scholarly journals Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic for Software Development in Nordic Companies – Agility Helps to Respond

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Petri Kettunen ◽  
Tomas Gustavsson ◽  
Maarit Laanti ◽  
Andreas Tjernsten ◽  
Tommi Mikkonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Past ◽  
Survey Round ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Perceived Impacts ◽  
Software Professionals ◽  
Industry Sectors ◽  
Ict Companies

AbstractIn 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic affected almost every company in some way also in the Nordic countries. Depending on the different industry sectors of the companies, the impacts have varied from minor risks to severe disruptions but also even booming businesses. In all, agility and resilience have been required to continue and even to survive. In 2018, we started conducting large-scale agile surveys in Finland and Sweden. For the 2020 survey round, we included questions about the current pandemic situation impacts and how agility has helped to respond. The respondents represented software professionals from different industries, not limited to information and communication technology (ICT) companies. The results indicate that although the perceived impacts have mostly been negative (53%), it is not all so. One-third (33%) reported positive impacts such as increased business and better well-being. The majority (55%) of the responses indicated that agility has helped to respond to the pandemic situation. Remarkably, 59% reported that their companies have improved agility during the past year. Improved agility appears to be positively related to the ability to respond to the pandemic. We did not discover significant differences between the Finnish and Swedish respondent cohorts.

scholarly journals De-schooling Well-being: Toward a Learning-Oriented Definition

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Rincón-Gallardo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global South ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Compulsory Schooling ◽  
Robust Learning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grammar Of Schooling

Purpose: (1) Critique conventional schooling as detrimental to student well-being and learning. (2) Articulate an alternative that is more conducive to learning and well-being in classrooms, schools, and educational systems. Design/Approach/Methods: I review the historical functions of compulsory schooling, the main critiques to conventional schooling developed over the past century, emerging knowledge on the neuroscience of learning and well-being, and cases of large-scale pedagogical transformation from the Global South. Findings: I argue that conventional schooling is detrimental to well-being, that deep learning is a precursor of well-being, and that compulsory schooling is not designed to cultivate it. Well-being has to be de-schooled so that students thrive in schools: The grammar of schooling has to be replaced with the language of learning. This requires deep and widespread cultural change, and some movements of pedagogical renewal from the Global South offer important lessons on how to accomplish this. Originality/Value: Expanding the scope of existing debates about student well-being by questioning the assumption that compulsory schooling is inherently good and pointing out that unless the default culture of schooling is replaced with cultures of robust learning, student well-being efforts will simply reproduce the very problems they seek to solve.

scholarly journals ICT as a Direction for Diversifying the Economy of Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 122-141
Author(s):  
A. A. Rogozhin
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Past ◽  
Digital Development ◽  
Oil Export ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Vision 2030 ◽  
The Impact

The article examines one of the main directions of the implementation of a large-scale program of economic reforms in Saudi Arabia (Saudi Vision-2030), aimed at ridding the Kingdom’s economy of an alarming dependence on oil export revenues – the digital transformation of society, governing structures, and the economy as a whole. In the past few years, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, which has become the largest in the Middle East, is increasingly visible not only in this region. Its development is particularly dynamic due to large investments in the latest technologies. The success of the ICT sector was also facilitated by the creation of new supervisory bodies and the improvement of the regulatory framework for various areas of digitalization. The country’s leadership aims to make Saudi Arabia one of the world’s leading countries in the field of ICT by building a digital economy based on the principles of the Fourth Industrial Revolutionanddigitalgovernanceofsociety. The five-year digital development strategy (2019–2023) provides for the growth of the ICT sector by 50% and an increase in the rate of “Saudization” of this sector to 50% by 2023. This strategy is expected to increase the contribution of the ICT sector to the economy by at least $13.3 billion. Assessing the prospects for the development of digitalization in Saudi Arabia, the author found four factors that make it possible to assess them as very favorable – sufficient funding, acceleration of the privatization process, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the inevitability of the diversification of the national economy, which is impossible without digitalization.

A Fully Reconfigurable Approach to Emergency Management

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-100
Author(s):  
Daniele Tarchi ◽  
Valeria Petrini ◽  
Giovanni Emanuele Corazza
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Management ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Trend ◽  
Cross Layer ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Computing Systems ◽  
Autonomic Networking ◽  
The Past ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Ict Infrastructure

Emergency management is one of the most important areas where technology innovation has direct impact on social well-being and sustainability. In the past few years, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has proved to be instrumental to improve emergency management with particular focus on resilience, rapidity of response, adaptability to situations. To these ends, joint optimization of communication and computing is a promising cross-layer approach. Indeed, this paper is focused on the consideration of both cognitive and autonomic networking approaches when deploying an emergency management system. The cognitive approach was initially considered specifically for wireless communications, while the autonomic approach was initially introduced for managing complex computing systems; however, they share several similarities in dealing with fully reconfigurable systems. The future trend is to expand their influence toward the global optimization of the ICT infrastructure, as the authors show in this paper for the specific case of emergency management systems.

scholarly journals Can a collective-impact initiative improve well-being in three US communities? Findings from a prospective repeated cross-sectional study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e048378
Author(s):  
Carley Riley ◽  
Brita Roy ◽  
Veronica Lam ◽  
Kerianne Lawson ◽  
Lauren Nakano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Collective Impact ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Perceived Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Improve Health

IntroductionCommunities are seeking to learn if and how they can improve the well-being of their residents. We therefore examined the impact of a community-led, collective-impact initiative, deployed through Blue Zones Project by Sharecare, aimed at improving health and well-being in one set of US communities.MethodsWe used data from cross-sectional surveys of the Well-Being Index (2010–2017) to assess how the Life Evaluation Index (LEI) in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach in California (Beach Cities) changed over time and how this change compares with change for similar cities (Beach Cities-like) and for the USA as a whole. We examined types of interventions, perceived impacts, and relationships between intervention type and change in LEI.ResultsThe Beach Cities experienced greater increases in LEI than Beach Cities-like communities and the nation. The entire portfolio of interventions was positively associated with change in LEI in the Beach Cities (+1.12, p=0.012), with process-oriented interventions most closely associated with improvement.ConclusionsCommunity-led collective action that leverages community engagement and activation, strategic use of programming and large-scale built-environment and policy change can improve health and well-being at scale.

Standardization

2018 ◽  
pp. 424-436
Author(s):  
Arunasalam Sambhanthan
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gear Up ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Production ◽  
Global Standards ◽  
Software Professionals ◽  
Significant Attention

This chapter looks at standardization practices of large scale software development businesses and its acceptability among software professionals. The article reports the results of a survey conducted among software professionals on standardization practices of their organisations. The results show that majority of the organisations are complying with standardization related guidelines in their businesses. A significant number of employees are unaware about the standardization practices adapted by their organisations. The conclusions remarks that the organisations have to gear up their efforts towards introducing and maintaining global standards in the production and delivery of software products and services to their clients. Significant attention towards training and development related to standardization practices is recommended. Future research is warranted in investigating the effectiveness of existing global standards related to software production and delivery in large scale software development organisations.

Immigrant Youth in Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
German School ◽  
Transcultural Adaptation

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.

Enabling Community Well-being Self-Monitoring in the Context of Mining: The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Klinck ◽  
Ben Bradshaw ◽  
Ruby Sandy ◽  
Silas Nabinacaboo ◽  
Mannie Mameanskum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Aboriginal Community ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Community Engaged Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mineral Development ◽  
Iron Deposits ◽  
Term Monitoring

The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach is an Aboriginal community located in northern Quebec near the Labrador Border. Given the region’s rich iron deposits, the Naskapi Nation has considerable experience with major mineral development, first in the 1950s to the 1980s, and again in the past decade as companies implement plans for further extraction. This has raised concerns regarding a range of environmental and socio-economic impacts that may be caused by renewed development. These concerns have led to an interest among the Naskapi to develop a means to track community well-being over time using indicators of their own design. Exemplifying community-engaged research, this paper describes the beginning development of such a tool in fall 2012—the creation of a baseline of community well-being against which mining-induced change can be identified. Its development owes much to the remarkable and sustained contribution of many key members of the Naskapi Nation. If on-going surveying is completed based on the chosen indicators, the Nation will be better positioned to recognize shifts in its well-being and to communicate these shifts to its partners. In addition, long-term monitoring will allow the Naskapi Nation to contribute to more universal understanding of the impacts of mining for Indigenous peoples.

Molecular Epidemiology and Biomarkers in Etiologic Cancer Research: The New in Light of the Old

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lungwani Muungo
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Cancer Research ◽  
Molecular Epidemiology ◽  
Exposure Assessment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Cancer Epidemiology ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Generation

The purpose of this review is to evaluate progress inmolecular epidemiology over the past 24 years in canceretiology and prevention to draw lessons for futureresearch incorporating the new generation of biomarkers.Molecular epidemiology was introduced inthe study of cancer in the early 1980s, with theexpectation that it would help overcome some majorlimitations of epidemiology and facilitate cancerprevention. The expectation was that biomarkerswould improve exposure assessment, document earlychanges preceding disease, and identify subgroupsin the population with greater susceptibility to cancer,thereby increasing the ability of epidemiologic studiesto identify causes and elucidate mechanisms incarcinogenesis. The first generation of biomarkers hasindeed contributed to our understanding of riskandsusceptibility related largely to genotoxic carcinogens.Consequently, interventions and policy changes havebeen mounted to reduce riskfrom several importantenvironmental carcinogens. Several new and promisingbiomarkers are now becoming available for epidemiologicstudies, thanks to the development of highthroughputtechnologies and theoretical advances inbiology. These include toxicogenomics, alterations ingene methylation and gene expression, proteomics, andmetabonomics, which allow large-scale studies, includingdiscovery-oriented as well as hypothesis-testinginvestigations. However, most of these newer biomarkershave not been adequately validated, and theirrole in the causal paradigm is not clear. There is a needfor their systematic validation using principles andcriteria established over the past several decades inmolecular cancer epidemiology.

СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ КОНФЛИКТЫ В РАМКАХ «КАПИТАЛИЗМА ПЛАТФОРМ»

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
L. V. Tomin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Corporate Control ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Integrated Information

The article is devoted to the analysis of the structure, the peculiarities of functioning and the socio-economic and political effects of the «platform capitalism». The basis of this model is the network effects produced by the integrated information and communication infrastructure, which contribute to the monopolization and the constant expansion of platform companies into new areas. The principle of functioning of this infrastructure is the continuous collection and further monetization of data extracted from the interactions of individuals among themselves or with one of the elements of a digitalized economy or government structures. Such an infrastructure — forms a potential threat of strengthening state and corporate control over citizens. In addition, the activities of platform companies produce negative effects on the labor market, reinforcing the process of precarization of employment. The integrated information and communication infrastructure of platform companies form a system of a kind of «digital Taylorism», which deprives the employee of autonomy and privacy in the workplace. The influence of digitalization, subjected to the technocratic logic of the neoliberal model of governance in democratic countries, strengthens the de-politicization of relations between the citizen and the state and further changes the balance of power between labor and capital in favor of the latter. Large-scale protests of the last years against the companies of “capitalism of platforms” demonstrated the structural contradictions of this model and formed new forms of organization and actions of grassroots workers of the “digital economy”.

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