Improving the efficiency of organizational design in the oil and gas business

The article discusses a number of topical issues of modern organizational design. Through the analysis of the approaches of Russian and foreign scientists, the factors that need to be taken into account in organizational design are identified. Out of a multitude of factors, we have selected those that have the greatest impact in various options for the market and technological environment for an oil and gas company. Organizational schemes which can be recommended for organizing management in different market conditions are shown. A method to reconcile the influence of the basic and other factors in the organizational design process is proposed. A mechanism for constructing an organizational structure in modern conditions in oil and gas companies is proposed. In the conclusion, recommendations on the directions for further research on the problems of building organizational structures are given. Keywords: organizational structure; building organizational structures; competitiveness factors; organizational design.

The Effect of Robotics-Based Storytelling Activities on Primary School Students’ Computational Thinking

Robotics is needed as education keeps up with challenges students are facing in a technological environment. A long-term research project focuses on developing a feasible robotics-based learning environment that enables primary school teachers to introduce computer science education. This paper shows educational robotics combining storytelling to promote computational thinking through the method of Tell, Draw, and Code. The study was conducted via pre–post test, using the Beginners Computational Thinking test (BCTt), with third and fourth graders (N = 40) to determine if the integration of robotics-based storytelling activities enhances computational thinking skills. Results show that an increase in computational thinking is evident after the intervention is implemented. The approach of combining stories, texts, and literature with educational robotics seems to be a promising concept to equip students with the required skills.

A magánkiadások hatása a hazai egészségügyi diagnosztikai szolgáltatók pénzügyi helyzetére : The Impact of Private Healthcare Spending on the Hungarian Medical Diagnostic Companies

A magánfinanszírozás modellje a kilencvenes évek kezdete óta része a hazai egészségügynek. A 2000-es évektől azonban komolyan előtérbe kerültek ezek a csatornák, különösen a képalkotó diagnosztika és laborszolgáltatások területén, ami az itt szolgáltató vállalkozások közelebbi vizsgálatát teszi szükségessé. Elsőként az Ohlson-féle O csődkockázati mutatók által adott jelzéseket vizsgáljuk meg egy öt vállalkozásból álló mintán 2006 és 2017 között. Ezt követően az Ohlson-féle O csődkockázati mutató változásának magyarázhatóságát vizsgáljuk az egészségügyi finanszírozási környezet, a tőkepiaci helyzet és a technológiai környezetet lefedő modellek keretében, panelregressziós eljárásokkal. Megállapítható, hogy az egészségügyi finanszírozás GDP-arányos változása, illetve a kórházi ágyszám változásai gyakorolták a legkomolyabb hatást a mintában szereplő vállalatok pénzügyi helyzetének alakulására. The Hungarian healthcare services are partially financed on private basis since the 1990s. This channel gained increasing popularity in the 2000s especially on the fields of medical imaging and labour diagnostics – what motivates a deeper corporate analysis on annual report data between 2006 and 2017. Financial conditions were studied with the assumption of the Ohlson O bankruptcy ratio, and their changes were monitored trough three different panel regression models: one focused on general and public healthcare spending and hospital capacities, while the second contained the financial market-related variables as the third referred on the technological environment. The changes of healthcare funding to GDP ratios and hospital bed numbers surpassed all other variables on the financial conditions of the sample companies.

The Beauty of the Fragment Reconstituted in the Great Wall

Max Hattler’s short abstract animations demonstrate an awareness of the form’s historic 1920’s European Abstract Animation precedents, is informed by the structurally focused minimalism of the 60’s and re-tools pre-cinema toys. Yet his work speaks to the contemporary technological environment he occupies and experiences directly. His move to Hong Kong and his recent Serial Parallels is also a predictive probe into future media environments. Hattler’s digital architectures are designed to make sense of the technological situation of speed and information overload which Vilem Flusser marks as amnesic and Marshall McLuhan identifies as an acoustic space readable through pattern recognition. His practice makes productive use of the flexible and modular qualities of contemporary digital image-making technologies for both production and publication purposes.

TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF THE INVESTMENT CLIMATE IN POLAND AND BELARUS

The article provides a detailed analysis of the most significant technological factors that determine the investment climates of Belarus and Poland. According to the authors, the main technological determinants influencing investment decisions include: Global Innovation Rankings, R&D financing, level of introduction of advanced technology, digitalization of the economy, development of e-services and maturity of technology transfer mechanisms. The research shows, that among the factors of technological development there are both positively and negatively affecting the investment climate of the studied countries. The authors proved that despite the similar past and the commonality of a number of trends in the development of the technological environment of investment activity, Belarus fails to keep pace with Poland in the level of innovation development. This suggests that Polish investments are beneficial for Belarus not only from a financial, but also from a technological point of view.

A social-cognitive study of Indonesian Google educator groups

<p>Self-directed professional learning is distinct from the traditional approach of directed professional development. The introduction of the Internet into Indonesian society provides the opportunity for teachers to use digital tools for their teaching and to access professional learning without attending mandated professional development. An emerging phenomenon in Indonesia is the establishment and use of Google Education Groups (GEGs) for professional learning about the use of educational technology (ed-tech) in the schooling sector. Two research questions guided the examination of Indonesian educators’ experiences of GEGs: (1) how do Indonesian educators participate in the GEGs for ed-tech professional learning? and (2) how do the GEGs function to enable Indonesian educators’ ed-tech professional learning? Collective case study methodology was applied, and three Google Education Groups were examined, one from a metropolitan area, one from an urban area and the third from a rural context. In each case study, the leader of the group and three group members with varying levels of online engagement were interviewed and online forum conversations were examined. Data were analysed using Stake’s method of categorical aggregation leading to within-case assertions and cross-case analysis. A social cognitive perspective was used as a framework to analyse and interpret findings. It was found that the Indonesian educators had an agentic approach to professional learning, which was context-dependent with three major interrelated aspects: the regional-technological environment as context, the individuals as agentic learners, and the connectedness as social learners enabled meaningful learning experiences. The regional-technological environment influenced how the GEGs functioned. The Metropolitan group was innovative and collaborative, focusing on the use of web-based tools to improve productivity of ed-tech practices. The Urban group aimed to explore how they could use web-based tools to improve efficiency through paperless classroom practices and school administration. The Rural group sought to use of web-based tools for simple teaching and learning practices within a context of low bandwidth and limited ICT infrastructure. In addition, certain conditions that support online collaboration and factors that can minimise and optimise ed-tech learning opportunities are identified. Participants overcame limitations and constraints by enacting agency and developing social connectedness in learning through the groups. The group leadership positions were voluntary and found to be driven by a desire to share expertise and practices that support, inspire, and empower others rather than about gaining positional authority. Participation in online informal groups such as Google Education Groups appears to be a supportive method of professional learning that facilitates agentic and experiential learning about the use of educational technology in Indonesia. This model can enhance professional learning opportunities for Indonesian educators. It can also be implemented into the design of government-supported ed-tech PD programmes, to create an empowering and safe learning environment that can optimise their potential in learning and improve practice.</p>

An Empirical Study on Inter-Organisational Network Structures for Connected Cars

This study aimed to empirically examine whether rapid changes in the technological environment affect inter-organisational relationships. In the automotive industry, the advantage of cohesive and vertically integrated inter-organisational relationships has been pointed out conventionally. The development of connected cars, which can communicate bidirectionally with other systems outside the car, is eliciting significant changes in the traditional automotive products and the industry structure — changes generally associated with the automotive product structure moving closer to IT products. The aim was to empirically clarify what kind of network structure of inter-organisational relations firms are growing with changes in industrial structure by creating a database of actual firm behavior. The database was analyzed using the social network analysis method, and the characteristics of growing firms’ organisational network structure were extracted. Besides the traditional integrated inter-organisational relationships, the results show that there is a mixture of inter-organisational relationships with different characteristics of growth firms. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

A social-cognitive study of Indonesian Google educator groups

<p>Self-directed professional learning is distinct from the traditional approach of directed professional development. The introduction of the Internet into Indonesian society provides the opportunity for teachers to use digital tools for their teaching and to access professional learning without attending mandated professional development. An emerging phenomenon in Indonesia is the establishment and use of Google Education Groups (GEGs) for professional learning about the use of educational technology (ed-tech) in the schooling sector. Two research questions guided the examination of Indonesian educators’ experiences of GEGs: (1) how do Indonesian educators participate in the GEGs for ed-tech professional learning? and (2) how do the GEGs function to enable Indonesian educators’ ed-tech professional learning? Collective case study methodology was applied, and three Google Education Groups were examined, one from a metropolitan area, one from an urban area and the third from a rural context. In each case study, the leader of the group and three group members with varying levels of online engagement were interviewed and online forum conversations were examined. Data were analysed using Stake’s method of categorical aggregation leading to within-case assertions and cross-case analysis. A social cognitive perspective was used as a framework to analyse and interpret findings. It was found that the Indonesian educators had an agentic approach to professional learning, which was context-dependent with three major interrelated aspects: the regional-technological environment as context, the individuals as agentic learners, and the connectedness as social learners enabled meaningful learning experiences. The regional-technological environment influenced how the GEGs functioned. The Metropolitan group was innovative and collaborative, focusing on the use of web-based tools to improve productivity of ed-tech practices. The Urban group aimed to explore how they could use web-based tools to improve efficiency through paperless classroom practices and school administration. The Rural group sought to use of web-based tools for simple teaching and learning practices within a context of low bandwidth and limited ICT infrastructure. In addition, certain conditions that support online collaboration and factors that can minimise and optimise ed-tech learning opportunities are identified. Participants overcame limitations and constraints by enacting agency and developing social connectedness in learning through the groups. The group leadership positions were voluntary and found to be driven by a desire to share expertise and practices that support, inspire, and empower others rather than about gaining positional authority. Participation in online informal groups such as Google Education Groups appears to be a supportive method of professional learning that facilitates agentic and experiential learning about the use of educational technology in Indonesia. This model can enhance professional learning opportunities for Indonesian educators. It can also be implemented into the design of government-supported ed-tech PD programmes, to create an empowering and safe learning environment that can optimise their potential in learning and improve practice.</p>

Uczenie maszynowe w budowie portfela inwestycyjnego

The chapter describes the characteristics of machine learning methods in their possible application in investment portfolio optimization. With the use of the SWOT analysis, the features of the algorithms responsible for their increasing popularization in the formulation of investment strategies and their limitations in this regard were discussed. The prospects for further development of machine learning were described in the context of the market and technological environment. In addition, based on the review of the research, the possibilities of using machine learning algorithms in managing the investment portfolio and the use of modern research methods, which can be a creative development of the needs and solution to the problems faced by researchers of financial science and financial market practitioners, have been presented.