Development and Implementation of the Smart Village Concept as a Challenge for the Modern Power Industry on the Example of Poland

Nowadays, while cities are often subject to research in terms of their development, especially smart development, studies on rural areas are rare. However, the development of the latter is very important. It is important that rural areas develop economically and socially. Smart villages are a challenge for the modern energy sector. The authors of the article try to answer the question: What are the challenges for the modern energy sector in the context of rural development? The aim of this article is to identify challenges for the modern power industry in the concept of smart countryside development. The article begins with the presentation of the essence of smart villages and the essence of energy policy. The research facilitated the identification of basic challenges that prevent or slow down the development of the smart villages in terms of modern energy solutions, as perceived by experts and residents, and farmers and entrepreneurs operating in rural areas. The article identifies a number of energy challenges in the context of a smart village. They include, among others, a lack of awareness regarding the impact of energy on the environment, a low level of public knowledge about new energy solutions, and a lack of social trust in modern energy solutions in rural areas. The research was conducted in rural areas in the north-western part of Poland. At the end, the article presents a model of rural development in the context of the modern energy sector. The research also allowed the creation of a smart village development model that focuses on smart economy, intelligent environment, intelligent people, and intelligent governance. Since these are universal solutions, they can be used as a proposition for other countries.

The Purple Ocean: Revisiting the Blue Ocean Strategy

The turbulent environment, characterized by dramatic changes and chocks such as global crises and dissolution of many centrally planned economies during the last decades, has demonstrated that rigidity associated with strategic planning does not provide universal solutions.

Moisture Risk Analysis for Three Construction Variants of a Wooden Inverted Flat Roof

The paper presents an analysis of the hygrothermal performance of an inverted flat roof with a CLT (cross-laminated timber) structure in a building that meets the requirements of Passive House Standard (PHS) with regards to the potential risk of moisture. The calculations were made in the WUFI®Plus and WUFI®Bio software. The following variants were taken into account: three structure configurations, three different external climates and different scenarios of microclimate control and air change rate. The results of the calculations show that, especially in cooler climates, there is an actual moisture risk in the structure despite the excellent thermal insulation. The structure of the inverted flat roof, due to the use of a tight membrane on the outer side, allows for the partition to discharge the excess moisture only to the inside of the building. Ensuring the comfort of users may require periodic humidification of internal air, which translates directly into an increase in moisture content of the structure. The performed analysis clearly showed that there are no universal solutions. It is important to point out that for the proper performance of inverted wooden roofs, it is crucial to analyse moisture, not only thermal and energy parameters.

A Fully-Automatic Gap Filling Approach for Motion Capture Trajectories

Missing marker information is a common problem in Motion Capture (MoCap) systems. Commercial MoCap software provides several methods for reconstructing incomplete marker trajectories; however, these methods still rely on manual intervention. Current alternatives proposed in the literature still present drawbacks that prevent their widespread adoption. The lack of fully automated and universal solutions for gap filling is still a reality. We propose an automatic frame-wise gap filling routine that simultaneously explores restrictions between markers’ distance and markers’ dynamics in a least-squares minimization problem. This algorithm constitutes the main contribution of our work by simultaneously overcoming several limitations of previous methods that include not requiring manual intervention, prior training or training data; not requiring information about the skeleton or a dedicated calibration trial and by being able to reconstruct all gaps, even if these are located in the initial and final frames of a trajectory. We tested our approach in a set of artificially generated gaps, using the full body marker set, and compared the results with three methods available in commercial MoCap software: spline, pattern and rigid body fill. Our method achieved the best overall performance, presenting lower reconstruction errors in all tested conditions.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SERBIAN ENCLAVES IN REGION OF KOSOVO AND METOHIA: POST-CONFLICT SITUATION AND POSSIBLE MODERATING FUNCTION OF EC SMALL ENTERPRISES REGULATION

On the sample of 84 Serbian companies which operate on Kosovo territory (Serbian enclaves) in post-conflict situation we want to find out which factors are crucial for their survival and success. Also we want to find out is EU regulatory document for small enterprises helpful for them in this situation. We did not find EU document helpful in this situation. The results have confirmed that the enterprises are aware that expanding the market range is the only real and sustainable method of developing their activities. The key limiting factor in expanding the market range is the unfair competition. Furthermore, we are particularly pleased with the fact that enterprises from the northern part of Kosovo and Metohia are aware of the importance of innovative activities, and they realized that in contemporary business world it is possible to survive and grow in the market only by developing and introducing innovations. There are no universal solutions in a post-conflict situations. Search for ideal solution for developing the entrepreneur activities and it depends on the combination of social/political, institutional, cultural and economic aspects.

Legal Basis for Introducing Restrictions on Human Rights and Freedoms during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this article, we attempt to present the legal grounds for introducing restrictions on human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic from a comparative legal perspective. We refer to the findings of a research project completed in 2020, trying to synthesize them and confront them with existing theoretical models. We strive to capture general patterns in the legal basis for states’ actions in response to global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparative legal research contributes to the creation of universal solutions, which, taking into account the specificity of the system, can then be applied in local conditions.

AN APPROACH TO ENHANCE PRODUCT UNIVERSALITY USING VAGUE NUMBERS DURING INITIAL DESIGN PHASE

Universal design facilitates all user, a convenient interaction with the environment, product and services without the need for any adaptation and specialized designs. Recent studies have shown that designers and manufacturers are focusing only on a limited group of users during product development. Current design process or methodology cannot cater to all set of users i.e. Fully Abled People (FAP), Specially Abled People (SAP), and Differently Abled People (DAP) due to complexity in need interpretation. Identification and extraction of needs of diverse user set is a complex problem. Generally, information gathered from the users is linguistic in nature and comprises of uncertainties and ambiguities, which hamper conversion of users’ requirements into product attributes to deliver universal solutions. The aim of this work is to eliminate these uncertainties and extract the actual needs of all users. This work proposes the integration of Universal Product Design model with generic design process to improve universal product design practice. Linguistic preferences of the users are captured and converted into vague numbers to identify the important product attributes and provides a systematic framework of need prioritization.

Antiviral Resistance against Viral Mutation: Praxis and Policy for SARS CoV-2

New tools developed by Moderna, BioNTech/Pfizer and Oxford/Astrazeneca provide universal solutions to previously problematic aspects of drug or vaccine delivery, uptake and toxicity, portending new tools across the medical sciences. A novel method is presented based on estimating protein backbone free energy via geometry to predict effective antiviral targets, antigens and vaccine cargoes that are resistant to viral mutation. This method, partly described in earlier work of the author, is reviewed and reformulated here in light of the profusion of recent structural data on the SARS CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and its latest mutations. Scientific and regulatory challenges to nucleic acid therapeutic and vaccine development and deployment are also discussed.

Monitoring Human Impact in Show Caves. A Study of Four Romanian Caves

(1) Background: Show caves are unique natural attractions and touristic traffic can trigger their degradation within a short time. There are no universal solutions to counter the effects of the touristic impact upon the cave environment and both protection protocols and management plans have to be established on a case-by-case basis. (2) Methods: The study includes four show caves from the Romanian Carpathians, where monitoring of the number of visitors, paralleled by the monitoring of the main physicochemical parameters of the air and water (CO2, temperature, humidity, drip rate, conductivity, and pH) was implemented. (3) Results and Conclusions: The results of the study have: established a set of basic principles to be enforced by the management of show caves and issued a set of preventive measures and instructions to be followed by the personnel and stakeholders of the caves.