A Novel High-Capacity Information Hiding Scheme Based on Improved U-Net

With the gradual introduction of deep learning into the field of information hiding, the capacity of information hiding has been greatly improved. Therefore, a solution with a higher capacity and a good visual effect had become the current research goal. A novel high-capacity information hiding scheme based on improved U-Net was proposed in this paper, which combined improved U-Net network and multiscale image analysis to carry out high-capacity information hiding. The proposed improved U-Net structure had a smaller network scale and could be used in both information hiding and information extraction. In the information hiding network, the secret image was decomposed into wavelet components through wavelet transform, and the wavelet components were hidden into image. In the extraction network, the features of the hidden image were extracted into four components, and the extracted secret image was obtained. Both the hiding network and the extraction network of this scheme used the improved U-Net structure, which preserved the details of the carrier image and the secret image to the greatest extent. The simulation experiment had shown that the capacity of this scheme was greatly improved than that of the traditional scheme, and the visual effect was good. And compared with the existing similar solution, the network size has been reduced by nearly 60%, and the processing speed has been increased by 20%. The image effect after hiding the information was improved, and the PSNR between the secret image and the extracted image was improved by 6.3 dB.

Analysis and Impact Evaluation of Entrepreneurs’ Improvisational Behavior Trigger Patterns

How entrepreneurial firms can enhance the level of exploratory and exploitative improvisation in a balanced manner to enhance organizational dynamics has become an important research topic. Current research on the triggers of duality entrepreneurial improvisation has just started, exploring mainly abstract characteristic variables, and has not paid attention to the impact of entrepreneurs’ daily behaviors. In order to make up for the shortcomings of current research, the research goal of this paper is to construct a triggering model of entrepreneurs’ improvisation based on the research of entrepreneurs’ daily behaviors and then to evaluate the influence of the improvisational behavior trigger patterns. Based on the paradoxical and theoretical perspective of duality, a structured observation method is used to explore which behavioral patterns of entrepreneurs tend to trigger dual improvisational behaviors in themselves, their teams, and their organizations. After observing and recording the creators and collecting phenomenal data, six entrepreneurial behavior patterns containing 39 specific operational behaviors have been extracted from the phenomenal data by drawing on the rooted theory approach. In addition, the influence of entrepreneurial patterns is evaluated and ranked using the pairwise hesitant fuzzy set evaluation method. This study reveals the relationship between entrepreneurs’ daily behaviors and dyadic entrepreneurial improvisation at the operational level and provides guiding plans for entrepreneurs to improve their own and their organizations’ improvisation levels.

Optimal Linear Estimation (OLE) Modeling Supports Early Holocene (9000–8000 RCYBP) Copper Tool Production in North America

The discovery and development of metal as a tool medium is a topic of global interest. A fundamental research goal involves establishing the timing of human experimentation with naturally occurring copper ore, which is commonly associated with sedentary, agrarian-based societies. However, in North America, there is well-documented millennia-scale exploitation of copper as tool media by small, seasonally mobile hunter-gatherer groups in the western Great Lakes. Archaeologists have suggested that Late Paleoindian groups may have begun using copper as a tool medium almost immediately after they entered the Lake Superior basin. However, only a few radiocarbon dates support such early use of copper. Here, we use optimal linear estimation modeling to infer the origin date for copper tool production in North America. Our results show that the invention of copper as a tool media likely occurred shortly after the first pioneering populations encountered copper ore during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The origin dates modeled here (ca. 8100 RCYBP) reveal several important features about the behavior of pioneering hunter-gatherer populations. Moreover, our results suggest that this phenomenon represents the earliest known use of metal for utilitarian copper tool production.

Knowledge Management Initiatives in Agile Software Development

Agile software development (ASD) is a knowledge-intensive and collaborative activity and thus Knowledge Management (KM) principals should be applied to improve the productivity of the whole ASD process from the beginning to the end of the phase. The goal is to map the evidence available on existing researches on KM initiatives in ASD in order to identify the state of the art in the area as well as the future research. Therefore, investigation of various aspects such as purposes, types of knowledge, technologies and research type are essential. The authors conducted a systematic review of literature published between 2010 and December 2017 and identified 12 studies that discuss agile requirements engineering. They formulated and applied specific inclusion and exclusion criteria in two distinct rounds to determine the most relevant studies for their research goal. Reuse of knowledge of the team is the perspective that has received more attention.

GEO-TOURISM LAND SUITABILITY ANALYSIS OF CITATAH KARST AREA IN BANDUNG BASIN USING SPATIAL MULTI CRITERIA EVALUATION (SMCE)

The research goal is to evaluate land suitability for geo-tourism focuses on geology and landscape. Most of the Citatah karst area is natural-based industries or mining in particular. The ecological disturbance is an impetus for decision-makers to choose new use of land to deal with the conservation issues. SMCE techniques that apply geographic information systems (GIS) and analytical hierarchy processes. The use of land is formulated based on policy and stakeholder analysis. The research benefit is the possibility to change the area from mining to a geo-tourism area. There are two important results of research in spatial analysis, namely: intensive and extensive tourism areas, and the rest is for protective or no suitable area of tourism. In conclusion, the land suitability analysis is important for tourism industry development.

Volunteering as a Predictor of Social Solidarity

The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the widespread volunteering of representatives of various age groups. Volunteering allows a person to combine the satisfaction of personal needs with the needs of the society. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between volunteerism and social solidarity in the Russian society by the example of studying the motives of a volunteer activity among the population of Yaroslavl region. The realization of the research goal is intended to contribute to a new understanding of the motives of a volunteer activity in the context of the development of social solidarity of citizens of the modern Russian society. The object of the study was people engaged in volunteer activities. The study involved 420 respondents aged 14 to 67 years. The hypothesis of the research is that volunteering is important for our modern society, since it is a predictor of the development of social solidarity, mutual assistance and cooperation. The study was conducted by the personal interview method. The survey was based on a zoned quota sample, represented in accordance with the gender, age and educational structure of the population of Yaroslavl (n = 420 people). The research showed that volunteer activities are more determined by the motives of socially approved behavior. The participation of people in socially useful activities as volunteers is mainly determined by the influence of family values and the values of the immediate environment. The motives for choosing and engaging in a volunteer activity, which is a predictor of social solidarity, are associated with a person's desire to be a part of a group, a membership in which is due to common interests and similar views on life and difficult life situations.

Care and rehabilitation institutions for people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Polish experiences

People with intellectual disabilities benefit from many forms of institutional support, which include residential, rehabilitation, and educational services. Changes caused by the pandemic, especially the introduction of new rules relating to various aspects of life, raised several challenges and problems in the functioning of these institutions and for the people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research concerned facilities providing services for people with intellectual disabilities in Poland during the pandemic. The research goal was to determine what changes took place in the rehabilitation and care institutions during the pandemic in terms of their organization and the functioning of their clients and personnel. An online questionnaire was used. The respondents were institution employees. Data showed a number of preventive, educational, and supportive activities carried out by the institutions. Adverse changes in the psychosocial functioning of people with intellectual disabilities and other problems during the pandemic were reported.

Improving the system of quantitative indicators for risk assessment of financial companies

The paper examines the existing methodological recommendations for assessing risk of financial institutions of non-bank financial services market participants. In particular, the focus is on the activities of financial companies, which are the largest non-banking market participants. The purpose of the study is to develop an approach to risk assessment of financial companies. The methodological basis for achieving the goal is a systematic analysis of the existing provisions of the regulator on the criteria for assessing the risk of financial institutions. The paper examines in detail the state of the modern risk assessment system in accordance with the criteria developed by the regulator, identifies key shortcomings of the recommendations and proposes to supplement the existing list of indicators that were taken into account by the previous regulator. An analysis of the legislation on the availability of quantitative indicators for assessing risk of non-banking financial services market participants was carried out, which made it possible to offer an expanded list of criteria for achieving the research goal. The expediency of the proposed system of quantitative indicators for assessing the risks of activity is confirmed by the existing actions of the regulator, which partially coincide with the proposed provisions. The developed recommendations provide an opportunity to improve the risk assessment system both for inspections by supervisors and for financial institutions seeking to strengthen preventive measures for their management.

Development and Initial Validation of the Nonparticipation in Nonformal Education Questionnaire

Nonformal adult education (NFE) provides adults with the opportunity to obtain competences needed to adapt to today’s changing job market. Despite the well-documented positive effects of NFE, there remains a lack of valid research instruments to assess factors of nonparticipation. Specifically, defining the perspectives of social groups with the highest incidence of barriers and the lowest level of participation in NFE has not been a primary research goal. This study describes the development and initial validation of a novel research tool entitled the Nonparticipation in Nonformal Education Questionnaire (NP-NFE-Q). The analysis covers the use of the NP-NFE-Q on a representative sample of the adult population ( n = 878) as well as three additional cohorts: low-educated workers ( n = 227), persons caring for children under the age of three ( n = 227), and retired persons ( n = 232). The results consistently support the validation of a correlated five-factor model, which includes two situational, one institutional and two dispositional factors.

Plagiarism as a Culturally-Motivated Crime

The article discusses the possibility of classifying plagiarism as a culturally motivated crime. Creating works, especially written works, is strongly related to culture as well as to knowledge and skills acquired during education. Therefore, plagiarism can be perceived as a culturally-conditioned act, and, thus, differently perceived depending upon the culture with which the artist identifies themselves. The author juxtapose two legal orders, namely of countries where plagiarism is a crime and those where the failure to mark the authorship of a work results from the customs prevailing in their culture, i.e. societies influenced by Confucian philosophy. The research goal is to raise the hypothesis and determine whether the perpetrator of culturally motivated plagiarism can use one of the tools indicated in criminal law, the so-called cultural defense.