Coherent Strategy Research Articles

Fire impact on mechanically failed graphite/epoxy composites

AbstractAircraft crashes often initiate or accompany fire incidents. Post‐crash fires, in particular, can mask or destroy critical fractographic failure features necessary for accident reconstruction. As a first step in developing a coherent strategy for composite aircraft post‐crash forensic analysis, a series of vertical flame tests were performed on mechanically failed Cytec T40‐800/Cycom® 5215 graphite/epoxy unnotched compression, short beam strength, and in‐plane shear specimens. Visual inspection and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine the specimens fracture surfaces before and after fire testing. The fire‐induced damage included matrix decomposition, melt dripping, char, soot, delamination, and residual thickness increases. The composite thermal degradation was significantly influenced by the specimen stacking sequence, the fracture surface morphology, and the total available free surface area. In addition, microscopic inspection showed that char layers impeded heat conduction and oxygen transfer to the interior of the specimens resulting in less thermal damage to the underlying plies. Moreover, burned specimens with more available free surface area sustained more thermal degradation and fire combustion damage for a given fire exposure duration. Exposed fiber bundles from the fracture surfaces were susceptible to severe thinning and thermal oxidation, which destroyed critical fractographic failure features necessary for accident reconstruction.

Intermodal excitation in time-varying plasmonic structures

Space and time-varying electromagnetic structures give access to regimes of operation and effects that ordinarily do not occur in their time-invariant counterparts due to modal orthogonality constraints. Here, we present the theory of intermodal energy transfer in time-varying plasmonic structures. After identifying a suitable physical mechanism of permittivity modulation, we introduce an appropriate time-domain formalism to study the evolution of the dielectric polarization density in the system. Using a perturbative approach, we obtain closed-form solutions describing the intermodal energy transfer between a directly excited dipolar mode and a higher order subradiant mode. We further show that the modal amplitudes reach a steady state and determine the optimal modulation conditions that maximize the amplitude of the high-order mode. Finally, we identify a coherent control strategy to enhance the conversion efficiency to higher order modes.

Understanding the role of digitalization and social media on energy citizenship.

The digitalisation of the energy domain can bring forth numerous aspects of the energy transition that can boost the emergence of energy citizenship, information sharing, and improved decision-making processes. However, this is premised on citizens being able to make sense of (digital) information. Hence, this paper proposes a link between energy informatics and energy citizenship via energy literacy, considering the cognitive and affective aspects of energy literacy and their relation to behaviour and action. By doing so, this paper aims to understand how the use of energy-related information and social media within five different case studies from the GRETA project can impel energy citizenship. This paper approaches this rationale through different means: (a) structured interviews to understand how citizens understand and make use of energy information within the case studies; (b) topic modelling on the content of those interviews to identify common factors that might spur on hinder behaviour change towards energy citizenship; and (c) social media content analysis to identify key energy-related topics of discussions among citizens around the globe and assess the role of social media as a tool for energy citizenship. As a result, this paper identified some key takeaways to improve the delivery of energy-related information to energy citizens for enhanced energy citizenship. These takeaways allow to conclude that it is fundamental to surpass the formal boundaries of techno-economic constructs and start addressing qualitative/subjective constructs (e.g., emotions, affections, and feelings) to foster energy citizenship. Also, these takeaways could be translated into social mechanism principles in the design of frontend energy-related digital platforms for improved end-user interactions and energy citizenship. Finally, this paper recognised the need to incentivise energy citizens to use social media for consuming energy-related information, and the need to formulate coordinated and coherent response strategies for disseminating energy-related information.

Understanding Turkish Soft Power in Africa: The Deepening of Kenya-Türkiye Relations 2000–2022

Türkiye has become an assertive player in soft power politics since Joseph Nye coined the term and its subsequent adoption by leaders as a coherent external relations strategy. Focusing on Africa from the beginning of 2000, Türkiye has built its structures of influence and steadily expanded its persuasion on the continent. The wielding of Türkiye’s soft power in Africa is yet to receive sufficient academic attention. This study attempts to contextualise the extent of Türkiye’s attractive power using the flourishing social economic relations with Kenya as a case study. Soft power is necessary in enhancing people-to-people relations, knowledge and information sharing, improvement of trade networks, and staging of coalitions against global threats.

BAER hearing test: Principles of operation and interpretation for dogs and cats

The nervous system of animals is a focus of interest of multiple research centres. The evolution of medical engineering, the development of new research techniques and the improvement of existing ones increase our understanding of the nervous system. One of the diagnostic methods which can be used to help detect hearing disorders of varying severity in animals and humans is the study of brainstem evoked potentials known as BAER (brainstem auditory evoked response), BAEP (brainstem auditory evoked potentials) or ABR (auditory brainstem response). Although this method has existed for decades and is used in many countries around the world, the knowledge gathered by doctors over the years lacks proper systematization, and neither standard parameters nor a coherent implementation strategy have yet been established. Various modifications of this method are also available, which suggests directions for further research and facilitates an increase in the pool of knowledge concerning the physiology of hearing. Unfortunately, the lack of established recommendations for the practical implementation of hearing tests using the BAER method makes it difficult to compare test results and to broaden the scope of application of this method in dogs and cats. For the most part, this problem results from a random selection of test parameters by researchers who do not have sufficient knowledge about the physics of hearing. This work aims to summarize the results obtained in this field by various authors around the world and to determine the best-performing variants of the BAER method. The optimization and systematization of the parameters not only increases the reproducibility of the results and makes them more transparent and uniform for both doctors and animal keepers, but also renders them more reliable. This could aid in the creation of a worldwide database resulting in beneficial outcomes over time and may also allow veterinarians to determine the most effective approach for conducting a study depending on many variables that need to be taken into account.

КОРРУПЦИЯ КАК ПРОБЛЕМА НЕСПРАВЕДЛИВОСТИ

This article reviews existing scientific approaches to the corruption study such as political, economic, functional, and normative-values-based approaches. The political approach views corruption as the misuse of power by a public official for personal and/or group political gain, the solution to corruption is put forward to improve democratization. The economic approach regards the individual as a rational agent, and defines corruption as rationally selfish behavior with careful calculation. All individuals, including politicians and businessmen, commit corruption on selfishly rational calculations because the benefit of corruption is greater than the risk. The functional approach asserts the positive role of corruption in developing countries depending on the socio-cultural context. In this regard, in each society corruption is defined according to each sociocultural context. The author puts forward that the main task in the fight against corruption is to develop a «judgment criterion of corruption», according to which corruption can be defined and which does not fluctuate in each context. In this regard, the author first considers legal norms as a «judgment criterion of corruption» for a more consistent definition of corruption. According to the normative value approach, when discussing the «criterion» it is necessary to consider not only legal norms but also the «a tacit consent» of society. This approach additionally treats corruption as inappropriate behavior with tacit consent and suggests moral principles such as ethics, morality, goodwill and other similar values as the judgment criterion for corruption. However, in order to say that the «criterion of society's judgment» equals moralprinciples or a tacit consent, precise explanations must be provided as to what the values presented above are and whether they can serve as a «just criterion» regardless of any sociocultural context and time horizon. Considering the above approaches, the author concludes that for a true fight against corruption it is necessary to develop a «judgment criterion of corruption», which allows to identify the fundamental causes of corruption, to define its universal definition and to develop a coherent anti-corruption strategy.

Strategic uses for ancillary bioenergy in a carbon-neutral and fossil-free 2050 European energy system

Biomass is a growing renewable energy source in Europe and is envisioned to play a role for realising carbon neutrality, predominantly using dedicated energy crops. However, dedicated biomass is controversial for reasons including its competition with food production or its land-use and emissions impacts. Here we examine the potential role of a land-free alternative: ancillary bioenergy (AB) from biomass sources not primarily grown for energy and without land/food/feed competition. We provide the first dataset of 2050 ancillary biomass potential using the agricultural system model SOLm, which encompasses untapped by-/co-products and detailed agricultural residues. Results show that there is a limited future potential for AB in Europe (2394–10 342 PJ, which is 3–6 times lower than other estimates including dedicated biomass). We design and investigate alternative scenarios where this bioenergy resource can be fully utilised, not utilised at all, or utilised optimally by the sector-coupled energy system model Euro-Calliope. We find that fully utilising ancillary biomass can help phase out controversial nuclear or land-intensive dedicated biomass, so might achieve higher societal acceptability. Using all ancillary biomass as a negative-emissions source at stationary bioenergy carbon capture and storage plants in a nuclear-free system provides additional climate benefits. It is also possible to leave the AB potential completely unused, which barely increases total system cost, but would preserve agricultural nutrients. We conclude that there are synergies and trade-offs among possible strategic uses of AB, which can provide guidelines for a more coherent European bioenergy strategy. Although the 2050 potential of AB is limited, our findings suggest that it could fill critical strategic niches for realising carbon-neutrality.

Decomposition Approaches for Power Reduction

The article discusses a synthesis strategy aimed at reducing power consumption consumed by logic structures implemented in FPGAs. The essence of the method is to carry out multioutput function decomposition, which takes into account the problem of dynamic power reduction. The article presents several techniques leading to such a reduction: preliminary ordering of variables taking into account the probabilities of occurrence of the value 1 for individual variables, reduction of the number of LUTs by limiting the number of bound functions, and in particular bicoding or appropriate unicoding taking into account the need to reduce power for the implementation of multioutput functions. These techniques have been combined into a coherent synthesis strategy called PowerdekBDD, which is an extension of the DekBDD strategy, which is the result of many years of work in the area of logic synthesis using BDD graphs. The article contains the results of experiments confirming the effectiveness of the presented strategy.

Strategic Coherence and its Impact on the Excellence of Employees: An Exploratory Study of the Opinions of a Sample of Employees of the Ministry of Planning

The purpose of the research: presenting an analytical study to find out and test the influence relationship between strategic cohesion and the excellence of the workers in the organization (Ministry of Planning). Its impact on distinguishing workers within the organization. The research was conducted in the Ministry of Planning and the research sample was intentional and included (general managers, assistant general manager, department director, assistant department manager, division official, head of an administrative unit) of 110 individuals. The research used a package of tools Statistics. As for the results: the results proved the validity of the hypotheses that were formulated according to the hypothetical scheme of the research, which showed the existence of a relationship between the independent and the dependent variable. As for the conclusions: the researcher concluded that there is a strategic cohesion in the researched organization (Ministry of Planning), and it was reinforced by the presence of distinguished employees through training, increasing their knowledge and developing their skills in order to formulate a coherent strategy that leads to the differentiation of the organization from other organizations.

The Emerging Technologies of Digital Payments and Associated Challenges: A Systematic Literature Review

The interplay between finance and technology with the use of the internet triggered the emergence of digital payment technologies. Such technological innovation in the payment industry is the foundation for financial inclusion. However, despite the continuous progress and potential of moving the payment landscape towards digital payments and connecting the population to the ubiquitous digital environment, some critical issues need to be addressed to achieve a more harmonious inclusive and sustainable cashless society. The study aims to provide a comprehensive literature review on the emerging digital payment technologies and associated challenges. By systematically reviewing existing empirical studies, this study puts forward the state-of-the-art classification of digital payment technologies and presents four categories of digital payment technologies: card payment, e-payment,mobile payment and cryptocurrencies. Subsequently, the paper presents the key challenges in digital payment technologies categorized into broad themes: social, economic, technical, awareness and legal. The classification and categorization of payment technologies and associated challenges can be useful to both researchers and practitioners to understand, elucidate and develop a coherent digital payment strategy.

Rare disease education in Europe and beyond: time to act

People living with rare diseases (PLWRD) still face huge unmet needs, in part due to the fact that care systems are not sufficiently aligned with their needs and healthcare workforce (HWF) along their care pathways lacks competencies to efficiently tackle rare disease-specific challenges. Level of rare disease knowledge and awareness among the current and future HWF is insufficient. In recent years, many educational resources on rare diseases have been developed, however, awareness of these resources is still limited and rare disease education is still not sufficiently taken into account by some crucial stakeholders as academia and professional organizations. Therefore, there is a need to fundamentally rethink rare disease education and HWF development across the whole spectrum from students to generalists, specialists and experts, to engage and empower PLWRD, their families and advocates, and to work towards a common coherent and complementary strategy on rare disease education and training in Europe and beyond. Special consideration should be also given to the role of nurse coordinators in care coordination, interprofessional training for integrated multidisciplinary care, patient and family-centered education, opportunities given by digital learning and fostering of social accountability to enforce the focus on socially-vulnerable groups such as PLWRD. The strategy has to be developed and implemented by multiple rare disease education and training providers: universities, medical and nursing schools and their associations, professional organizations, European Reference Networks, patient organizations, other organizations and institutions dedicated to rare diseases and rare cancers, authorities and policy bodies.

Japan in the Indo-Pacific: domestic politics and foreign policy

Although Japan is commonly regarded as a strong proponent of the existing liberal international order championed by the US in the Indo-Pacific, sometimes it has been half-hearted in opposing a Sino-centric order and been rather supportive of Chinese diplomacy. In particular, it has to some degree supported the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) implemented by Beijing, effectively offered its endorsement to the international legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) without problematizing human rights issues, and severely restricted the enhancement of its own defense capabilities. These policies have been shaped by pro-China individuals and groups who hold privileged positions inside the government, and their privileged positions have been determined by haphazard domestic political factors which have little to do with Sino-Japanese relations. This means that, although on the surface Japan may seem to have rationally calculated its international strategic interests and implemented hedging as a coherent strategy amid Sino-US rivalries, its implementation of what seems to be a hedging strategy has actually been incidental. Its policy has turned out to resemble what has been regarded by International Relations (IR) theorists as a hedging strategy, due to haphazard domestic political factors.

Legal fundamentals of the social policy in Ukraine: influence of European integration

Purpose. The aim of this research is to highlight the influence of European integration on the optimization of the legal fundamentals of social policy in Ukraine. Methodology. The research is based on the comparative legal method used for comparison of EU social law with the social law of Ukraine. The method of dialectic enables to establish contradictions in the legal norms that regulate the social system of Ukraine and determine its social policy. The systemic and functional method was used to study the system of regulation of the sphere of social relations in Ukraine, systems of social policy measures as well as functional interrelationships between them. The method of generalization was used for the systematization and interpretation of the results obtained during the study. Results. The research showed that the main ways of improving social policy in Ukraine and legal regulation in the social sphere include: ratification of the European Social Charter and its implementation plan in Ukraine; creation of a coherent strategy in the field of provision of social services; the accession of Ukraine to the European Code of Social Security; partial reform of the legal regulation of labor and employment of the population; improvement of legal regulation and social policy in the field of social protection, labor and employment of internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. During the research, it was established that on the way to the EU, Ukraine has faced the following problems with its social policy and law: problems with the Ukrainian legislation on social security; problems with regulating the labor market, employment and poverty reduction; problems with improvement of the legislation on labor protection; problems with stimulating entrepreneurship as the basis for ensuring social standards and employment of the population; problems with adaptation of socially vulnerable groups of the population. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in international law.

Localization of the Urban Planning Process with the Knowledge-Based Sustainable Development Approach

In recent decades, the concept of a knowledge-based city has been proposed as one of the most important concepts in urban planning. The present study evaluates the ability to localize urban planning indicators in the city of Urmia and determine the desirability of knowledge-based city indicators to provide coherent policies and strategies to achieve sustainable development and a knowledge-based city. Localization is the adaptation of global patterns and methods of development and planning to the internal conditions of the local community. In order to collect data from documents and library studies, experts’ opinions have been used by the Delphi method. Then, indicators related to local urban planning and knowledge-based city were extracted. The present study’s statistical population is 20 specialists and experts related to the research topic through the survey method. In order to analyze the research data, a one-sample t-test was used to assess the ability to localize aspects of urban planning in the city of Urmia. In order to investigate the degree of correlation and factor load of each urban planning indicator, confirmatory factor analysis was used. Using the Swara technique, the desirability and knowledge-based city indicators’ priority level has been evaluated and analyzed. The research results indicate that each of the economic, social, physical, environmental, and managerial aspects of urban planning can be localized in the city of Urmia. Moreover, the situation of Urmia in some aspects is in a situation of incompatibility in terms of the feasibility of the knowledge-based city’s policies. In order to improve the current situation and achieve the desired goals, suggestions have been made in various aspects.

The caring city? A critical reflection on Barcelona’s municipal experiments in care and the commons

There is an urgent need to develop a coherent political strategy to address the current crisis of care. Allocation of care through the market or the state leads to a care and democratic deficit. Organising care on the logic of the commons provides an alternative paradigm rooted in democracy and solidarity. Municipalism aims to build institutions to enable the commons; it represents a political strategy for the crisis of care at scale. In this paper we explore Barcelona en Comu’s experiments in care to build upon what has been termed ‘care; municipalism’. Our case study focuses on domestic care work as a domain that reflects the core inequalities of the crisis. Through our analysis we have identified three key features of care municipalism: firstly, a feminist narrative of care; secondly, new forms of organising care and thirdly, building social infrastructures. The paper closes with a reflection on the limitations of Barcelona en Comu’s experiments in care from a perspective of the commons, before outlining a future research agenda to contribute towards more caring cities.

Barriers to corporate social responsibility performance in construction organizations

PurposeThis study aims to identify and prioritize barriers to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the construction sector.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was first conducted to identify barriers to CSR performance. After that, construction professionals were invited to validate the appropriateness of the obstacles. The discussion allowed the establishment of a list of barriers to CSR performance and their corresponding categories. Data collected from the survey were then analyzed to prioritize the importance of these barriers by the fuzzy DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) technique.FindingsThe findings presented 16 barriers to CSR, which were categorized into four clusters. The fuzzy DANP analysis showed that strategic vision is the most crucial cluster, followed by the measurement system, stakeholder perspective and scarce resources. Among the sixteen barriers examined, lack of awareness, knowledge and information of CSR; low priority of CSR; lack of metrics to quantify CSR benefits; lack of guidelines and coherent strategies; and lack of CSR enforcement mechanism are the five most crucial barriers.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first that proposes a comprehensive model to prioritize barriers to CSR performance of contractors considering their interrelationships. It provides construction stakeholders with a framework for understanding the linkage between the barriers and CSR framework under the umbrella of stakeholder theory. Thus, the findings might assist construction practitioners and academics in fostering the success of CSR implementation.

‘They Cannot Herd a Sheep’ Populist Politics and Its Struggles for and Against Education in Turkey

ABSTRACT Instruments of direct suppression and tight control are widely discussed parts of education politics in Turkey. They are often perceived as parts of a wider political struggle that is crucial to produce imaginaries and memories supporting the populist narrative of the ruling AKP. The important role of higher education in the reproduction of a professional labour force does, however, indicate that these instruments cannot be reduced to that function. Ideological objectives and economic interests are often in a contradictory relationship, hindering the AKP’s ability to formulate a coherent strategy for higher education. Analysing the contradictions of the AKP’s higher education policies offers significant insights into the limits of populist politics that are in conflict with aspects of the economic order.

Marketing Mix Strategy and Business Growth In 5 Star Hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya: A Case of Hilton Hotel

Marketing strategy is the fundamental theme of the entire company, be it a small business or a well-known multinational corporation. The task and task of the organization is to formulate, establish and implement a coherent and elegant marketing strategy to promote its business development to attract the right types of customers and allocate resources for business growth. It does this by using profitability as a measure of business growth. Largely assessed financial efficiency. This search has led to increased competition in the Kenyan hotel industry. This has resulted in hotels developing lean marketing strategies to maintain their relevance in the extremely aggressive Kenyan hotel market. The1main1goals1for1this1findings1is1to1find1out the impacts of marketing mix on business growth in 51star1hotels1in1Nairobi1City1County1Kenya.1A1case1of1Hilton hotel. This study aims to test the degree of product differentiation in marketing strategy: the impact of price marketing strategy, niche marketing strategy, and advertising marketing strategy on profitability, market share, Hilton Kenya consumer service and sales quantity, effects of product differentiation strategy, pricing strategy, placement strategy and advertising strategy on the earnings, market values, number of customers, customer service and volume. Nairobi sales department. Research will rely on the Promotion Mix Theory, Marketing Mix Model, and Marketing Impact and Continuity Model in order to provide a more proper knowledge of the marketing mix and business growth. The study population includes 5-star hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya, including Sankara Nairobi, Dusit D2 Nairobi, Villa Rosa Kempinski, Sarova Stanley, and Hilton Nairobi. 5 Star Hotels in Nairobi, Kenya The target group will be 84 employees outside of the Hilton hotel headquarters in Nairobi. A stratified random sample is utilized to sample 42 employees at the headquarters, who make up 50% of the total population be to choose a delegate and unbiased sample in order to improve the reliability and validity of the survey results. The questionnaire is used as a data collection tool. A questionnaire will be sent to the research director to check its effectiveness and a pilot study will be undertaken to improve the reliability of the instrument. The quantitative evaluation of the data is carried out with the software SPSS Version 21 and is represented by applying tables of statistical distribution, charts, and pie charts for easy comprehensive. On the other hand, analyzing the qualitative data through content analysis, the research will help various stakeholders of the Hilton hotels understand the importance of the marketing mix and its impact on the business growth of the organization and provide references for forthcoming researchers and academics.

Status of stigma on the health care workers related to COVID-19 at the first wave of the pandemic in Iran: A qualitative study.

Stigma can be seen as a mark of disgrace that can lead to the separation of one person from another. In this qualitative study, we assess the status of stigma among in front-line health care workers (HCWs) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. The participants were selected from frontline HCWs related to COVID-19 in Imam Ali and Imam Hossein referral hospitals in Alborz province, Iran. Study was conducted between May and June 2020. The 32-item checklist Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) was used to report this qualitative study. Interview questions were prepared based on the grounded theory method. The thematic approach was used to analyze the data content. Data analysis was based on open and axial coding and after implementing the codes in MAXQDA software. The results of this study included 4 themes, 8 categories and 33 sub-categories. Themes included extrinsic and intrinsic elements of stigma, perplexity and stigma removal requirements. Extrinsic elements included "creating blame and shame" and "discrimination" categories. Intrinsic elements included "the desire to be avoidance," "feeling depressed and frustrated" and "feeling anxious and scared" categories. Perplexity included "feeling loss" category. Stigma removal requirements included "factors causing stigma" and "protective agents against stigma" categories. Low public awareness on COVID-19 and inadequate public care, limited personal protective equipment and inadequate facilities for HCWs along with lack of appreciation for their efforts, lack of proper psychiatric/psychological counseling to identify and treat symptoms associated with mental health and the limitations of training to maintain mental health skills are considered to be factors in the formation of stigma among HCWs related to COVID-19. Health policymakers should implement coherent strategies related to increasing public awareness and providing personal protection needs and counseling care for HCWs in relation to COVID-19.

Families and the Social Infrastructure of War: From Palestine to North Africa and Back Again, 1942–1944

This paper looks at careers, families, and households as a way to explore the relationship between two forms of movement—physical and social. Privileging the account of a family over the more traditional androcentric historical narrative, it utilizes the correspondence of one Zionist-Yishuvi family, the Muchniks, during World War II. The analysis points to the Muchniks’ adoption of a coherent family strategy, one that attempted to harness the extensive wartime profits that flowed to the Zionist Yishuv during this period to attain lasting upward mobility for the family. By adopting a split household pattern, the article argues, the Muchnik family strategy consisted of two interdependent cogwheels of physical movement. In the first, Rosa and the children dissolved all semblance of a nuclear household and instead constantly moved between their extended family’s farmsteads in the Zionist agricultural settlement of Nahalal. In the second, Pinchas was temporarily freed from the obligations of a family-man and joined the ranks of the first generation of region-trotting lower class Yishuvi men as a soldier in the British army. Together, these two cogwheels empowered the family’s climb up the social ladder.