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Several European cities have committed to a long-term mobility transition to achieve a target of zero carbon emissions. In order to reduce the use of private vehicles, it is argued that digital shared mobility services are sustainable solutions for citizens. This paper proposes early citizen engagement as an approach to designing digital mobility services in inclusive and accessible ways. We present the findings from a mobile probing study involving 10 citizens from Espoo in order to gain first-hand experience of citizens' mobility needs and behaviours. Our preliminary findings show that giving up private vehicles and distrust of shared mobility solutions is still a challenge. We explore citizens' attitudes towards shared digital mobility services and propose design guidelines to resolve challenges of accessibility and inclusion in those services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fusion of arts into STEM has promoted STE(A)M modules for future learning and pedagogy at various levels of academia across Europe. However, the competent skills required for future jobs and education are not explored enough yet. The education institutions in different European countries have varied performances in terms of innovation pedagogy. This variation often reflects on entrepreneurship opportunities in the region as well. Understanding the student's outlook can help better understand the gap in various areas across Europe. The paper investigates the competence building possible in innovation, entrepreneurship and STE(A)M through the student's perspective on arts and science. The academic survey revealed insights on students perception in transition of STEM to STE(A)M models in pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current green and digital transitions as well as demands arising from the global competitiveness targets set European industry in a challenging position. Simultaneously, the pandemic has limited our possibilities for traditional face-to-face collaboration, and many new ways of working are here to stay. The services and platforms offered by university-based research and innovation infrastructures are often lacking the point of view of other stakeholders' interests. Nor do they emphasise new initiatives towards more effective and collaborative innovation management actions targeting for example business opportunities and commercialization. In this paper we present a Digital Playbook approach facilitating the process to plan and pre-segment the standard service pathways for the benefit of more effective valorisation of research and innovation infrastructures. Embedding the digital tools into the process enables a larger number of innovators to be engaged and thus cultivates a prospective and creative innovation environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of the official documents that regulate quality assurance activities in a modern univertsity. The principal objectives of the paper are to discuss the main standards for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area, and examine the basic criteria applied for international institutional accreditation. The research method used in the paper includes the review of official EU and OECD documents on quality assurance in higher education. The analysis conducted in the paper has allowed the author to identify and summarize key internal and external standards for quality assurance, which education managers should consider in the agenda of the all-inclusive management of an academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial markets were the first to react on COVID-19 pandemic and were also very sensitive on following lock-outs, support policies and restrictions. Though equally exposed to the threat and lack of information, different countries reacted to the disease in a different way. In this paper we focus on European financial markets and respective representative indices to analyze their characteristics and study their response to the economic changes that followed the outbreak of the pandemic. We use six European stock market indices (FTSE 100, CAC 40, DAX, IBEX 35, FTSE MIB and STOXX Europe 600) to compare their performance before and after 2020, assess their reaction on COVID-19 and discuss their recovery. Using MLE estimation and BFGS optimization we analyze return distribution and use them as proxy for pandemic impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource estimation is commonly performed in separate domains that are defined using different criteria depending on the type and geometry of the deposit, the mining method used, and the estimation method applied. The validity of estimation domains can be critical to the quality of produced resource estimates as they control various steps of the estimation process, including sample and block selection. Estimation domains also affect statistical and geostatistical analyses because they define what estimation practitioners will consider as statistically separate distributions of data. Sometimes, samples from different estimation domains share similar grade properties close to the contact between domains, a situation known as a soft boundary. In such cases, it can be useful to include samples from different domains at short distances from the boundary. Contact profile analysis is a technique that allows for the measurement of the relationship between grades on either side of the contact between two estimation domains. As discussed in the study presented in this paper, contact profile analysis can help validate the defined estimation domains and control the application depth of any soft boundaries found between domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pedersen Process was developed at the beginning of the 20th century as an alternative process to the Bayer route for producing alumina Al2O3. A successful operation in an industrial environment took place in Norway from 1925 to 1969. It ended due to economic reasons. Having a smaller environmental footprint (no bauxite residue) and the ability to handle alternative raw materials makes the approach promising for grappling with future challenges in Europe. This paper shows the status of the ongoing European Commission-funded work and the outline of a first industrial process concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulating innovation has been key in addressing policy challenges facing small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the Visegrad countries. Innovational activities among firms within the Visegrad countries have given firms a competitive advantage. Understanding some factors that influence process and product innovation and their impact are very necessary for deciding on the innovation strategy that leads to successful innovation. The study assesses some external factors that SMEs within Visegrad countries find most detrimental to their innovative activity using document analysis. Twenty-five articles were reviewed from the web of science, Scopus, and Google scholar databases, thus, from 2006 to 2020. The articles revealed the innovation types of SMEs in the Visegrad countries and external factors influencing innovation the most. The document analysis results show that external factors such as spatial and locational, markets for firms’ product, public policy, society, and environmental factors are very important for SMEs product and process innovation outcomes. Again, the study not only gives insights into the SME's innovation literature but rather a wake-up call to SME's practitioners and stakeholders on the need to ensure sustainable SME's given the swift growth of innovation across the globe. Limitation and future research directions are presented at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe has been experiencing an increasing number of sweltering heat waves in recent years. This run of hot extremes induces a significant impact on the human environment, especially in terms of excess mortality, highlighting the urgent need for improved heat-health action planning. This is particularly true in countries situated in the eastern Mediterranean, which is considered a climate change hot spot. To increase preparedness and response to overheating risks, heat-health warning systems (HHWSs) are of vital importance. In this direction, the principal aim of the HEAT-ALARM research project is to provide a novel scientific and technological framework for the development of efficient HHWSs, employing Greece as a testbed. Going beyond the simple notion that outdoor meteorological conditions alone can adequately describe the heat-health nexus, a sophisticated human-biometeorological index, the modified physiologically equivalent temperature (mPET), is used. Advanced statistical models and tools are employed in order to establish a clear link between mPET and excess mortality at regional-unit administrative level. Moreover, urban climate factors produced by combining remote sensing and geographical information system techniques are incorporated into the HHWS via a state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction model. The latter includes a scheme that combines the parameterization and modeling of building effects and energy, respectively, in order to account for the urban indoor thermal conditions and the intra-urban differential heat exposure within the five highest populated cities of Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion and Larissa). Further, the human body's acclimatization ability is considered, as well as the physiological characteristics of different vulnerable groups of people, including the elderly, women and outdoor workers. The current paper describes the scientific background of HEAT-ALARM and provides preliminary results associated with the project's realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, in many EU countries, students have the possibility to study two foreign languages along their school years and, in addition to that, adults are encouraged to start or continue foreign language learning, as the ability to communicate in a foreign language gives them the chance to come into contact with the cultural values of other peoples, develop their personalities and create wider opportunities for social integration, beneficial to the individual and profitable for the community. This paper attempts to depict the origins and the evolution of the current reality and explain the role played by the European Union and the Council of Europe in setting the trend in this particular field. Using the documentary method of research, this paper aims at providing a diachronic perspective on the events and documents that initiated and laid the foundations for foreign language education not only in the European Union, but also in Europe, at large. Moreover, by critically analysing the recent past related to foreign language education in this region, our paper might offer a useful key to better understanding the present and possibly might help raise greater awareness of the importance of foreign language skills in today’s globalized society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the International Congress on Process Engineering - Processing is the property of Union of Mechanical & Electrotechnical Engineers & Technicians of Serbia (SMEITS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urban railway transit is one of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly means of transport in the modern European city. There is a significant incentive for municipalities in Europe to construct new urban railways as the latter combine high energy efficiency with high carrying capacity. One of the main arguments in opposition to expanding existing urban rail networks is the noise and vibration impact of the new line on the surrounding area. This paper addresses the issue by means of formulating a theoretical model for urban railways' vibrational output evaluation. The aim is to provide key insights in the field of assessing the practical environmental impact that a newly installed public transit urban railway line has on the urban environment. Results obtained by this study can be used as input data in future impact assessments for public intentions of investment in the field of urban railway transit infrastructure systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is changing every day and new challenges appear everywhere. The returning of war in Europe, the growing strategic competition and the complex security threats are disrupting the global-rules based order, violates international law, the principle of the UN charter and undermine European and global security and stability. This paper intends to present the evolution of the European Union (EU) Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) and of the EU Security and Defense Strategy, as well as the EU structures, instruments and agencies involved in the implementation of the CSDP. In addition to this, the author will focus on the 2022 EU Strategic Compass on Defense and Security, which attempts to set the strategic vision of the Union in response to the current challenges and to enhance EU capacity to protect its citizens, values and interests and to contribute to the international peace and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle cost (LCC) represents all the costs that will occur during the life of a piece of equipment from the moment it is acquired, the period of time it is operate and maintained and finally its disposal. The aim of this paper is to present the importance of developing a life cycle cost analysis for a HIMARS BDE, especially since this capability is new in our military. Nevertheless, there must be emphasized the fact that this kind of system has never been used by any Eastern Europe countries, therefore, there is scarce reference regarding the total costs of using it. Another issue that must be addressed upfront in the fact that, since Romania has the latest version we can only speculate the life cycle cost since no system of this kind has been dispose yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape character protection in its current form was enshrined in the Nature and Landscape Protection Act in 1992. Yet even today, after thirty years of the current legislation, voices are being heard questioning the protection of landscape character as a kind of modern invention, or they are not aware of this instrument at all. The author’s long experience in the practice of landscape character assessment and teaching, not only in regular undergraduate studies, but also in continuing education courses for civil servants and employees of private companies, shows that this is a necessary and important topic. The aim of the article is to demonstrate that the interest in landscape character (landscape character), which is related to the perception and evaluation of nature and landscape, its aesthetic appreciation and its subsequent protection, has a long development. A positive aesthetic evaluation of the landscape is not in itself something “natural”, but the result of a long cultural development in Europe. In fact, the term “landscape character” itself began to be commonly used in the literature as early as the 19th century. The milieu of the improvement societies with their emphasis on the protection of the homeland (Heimatschutz) is important for its foreignization at that time. Landscape character in the contemporary concept is already described quite aptly by Ladislav Žák in his The Habitable Region (1947). The beginning of the 20th century also brought the first attempts to enshrine the protection of the landscape and its character in legislation (1908, 1911), which was done in 1920 with the Allocation Act. However, a comprehensive legal norm has to wait until 1955, when the first State Nature Protection Act is adopted. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to emphasize that the protection of landscape character (character, appearance of the landscape) has a legislative tradition of more than a century in our country and an even much longer professional tradition, that it is a traditional instrument of nature and landscape protection, which plays an important role in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Network Code Requirements for Grid Connection of Generators (ENC RfG), published in 2016, introduced a set of binding grid connection requirements to all types of generator technologies and finally came into force in April 2019. Next to these so-called exhaustive requirements, fixed to all European member states, the ENC RfG also introduced ranges on non-exhaustive requirements that had to be shaped by the member states in terms of national implementations. Moreover, the ENC RfG has given a binding framework on compliance schemes both for the commissioning phase of generators and the compliance monitoring during their lifetime, including certificates, measurements and simulations. Hence, in all over Europe, a full range of new grid codes is on stage, providing some challenges to all parties involved in the installation and operation of power generating modules: to manufactures in terms of technology development of their equipment, to project developers in terms of electrical planning and grid code compliant commissioning processes and to system operators with respect to their newly defined obligations on ensuring grid code conformity. This paper will give a comprehensive overview on the technical requirements defined in the national grid codes based on the general ENC RfG provisions typically applicable to wind power installations with a special focus on codes where additional provisions have been put in place, that exceed the regular scope of the ENC RfG. In addition, arrangements are outlined, that some member states have established in order give to some transitional periods introducing the new ENC RfG requirements. The picture will be completed by a synopsis on specific compliance schemes that have already been defined in some member states or are in current discussion. Different schemes like testing, simulation, certification and inspections will be characterized and compared. A proposal to equipment certificates will be given. The paper will also include a report on the status quo on ongoing international standardization in terms of the testing standard CLC 50549-10 and the work within IEC-RE on a comprehensive certification scheme. The paper will end up with some recommendations on introducing lean, applicable and proven measures to introduce effective and efficient grid code compliance schemes on a standardized basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational Robotics is increasingly used in elementary-school classrooms to develop students' algorithmic thinking and programming skills. However, most research appears descriptive and lacks experimental evidence on the effects of teaching interventions using robotics to develop algorithmic thinking. Using the robots Dash and Dot, this study examined algorithmic thinking development in groups of children aged 6, 9, and 12. The results showed a statistically significant main effect between the age of students and algorithmic thinking skills and a statistically significant main effect between intervention and algorithmic thinking. In conclusion, the findings underscore the necessity of providing learners with structured, scaffolded activities tailored to their age to effectively nurture algorithmic thinking skills when engaging in Dash and Dot activities. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a cutting-edge technology that enables virtual and physical objects to connect and communicate, resulting in new digitized services that enhance our quality of life. Despite its many advantages, the current centralized architecture of IoT poses various challenges such as single point of failure, security concerns, privacy issues, lack of transparency, and data integrity problems. These obstacles hinder the future progress of IoT applications. Moving the IoT to one of the decentralized technologies is the right solution to these issues. Blockchain is considered as the most common and popular decentralized technology. It is a new technology that operates with a decentralized, distributed, public, and real-time ledger to store transactions between IoT nodes. The main focus of this paper is on utilizing Blockchain technology for the IoT, specifically showcasing how different features of Blockchain can be utilized as a service in various IoT applications. The increasing penetration of Blockchain and IoT in various companies and industries primarily enables secure storage of large amounts of sensitive data, which can grow at a tremendous pace for the global IoT Blockchain market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, road traffic noise pollution still represents a considerable problem in Europe despite the efforts gathered by the scientific community, local authorities, and policymakers to tackle this issue. Research mostly focused on the development of Road Traffic Noise Models (RTNMs) and Noise Emission Models (NEMs) to forecast respectively traffic noise levels in terms of equivalent continuous sound levels and single-vehicle noise emissions in terms of sound power level. However, although the validity of such models was demonstrated in the literature, most of them are not able to deeply characterize the source in terms of motorization, engaged gear, and in idling conditions (i.e., a vehicle stopped in neutral gear with the engine running). Therefore, in this paper, an approach (based on standards and regulations) to obtain noise emission curves as a function of speed, motorization, and engaged gear, and a mathematical relationship between the sound pressure level (measured at the exhaust tube pipe) and the engine Revolution Per Minute (RPM) will be presented. Both methods are based on regressions (non-linear and linear, respectively). Two probe vehicles with different motorization (one diesel and one bi-fuel) were adopted to this end. Results showed that there exists a variability among the noise emission curves based on motorization information and engaged gear (at low speeds for manual transmission vehicles). Moreover, exhaust noise emissions, which are a function of motorization, linearly depend on RPM. All the obtained regressions are characterized by high determination coefficients (above 0.9) confirming the goodness of the presented approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial medium and heavy-duty diesel vehicles in Europe are responsible for transporting an average of 73% of the total freight tonnage over distances up to 150 km as of 2021. These vehicles often operate on routes where no other form of transport is viable while still assuring fast deliveries. However, due to the nature of the journeys performed by the heavy-duty vehicles, which can span over several days or weeks depending on the mileage and the loading and unloading destinations, it becomes essential for the drivers to address the energy demands for heating and for the cabin accessory appliances during resting periods. As a rule, and especially in cold weather conditions, in order to prevent start-up problems, engine idling has traditionally been used. In order to mitigate the negative impact of increased fuel consumption and cut the harmful emissions from the engine's idling, the usage of a fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) is proposed. Fuel cells are more efficient than internal combustion engines and as an APU they could be sized appropriately to specifically power the cabin's accessories. There are two types of fuel cells that are applied for an APU in heavy-duty vehicles, namely, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), each one imposing specific system topology requirements. A brief literary review on fuel cell APUs for heavy-duty vehicles is undertaken in the paper with emphasis being on the most recent advancements and on the advantages and disadvantages for the two possible systems. An estimation of the cabin power consumption during rest periods for European heavy-duty vehicles is presented. Some general suggestions and considerations are laid down, which may be of use when designing such a system, as there is not much information on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical properties of atmospheric aerosols, such as aerosol optical depth (AOD), are determined from solar radiation measurements using filter radiometers, known in such measurement applications as sun photometers. Here we present calibration of filter radiometers from the European branches of aerosol monitoring networks AERONET, GAW-PFR, and SKYNET with respect to their spectral irradiance responsivities. The calibrations were carried out at PTB within the framework of the EMPIR project 19ENV04 MAPP "Metrology for aerosol optical properties" using the tunable laser-based setup, TUable Lasers In Photometry (TULIP). The realization of the spectral responsivity measurements of the filter radiometers at the TULIP setup, results, uncertainty contributions and implications are discussed in this conference paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a significant innovation in the financial landscape, with their adoption varying across different regions. This paper investigates the adoption trends of cryptocurrencies in three European countries: Germany, France, and Romania. By examining regulatory frameworks, public sentiment, and market dynamics, we aim to provide insights into the factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption in these nations. Furthermore, we explore the relationship between digital banks and cryptocurrencies, analysing the potential synergies and challenges associated with their integration. Finally, we offer future projections and suggest areas for further research to better understand the evolving landscape of cryptocurrencies in Europe. The motivation for studying cryptocurrency adoption in Europe stems from the region's diverse regulatory frameworks, cultural attitudes, and economic landscapes. Understanding the dynamics of cryptocurrency adoption in specific European countries can provide valuable insights into the broader trends shaping the future of finance. Moreover, as digital banking continues to gain prominence, exploring the intersection between digital banks and cryptocurrencies becomes imperative. The regulatory frameworks surrounding cryptocurrencies in Germany, France, and Romania exemplify the diverse approaches adopted by European countries in response to the emergence of digital assets. While Germany and France have made significant strides in implementing comprehensive regulatory frameworks, Romania's regulatory landscape remains in the early stages of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable Energy Communities (REC) are slowly becoming an important driver for promoting the energy transition in Europe. This paper addresses in particular the Italian current regulation on ECs, and analyses how they can implement the application of constitutional principles to the energy sector. In order to answer this question, at present, when we look into the different studies that have addressed the issue, it is pertinent to consider the fact that they have focused on constitutional values of landscape, environment, and health protection. The study examines the model of the energy community as a tool that on one hand, by pushing the local community towards participatory forms of democracy; horizontal, and inter and intra-generational solidarity and on the other hand, helps the local authorities to develop integrated urban planning actions in order to improve the quality of life of citizens. Therefore, it demonstrates how energy communities, especially renewable ones, are an important instrument of "constitutional humanism". They are not only environmental or climatic, but also specifically aimed at the development of the centrality of the Person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight on the concept of territorial cohesion in the direction of its enhancing the EU Cohesion Policy. In order to present that territorial cooperation as a new way of overcoming the problems of the EU regions, especially with regard to the current economic crisis, the paper will at first refer to the evolution of economic and social cohesion into a territorial cohesion which if it were to be appropriately implemented could lead to a maximum usage of the so called territorial capital and potential of the urban regions defined as urban systems. Furthermore, the paper will shed a critical reflection on the issue of "Whether [or not] there is a need to reconsider/revise EU Cohesion Policy by actively implementing the concept of territorial cohesion?", Therefore the paper shall try to answer whether territorial cohesion could actually become a 'bridging concept', by explaining the functionality of this concept in practice, due to the very fact that it represents a combination of territorial cooperation policy and EU Cohesion Policy. Finally, the paper will present the process of how to build EU territorial cohesion policy perceived through the EU institutions (also referring to the Territorial Agenda 2020 and the Territorial State and Perspectives 2020), and will further reflect on the capacity of this instrument to turn territorial diversities into strength. It is expected that the conclusions that shall be drawn in this paper will demonstrate that it is the territorial cohesion concept that will represent a driving force for both the successful realization of the agenda Europe 2020 as well the overcoming of the existing disparities among the EU regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of presented paper is provide the latest approaches towards energy security, to examine methodological foundations used, and to contribute to the contemporary discussion by providing new insights stemming from emerging needs of enhancing energy security. In the presented paper a role of energy efficiency among other constituents of energy security is being discussed. The second - analytical - part of paper is devoted to forecasting of long-term (until year 2050) energy intensities in household sectors in the following countries: Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg and Bulgaria. Author claims, that revealed differences provide theoretically grounded foundations for further benchmarking of energy intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in vegan products is increasing. However, companies of vegan food innovations find themselves stuck in the niche market of vegan consumers despite seeking to move to the main market of non-vegan consumers. Therefore, it is important to understand what influences their adoption. The European chocolate market proves as highly relevant to investigate since limited research has been conducted on vegan food innovations in this market. Thus, no comprehensive overview of impact factors on the adoption behavior of vegan food innovations in the European chocolate market exists. This contribution presents the results of a Systematic Literature Review that identifies overlaps of impact factors on the adoption behavior of vegan food innovations and the consumption and purchasing behavior in the European chocolate market. Further, this forms the basis for deriving practical implications for companies in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health crisis has exerted a significant pressure on the global economic system, implicitly on the evolution of tourism, value chain creation and supply chains, generating shocks on various national economic sectors. In this context, the objective of the paper is to make a brief synoptic analysis on the evolution of the tourism sector in some EU countries. Two periods of time were considered - before the onset of the pandemic (2018-2019) and during the pandemic (in 2020). The results of the analysis confirm the specific trends of reducing the multiplicative effects that tourism has on the economy as well as the decrease, even contracting of the sector, a phenomenon identified through specific analyzed indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European identity has been the topic of a significant volume of research. Scientists focus on different identity aspects in an attempt to measure the establishment or viability of an EU identity. This paper, however, is going to take a different stance on the issue. It will take one of the basic theories on the components of national identities (ascribed vs. voluntarist components, Jones and Smith) and use it as a magnifying glass to examine those components. The theoretical framework will be enhanced by the findings on the role of symbols in generating national identities. The coupling of these two theoretical propositions would provide the apparatus needed for the examination of the degree to which the specific components are established and developed. The main thesis of the paper is that there is no single European identity to be studied. On the contrary -- there are numerous variations. There are, however, two lines which signify that division. On the one hand, there is a clear-cut division line between old and new member states. Therefore, I claim that the European identities in old and new member states clearly vary. The validity of this statement will be studied through the examination of identity components in Belgium, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and Bulgaria. On the other hand, there are significant variations among old member states themselves. The EU identity in Belgium is most probably different from the one in the UK. The comparison between data on the components of identities shall verify the truthfulness of the supposition. After ascertaining the variations between components in the three countries, the paper will briefly elaborate on possible causes for those variations. The conclusion will summarize the findings of the research and make proposals for possible further approaches to strengthen the EU identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the current level of informatization of European countries. The analysis is based on available Eurostat data. Analyzed countries are clustered based on the WSA method which allows extracting coherent groups of countries with nearly the same level of informatization based on the number of indicators analyzed. The paper is concluded with a discussion of the analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next to journal articles and eprints electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are the most frequent document type found in open archives, for various reasons: - ETDs are a well defined and well referenced document type. Rules for deposit and citation are generally established on a national level, and international standards exist for specific information and theses metadata, contrary to other grey documents. - ETDs are administrative documents, and students can be "obliged" to deposit their work in an archive or repository for formal reasons. The paper describes some tendencies concerning electronic theses and dissertations in Europe as observed during explorations of institutional and other repositories, with specific regard to the full text. In the first part we examine the changing landscape in repositories where access to the complete full text of a thesis no longer is the unique offer, but where we also find partial access, temporary embargoes and bibliographic citations only. The increase of the number of items thus appears somewhat counter-balanced by a decrease in "quality". In the second part, we take a closer look at the language issue of ETDs. If the technical open access to the full text of ETDs is increasing, it doesn't necessarily imply an easier access (i.e. readability) for everyone, since the language barrier may still exist. Can the "accessibility" be increased by choosing the right language? Today we observe a growing number of ETDs written in English, the vernacular language for scientific research. But who writes in English? In this paper we explore the phenomenon under different aspects. - Are there differences between countries? - Are there differences between disciplines? - Are foreign students more inclined to write in English? - Does the participation in international projects influence the choice of language? The growing complexity of the ETD landscape calls for explicit policies to inform the user of a given repository as well as for tools such as directories providing detailed information on a general level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Conference: Crisis Management Days is the property of University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The evaluation of text complexity is an important topic in education. While this objective has been addressed by approaches using lexical and syntactic analysis for decades, semantic complexity is less common, and the recent research works that tackle this question rely on machine learning algorithms that are hardly explainable and are not specifically designed to measure this variable. To address this issue, we explore in this paper the engineering of novel features to evaluate conceptual complexity. Through the construction of a knowledge graph that captures the concepts present in a text and their generalized forms, we measure different graph-based metrics to express such a complexity. Eventually, early-stage evaluations based on a well-known public corpus of students' productions show that the use of these metrics significantly improves performance compared to a state-of-the-art binary neural network classifier. [For the full proceedings, see ED599096.]

Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP) modules are a popular option for international students at the University of Reading. Student feedback and module results show that some of these students face particular challenges in relation to their peers. In this paper, we describe how a team teaching Beginners French -- Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level A1 -- addressed this issue. More specifically, we focus on the development of a new module with integrated support and differentiated assessment as well as student feedback and suggestions for curriculum enhancement. We demonstrate how minor module and assessment modifications enabled the team to support students who might have dropped out or become discouraged and at the same time raise the level of challenge for all students whatever their background. [For the complete volume, "Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University: A Look at New Trends," see ED594807.]

Depression is the most prevailing mental health problem nowadays and researchers expect it to deepen especially in most developed countries due to constantly aging population. This development would pose extreme financial burden on public finance. The SHARE project provides a huge variety of data sets including a mental health module used to form the 12-item EURO-D scale, which serves as a common metrics for depressions. However, in wave 7 this module includes respondents from only 12 countries. Consequently, this paper aims to construct data-driven indices reflecting the level of depression in Europe. We employ factor analysis and as a result, we derive two latent variables. High positive values of the first one indicate lack of depression, while high positive values of the second variable might be indicative for presence of serious depressive symptoms. We then inspect cross-national differences in terms of these two latent variables. Our major findings suggest that geographic location tends to have some effect on the presence of depressive symptoms among elderly people in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging population across developed countries is a problem that no nation has faced before. It puts severe financial burden on every public budget. Non-financial burdens are also common. Depression turns out to be the most common mental disease. Studying the features, that could boost the exhibition of depressive symptoms, and those, that could protect individuals from them, would have significant effect on the precision of public health policies. That is the aim of the paper. We base our research on wave 7 data of the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe that for the first time summarizes information about 27 European countries and Israel. As a preliminary step in our analysis, we construct two latent variables used to quantify the level of depression. On the basis of extensive literature review, we identify a long list of potential features and apply lasso regression so as to select those of them that contribute most in explaining the variance of each of the latent variables. Delivered results indicate that among the most common features, leading to poor mental health, are working conditions, self-perceived health and the presence of functional limitations. On the other hand, educational attendance, lack of chronic diseases and sport activities are among the factors that protect from exhibiting depression symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blast furnace slags are a by-product of the production process of cast iron, during which large amounts of liquid slags are formed. The composition of the blast furnace slags depends on the actual quality and proportion of the minerals and fluxes present in the blast furnace charge. Every year the steel industry in Europe produces 2900 tons of slags that, if left untreated, represent an industrial waste to be sent to landfills with serious environmental impact. In the RESLAG (Turning waste from steel industry into valuable low cost feedstock for energy intensive industry) project, the use of waste products deriving from iron and steel plants as new feedstock in different fields is considered: recovery of precious metals, thermal energy storage systems for steel-making and CSP industry, production of innovative refractory ceramic compounds. Within this framework, ENEA is investigating the possibility of using pebbles made with slags produced by the steel industry as a filler in high-temperature packed-bed thermocline TES systems, using a binary mixture of molten salts (60% NaNO3 40% KNO3) as HTF. More specifically, the pebbles are obtained by processing and sintering Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) slags produced during the manufacture of crude steel. Here, the lessons learned and the first experimental results collected during the commissioning phases of the PBTTES pilot plant developed within the RESLAG project are reported. In particular, the paper firstly reports about a preliminary set of tests carried out to check the chemical compatibility of the slags with the molten salts. Subsequently, the pilot plant is described and the results of the first commissioning tests, which were aimed at flooding the packed-bed with molten salts and checking the installed instrumentation, are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The matter of national identity has a long tradition in sociological research of almost all European countries. This could be an explanation for a considerable literature which was developed in different socio-political circumstances and why now is very difficult to examine it in a comprehensive way. This subject became more actual in the recent geopolitical context where we can notice contradictory trends between integration/globalisation and fragmentation, or we are challenging by the issues of migration. Despite of a current tendency, (in fact, is a recurrent one), that national identity is imagined and constructed, the author advocates a "civic nationalism" that makes a claim to respecting cultural differences but also to build and secure a specific national identity very useful during dialog with other nations. On the other hand, we are witnessing to increasing diversification of European societies and attempts to create a collective identity at European level in order to enhance a consciousness of being European. The opinion expressed by the author is that there are no contradictions between to be national and to be European. The paper identifies the main methodological issues within sociological research to measure diverse dimensions of national and European identity. In this respect, we are interested to scrutinize the meanings of national and of European identity used by several universities from Europe, or inside of various research programs (Eurobarometer, European Values Study, European Social Survey and International Social Survey Programme). Conclusions in this paper are purely conceptual and are not based on own empirical survey. However, there are many secondary data sets which are available for exploitation and with a great potential to develop deeply and analytical analysis. At the same time, the models examined here could be an argument for future projects research which are preparing to be submitted in the following competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper indoor air quality and thermal comfort are part of the healthy indoor environment. The tests performed in the public utility, intelligent building „Energies" of Kielce University of Technology (Poland) with a group of students are the focus of the paper. The anonymous questionnaire survey was used to determine their thermal sensations, preferences and acceptability before the lecture and after it. In the meantime CO2 level, air and globe temperatures, relative humidity and air velocity were measured with the Testo 400 microclimate meter. The comparison of the changing air parameters throughout the time of 1.2h with the questionnaire survey provides information on the possibility of providing high thermal comfort and indoor air quality in the intelligent buildings, which are still quite rare in Central Europe. Consequently, obtaining experimental data there is valuable and important. It turned out that the building did not provide good quality parameters during the study, because the people felt too warm or hot in the room and wanted to change the temperature to a much cooler environment. What is more, the assessment of air quality according to the students at the beginning of classes at relatively low CO2 contents turns out to be an interesting phenomenon, where 36% of students subjectively assessed it in their questionnaires as being unacceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since timber frame constructions can help to reduce CO2-emissions and lower the embodied energy of buildings, the market share of timber-based buildings is growing across Europe. Unfortunately, timber frame constructions are found to be more susceptible to moisture damage, such as interstitial condensation, mould growth and wood rot. To avoid moisture damage, a correct design of the wall composition is crucial, with special emphasis on the relation between vapour resistance of wind and vapour barrier. Given that experimental investigations are time-consuming and expensive, numerical tools are common to assess the hygrothermal behaviour of building components. And although timber frame constructions are inherently two- or even three-dimensional due to the embedded wooden elements, most often, 1D-simulations focusing on the basic configuration with insulation between wind and vapour barrier are conducted. This paper investigates to what extent neglecting the embedded wooden elements influences the risk assessment of the wall. Three different wall configurations have been considered and their hygrothermal response, as predicted by 1D- and 2D-numerical simulations, are compared. Variability of the exterior climate is included by using two distinct different climate regions. Contrary to common assumptions, buffering of moisture in wooden elements does not always lower the risk on moisture damage, but might even increase it. While the predicted risk on mould growth was found to be similar between 1D and 2D-simulations, the opposite was found for the risk on interstitial condensation. Mainly for cold climates and wall configurations with hardly any other hygric buffering capacity, levels of interstitial condensation were found to be significantly higher when taking the wooden elements into account in the numerical simulations. Hence, care should be taken when assessing the reliability of timber frame walls based on 1D-simulations only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, to decrease greenhouse gas emissions as a part of climate change mitigation strategies, adoption of passive house approach, which is amongst the most prominent due to high energy efficiency potential, has gained momentum especially in Europe. On the other hand, global warming of 1.5 °C and 2 °C is expected to be exceeded during the 21st century and this opens a debate on the summer thermal performance of passive houses. Architects, as main actors of the design process, play a significant role for the early assessment of potentials and risks regarding the building performance. Nevertheless, the use of performance assessments in design workflows is not main stream among architects yet. At this point, for architects to be able to include performance evaluations in their workflows, simplified performance assessment methods and building performance simulation tools integrated with design tools become more significant. In this regard, this study presents a simplified thermal performance evaluation method through a systematic performance simulation in early design phase. To meet the indoor thermal comfort expectations, temperature is one of the key parameters in building design and intensively correlated with the carbon footprint in the use phase. Therefore, thermal comfort is selected as the main performance topic, and a simplified method, namely annual neutral hours, which refers to the capacity of a building to run without active heating and cooling, is presented. In this scope, the paper discusses summer thermal comfort and climate change over a residential building case study by using a Building Performance Simulation tool integrated into a 3D CAD design tool. The results indicate that the proposed methods are applicable to early design workflows and have a potential to give insight to architects by enabling quick and iterative evaluations for the detection of key parameters; thus, solution alternatives. As an additional result of the study, among other parameters, transparent envelope properties and shading elements appear to be significant to meet the expectations for future summer thermal comfort; also, it is seen that the winter performance might slightly benefit from the climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green roof is an example of increasing the water retention in the urban areas and reduction of urban heat islands. The impact of green roofs and its influence on the thermal resistance or its change during the winter is often not taken into account in the contrary to the summer benefits. The surface of a highly insulated flat roof is overcooled during the night by the long wave sky radiation. This radiative cooling increases the thermal losses. This is reduced by the existence of additional green roof layers. Also, these green roof composition layers have their thermal resistance, which is usually not included within the calculation of thermal resistance using the EN ISO 6946. The thermal conductance of these layers is influenced by the water content, which is mostly higher than design values and hard to obtain. Also, the presence of snow in various forms on the roof can increase the resistance. In this paper, temperature courses during the winter season of the green roof, flat roof with gravel and the regular flat roof, based on the experimental measurement are analyzed. In this case, the use of green roof kept the temperature of the membrane almost constant near 0 °C during winter without correlation to the outdoor air temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games are the dream of many athletes. By performing, and especially by winning an Olympic medal, athletes make history. Unfortunately, in the last couple of decades this sporting mega-event has come into trouble. Due to high costs and pollution, the number of cities and states wanting to host has decreased as has the popularity of the games themselves. In response to the bad situation in which the Olympic Games find themselves, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as the owner and organizer of the Games, decided to make moves that would improve the situation. The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the current state of the sustainability of the Summer Olympics, how this situation came about and what are the plans of the IOC for the future game in terms of sustainability. The paper will also try to find out through the simulation method whether it is possible to hold sustainable Olympic Games based on the IOC strategy. For the sake of better simulation and analysis, only the Summer editions of the Olympic Games are covered in the paper. Our simulations show that all three simulated hosts (Central Europe, Florida, and Shanghai) can host the Summer Olympic Games in a highly sustainable manner. All three hosts can utilize the existing and temporary infrastructure, which greatly reduces the environmental and social impact of the host as well as reducing costs. This can even lead to short-term and long-term profitable Olympic Games. In the end, it should be noted that the Florida region could be reduced in area without reducing the sustainability, while Shanghai could be extended to the local region and Central European games could add more nearby cities such as Krakow, Prague, Ljubljana or Zagreb to increase their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open innovation has proven to be an effective strategic tool in achieving competitive advantage. However, at the same time, the research also points to the drawbacks of open innovation practices - related to e.g. resource constraints, power imbalances between partners. Those become particularly critical in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which by default are more limited in resources than large firms. Unfortunately, the success stories of open innovation are disseminated much wider than failures, which create biases in assessing and perceiving open innovation practices. That happens also because failure cases are generally less available and people are often resistant to share stories of unsuccessfulness. One specific challenge in studying OI failures is also to detach the OI failures from generally innovation and strategic failures. With this submission we share six cases of open innovation failures of SMEs from across Europe, providing insights for SMEs managers as well as policy makers on what could go 'wrong' in open innovation. This submission has implications for open innovation research as well as for strategic management literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) offers flexible and decarbonized power generation and is one of the few dispatchable renewable technologies able to generate renewable electricity on demand. Today (2018) CSP contributes only 5TWh to the European power generation, but it has the potential to become one of the key pillars for European decarbonization pathways. In this paper we investigate how factors and pivotal policy decisions leading to different futures and associated CSP deployment in Europe in the years up to 2050. In a second step we characterize the scenarios with their associated system cost and the costs of support policies. We show that the role of CSP in Europe critically depends on political developments and the success or failure of policies outside renewable power. In particular, the uptake of CSP depends on the overall decarbonization ambition, the degree of cross border trade of renewable electricity and is enabled by the presence of strong grid interconnection between Southern and Norther European Member States as well as by future electricity demand growth. The presence of other baseload technologies, prominently nuclear power in France, reduce the role and need for CSP. Assuming favorable technological development, we find a strong role for CSP in Europe in all modeled scenarios: contributing between 100TWh to 300TWh of electricity to a future European power system. This would require increasing the current European CSP fleet by a factor of 20 to 60 in the next 30 years. To achieve this financial support between € 0.4-2 billion per year into CSP would be needed, representing only a small share of overall support needs for power-system transformation. Cooperation of Member States could further help to reduce this cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popularity of blockchain technology has increased over the last decade. This is due to growing interest in faster, more transparent, and decentralised transfer of information. Although organisations from a wide range of industries and different areas of operations are using blockchain technology it requires a unique set of skills to implement such technology in any institutional setting. The key objective of this study is the development of a forecasting model for the supply and demand of blockchain skills in order to examine the impact of this emerging technology on the labour force across Europe over the next five years. We have collected a sufficient volume of blockchain labour market data to perform the time series analysis and forecast the evolution of blockchain skill demand and supply. In order to forecast blockchain skills demand, we map over 6,500 blockchain related job adverts in 2021 to ISCO categories that are most likely to contain blockchain employment. We build on CEDEFOP's employment and occupational forecasts across Europe and incorporate EU-LFS occupational data to estimate changes in blockchain related occupations from 2021 to 2026. In order to forecast blockchain skills supply, we utilise information on the number of graduates from blockchain related and blockchain specific courses across Europe. The data for skills supply comes from national educational authorities and Eurostat. We apply linear trends to graduate data from 2015 to 2019 to forecast blockchain skills supply from 2020 to 2026. We find that on average approximately 85% of blockchain related jobs in Europe are represented by the following five ISCO categories: software developers, database and network professionals, ICT Service managers, business services administration managers, and legal professionals. The remaining 15% of blockchain related are in 'Other' ISCO categories. Our forecasting results indicate that approximately 25,000 new blockchain jobs in Europe will be created from 2021 to 2026 of which 12,000 are estimated to be entry level or graduate jobs. We also find that approximately 14,000 new blockchain graduates in Europe will be available from 2020 to 2026. The results suggest that the number of blockchain graduates when compared to the demand for blockchain work at the graduate level in total across Europe are roughly in line. However, the findings vary distinctively at a country level, and it is likely that more specific training courses, focusing on key skill development areas that are relevant for blockchain labour demand are still required over the coming years. This paper is the first to map blockchain related jobs to occupational categories in Europe, providing evidence on the occupations that blockchain workers are most likely to be employed in. Our findings from the blockchain skills forecasts also estimate the supply of blockchain workers over time to satisfy the demands by the sector. This paper provides detailed information, at a country level for Europe, to assist in the anticipation of future blockchain skill demand and supply, in order to act as an early warning information mechanism to mitigate possible labour market imbalances, and support education, training and labour market actors in making evidence-based decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, it is widely agreed that non-technical innovation, including organisational and marketing innovation significantly contribute to firms' competitive advantage. Thus, the question arises whether non-technical innovations, comparably to technical innovations, are subject to external barriers resulting in a suboptimal degree of firms' innovation activities. Existing concepts like market failure and systemic failure have so far only been applied to R&D-based or technical modes of innovation like product or technical process innovation. Based on 11 qualitative case studies of European manufacturing firms, this paper provides absolutely novel insight that non-technological innovations are affected by external barriers to a comparable extent than technological innovations. The paper stimulates the discussion how existing policy instruments needs to be adjusted. Moreover, it helps innovation managers to better understand the importance and specific challenges of non-technological innovation processes within their firms by raising the awareness of typical pitfalls and strategic options to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a growing gap between the policy practice of "Smart Specialization strategies" and its theoretical base. The concept of Smart specialization has attracted a high level of policy interest and has been adopted widely in policy circles in Europe. However, Smart Specialization lacks an empirical and theoretical foundation that can help guide its application in practice. This paper develops a framework based on two strings of literature, namely the fields of evolutionary economic geography and innovation systems. Subsequently the framework is applied on a regional mapping exercise conducted in an EU funded 'Regions of Knowledge'-project that focuses on the Offshore Wind Service sector in four regions around the North Sea. The purpose is to illustrate how a strategy-making process can be guided by a few theory based principles in pursuing the goals of smart specialization. The findings support that regions differ in terms of knowledge assets, capabilities and capacity in different parts of the value chain and consequently build on different starting points for Smart Specialization strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]