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With the recent evolution of Information and Communication Technologies and the rapid dissemination and use of digital technologies in almost all fields and levels of modern society, two highly contextdependent polysemic constructs have arisen, namely e-readiness and digital transformation. However, although the literature on e-readiness and digital transformation has increased in the last years, digital transformation readiness is still an exploratory construct, lacking a unified definition. Nevertheless, both previous constructs are increasingly essential to understand most of the changes and challenges that have occurred in the world in the 21st. Century, this literature review intends to contribute to filling the conceptual gap related to a consolidated definition of the theme by performing a thematic analysis to propose a digital transformation readiness framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of information systems, new technologies are giving rise to a wide range of new research topics that present researchers with new challenges. Innovations, such as artificial intelligence, have an enormous impact on society, in addition to technological progress towards automation, above all or precisely because of this. In this context, Society 5.0 was initiated to establish criteria for research and its artifacts. In this paper, evaluation criteria of a Society 5.0 are identified, which should be considered for Design Science Research artifacts in the future. Through a comprehensive literature review, 14 evaluation criteria and a new DSR goal were identified and integrated into the existing framework of Hevner et al. (2018). The paper provides researchers with an augmented DSR evaluation framework with aspects of Society 5.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been an increasing number of unforeseen events, such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and military conflicts, which cause significant negative consequences for societies and organizations. The need for organizations to be resilient in crisis situations is becoming critical in today's world. Therefore, the topic of organizational resilience becomes very relevant when the scientific problem is formulated as a problematic question: what managerial tools help organizations to be resilient during crisis situations. The purpose of the research is to determine what management tools help organizations to remain resilient during crisis situations. This article uses an empirical qualitative study - a semi-structured in-depth interview. The qualitative study involved 12 managers from different sectors whose organizations remained resilient during crisis situations. The results of the study revealed that the activity of the organization of any sector was most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the hostilities in Ukraine. Through research, we identified seven groups of measures that helped organizations to survive and be resilient, namely: administrative, technological, psychological support, communication, education, training, planning measures, external support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the role of religious leaders in HIV / AIDS prevention and control has not been widely carried out in Indonesia. This study aims to map the role of religious leaders in the prevention and control of HIV / AIDS in Malang as the city with the second highest number of HIV / AIDS sufferers in East Java. This study showed that religious leaders have not had any concrete efforts to prevent and control HIV / AIDS among their followers nor having deep knowledge about HIV/AIDS itself. However, these religious leaders always remind their followers to stay away from free sex (adultery) in order to avoid sin and ugliness in the world, which can actually be used as part of efforts to prevent the spread of HIV / AIDS in society. Through spirituality cultivation, religious leaders can function as the first bastion in preventing HIV / AIDS. Religion can also be used as a means of overcoming the stigma experienced by PLWHA through teaching people to return to religious teachings (repent). Unfortunately, this effort was not seen by the government or related parties so that these religious leaders were not directly involved in HIV / AIDS prevention and control in Malang City even though they were willing to be involved by the government to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government issues many regulations and public services for society and these regulations continue to change along with changes in people's lives. However, not all societies are aware of changes in government regulations that have the potential to cause public dissatisfaction and violations of government regulations. E-government is a system built by the government which one of its functions is to provide public services for society and the community. With the increasing use of information technology, the government can use this technology to improve public services to society and the community by building a system that focuses on distribution and updating of information, especially information related to changes in government regulations and public services. On the other hand, with the increase in mobile technology used by society, the distribution of information from the government to society can use mobile devices. The purpose of this research is to help the government socialize regulations and changes to government regulations to make it easier for society to manage relations with the government. The research method uses a qualitative approach through observation to identify problems with government services to society. Literature studies are used to find alternative solutions with an information technology approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication is a fundamental skill for the existence and survival of societies. In the learning of a foreign language, classroom practice should focus with priority on developing communicative skills. Oracy, a term coined by Andrew Wilkinson in 1965, is defined as the ability to express oneself efficiently, effectively, and fluently. Having strong oracy skills involves the capacity to structure one's thoughts in a way that is comprehensible to others, and accurate control of both vocabulary and grammar, in order to transmit a clear message. In the same way that literacy is essential for reading and writing, oracy is necessary for becoming a good speaker and listener. This paper will define oracy as a language teaching strategy, establish an oracy framework, and detail on oracy subskills. The practical part takes a pedagogical approach to the concept of oracy and underlines its importance in the teaching of a foreign language by integrating oracy skills and sub-skills in an applied discussion exemplified by concrete classroom practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being a phenomenon of essential importance in the evolution of society, education has been the field of expertise of countless researchers in the field of educational sciences. Briefly, it can be stated that education is a social phenomenon that involves an endless chain of actions aimed at transmitting knowledge and life experiences from one generation to another in order to complete the harmonious development and active social integration of new generations. Since contemporary society is under the impact of globalization, education takes on new dimensions whose effects leave a considerable mark on the teaching principles and, implicitly, on the educational policies and paradigms. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to emphasize the dimensions of the Romanian education system, since it rallied to the European educational policies, in an attempt to implement relevant constructivist curricular changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is a serious disease that affects partners, families, friends, and societies. Applications for depression therapy support assist users in daily life to cope with depression challenges. While the services provided can be advantageous, the benefits and apps provided in the market can be overwhelming and fragmented for its intended users. A rigorous classification and clustering of this important domain is still missing. We deduce insights examining a taxonomy and conducting a cluster analysis. We classify 55 applications into eleven dimensions and 46 corresponding characteristics. We identify six clusters of archetypical application configurations. Our procedure classifies this application domain and enables directions towards more tailored research for this eHealth and mHealth artefacts. (Potential) users and application developers can use our results and findings to improve their usage and development and select the most suitable application for their medical needs and interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersive technologies are becoming ubiquitous in every corner of modern society. From learning environments in the classroom to behavioral genomics research and beyond, the elusive goal of making the virtual seem real and come to life is moving at a rapid pace. Spatial presence is one of the most critical aspects of user experience in immersive technologies that is associated with the intended outcome of the immersive technology use. Even though spatial presence is recognized as an important aspect of user experience in immersive technologies, there is no holistic account of factors affecting spatial presence. This study conducts a comprehensive literature review to identify individual, technological, and contextual factors associated with spatial presence in immersive technologies. In addition, we provide a research agenda that illustrates current gaps in both the extant literature and our understanding of spatial presence in immersive environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber Attacks have been on an increase in the past decade. Dominant academic research has considered a range of theoretical approaches to the study of cyberattacks on organizations and society at large. However, there is a paucity of research that systematically reviews the current literature to define current emphasis and propose future research directions. In this paper we use the Latent Dirichlet Allocation approach to review cyberattack research in the Chartered Association of Business Schools level 3 and above journals over the last two decades. In a final synthesis we propose a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Question Consumers have expressed an interest in their likelihood of purchasing sustainable products, but their intentions sometimes do not match this desire. When this occurs, the result is a halo effect (Auger & Devinney, 2007). To reduce the negative impact non sustainable products have on the earth and society, research must be conducted to find ways to reduce the likelihood of a negative halo effect so the outcome is a positive impact. This study focuses on two research questions. First, we examine the effects of waste reduction, consumption levels, attitudes, values, eco-labels, defaults, and eco-literacy on sustainable initiatives and ultimately the likelihood to purchase sustainable products. Second, we examine the moderating effect of consumer's level of concern on the relationship between sustainable initiatives and likelihood to purchase. Previous studies by Cachero-Martinez (2020), Tandon et al. (2020), and DeCanio, Martinelli, and Endrighi (2021) revealed that environmental concern was positively associated with consumers' purchase intentions. The current study proposes that when consumers are more concerned with the environment and society, they will purchase more sustainable products. The proposed theoretical model identifies and evaluates the impact of three exogenous constructs (environmental, social, and economic) on likelihood to purchase. Method and Data The sample consisted of 180 respondents from a Midwest community college involved in several sustainable projects who were knowledgeable about the concepts associated with sustainable products. Data was collected using the Qualtrics software platform. The PLS-SEM power analysis method (Hair et al., 2022) guideline for sample size indicates a minimum useable sample size of 137 so the 180 useable surveys exceed this guideline. Following data cleaning, the confirmatory composite analysis (CCA; Hair et al., 2020) was executed to assess the measurement models using SmartPLS 3 software (Ringle, Wende, & Becker, 2015). Then the structural model relationships and metrics were assessed including out-of-sample prediction applying PLSpredict. Summary of Findings The analysis revealed both hypotheses were supported. Sustainable initiatives were associated with likelihood to purchase sustainable products (p value <.001) and environmental concern moderated the relationship between sustainable initiatives and likelihood to purchase (p value <.05). Path coefficients (Hair et.al., 2021) associated with eco-labels, defaults, values, waste reduction, and consumption levels were relied on to identify the most influential predictors of sustainable initiatives. The most influential predictor constructs of likelihood to purchase were, respectively, environmental, social, and economic. The findings provide insights for managerial decisionmaking regarding products that facilitate sustainable benefit for consumers. Key Contributions Key contributions of this study include: (1) sustainable initiatives indicate firms need to utilize eco-labels informing consumers of the sustainable impact their products make; and (2) when consumers opt into programs, firms should consider using defaults that automatically move individual toward more sustainable alternatives. The cost is typically not expensive, and results show consumers will typically not opt out. In addition, many consumers indicate their values are increasingly focused on being sustainable. The third contribution is: consumers indicate a willingness to consider reducing their waste - typically by recycling and decreasing their use of items that impact the environment. Finally, consumers exhibited an interest in products and/or services that help the environment and society, and indicate they are willing to support firms that promote and follow sustainable initiatives. Among the greatest contributions of this study are the findings regarding the effect environmental concern has on the relationship between sustainable consumer initiatives and the likelihood to purchase sustainable products and particularly that environmental concern fully moderates this relationship. This finding suggests an opportunity for firms to emphasize how their products are better for the world and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Central Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted several of the shortcomings of market society. That the economy has become an end rather than one of the means to serve humanity's purposes is one such highlight. Another is the human individual's predicament in being largely abandoned in market society to bear all the responsibility of taking care of oneself--along with any loved ones--without any real support, and with very little authority, if at all, regarding how lives will be organized. The purpose in this paper is to explore the foundations of these two shortcomings, the role that marketing may be playing, and to reflect on what changes may need to occur in conceptualizations of marketing for it to become a help rather than a hinderance in possibilities of "reduction of structural disparities and marketplace discrimination" and in "social change.". Market Society and Marketing Market society is a product of modernity. The modern market, as the actual or virtual space where economic exchange takes place, is a symbolic construction by founders of the modern organization of life. Early classical economists shared the same vision with other modernist thinkers of liberating the human individual from all oppression, whether that of nature or of other humans, or of human built institutions. Classical economists saw a potential of delivering such liberation in their concept of the market, a space where purely economic exchanges took place, freeing each individual from any obligation other than the resource exchanged, thus liberating humans from all imposition upon their free wills. For original modernist thinkers, liberation of the human individual was not simply an economic matter. Institutions and principles along different discursive and practical domains of culture were considered necessary for a comprehensive freeing of the human spirit to envision and realize a grand future in which, through liberty, each individual could attain one's full potential and become an effective participant in the building of the vision. Modernity was a culture of projects; a project of building humanity's grand future, a project of realizing one's best self, etc. The modern market was the institutionalization, the means by which the modern principle of the economic--optimizing economic value through an efficient allocation of material resources--would actualize; one key institution of modernity. The institution to enable the exercise of the political principle of democracy was the nation-state. The institutions of family and public education would inculcate the social principle of civility as the foundation of civil society. These principles and framework constituted the cornerstones of modern culture and society, and articulated modernity's original dominant ideology; liberalism. The balance among culture's three practical domains is broken in mature modernity. The economic domain has increasingly taken center stage as capital increasingly represented power in modern society. All political and social policies, along with the economic ones, aim at insuring the health of the economy through the growth of the market. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, policies have been largely guided by concerns about the economy's health. More human deaths than otherwise necessary are resulting from the push to return to workplaces for fear of economic losses or due to individual families' loss of ability to nourish and house themselves when they lose employment because in a culture built around economic interests, the only means of maintaining livelihood for the great majority of people is limited to the only resource they are left with to offer in the market: their labor. Liberation of the human individual, eventually interpreted as individualism, resulted in the individual--and individual families--left to fend for oneself in market society. This individualizing culture left individuals spending all their energy on looking out for themselves and not having energy left to look out for others. Lacking resources but their labor, people are vulnerable to economic downturns in labor markets shrink and loss of employment becomes a devastating circumstance, illustrated by the Pandemic. Lack of resources leaves them without authority or effective influence in policies made. Circumstances, such as control of government policies and politics by corporate interests through the influence of money in politics and corporate representatives constituting a majority in decision making committees and bodies of government agencies, together constitute an exceptional force making it difficult to change the conditions above. Modern marketing has been complicit in the development of these conditions with managerial interests eventually dominating the field creating a turn in focus from needs to exchange as the core concept of marketing, also transforming the discipline's focus from interests of the people to interests of market growth. Marketing organizations rarely satisfy needs until demand has purchasing power behind it, that is until it is effective demand. This is argued to be logical with the justification that they have to survive in order to continue providing products and that the profit incentive is necessary for entrepreneurs to undertake risks. History bears witness that this logic has worked since such economic wealth and growth have translated into worldwide power. The fallacy is that because it creates power the inequalities and worldwide misery that such a logic has also created can be or should be ignored. Such ignorance would be acquiescence to the condition 'might makes right'. History also bears witness that the condition 'might makes right' produces many a consequence that humans had to sacrifice much to try and overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the danger of neglecting the environment has been well understood and various types of environmental pollution have endangered the entire planet as human habitat. Thus, the efforts of human society to protect the environment and modify development methods have begun and have gradually overshadowed all aspects of the activities of societies and governments, so that today environmental concerns and sustainable development are among the most important global issues. The university, as an important educational complex, can take an important part of the responsibility and planning to adopt the most appropriate strategies in the implementation of environmentally friendly programs and the use of renewable and sustainable resources, and move towards supporting clean energy and environmental protection. Hence, in this article, it is attempted to analyze the issues and prospects of university training to tackle environmental challenges. A descriptive analytical approach is used to meet that aim. In this paper, the concept of environmental education, the role of educational systems, especially universities in environmental education, the required educational approaches and sustainable development capabilities are reviewed and finally, recommendations for institutionalizing sustainable development are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental management is considered as a tool to control the interplay and influence of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might imply, the management of the environment itself. The paper reveals environmental management development indicators at the macro level. The directions on activation of non-state sources for financing the activities of technological environmental management subjects in modern Russia have been determined based on the use of dialectical, phenomenological, formallogical methods, in particular, such a direction as the popularization of technological creativity of economic agents as the basis of personal and cultural factors for technological environmental management development, support of benefits system for small businesses in obtaining access to financial resources and preserve the ecosystem, etc. The essence of environmental management in regions and directions of its development in relation to the laws of intellectual property realization has been determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality assurance in higher education and science has a specific role in all countries, giving a base for relevant research and innovation, which all together play a crucial role in supporting social cohesion, economic growth and global competitiveness for individuals and societies. Within this paper we have discussed usual measurable characteristics related to the quality of higher education and science. By analysing the intercorrelations between those characteristics we have discussed a model for discovering secret generalised principal quality assurance variables in higher education and science, as a linear combination of measurable quality characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government has a big responsibility to provide maximum service to citizens or the society and the effectiveness of internal processes in government such as coordination and collaboration between ministries and externals such as services to society. On the other hand, technological developments, especially cloud computing, can be alternative solutions so that information systems can be more efficient and effective. The purpose of this research is to build a comprehensive e-government model that covers all parts of the government using cloud base technology. The result of this research is an integrated electronic government model based with cloud technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's age, the use of information and communication technology has become commonplace in many people's lives. Increasing the pace of life, increasing the size of the crises of societies and the complexities of today's humans have made the use of information technology inevitable. One of the major challenges in human societies is grief (emotional response to the loss of an important person) and mourning (social expression of grief), which can be addressed in the context of IT achievements. The use of information and communication technology for mourning ceremonies is a new and inevitable debate. The coronavirus epidemic has engulfed the world for more than three months, crippling the global economy. On the other hand, many people in this period mourn for reasons other than coronavirus such as coronary heart disease, strokes and accidents. ... and, unfortunately, were met with severe grief, such as the death of a child during fetus and childhood and the death of partner, who were buried without mourning and in complete silence. Exposure to intense grief, especially in the lack of social support, may expose one to complicated mourning (CG) with the risk of mental and physical health impairments and suicidal behaviors. And because of quarantine and health isolates against Corona, survivors were deprived of mourning as the most important area of affective social support in grief and a means of abreaction. Virtual mourning can provide a space for the survivors to relax and, along with it, establish a new economy in the field of information and communication technology. This article deals with the basics of mourning, virtual mourning, and its importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological development of society, and in particular the universal digitization of the economy, will have a significant impact on the labor market and on the managers job functions. The use of Artificial Intelligence systems and robotics carries with it both tremendous opportunities and threats of changes and even disappearance of certain professions. The ability to re-design the management system in accordance with new opportunities and challenges will be a key factor in adapting organizations to the new conditions in the interests of workers, employers and society. This study includes the analysis of the Artificial Intelligence usage trends and its influence on the labor market and manager's job roles. It also highlights the opportunities which AI provides to business and employees and main challenges of its implementation in the organization's management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IS research has a lot to say about how information and communication technologies (ICT) can support democracy in closed societies, i.e., those ruled by undemocratic regimes. Evidence suggests that technologies indeed facilitate the creation of non-standard communication networks that connect citizens and allow them to share information and participate in activities that foster democracy. Because these action networks are an ensemble of technical artifacts and social mechanisms (e.g., contextual conditions and historical events), IS research can offer an insightful perspective on how to untangle the sociomaterial practices that bring about social outcomes in this phenomenon. This research uses closed societies as a reference and aims at explaining how censorship-resistant communication networks emerge as different social actors actualize the affordances of different IT artifacts. An interpretivist case study about 14ymedio, the first independent digital media in Cuba, is proposed as the method to answer our research question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability is an essential element in all societies and to the organizations that inhabit this world. Corporate scandals have been linked to failures in accountability and business leaders are now more than ever challenged to be accountable. Leadership can also be understood as a response to transparency and accountability issues that are an important concern in the area of public administration. In substance, leadership and accountability are both attributional phenomena. We conduct an evidence-based review using an integrative synthesis of published peer-reviewed literature on leadership and accountability. Our search in Web of Science databases identified 37 articles on this topic of several research areas. Our review of these articles addresses the following 5 questions: (1) What kind of studies have been developed on the topic? (2) What is the possible relationship between leadership and accountability? (3) What is the impact of studies identified in the literature? (4) What is the incidence of studies in the area of Business and Economics? (5) Which direction should subsequent studies take? To answer these questions, we use an evidence-based review with bibliometric methods of citation analysis, co-citation analysis, co-author analysis, and co-word analysis. We conclude that despite evidence linking the adoption of a relationship between leadership and accountability, adoption is very low, particularly in the field of business and economics, and therefore, evidence on this topic is sparse. This study intends to contribute to a more complete reflection and understanding of literature review, impact and relevance of accountability in organizational leadership. We offer potential explanations for this paradox and suggest avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In all areas of activity, different leaders have been recognized due to their impact on other people and society. Effective leaders are not only those who admirably manage a massive group of people, but also those who make people work for their vision, generating an impact on society. Leaders become followed, but they are not always accepted by people for their behaviour or for their ability to communicate with them; they might be just conductors of teams, appreciated for professional outcomes, but not for their human qualities. In addition, organizations which become industry leaders are also recognized as having a dominant market position. In other words, leader organizations are very well known for their impact in the field they run their business. The connection between leadership and civic engagement is very clear -- leaders influence people, leader companies determine industries. Current education could improve leadership teaching and learning by generating skills related to proper competences of real leaders. In other words, teaching knowledge and providing subject-related skills to students is great, but university graduates must incorporate all these in the job area. The aim of this paper is to create a strategic model to increase the civic engagement of higher education institutions, connecting leadership skills to leadership competences for personal and professional development of their students. Main objectives are: to explain the need for young generation to develop leadership skills, not meaning necessarily to become leaders; to compare the theoretical knowledge on leadership with practical cases for a better understanding of the leadership skills; to build an institutional model to increase the higher education leadership-based civic engagement. The research is based on literature review and comparative analyses of practical cases, as well as on a questionnaire-based research on the students and professors' perceptions on how current education can change towards more effective civic engagement. Main findings of the research consist in the development of a strategic model for civic engagement of higher education institutions, as well as in a set of practical solutions on how Leadership teaching and learning should be carried out in civic institutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisations growingly face the need for investing in their employees to fulfil the requirements of modern society and improve organisational resilience. Education is supposed to facilitate individuals to build the necessary knowledge and competencies for now and for the future. Management has to show leadership to stimulate employees, so they fulfil a valuable role in work and future society. Organisations approach the importance of investing in the education of current employees for future challenges, while this focus in primary or secondary level schooling is missing. Future-oriented companies cooperate with schools to reach out to students early enough, understanding that the real need for future lies in the hands of the youths, who are still in primary or secondary education. Our research highlights shortcomings related to the concept of inclusive society: the growing divide in educational practices based on differences, wealth divides, as well as on cultural differences. The conclusions of this discussion paper regard the roles modern organisations play in better-preparing youth for dealing with future challenges. Dealing with uncertain futures is not limited to current staff. Preparing youth as future employees now for the future challenges is a task of today for avoiding problems in the future. At the end of this article we focus on the needs for finding a balance in this dynamically changing playing field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to put forth a conceptual model of a criminal organization that incorporates both mandatory and discretionary characteristics. This comprehensive and flexible model attempts to overcome the limitations of static definitions and existing underdeveloped theoretical frameworks that do not fully capture the traits, diversity, and complexity of organized criminal conspiracies. In total, 25 characteristics are incorporated into this model and divided into four categories: organizational, institutional, commercial, and behavioural. To constitute a criminal organization, a conspiracy among offenders must satisfy at least twelve of the 25 traits, six of which are deemed to be universal to any criminal organization. This conceptual model not only fills a void in the theoretical literature on organized crime. It has also been developed for applied purposes: to facilitate legal efforts to determine, in a scientific and rigorous fashion, whether a particular conspiracy among offenders in Canada constitutes a "criminal organization" as defined by Section 467.1(1) of the Criminal Code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Above all, this article analyses the distinction of the contemporary Russian political and legal transition from state-centered social structure to human-centered society. The former presupposes that sociopolitical relations are subject to the etatization of socium and individuals and laws substantially limit human freedoms. The latter is based on the priority of human rights and freedoms, which is fundamental for a social state of law. In the 1990s there were certain efforts to approach the second type of development. In the 2000s there has been a drastic turn to the first model domination. The author substantiate the conclusion that there is a need for the transition from authoritative etatism to the formation of new sociopolitical relations. They should be characterized by rule of law would not only seek to static opposition but also really oppose the statecentrism. The dynamic development of sociopolitical relations would encourage the transition from state-centered to human-centered stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'War of the Knights' (Ritter Krieg) is a medieval alchemical narrative, written in the form of judicial combat between the allegorical figures of the Sun (gold) and Mars (iron). The purpose of the study is to show that if one considers the verbal duel of the 'knights' not as alchemic dispute, but as a clash of interests of various medieval social classes, the contents of the book is clear, and the alchemist is engaged in the analysis of the historical and socio-political situation in the late Middle Ages. The method of research is historical-philosophical and socio-cultural analysis. In the fifteenth century, the growth of trade exposed the aspect of gold circulation, namely, the deficit of gold. In the dispute a third party appears, the interests of which (the interests of society) are represented at the trial by the judge - Mercury. Mercury proposes to withdraw gold from the jewelry business and increase the mass of currency. These processes are relevant for the XV century but not for the end of XVII. The philosopher's stone in the Treatise is money, gold coins created from the wealth of the aristocrat by the work of the blacksmith. Wealth - the consequence of trade - is the last stage of alchemy, 'multiplication'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A defining characteristic of society in the 20th and the 21th century, in addition to the rapid development of science, technology and social systems, is the attempt to consciously preserve as much as possible of the past and the present for future generations. This article discusses the theoretical background of the heritage creation process and analyses the process based on different levels of society. To recognize something as heritage is to bring along its political, legal, economic and social influences. The questions that consistently emerge are: to whom does heritage belong, and to what extent. A person's rights to use their property is legally bound when it comes to heritage objects, so it seems that at least from the cultural perspective, heritage belongs to all of mankind. Since heritage plays an important role in shaping and preserving group identity, the people need to have a guaranteed right to make decisions regarding their own heritage. This means that when it comes to recognising something as heritage, determining its values and preserving it, it is first and foremost the right of the people and the groups of people to whom this heritage matters. As heritage is now defined as an living process in contemporary society, with its own specific goals and methods, then the decision to recognise something as heritage must be based on the needs of the same society. What inevitably follows from this perspective is that any past decisions regarding something as heritage are by no means "everlasting" but can, and must, be reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper on Arab Atomic Energy Agency and how it aims to protect Arab countries from radiation is presented. It outlines the missions of the agency that includes coordination among member states for application of atomic energy, knowledge transfer concerning nuclear science and technology and public awareness on ionized radiation.

A quantitative assay of isotopic fissile materials (U235, Pu239, Pu241) was done at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), using lead slowing down spectrometer (LSDS). The optimum design of LSDS was performed based on economics, easy maintenance and assay effectiveness. LSDS system consists of spectrometer, neutron source, detection and control. LSDS system induces fissile fission and fast neutrons are collected at fission chamber. The detected signal has a direct relation to the mass of existing fissile isotopes. Many current commercial assay technologies have a limitation in direct application on isotopic fissile assay of spent fuel, except chemical analysis. In the designed system, the fissile assay model was setup and the correction factor for self-shield was obtained. The isotopic fissile content assay was performed by changing the content of Pu239. Based on the fuel rod, the isotopic content was consistent with ~2% uncertainty for Pu239. By applying the covering (neutron absorber), the effective shielding was obtained and the activation was calculated on the target. From the assay evaluation, LSDS technique is very powerful and direct to analyze the isotopic fissile content. LSDS is applicable for nuclear fuel cycle and spent fuel management for safety and economics. Additionally, an accurate fissile content will contribute to the international transparency and credibility on spent fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Institut de physique nucléaire – Institute of Nuclear Physics (IPN) and the Laboratoire de l’accélérateur linéaire – Laboratory of the linear accelerator (LAL) are about to build two accelerators at the University Paris-Sud, Orsay. Andromede is a new imaging mass spectrometry instrument for surface analysis: the electron positron emission microscope (EPEM) will analyse impacts on a surface made by nano-particles (Au404) in the keV to MeV range to study ion-surface interactions. ThomX is a compact X-ray source (energy up to 90 keV – flux up to 1013 photons.s-1) that will produce X-rays using Compton backscattering effect between an electron beam and a laser. In order to use these machines in the same area, hutches are designed to comply with French regulations for radiation protection. This paper presents the methods used to design the hutches, complying with safety objectives, technical issues and budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the current status of high-energy cosmic-ray physics and gamma-ray astronomy at the Tunka Astrophysical Center (AC). This complex is located in the Tunka Valley, about 50 km from Lake Baikal. Present efforts are focused on the construction of the first stage of the gamma-ray observatory TAIGA - the TAIGA prototype. TAIGA (Tunka Advanced Instrument for cosmic ray physics and Gamma Astronomy) is designed for the study of gamma rays and charged cosmic rays in the energy range 1013 eV-1018 eV. The array includes a network of wide angle timing Cherenkov stations (TAIGA-HiSCORE), each with a FOV= 0.6 sr, plus up to 16 IACTs (FOV - 10° × 10°). This part covers an area of 5 km2. Additional muon detectors (TAIGAMuon), with a total coverage of 2000m2, are distributed over an area of 1 km2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitiveness of national economies of countries around the world is dependent on innovations and the ability of both societies and organizations to launch innovative products and services on the market. There are many different factors that could have an impact on this process that could account for the country-dependent competitiveness. However, from an international cross-cultural management perspective, the impact of national culture is by far the most interesting. As culture defines the behavior and values of the members of a society and distinguishes them from other societies (Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov 2010) it should have an impact on how people behave. This behavior differs from one society to the other, resulting different attitudes to creativity and innovation. Therefore, the question is does national culture have an influence on national innovation rates? In other words, are some societies simply more innovative than others thanks to the differences in their cultural environments? Furthermore, how can this influence be tested in real life should be examined as well. Two countries will be chosen as examples to verify the theoretical conclusions based on literature. These countries will be chosen based on their political and economic situation. Therefore, Austria as a representative of the developed part of Europe and a member state of the EU, and Serbia as a representative of the less developed part of Europe will be compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The river monitoring activity from the territory of the Banat hydrographic space which is situated in south-western part of Romania started in the 19th century, when the achievement of drainage works were started, of great amplitude, in the subsidence area of the Western Field, where there several swamps and frequent floods took place, and when several hydrotechnical works were performed, based on studies and projects, for which several observations and hydrological measurement where necessary. The occurrence of these events quickened the establishment of the first hydrometrical stations from Romania, in its western part, meaning Banat. Thus, the first hydrometric stations established within Banat region have at the moment a significant historical value, because they are among the oldest hydrometrical stations from Romania. The hydrometric network of the Banat region sums almost 80 hydrometric stations, 2 evaporimetric stations on the lake, 122 automated river and drilling stations, 22 measuring sections for utility flows, 65 satellite sections, 84 hydrological and hydrogeological springs şi 598 hydrogeological drillings which are distributed in all the relief steps and are located on the main rivers and their tributaries and the density of the hydrometrical station network is good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on saving energy in the process of drinking water distribution in the rural area. The hydraulic model of the water distribution network that supplies Dulcesti village, Constanta County, Romania, developed in EPANET is the basis to performing a thorough analyse of the hydraulic system's operation. The standard hourly water demand is taken into account. The network is a branched one, widen on a large area so that the ratio is about 10m of pipe per inhabitant. The difference in junction elevation is up to 37m and furthermore there are big differences of elevation between junctions placed close one to each other. These features of the network impose the analysis of pressure field in various scenarios of pumping methods. Different alternatives for the network configuration (branched and looped network) are considered in order to meet the required technical parameters. Numerical simulation pointed out the optimal pumping alternative, by using variable speed pumps. The subsequent energy saving is 35% comparing with the actual consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deepening interest in didactical problems of teaching physics can be from the beginning associated with the creation of the subject of physics, especially at secondary schools. In the 20th century it was no longer possible to ignore the rapid development of physical science and application of its results in practice. The subject of physics required the definition of its content, development of textbooks and, amongst others, new ways of teaching in comparison with the past. The interest of teachers focused mainly on increasing the clarity of explanation - the creation of experiments and teaching aids. Since 1926 Association of Mathematicians and Physicists in the first Czechoslovak Republic issued a didactic-methodological annex to the Journal of Mathematics and Physics, as a discussion in order to increase the quality of teaching. However, this action was spontaneous and subjective. In the second half of the 20th century didactics of physics became a study discipline, part of the training of future secondary school teachers and the development of scientific work in the field of Theory of teaching physics started. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between diversity and innovation is broadly discussed in the context of research and innovation processes. Many institutions and enterprises, specifically in commerce, have already tried to establish sustainable diversity management concepts, in order to increase the diversity of their workforce in addition to establishing a corporate culture of openness. Alongside the creation of a working place where different experiences and skills are valued equally, the entrepreneurial intention is to transfer diversity into economically relevant advantages. Taking into account the potential of diversity in research and innovation processes, the project "Diversity- and Innovation Management" was incorporated within a large interdisciplinary research Cluster. The project's purpose was to study the context between diversity and innovation in research associations and to later develop a customised management concept into an interdisciplinary research Cluster on integrative production technology with full integration. The challenge of such research associations lays in an organisational structure which is often described as being decentralised. Researchers coming from different academic disciplines, while having diverse habits, conduct research on large scientific issues and challenges. In addition, these researchers are socialised in different institutions and university chairs. Theses differences in leadership styles, business cultures and organisational strategies, follow into their research team work. Taking a closer look into the management of human resources suggests that decentral organised recruitment processes, as well as allocation of human resources, lead to a lacking overview in regard to missing competencies, perspectives and backgrounds in research networks. These circumstances are comparable to big corporate groups. While developing a management concept for research associations, these characteristics must be considered. To ensure this, the project follows a human-centred approach, which considers top-down, as well as bottom-up perspectives. This paper presents the applied mixed-method approach in the scientific issue described above. In the frame of the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries" research results based on quantitative, as well as qualitative studies, were presented as an application example. This paper provides a new perspective on the innovation and diversity context. Against the background of complex research organisations, the development approach of a management concept is particularly interesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the forms of network governance adopted by formal women entrepreneurial networks (FWEN) in sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on the effectiveness of the networks. FWENs provide key resources for women entrepreneurs that may otherwise not be accessible or attainable and for these FWENs to be of value they need to have effective governance structures. The successful acquisition, control and utilization of resources as well as achievement of network goals is highly reliant on effective governance. While the importance of governance in formal networks cannot be overemphasized, there is limited knowledge about the forms of network governance adopted by FWEN and their impact on the effectiveness of the networks. Provan and Kenis' (2008) framework on modes of network governance has been adopted to examine the forms of governance in FWENs and their impact on the effectiveness of the networks. Data was collected from four networks in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya using qualitative methods and was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal while that no particular mode of governance is favoured over the other in FWENs, the FWEN with the Network Administration Organisation (NAO) mode of governance had the highest level of network effectiveness. The findings have implications for women entrepreneurs, leaders of FWENs, government, practitioners, policy makers and individual or organisational investors looking to impact women's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is one of the areas that is discussed in every society and this discussion happens all the time. This is because the development of societies happens precisely on the basis of a good and quality of education. The higher is the quality of this education, the faster is the development and even the transformation of societies, even our society. However, in practice it happens that a discussion on education does not mean that governments, starting from the central to the local level governments have as priority the education and on the basis of this priority to decide adequate measures for the development of a quality education on their institutions. This paper will try to explain how important it is to approach that the priorities for a higher quality education become such with support plans, especially in financial terms. This paper will present a paradigm in the case of Kosovo, where all Kosovo governments without distinction since the declaration of independence of Kosovo have given priority to education, while on the other hand the allocation of the budget for education has been ridiculous. Therefore, this paper will rightly bring to the reader how important it is for the state not only to prioritize education, but also to support it with strategic plans, and above all in financial terms, because prioritizing the education only in strategic documents with no further actions means a big failure towards the quality in education. And if this does not happen, then surely quality of education will be lacking, and with it will lack the results, especially the international results, as is the case with the PISA results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Construction Industry Council in Hong Kong provides a platform for the many different stakeholders in the region's construction industry to express their views on the sustainable and long-term development of the industry. The council also works for the betterment of the society as a whole by working towards improvements in construction skills, the safety and welfare of practitioners and workers, environmental awareness, professionalism, efficiency and competitiveness. This paper examines the work undertaken by the council to achieve its vision of driving for unity and excellence in the construction industry of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the most rapidly developing field of political geography is closely related to geopolitics and geostrategy. The present study makes a theoretical and chronological analysis of these concepts and their contemporary manifestations. The object of this study is the theory of the development of different civilizations and fundamental Islam and its projection of radicalization in various organizations, countries and continents. In recent years, there have been breakthroughs in the fight between civilizations and societies, as well as in the interpretation of various religions. The events in North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan led to the radicalization of the situation in the Islamic world. This study makes a coherent analysis of the Arab revolutions, which have opened the "Pandora's box" and sharply increased terrorist attacks in Europe, the USA and elsewhere, organized by various Islamic terrorist organizations. Special attention is paid to the emergence and development of the "Islamic State" and its differences with "Al Qaeda". Logically the military actions in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan intensified the wave of migration to the EU. The study indicates the path of migrants by sea and land, and their main goal - their settlement in the rich countries of the EU-Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The Balkan Peninsula, due to its geopolitical position, is exactly the "pathway" of the bulk of migration flows. Moreover, the political wave of migration is economic in nature, which also must be distinguished. In addition the wave of migrants from the region "Sahel" in Africa to Europe is constantly increasing. This study also analyses the insufficient and short-sighted policy of the EU which can not cope with the wave of migration. On the other hand the neo-liberal policies of Europe show a complete collapse - the majority of terrorist attacks involve Muslims who have been settled in Europe for a long time. The experience of the Republic of Bulgaria has also been stated and how it has been coping with the wave of migration and terrorist threats. The conclusion outlines recommendations for solving the Middle East crisis, which are likely to decrease the migration wave and terrorist threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful balancing of work and family demands is impacted by factors on three levels including governmental, organizational and individual. In many economies the governmental support for balancing work and family demands has been decreasing and those countries are witnessing a rise in family-friendly programs that employers are offering to their employees, however it remains unclear how the support available in the workplace and support available at home affect the conflict between work and family demands. Based on the data collected from 1500 employees from nine companies that acquired the "Family-friendly company" certificate this paper examines how available support impacts the work-family conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]