Choice Of Action Research Articles

Genetic diversity, gene flow, and landscape resistance in a pond-breeding amphibian in agricultural and natural forested landscapes in Norway.

Genetic diversity is a key part of biodiversity, threatened by human activities that lead to loss of gene flow and reduction of effective population sizes. Gene flow is a result of both landscape connectivity and demographic processes determining the number of dispersing individuals in space and time. Thus, the effect of human impact on processes determining the level of genetic diversity must be interpreted in the context of basic ecological conditions affecting survival and recruitment. When the intensity of human impact and habitat suitability correlate, the effect on genetic diversity and gene flow may be challenging to predict. We compared genetic diversity, gene flow and landscape resistance in two contrasting landscapes in Norway for the pond-breeding amphibian Triturus cristatus: a highly human-impacted, agricultural landscape with ecologically productive habitats, and a forested landscape with less productive habitats and lower levels of human impact. Our results show that genetic diversity was higher and gene flow lower within the forested landscape. Microclimatic moisture conditions and vegetation cover were important determinants of landscape resistance to gene flow within both landscapes. There were indications that landscape resistance was increased by minor roads in the forested landscape, which was not the case for the agricultural landscape, suggesting a higher vulnerability to human interference within the landscape matrix for the populations in less productive habitats. Our findings suggest that the effect of human impact on genetic diversity may not be straightforward but modulated by the ecological conditions underlying local demographic processes. Populations within both landscapes seem to be vulnerable to loss of genetic diversity, but due to different mechanisms. This has implications for the choice of relevant management actions, that is, increasing population stability may be more relevant within an agricultural landscape still permeable for dispersal, while conserving dispersal corridors may be more appropriate in the forested landscape, to avoid isolation and increased genetic drift.

Autonomous behaviour and the limits of human volition

Humans and some other animals can autonomously generate action choices that contribute to solving complex problems. However, experimental investigations of the cognitive bases of human autonomy are challenging, because experimental paradigms typically constrain behaviour using controlled contexts, and elicit behaviour by external triggers. In contrast, autonomy and freedom imply unconstrained behaviour initiated by endogenous triggers. Here we propose a new theoretical construct of adaptive autonomy, meaning the capacity to make behavioural choices that are free from constraints of both immediate external triggers and of routine response patterns, but nevertheless show appropriate coordination with the environment. Participants (N = 152) played a competitive game in which they had to choose the right time to act, in the face of an opponent who punished (in separate blocks) either choice biases (such as always responding early), sequential patterns of action timing across trials (such as early, late, early, late…), or predictable action-outcome dependence (such as win-stay, lose-shift). Adaptive autonomy was quantified as the ability to maintain performance when each of these influences on action selection was punished. We found that participants could become free from habitual choices regarding when to act and could also become free from sequential action patterns. However, they were not able to free themselves from influences of action-outcome dependence, even when these resulted in poor performance. These results point to a new concept of autonomous behaviour as flexible adaptation of voluntary action choices in a way that avoids stereotypy. In a sequential analysis, we also demonstrated that participants increased their reliance on belief learning in which they attempt to understand the competitor's beliefs and intentions, when transition bias and reinforcement bias were punished. Taken together, our study points to a cognitive mechanism of adaptive autonomy in which competitive interactions with other agents could promote both social cognition and volition in the form of non-stereotyped action choices.

I am not the cause of this pain: An experimental study of the cognitive processes underlying causal attribution in the unpredictable situation whether negative outcomes

ObjectivesPain causal attribution is the attribution of pain causes to self or others, which may depend on one's choice of actions. The study aimed to examine how the cognitive processes of pain causal attribution as one aspect of the sense of agency change in healthy individuals based on free or forced choice, using a temporal binding (TB) experimental task. MethodsParticipants pressed keys (action) in a combined TB task, with one key having a high probability of delivering pain (with tone). In fact, only the bias between the free-choice and the forced choice conditions was manipulated. Participants estimated the time between their action and tone, with shorter intervals indicating internal attribution. ResultsInterval estimation was significantly longer in the forced-choice condition than in the free-choice condition when a pain stimulus was delivered. ConclusionsExplicit complaints of pain being caused by others may be represented in implicit cognitive processes.

Lifelong learning of cognitive styles for physical problem-solving: The effect of embodied experience

‘Embodied cognition’ suggests that our bodily experiences broadly shape our cognitive capabilities. We study how embodied experience affects the abstract physical problem-solving styles people use in a virtual task where embodiment does not affect action capabilities. We compare how groups with different embodied experience – 25 children and 35 adults with congenital limb differences versus 45 children and 40 adults born with two hands – perform this task, and find that while there is no difference in overall competence, the groups use different cognitive styles to find solutions. People born with limb differences think more before acting but take fewer attempts to reach solutions. Conversely, development affects the particular actions children use, as well as their persistence with their current strategy. Our findings suggest that while development alters action choices and persistence, differences in embodied experience drive changes in the acquisition of cognitive styles for balancing acting with thinking.

SPIRITUAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT YOUTH IN TODAY’S REALITIES

The article analyses scientific studies devoted to the problem of spiritual and moral development of student youth, provides their social and psychological characteristics, highlights the process of forming their moral values in today’s realities through the prism of Ukraine’s European integration aspirations, and proves the need for their comprehensive research due to the contradictions found. The purpose of the article is to identify existing contradictions and define the main theoretical problems of the spiritual and moral development of modern student youth, taking into account their social and psychological characteristics, to carry out a theoretical analysis of the concepts of “spirituality”, “value”, “value orientations”, “moral values”, “morality”, to investigate their main functions, and to provide the author’s definition of the process of spiritual and moral development of current student youth. The concept of “value” is analysed through the prism of philosophical approaches, studied from the psychology, sociology, and pedagogy viewpoints. The main functions of morality have been defined, and the concept of “moral values” is thoroughly scrutinized, which is also considered from the sociology, psychology, and pedagogy standpoints. The author’s definition of the processes of students’ spiritual and moral development and the formation of their moral values has been given. The process of moral values formation is considered a procedure of normalization based on the internalization of primary values and goals by young people. The spiritual and moral development of student youth is characterized as the course of implementing the consistent and purposeful improvement of the value-meaning sphere of their personality during socialization, the formation of ability to evaluate and consciously build universal moral ideals and values based on morality, as well as the proper attitude towards oneself and other people, to the state, and to the world as a whole. It has been emphasized that the formation of students’ moral values is a systematic process of a person’s development and self-development. At the same time, moral upbringing is an integral part of education, which ensures a relatively meaningful and purposeful upbringing of a person following the specifics of the goals, groups and organizations in which it is carried out. It has been found out that the main focus of the teacher’s activity should be the formation of moral values, and the main goal has to be the development of the child’s personality, capable of conscious and responsible choices of behaviour and actions in various life situations, without violating universal and generally significant values. The main theoretical issues for the formation of moral values in student youth have been identified. They include the problem of mutual coordination of upbringing influences of teachers and parents on student youth during their socialization and individualization; filling the methods of formation of educational activity with the appropriate moral content; the functioning of the relationship and mutual influence of personal qualities of student youth, which are in the stage of their formation; and creation of an effective model for the shaping of moral values in student youth taking into account the sequence of development of various personality qualities. It has been argued that the spiritual and moral development of student youth is not a common goal that can be achieved in a certain period with the assistance of specific means. The result of this process should be the formed morality of the individual, which can be defined as the highest goal that enables the existence of all other goals and is at the basis of human activity itself. It has been concluded that the formed morality of student youth can be considered not as a goal, but as an ideal – a regulatory principle and scale of assessment of their behaviour.

Challenges in Developing a Method to Support the Adoption of a Model‐Based Systems Engineering Methodology

ABSTRACTTo improve design performance and achieve sustainability, organisations are looking to change their systems engineering practices. A model‐based systems engineering (MBSE) methodology provides a framework for integrating, associating, orchestrating, and connecting executable and interactive models. It improves early verification and validation of system specifications and architectures, as well as communication and collaboration between project stakeholders. In this sense, MBSE has a truly systemic aspect. The variables to be considered when designing a support strategy are numerous and multidimensional. As a result, this situation can lead to contradictions in the choice of actions to be implemented, or to paradoxes that are likely to slow down the progress of the deployment project with the engineers. Currently, there is no method to support teams in charge of a methodological transformation (for example, in MBSE) to facilitate the adoption of this methodology. This article identifies the main challenges involved in developing such a methodology.

BiPR-RL: Portrait relighting via bi-directional consistent deep reinforcement learning

Portrait relighting via deep reinforcement learning could conduct portrait relighting by sequentially predicting local light editing strokes, simulating image editing by artists using brush strokes. It is a locally effective, scale-invariant and interpretable method, which yields state-of-the-art results in relighting wild portrait images. However, it still has problems due to the lack of supervision information on intermediate processes, which makes the reinforcement learning agent not receive sufficient feedback during the exploration process. This will cause incorrect strokes in the relighting. To further optimize the relighting effect, we take advantage of the fact that the light editing actions are invertible and the inverse actions can generate a backward sequence of states. The backward state sequence also provide useful supervision signals as they convey information about the future states given the action choices. Therefore, we propose to combine the forward and the backward state sequence predictions to improve the learning efficiency for portrait relighting. Using the bi-directional state sequences, we design corresponding bi-directional consistent rewards to guide the model to explore the actions with higher accuracy to maximize the performance of the proposed method. The proposed approach is used for portrait relighting tasks based on both SH-lighting and reference images. The results show that our method has further improved the performance by avoiding wrong strokes. Meanwhile, our method performs better than SOTA methods in producing locally effective relighting images for wild portrait images.

From liberalisation to regulation: managerial political work in the European digital copyright policy (2014–2019)

ABSTRACT The 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market represents an intriguing departure from the anticipated path of liberalisation in public policy. While it includes provisions seemingly aligned with the liberalisation of the Digital Single Market by relaxing digital copyright enforcement, it also introduces mechanisms that bolster digital copyright protection, signalling a shift towards market regulation. This paper explores why and how Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission proposed a directive featuring robust regulatory elements despite initial promises of copyright deregulation within the Digital Single Market. Combining insights from political economy and political sociology, I examine the concept of ‘political work’ as the practice of promoting, defending, and implementing a choice of public action. Within this framework, I identify a managerial dimension of political work involving political practices that influence the institutional structure and management of public action. Utilising a qualitative methodology involving twelve in-depth interviews with Commission officials conducted between 2018 and 2021, alongside document analysis, I demonstrate how Jean-Claude Juncker and his cabinet’s managerial political work, encompassing organisational reforms within the Commission, played a pivotal role in steering the proposed policy towards regulation.

Most patients with an increased risk for sepsis-related morbidity or death do not recognize sepsis as a medical emergency: results of a survey study using case vignettes

BackgroundSepsis is a medical emergency with potentially life-threatening consequences. Patients play a crucial role in preventing and recognizing sepsis at an early stage. The understanding of risk groups’ sepsis knowledge and their ability to use this knowledge to recognize sepsis as an emergency is incomplete.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey in Germany and included a sample of 740 persons stratified by age (< 60 years, ≥ 60 years), specific chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes, chronic diseases, cancer), and region (Berlin/Brandenburg vs. other federal states of Germany). Standardized questionnaires were administered by a market research institute through online, telephone, or face-to-face methods. We assessed sepsis knowledge through a series of questions and the ability to recognize sepsis as an emergency through five case vignettes. To identify predictors of sepsis knowledge and the ability to recognize sepsis as a medical emergency, we conducted multiple linear regressions.ResultsOf the 36 items on sepsis knowledge, participants answered less than 50 per cent correctly (mean 44.1%; standard deviation (SD) 20.1). Most patients knew that sepsis is a defensive host response to infection (75.9%), but only 30.8% knew that vaccination can prevent infections that lead to sepsis. Across the five vignettes, participants identified sepsis as an emergency in only 1.33 of all cases on average (SD = 1.27). Sepsis knowledge was higher among participants who were older, female, and more highly educated and who reported more extensive health information seeking behaviour. The ability to recognize sepsis as an emergency was higher among younger participants, participants without chronic diseases, and participants with higher health literacy, but it was not significantly associated with sepsis knowledge.ConclusionsRisk groups showed low levels of knowledge regarding the preventive importance of vaccination and a low ability to recognize sepsis as a medical emergency. Higher levels of sepsis knowledge alone were not sufficient to improve the ability to identify sepsis as a medical emergency. It is crucial to develop effective educational strategies—especially for persons with lower education levels and infrequent health information seeking behaviour—that not only transfer but also facilitate the choice of appropriate actions, such as seeking timely emergency care.Trial registration: DRKS00024561. Registered 9 March 2021.

An Investigative Account of Psychological differences among Sexes

The unique capability of human beings is that they think and act. So much so behavior varies with situations. It is also a fact that each individual reacts differently to a given situation. Behavior depends on the transactions taking place in the mind of the individual. It is the outcome of the interplay of stimulus – a matter that needs to be addressed, perception – the way it is taken, cognition – the way it is understood, and response – the characteristic reaction. Psychology denotes the mental makeup. It is the sum of the structure and organization of thoughts and choice of involuntary action at the mental plane. Although influenced by early experiences, genetic differences, and grooming, there is a predictable pattern of composite feelings, thoughts, and emotions that characterize the psychology of a person. This despite, a person’s sex has a great role in contributing to the development of psychology. Men and women are not only physically and biologically different, they are psychologically different too. In other words the broad pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that differentiates men and women into two distinct psychological categories, is their sex and associated physical bodily differences, social role differences, gender differences, biological differences, and emotional differences. This study is an attempt to explore these differences that make them differ psychologically. In this paper, the term psychology is treated as the structure and composition of the human mind and the dynamics acting on it.

Creating a shared mental model of performance: Coaches’ perspectives of key position-specific soccer actions

Important decisions surrounding talent identification (TID), talent development (TD) and (de)selection within elite youth soccer are often grounded in the subjective opinions of coaches. These opinions often stem from coaches’ observations of player performance, which have been shown to be susceptible to several biases. Additionally, previous research has failed to establish specific criteria on which such opinions are based, aside from a coach's own intuition and practical experience. This study aimed to create a communal language and aligned criteria for the specific purpose of evaluating players’ performances. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with nine experienced coaches (13.6 ± 10.8 years) from a professional UK soccer academy to identify coaches’ perceptions of key position-specific soccer actions, performed during differing moments of the game, for evaluating individual match performance. Thematic analysis of the interview data permitted the extraction of several themes , posited to encompass the position-specific soccer actions highlighted by the coaches. Themes for outfield positions included attacking skills; defending skills; movements to receive, create or exploit space; receiving and releasing skills; support play; end product; press, recover to the ball, man or space; and tactical understanding. Goalkeeper themes included tactical understanding, positioning relative to the ball, danger, teammates and opponents, play forward, support play, choice of action and range of distribution. This study highlights an applied approach of creating a shared mental model for appraising player performances, which can facilitate discussion and knowledge exchange between coaches and practitioners, with the intention of improving decision-making around TID, TD and (de)selection decisions.

University teachers’ professional learning for academic development: Q methodology research

ABSTRACT This article reports on an evaluation study of the Qatar University Pedagogical Development (PD) Program. The PD program advocated pedagogical advancement towards student-centered learning (SCL), which has been highlighted as an important part of the university’s overall strategy. This study explored 30 university teachers’ perspectives on the sources that best supported their professional learning from this long-term PD program. Q methodology research was adopted to collect and analyze data qualitatively and quantitatively. A three-dimensional theoretical framework addressing individual characteristics, choice of actions, and interactions with the environment was used to generate the data collection tool. Q factor analysis yielded four diverse viewpoints as follows: 1) applying newly-learned pedagogical knowledge and skills to prac- tice, 2) being provided supportive environmental conditions, 3) developing new pedagogical beliefs, and 4) taking agentic actions. The implications of this study emphasized institutional systemic and systematic supports as essential for long-term success of academic development.

PEREMPUAN KANAAN DAN DAYA JUANGNYA: SEBUAH TINJAUAN NARATIF ATAS MATIUS 15:21-28 DAN RELEVANSI TEOLOGISNYA BAGI PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER KRISTIANI

This article aims at examining a fighting spirit that characterizes the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28 as a source of inspiration for Christian education addressed to the youth. It focuses on her choice of actions and of words, especially shown in verses 25 and 27. In order to do so, it employs a narrative method that takes seriously every detail related to her performance. It tries to understand how her struggle emerges and why Jesus says that she has a great faith. After discussing the subject matter in several points, this article comes to a conclusion that the element of faith first of all lies on the human side, namely a fighting spirit, a spiritual entrance to receive God's mercy. Pope Francis states that a fighting spirit is visible when Christian believers, especially young people "always try to find their true identity, be themselves, and be creative in pursuing holiness in living life in the world. (CV, art. 161)”. The second theological message is that God understands and cares for everyone, especially those who ask for His help. The third theological message is that God's grace gives changing for everyone. It means that God's grace makes our identity in life more pleasing to Him

Enhancing hurricane risk perception and mitigation behavior through customized virtual reality

Hurricanes are one of the most destructive natural disasters, and proper preparation and mitigation are essential to enhance resilience. However, homeowners may have inaccurate risk perceptions, resulting in inadequate mitigation decision-making. Virtual reality (VR) damage visualization has the potential to communicate hurricane risk effectively and improve disaster resilience. Previous studies utilizing VR for hurricanes have primarily focused on disaster response such as evacuation, and often presented generalized visualization consistent across all users. This study presents a methodology for offering individual users a customized tool to experience the impacts of hypothetical hurricane events on their residential structures and explore the effects of various building retrofit actions in customized 3D virtual environments. The methodology was tested with 25 participants. Participants experienced structural damage and utility disruptions caused by hurricanes in their own residential homes in a customized, immersive virtual environment. Participants’ pre- and post-VR risk perceptions, as well as their choices of mitigation actions were surveyed. The results indicate that customized VR was effective in enhancing risk awareness and that participants were able to reduce their structural damages in hypothetical hurricane events by adopting various mitigation measures after the customized VR experience. The outcomes suggest that customized visualization of potential damages in virtual environments can effectively help disaster preparation and mitigation.

Unpacking Habit With Bayesian Mixed Models: Dynamic Approach to Health Behaviors With Interchangeable Elements, Illustrated Through Multiple Sun Protection Behaviors.

Analytics for behavioral habit typically model one behavior at a time, despite the fact that habit often involves multiple cooccurring behaviors, such as food choices and physical activities, where interrelated behaviors are often equally recommended. We propose a novel Mixed-Effects Dynamic hAbit model (MEDA) to simultaneously model multiple related, habitual behaviors. As an illustrative example, MEDA was applied to real-time assessments of sun protection (sunscreen, shade, hat, and protective clothing) reported twice daily by first-degree relatives of melanoma patients who are themselves at an elevated risk of skin cancer. MEDA aims to explicate habits in sun protection under varying environmental cues (e.g., sunny and hot weather). We found consistent between-group differences (e.g., men responding to weather cues more consistently than women) and interactions between cooccurring behaviors (e.g., being in shade discourages sunscreen wearing, more so in men than women). Moreover, MEDA transcends conventional methods to address longstanding challenges-how cue to action and volitional choices differ by groups or even by individual persons. Such nuances in interrelated habitual behaviors are relevant in numerous other applications, such as recommended dietary or physical activity behaviors. These methods best inform personalized behavioral interventions targeting individual preferences for precision behavioral intervention.

Sustainability of Oil and Gas Companies: Interpretation and Assessment from the Perspective of Systemic Economic Theory

High uncertainty is a universal characteristic of modern economic reality. Therefore, the behavior of oil and gas companies requires special prudence in the disposal of assets, interaction with the environment of their localization, implementation of production and project activities. Accordingly, the basis for the choice of decisions and actions of the managerial level today should be an adequate scientific and methodological basis, based on the system properties of the oil and gas company and allowing to measure the stability of subsystems and their contribution to the overall ability of the industrial enterprise to work effectively in turbulent conditions and to withstand the enormous pressure of rare and hard-to-predict events. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a methodology for assessing the sustainability of an oil and gas company, which (unlike traditional ones) is based on the systemic economic theory and considers sustainability as a result of the interaction of subsystems of object, environment, process and project types, their potentials and their combined contribution to the overall sustainability of the enterprise. The methodology is based on the systemic economic theory as a scientific basis for ensuring the viability of oil and gas companies in conditions of high uncertainty. The order of counting the generalized criteria of stability of subsystems of an oil and gas company is based on the consistent use of the method of hierarchy analysis by T. Saaty and multidimensional comparative analysis. The integral indicator – ​the index of oil and gas company sustainability – ​is calculated on the basis of the index method using geometric average by U. Jevons, interpreted with an interval method. Approbation of the methodology for assessing the sustainability of oil and gas companies was carried out on the basis of the data on oil and gas companies operating in foreign markets. The results of calculations showed different levels of stability of individual subsystems of oil and gas companies. In particular, the project-type subsystem, the fragility of which is caused by the resource-raw material model of business conduct, requires special attention from the management of Russian companies; foreign companies – ​the subsystem of the environmental type, the viability of which is determined by the potential of oil and gas assets. Recommendations for the formation of a model of behavior of an oil and gas company taking into account the level of its sustainability are suggested.

Who am I as an Entrepreneur? Exploring Formation of Entrepreneurial Identity

This paper explores how participation in accelerator programs, which are aimed at scaling ventures, influences the self-perceptions of the participants. An entrepreneur’s identity is considered important in both theory and practice, but few studies have investigated how the identities of entrepreneurs/founders are affected by their participation in a program that is aimed mainly at the venture and not the person behind the venture. By providing access to resources, mentorship, and support, which help entrepreneurs test hypotheses and problems, as well as identify markets and business models for their ventures, an accelerator helps entrepreneurs increase their confidence, skills, and knowledge. These factors are important because they enable entrepreneurs to better understand themselves and their perceived opportunity space and choice of actions. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 entrepreneurs that had participated in two different accelerators with slightly different programs. The findings indicate that the accelerators influenced both the personal identify and role identity of the participating entrepreneurs. However, the impact of the accelerator varied according to the self-perceptions of the entrepreneurs’ pre-participation and how far they had come in developing their business concepts. Their admittance to an accelerator in itself boosted their identities. We found no difference between the private accelerator program (PA) and the governmental program (GA). The paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial identity formation and the effects of accelerators.

Setting Decision Making in male high- level volleyball: a study from ecological theory and social network analysis perspective

The objective of the present study was to analyze and compare the setter's decision-making (DM) in the offensive construction of the side-out (attack from the reception) in high-level men's volleyball. The sample consisted of the analysis of 132 games of the Brazilian men's volleyball Super-League 2021/2022, with 22 games for each team. The results showed that the eigenvector values were higher for setting to position 3, central attacker next to the setter, simple block, and obtaining the attack point. In addition, the setter's DM was similar between teams, suggesting that the game strategies aim to provide subsidies for the setter to make the decisions according to the game context in a flexible way and generate benefits for the attackers about the number of blockers, being that under ideal conditions and due to the lifter's correct choices in distribution, central blockers avoid anticipating the setting, and this fact allows the conditions of a single block or double-broken blocks in most cases. As a practical application, setting for the central attacker in position 3 becomes an interesting option for point acquisition and is capable of influencing the number of blockers, as well as the optimal blocking condition. Another application would be for the central attacker to position themselves close to the setter, a strategy that would enable the use of the "pipe" attack in other areas of the court with lower defensive blocking power. Keywords: Expert Decision-Making; Performance Analysis; Team Sports; Action Choices; Constraints.

A teaching intervention for magnetism using STEM in kindergarten

STEM education should begin in kindergarten, as pre-school children’s engagement with science and other fields, such as technology, raises their awareness and interest in science (Mantzicopoulos et al., 2009). In addition, it provides kindergarten children with the necessary opportunities to cultivate their talents (Chesloff, 2013) and contributes to their later development (Kermani&amp;amp; Aldemir, 2015). Pre-school children are capable and ready to learn with a STEM approach, as they can ask investigative questions, justify their opinions, and formulate interpretations about how the world around them works (NSF, 2012). Given the importance of the universal introduction of STEM in pre-school education, this work aims to design a teaching intervention in kindergarten using STEM on the topic of magnetism. First, reference is made to the use of STEM in kindergarten and the usual learning theories on which it is based. Then, the basic methods of its application are briefly presented. Furthermore, the theoretical framework regarding children’s misconceptions about magnetism is presented. Subsequently, the research questions are formulated on which the design of the educational intervention will be based, as well as the research hypotheses arising from the bibliographic review. Then, the goals of the teaching intervention are developed in harmony with the goals of the Greek curriculum for kindergarten, and the choice of methods, means, actions, and applications is justified. Finally, interdisciplinary activities using STEM and the involvement of new technologies are proposed.

The role of forensic science in the generation of intelligence to address environmental water contamination problems

AbstractWater contamination is a growing concern in society. New environmental laws are being enacted to define intolerable human activities, and their enforcement is increasingly supported by forensic science. However, water contamination is a broader security issue that is not only caused by illegal human behavior. Risk‐based approaches are needed to prevent (re)occurrence of incidents and minimize their negative consequences. This can be achieved through the formalization of a monitoring process producing intelligence (i.e., actionable knowledge), crucial to detect recurring incidents, and guiding decision‐makers in their choice of preventive and responsive actions. In this perspective, forensic science has a key role to play in integrating vestiges from water‐contaminating activities (i.e., traces) in such a problem‐solving process. Information conveyed by traces allows detecting similarities among contamination events (i.e., patterns), inferring common causes, and better understanding of mechanisms and consequences of water contamination. The different stages of the process will be described and illustrated through a real case example. Current barriers to the implementation of such a process are then discussed, showing how systemic issues and complexity may prevent the establishment of links across contamination events, thus negatively impacting the generation of intelligence. To overcome these obstacles, we underline the importance to initiate local and size‐limited approaches by implementing relatively simple and flexible systems. New knowledge can be used to improve local situations and help stakeholders to understand the benefits of such a process; then, by a bottom‐up iterative learning process, the approach can be given a greater ambition at a larger scale.This article is categorized under: Forensic Science in Action/Crime Scene Investigation &gt; Special Situations and Investigations Crime Scene Investigation &gt; From Traces to Intelligence and Evidence Forensic Chemistry and Trace Evidence &gt; Forensic Food and Environment Analysis