High Level Of Integration Research Articles

The EU’s foreign direct investment screening mechanism two years after implementation

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is widely welcomed as it can improve the standard of living in the recipient country. However, depending on the target sector and/or the nationality of the investor, FDI may pose a risk to national security; this is why some countries have adopted screening procedures. Since 2020 the European Commission has coordinated its member states in screening FDI, but not all EU members have national screening mechanisms in place. Moreover, those mechanisms that do exist are not homogenous, for example, in their identification of protected sectors. This incompleteness and heterogeneity are weaknesses that undermine the security of the EU due to the high level of integration within the single market.

Economic freedom influences economic growth and unemployment: an analysis of the Eurozone

Lack of economic growth and a high unemployment rate imply poverty and inequality. Economic freedom is considered a relevant explanatory factor for growth, employment and the distribution of income. The present research work addresses how policy makers should take into account economic freedom aspects to effectively enhance a country’s economic growth and lower its unemployment rate. This study analyses the effect of four components of economic freedom (business freedom, labour freedom, government integrity, tax burden) on the mean GDP growth of the last 5 years, and also on unemployment. A cross-national analysis, based on data from the 23 Eurozone3 (Eurozone and part of its enlargement) Member Countries, examines the causal configurations of GDP and unemployment by a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results suggest that the combination of high levels of business freedom, labour freedom and government integrity triggers high levels of economic growth and lowers the unemployment rate.

Community Health Representative Workforce: Integration across systems and teams to address the social determinants of indigenous health and wellbeing.

Tribally employed, Community Health Representatives (CHRs) serving Indigenous and American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) peoples are culturally and linguistically embedded community leaders, with the unique ability to serve as the link and intermediary between community members and systems. Unique to the CHR workforce scope of practice is the expectation for high level integration within the medical and social service care team. This explicit role outlined in the scope of work sets an expectation for both CHR and care teams to deliver integrated patient, family, and systems level care coordination and case management. This paper aims to build from our previous manuscript published in Volume 1 of the special issue Community Health Workers Practice from Recruitment to Integration. In that Volume, we explored through a Community Case Study CHR Managers' perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for full CHR integration into health systems and teams serving AIAN. In this paper, we offer new information about the current CHR and CHR Managers' involvements and perceived level of integration within health care teams and the broader public health systems addressing the social and structural determinants of health. We approach this topic considering the COVID-19 pandemic and how CHRs and CHR Programs were included and not included in tribal pandemic response efforts.

CORRUPTION: A LONG-LASTING HISTORICAL DISEASE INFECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE POLICE

Police actions require a high level of integrity, accountability, and transparency. “Police integrity” refers to the demonstration of the qualities of reliability, honesty, and respectability in police work. These are the most important qualities required for all police officers when carrying out their duties and that are necessary to maintain trust in law enforcement agencies. “Police accountability” refers to the high expectation placed on police officers and police departments to act responsibly within the boundaries of the law in ensuring the safety and security of citizens. Transparency in policing aims to make both rules and procedures easily accessible to the public, unless there is a legal reason for keeping them confidential. If police departments do not strictly adhere to the principles of integrity, accountability, and transparency, the risk is that their members will feel less inhibited to abuse their legal powers for personal benefit. Police corruption is, therefore, a specific form of police misconduct aimed at obtaining personal benefits, gained through a criminal modus operandi. The purpose of this article is to discuss and analyse police corruption and to recommend measures which can effectively prevent, combat, and reduce this problem.

Experimental study on flexural behavior of modular prefabricated channel–concrete composite beams with dry connections

This work developed a new steel–concrete composite beam composed of two prefabricated beam-slab modules to achieve rapid assembly, reduce construction costs, and improve structural performance. The modules, comprising C-channels, concrete slabs, and perforated steel plate shear connectors, were connected back-to-back with high-strength bolts, thereby eliminating in-situ wet construction. Seven specimens with various slab widths, beam depths, and shear connector spacings were fabricated and tested under sagging moments to investigate the behavior of the proposed composite beams. The experimental results demonstrated that the tension induced by the high-strength bolts provided excellent cooperation between the beam-slab modules and ensured that the composite beam had a high level of integrity and offered good strength and ductility performance. The bonding between the C-channel and the concrete was robust enough to transfer longitudinal shear forces to the C-channel, allowing for complete shear interactions under service loading. The shear connectors provided efficient composite actions between the C-channel and the concrete slab, resulting in a slight difference in the mechanical properties of the composite beams with different shear connection degrees. As the slab width enlarged, the flexural strength and ductility of the beam enhanced by 8–19% and 11–21% respectively, but the integrity of the two beam-slab modules weakened. Increasing the size of the C-channel was conducive to the integrity of the two modules. The flexural strength of the beam with a large height increased by 96% compared with the specimen with a small height, while its ductility declined by 10%. Finally, this paper proposed simplified models based on Eurocode 4 to calculate the flexural resistance of the composite beams.

Three dimensional printed wound dressings: recent progresses.

Three dimensional printed wound dressings: recent progresses.

Rural Industrial Integration's Impact on Agriculture GTFP Growth: Influence Mechanism and Empirical Test Using China as an Example.

Agricultural carbon emission is an significant cause of global climate change and many environmental and health problems. Achieving low-carbon and green development in agriculture is not only an inevitable choice for countries around the world to cope with climate change and the accompanying environmental and health problems, but also a necessary path for the sustainable development of global agriculture. The promotion of rural industrial integration is a practical way to realize sustainable agricultural growth and urban-rural integration development. The analysis framework of agriculture GTFP is creatively extended in this study to include the integration and growth of rural industries, rural human capital investment and rural land transfer. According to the sample data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 and the systematic GMM estimation method, and through the combination of theoretical analysis and empirical testing, this paper discusses the influence mechanism of rural industrial integration development on agriculture GTFP growth, as well as the regulating role of rural human capital investment and rural land transfer. The results show that rural industrial integration has significantly promoted the growth of agriculture GTFP. Additionally, after decomposing agriculture GTFP into the agricultural green technology progress index and agricultural green technology efficiency index, it is found that rural industrial integration has a more obvious role in promoting agricultural green technology progress. Furthermore, quantile regression found that with the increase in agricultural GTFP, the promoting effect of rural industrial integration showed an "inverted U-shaped" feature. Through heterogeneity testing, it is found that the agriculture GTFP growth effect of rural industrial integration is more obvious in areas with high level of rural industrial integration. Additionally, as the nation places more and more focus on rural industrial integration, the promotion role of rural industrial integration has become more and more obvious. The moderating effect test showed that health, education and training, migration of rural human capital investment and rural land transfer all strengthened the promoting effect of rural industrial integration on agricultural GTFP growth to varying degrees. This study provides rich policy insights for China and other developing countries around the world to address global climate change and many related environmental and monitoring issues by developing rural industrial integration, strengthening rural human capital investment and promoting agricultural land transfer to achieve sustainable agricultural growth and reduce undesirable output outputs such as agricultural carbon emissions.

Event-Triggered robust control scheme for sub-synchronous resonance mitigation in DFIG-based WECS

Series compensation is an economically feasible solution for facilitating the integration of high levels of wind energy sources into the grid. However, high levels of series compensation in transmission lines typically results in sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) in doubly-fed-induction-generator (DFIG)-based wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The introduction of negative equivalent resistance due to negative SSR slip results in self-sustaining oscillating instability and potentially loss of stability of the whole system. This paper proposes an event-triggered sliding mode control (ETSMC)-based control approach for the effective damping of sub-synchronous resonance. The ETSMC control is designed for the rotor side converter of the DFIG, and a phase compensator unit is augmented with the ETSMC control to enhance its efficacy in mitigating specific unstable mode. The proposed control approach is validated using a DFIG-based WECS in IEEE first benchmark model. The results prove the high efficacy of the control approach in mitigating SSR and ensuring system’s fast recovery. In addition to the attributes of the SMC approach, reliance on an event triggering mechanism leads to only seldom control updates, thereby solving the problem of requirement of high communication bandwidth and computational power.

Russian science and the outside world: Questionable openness, unquestionable dependence

Based on the sociological surveys “Scientific Policy of Russia,” conducted in 2021 and 2022, widespread opinions in the scientific community regarding the external openness of Russian civil science are analyzed. It is noted that the sustainable vector of state policy to maintain a high level of integration of domestic science into the international scientific space was suddenly called into question after the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. The decades-long Western-oriented course of Russian science has formed strong support among researchers, which, as it turned out, is very difficult for scientists to abandon abruptly even in the new conditions. It has been established that the sanctions imposed against Russian science turned out to be quite painful, and their consequences can only be overcome in the long term.

Public Procurement And Project Management At Transitional Context : Analysis Of Single Source Contracting Practices

Procurement of goods, works and services are considered as key functions of every government to achieve their development strategy goals which consumes the large amount of national GDP and annual budget. Public procurement shall be carried out in a transparent, accountable, effective, competitive and efficient manners with high level of integrity. Procurement and contracting operations using single-source or direct contracting method (an alternative to competitive options) creates a lot of controversies. The aim of this study is to explore the issues and practices of single source procurement and contracting methods, their justifications and impact on the project performance and sustainability. Adopting the mixed approach of qualitative and content analysis techniques; case study of conflict effected nations is conducted. For this purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) of 15 conflict affected nations in Asia is carried out and case study of Timor-Leste located in East-Asia and Nepal located in South-Asia is conducted on the basis of research purposive approach. Similarly, a group discussion, preliminary interviews and in-depth interviews are also conducted involving project stake holders and then simple triangulation approach is applied for verification and validation purpose. Findings from in-depth interviews of 30 experienced participants, 5 group discussions and 10 preliminary interviews are included in this research paper. The participants have identified 15 key factors those are responsible for single-source contracting decisions like poor institutional capacity, political interference, corruption motives, weak private sector competition, decision delays, collusions among bidders, emergency situations and others. Identified consequences of direct contracting methods are delivery of goods and services in poor quality, cost overrun, promote corruption, social conflict, injustice, political instability including overall projects performance. It is expected that the findings of this research will contribute to a better understanding towards proper application of the available competitive methods of public procurement and contracting operations rather than selecting the non-competitive choices.

National Policy of Black Sea Region Countries Towards Sustainable Development

The authors consider the integration of the concept of sustainability in the member countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The concept of sustainable development is viewed through the prism of economic, social and environmental approaches. The subject of the study is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the BSEC countries. The purpose of the research is to study the integration of the goals and indicators of sustainable development in the national policies of the BSECcountries. The relevance lies in the international community’s growing attention to forming a vector for balanced socio-economic development, taking into account current social, demographic and environmental factors. The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of the advancement of the concept of sustainable development in the BSEC countries, as well as the level of integration of the SDGs in the national policies of states. As part of the study, the authors used the methods of institutional analysis, system analysis, analysis of statistical data and official documents. Based on the results of the analysis, it was revealed that despite the high level of integration of the SDGs within the framework of the BSEC, not all goals and indicators of sustainable development formed by the United Nations (UN) are tracked in countries. The authors concluded that the national characteristics of the economy, the social sphere and the environmental situation push states to adapt individual indicators to national specifics.

Exploring the Contagion Effect from Developed to Emerging CEE Financial Markets

The paper aims to analyze the contagion effect coming from the developed stock markets of the US and Germany to the emerging CEE stock markets of Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland using daily data for the period April 2005–April 2021. The paper also captures the level of integration of these emerging stock markets by analyzing the volatility spillover phenomenon. The quantification of the contagion effect coming from the developed to the emerging stock markets consisted of an empirical analysis based on the DCC-GARCH (Dynamic Conditional Correlation) model. Through this multivariate model, the time-varying conditional correlations were analyzed, both in periods of normal economic development and in times of economic instability, when there was a significant increase in the correlation coefficients between developed and emerging stock market indices. Furthermore, the level of connectedness between these markets has been analyzed using the volatility spillover index developed by Diebold and Yilmaz. The empirical results surprised the high level of integration of the analyzed stock markets in Central and Eastern Europe, with the intensity of volatility transmission between these markets increasing significantly during times of crisis. All stock market indices analyzed show periods during which they transmit net volatility and periods during which they receive net volatility, indicating a bidirectional volatility spillover phenomenon. Mostly, the BET, PX, and WIG indices are net transmitters of volatilities, whereas the BUX index is net recipient, except during the COVID-19 crisis, when it transmitted net volatility to the other three indices. Finally, using a Markov switching-regime VAR approach with two regimes, we explored the contagion effect between emerging CEE and developed stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical results proved a shift around the outbreak of the health crisis, after which the high volatility regime dominates the CEE markets. The contagion effects from developed stock markets to emerging CEE markets significantly increased during the first stage of the health crisis.

Integration of preconception care into the bachelor of nursing curriculum: An exploratory qualitative study

BackgroundThe significance of ensuring high quality of care has become apparent in nursing and midwifery education worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This has led to upgrades of the nursing curriculum to include several aspects of care that have been overlooked with recent evidence-based care. ObjectivesTo explore the integration of preconception care (PCC) into the Bachelor of nursing curriculum in South Africa. DesignAn exploratory qualitative study. Setting and participantsThis study was conducted in a higher education institution in South Africa that has recently revised its Bachelor of nursing curriculum. Data sources were Bachelor educators and program documents. MethodsIndividual in-depth interviews were conducted among ten nurse educators. Interviews were complemented with an analysis of the curriculum documents for the Bachelor of nursing program using the BEKA (benchmarking, evidencing, knowing, and applying) model of curriculum analysis and evaluation. FindingsBenchmarking and evidencing of the Bachelor of nursing curriculum reveals a high level of compliance with the externally set standards. Both data sources pointed to some degree of incorporating the preconception care concept into the curriculum. The educators perceived that for full integration to occur, preconception care should be taught as a standalone topic. Lack of focus and poor perception was further reported as barriers to introducing the concept. Most preconception care components and services were taught to students throughout the four hundred levels of the nursing program, especially in the sexual and reproductive health module. Gaps were noted in female genital mutilation, mental health, environmental health, preconception vaccination, and other aspects where preconception care needs emphasis. ConclusionsThere has been a high level of integration of preconception care competency in the Bachelor of nursing curriculum. Especially in the sexual and reproductive health module, most preconception care components are taught to students. However, there is a need to emphasise the preconception nursing management of women with certain conditions. To ensure nurses’ role in providing health for all, safeguarding reproductive health, and maintaining the health continuum is enhanced.

Implementing sustainable innovation in state universities: Process and tools

Universities have the vision, the knowledge and the power to lead the change towards a more sustainable world. However, there is a lack of studies investigating how universities can systematically reorient themselves to help society become more sustainable. In general, a research gap exists in the implementation of the business model innovation process, in the tools that should be used to pass from the design stage to implementation and in the identification of the main challenges that may hinder this process. This paper adopts the concept of a sustainable business model for interpreting the core logic through which universities create value for themselves, society and the environment. In the first stage of research, a theoretical framework was proposed for diagnosis of the integration of sustainability in the business models of universities. This framework was applied in the context of Italian state universities to identify business models with different degrees of strategic orientation towards sustainability. Now the research aim is to examine the processes and tools used and challenges faced by Italian state universities when implementing sustainable innovation. A multiple-case study is carried out on four Italian state universities showing a high level of integration of sustainability in all elements of the business model. The combination of both quantitative and qualitative data, and the patterns observed across cases, led to the presentation of five theoretical propositions, which were summarized in a preliminary model of the processes, tools and challenges involved when implementing sustainable innovation in higher education. The main theoretical contributions of this study are the advancement of knowledge regarding the dynamics (process) and the elements (tools) for the implementation of sustainability strategies in state universities, and the provision of a new causal map of the relationships among the variables that affect sustainable innovation in higher education.

Modeling Productivity and Estimating Costs of Processor Tower Yarder in Shelterwood Cutting of Pine Stand

Cable-based yarding technology has had a long tradition on steep slopes in Europe, and the new implementation of yarding functions in recent decades favored operational efficiency and lower extraction costs. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Syncrofalke 3t truck-mounted Processor Tower Yarder (PTY) on steep terrain, in coniferous forests managed with the shelterwood system. In particular, the aim was to determine PTY productivity and costs, with attention to parameters that could increase PTY effectiveness. The study was carried out in the Sredna Gora Mountains, Central Bulgaria, in pure Scots pine stand, with trees of average DBH = 34 cm and height = 22 m. The study was carried out in six corridors with 120 work cycles of tree extraction up the hill, 28° (53%). The mean productivity of PTY was 15.20 m3 per productive machine hour (PMH) and 12.29 m3 per scheduled machine hour (SMH) and was mainly influenced by the productivity of the yarder unit. Under the given conditions, the performance of PTY significantly increased if more than one tree (at least two trees) were attached and extracted per yarder cycle, since the productivity of the processor was approximately twice that of the yarder. The gross costs of the studied PTY were calculated at 297.48 EUR PMH−1 and 16.17 EUR m−3. The variable costs (75%) predominate in the net costs distribution, followed by the fixed costs (15%) and the labor costs (10%). The time, productivity and cost results obtained showed the high efficiency and level of integration of PTY operations in order to achieve economic efficiency of logging in montane pine forest managed in a shelterwood system.

Microcomb-based integrated photonic processing unit

The emergence of parallel convolution-operation technology has substantially powered the complexity and functionality of optical neural networks (ONN) by harnessing the dimension of optical wavelength. However, this advanced architecture faces remarkable challenges in high-level integration and on-chip operation. In this work, convolution based on time-wavelength plane stretching approach is implemented on a microcomb-driven chip-based photonic processing unit (PPU). To support the operation of this processing unit, we develop a dedicated control and operation protocol, leading to a record high weight precision of 9 bits. Moreover, the compact architecture and high data loading speed enable a preeminent photonic-core compute density of over 1 trillion of operations per second per square millimeter (TOPS mm−2). Two proof-of-concept experiments are demonstrated, including image edge detection and handwritten digit recognition, showing comparable processing capability compared to that of a digital computer. Due to the advanced performance and the great scalability, this parallel photonic processing unit can potentially revolutionize sophisticated artificial intelligence tasks including autonomous driving, video action recognition and image reconstruction.

Investigations on System Integration Method and Optimum Design Method of Electro-Mechanical Actuator System

With technological advances and industrial upgrading, high-performance equipment has put higher demands on the performance of electro-mechanical actuators. With a view to making electro-mechanical actuators more reliable and integrated, firstly, an integrated electro-mechanical actuator module (IEMM) with multiple structural forms was proposed in this paper, and a comparative analysis was performed on the characteristics of different transmission schemes. Then, the feasibility of manufacturing the IEMM’s main bearing components using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) with higher specific stiffness, specific modulus and specific strength was demonstrated by finite element simulation (FEA) software, in a bid to further reduce the weight of the IEMM. Next, a parameter estimation model, a heating power calculation model, and a thermal resistance calculation model were built, so that there is no need to rebuild the whole system model under different demand indexes. On this basis, a multi-objective optimization design model was built with light weight, low power loss, and high level of integration as optimization aims to achieve better comprehensive performance in the early design phase of the IEMM system. However, IEMM’s higher level of integration and its shell made of CFRP with a thermal conductivity of less than 5 W/m°C posed a challenge to the heat dissipation of the motor stator. Therefore, a thermal network model needs to be created in AMESim to evaluate the temperature of IEMM’s parts and components under different working conditions. Finally, the process of IEMM performance optimization design was described and improved, and performance optimization design was conducted by taking one of IEMM’s transmission schemes as an example.

Recent advances and perspectives in nucleotide second messenger signaling in bacteria.

Nucleotide second messengers act as intracellular 'secondary' signals that represent environmental or cellular cues, i.e. the 'primary' signals. As such, they are linking sensory input with regulatory output in all living cells. The amazing physiological versatility, the mechanistic diversity of second messenger synthesis, degradation, and action as well as the high level of integration of second messenger pathways and networks in prokaryotes has only recently become apparent. In these networks, specific second messengers play conserved general roles. Thus, (p)ppGpp coordinates growth and survival in response to nutrient availability and various stresses, while c-di-GMP is the nucleotide signaling molecule to orchestrate bacterial adhesion and multicellularity. c-di-AMP links osmotic balance and metabolism and that it does so even in Archaea may suggest a very early evolutionary origin of second messenger signaling. Many of the enzymes that make or break second messengers show complex sensory domain architectures, which allow multisignal integration. The multiplicity of c-di-GMP-related enzymes in many species has led to the discovery that bacterial cells are even able to use the same freely diffusible second messenger in local signaling pathways that can act in parallel without cross-talking. On the other hand, signaling pathways operating with different nucleotides can intersect in elaborate signaling networks. Apart from the small number of common signaling nucleotides that bacteria use for controlling their cellular "business," diverse nucleotides were recently found to play very specific roles in phage defense. Furthermore, these systems represent the phylogenetic ancestors of cyclic nucleotide-activated immune signaling in eukaryotes.

THE EYE OPENING IMPROVEMENT METHOD FOR A HIGH SPEED CURRENT MODE LOGIC DRIVER

A bandwidth improvement method of current mode logic (CML) drivers, of the integral circuit type specifically designed for high-speed serial data transmission systems is presented. These drivers are characterized by their ability to operate at high frequencies and their ability to provide a high level of signal integrity, which is critical for achieving high data rates and low error rates in high-speed systems. The key advantages of CML drivers such as providing a high level of signal integrity, the circuit topologies, operating modes, and performance characteristics are discussed. Furthermore, the challenges and limitations of CML drivers, as well as the recent advances in the field that enables the use of CML drivers in high-speed systems are also discussed. A driver constructed by the proposed method operating at 112 Gbps in PAM4 modulation consumes 9 mW under 0.9 V supply.

The Different Angles of the European Democracy

The history of the institutionalised cooperation in Europe now looks back to more than seven decades. What differentiates this cooperation from other international organisations is the common heritage and destiny the European countries share and the community they have found in a high level of integration. However, since the very beginning of this cooperation, there have been debates about the best method and way to express common European positions. Part of this debate is the question of the democratic legitimacy of the Union institutions. As it is set out in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union, democracy is not only a fundamental value of the Member States, but also an expectation towards the European Union. Even though the institutional setting of the European democracy has gone a long way in the past seven decades, the question of democratic legitimacy is still being one of the key subjects and future challenges within the framework of the currently ongoing discussions on the future of Europe. There is no shortage of reform proposals, nevertheless, the main debate has been rather one-sided as it envisions only one avenue to decrease the so-called “democratic deficit” and strengthen the European policy space. What is the function of democracy in the context of the European integration and how can it represent a European position or serve as a check over the Union institutions? What institutions could be able to create a bridge between the peoples of the Member States and the European institutions? This paper seeks to outline the different responses to these questions. To this end, it outlines the theoretical background and institutional evolution of democratic legitimacy in the European integration while seeks to evaluate the current proposals and envision the alternative ones.