Formal Standards Research Articles

Measuring Beyond the Standard: Informal Measurement Systems as Cognitive Technologies.

This paper explores the role of measurement as a cognitive technology across human history, emphasizing the coexistence of formal and informal measurement systems. While standardized systems dominate contemporary culture and are well documented across large-scale societies of the past, this manuscript highlights the less explored domain of informal measurement practices that have been integral to daily life from the past to the present. Through the examination of body-based measurement systems and proportional heuristics, we demonstrate how these informal strategies were not merely precursors to formal standards but essential adaptive tools for solving everyday problems. Often, these informal solutions come with practical advantages. This manuscript calls for a broader recognition of their significance in cultural and technological evolution.

Changing European Minority Rights Standards

Abstract The Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the only comprehensive international minority rights treaty, was adopted in 1995 to counter ethnocentric exclusionary tendencies characteristic of newly emerging democracies in East-Central Europe. It has been evaluated as largely successful in developing progressive standards on minority rights, while judged less efficient in implementing them across member states. This article shows on the example of Slovakia that this traditional narrative conceals another important one: while the Framework Convention’s monitoring body, the Advisory Committee, maintains formally progressive positions, in substance it is becoming more accommodating of exclusionary practices. By comparing the Advisory Committee’s standards expressed in its periodic opinions on Slovakia to developments on the ground, the article demonstrates that the international standards are in fact deteriorating. The Advisory Committee’s recent opinions are much more favourable to the Slovak government’s policies on minority rights. Yet, a detailed analysis shows that those policies have not become more minority-friendly in practice. In fact, in several ways they have regressed. The current acceptance of practices it criticized in the past is an important shift in the Advisory Committee’s position. Yet this shift is not reflected in its formal standards, which remain progressive. The analysis shows that the Advisory Committee’s lack of transparency in its monitoring procedures leads to a misrepresentation of the situation of minority rights, which provides cover for anti-minority practices. This makes it difficult for outside observers to evaluate the true state of minority rights and the effectiveness of international standards. In closing, the article engages with the normative assumptions behind the Advisory Committee’s approach. The Framework Convention does not have a strong enforcement mechanism, therefore cooperation with governments is essential to ensure compliance. However, by accommodating exclusionary practices, the Committee also legitimizes them. While valid arguments can be raised both for and against this approach, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of this trade-off because of its clandestine nature. More transparent monitoring would give legitimacy to an objective international standard, which the current approach risks undermining.

Que estandardização para o português: pluricêntrica ou panlusófona?

Portuguese is a pluricentric language with two well-established national varieties – European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) – and varieties in development, such as Mozambican Portuguese (MP) and Angolan Portuguese (AP). In the present study, we aim to address the normative and political question of whether the most appropriate path of standardization for Portuguese in the 21st century is a pluricentric model of several norms combined, each with its own dynamics, or a pan-Lusophone model consisting of one supranational standard norm, a sort of global Portuguese, or even a combination of the two models. We will start by analyzing past and current processes of both formal and informal standardization in Portuguese, focusing on the endo(exo)normative standardization of BP and the role of Globo TV in the strengthening of informal endonormativity, the lectometrically confirmed divergent BP-PE bicentrism and its (a)symmetries – including the more advanced endonormativity of EP and the greater global influence of BP – and the processes of nativization of African varieties, characterized by contacts with Bantu languages and EP exonormativity, with particular emphasis on the more advanced stage of nativization of MP as well as the strong population increase projected for Angola and Mozambique. We will then discuss the two models of a pluricentric or pan-Lusophone path of standardization for Portuguese, along with their opportunities and threats, and point out guidelines for their operationalization. By adopting the Cognitive Sociolinguistics’ view on pluricentricity and based on previous socio-cognitive and lectometric studies on the pluricentricity of Portuguese, we will argue for the adequacy and necessity of a socio-cognitively oriented, fully pluricentric standardization of Portuguese, which could potentially serve as a basis for the development of a pan-Lusophone norm, especially useful for the internationalization of Portuguese.

Between formal and informal standards.

This article presents results from an explorative comparative study on ‘double standard’ constellations in French, German and (Brazilian) Portuguese. The concept of 'double' or even ‘multiple standards’ is based on the observation that many current standard languages are not homogeneous. Rather, the divergence of written and spoken standards, the emergence of informal standards and pluricentric/pluriareal situations have often resulted in the coexistence of different standard varieties/standard language registers. The aim of our study is to identify and discuss ‘double standard’ situations in three major languages against the background of the respective standardisation histories and current developments. Despite their different standardisation ages, ‘double standard’ constellations have emerged in all three languages, firstly, between written and spoken standard varieties, and, secondly, between different spoken registers – albeit with very different manifestations, ranging from a continuum between formal and informal registers (French) and the emergence of a ‘Neo-standard’ (with regional features) parallel to a conservative spoken standard (German) to the increasing integration of informal registers into a post-colonial standard variety (Portuguese in Brazil). In all three cases, the developments in the spoken standard can be seen as a process of demotisation. Although informal registers have become increasingly prevalent, the popular idea of a ‘best language’ remains unchallenged.

Implementation of Risk Management in Asset Management Governance Towards Optimizing Asset Utilization at Public Service Agency State Universities (Case Study of UPN Veteran Yogyakarta)

This study aims to analyze the application of risk management in asset governance at UPN Veteran Yogyakarta to achieve optimal asset utilization. As a Public Service Agency State University (PTN-BLU), UPN Veteran Yogyakarta faces various challenges in asset management, including budget constraints, lack of consistent monitoring, and the unavailability of formal risk evaluation standards. Qualitative descriptive research methods are used to gain in-depth understanding through interviews with asset managers and field observations. The results show that the implementation of risk management can have a significant impact on the efficiency of budget allocation, which includes more appropriate budget distribution based on priority needs and risks. Risk management also has the potential to extend the useful life of assets, with risk mitigation measures taken on assets that show signs of wear or early damage, thus preventing major repair costs due to serious damage. This research highlights that a technology-based monitoring system is an indispensable aspect to support the effectiveness of risk management in asset management. The implementation of structured risk assessment procedures helps in determining asset maintenance priorities, so that the assets that are most critical to the sustainability of campus operations receive greater attention. With the implementation of this comprehensive risk management, optimization of asset utilization can be achieved, which in turn supports the stability and sustainability of UPN Veteran Yogyakarta's operations as a quality higher education institution.

Subsidiary strategy and importance of standards: An institutional development of the integration-responsiveness framework

According to the integration–responsiveness framework, subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are assigned different strategic roles depending on the business environments they operate in. MNEs are classified as multinational, international, transnational, and global firms. Although standards are crucial for both export performance and Foreign Direct Investment, there is no scientific knowledge on how different types of standards interrelate with MNE strategies. Derived from the review of the limited literature on the role of different types of standards for different MNEs subsidiary strategies, we take an institutional theory perspective and position different types of standards within the integration–responsiveness framework. Based on data collected within the German Standardization Panel, cluster analysis is performed confirming that MNEs’ subsidiary strategies can be grouped according to the importance of formal and company standards. While conformity with national formal standards is necessary to meet pressure for local responsiveness, the application of international standards provides firms with access to global markets. Company standards and management system standards are important to transnational firms to achieve efficiency gains and improve bargaining positions. We compare the export intensity of MNEs with different subsidiary strategies to validate our clustering. In addition, different motives for applying different types of standards confirm our conceptual positioning.

Influence of Thermal Treatment and Granulometry on Physicochemical, Techno-Functional and Nutritional Properties of Lentil Flours.

Legume flours are an increasingly popular food ingredient. Thermal treatments applied prior to milling legumes and granulometry can modify flour properties, altering sensory, digestibility and functional attributes. Raw and treated (soaked and cooked) lentil flours of different granulometry were produced. The applied treatment resulted in an increase in fiber content (25.4 vs. 27.6% for raw and treated lentil flour, respectively) and water absorption capacity. It also led to a decrease in ash content (3.3 vs. 1.8% for raw and treated, respectively) and a darker flour. Treated lentil flour was mainly composed of fractions of high granulometry, which could be beneficial for products where a lower glycemic index is sought, as they demonstrated higher fiber and lower carbohydrate content than the finer fractions. Treated flour may be used as an ingredient in the development of raw products, including beverages and desserts, due to its reduced anti-nutritional compounds' content and enhanced organoleptic aspects. The obtained results allow an in-depth characterization of raw and treated lentils flour with different particle sizes to consider a formal and complete standardization of these flours and for understanding their utility and specific food applications.

Win, lose, or draw? Forecasting the outcome of a race toward a dominant formal standard with machine learning

Accurate forecasting of the outcome of a race toward a dominant formal standard can help companies make informed decisions and develop appropriate strategies to achieve market leadership. This paper focuses on factors contributing to formal standards dominance and applies machine learning (ML) methods to predict which standard supporters will win in formal standard battles. The empirical context is the de jure standard-setting process in the Chinese solid-state lighting (SSL) industry. We employ 1011 valid sample datasets from 1998 to 2016. Our findings reveal that the random subspace (R.S.)-MultiBoosting approach outperforms the other three approaches regarding forecasting outcomes, especially when dealing with small datasets. Strong tie strength in standard supporting alliances, prior experience in patent application, and an appropriate level of marketization can enhance firms' chances of winning dominant formal standards.

The effects of the professionalization of hosting on service quality: Towards quality standards and certifications within the short-term rental market

This paper explores how the increasing professionalization of the short-term rental market (previously dominated by individual hosts) fosters the implementation of formal quality standards in the sector. It is based on 36 in-depth interviews conducted with different stakeholders of the short-term rental industry in six European countries, namely, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK, and at EU level. The article maps different initiatives that outline some quality standards for short-term rentals. We found first, that to implement quality standardisation, it is important to distinguish between private and professional hosts; and, second, that consensus must be reached on: (1) whether quality would be standardised at national or EU level; (2) which governing body should be responsible for quality certifications (e.g., governments or private institutions as in the case of ISO standards); and (3) identification of practices that should be certified (e.g., property facilities/amenities, size, health & safety protection, etc.).

Ten simple rules to make computable knowledge shareable and reusable.

Computable biomedical knowledge (CBK) is: "the result of an analytic and/or deliberative process about human health, or affecting human health, that is explicit, and therefore can be represented and reasned upon using logic, formal standards, and mathematical approaches." Representing biomedical knowledge in a machine-interpretable, computable form increases its ability to be discovered, accessed, understood, and deployed. Computable knowledge artifacts can greatly advance the potential for implementation, reproducibility, or extension of the knowledge by users, who may include practitioners, researchers, and learners. Enriching computable knowledge artifacts may help facilitate reuse and translation into practice. Following the examples of 10 Simple Rules papers for scientific code, software, and applications, we present 10 Simple Rules intended to make shared computable knowledge artifacts more useful and reusable. These rules are mainly for researchers and their teams who have decided that sharing their computable knowledge is important, who wish to go beyond simply describing results, algorithms, or models via traditional publication pathways, and who want to both make their research findings more accessible, and to help others use their computable knowledge. These rules are roughly organized into 3 categories: planning, engineering, and documentation. Finally, while many of the following examples are of computable knowledge in biomedical domains, these rules are generalizable to computable knowledge in any research domain.

Academic literacy in enabling education programs in Australian universities: a shared pedagogy

AbstractWidening participation in higher education has led to the global expansion of universities, increased student and program diversity, and greater provision of flexible pathways into university. Critical to supporting a growing student body is helping all students develop their ability to communicate confidently and effectively in their academic communities. This research employs a collaborative benchmarking framework to explore academic literacy instruction in pathway or ‘enabling’ programs across nine Australian universities. While prevailing assumptions hold that such programs are overly diverse, the findings demonstrate that these programs have developed remarkably similar approaches; in particular, the investigation found that the programs all drew on established academic literacy models and reflected an emerging disciplinary coherence across the enabling education sector, despite the lack of a formal curriculum and standards framework.Kindly check and confirm the processed Article title is correct.This is correct

What is quality in long covid care? Lessons from a national quality improvement collaborative and multi-site ethnography

BackgroundLong covid (post covid-19 condition) is a complex condition with diverse manifestations, uncertain prognosis and wide variation in current approaches to management. There have been calls for formal quality standards to reduce a so-called “postcode lottery” of care. The original aim of this study—to examine the nature of quality in long covid care and reduce unwarranted variation in services—evolved to focus on examining the reasons why standardizing care was so challenging in this condition.MethodsIn 2021–2023, we ran a quality improvement collaborative across 10 UK sites. The dataset reported here was mostly but not entirely qualitative. It included data on the origins and current context of each clinic, interviews with staff and patients, and ethnographic observations at 13 clinics (50 consultations) and 45 multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings (244 patient cases). Data collection and analysis were informed by relevant lenses from clinical care (e.g. evidence-based guidelines), improvement science (e.g. quality improvement cycles) and philosophy of knowledge.ResultsParticipating clinics made progress towards standardizing assessment and management in some topics; some variation remained but this could usually be explained. Clinics had different histories and path dependencies, occupied a different place in their healthcare ecosystem and served a varied caseload including a high proportion of patients with comorbidities. A key mechanism for achieving high-quality long covid care was when local MDTs deliberated on unusual, complex or challenging cases for which evidence-based guidelines provided no easy answers. In such cases, collective learning occurred through idiographic (case-based) reasoning, in which practitioners build lessons from the particular to the general. This contrasts with the nomothetic reasoning implicit in evidence-based guidelines, in which reasoning is assumed to go from the general (e.g. findings of clinical trials) to the particular (management of individual patients).ConclusionNot all variation in long covid services is unwarranted. Largely because long covid’s manifestations are so varied and comorbidities common, generic “evidence-based” standards require much individual adaptation. In this complex condition, quality improvement resources may be productively spent supporting MDTs to optimise their case-based learning through interdisciplinary discussion. Quality assessment of a long covid service should include review of a sample of individual cases to assess how guidelines have been interpreted and personalized to meet patients’ unique needs.Study registrationNCT05057260, ISRCTN15022307.

Need Assessment of Education Management According to Sub-District Non-Formal and Informal Education Centre Standards for Excellence

This study aims to study the Current Conditions, Desirable Conditions, and Necessary Needs of Educational Management according to standards for Excellence of Sub – District Non – Formal and Informal Education Centre. And to study educational management guidelines according to the Sub – District Non – Formal and Informal Education Centre Standards for Excellence. There were two steps: Step 1: Study the Current Conditions, Desirable Conditions, and Needs of educational management standards of Sub – District Non – Formal and Informal Education Centre Standards for Excellence. The sample consisted of 40 school administrators and 328 of the heads of Sub – District Non – Formal and Informal Education Centre, a total of 368 attended in the academic year 2022 using Multi-stage Random Sampling. Step 2: Study the standard educational management guidelines. The informants are qualified by studying best practices from five Models of Sub – District Non – Formal and Informal Education Centres, two persons, totaling ten people, by specific sampling. The research instruments: 1) The Current Conditions and Desirable Conditions Questionnaire following educational management according to standards for Excellence of Sub–District Non–Formal and Informal Education Centre, a 5-level rating scale. 2) Semi-structured interview 3) The Educational Management Approach Assessment Form is a 5-level estimation scale with statistics used to analyze the data, including mean, standard deviation, priority sorting of PNImodified data, and content analysis. The results showed that 1) the current condition as a whole and in terms of study is at a high level; Overall desirable conditions are at the highest level. One aspect is at the highest level: six are at the highest level. Considering the necessary needs, it found that the needs of educational management according to the standards. There is a need to develop all seven areas as follows Organizational Leadership, Strategic Planning, Learner and Stakeholder Focus, Knowledge Analysis and Management Measurement, Processing Management, and Personnel Focus. 2) the suggestions were seven aspects and 135 approaches as follows Workshops, Learning from other people, Brainstorming, Operating Integration, Mentoring, and Learning from successful organizations.

Compliance as a Tool for Ensuring the Economic Security of an Organization: Problems and Prospects of Application

Compliance is applicable in any organization and acts as one of the modern types of control, during which the compliance of the organization's activities with the norms of national legislation is monitored. This tool provides real protection against corruption, conflict of interest, and contains in its arsenal a whole range of elements that can be implemented in the organization's economic security system. Compliance allows you to identify the risks of the organization's functioning at the early stages of manifestation and prevent the application of sanctions by regulatory authorities, and subsequently prevent economic damage. The authors present approaches to the definition of the term, types of compliance, and a comparative analysis of compliance with other types of control, confirming its uniqueness. According to the authors, one of the disadvantages in the development of compliance is its reduction to a set of formal management standards and procedures. The authors concluded that this is not just an element of corporate governance, but also an effective way to prevent corruption crimes. The prospects of using this tool in modern conditions of global instability and the development of digital management methods are considered.

Competencies in Higher Education and the Labor Market: A Sociocognitive Analysis of the Problem of Integration

Introduction. Professional competencies developed by the education system do not provide the high degree of integration with the real economy at the Russian labor market. The sociocognitive approach to social institutions as information processing systems suggests that this may be partly due to different languages used by employers and educational structures for describing competencies. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis of this mismatch drawing on the example of the applied sociology sector. Materials and Methods. The case study method was applied to the material of the archive of correspondence on personnel issues of a company from the field of applied sociology, which worked in 2012–2019 (46 papers). The hypothesis that employers and educational system use a different language for describing competencies was tested. Content analysis method was applied to the largest Russian job portals: hh.ru, superjob.ru and Avito.Rabota. The hypothesis of non-use of educational standards for describing competencies in the labor market was tested. Results. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Based on the results of the correspondence archive analysis, it was proved that employers use a language different from that of the education system when describing requirements to employees (including their competencies). The results of content analysis revealed the phenomenon of almost complete isolation of the labor market from the formal standards of higher education (educational standards for describing the competencies of sociologists were not used in a single vacancy or a resumé out of more than 32 thousand found on the portals). Discussion and Conclusion. To overcome the lack of demand for graduates in the labor market, it is necessary to overcome the existing language gap between the education system and employers. To this end, the system of validation of competencies should be changed. The source of their description should not be the education system itself, the texts and ideas that are born in it, but the requirements of employers, verbalized by them in the description of vacancies. Descriptions of competencies that do not meet the widely accepted requirements of employers should be automatically excluded from professional education standards as invalid. The results contribute to searching critical problems in the educational system and adapting it to the current needs of the labor market.

“Making It Remarkable”: Teaching Professional Youth Work Values in a UK Higher Education Institution

This paper reports on the findings of a study exploring the role of values in professional qualifying courses taught at a Scottish University. The study aimed to enhance understanding of the way in which these courses draw on values-based pedagogy to incorporate professional values laid out in formal standards by external professional bodies. The paper reports on the findings relating specifically to values teaching on a professionally qualifying youth work programme, drawing on contributions uploaded to an online survey by students and lecturers engaged with the programme. It explores the themes to emerge from the survey data, including the centrality of values in practice and teaching; how these align with students’ personal values and are shaped by wider societal influences; lecturers’ pedagogical approaches; and the importance of supervised placements and dialogue between students, their supervisors, and lecturers in building their understanding and helping them to navigate the complexities of enacting values-based practice. The study concludes that youth worker education programmes, in which professional values are thoroughly embedded, offer the potential to deliver a transformative educative experience to students, and to potentially disrupt the reductionist values systems that have permeated the neo-liberal university.

Subject librarian definition and duties: Connecting the library and the university

This article reports on a qualitative case study of subject librarians at Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library Subject librarians considered their main purpose to be connecting the people at the university with library resources. People skills are a key to being successful in their positions. Their duties of collection development, reference, instruction, liaison, citizenship, professional development, and scholarship are interrelated and work together in important ways. Subject librarians are satisfied with their jobs and corresponding autonomy. They are concerned about librarian stereotypes and want to overcome the ignorance about their positions. They agree that subject knowledge is important but do not agree on a formal degree standard. This study could be used to help develop and improve SL programs. It could inform hiring decisions and improve the practices of current subject librarians by focusing on the key skills of working with others and subject knowledge.

The ‘Datafication’ of Borders in Global Context: The Role of the International Organization for Migration

ABSTRACT This article examines the transnational politics of datafication in migration management through a case study of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Datafication, such as the automation of border processes, the use of biometrics and the deployment of large-scale statistical techniques, is increasingly central to the management of migration. Much of the current focus on these processes for migration management is focused on state-level policies or on supranational institutions such as the EU. There is relatively little work on the role of international organisations in this area, despite their well-researched role in setting formal standards and informal expectations around migration and mobility. The article’s first main argument is that focusing on the global level of governance yields new insights on the promotion and diffusion of data-intensive practices of migration management. The second argument is that the emerging global context of datafication around border management fits into a broader managerial agenda in which international organisations seize agenda-setting power and act as transmission mechanisms for datafication projects and ideas. The third portion of the argument is that the IOM’s projects in this area reinforce its role as a service provider and consolidate its emerging role as an orchestrator of data-driven approaches to migration governance. The article thus contributes to ongoing work on the IOM’s shifting identity as well as interdisciplinary scholarship on the role of data in migration management.

Enhancing Children's Prayer Movements at Kindergarten Through Snake and Ladder Game Media

Education is the main key in developing individual potential, including spiritual strength, self-control, intelligence, and skills needed by society, nation, and state. Early childhood education is very important because it is at this time that the potential for intelligence and the basis of behavior begin to be formed. Based on Ministerial Regulation Number 58 of 2009 concerning Formal Early Childhood Education Standards, there are five aspects of development that need to be considered, one of which is the strengthening of religious values. This research aims to improve the ability of children's prayer movements in TKIT Anak Bintang through the use of snake and ladder media in Group B at the Imtaq Center, Baleendah District, Bandung Regency. With this media, children are encouraged to practice prayer movements in a more orderly manner. The results of the study showed an increase in children's ability to practice prayer movements, proving that snake and ladder media can be an effective means of learning religion for early childhood. This research is a Classroom Action Research (PTK) which is carried out in two cycles, each consisting of four stages: planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. The subjects of the study were 15 children from Group B, consisting of 6 boys and 8 girls.

Round-Robin Study for Ice Adhesion Tests

Ice adhesion tests are widely used to assess the performance of potential icephobic surfaces and coatings. A great variety of test designs have been developed and used over the past decades due to the lack of formal standards for these types of tests. In many cases, the aim of the research was not only to determine ice adhesion values, but also to understand the key surface properties correlated to low ice adhesion surfaces. Data from different measurement techniques had low correspondence between the results: Values varied by orders of magnitude and showed different relative relationships to one another. This study sought to provide a broad comparison of ice adhesion testing approaches by conducting different ice adhesion tests with identical test surfaces. A total of 15 test facilities participated in this round-robin study, and the results of 13 partners are summarized in this paper. For the test series, ice types (impact and static) as well as test parameters were harmonized to minimize the deviations between the test setups. Our findings are presented in this paper, and the ice- and test-specific results are discussed. This study can improve our understanding of test results and support the standardization process for ice adhesion strength measurements.