Sustainability from women’s point of view: Building blocks for the analysis of conflicts of interest

Author(s):  
Heidi Wittmer
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 6300
Author(s):  
Igor Smolyar ◽  
Daniel Smolyar

Patterns found among both living systems, such as fish scales, bones, and tree rings, and non-living systems, such as terrestrial and extraterrestrial dunes, microstructures of alloys, and geological seismic profiles, are comprised of anisotropic layers of different thicknesses and lengths. These layered patterns form a record of internal and external factors that regulate pattern formation in their various systems, making it potentially possible to recognize events in the formation history of these systems. In our previous work, we developed an empirical model (EM) of anisotropic layered patterns using an N-partite graph, denoted as G(N), and a Boolean function to formalize the layer structure. The concept of isotropic and anisotropic layers was presented and described in terms of the G(N) and Boolean function. The central element of the present work is the justification that arbitrary binary patterns are made up of such layers. It has been shown that within the frame of the proposed model, it is the isotropic and anisotropic layers themselves that are the building blocks of binary layered and arbitrary patterns; pixels play no role. This is why the EM can be used to describe the morphological characteristics of such patterns. We present the parameters disorder of layer structure, disorder of layer size, and pattern complexity to describe the degree of deviation of the structure and size of an arbitrary anisotropic pattern being studied from the structure and size of a layered isotropic analog. Experiments with arbitrary patterns, such as regular geometric figures, convex and concave polygons, contour maps, the shape of island coastlines, river meanders, historic texts, and artistic drawings are presented to illustrate the spectrum of problems that it may be possible to solve by applying the EM. The differences and similarities between the proposed and existing morphological characteristics of patterns has been discussed, as well as the pros and cons of the suggested method.


This chapter explores emerging technologies centered around cloud computing. From the technological point of view, cloud computing was born as a result of the emergence and the convergence of contemporary technologies. This chapter regards technological aspects of cloud. In the software area, Virtualization Technology and Web Services; in the hardware area, shared compute components (i.e., multicore processors); in networking, security, network virtualization, Virtual Private Network (VPN), virtual firewalls, and network overlay are the promising technologies for the future complex computing infrastructures. In this chapter, the authors review these technologies and describe how they contribute to the anatomy and the characteristics of cloud computing. These technologies constitute the building blocks of cloud computing technologies and infrastructures.


Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Adán-Coello

Service-oriented computing (SOC) is a new computing paradigm that uses services as building blocks to accelerate the development of distributed applications in heterogeneous computer environments. SOC promises a world of cooperating services where application components are combined with little effort into a network of loosely coupled services for creating flexible and dynamic business processes that can cover many organizations and computing platforms (Chesbrough & Spohrer, 2006; Papazoglou & Georgakopoulos, 2003). From a technical point of view, the efforts to offer services have focused on the development of standards and the creation of the infrastructure necessary to describe, discover, and access services using the Web. This type of service is usually called a Web service. The availability of an abundant number of Web services defines a platform for distributed computing in which information and services are supplied on demand, and new services can be created (composed) using available services. Nevertheless, the composition of Web services involves three fundamental problems (Sycara, Paolucci, Ankolekar, & Srinivasan, 2003): 1. To elaborate a plan that describes how Web services interact, how the functionally they offer can be integrated to provide a solution to the considered problem. 2. To discover Web services that accomplish the tasks required by the plan. 3. To manage the interaction of the chosen services. Problems 2 and 3 are of responsibility of the infrastructure that supports the composition of services, while the first problem is of responsibility of the (software) agents that use the infrastructure. The discovery and interaction of Web services poses two main challenges to the infrastructure: 1. How to represent Web services capabilities and how to recognize the similarities between service capabilities and the required functionalities. 2. How to specify the information a Web service requires and provides, the interaction protocol, and the low-level mechanisms required to service invocation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (04n05) ◽  
pp. 461-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquim Crusats ◽  
Zoubir El-Hachemi ◽  
Carlos Escudero ◽  
Josep M. Ribó

The formation and structure of the title aggregates are paradigms of the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecular building blocks in supramolecular chemistry. This review summarizes the research in the University of Barcelona on the homoassociation of the water soluble meso 4-sulfonatophenyl-and phenyl substituted porphyrins.


2007 ◽  
Vol 79 (12) ◽  
pp. 2101-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fitz ◽  
Hannes Reiner ◽  
Bernd Michael Rode

Numerous hypotheses about how life on earth could have started can be found in the literature. In this article, we give an overview about the most widespread ones and try to point out which of them might have occurred on the primordial earth with highest probability from a chemical point of view. The idea that a very early stage of life was the "RNA world" encounters crucial problems concerning the formation of its building blocks and their stability in a prebiotic environment. Instead, it seems much more likely that a "peptide world" originated first and that RNA and DNA took up their part at a much later stage. It is shown that amino acids and peptides can be easily formed in a realistic primordial scenario and that these biomolecules can start chemical evolution without the help of RNA. The origin of biohomochirality seems strongly related to the most probable formation of the first peptides via the salt-induced peptide formation (SIPF) reaction.


Author(s):  
Sofia K. Georgiadis ◽  
Andrew Comba

The concept of operations for NYCT systems is changing as a result of Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), and Solid State Interlocking (SSI) deployment. Train dispatchers are dealing with a higher degree of automation with ATS systems; and similarly, train operators are adjusting to a split between automated and manual processes with CBTC systems. The emerging CBTC and SSI systems are becoming Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and digital-control based. While CBTC is increasing the overall safety of the signaling system, it is also increasing system complexity, especially from an analysis point of view. These issues are addressed at NYCT by the implementation of DoDAF, which the U.S. Department of Defense Architecture Framework, an Enterprise Architecture. This paper discusses VSI’s application of DoDAF with a focus on the safety certification mission. It begins with an overview of DoDAF, followed by a description of Views and Product-models, the building blocks of DoDAF. Each section presents a high-level description of each View, along with exemplary Product-model descriptions, 1 or 2 per View. In addition, two system capability requirements, Safe Train Separation and Control Speed to Restriction Limits, are examined and mapped throughout the model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Nur Cahyati ◽  
Heny Friantary ◽  
Ixsir Eliya

Children's literature produced in Indonesia it self is not too much and studies are rarely carried out. Therefore, it is important to have an assessment of children's literature, especially novels. The research objective was to describe the building blocks in Okky Madasari's Mata di Tanah Melus novel. The approach used in this research is a structuralism approach. The research method used content analysis method. The data source is the novel Mata di Tanah Melus by Okky Madasari. The research time was carried out for one month. Data collection techniques using library techniques. The data collection instrument was the novel Mata di Tanah Melus by Okky Madasari. The data validity technique uses credibility testing techniques, namely increasing persistence and using reference materials. Data analysis in this study used Miles and Huberman's analysis model, namely data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. The results showed that the building blocks found in the novel Mata di Tanah Melus, namely the facts of the story in the form of a forward plot. The main character is Matara, the supporting character consists of 18 people, the white character consists of 5 people, and the black character is the Hunters. The setting consists of 17 places. The time setting occurs in the morning, noon, and night. The socio-cultural background raises the culture of the Melus Tribe. The theme raised in the novel Mata di Tanah Melus is the theme of humanity. The means of the story are titles and points of view. The title of the novel contains two meanings and experiences semantic distortion. The point of view used is the main actor's first person point of view


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Berendt

Recently, many AI researchers and practitioners have embarked on research visions that involve doing AI for “Good”. This is part of a general drive towards infusing AI research and practice with ethical thinking. One frequent theme in current ethical guidelines is the requirement that AI be good for all, or: contribute to the Common Good. But what is the Common Good, and is it enough to want to be good? Via four lead questions, the concept of Ethics Pen-Testing (EPT) identifies challenges and pitfalls when determining, from an AI point of view, what the Common Good is and how it can be enhanced by AI. The current paper reports on a first evaluation of EPT. EPT is applicable to various artefacts that have ethical impact, including designs for or implementations of specific AI technology, and requirements engineering methods for eliciting which ethical settings to build into AI. The current study focused on the latter type of artefact. In four independent sessions, participants with close but varying involvements in “AI and ethics” were asked to deconstruct a method that has been proposed for eliciting ethical values and choices in autonomous car technology, an online experiment modelled on the Trolley Problem. The results suggest that EPT is well-suited to this task: the remarks made by participants lent themselves well to being structured by the four lead questions of EPT, in particular, regarding the question what the problem is and about which stakeholders define it. As part of the problem definition, the need became apparent for thorough technical domain knowledge in discussions of AI and ethics. Thus, participants questioned the framing and the presuppositions inherent in the experiment and the discourse on autonomous cars that underlies the experiment. They transitioned from discussing a specific AI artefact to discussing its role in wider socio-technical systems. Results also illustrate to what extent and how the requirements engineering method forces us to not only have a discussion about which values to “build into” AI systems, the substantive building blocks of the Common Good, but also about how we want to have this discussion at all. Thus, it forces us to become explicit about how we conceive of democracy and the constitutional state and the procedural building blocks of the Common Good.


2020 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 00021
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Barone ◽  
Cristina Puzzarini

The discovery in the interstellar medium of molecules showing a certain degree of complexity, and in particular those with a prebiotic character, has attracted great interest. A complex chemistry takes place in space, but the processes that lead to the production of molecular species are a matter of intense discussion, the knowledge still being at a rather primitive stage. Debate on the origins of interstellar molecules has been further stimulated by the identification of biomolecular building blocks, such as nucleobases and amino acids, in meteorites and comets. Since many of the molecules found in space play a role in the chemistry of life, the issue of their molecular genesis and evolution might be related to the profound question of the origin of life itself. Understanding the underlying chemical processes, including the production, reactions and destruction of compounds, requires the concomitant study of spectroscopy, gas-phase reactivity, and heterogeneous processes on dust-grains. The aim of this contribution is to provide a general view of a complex and multifaceted challenge, while focusing on the role played by molecular spectroscopy and quantum-chemical computations. In particular, the derivation of the molecular spectroscopic features and the investigation of gas-phase formation routes of prebiotic species in the interstellar medium are addressed from a computational point of view.


Webology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-260
Author(s):  
Ni Ketut Arismayanti

Marine tourism has the potential to develop various activities because it is supported by nature, culture and tourist activities. However, coastal and marine areas are vulnerable to damage and over exploitation. Various problems encountered in coastal and marine areas, such as garbage, damage to coral reefs, excessive fish management, social problems, conflicts of interest or limited governance. Local wisdom has a fundamental role as a way of life for people in preserving civilization. Likewise, the roles and efforts of stakeholders to participate in contributing to monitoring and providing protection for coastal and marine areas so that they can provide sustainable benefits. This research uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, especially the explanatory sequential mixed method. Data were analyzed using descriptive qualitative, Importance Performance Analysis and Customer Satisfaction Index. Data were collected by observation, questionnaires, and interviews by raising several cases in Indonesian territory related to local wisdom from a cultural perspective, the role of NGOs from a nature conservation perspective, and tourism assessment from a tourist market perspective. Local wisdom from a cultural perspective, a community that has potential and a central role in conservation and preservation efforts, resource development and science and technology that can be passed on to the next generation based on knowledge, values, skills, resources, decision-making and local solidarity. Stakeholders in terms of nature protection have a major role and potential contribution by supporting, implementing, advocating, engaging and influencing, and having a high commitment to realizing responsible and sustainable tourism. From a tourism point of view, it has several weaknesses related to the quality of tourist attractions in indicators, management, amenities and value for money, so that efforts are needed to improve the quality and variety of products, professional management, and various tourism activity innovations that have the value of novelty and meaningfulness for tourists.


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