scholarly journals Contributions to improve sustainability conditions in gemstonebenefiting companies

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-435
Author(s):  
Fernanda Cristina Wiebusch Sindelar ◽  
Júlia Elisabete Barden ◽  
Simone Stülp

The gemstones and jewels production chain have been an important source of income and job creation in several regions of Brazil. However, sometimes, its activities haven’t been developed in an environmentally correct and sustainable context. In this sense, this work seeks to investigate indicators, to propose a framework of indicators to evaluate and monitor the sustainability conditions of companies that process gemstones. Therefore, a proposal was prepared considering the specificities of the sector, containing 10 indicators and 24 variables distributed in the environmental, economic, social, and technological dimensions. The proposal was verified empirically with a company, a case study, located in Teutônia/RS, which presents the main characteristics of the companies belonging to the sector. The use of the framework of indicators provided information on the company’s sustainability conditions, identifying positive aspects and also those that need to be improved to assist in the search for a more sustainable management of activities. On the other hand, the results achieved present information that can serve as a reference for comparison with other companies in the sector, as well as assist in the decisionmaking process in search of more sustainable conditions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-178
Author(s):  
Tanzim Hayat ◽  
ASM Maksud Kamal ◽  
Md Shakhawat Hossain ◽  
Saiyeba Zaman ◽  
BM Rabby Hossain ◽  
...  

Cyclone shelters are considered as a solution to reduce cyclone risk in coastal districts of Bangladesh. The location of a shelter plays a crucial part in a potential user’s decisionmaking process. If the perception is that the shelter is too far away, the user may decide not to use it. On the other hand, it would not be financially feasible to construct shelters near every settlement cluster. Therefore, network analysis using GIS has been applied to reveal the optimal location. Apart from distance, there are some other factors (like space, presence of gender segregated rooms and toilets, ramped access way, availability of drinking water, etc.), which affect a user’s affinity to evacuate to a specific shelter. All the shelters in Atulia Union from Satkhira District of Bangladesh were visited to identify these characteristics. Finally, an index was developed to determine the preference of each shelter to its potential users. It was found that there is inadequate number of shelters in the study area and two new shelter locations were recommended. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 46(2): 163-178, December 2020


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-377
Author(s):  
Adel Saadi ◽  
Ramdane Maamri ◽  
Zaidi Sahnoun

The Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is a popular approach to design flexible agents. The key ingredient of BDI model, that contributed to concretize behavioral flexibility, is the inclusion of the practical reasoning. On the other hand, researchers signaled some missing flexibility’s ingredient, in BDI model, essentially the lack of learning. Therefore, an extensive research was conducted in order to extend BDI agents with learning. Although this latter body of research is important, the key contribution of BDI model, i.e., practical reasoning, did not receive a sufficient attention. For instance, for performance reasons, some of the concepts included in the BDI model are neglected by BDI architectures. Neglecting these concepts was criticized by some researchers, as the ability of the agent to reason will be limited, which eventually leads to a more or less flexible reasoning, depending on the concepts explicitly included. The current paper aims to stimulate the researchers to re-explore the concretization of practical reasoning in BDI architectures. Concretely, this paper aims to stimulate a critical review of BDI architectures regarding the flexibility, inherent from the practical reasoning, in the context of single agents, situated in an environment which is not associated with uncertainty. Based on this review, we sketch a new orientation and some suggested improvements for the design of BDI agents. Finally, a simple experiment on a specific case study is carried out to evaluate some suggested improvements, namely the contribution of the agent’s “well-informedness” in the enhancement of the behavioral flexibility.


Author(s):  
James Brassett

The chapter engages the outpouring of Brexit comedy as an important case study of the politics of humor. On one hand, the literature on comedy and politics has identified the subversive potential of jokes as a form of everyday resistance. On the other hand, sociological approaches have emphasized the role of stereotype and humiliation in jokes as part of a disciplinary function of humor. Building on these insights, the chapter reads prominent debates within comedy about Brexit as a vernacular form of politics. Jokes and satire perform and reperform discourses of identity. The chapter argues we should rephrase “Brexit comedy” or “the comedy of Brexit” as a socially consequential practice that teases at the (changing) social and political consensus.


Author(s):  
Tebogo Morajane

This contribution examines the provisions of the constitutive documents of companies under two specific provisions, namely s 65(2) of the Companies Act 61 of 1973 and s 15(6) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008.  The aim is to determine who is bound by these provisions, the circumstances which give rise to being bound by them, and the possible effect thereof on various parties. The provisions of the constitutive documents under section 65(2) of the 1973 Companies Act are interpreted by courts and academic writers to amount to a statutory contract between a company and its members and between members inter se. The members are said to be bound by the provisions of these documents only in their capacity as members. It is submitted, however, that the rights and obligations are granted to members in their capacity as such if they are membership rights which are granted by virtue on one’s membership. So far the courts have failed to provide a logical explanation of the concept “capacity of a member as such”. This failure and the “qua membership test” resulted in limitations in the interpretation of section 65(2): for example, the exclusion of persons who are regarded as outsiders. The directors, despite the fact that numerous provisions of the applicable article provides for their rights, have rights that are unenforceable via the articles, for being regarded as outsiders. The company on the other hand can enforce the obligations against the directors on the basis of breach of their fiduciary duties. These limitations called for a redraft of section 65(2).  This contribution raises the legal challenges raised by the above. It arrives inter alia at the conclusion that the “qua membership test” may find application under the 2008 Companies Act, since members/shareholders may be allowed to exercise rights that are membership rights granted to them by virtue of their membership, and directors may be allowed to exercise rights that are granted to them in their official capacities as such.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
José L. De Nicolás Sánchez ◽  
Mariana Correia ◽  
Juan A. Villasante

<p>The project, cofinanced by the line of the UE “INTERREG IIIA”, was focused, on the one hand, in Identification, Study, Cataloguing and Valuation of missing and preserved components of defensive fortifications, located in the geographical area under study. On the other hand were put up in virtual paths different fortifications that made up the defensive system. Besides, the foundations were laid for the development of sustainable Management Plans for the property, with the consequent strengthening of local identities and the improvement of the local tourist promotion. In popularization phase, a Database website was developed and it will be enriched by military history experts, and the results were announced in conferences and exhibitions.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Chotibul Umam ◽  
Dita Sukawati ◽  
Fadilla Oktaviana

In this research, the writer was aimed to find out the types of code switching that used by English teacher based on gender inequality and the reasons of using code switching that used by English teacher based on gender inequality. The writer was conducted case study in qualitative method. In collecting the data, the writer used observation by using video recording and interview. The result of the research shows that the writer found three types from each teacher based on gender inequality by observation. The types are inter-sentential, intra-sentential and tag switching. In the other hand, each types that used by English teacher based on gender inequality was made in number percentages, for female English teacher are inter sentential code switching 54%, intra sentential code switching 38% and tag switching 8%. Moreover, for male English teacher are inter sentential code switching 42%, intra sentential code switching 41% and tag switching 18%. In the other words, interview was used to find out the reasons that used by English teacher based on gender inequality. The reasons are talking about particular topic, repetition, Interjection and Raising status.


Author(s):  
Sergio Alonso Lopera Medina

This paper explores self-plagiarism in three different articles that reported results of the same research project on reading in a foreign language. This article follows the qualitative research method and an exploratory case study was used. Results support that both inadequate paraphrasing and adequate paraphrasing were given. Regarding inadequate paraphrasing some similar words and ideas were found. On the other hand, using different authors in a specific idea, having different numbers of words in a common issue, and being versatile to present information might lead to adequate paraphrasing. Conclusions suggest that a dialog between editors and authors must be given in order to clear self-plagiarism up. Finally, conclusions also suggest that editors should consider the inclusion of some similar information in articles written by the same author or the same research members


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Tkáč ◽  
Radoslav Delina ◽  
Martina Sabolová

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this paper is to identify and determine reasons why construction companies reject some of the request for proposals (RFPS) suitable for them. <br /><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> The research has several parts. Within the first part the list of reasons which lead to rejection of RFPS and thus potential client are identified. Then the comparison of differences between groups of rejected RFPS with different configuration is made. The last part of research use Pareto analysis to determine most obvious and most costly reasons of rejection of RFPS. <br /><strong>Findings:</strong> The paper identifies 12 reasons, why construction companies decline to prepare proposal for their potential clients. It also doesn’t confirm that configuration of RFPS has significant impact on the rejection of RFPS. Moreover the results on the other hand showed that insufficient trust represent the main barrier which influences the rejection of RFPS in selected company.<br /><strong>Research Limitation/implication:</strong> The main limitation of the research is that it is based on single case study. Although, the quantitative results have to be generalised very carefully, on the other hand paper provide list of the possible reasons why construction companies decline to compete for an offer. <br /><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The paper provides unique perspective because apart from traditional attitude, where only the submitted RFPS are evaluated, this paper analyses rejected RFPS and tries to identify and determine reasons why construction companies decide not to prepare proposal and thus reduce the possibility to acquire new contract.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 143-152
Author(s):  
Adil Zamil Manshad Al-Saidi

The integration between art and science is required for the student in the department of architecture. This paper concentrates on the importance of integration between artistic skills and scientific abilities for the student to achieve high quality level of learning in the department of architecture in Iraq. It analyses the criteria of the architectural education and the educational method used. It demonstrates the integration relationship between art, science and architecture. It follows a descriptive analyses methodology to investigate the skills and abilities required for the student to cope with the criteria of architectural education. It conducted a case study on students in the department of architecture in Iraq to explore the impact of having these skills and abilities on the student’s progression. It explains why a few students only graduate with high grades. The results obtained showed that the integration between artistic skills and scientific abilities is very important for the students. On the other hand, developing the artistic skills is harder than developing the scientific abilities in architectural education.


Author(s):  
Maria José de Miranda Nazaré Loureiro ◽  
Filipe T. Tavares Moreira ◽  
Susana Senos

The present study is part of a research about computational thinking and tangible robotics. A robot in development in Portugal, MI-GO robot, is part of the basis of this research. The objective is to determine the attitude of young students concerning tangible robots and to observe in what measure they contribute to the development of their STEM skills. On the other hand, it also aims to know what are the opinions of educators, teachers, and researchers concerning MI-GO's characteristics and what is their value, adequacy and suitability for the educational grades of young learners (from 5 to 10). The study consists on a qualitative approach based in a case study methodology, using the techniques of questionnaire and observation. At first the data reveal a clear adhesion to the robot and tangible programming by learners, and the researchers that analyzed the device consider it was a very adequate one and presented several suggestions to improve it.


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