Current Commitments Research Articles

The effects of workplace learning on organizational performance: A research study

This early on section talks about the contemplations of work environment discovering that are as of now arising through research universally. The primary reason here is to outline the most recent advances Thinking about work and learning such points of view help to pass on how we can more likely put together, plan, and assess the nature and cycles of learning as people figure out how to address the issues of people as they look to safeguard congruity and improvement in their work life and social world. For work. This worry is never more significant than the way that such learning is at the same time conceptualized as the two cycles of social generation and change and self-awareness and change. The part gives a scaffold between the current commitments to our comprehension of learning through work and the commitments made in the accompanying sections. In doing as such, it looks to distinguish the qualities and impediments of existing points of view through hypothetical and experimental work by zeroing in on the interrelated connections between the individual and the social world in the cycles of learning and work.

Silencing at Work: Sexual Harassment, Workplace Misconduct and NDAs

Abstract This article draws on qualitative analysis of a small interview study and of oral evidence to the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) of the UK Parliament, to explore and contextualize the use in the United Kingdom of NDAs in settlements to silence allegations and experiences of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. This demonstrates the central place of NDAs in the failure of individualist individualized workplace protections effectively to combat this behaviour. Several factors emerge as potentially significant to the ubiquity and substantive content of NDAs in settlements: the influence of modern, technologically inflected routinization and sheer paperwork within organizations and lawyering; interactions between the law in practice and long-standing economic, social and cultural means of subordination, including of women and racialized groups. Illustrations comprise, first, employers’ systemic dominance, mediated by lawyers, being enacted and reinforced through frequent imposition of NDAs, including to protect serial wrongdoers, and, secondly, that the shame and career risk attached to people who experience and complain of ill treatment (not alleged wrongdoers) mean claimants themselves often need the protection of NDAs in settlements. Still, suggestions in the evidence of some organizations altering their use of NDAs provides an invaluable opportunity for future research to illuminate the drivers and long-term consequence of this legalized silencing and of what ought to be done about it. Organizational variety also shows that employers are already in a position differently to reconcile the innate tensions the data exposed between individual, employer, and societal interests in whether mistreatment at work is silenced or exposed. This leads to my final argument that, whatever legal reform occurs, employers and their lawyers ought already to take the obvious first step towards changing the culture, of shifting their default position away from routinely using law to silence complaints about sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. If employers are not even willing to take this small initial step, and their lawyers to back them up, this will raise serious questions about current public commitments finally to tackle workplace wrongdoing, and grave doubts that anything much is going to change in this dimension of working life.

Breaking the Barriers to Innovation in Kidney Care: The Time is Now.

Breaking the Barriers to Innovation in Kidney Care: The Time is Now.

Seizing resilience windows to foster passive recovery in the forest-water interface in Amazonian lands

Forest regeneration has increased in many tropical abandoned lands and current restoration commitments in this region aim to restore over 1,400,000 km2 of degraded land by 2030. Although regenerating forests recover biomass, biodiversity, and processes with time, the recovery trajectories may be uncertain due to past disturbances. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge to sustain the effectiveness of passive regeneration for the recovery of riparian forests and the adjacent waterbodies in the tropics, which may compromise the outcomes of ongoing and future tropical riparian restoration programs. We evaluated the drivers of riparian forest structural recovery and how this relates to stream conditions in 12 abandoned pasturelands in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. These pasturelands range across regeneration age (pasture (PA) — 0 to 4 years; young regeneration (YR) — 8 to 12 years; old regeneration (OR) — 18 to 22 years) and years of past land-use (PA — 23.25 average years of past land-use, YR — 18.25, OR — 7). We compared the conditions of these sites to 4 reference sites with conserved forests (REF, >100 years), where there was no recorded pasture use in the past. Short-term responses of forests and streams to passive regeneration indicated high ecosystem resilience after low to intermediate past land-use intensity, reflected in the improvement of stream ecosystems. Such high resilience is possibly attributable to low- to intermediate-intensity pasture-related disturbances, remaining forest matrix, and residual structures (e.g. roots, sprouts, and in-stream wood) observed in the area. Our results suggest a recovery by 12 to 20 years for riparian forests of this region. However, areas degraded by intensive land-use apparently showed delayed recovery. We conclude that seizing resilience windows (defined here as the period when ecosystems retain high potential resilience) is essential to foster passive recovery of riparian forests and streams more cost-effectively in the tropics.

ANALISA RASIO LAPORAN KEUANGAN UNTUK MENILAI KINERJA PERUSAHAAN Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology TBK Tahun 2018 – 2020

The reason for this research is to examine the monetary presentation of PT. SMART, Tbk in 2018 - 2020 through monetary proportions by utilizing liquidity and benefit proportions. The liquidity proportion is used to measure the capacity of the organization to meet the expected current commitments. While the proportion of benefits is used to measure the capacity of the organization to generate benefits. This study uses quantitative and subjective types of information as well as additional sources of information, especially the fiscal report of PT. SMART, Tbk in 2018 - 2020 which combines balance sheets, financial statements and profit and loss. The analytical strategy used is the relative or level examination method, which is a procedure to dissect information by looking at the financial statements of at least three periods obtained from the company. Multiple linear regression analysis was used in this study, which was carried out using the SPSS version 22.0 application. The results obtained are that all of the 4 ratios affect the performance of PT. SMART's financial statements, especially on the Net Profit Margin although it is not too significant.

International soil governance

This introductory overview of international soil governance first outlines essential features of international governance. At the international level, there is no overarching central or superior authority. Rules and other measures normally do not have direct effect at national level; they need to be implemented by their addressees.In contrast to other environmental topics, states have for a long time been reluctant to engage in soil governance at the international level. As a result, international soil governance is piecemeal and spread over parts of different institutions and processes, each of which has limitations. The Sustainable Development Goal “land degradation neutrality” on its own is not a comprehensive soil policy, but its forward-looking planning element in particular is a useful starting point for guiding national policies and further work.While binding rules are not an end in itself, new treaty obligations relating to soil protection could be useful to address gaps and shortcomings in current governance and focus international commitments. Climate change provides an opportunity to increase soil protection e.g. through the climate regime, but there are also risks if soil protection was pursued solely from a climate perspective.

Whose language is it anyway? Students’ sense of belonging and role of English for Higher Education in the multilingual, South African context

The current decolonial commitments in Higher Education necessitate a need to deepen our understanding of the relationship between English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) and students’ sense of belonging, their identity, and epistemological access. This article investigates how EMI influences students’ personal and academic identities as well as their sense of belonging to the higher education space. Using student focus groups, this study is exploratory in nature and informed by the voices of undergraduate and postgraduate Humanities students at a South African university in the Free State. The responses were mixed, but there was general consensus that although English does have a place in higher education and can contribute to their sense of belonging, it also has an adverse effect on their identity; the use of indigenous languages provides them with greater epistemological access. A differentiated approach to multilingualism is a possible way forward. Keywords: English as a medium of instruction, belonging, higher education, identity, epistemological access, multilingualism

Are We Missing the Opportunity of Low-Carbon Lifestyles? International Climate Policy Commitments and Demand-Side Gaps

Current commitments in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are insufficient to remain within the 2-degree climate change limit agreed to in the Paris Agreement. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that lifestyle changes are now necessary to stay within the limit. We reviewed a range of NDCs and national climate change strategies to identify inclusion of low-carbon lifestyles. We found that most NDCs and national climate change strategies do not yet include the full range of necessary mitigation measures targeting lifestyle change, particularly those that could reduce indirect emissions. Some exceptional NDCs, such as those of Austria, Slovakia, Portugal and the Netherlands, do include lifestyle changes, such as low-carbon diets, reduced material consumption, and low-carbon mobility. Most countries focus on supply-side measures with long lag times and might miss the window of opportunity to shape low-carbon lifestyle patterns, particularly those at early stages of development trajectories. Systemic barriers exist that should be corrected before new NDCs are released, including changing the accounting and reporting methodology, accounting for extraterritorial emissions, providing guidance on NDC scope to include the menu of options identified by the IPCC, and increasing support for national level studies to design demand-side policies.

Multi-objective cuckoo search algorithm for optimized pathways for 75 % renewable electricity mix by 2050 in Algeria

The transition to an energy system with a focus on electricity sector is becoming more and more crucial to increase the life expectancy of fossil fuels, but also to meet the current commitments regarding greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents the most credible options to increase the share of renewable energy resource in the Algerian electricity power system by 2050. Screening curve method is used to assess the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of different technologies for electricity generation and EnergyPlan tool is used to estimate total annual cost, annual investment cost, renewable energy resource share and CO2 emissions during the time horizon. The efficiency and the simplicity of multi-objective cuckoo search algorithm make it a powerful approach for solving energy strategy multi-optimization problem. Considering LCOE economic order and the availability of renewable energy resource, the energy transition strategy is established by minimizing the total annual cost and maximizing renewable energy share in 2035, 2040, 2045, and 2050 using multi-objective cuckoo search algorithm. The results revealed that achieving 75% is technically feasible but will require significant investment.

Strategies of Extended Deterrence: How States Provide the Security Umbrella

What extended deterrence strategies are available to nuclear patrons, and what factors determine which strategy they adopt? How does each strategy manifest as force employment? The bulk of the literature on extended deterrence focuses on its effectiveness. The question of how nuclear patrons select between and employ strategies of extended deterrence, however, has largely been overlooked. Addressing the first, or strategy adoption, question, I argue that the interaction of two variables—(1) the type of threat posed to a client by an enemy; and (2) the likelihood of an enemy’s quick victory over a client—determines a nuclear patron’s strategy among four options: a conventional defense pact, forward conventional deployment, a nuclear defense pact, and forward nuclear deployment. Addressing the second, or strategy implementation, question, I argue that each strategy is embodied as the unique mixture of conventional and nuclear forces pre-positioned in either forward or rear areas. I test my theory of extended deterrence in two ways. First, I conduct a congruence test. Second, I perform two case studies—US extended deterrence to South Korea and the Philippines. I conclude with a discussion of policy implications for the current US security commitments to Seoul and Manila.

Evaluation of Energy Transition Scenarios in Poland

Long-term energy scenarios form the basis of energy policy-making. In practice, the use of energy scenarios for the effective creation of energy policy differs in each country. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present two possible scenarios for the development of the Polish energy sector, resulting from the current national policy and international commitments of Poland. The study examined the development of the energy mix in Poland in the 2040 perspective, in accordance with the strategic document Energy Policy of Poland (PEP 2040). The analysis took into account four diagnostic features: electricity production, electricity price, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in final energy consumption, and CO2 emission reduction. In addition, the analysis allowed for the presentation of the implications for the Polish economy and society after the application of the diversified variant with nuclear energy and the diversified variant with natural gas. Both scenarios assume too slow development of RES, and the ambivalent attitude of the Polish political elite towards zero-emission energy sources significantly hinders the development of some of its forms (e.g., onshore wind energy). Unfortunately, both the first and second variants entail a large increase in electricity prices, which will affect the entire economy and increase the level of energy poverty among Poles. The study provides strategic insights on the consequences of Poland’s choice of a specific energy transformation scenario. The results may serve as a starting point for understanding Poland’s restraint towards achieving zero emissions and contribute to the discussion of the direction of development of the Polish energy sector.

Integration of climate change mitigation and sustainable development planning: Lessons from a national planning process in Nigeria

To limit global temperature increases to ‘well below 2 ºC’, it is necessary that current national commitments to reduce emissions are increased, and these commitments are implemented. The identification of local development benefits from climate change mitigation is a possible motivating factor to achieve this. However, there is a lack of practical examples of how climate change mitigation and development priorities can be integrated in national planning processes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This work considers two questions i) What are the factors that have to be considered when developing a plan integrating GHG reductions with local development goals?; and ii) How do you structure a process to reach a consensus about the plan itself?. It does this by conceptualising the integration of climate mitigation and development benefits as a policy intervention. As a case study, a national planning process that integrated climate change mitigation with improvements to air quality and human health in Nigeria is conceptualised, ex-post, as an intervention theory model. The key factors identified include the importance of tailoring the planning process to the national context of how development priorities are identified and then used in the allocation of national budgets. In particular, assessments undertaken within the planning process, of emission reductions, and development of implementation pathways provided necessary information on how climate mitigation actions contribute to national development priorities. Additionally, the importance of structuring these assessments within a planning processes that also engaged key stakeholders to allow the information produced by the assessments to be informed, and acted upon, by those responsible for mitigation in each key sector is also highlighted. Finally, approaches for the use of intervention theory as a conceptual framework to design a planning process, ex-ante, are discussed, to further optimise the integration of development priorities into climate change planning.

Parametric point-cloud slicing for facade retrofitting

This work presents a method for retrieving 3D building contours usable in facade retrofitting projects, which uses a parametric modeling workflow that utilizes a point-cloud slicing method to retrieve such 3D contours. Since current commitments by European governments seek to reduce energy consumption as a means to reduce carbon emissions from building stock by 2050, facade retrofitting appears as an alternative for addressing operational and embedded building emissions. Within such a context, the main contribution of this work consists of a workflow and a 3D reconstruction solution that uses a parametric environment for capturing building topology and bypassing ground-level occlusions. A real case study and a strategy for converting 3D building contours into Industry Foundation Classes entities, directly from the parametric modeling environment, served as a scenario for testing the capabilities of a Grasshopper solution and open new perspectives for this approach.

Religious Identity Exploration in the Life Stories of Strictly Reformed-Raised Emerging Adults in the Netherlands

Abstract This article presents the findings from a qualitative study on the religious identity exploration processes and experiences of emerging adults who grew up in strictly Reformed contexts in the Netherlands. We discuss three forms of exploration that appeared in our data: asking questions, exploring alternatives and rebelling against things that are disallowed or undesirable in the strictly Reformed tradition. We also discuss patterns that emerged from our analysis of exploration related to participants’ current religious identity commitments and a strictly Reformed upbringing. Finally, we discuss our findings and propose directions for further research and implications for those who guide youth in religious identity development.

The response of plants, carabid beetles and birds to 30 years of native reforestation in the Scottish Highlands

Abstract Globally, there is increasing interest in tree planting, leading to many country‐level commitments to reforestation. In the UK, current commitments would achieve 17% forest cover by 2050, with the highest rates of forest expansion expected in Scotland. Forest expansion with native trees is expected to increase biodiversity, particularly woodland specialist species, and associated ecosystem services. Despite this, data on biodiversity changes over the early stages of reforestation are sparse, particularly for upland areas in Scotland where opportunities for forest expansion are greatest. We collected data on the response of plants, carabid beetles and birds to native reforestation and grazing exclusion, using sites reforested over the last 30 years in the Scottish Highlands. Biodiversity in ungrazed, reforested sites was compared to unforested controls and mature native forest, both grazed and ungrazed. Mean bird species richness in reforested plots (4.4 [95% CI: 3.2, 5.9]) was higher than in unforested plots (0.8 [0.5, 1.3]), but lower than in mature forest plots (7.0 [5.4, 8.3]). In contrast, there was no systematic difference in plant or carabid beetle species richness in reforested, unforested or mature forest plots, or between grazed and ungrazed plots for the species richness of any groups. Woodland specialist bird and plant species were found in the reforested plots, and richness of woodland specialist bird species was predicted to reach levels in mature forest c. 36 years after reforestation. Species assemblages differed across habitat categories. For birds and plants, species assemblages in reforested sites were intermediate to unforested and mature sites. For carabid beetles, the assemblages in mature and reforested sites were comparable and differed from unforested sites. Grazing did not strongly influence species assemblages. Policy implications. We show that woodland specialists colonise reforested sites and species assemblages transition towards those found in the target habitat within the first 30 years of reforestation with native species. Native forest should be prioritised in Scotland's future forest expansion targets, given that mature native forest is scarce and fragmented in the Scottish Highlands and that the ultimate gain from native forest expansion may accrue over long time‐scales.

Alliance Dynamics in the Shadow of Shifting Power

Abstract Alliances are costly to form and to terminate, and yet alliances change frequently. Scholars typically attribute these decisions to static factors, such as the power balance, and retrospective ones, such as past power shifts. We highlight another factor: prospective changes, particularly anticipated military strength shifts. We analyze a three-country bargaining model of alliances and war that incorporates forward-looking power dynamics. The model, unlike those restricting players to set roles, flexibly allows players to ally in any arrangement. We find that alliance arrangements that are optimal when power is static are often suboptimal when power fluctuates. Maintaining prior alliances despite expected power shifts may even lead to preventive war. States thus strategically look to the future to identify optimal alliances in the present. Quantitative analyses corroborate the expectation. As the anticipated size of power shifts increases, alliance changes become more common. Accordingly, states navigate expected changes in the international landscape by rearranging current alliance commitments that can help minimize the risk of conflict. When power balances are in flux, malleable institutional arrangements may prove preferable to rigid ones.

Questionnaire to Assess a Teacher’s Perception of Their Current Personal Commitment and Preferred Future Commitment to Each of the Eight Roles: Turkish Version

Introduction: There are eight key roles defined for trainers. The trainer is expected to identify their roles in a training program and maximize their potential. This study aimed to expand the “Questionnaire to Assess a Teacher’s Perception of Their Current Personal Commitment and Preferred Future Commitment to Each of the Eight Roles”, which was developed by Harden and Lilley 2018, and adapt it to Turkish. Method: The study was carried out in four faculties between 10 December 2018 and 30 August 2019. The original questionnaire, which questioned the roles of an educator over a total of eight items, was expanded in accordance with the source in which it was published. The psychometric analyses of the new scale consisting of 32 items were conducted. Results: The final version of the scale consisted of 29 items and eight subscales. The scale-based content validity index for the scale was calculated as 1.00. Cronbach's alpha values for the Scale and its subscales were 0.95, 0.67, 0.90, 0.92, 0.87, 0.84, 0.88, 0.90, and 0.78, respectively. The item-total correlations for the scale and the Goodness of Fit model were deemed acceptable. Conclusion: The scale proved useful as a measurement tool for measuring educators’ current and future commitments to their eight roles. We recommend the scale for educator evaluation, needs assessment, and/or educator development training.

Quantification of blue carbon in seagrass ecosystems of Southeast Asia and their potential for climate change mitigation

Seagrasses have the ability to contribute towards climate change mitigation, through large organic carbon (Corg) sinks within their ecosystems. Although the importance of blue carbon within these ecosystems has been addressed in some countries of Southeast Asia, the regional and national inventories with the application of nature-based solutions are lacking. In this study, we aim to estimate national coastal blue carbon stocks in the seagrass ecosystems in the countries of Southeast Asia including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. This study further assesses the potential of conservation and restoration practices and highlights the seagrass meadows as nature-based solution for climate change mitigation. The average value of the total carbon storage within seagrass meadows of this region is 121.95 ± 76.11 Mg ha−1 (average ± SD) and the total Corg stock of the seagrass meadows of this region was 429.11 ± 111.88 Tg, with the highest Corg stock in the Philippines (78%). The seagrass meadows of this region have the capacity to accumulate 5.85–6.80 Tg C year−1, which accounts for $214.6–249.4 million USD. Under the current rate of decline of 2.82%, the seagrass meadows are emitting 1.65–2.08 Tg of CO2 year−1 and the economic value of these losses accounts for $21.42–24.96 million USD. The potential of the seagrass meadows to the offset current CO2 emissions varies across the region, with the highest contribution to offset is in the seagrass meadows of the Philippines (11.71%). Current national policies and commitments of nationally determined contributions do not include blue carbon ecosystems as climate mitigation measures, even though these ecosystems can contribute up to 7.03% of the countries' reduction goal of CO2 emissions by 2030. The results of this study highlight and promote the potential of the southeast Asian seagrass meadows to national and international agencies as a practical scheme for nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation.

Vascular Surgery Program Director Work Hours and Compensation Do Not Align with ACGME Proposed Requirements

In 2019, The ACGME has proposed significant changes to the common program requirements, mandating Vascular Surgery Program Directors to spend 50% of a 40hr work week on non-clinical, non-teaching, administrative programmatic duties. The objective of this study was to determine the current time commitments and financial support PDs receive for these duties and assess PD belief’s regarding appropriate time commitment.

Data-Driven Persona Retrospective Based on Persona Significance Index in B-to-B Software Development

Business-to-Business (B-to-B) software development companies develop services to satisfy their customers’ requirements. Developers should prioritize customer satisfaction because customers greatly influence agile software development. However, satisfying current customer’s requirements may not fulfill actual users or future customers’ requirements because customers’ requirements are not always derived from actual users. To reconcile these differences, developers should identify conflicts in their strategic plan. This plan should consider current commitments to end users and their intentions as well as employ a data-driven approach to adapt to rapid market changes. A persona models an end user representation in human-centered design. Although previous works have applied personas to software development and proposed data-driven software engineering frameworks with gap analysis between the effectiveness of commitments and expectations, the significance of developers’ commitment and quantitative decision-making are not considered. Developers often do not achieve their business goal due to conflicts. Hence, the target of commitments should be validated. To address these issues, we propose Data-Driven Persona Retrospective (DDR) to help developers plan future releases. DDR, which includes the Persona Significance Index (PerSI) to reflect developers’ commitments to end users’ personas, helps developers identify a gap between developers’ commitments to personas and expectations. In addition, DDR identifies release situations with conflicts based on PerSI. Specifically, we define four release cases, which include different situations and issues, and provide a method to determine the release case based on PerSI. Then we validate the release cases and their determinations through a case study involving a Japanese cloud application and discuss the effectiveness of DDR.