and the society level. The respective suitability of approaches in technology ethics to address concerns about disruptive technologies co-varies with the respective level of analysis. The article clarifies these distinctions, thereby laying some of the groundwork for an ethical framework tailored for assessing disruptive technologies.

We have an aversion to density in America. Density is a continual trope in this country, blamed for all of the ills of urban life, from crime and racial unrest in the middle of the 20th century to public health concerns today. In the early stages of the COVID pandemic density was the culprit, even though we’ve subsequently seen outbreaks in rural areas and sprawling cities across the United States. This paper will look into the root of America’s problems with density and argue that density is not the problem but the solution to the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s cities. As we deplete the resources of the planet, density is our most direct pathway to recover some balance with nature. Dense living is more efficient, less carbon intensive and more environmentally sustainable. As geospatial differentiations matter less due to advances in communication technology, it's the density of people and ideas that will continue to fuel innovation. Finally, in a world that is increasingly dominated by pluralism, denser living promotes openness, tolerance and diversity.

Abstract: The human race has always innovated, and in a relatively short time went from building fires and making stone-tipped arrows to creating smartphone apps and autonomous robots. Today, technological progress will undoubtedly continue to change the way we work, live, and survive in the coming decades. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the world has witnessed the emergence of social media, smartphones, self-driving cars, and autonomous flying vehicles. There have also been huge leaps in energy storage, artificial intelligence, and medical science. We are facing immense challenges in global warming and food security, among many other issues. While human innovation has contributed to many of the problems we are facing, it is also human innovation and ingenuity that can help humanity deal with these issues “New directions in science are launched by new tools much more often than by new concepts. The effect of a concept-driven revolution is to explain old things in new ways. The effect of a tool-driven revolution is to discover new things that have to be explained”. (F. Dyson, 1997 In this article, we review the impact of technology as evolving at beginning of 21st Century on future prospect of Energy demand either renewable or non-renewable form, Economy, to Ecommerce, Education and any other E-related of Modern Technology.

The purpose of this article is to address two questions that will aid researchers in understanding FinTech’s inception, development, and potential impact on the stability of the financial system. First, it explains why financial technology is a current phenomenon. While many of the underlying technology for FinTech breakthroughs have been around for some time, it is only recently that financial institutions and entrepreneurs have begun to apply them to financial goods and services. Supply and demand factors in "conventional" financial innovation have been studied, and they have been found to converge, leading to a high rate of innovation. And second, this article explains why FinTech is being covered in greater depth than other types of innovation. This study introduces the concept of "depth" of innovation as a means of answering this question. The more fundamental the innovation, the more it will affect the financial sector. In this paper, we demonstrate that many recent developments in the field of financial technology (FinTech) are truly revolutionary advances, with far-reaching implications for the financial services industry. In addition to the benefits of more adaptability, higher transformational potential might bring increased risk to economic security.

As we are aware Information Technology had its cutting-edge lifestyle from the overdue sixties of the remaining century whilst the Arpanet become introduced, funded with the aid of using the branch of protection of the USA. After that, the IT enterprise has come a protracted manner to its cutting-edge form in which its miles gambling a dominant function in each sphere of life. It has made innovative modifications in facts amassing and dissemination and worldwide communication. It is growing into a surely paperless painting environment. Also, we can now ship a message very without difficulty to everywhere withinside the international in seconds. From a schooling factor of view, we can have a digital elegance in which the teacher ought to take a seat down in any part of the arena and his college students scattered in all exceptional elements of the arena via video convention with the presentation of look at substances in addition to query and solution sessions. A health practitioner now sitting in any part of the arena ought to carry out a surgical procedure in which the affected person is mendacity in some other part of the arena. These work examples display where we stand these days compared to what has become 1/2 of a century back. But as we recognize, nothing on this international is only correct as the whole thing has a darkish side. In this paper, we might speak about the deserves and demerits of enforcing IT globally and in which we are heading withinside the future.

In a recent paper discussing Newton’s third law in the framework of special relativity for charged bodies, it was suggested that one can construct a practical relativistic motor provided high enough charge and current densities are available. As on the macroscopic scale charge density is limited by the phenomena of dielectric breakdown, it was suggested to take advantage of the high charge densities which are available on the microscopic scale. A preliminary analysis of this option denoted "nano relativistic scale" is studied in the current paper.

Blockchains such as the bitcoin blockchain depend on reaching a global consensus on the distributed ledger; therefore, they suffer from well know scalability problems. This paper proposes an algorithm that avoids double-spending in the short term with just O(√n) messages; each node receiving money off-chain performs the due diligence of consulting k√n random nodes to check if any of them is aware of double-spending. Two nodes receiving double-spent money will in this way consult at least one common node with very high probability, due to the ‘birthday paradox’, and any common honest node consulted will detect the fraud. Since the velocity of money in the real world has coins circulating through at most a few wallets per day, the size of the due diligence communication is small in the short term. This `k-root-n’ algorithm is suitable for an environment with synchronous or asynchronous (but with fairly low latency) communication and with Byzantine faults. The presented k-root-n algorithm should be practical to avoid double-spending with arbitrarily high probability, while feasibly coping with the throughput of all world commerce. It is resistant to Sybil attacks even beyond 50% of nodes. In the long term, the k-root-n algorithm is less efficient. Therefore, it should preferably be used as a complement and not a replacement to a global distributed ledger technology.

The purpose of this article is to review a two year long implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) system at the outpatient department of a private hospital in Kathmandu, possibly a first implementation of its kind in Nepal. Procedures: The strategy designed for EHR implementation was based on Professor John P. Kotter's work on successful change management. Main findings: We found that keeping a close watch on the social dynamics affecting adoption decisions among users of the system was crucial for implementing the EHR; this was partly because the project received limited support from an erratically changing hospital leadership and lacked an EHR system suited to the needs of the users. Conclusions: The implementation described in this article is a good lesson on moving from control to drift in information systems implementation, and we hope this work will be useful to health IT professionals working in the space of digital transformation in resource-constrained environments.

This research aimed, within the scope of the anthropotechnological approach, analyze the technology transfer, performed via the offset policy in the field of public health, called the Radiotherapy Expansion Plan, from the Health Ministry. The objective of this policy is to create and improve accredited organizations, concerning the oncological treatment, specifically in the insertion of radiotherapeutic equipment. This process is divided into two stages: the insertion of the radiotherapy equipment, and the compensations provided for in the commercial agreement. To meet this purpose, the research started from understanding the theoretical and methodological approaches of the fields of study of anthropotechnology, technology transfer and offset policy. In this sense, there was used the methodological strategy of the case study, supported by applied research, with a qualitative and exploratory approach. External and internal environments of a specific situation were analyzed, located in the State of Paraná, which received the radiotherapy equipment. It was verified that the initiatives of insertion of radiotherapeutic equipment in the context of the Expansion Plan have undergone numerous confrontations, inserted in the contextual and organizational particularities that affect its development and effectiveness. There are challenges that require responses from a set of organizations involved, in order to implement the trade agreement established by the offset policy, highlighting the first stage as a process of technology transfer. Thus, the situation located in the State of Paraná consistently consolidated the insertion of the radiotherapy equipment. It allowed its disclosure as a reference situation, and based on the dimensions and indicators analysis provided by anthropotechnology, made possible the comprehensionof the technology transfer involved in the process.

This paper advances privacy theory through examination of online shaming, focusing in particular on persecution by internet mobs. While shaming is nothing new, the technology used for modern shaming is new and evolving, making it a revealing lens through which to analyze points of analytical friction within and between traditional conceptions of privacy. To that end, this paper first explores the narrative and structure of online shaming, identifying broad categories of shaming of vigilantism, bullying, bigotry and gossiping, which are then used throughout the paper to evaluate different angles to the privacy problems raised. Second, this paper examines shaming through three dominant debates concerning privacy - privacy’s link with dignity, the right to privacy in public places and the social dimension of privacy. Certain themes emerged from this analysis. A common feature of online shaming is public humiliation. A challenge is to differentiate between a humbling (rightly knocking someone down a peg for a social transgression) and a humiliation that is an affront to dignity (wrongly knocking someone down a peg). In addition, the privacy concern of shamed individuals is not necessarily about intrusion on seclusion or revelation of embarrassing information, but rather about the disruption in their ability to continue to participate in online spaces free from attack. The privacy interest therefore becomes more about enabling participation in social spaces, enabling connections and relationships to form, and about enabling identity-making. Public humiliation through shaming can disrupt all of these inviting closer scrutiny concerning how law can be used as an enabling rather than secluding tool.

Digital dentistry, including CAD/CAM dentistry, is perhaps the most disruptive innovation in dentistry to date. The rapid development of digital dentistry technologies over the past several decades has enabled clinicians to improve patient care by significantly reducing the time necessary for the restorative phase of treatment. Advancements in intra-oral scanning and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), in conjunction with new dental CAD/CAM ceramic materials, have simplified patient care and made same-day dentistry a reality. This review aims to present the most recent advancements described in current literature as well as to document the successful implementation of digital dentistry into a predoctoral program. The overall process of CAD/CAM same-day dentistry and the accompanying advancements in software and materials were presented and discussed. Implementation of technology and personnel requirements were reviewed. CAD/CAM dentistry has been influential in shaping and improving dental practice and education, and this influence will only continue with time.

WHO was informed on 31 December 2019 of cases of unknown cause pneumonia in Wuhan City, China. On 7 January 2020 Chinese authorities reported a novel coronavirus as the cause and was temporarily labeled "2019-nCoV." Coronaviruses (CoV) are a wide family of viruses which cause diseases ranging from common cold to more serious illnesses. A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain not previously found in humans. Countries around the globe have stepped up their surveillance to quickly detect any new 2019-nCoV cases. Blockchain is developing into a safe and efficient network for secure data sharing in applications such as the financial industry, operations management, food industry, energy market, the Internet of Things and healthcare. In this paper, we are using blockchain technology as a mean to share authentic data, tracking of relevant information and help speed up the treatment process. At the same time it will preserve person’s identity. Timely deployment and suitable implementation of the proposed model have the opportunity to curb COVID-19 transmissions and associated mortality, especially in environments with inadequate access to testing facilities. This work will also facilitate in the treatment of other infectious diseases. Smart contract have been designed and implemented using the ethereum blockchain platform which has been presented in this paper. This work would facilitate multiple stakeholders who are involved within the medical system to curb the transmission of this disease.

To enhance industrial competitiveness and increase productivity, every country has strived to create a smart factory by introducing technologies such as Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence into production line and build cyber-physical system for the purpose of promoting manufacturing efficiency. For mission assignment, production line management or manufacturing field analysis, the location information of employee, machine and material is very essential. To promote manufacturing efficiency, of course, the location information became more important. A Bluetooth low energy (BLE) positioning system for the manufacturing is developed in this research. A "Tag tracking" mechanism is addressed and adopted, which uses Beacon to catch the location information and a BLE receiver is also used to receive the broadcasting information from Beacon. The position information from the BLE receiver will be compared with the data in the database for calculating the location of the target. The status of the target may also be obtained by using the data from the BLE receiver. Comparing with the mobile device, this method can reduce energy consumption and make the maintenance simple and easy. In the real applications, the target may not be limited to human. The "Regional label positioning technology" is also investigated in this research. Defining a suitable zone location and arranging BLE receiver location, and positioning analysis theory are the key factors included in this developed technology. The developed system will be tested for real industry applications. The test results show that the feasibility of this technology.

Irrigated agriculture determines large blue water withdrawals, and it is considered a key intervention area to reach sustainable development objectives. Precision agriculture technologies have the potential to mitigate water resource depletion that often characterizes conventional agricultural approaches. This study investigates the factors influencing farmers' intentions to adopt variable rate irrigation (VRI) technology. The Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM-3) was employed as a theoretical framework to design a survey to identify the factors influencing farmers' decision-making process when adopting VRI. Data were gathered through quantitative face-to-face interviews with a sample of 138 fruit and grapevine producers from the Northeast of Italy (Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia). Data were analyzed using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM). The results highlight that personal attitudes, such as perceived usefulness and subjective norm, positively influence the intention to adopt VRI. Also, the perceived ease of use positively affects intention, but it is moderated by subject experience.

In the early 1990s, cyberfeminism emerged as an area of knowledge to discuss the connection between gender and technology. According to UNESCO, women are underrepresented in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and less than a third of women worldwide work in scientific research and development. However, this number has grown and this reality is constantly changing. In this context, using business intelligence techniques, this study analyzes data from the computer and information and communication technology market to characterize the impact of the performance of women in these areas. It is expected to show that this performance in the highlighted fields is still a challenge in Brazil.

This paper explores benefits of using VR technologies in higher education. Theoretical part investigates classical education system and its features in order to compare advantages of using VR systems in education. VR technologies and its current state in industry and in education were explored as well as which branches of higher education uses these systems. Survey was conducted through online questionnaire where respondents (N = 55) gave their opinion on VR and the implementation of VR technologies in education. Three hypotheses related to the use of VR technology, student interest, and learning outcomes as well as the effectiveness, immersiveness and the effect of VR systems on the users were tested through 27 questions.

Cheating is a kind of fraud or attempts to get dishonest advantages in an academic institution, it has been increasing dramatically for the last 50 years with the growth of technology. In some countries, this phenomenon has changed to a problematic factor in schools. Plagiarism is also considered as a type of cheating if it occurs intentionally. More efforts are made to mitigate the severity of cheating in an academic institution using technological-based devices. Besides, technology has an effective role in the detection of plagiarism by several detection platforms, however, still, there are some types of plagiarism which cannot be detected by these platforms efficiently, that authors should treat honestly during his/her scientific writing. This work aims to conceptualize and characterize cheating and plagiarism in an academic institution, also it is tried to indicate the relationship of cheating and plagiarism that in which cases, plagiarism becomes cheating. To achieve the purposes, relevant literature including scientific papers, monographs, reports, and authorized website were reviewed, and the literature output are integrated with the observation and experience of author during the teaching and learning in academic institutions.The findings and direct observation from close contact of classrooms show that cheating is felt mostly in classes with large numbers of students, that institution policy, instructor control, and using of technology have the most effect on the controlling cheating. Plagiarism as academic dishonesty is a widespread phenomenon among the students and even the authors. In some cases, the poor understanding of students and authors in scientific writing rules causes plagiarism and is measurable by some available detection platforms.

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.

Despite a global push in the development and implementation of widespread alternative energy use, significant disparities exist across given nation-states. These disparities, frequently referred to as the local-national gap, reflect both technical and economic factors, as well as the social, political, and ecological gaps between how communities see energy development and national/global policy goals. This dataset is an attempt to bridge the local-national gap regarding solar PV adoption in the state of Georgia (U.S.A.). This dataset is an aggregation of variables from seven different publicly-available sources that was designed to help researchers interested in the context underlying solar adoption on the local scale of governance (e.g. the county level). The SolarView database includes information necessary for informing policymaking activities such as solar installation information, a historical county zip code directory, county-level census data, housing value indexes, renewable energy incentive totals, PV rooftop suitability percentages, and utility rates. As this is a database from multiple sources, incomplete data entries are noted.

In 2013, thirty-eight treadle pumps (TPs) were installed as low-cost technology introduction for small-scale irrigation in eastern Ethiopia. This pilot project also trained six farmers on tube well excavation, installation and maintenance of pumps. In June 2015, researchers visited nine of the 38 TP villages, and found only two functional TPs. The rest were replaced with a new technology developed by the trained farmers. Adopters of the new technology stated that the limited water output and high labor demand of the conventional TP did not optimally fulfil their irrigation water requirements. The new technology had spread quickly to more than one hundred households due to three key factors. First, farmers’ innovative modifications of the initial excavation technique addressed the discharge limitations of the conventional TP by excavating boreholes with wider diameter. Second, local ownership of the new technology, including skills used in well drilling and manufacturing excavation implement, made the new irrigation technology affordable and accessible to the majority of households. Third, this innovation spread organically without any external support, confirming its sustainability. Farmers, empowered by training, gained more control in developing technology options tailored to local needs and conditions of their communities.

Web-Based GIS is a platform that deals with the representation, management and storage of locational information for real-time online retrieval, viewing and manipulations. Web-based GIS incorporate all the functions of information systems: gathering, storing, retrieving, visualizing and dissemination of spatial information on the Internet. In modern-day GIS serve as vital means to not only geo-referenced locational information that are been retrieved but also the development in web-based technologies as well as there involvements in decision making processes. In recent time the increased used of GIS on the Internet have totally transformed and made three distinct changes across our GIS environment. These are: (i) how are GIS data being accessed (ii) what are modes of its transmission and (iii) what available GIS functionalities are within the environment for analysis. This paper examines the applications and technologies associated with web-based GIS architectures with an emphasis on the internet GIS based structure and case studies of GIS Web-based applications in MapInfo, Microsoft Silverlight Technology and the ArcGIS Server using ArcGIS JavaScript API.

Growing water shortages for large regions of the arid regions of the world, are likely to become more recurrent as climate change impacts grow. Countries across the world are facing water security difficulties that stem from population growth, urbanization, and rapid industrialization. The use of behavioral nudges methods implemented to encourage a socially desired behavior at a low to zero cost, has been an effective method at reducing water consumption in places where they have been deployed. For example, studies in California USA, Barcelona Spain, and Australia indicate that adoption of nudges give significant positive results in water consumption reduction. We describe some of the barriers that make it difficult to implement behavioral nudges to address the water crises in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We investigate the literature available in Sub-Saharan Africa and discover that the application of behavioral nudges has been sparingly used for reasons that are not obvious at first glance. Second, we find that the potential impediments to the use of behavioral nudges in SSA to be awareness, inadequate access to science and technology, political systems that are poorly suited for implementing nudging, abundance of multiple ethnic groups that speak different languages, along with other barriers that could challenge implementation of behavioral nudges. In light of those barriers, we present a conceptual model with a potential to address these barriers to behavioral nudging a workable solution in SSA.

Blockchain innovation stands out enough to be noticed and adopted in various countries and organizations around the world. Many businesses, including finance, medical services, inventory networks, security, libraries, and the internet of things, are currently under attack. For the benefit of the blockchain, many businesses incorporate blockchain technology into their frameworks. Despite its solidarity, blockchain faces a few challenges in security, protection, adaptability, and other areas. This paper examines the forward leap in blockchain innovation, as well as its applications and challenges. While many blockchain papers focus on digital currencies, IoT, and security, this paper focuses on the overall best in a class of blockchain innovation, its new twists and turns, and choices, particularly in areas other than cryptographic forms of money. The investigators' goal is to provide a thorough audit of the cryptography underlying blockchain to better understand the innovation. The examiners also conduct general research on people and venture blockchains, as well as future exploration opportunities and their implications for blockchain innovation.

Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a key agrometeorological index for rational irrigation management. The standard method for ETo estimation, proposed by FAO, is based on a complicated Penman-Monteith equation, requires great number of meteorological inputs thus making it difficult for practical use by farmers. To the moment, there are many alternative simplified approaches for ETo estimation, most of them are directed to cutting the number of required meteorological inputs for calculation. Among them, special attention should be paid to various temperature-based methods of ETo assessment. One of the temperature-based models for ETo computation was realized in free mobile app ETo Calculator (Ukraine). The app gives Ukrainian farmers an opportunity to assess ETo values on daily or monthly scale using mean air temperature as the only input. The goal of the study was to test the app accuracy comparing to FAO-based calculations in five key regions of Ukraine, each of which representing a particular climatic zone of the country. It was established that the app provides relatively good accuracy of ETo estimation even in raw (not adjusted to windspeed and relative air humidity) run; the results of statistical comparison with the FAO-calculated values are: R2 within 0.82-0.87, RMSE within 0.74-0.81 mm, MAE within 0.60-0.70, MAPE within 18.07-25.50% depending on the region. ETo Calculator (Ukraine) is a good alternative for complicated Penman-Monteith method and could be recommended for Ukrainian farmers to be used for irrigation management.

There is a national shift in the new Indonesian curriculum to employ differentiated learning approach in addressing diversity of students’ needs and abilities. Teachers’ judgment obviously corresponds to the duty that takes physics teachers to monitor their students at individual level. Within Indonesian physics education research (PER) context, empirical study that has addressed this subject is still lacking. To fill this gap, eight Indonesian physics teachers’ experiences and limitations about their judgment within differentiated learning environment has been investigated through phenomenological study. Physics teachers were voluntarily recruited after they have declared their endorsement and personal consent to participate in the study. Our participants were distributed over several teaching experiences, geographic regions, and ICT experiences. The latter experience might be taken into account since, through this study, we would project upcoming developmental research about engaging recent technological approaches to cope limitations of teachers’ judgment. Online semi-structured interviews (~ 50 min) were conducted by the first author (P.H.S.) to all physics teachers. Other authors contributed in reviewing the interview protocol (E.I. and H) and training the first author’s pilot interview (H.R.). Model of teachers’ thought and action was implemented to uncover physics teachers’ experiences and limitations in making judgment within diverse students. Findings revealed that physics teachers have conceded that they should adapt learning process in order to meet heterogeneous students’ needs. Personal observation has mainly informed teachers to identify students’ differences. After students have been identified, they creatively designed learning transformations to accommodate spectrum of students’ abilities. Nevertheless, we discovered several limitations encountered by teachers particularly in terms of judgments’ equity, accuracy, and their workload. To overcome this, teachers indicated various and supportive attitudes about technology implementation to assist their judgment. Implications for technological development was provided to address obstacles during the teachers’ judgment.

Important current limitations of the implementation of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in the rehabilitation field are related to the validation process of new technologies and interventions. Indeed, most of the strict guidelines that have been developed for the validation of new drugs (i.e., double or triple blinded, strict control of the doses and intensity) cannot – or only partially – be applied in rehabilitation. Well powered high quality randomized controlled trials are more difficult to organize in rehabilitation (e.g., longer duration of the intervention in rehabilitation, more difficult to standardize the intervention compared to drugs’ validation studies, limited funding’s since not sponsorized by big pharma companies), which reduces the possibility of conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses, as currently high level of evidence is sparse. The current limitations of EBP in rehabilitation are presented in this paper and innovative solutions are suggested such as: technology-supported rehabilitation systems, continuous assessment, pragmatic trials, rehabilitation treatment specification systems, and advanced statistical methods, to tackle the limitations to increase the quality of the research in rehabilitation. The development and implementation of new technologies should increase the quality of research and the level of evidence supporting rehabilitation provided some adaptation in our research methodology.

One of the areas of research on materials for thin-film solar cells focuses on replacing In and Ga with more earth-abundant elements. In that respect, chalcostibite (CuSbS2) is being considered as a promising environmentally friendly and cost-effective photovoltaic absorber material. In the present work, single CuSbS2 phase have been synthesized directly by a short duration (2 h) mechanochemical synthesis step starting from mixtures of elemental powders. X-ray diffraction analysis of the synthesized CuSbS2 powders revealed a good agreement with the orthorhombic chalcostibite phase, space group Pnma, and a crystallite size of 26 nm. Particle size characterization revealed a multimodal distribution with a median diameter ranging from of 2.93 m to 3.10 m. The thermal stability of the synthesized CuSbS2 powders was evaluated by differential thermal analysis. No phase change was observed by heat treating the mechanochemically synthesized powders at 350 C for 24 h. By UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy the optical bandgap was determined to be 1.41 eV, suggesting that the mechanochemically synthesized CuSbS2 can be considered suitable to be used as absorber materials. Overall, the results show that the mechanochemical process is a viable route for the synthesis of materials for photovoltaic applications.

Blockchain and Machine Learning gives the best solutions together in performing various tasks in the Smart Health care system. With these two new emerging technologies, that have materialized in the last decade. In this paper, we proposed secure, transparent and intelligent methods in the Internate of medical things industry using Machine learning models and blockchain technology to enhance security level and train our models to improve diagnostic, prevention, treatment of the patient, patient rights, patient autonomy and equality in the health care system.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian and a key sector of its economy. However, Lack of productive and environmentally friendly technology is not widely applicable elsewhere. Likewise, the vermicomposting technology is a recently emerging science which not effectively transferred to the users across the country. Thus, this review is aimed to shine the importance, unexploited opportunities and the challenges hindered for further expansions in Ethiopian context. Vermicompost is among the powerful organic fertilizers which enhance soil Fertility and productivity. As agrarian society; there are plenty of raw byproducts and weed species which are not center of focus (i.e cattle waste, crop residues and invasive weeds like P.Juliflora, P.hysterophorus and E.crassipes respectively). However, there are many constraints there like policy issue, handling problems and sensitivity of the worms for different environmental factors which hindered to invest on a wide range. Generally, the number and weight of vermiculture as well as amount of produced casts are promised and every possible ways were recommended to entertain on the large scale.

In the last four years, the evolution and adoption of blockchain and, more generally, distributed ledger systems have shown the affirmation of many concepts and models with significant differences in system governance and suitable applications. This work aims to update the critical analysis of blockchain technologies carried out by our previous contribution to this journal, extending the focus to distributed ledger components and systems. Starting from the topical concept of decentralization, we introduce concepts and building blocks currently adopted in the available systems centering on their functional aspects and impact on possible applications. We present some conceptual framing tools helpful in the application context, and we will propose the concept of process authenticity, which we will discuss through two use cases: blockchain document dematerialization and e-voting.

The number of AI applications in education is growing every day. One recent AI application in the educational sector is Chatbot technology, which is used to support teaching and administrative tasks. This document presents the design and implementation of a Chatbot called Tashi-Bot that helps applicants and university students to obtain information from an educational institution about certain academic and administrative processes. Among these are processes related to well-being, tuition, costs, admission, and other services. In order to design the Chatbot, an analysis of the state of the art, methodologies, and suitable tools was carried out, and a survey was conducted to discover the needs of users and their preferences in the use of a Chatbot for this specific purpose. Tashi-Bot was implemented on the SnatchBot platform and later deployed on a Telegram channel. In its evaluation, a final survey was carried out to check on the satisfaction of the users. The results suggest that Tashi-Bot could help applicants and university students to find information on academic and administrative processes with great certainty and without the need for human interaction. Tashi-Bot can be found at: https://web.telegram.org/#/im?p=@TashiE_Bot..

Pediatric obesity management strategies suffer from a high rate of dropout and persistence of weight excess, despite the use of new tools, such as the automated mobile technology (MT). We aimed to compare the efficacy of two personalized MT protocols with/without monthly in-presence recalls in terms of better adherence to follow-up, and improved anthropometric and lifestyle parameters. MT contacts consisted in three not automated messages per week, inserted between three-monthly in-presence regular visits with (PediaFit 1.2) or without (PediaFit 1.1) monthly in-presence recalls. The sample included 103 children (mean age 10 years, range 6-14) recruited in the Pediatric Obesity Clinic between January 2017 and February 2019, randomized in Intervention group (IG) (n=24 PediaFit 1.1; n=30 PediaFit 1.2) and Control group (CG) (total n=49). Both IGs achieved significantly better results than the CGs for all considered parameters. Comparison of the two IGs at the 6th month showed that IG 1.2 had a statistically significant lower drop-out rate (10% vs. 62%), along with improved body mass index z-score, systolic blood pressure, sleep duration and physical activity. The study suggests that the hybrid association of messaging through personalized/not automated MT plus monthly in-presence recalls may be considered for a favorable outcome of pediatric obesity programs.

Telehealth has been playing a progressively major role in the management of the NCOVID-19 crisis. The enforcement of social distancing measures has had the consequence of reduced technology distance in almost every walk of life. In this paper, based primarily on the still unfolding experiences of deploying it during the current situation, we argue that telehealth has finally come of age and that it is time to move it from the peripheries to the center of the 21st century healthcare. To provide a live context to the discussion, several instances of how telehealth strengthened our healthcare systems during the NCOVID-19 crisis are presented.

Organ-on-Chip is a game-changing technology born from the convergence of tissue engineering and microfluidic technology. Organ-on-Chip devices (OoCs) are expected to offer effective solutions to persisting problems in drug development and personalized disease treatments. This opinion paper surveys the current landscape in research, development, application and market opportunities for OoCs to help establishing a global and multi-stakeholder OoC ecosystem. Based on a bibliometric study, a market analysis, expert interviews, and panel discussions held at the ORCHID Vision Workshop (Stuttgart, 23 May 2018), we outline presently unmet needs, key challenges, barriers and perspectives of the field, and finally propose recommendations towards the definition of a comprehensive roadmap that could render OoCs realistic models of human (patho)physiology in the near future.

Soybean yields are often indicated as an interesting case of climate change mitigation due to the beneficial effects of CO₂ fertilization. In this paper we econometrically study this effect using a time series model of yields in a multivariate framework for a main producer and exporter of this commodity, Argentina. We have to deal with the upward behavior of soybean yields trying to identify which variables are the long-run determinants responsible of its observed trend. With this aim we adopt a partial system approach to estimate subsets of long-run relationships due to climate, technological and economic factors. Using an automatic selection algorithm we evaluate encompassing of the different obtained equilibrium correction models. We found that only technological innovations due to new crop practices and the use of modified seeds explain soybean yield in the long run. Regarding short run determinants we found positive effects associated with the use of standard fertilizers and also from changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentration which would suggest a mitigation effect from global warming. However, we also found negative climate effects from periods of droughts associated with La Niña episodes, high temperatures and extreme rainfall events during the growing season of the plant.

In this study, 6 residents of a long-term care facility were asked to try on Virtual Reality glasses and report their first experiences with Virtual Reality. The results show that Virtual Reality is of great interest to elderly residents of in-patient long-term care facilities. The wearing period was longer than expected and no symptoms of cyber sickness occurred. For the residents it was exciting to explore the virtual environments. Austrian destinations, nature scenes in the mountains and forests but also trips to the zoo, the museum, in churches or even densely populated areas like shopping streets or train stations would be places for the residents, they would like to explore virtually. Far-off destinations such as Rio de Janeiro or the Caribbean are more of an exception. Biographically relevant places such as the parental home or the location of their wedding were not named. Concerning the usability, an adjustment of the VR glasses is necessary for a longer-term use in any case.

Electricity consumption is often the hotspot of life cycle assessment (LCA) of products, industrial activities, or services. The objective of this paper is to provide a consistent, scientific, region-specific electricity-supply-based inventory of electricity generation technology for national and regional power grids. Marginal electricity generation technology is pivotal in assessing impacts related to additional consumption of electricity. China covers a large geographical area with regional supply grids; these are arguably equally or less integrated. Meanwhile, it is also a country with internal imbalances in regional energy supply and demand. Therefore, we suggest an approach to achieve a geographical subdivision of the Chinese electricity grid, corresponding to the interprovincial regional power grids, namely the North, the Northeast, the East, the Central, the Northwest, and the Southwest China Grids, and the China Southern Power Grid. The approach combines information from the Chinese national plans on for capacity changes in both production and distribution grids, and knowledge of resource availability. The results show that nationally, marginal technology is coal-fired electricity generation, which is the same scenario in the North and Northwest China Grid. In the Northeast, East, and Central China Grid, nuclear power gradually replaces coal-fired electricity and becomes the marginal technology. In the Southwest China Grid and the China Southern Power Grid, the marginal electricity is hydropower towards 2030.

Tracking and early identification of suspected cases are essential to control and prevent potential COVID-19 outbreaks. One of the most popular techniques used to track this disease is the use of Infrared cameras to identify individuals with elevated body temperatures. However, they are limited by their inability to be implemented in open public settings such as public parks or even outdoor recreational centers. This limits their ability to effectively track possible COVID-19 patients as open public recreational places such as parks, concert venues and other public venues are hotspots for the spreading of the virus. Other technological solutions such as thermal scanners require an individual to perform the actual testing as they are not individual standalone technologies. This method of testing can potentially cause the transmission of the virus between the tester and the individual getting tested. As can be seen, an alternative solution is essential to solving this issue. In this study, we aim to present the system, design and potential scope of a non-invasive system that can diagnose and identify potential COVID-19 patients using thermal and optical images of the individual using drone technology. The proposed system (COVIDRONE) combines multi-modal machine intelligence, computer vision and real-time monitoring to enable scalable monitoring. The system will also involve the use of machine learning algorithms for better and more accurate diagnosis. We envisage that development of such technologies may help in developing technological solutions to combat infectious disease threats in the future pandemics.

With the rapid development of global offshore wind power, the demand for offshore wind power operation and maintenance is also increasing. Wisdomization of offshore wind farms is a practical need to improve the operation level and benefit of offshore wind farms. This paper first introduces the current development situation and characteristics of global offshore wind power, and expounds the current situation and main challenges of offshore wind power operation and maintenance market. Therefore, our paper discusses the innovation of offshore wind power operation and maintenance from the aspects of operation and maintenance management of offshore wind power, monitoring and analysis technology of units, far-reaching wind field monitoring and operation and maintenance risks. Then, combined with information technology and lean management concept, a smart operation and maintenance management platform for wind farms in far-reaching sea areas is built to explore centralized and intelligent operation and maintenance management mode, improve operation and maintenance efficiency of wind farms in far-reaching sea areas, and minimize operation and maintenance costs. Finally, through the research on the characteristics of 5G technology, combined with the practical experience of operation and maintenance, and in view of the characteristics of offshore wind farms, we analyze and propose several typical application scenarios of 5G technology in the intelligent operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, which provides a new solution for the efficient operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms.

Construction project management and cost management is a difficult process that affects the overall success of construction projects. The success of a construction project can be assessed according to key performance indicators (KPIs). Cost savings and cost optimization over the life of a construction project is one of these KPIs. Cost management is largely performed through intelligent information technology in the construction industry. Information systems and information technologies have seen an increase in use in the management of construction projects. The same goes for cost management. Several studies mentioned in the paper point to this increase in use in recent years also in the management of costs at various stages. Many studies point to the use of information technology and software applications in the field of cost management. Still, to a large extent, there are no surveys focused on the analysis of the impact and impact factor of information technology on cost savings or cost optimization in various phases of construction projects. The research discusses the issue of the impact of information technology on cost management in various phases of a construction project. The main goal of the research is to analyze the influence of information technology factors on cost savings and optimization in individual phases of a construction project. Several statistical methods were used in the research. The resulting model of information technology impact factor was created based on data processing and the use of the AHP method.

Integrating triple bottom line (TBL) goals into supply chains (SCs) is a challenging task which necessitates the careful coordination of numerous stakeholders’ individual interests. Recent technological advancements can impact TBL sustainability by changing the design, structure and management of modern SCs. Blockchain technology enables immutable data records and facilitates a shared data view along the supply chain. The Physical Internet (PI) is an overarching framework that can be applied to create a layered and comprehensive view of the SC. In this conceptual paper I define and combine these technologies and derive several high-level research areas and research questions to investigate adoption, management as well as structural SC issues. I suggest a theory-based research agenda for the years to come that exploits the strengths of rigorous academic research, while remaining relevant for the industry. Furthermore, I suggest various well-established theories to tackle the respective research questions and provide specific directions for future research.

Educators' subject-matter knowledge and their understanding of the many ways in which technology may be used to enhance student learning can both benefit from the usage of pedagogical technology, which is the primary goal of this kind of technology. The goal of this study is to determine the extent to which kids with special needs might benefit academically by adopting various forms of technology into their daily routines. This work makes use of descriptive qualitative research together with the methodology and processes that come with case study research. The emphasis of this study was placed on three institutions that welcome students of all abilities. According to the results of the qualitative research, inclusive schools do not universally possess the resources necessary to successfully incorporate technology into the classroom. The results suggest that this teacher occupies a position that is about equivalent to the center of the acceptable range. This displays the instructor's existing proficiency in the use of technology to enhance the results for their students.

Existing research has focused on discussing various issues in isolation, e.g., climate change or deglobalisation, without capturing the geo-political, legal, socio-economic, and technological implications in a holistic manner, especially in China and Southeast Asia. This has hindered the derivation of clear guidelines to navigate the business environment in the next decade, thus leaving the business world with fragmented theories and concepts that are hard to amalgamate and turn into tangible business strategies. Thus, this study illustrates the key challenges that are likely to influence the stability and sustainability of the global business environment by 2030, as well as suggests the main business strategies to leverage to mitigate them. This contribution, for the first time, proposes an alternative holistic approach by highlighting the key threats to global business in the next decade, as well as suggesting clear action points to account for the main ones from geo-political, legal, socio-economic, and technological standpoints in a unified theory. Local and more tailored strategies are described and discussed as referred to various industries to help in navigating a deglobalised and more competitive market by 2030.

Aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and usability of a novel continuous glucose moni-toring (CGM) system designed for needle-free insertion and reduced environmental impact. We assessed sensor performance of two GlucoMen® Day CGM systems worn simultaneously in eight participants with type 1 diabetes. Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) was performed reg-ularly over 14 days at home. Participants underwent two standardized 5-hour meal challenges with frequent plasma glucose (PG) measurements using a laboratory reference instrument at the research center. When comparing CGM to PG the overall mean absolute relative difference (MARD) was 9.7 [2.6-14.6]%. The overall MARD of CGM vs SMBG was 13.1 [3.5-18.6]%. In the consensus error grid (CEG) analysis, 98% of both CGM/PG and CGM/SMBG pairs were in the clinically acceptable zones A and B. The analysis confirms that GlucoMen® Day CGM meets the clinical requirements for state-of-the-art CGM. The needle-free insertion technology is well toler-ated by users and reduces medical waste compared to conventional CGM systems.

The rapid growth of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector requires additional infrastructure, such as more micro-datacenters and telecom stations, to support the higher internet speeds and low latency requirements of 5G net-works. The increased power requirements of the new ICT technologies necessitate the proposal of new power supplies in an attempt to retain the increase in energy demand and running costs. This work provides an in-depth theoretical analysis on the losses of the individual stages of commercially available PSU and proposes a new multicell PSU, Buck-PFC converter, which offers a higher overall efficiency at varying load levels. The theoretical results are verified using simulation results, via PSIM Thermal Module, and using experimental data. The results indicate that multi-cell structures can improve the overall PSU ef-ficiency by 1.2% at 50% rated power and more than 2.1% at full power. Finally, taking into consideration the economic implica-tions of this study, it is shown that the proposed multicell structure may increase the PSU costs by 10.78% but the payback pe-riod is in the order of just 3.3 years.

At present, sustainability and emerging technology are the most expressed issues in any supply chain management (SCM) sector. At the same time, pandemic makes consumers more concerned regarding health, and safe food with a sustainable way to access the current market. Thus, supervision and monitoring of product quality with symmetric traceability information in fresh food and fisheries SCM is significant. Research on food safety and traceability systems based on blockchain, internet of service (IoT), wireless sensor networks (WSN), and radio frequency identification (RFID) provides the solution of constancy from production to consumption. This review focused on the RFID-based traceability systems in fisheries SCM, which have been employed globally in the last fifteen years to ensure fish quality and security. Additionally, a summarized comparison study has presented different sectors’ traceability systems using RFID and their advantages over real-time applications. The outcome of this study will help future researchers to solve the crisis in terms of trust between consumers and the fisheries SCM. Thus, this review would be a guideline and solution for enhancing the reliability of RFID-based traceability in food SCM systems to ensure the integrity and reducing the opacity and asymmetry in the product information.

The adoption of agricultural technology is an important path for raising agricultural productivity, and thereby for reducing food insecurity and poverty. Despite the efforts to promote adoption in most of the rural areas of Ethiopian farmers, the adoption rate has always been very low. So, it is essential to understand the barriers to adoption. As a result, this study examined the determinants of adoption of multiple agricultural technologies in rural Amhara region of Ethiopia. The study is based on Ethiopian socio-economic survey of 2015/16. A sample of 656 farm households was considered. The paper used multinomial logit model to assess the factors affecting adoption. The result shows that farmers with more educational level, family size, off-farm participation, livestock, extension contact, credit access, advisory service, and farmers closer to plot, all-weather road, zonal town, and farmers with lower remittance income are more likely to adopt new or improved agricultural technology. Therefore, the study recommends the need of policies and interventions on adoption of agricultural technology should pay attention and move along with those variables significantly influencing adoption of agricultural technology.

Clubhouse is an auditory app that allows users to host various rooms surrounding a diverse range of topics from Artificial Intelligence to Philosophy. Along with its educational and serene approach, it is known for its popularity amongst celebrities, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Shopify, and its elusive invite and ios-only pass into gaining access into Clubhouse. Waiting lists are available in the case of not achieving an invite, but to further speed the process, various sellers on eBay, Reddit, Twitter, etc., charging invites from $10-$200. This research paper covers the phenomenon of Clubhouse and the emergence of audio-only rooms, along with a hypothesis of why Clubhouse and other apps of a similar kind are experiencing a harsh downfall despite its seemingly successful business model.

AbstractBackground: the development of nursing, especially related to the nursing intervention approach, is running so fast. This can be seen from the use of peer group support in nursing interventions in individual humans. The purpose of this literature is to find the impact of implementing nursing interventions using a peer group support approach.Method: this literature review method uses JBI and Prisma on 120 articles taken from journal databases, namely Scopus, PubMed and Sciendirect.Result: From the articles analyzed, it was found that the application of peer groups can improve individual abilities both in psychological and behavioral aspects.Conclusion: the application of the peer group approach is able to be one of the approaches in the world of nursing in carrying out nursing actions today.

In some parts of Nigeria, many girls do not attend school, and among those sent to school, many still drop out early. This and other socio-cultural factors affect girls psychologically. There is no doubt that girls need consistent love and tutoring to guide them through the turbulent teen years and beyond. They need a mentor who acts as a friend and a role model. The Mobile-based Mentoring Platform seeks to leverage on mobile technology's affordances to focus on the needs of the girl-child, such as improvement in academic achievement, guidance in career choice, development of self-concept, and esteem. The girl-mentees comments revealed that using the platform provided them frequent access to mentors and access to learning opportunities. The challenges they faced include epileptic internet network, intrusions by parents, and others. Therefore, this paper examined the challenges and benefits of mentoring girls via a mentoring platform.

One of the special trends in health care is the increasing availability of data and services to the cloud, especially for convenience (for example, providing a complete patient medical record without interruption) and savings (for example, economic issues). Management of health care data). However, there are limitations to using common cryptographic prototypes and access control models to address security and privacy concerns in an increasingly cloudy environment. In this paper, we explore the potential and capacity of using China's Blockchain technology to protect health care data hosted in the cloud. We also explain the real challenges of such an approach and further research is needed. Health care is a highly data-dependent domain, with large amounts of data being created, published, stored and accessed daily. For example, data are created when a patient undergoes a number of examinations (such as computed tomography or computed tomography scans) and the data need to be sent to the radiologist and then to a physician. The visit results are then stored in the hospital, and then need to be accessed later by another physician at another hospital within the network. It is clear that technology can play an important role in improving the quality of care for patients (for example, using data analytics to make informed medical decisions) and potentially costing more by allocating resources more efficiently in terms of personnel, equipment, etc. , Reduce. For example, paper-based data extraction is difficult to extract into systems (for example, it is costly and may involve data entry errors), archiving them and accessing them as needed is costly. These challenges may cause medical decisions to be incomplete, requiring repeated tests for missing information or missing data stored in another hospital in another state or country (at the expense of increased costs and no convenience). (For patients) and so on. Because of the nature of the industry, it is important to ensure the security, privacy and integrity of health care data. As a result, there is definitely a need for a secure and secure data management system.

The use of mobile devices facilitates access to knowledge and is at the base of the education of the future. Although the digital society has contributed a number of benefits, however, it has also been associated with worrying behaviours. The study design consisted of a quantitative approach that was descriptive, inferential and ex post-facto in nature. Its purpose was to better understand the opinion of young people regarding mobile phone use and describe dependence deriving from regular use. The sample was formed of 420 students from the Faculty of Education at the University of Granada. Results indicate that mobile phone use has displaced use of other technologies such as the television, and is associated with communication and recreational activities. In addition, a profile was identified for young people at greater risk of developing a dependence on their mobile devices. This profile constituted females, mobile phone users with recreational motives and individuals who exceeded mobile phone use by more than six hours a day. To improve the educational use of mobile phone, prevention and intervention plans must be designed which ensure correct management of this device, taking advantage of the benefits it offers whilst avoiding problems derived from inappropriate use.

With the interest and attention that the Blockchain and the Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) have recently demanded, the technology is advancing at a very high rate. With investors and applications in a wide variety of fields, a lot of funding and efforts are being driven into bringing the technology to everyday use. The community and companies are coming up with new ways to collaborate, which makes the blockchain ecosystem evolve at full tilt. Consequently, this paper’s aim is to review the academic and grey literature and to provide readers with information about the evolution, benefits and challenges of the Public Distributed Ledger Technologies and to discuss the latest solutions, which are being developed for bringing decentralization closer to the mainstream. The paper reviews the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structured distributed ledgers with focus on the Hedera Hashgraph, a novelty DLT bringing a unique consensus algorithm with new use-cases enabled by new cryptoeconomic mechanisms as well as vital services, such as Solidity smart contracts and distributed file storage. Lastly, we are going to explore second-layer network protocols, a major topic for solving the scalability issues, empower Bitcoin and DLTs and also disrupt cryptocurrency exchanges focusing on the Lightning Network.

Evidence has shown that the state of the patient care environment has a direct impact in heightening the risks of hospital acquired infections among patients admitted in hospitals. And in view of the sub-optimal standard of cleanings by housekeeping staff, the quest for a better approach to reliably disinfect environmental surfaces in healthcare facilities. The ultraviolet light has been known for its antimicrobial property, and have been used in water treatment, food processing and in-duct cleaning of ventilations. A recent introduction of its use for surface decontamination has raised interest among hospitals.However, studies have shown that, in spite of its relative success in other applications, there is doubt in its efficacy in decontaminating shadowed areas of the room, and therefore, would not be seen as justifying its capital intensiveness.

Objective:The application of information technology (IT( is fundamental in the hospitals to stay competitive.In this regard, recognizing the main risks to the implementation of IT in hospitals can provide vastopportunities to improve its efficiency and help to make strategic decisions. This study aimed tosearch for the main risks of implementation of IT projects in the hospitals of Tehran. Methods: This was a practical and cross-sectional study which was conducted in the 18 hospitals of Tehran,Iran, 2018; in which a sample of 65 members were studied. The required data were collected using a questionnaire to examine seven main risks, including market, project management, human resources, technical, organizational, financial, strategic risks. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0. Additionally, the method used to test the risks in this study was structural equation modeling, which was ran using LISREL 9.30. Results: The results showed that among the seven main risks of to the implementation of IT in hospitals, the highest and lowest means were related to the human resource risks and the market risks, respectively. Also, according to the SEM, human resource risks and market risks had the highest and lowest effects, respectively. Conclusion: Announcing the use of IT in the hospitals, holding conferences about new IT developments with employees, suitable training, encouraging them to use IT tools, providing a motivating atmosphere to use IT tools for employees, are a few effective ways of overcoming the human resource risks.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing technique. It allows to produce elements with very complex geometry using metallic powders. A geometry of manufacturing elements bases only on 3D CAD data. The metal powder is melt selectively layer by layer using ytterbium laser. The paper contains results of porosity and microhardness analysis made on specimens which were manufactured during specially prepared process. Final analysis helped to discover connections between changing hatching distance, exposure speed and porosity. There was no significant differences in microhardness and porosity measurement results in the planes: perpendicular and parallel to the machine building platform surface.

This research was presented the special designed microfluidic device generated for sperm separation based on assumption of different surface electrical charged of sperms X and Y. However, to avoid ethical problem, the microfluidic chip has been tested with the mimic electrical charged particles, TiO₂-coated Polystyrene beads, (TiO₂-coated Ps-beads), instead of spermatozoa. The work has been separated into three main parts. Firstly, the simply but efficient fabrication of negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads has been presented. In addition, various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Tungsten Scanning Electron Microscopy (W-SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mode, and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), have been reported in this work to elucidate the reasons behind the persistence of negatively charged on the surface of TiO₂-coated Ps-beads. Results show that the fabricated TiO₂-coated Ps-beads was partly coated in the mixed forms of amorphous Ti⁴⁺ and had caused a negatively charge to appear on the surface after fabrication and had sustained its electrical charged for long. Secondly, process of simulation and fabrication of microfluidic device was presented. Finally the negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads were tested in this microfluidic devices. For design of microfluidic devices integrated with a couple of microelectrodes, the simulated structures were fabricated by photolithographic technique and tested with the Ps-beads. Percentage of validation for Ps-beads separation indicated that the 100 mm-distance-between-electrodes microfluidic device exhibits to be the highest performance prototype at 86.96%. For further confirmation, another model so called the single path prototype has been established. It is confirmed by 92.59% of validation for the utilization of the device. The successfully designed microfluidic devices can be examined with actual spermatozoa later. Furthermore, process to fabricate the negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads can be established as testified samples for development of other microfluidic devices.

LiFePO₄ (LFP) or Lithium-ion battery with its advantages compared to common current motorcycle battery is an appropriate alternative in substituting wet and dry cell battery. Huge amount of demand of motorcycle along with the battery in Indonesia also make it an interesting product for business. In order to assess the commercial potential for such a new technology, market share needs to be estimated as well as the techno-economic feasibility. Hence, market share prediction using the residents of Surakarta Region and techno-economic analysis using NPV, IRR and PBP indicators have been conducted in this study. Calculation using markov chain method shows that LFP battery tends to dominate the market after certain period. Techno-economic analysis also figures out that the commercialization is feasible in three conditions - first mover, even with market leader and equilibrium point. Therefore, there is a great commercial potential for LFP battery especially in Indonesia.

There has been widespread criticism about the rates of participation of students enrolled on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), more importantly, the percentage of students who actively consume course materials from beginning to the end. This study sought to investigate this trend by examining the factors that influence MOOC adoption and use by students in selected Ghanaian universities. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was extended to develop a research model. A survey was conducted with 270 questionnaires administered to students who had been assigned MOOCs; 204 questionnaires were retrieved for analysis. Findings of the study show that MOOC usage intention is influenced by computer self-efficacy, performance expectancy, and system quality. Results also showed that MOOC usage is influenced by facilitating conditions, instructional quality, and MOOC usage intention. Social influence and effort expectancy were found not to have a significant influence on MOOC usage intention. The authors conclude that universities must have structures and resources in place to promote the use of MOOCs by students. Computer skills training should also be part of the educational curriculum at all levels. MOOC designers must ensure good instructional quality by using the right pedagogical approaches and also ensure that the sites and learning materials are of good quality.

Mining wastes generate a high environmental impact, and population exposure to metals and metalloids. Phytoremediation is a technology that uses plants to remediate polluted sites, one of its limitations is seed germination in soil with high content of metals and metalloids. B. dactyloides is a native specie from semiarid regions, while C. dactylon is an introduced specie, both are tolerant to drought and low temperatures. Owing, the objective of this research was to evaluate the germination of both species, exposed to a multi-polluted soil with As, Cd, Pb and Zn of a mining site, pondering different pH conditions (from 5.0 to 9.0). The study considered 4 repetitions by type of seed and soil pH. B. dactyloides showed higher germination percentage (83%) with pH 7.8; while the greater germination of C. dactylon was 34 % at pH 6.0. In the soil at pH 5, the germination in both species was not reached, owing that metals are more bioavailable in an acid environment. C. dactylon is less tolerant to As, Cd, Pb and Zn, so it is considered not effective for phytoremediation process. B. dactyloides has a high phytoremediation potential for multi-polluted sites, but further experiments are needed.

Trends focused on the Global Innovation Index (GII) as a measure for progress of nanochemistry. This paper provides projections of recent developments in the word in nanochemistry based on the Global Innovation Index as a predictor for certain Arab countries. The GII is an annual ranking of countries by its ability and performance in innovation and is calculated on a basic average from five and two pillars in two sub-indexes, the Innovation Input Index and the Innovation Output Index. Each pillar represents a trait of creativity and consists of up to five measures, with a weighted average formula for measuring their ranking. In 2008, the GII rose to 36.3 in 2016 from 0.5. The GII is smaller than the GII in Arabic countries worldwide. During the years 2013-2016, the worldwide GII was increasing while for the same period, for Arabic countries, this decline could be explained by economic and industrial wars in the Arab region.

According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability. Assistive Technology, in this context, contributes directly to the overcoming of difficulties encountered by people with disabilities in their daily lives, allowing them to receive education and become part of the labor market and society in a worthy manner. Assistive Technology has made great advances in its integration with Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) devices. AIoT processes and analyzes the large amount of data generated by IoT devices and applies Artificial Intelligence models, specifically Machine Learning, to discover patterns for generating insights and assisting in decision making. Based on a systematic literature review, this article aims at identifying the Machine Learning models used in multiple different research about Artificial Intelligence of Things applied to Assistive Technology. The survey of the topics approached in this article also highlights the context of such research, their application, IoT devices used, and gaps and opportunities for further development. Survey results show that 50% of the analyzed research address visual impairment, and for this reason, most of the topics cover issues related to computational vision. Portable devices, wearables, and smartphones constituted the majority of IoT devices. Deep Neural Networks represent 81% of the Machine Learning models applied in the reviewed research.

The use of improved agricultural technologies has been reported as the major strategy to increase agricultural production, increased household incomes and addressing poverty. However, adoption of such improved technologies by smallholder coffee farmers has been slow and this has contributed to the low coffee productivity in the country and the poor performance of the coffee sub sector. The study was meant to examine the effect of institutional factors including extension services, access to market and access to credit on technology adoption among smallholder coffee farmers in Kanungu District, Uganda. The study collected both quantitative and qualitative data from 289 smallholder coffee farmers and 8 key informants respectively in major coffee growing sub counties in Kanungu district. The study revealed that access to extension services and access to market have a positive significant influence on agricultural technology adoption while access to market has no significant influence on agricultural technology adoption. The study concluded that there is a positive significant relationship between institutional factors and technology adoption among smallholder coffee farmers in Kanungu district.

Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia is one of the centres for whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei production that applies intensive technology. However, no information has been obtained regarding the characteristics and status of water quality in coastal areas with environmentally friendly concepts and the potential to receive a waste load. The study aimed to determine the performance of whiteleg shrimp culture in relation to temporal and spatial aspects and characteristic and water quality status. Measurement and sampling of water were carried out before stocking/initial of culture whiteleg shrimp (rainy season) and end of culture/after harvesting of whiteleg shrimp (dry season) at two locations in the coastal area of ​​Bulukumba Regency, namely Bonto Bahari Subdistrict (BB) and Gantarang Subdistrict (GT). Variables measured and analyzed included temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate, total suspended solids, and total organic matter. Data analysis with descriptive statistics, multivariate statistics, and non-parametric statistics. The Storet (Storage and Retrieval) method was used to determine the water quality status. The results showed that the culture of whiteleg shrimp was technology-intensive with a stocking density of 110 - 220 ind/m² with productivity between 13.9 - 44.4 tons/ha/cycle. The predicted waste load of N is 28.00 tons/cycle and P reaches 6.61 tons/cycle. Another result was that changes in water quality status during the rainy season were classified as moderately polluted at the BB location and complying quality standards at the GT location, while in the dry season, both locations were categorized as heavily polluted. Variables of water quality that caused the decrease in water quality status in both locations (BB and GT) were observed to increase salinity, nitrate concentration, and ammonia concentration. However, there was a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration in the dry season.

The European Bioeconomy Strategy aims to strengthen and boost biobased sectors, unlocking investments and markets while rapidly deploying local bioeconomies across Europe and improving compliance with environmental and social sustainability goals. Current biomass provision structures and infrastructure might not be able to tap the sustainable potential of forestry-, agricultural residues and biogenic waste envisaged forming the biogenic feedstock base of the Circular Bioeconomy of tomorrow. Therefore, for the present paper, we assess mobilization strategies, their current status, opportunities, and barriers for local low value and heterogenous biomass resources. Based on discussions with bioenergy supply chain experts, we cluster mobilization measures into three assessment levels; the legislative framework, market structures and technological innovation. Scientific literature research on the respective keywords is performed, the European policy landscape mapped, and the results are enriched with anecdotal evidence, especially for recent and running projects and market developments that lack in published track records. We can identify research needs on all three assessment levels. Still, technological development and legislative frameworks are providing support for heterogeneous biomass mobilization. Market creation, however, represents a bottleneck. We provide novel perspectives, how physical- and virtual bio-hubs and crediting stake- and shareholder variety could create added-value based on sustainable primary economic activities and their cascading activities.

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 Residential and Industrial zones as is, rely heavily, if not exclusively, on Hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon thermal machinery such as Spark Ignition-Compression Ignition engines, Gasoline-Diesel generators, Coal-Lignite gasifiers, residential diesel-powered heating systems, Pyrolysis units and so on, are commonly met all around the planet. Such technology practically oxidizes Hydrocarbons to produce either heat, steam or useful mechanical work depending on the application, though energy losses are not, by any means, insignificant. Advanced material processing is an industrial sector who’s energy demand is significant and it is important for the general public to come to terms with the fact that by implementing Hydrogen technology to power such plant while at the same time improving the energy equilibrium of houses(advanced materials), communities would be taking major steps towards Climate Change effects debilitation. The downside of Hydrocarbon thermochemical exploitation can be described by the limited resources-reserves and the gaseous pollutant emissions (CO2, CO, NOx, SOx). In recent years, the Industrial zone as a whole has began taking a turn towards Electrification without having established the necessary infrastructure to support such a transition. Indicatively, at current rate of production, dead Lithium-Ion batteries are projected to reach as high as 11,000 metric tons by 2030, yet there is no recycling scheme in place, not to mention the prospect of that number rising even more, given the recent e-mobility trend. As it pertains to Electrification, such powertrains-machinery require electricity and a battery. Electricity production is mainly achieved through Coal-Lignite gasification, Batteries require metals, among others, for manufacturing, meaning that up-on mining, local water resources are contaminated, another very important ‘aspect’ of Lithium(per say) mining is that child labor is often associated with such processes, a truly despicable act. All of the above paint a crystal-clear picture as to how ‘environmentally friendly’ reckless-rushed Electrification really is. Climate Change is up-on us and it’s effects on the planet are obvious, the most important of which is glacier melting due to rising of the global Temperature. The COVID-19 crisis is a sign of what could come from glacier melting could as ice contains potentially harmful-toxic to humans, biological entities that are sure to be introduced to the general public if we were to continue exploiting mineral resources. Purpose of this paper is to provide a general overview of the technology around Hydrogen.

In recent years information and communication technologies (ICT) play a significant role in all aspects of modern society and impact socioeconomic development in sectors as education, administration, business, medical care and agriculture. The benefits of such technologies in agriculture can be appreciated only if farmers use them. In order to predict and evaluate the adoption of these new technological tools, the technology acceptance model (TAM) can be a valid aid. The paper measures the potential acceptance of an e-learning tool designed for EU farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs. Starting from a literature review of the technology acceptance model, by analyzing the most commonly used external variables in the fields of e-learning, Agriculture, and Virtual reality, the analysis shows that computer self-efficacy, individual innovativeness, computer anxiety, perceived enjoyment, social norm, content and system quality, experience and facilitating conditions are the most common determinants addressing technology acceptance. Furthermore, findings evidenced that the external variables have a different impact on the two main beliefs of the TAM Model, Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU). This study is expected to bring theoretical support for academics when determining the variables to be included in TAM extensions.

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 paper is focused on the examination of the internal quality of joints created in a multi-material - additive manufacturing process. The main part of the work focuses on experimental production and non-destructive testing of restrained joints of modified PLA (polylactic acid) and ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) 3Dprinted on RepRap 3D device that works on the "open source" principle. The article presents the outcomes of non-destructive materials test in the form of the data from the Laser Amplified Ultrasonography, microscopic observations of the joints area and tensile tests of the specially designed samples. The samples with designed joints were additively manufactured of two materials: specially blended PLA (Market name – PLA Tough) and conventionally made ABS. The tests are mainly focused on the determination of the quality of material connection in the joints area. Based on the results obtained, the samples made of two materials were compared in the end to establish which produced material joint is stronger and have a lower amount of defects.

(1) Background: Most of the existing studies focus on the evaluation of technology finance; the relationship between technology finance and technology innovation. But there are few studies on the development of technology finance and the quality of economic development in our country; (2) Methods: Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China, this paper constructs an index system to measure the development of technology finance through the improved entropy method, and tests the spatial correlation of the development of technology finance in China by Moran'I index. According to the test results, this paper constructs a spatial econometric model to empirically analyze the promoting effect of scientific, technological and financial development on high-quality economic development, and analyzes its promoting effect in different regions and different time periods; (3) Results: The results show that the quality of China's economic growth is spatially dependent, and the development of science, technology and finance can significantly promote the quality economic development in China. And the promotion coefficient of the central region is the largest, as well as the coefficient of the eastern region is the smallest. The promotion coefficient was small and not significant before 2015, and was significantly positive after 2015; (4) Conclusions: this paper puts forward the corresponding policy recommendations according to the research results.

This paper reports design of a 2 × 4 hybrid multimode interferometer-Mach-zehnder interferometer (MMI-MZI) configuration and compact thermo-optical switch consisting of slab waveguides on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI), platform. The device consisted of two identical MMIs as power splitters and couplers that are connected with two identical MMI-based phase shifters, and linear tapers at both ends of the MMIs to minimize the power coupling loss. A thin Al pad is used as a heating element, and a trench is created around this pad to prevent heat from spreading and to minimize loss. The calculated average thermo-optical switching power consumption, excess loss, and power imbalance are 1.4 mW, 0.9 dB, and 0.1 dB, respectively. The overall footprint of the device is 6 × 304 μm². The new heating method has advantages of compact size, ease of fabrication on SOI platform with the current CMOS technology, and offers low excess loss and power consumption as demanded by devices based on SOI technology. The device can act as two independent optical switches in one structure.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which traditional economic policies can be oriented by sound practices. It is becoming widely accepted that sustainable economic growth (and not only economic growth) is the final target of economic policies; but most economic policies are applied just looking to the short-run without taking in account the long-run perspective. Our aim will be to show how a sustainable economic policy-making would be possible, making compatible the stabilization of the economy in the short-run with a sustainable economic growth in the long-run. We confront the design of economic policies with the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda. We argue that all sustainable development goals can be attained by the design and implementation of sustainable economic policies. Finally, to illustrate this point we will conduct a simulation exercise to show under which combinations of demand policies technological shocks would promote a path of sustainable growth. Our results will provide a reference framework for a sustainable economic policy-making.

Stemborer pests contribute to significant maize crop yield loses incurred by the smallholder famers in Ethiopia. The problem requires requires concerted effort to learn and adopt new innovations to find a long lasting solution. In this study, the on-farm implementation of the push-pull technology (PPT) was used as a platform for interaction and enhancing the social learning among the stakeholders in the maize growing Woredas of Bako Tibe, Jimma Arjo and Yayu in the Oromia region. The main stakeholders were the smallholder maize farmers, researchers and the extension staffs. The study took place between August 2014 to May 2015. The PPT is a biological based strategy addresses the stemborer pest problem in maize crop. Under the strategy, maize crop is intercropped with a stemborer moth repellent fodder legume, Desmodium (the push) together with an attractant trap plant, Napier/Brachiaria grass (the pull) planted around maize-legume intercrop. The study was implemented based on the transdisciplinary action research approach and qualitative data collected during focus group discussions, key informant interviews, stakeholder workshops, participant observations and on-farm PPT demonstrations. The findings show that, the involvement of different stakeholders in joint PPT activities in an interactive environment is an innovation in itself. It creates opportunities for the stakeholders’ empowerment as well as deliberating on the contributions from each other to overcome uncertainties about the technology and create new knowledge. The intercropping strategy of maize with Desmodium and Napier/Brachiaria is used to reintroduce the traditional mixed cropping system of smallholder agriculture as strategy for control of pests.

Self-consciousness can be considered as the internal disposition to direct attention to oneself. This dispositional tendency can be focused on private aspects of the self, but also on public characteristics of the individual. We examine self-consciousness in online consumer behavior. This concept has been poorly investigated in consumer research. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of the dimensions of self-consciousness in consumer adoption of online shopping. This study is based on a sample of 725 Spanish undergraduates. Results indicated that public self-consciousness is a significant predictor of the adoption of online shopping.

Indonesia is among the countries developing the concept of smart city. The national government envisions Indonesia 2030 which shall implement the smart city towards sustainable development. Many regions in Indonesia have already implemented the concept of smart city, but still on the level of smart government and smart technology, lacking on the smart citizen component of a smart city. This paper aims to analyze the citizens behavior of using technology on Sleman smart citizen 2021 through the lapor sleman mobile application. This research uses mixed method of quantitative and qualitative approaches in examining the data. The authors distributed 100 questionares and conducted interviews to the government which is department of communication and information, Sleman and the several community that ever use the lapor sleman application. The result of the study reveals the following: firstly, performance expectancy, social influence, and behavioral intention are three independent variables which affect the users’ behavior. Secondly, the behavioral intention has the biggest significant effect on users’ behavior. Thirdly, the citizen behavior of using technology has affect the making a smart citizen. Therefore, using technology in term of lapor sleman mobile application can make the citizens as active participants in public life, in terms of social cooperation, freedom of expression and flexibility. However, there are still many problems in the use of lapor sleman mobile application such as the limited access to only android smartphones, lack of technical know-how, and people’s reluctance to use the lapor sleman mobile application.

A global revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) has occurred over the past few decades, emerging first in industrialized countries and then in developing countries. While researchers have examined many facets of the ICT revolution, relatively little work has systematically examined the degree to which ICT has reduced natural disaster vulnerability. In this article we use cross-country data over the 1980-2013 period to estimate the relationship between newly-emerging cell phone access/use and disaster-induced fatalities. Our estimates suggest that a one-standard-deviation increase in cell phone usage reduces disaster fatalities by nearly one half. The estimated effect increases to almost three quarters for geologic events where people are typically afflicted without warning. The largest marginal benefit from cell phones in terms of saving lives come from events where there is typically no warning, thus many are caught by surprise; cell phones are used to call for help and coordinate assistance.

Big Data warehouses are a new class of databases that largely use unstructured and volatile data for analytical purpose. Examples of this kind of data sources are those coming from the Web, such as social networks and blogs, or from sensor networks, where huge amounts of data may be available only for short intervals of time. In order to manage massive data sources, a strategy must be adopted to define multidimensional schemas in presence of fast-changing situations or even undefined business requirements. In the paper, we propose a design methodology that adopts agile and automatic approaches, in order to reduce the time necessary to integrate new data sources and to include new business requirements on the fly. The data are immediately available for analyses, since the underlying architecture is based on a virtual data warehouse that does not require the importing phase. Examples of application of the methodology are presented along the paper in order to show the validity of this approach compared to a traditional one.

Transdisciplinary research approach requires that different scientists with their discipline-specific theories, concepts and methods find ways to work together with other societal players to solve a real-life problem. In order to put this into practice, Trans-disciplinary Action Research (TDR) approach was applied in this study using Push pull technology (PPT) as a boundary object. The study was conducted in Bako Tibe, Jimma arjo and Yayu Woredas (Districts) in the Oromia region of Ethiopia from August 2014 to April 2015. PPT is a biological based mechanism developed by researchers for stemborer pest control in maize. It involves inter-cropping maize with a stemborer moth-repellent silverleaf or Greenleaf Desmodium (push), and planting an attractive trap crop, Napier or Brachiaria grass (pull), around the maize crop. On farm PPT implementation was used to provide an opportunity for collaboration, interaction and learning among heterogeneous set of stakeholders comprising of researchers from Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural research and the practitioners from the ministry of agriculture and smallholder farmers/traders. The data was collected using mixed methods approach comprising of key informant interviews, Focus Group discussions, workshops, on-farm practical demonstrations and participant observations. The findings shows that; collaborative leadership provides a chance for the stakeholders to participate in the technology learning and decision making by enabling them to jointly contribute skills towards development, refinement and adaptation of PPT. In situations where there are conflicts, they are embraced and become opportunities for in-depth learning, finding solutions and adaptation rather than being sources of contradictions or misunderstandings. Leadership roles taken by farmers play a key role in terms of ability to reflect on their own practices and drawing on scientific explanations from researchers. It also enables them take lead in new technology implementation and information sharing in free and easy manner with fellow farmers and other stakeholders. Although PPT perennial nature of cropping provides opportunities for continuous stakeholder interaction and learning, it requires a personally committed leadership and formal institutional engagements for the sustainability of its activities spanning over several cropping seasons. Market forces and the involvement of private sector players also has a role to achieve this as shown from the involvement of individual farmers and traders in Desmodium and Brachiaria seed production, collection and distribution.

Background: The use of technology in paediatrics is increasing, and new health technology will change the way in which paediatric care is delivered in the future. This review is part of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Paediatrics 2040 project, which is developing a credible vision for the future of paediatrics in the UK. Aims: To summarise the impact of health technology on the delivery of paediatric care over the last ten years. To learn from existing technology use and make recommendations for future implementation. Methods: A search strategy was developed and two databases (Cochrane Library and PubMed) were systematically searched in August 2019 for relevant publications in English. Searches were limited to papers published between January 2009 and August 2019 (with further rapid review of papers published between September 2019 and November 2020). We included papers that studied young people up to the age of 24 or on those providing care for this population. A thematic synthesis of the data from the included studies was undertaken using seven domains of paediatric care. Results: 128 studies were included, grouped by domain of care. Most included studies were defined as digital (n=55) or communication (n=37). Studies looked at the different types of health technology used within different domains of care, including secondary and tertiary care (n=39), public health and prevention (n=29), and community (n=20). Studies were assessed on delivery of care outcomes using positive, negative, mixed and no effect. The most common outcomes reported were adherence and satisfaction. Discussion: This review highlights the growing importance of technology in delivering paediatric care. Six themes emerged: the importance of clear guidelines, continuity of care, confidentiality and privacy, digital poverty, using a personalised approach, and using technology to supplement rather than replace. In future, technology development should involve the end user throughout the design process.

Due to the complexity, high-risk, and conservative character of construction companies, advanced digital technologies do not become widely adopted in the short term, while vendors make determined efforts to overcome this and disseminate their technologies. This paper presents the methods of an investigation addressing the extremely complex issues related to the current practices of digital technology adoption in construction. It discusses how construction companies follow a specific logical process linked to need, project objectives, characteristics of the adopting organization, and the characteristics of the new technology to be adopted. The study aims to demonstrate a novel method of data collection and analysis including data and methodological triangulation techniques including the use of NVivo and AHP to explore how companies make the decision to uptake a new technology (e.g. advanced crane, tunnel boring machine or drones) by focusing on customer and vendor activities, their interactions, contributing factors, and people involved in the process. The major original contribution of this paper is to develop an innovative methodological Cube for investigating the Construction Technology Adoption Process (CTAP) covering technology adoption, acceptance, diffusion and implementation concepts. CTAP is a framework that delineates the phases of the process that customer organizations use when deciding to adopt a new digital technology and the parallel vendor activities. The significance of these contributions is that they enable vendors to understand how to match their strategies with customer expectations in each phase of the CTAP. It also provides a benchmark for new construction companies to use the current best practice of decision making. Future research is warranted to more clearly delineate any differences with developing nations or related industries such as mining and property management.

This study proposes a structure for companies to use when implementing human resource practices in open innovation. Despite the fact that open innovation has received a lot of attention in the innovation management field as companies open their doors to information exchange in an effort to spur creative thinking, there are very few empirical articles that connect this trend to the human resource management literature. Our findings are the result of an extensive qualitative investigation into Julphar Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries Manufacturers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its open innovation program. Internal, external, and combined are the three primary pillars of human resource management. We also demonstrate how the evolution of the open innovation initiative is linked to the state of the art in HRM and open innovation literature. The framework identifies HRM practices for both internal and external participants in the open innovation effort. Much of this HRM is done off the books, in a setting separate from the host company. By providing actual evidence of how firms use HRM to manage open innovation projects, our research adds to the scant and mostly theoretical literature linking open innovation and HRM.

Global crop yield and food security are being threatened by phytophagous insects. Innovative methods are required to increase agricultural output while reducing reliance on hazardous synthetic insecticides. It appears to be quite effective at reducing production costs and boosting farm profitability to use the ground-breaking CRISPR-Cas technology to create plants that are insect resistant. In contrast, this new technique can modify an insect's genome to either produce gene drive or get beyond an insect's tolerance to various insecticides. This paper reviews and critically discusses the use of CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology in long-term insect pest management. The emphasis of this review is on the prospective uses of the CRISPR-Cas system for insect stress management in crop production by creating genome-edited crops and insects. The potential and difficulties of using CRISPR-Cas technology to reduce pest stress in crop plants are critically examined and discussed.

Within the field of movement sensing and sound interaction research, multi-user systems have gradually gained interest as a means to facilitate an expressive non-verbal dialogue. When tied with studies grounded in psychology and choreographic theory, we consider the qualities of interaction that foster an elevated sense of social connectedness, non-contingent to occupying one’s personal space. In reflection of the newly adopted social distancing concept, we orchestrate a technological intervention, starting with interpersonal distance and sound at the core of interaction. Materialised as a set of sensory face-masks, a novel wearable system was developed and tested in the context of a live public performance from which we obtain the user’s individual perspectives and correlate this with patterns identified in the recorded data. We identify and discuss traits of the user’s behaviour that were accredited to the system’s influence and construct 4 fundamental design considerations for physically distanced sound interaction. The study concludes with essential technical reflections, accompanied by an adaptation for a pervasive sensory intervention that’s finally deployed in an open public space.

Facial expressions play a key role in interpersonal communication when it comes to negotiating our emotions and intentions, as well as interpreting those of others. Research has shown that we can connect to other people better when we exhibit signs of empathy and facial mimicry. However, the relationship between empathy and facial mimicry is still debated. Among the factors contributing to the difference in results across existing studies is the use of different instruments for measuring both empathy and facial mimicry, as well as often ignoring the differences across various demographic groups. This study first looks at the differences in empathetic abilities of people across different demographic groups based on gender, ethnicity and age. The empathetic ability is measured based on the Empathy Quotient capturing a balanced representation of both emotional and cognitive empathy. Using statistical and machine learning methods, the study then investigates the correlation between the empathetic ability and facial mimicry of subjects in response to images portraying different emotions displayed on a computer screen. Unlike the existing studies measuring facial mimicry using electromyography, this study employs a technology detecting facial expressions based on video capture and deep learning. This choice was made in the context of increased online communication during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study confirm the previously reported difference in the empathetic ability between females and males. However, no significant difference in the empathetic ability was found across different age and ethnic groups. Furthermore, no strong correlation was found between empathy and facial reactions to faces portraying different emotions shown on a computer screen. Overall, the results of this study can be used to inform the design of online communication technologies and tools for training empathy team leaders, educators, social, and health care providers.

Seismic monitoring in areas where induced earthquakes could occur is a challenging topic for seismologists due to generally very low signal to noise ratio. Therefore, the seismological com-munity is devoting several efforts to the development of high-quality networks around the areas where fluid injection and storage and geothermal activities take place, also following the national induced seismicity monitoring guidelines. The use of advanced data-mining strategy, such as template matching filters, auto-similarity search and deep-learning approaches is recently further fostering such a monitoring enhancing the seismic catalogues and lowering the magnitude of completeness of these areas. In this framework, we carried out an experiment where a small-aperture seismic array was installed around the gas reservoir of Collalto, in North Italy. The continuous velocimetric data, acquired for 25 days, were analysed through the application of the optimized auto-similarity search technique FAST. The array was conceived as a cost-effective network, aimed at integrating, right above the gas storage site, the permanent high-resolution Collalto Seismic Network. The analysis allowed to detect micro-events down to magnitude Ml=-0.4 within a distance of ~15km from the array. Our results confirmed that the system based on the array installation and the FAST data-analysis might contribute to lower the magnitude of completeness around the site of about 0.7.

The aim of this review is to present the Quality by Design (QbD) model as a suitable methodology to perform research in the academic Costa Rican institutions that teach Pharmacy. Pubmed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were screened for original and review papers, as well as short communications published not more than 10 years ago. Publications were screened by title and abstract. Relevant references were used to develop three important themes: The University’s Research Model in Costa Rica, QbD Model, and QbD as a Research Methodology for Industrial Pharmacy in the Academy. In this sense, the QbD model is a great methodology for carrying out research projects regarding Pharmaceutical Sciences but especially for Drug Development. Academic research based on this model enables training and developing practical, scientific, and leadership skills in pharmacy students. The generated knowledge can be shared in the classrooms, which represents an ideal environment to communicate their research results and to foster collaborative work between researchers, professors, and students. The participation of all these actors allows a high level of commitment to research work, which benefits the scientific advancement of the university and society. It is important to visualize the student body as potential key actors in the research process, encouraging in them the desire to become trained scientific researchers who want to pursue a career in the academy, giving continuity to it.

Numerous cases and a shortage of resources usually limit wild animal rescue. New technology implemented might save these severely injured wild animals from the situation of euthanasia by easing the requirement of intensive medication. Three-dimensional (3D) technologies provide precise and accurate results that improve the quality of the medical application. These 3D tools have become relatively low-cost and accessible in the past years. In the medical field of exotic animal, turtle shell defect is highly challenging because of inevitable water immersion. This report is the first attempt to apply the combination of 3D scanning, computer-aid design (CAD), and 3D printing to make a protective device that frees the wound from exposure to water or infection sources. The presenting techniques successfully extricate a wild freshwater turtle from an extensive shell defect within a short period. Integration of multiple sciences to 3D technology can provide a facile model for veterinary medical applications.

Abstract: Formation of DNA adducts is a key event for a genotoxic mode of action and its formation is often use as surrogate for mutation and cancer. Interest in DNA adducts are twofold, first, to demonstrate exposure, and second, to link DNA adduct location to subsequent mutations or altered gene regulation. High chemically specific mass spectrometry methods have been established for DNA adduct quantitation and elegant bio-analytic methods utilizing enzymes, various chemistries, and molecular biology methods to visualize the location of DNA adducts. Traditionally, these highly specific methods cannot be combined, and the results are incomparable. Initially developed for single-molecule DNA sequencing, nanopore-type technologies are expected to enable simultaneous quantitation and location of DNA adducts across the genome. We will briefly summarize the current methodologies for state-of-the-art quantitation of DNA adduct levels and mapping of DNA adducts and describe novel single-molecule DNA sequencing technology that is expected to achieve both measures simultaneously. Emerging technologies are expected to soon provide a comprehensive picture of the exposome and identify gene regions susceptible to DNA adduct formation.

The impact that new technologies have on all aspects of our lives, work, and businesses is significant and growing over time. Blockchain and artificial intelligence, among other innovative technologies, are having a profound effect on practically all business functions, including most human resources (HR) tasks. The HR sector is currently facing a variety of challenges as HR departments invest many hours in vetting candidates' applications and authenticating records to decrease the chances of imperfect recruiting. Nowadays, more technologically based processes are utilised for talent search, selection and management, as well as for accumulating, retaining, and integrating new talents into a company. These HR practices are far more effective compared to traditional methods but can also be more expensive if the transactional costs are considered. This paper consists of two parts. Following an introduction, the first part discusses the trust and confidentiality that can be attained, while the second part examines security, fraud prevention and the productivity gained from using blockchain technology in HR activities. Finally, there is a concluding section, discussing the implications of blockchain technology for firms who choose to employ it.