Relevant Infrastructure Research Articles

Starting FDO in the Cradle -- ROcrating Live Data

This talk discusses the use of Fair Digital Objects (FDOs for short) for a democratised approach to FAIRness, that is, adherence to the Findable/Accessible/Interoperable/Reusable set of requirements, collectively called FAIR. This capability is being built for the CS3MESH4EOSC project. CS3MESH4EOSC is a 3-year EU-funded project in the EOSC context (we started Feb 2020) that addresses the challenges of the fragmentation of file and application services, digital sovereignty and the application of FAIR principles in the everyday practice of researchers. Initially, 7 major data services will be combined into ScienceMesh - a federated service mesh providing a frictionless collaboration platform for hundreds of thousands of users (researchers, engineers, students and staff). The service will offer easy access to data across institutional and geographical boundaries. The infrastructure will be gradually expanded and offered to the entire education and research community in Europe and beyond. The initial service will connect services in NL (SURFdrive), PL (PSNCBox), AU (CloudStor), DE (Sciebo), CZ (owncloud@CESNET), CH (SWITCHdrive) and DK (ScienceData), as well as domain data stores at CERN (CERNBox) and the EU's own Joint Research Centre's Copernicus (earth observation) datastore. The CS3MESH4EOSC project is busy designing, building and deploying the necessary technology to achieve this. CS3MESH4EOSC grew out of the grassroots "CS3" community, which started out as a self-help forum of infrastructure builders and providers from the academic sector who look after rapidly growing datastores of the "synch-'n'-share" paradigm (dropbox is a commercial equivalent); this type of store is growing rapidly more popular as a basic building block for live data storage and collaboration in research. The mission for the CS3MESH4EOSC project is to improve scientific collaboration across the entire mesh (essentially an interoperating federation of data stores), and to ensure that data sharing across this resulting mesh is done according to FAIR principles. This puts the CS3MESH4EOSC in a unique position: we need to bring FAIR tooling in front of a broad audience of research users (not just "FAIR literate" ones), and convice them that FAIRness is relevant at the point where live data is being collected, not just when data has congealed to collections. We recognise two main obstacles: FAIR-aware infrastructure needs to be simply available, right in front of every user's face, and be so usable that it gets broad uptake. By rule of thumb every additional step required sheds half of the userbase you start out with. Research communities need to be motivated, trained and assisted to use the FAIR infrastructure. It needs to make their lives easier. Without relevant infrastructure in place, there is no point in mounting FAIRness awareness campaigns. FAIR-aware infrastructure needs to be simply available, right in front of every user's face, and be so usable that it gets broad uptake. By rule of thumb every additional step required sheds half of the userbase you start out with. Research communities need to be motivated, trained and assisted to use the FAIR infrastructure. It needs to make their lives easier. Without relevant infrastructure in place, there is no point in mounting FAIRness awareness campaigns. Therefore, CS3MESH4EOSC's approach to FAIR uptake is to start from the Science Mesh of datastores as described in the first paragraph, already in widespread use by researchers. We add a FAIR Description Service to these stores, available for any researcher of the system to use (an instance of the "Describo" tool, https://arkisto-platform.github.io/tools/description/describo-online/). Thus they can create FAIR Digital Object packages from their own data (using the RO-Crate standard) and also manage the deposition process, initially targeting the open access Zenodo and Dataverse repository services and the Open Science Framework (OSF) science workflow portal. The resulting system of metadata annotation and user guidance wizards that facilitate the process is called "ScieboRDS" (https://www.research-data-services.org/page/about/). By thus adding metadata awareness and annotation capabilities to this mesh that already has several hundreds of thousands of users and tens of Petabytes of live data on it, we end up with a democratised, low-barrier-of-entry approach to FAIR. Allowing researchers to generate FDOs from their live data (no onerous upload / collections steps) will help create more FAIR data supply. The capabilities thus far described are already available and are being deployed to users starting Q3 2022. Further development is underway that allows better capability negotiation between the live data store ("the Science Mesh") and the backend repository, such that users can rely on the relevant schema being autoprovisioned and ontologies being agreed upon before the FDO is packaged, thus improving metadata quality.

Energy Efficiency in Urban Context: An Overview of European-Funded Projects with the Analysis of an ELENA Case Study

According to the European Union, buildings are responsible for around 40% of CO2 emissions in the EU area. For this reason, the new regulatory framework Clean Energy for All European Package (2019) supports policies to reduce emissions by increasing energy efficiency in buildings. This is the prosecution of a long-standing policy, which in the past has mainly influenced public authorities, but also aggregations of private bodies and the realization (or renovation) of large strategic investments that impacted and changed the fruition of buildings and relevant infrastructures. The paper aims to offer an overview of the European funds dedicated to the Energy Efficiency initiatives in the past few years, distinguishing funds for financing the project itself and funds for the financing of technical assistance. The overview introduces the analysis of a case study related to technical assistance projects in the Energy Efficiency field, i.e., the European Local Energy assistance (ELENA) Fund; findings connected to the case studies are the main contribution of this paper. The analysis helps to interpret the performance of the funds and to detect the gap between the financing procedures and the subsequent operational implementation of the projects. The case study highlighted critical aspects regarding the potential mismatch between the purpose of the fund and operational barriers in the realization of the initiatives. Such evidence can contribute to helping policy makers redesign and correct funding schemes and, moreover, in evaluating them with a complete information set.

“Not Storing the Samples It’s Certainly Not a Good Service for Patients”: Constructing the Biobank as a Health Place

Biobanks have been established from the beginning of the millennium as relevant infrastructures to support biomedical research. These repositories have also transformed the paradigm of collecting and storing samples and associated clinical data, moving these practices from the healthcare services and research laboratories to dedicated services. In Portugal, the establishment of biobanks is happening in the absence of a specific legal framework, turning it difficult to fully understand the scope of their action. This ethnographic research explored how establishing a biobank challenges the dynamics between healthcare and biomedical research. The ethnography intended to follow the path of biological samples from the hospital, where they were collected, to the biobank in a research institute, where they were stored. Findings suggest that although the nature of the biobank’s technical work seemed to inscribe it as a research-oriented setting, the biobank’s daily work was performed through symbolic action in the logic of care. Biobank staff constantly recalled the human nature of the samples, and they built complex illness narratives of each sample, promoting a connection with the absent donor. These practices were crucial to constructing the biobank as a health place, one that was designed to be life-saving in the near future.

Increasing the efficiency of using resources as a factor of environmental business activity

In modern conditions of gradual depletion of natural resources, natural capital is becoming the main limiting factor of production systems. The dominant trend of exceeding the rate of use of natural resources over the growth rate of production leads to exclusive attention to the need to increase the productivity of natural resources in solving environmental problems and problems of rational use of mineral resources. The resource potential created in Ukraine, its uniqueness, scale of development, relevant infrastructure objectively determine in the long run the preservation of a significant share of the mineral complex in social production. The inefficiency of the technical and economic mechanism of subsoil use leads to large losses of minerals, which makes it objectively necessary to form conceptually new approaches to the rational use of natural resources. Strategic resources are a prerequisite for increasing not only economic but also environmental efficiency: the production of industrial waste is several times lower than from extracted natural raw materials, which creates the preconditions for increasing the profitability of the enterprise. Rational use of natural resources allows to increase volumes production per unit of resource, reduce costs marketable products, expand the market niche of the enterprise and optimize the size of penalties for environmental pollution. It is also crucial solving environmental problems: reducing the area of land that are taken away under dumps; reduction of the volume of stored waste and dustiness of the territory, etc. In view of this, it can be argued that strategic resources produce opportunities for synergy of environmental and economic results through rational use of natural resources. Development and implementation of management decisions aimed at ensuring a balance of resources enterprises is a combined process, which is based on use of various management methods and tools appropriate to the current conditions and development objectives of the entity.

Transformation of Cruise Tourism Management in Ukraine

The transformation of cruise tourism management in Ukraine and peculiarities of its development at certain historical stages, which allows estimating the internal potential of cruise tourism, problems and development prospects in a turbulent modern age is considered in the article. The main goal is to conceptualize developments in the field of management and history of cruise tourism, as well as generalize leading practices on this issue to form a modern model of cruise tourism management in Ukraine. After all, in the context of globalization, the issue of considering the evolution of industries, sectors of the economy, as well as determining the segments of their active growth and development trends in general remains relevant. Systematization of literary sources and experts’ points of views has shown that the scientific discourse is fragmented and briefly touches upon the research on the features and problems of cruise tourism in Ukraine from the standpoint of transforming approaches to its management. The urgency of the study is due to the fact that currently there is no thorough analysis of the history of cruise tourism in Ukraine in general and retrospectives of its management in particular. After all, the formation of the industry occurs at the intersection of different areas as a result of management decisions that accumulate the potential for diffusion of innovations and aimed at forming new value chains, creating latent demand in the existing system of government, i.e. taking into account current and strategic risks. The methodological basis of the study consists of management, tourism and economic theories, which tools are able to form a theoretical and methodological basis for determining the directions of transformation of cruise tourism management in Ukraine. The object of research is the process of conducting a detailed analysis of the historical background and patterns of transformation of cruise tourism management in our country. With this in mind, the advantages and disadvantages of cruise tourism management at different stages of its development are identified. It is found out that the management of cruise tourism at the present stage is inefficient, and the restoration of its development to the level of the 1990s requires state support in terms of the relevant infrastructure and restrictions on the operation of passenger ships that do not meet environmental standards in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. Emphasis is also made on the importance of supply differentiation in cruise tourism as an effective management model of its development. It is not unreasonable to say that the potential of cruise tourism has not yet been fully explored, thus, effective measures should be taken to support and promote this type of recreation given the experience of world leaders in tourism, who actively develop water transport through science and technology. The study highlights the historical transformation of cruise companies' offerings and predicts that due to innovative solutions to ensure their competitiveness, domestic cruise companies will be able not only to develop this type of tourism, but also to maintain their market share in a changing environment. The study confirms and theoretically proves that historical changes in the development of the tourist cruise market determine the need to monitor its subjects and the level of their innovation. The analysis shows that the consolidation of the global cruise market increases security guarantees for tourists and their awareness under the conditions of the current turbulent age, reduces the risk of the cruise product, ensuring its quality standardization of social responsibility, continuous development and service improvement. The historical angle for the research of subjects of domestic cruise tourism gives the chance to define development prospects of a cruise tourist product which should be formed on the basis of both world technological innovations and independent innovative search. The praxeological results of this study should intensify the introduction of modern balanced approaches to the development of cruise tourism and its product into the service market, taking into account leading international practices.

The Repatriation of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Indonesia: Its Dilemma and Debates

ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has expanded its movement to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia which once got attacked by terrorist as the country becomes terrorists’ preferred place to travel and execute their plans in conflict zones. To tackle this problem, Indonesian government had issued a policy to avoid negative implications upon the return of Indonesian nationals linked to terrorism from abroad (Foreign Terrorist Fighters or FTF). The government was considering whether or not to repatriate FTF since this plan remains a debatable issue in Indonesia. The government was concerned with the possibility of them recruiting new members. On the other side, humanity becomes the opposite reason leading to the acceptance of the extremist repatriation policy. Due to the urgency of the rampant terrorist threats and the consequences, the Indonesian government has decided to implement the repatriation policy. The government ended up refusing the repatriation of Indonesian nationals linked to terrorism abroad to protect the national security. This article elaborates the radicalization mechanism, terrorist recruitment process based on the national security theory. This study also explains the urgent situation and condition that made the government apply refusal against repatriation. There are still considerable challenges regarding the repatriation policy that need to be addressed such as relevant infrastructure and effective regulations.

The Repatriation of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Indonesia: Its Dilemma and Debates

ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has expanded its movement to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia which once got attacked by terrorist as the country becomes terrorists’ preferred place to travel and execute their plans in conflict zones. To tackle this problem, Indonesian government had issued a policy to avoid negative implications upon the return of Indonesian nationals linked to terrorism from abroad (Foreign Terrorist Fighters or FTF). The government was considering whether or not to repatriate FTF since this plan remains a debatable issue in Indonesia. The government was concerned with the possibility of them recruiting new members. On the other side, humanity becomes the opposite reason leading to the acceptance of the extremist repatriation policy. Due to the urgency of the rampant terrorist threats and the consequences, the Indonesian government has decided to implement the repatriation policy. The government ended up refusing the repatriation of Indonesian nationals linked to terrorism abroad to protect the national security. This article elaborates the radicalization mechanism, terrorist recruitment process based on the national security theory. This study also explains the urgent situation and condition that made the government apply refusal against repatriation. There are still considerable challenges regarding the repatriation policy that need to be addressed such as relevant infrastructure and effective regulations.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Nigerian Girl-Child and Suggested Remedies

This paper assessed the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian girl-child and suggested remedies to the problem. The objectives of the paper were to assess the impact of COVID-19 on educational development of the girl-child, the relationship between COVID-19 and gender-based violence, as well as COVID-19 and protection rights of the child. The scope of the study covers the Nigerian society particularly northern Nigeria where girl-child education is predominantly low. The methodology of the study was based on quantitative approach and data were collected from secondary sources mainly journals articles, bulletins and magazine publications on COVID-19. From the assessment, it was discovered that the major impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian girl-child are basically in the areas of education, child protection, gender-based violence, health services and economic well-being. It was discovered that COVID-19 has led to the drop-out of the girl-child from school as well as a learning gap due to the lockdown and other strategies put in place curtail the spread of the disease. Schools were temporarily closed after which many students did not resumed after the schools were re-opened. From the fidnings of the study, it was therefore concluded that COVID-19 has negative consequences on girl-child education in Nigeria. The suggested remedies to the impact of COVD-19 on the girl-child include government looked into investing in alternate pathways to education. No one should be left behind. Structures should be put in place by all levels of government using tools like print, radio to ensure students are learning. There should be more community engagement in these areas since an online solution might not work for them because of poor internet connection and electricity. A support system should be created for them with the structures on ground already. Teachers and volunteers can have a well-organized way of engaging the children and the private sector helping to sponsor relevant infrastructure in order to bridge the gap.Corporate Social Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs) have to be engaged, to create a pool of volunteers that can engage students in an informal setting following the government’s social distancing guidelines to bridge the gap for these children.

Non-state Actor in Waste Disposal in the USSR: Activities of “Ukrutilzbir” in the 1920s

The article explorers the activity of the joint-stock company «Ukrutilzbir», which during 1923 – the 1930s was one of the largest waste collectors in the Ukrainian SSR and during period under study successfully competed with such state agencies as Gostorg, Rusavstorg, Rudmetaltorg, Ukrbumtrest, etc. This topic has not been studied in domestic and foreign historiography. The article is based on the analysis of archival materials, which were at first put into scientific circulation. It has been shown that the emergence of the non-state actor was stimulated by the growing demand of industrial enterprises, which in the 1920s have experienced resource hunger in raw materials as well as the large capacity of the Ukrainian waste market. It was found that the first charitable motives of the company’s establishment were soon changed by the commercial interest in waste collection and recycling, but this did not diminish the importance of its activities for the development of waste management policies in the 1920s. The article reveals the main activities of the company (collection and sale of paper, scrap of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, rags, bones, rubber, and glass), its achievements, and problems. It was concluded that «Ukrutilzbir» has managed to build relevant infrastructure as well as an effective network, attracting to cooperation a wide range of both state and non-state actors, consumer cooperation societies, private waste collectors. It has not only taken up a significant share of the waste-collection market, influencing its formation but has also contributed to the development of standards of their utilization and recycling (collection, sorting, storage, and transportation) and preparing the skilled workers. However, with the establishment of the socialist economic system, the organization found itself in a situation of unequal competition with state actors, which had different preferences and access to financial resources. This led to its exclusion from the market and closure.

Integrating project-based infrastructures with long-term greenhouse gas observations in Africa

There is a lack of long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement infrastructures in Africa. This limits our understanding of the temporal dynamics of the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of carbon in response to climate change. Where relevant infrastructures have been established in externally funded research projects, they have often not been successfully transferred to local institutions at project termination, nor maintained in the long term. This leads to loss of capacity and continuity in primary data. We describe a collaborative approach where eddy-covariance (EC) towers for continuous long-term observation of carbon dioxide and energy fluxes were constructed under two consecutive German-funded research projects and designed to complement existing South African infrastructures. They will be transferred to partner institutions at project termination, supported by deliberate capacity building actions for long term sustainability. Joint activities were implemented to i) strengthen technical expertise for infrastructure maintenance, ii) introduce new generation of academic scientists to the topic, iii) co-develop a training concept to enhance local capacity to continue teaching the topic, iv) improve the uptake and use of data by the research community, v) improve data use and access by stakeholders, and vi) facilitate knowledge exchange between institutions. Co-designed activities included training, apprenticeships and knowledge exchange, student exchange, co-supervision, and public outreach. Following a similar model in international research projects could significantly benefit 1) national capacity for emission inventories, 2) development of long-term GHG observation networks, and 3) the global scientific community via improved availability of data. While we specifically focus on a network of GHG observations, the principles are applicable for the infrastructure to observe other surface/atmosphere exchange processes or other long term observational infrastructure.

Applications of Image-Based Computer Vision for Remote Surveillance of Slope Instability

Landslides and slope failures represent critical hazards for both the safety of local communities and the potential damage to economically relevant infrastructure such as roads, hydroelectric plants, pipelines, etc. Numerous surveillance methods, including ground-based radar, InSAR, Lidar, seismometers, and more recently computer vision, are available to monitor landslides and slope instability. However, the high cost, complexity, and intrinsic technical limitations of these methods frequently require the design of alternative and complementary techniques. Here, we provide an improved methodology for the application of image-based computer vision in landslide and rockfall monitoring. The newly developed open access Python-based software, Akh-Defo, uses optical flow velocity, image differencing and similarity index map techniques to calculate land deformation including landslides and rockfall. Akh-Defo is applied to two different datasets, notably ground- and satellite-based optical imagery for the Plinth Peak slope in British Columbia, Canada, and satellite optical imagery for the Mud Creek landslide in California, USA. Ground-based optical images were processed to evaluate the capability of Akh-Defo to identify rockfalls and measure land displacement in steep-slope terrains to complement LOS limitations of radar satellite images. Similarly, satellite optical images were processed to evaluate the capability of Akh-Defo to identify ground displacement in active landslide regions a few weeks to months prior to initiation of landslides. The Akh-Defo results were validated from two independent datasets including radar-imagery, processed using state of the art SqueeSAR algorithm for the Plinth Peak case study and very high-resolution temporal Lidar and photogrammetry digital surface elevation datasets for the Mud Creek case study. Our study shows that the Akh-Defo software complements InSAR by mitigating LOS limitations via processing ground-based optical imagery. Additionally, if applied to satellite optical imagery, it can be used as a first stage preliminary warning system (particularly when run on the cloud allowing near real-time processing) prior to processing more expensive but more accurate InSAR products such as SqueeSAR.

What Factors Would Make Single-Vehicle Motorcycle Crashes Fatal? Empirical Evidence from Pakistan.

The existing research on motorcycle safety has shown that single-vehicle motorcycle crashes (SVMC) account for a higher fatality rate than other types of crashes. Also, motorcycle safety has become one of the critical traffic safety issues in many developing countries, such as Pakistan, due to the growing number of motorcycles and lack of sufficient relevant infrastructure. However, the available literature on SVMC and motorcycle safety in developing countries is limited. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the factors that contribute to the injury severity of SVMC in a developing country, Pakistan. For this purpose, a random parameter logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances is developed using two years of data extracted from the road traffic injury research project in Karachi city, Pakistan. The study’s findings show that the presence of pillion passengers and young motorcyclists indicators result in random parameters with heterogeneity in their means and variances. The study’s results also reveal that the summer, morning time, weekends, older motorcyclists, collisions with fixed objects, speeding, and overtaking are positively, while younger motorcyclists and the presence of pillion passengers are negatively associated with fatal crashes. More importantly, in the particular Pakistan’s context, female pillion passenger clothes trapped in the wheel, riding under the influence, intersections, U-turns, and collisions due to loss of control are also found to significantly influence the injury severity of SVMC. Based on these research findings, multiple appropriate countermeasures are recommended to enhance motorcycle safety in Pakistan and other developing countries with similar problems.

Indices of Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change: a Review

The objective of this paper is to identify and analyze relevant research of index-based methods for the evaluation of climate change vulnerability and resilience of coastal areas. We searched, retrieved, classified and reviewed papers on climate-change hazards, impacts, vulnerability and resilience of coastal water systems and relevant infrastructure. For this, Scopus, Science Direct, Thompson-Reuters Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed and other relevant databases were used. The analysis of the state-of-the-art presented in this paper acknowledges that using vulnerability and resilience indices in climate vulnerability research is effective, providing a solid, efficient and user-friendly framework. However, selection of index variables should be part of a holistic as well as dynamic approach to identify not only areas in danger, but also the level of social vulnerability.

Reaching for Precision Healthcare in Finland via Use of Genomic Data.

Concerns over future healthcare capacity along with continuing demands for sustainability call for novel solutions to improve citizens’ health and wellbeing through effective prevention and improved diagnosis and treatment. Part of the solution to tackle the challenge could be making the most of the exploitation of genomic data in personalized risk assessment, creating new opportunities for data-driven precision prevention and public health. Presently, the utilization of genomic data in the Finnish healthcare system is limited to a few medical specialty areas. To successfully extend the use of genomic information in everyday healthcare, evidence-based and feasible strategies are needed. The national actions that Finland is taking towards this goal are 1) providing scientific evidence for the utility of genomic information for healthcare purposes; 2) evaluating the potential health-economic impact of implementing precision healthcare in Finland; 3) developing a relevant legal framework and infrastructures for the utilization of genomic information; 4) building a national multidisciplinary expert network bringing together relevant professionals and initiatives to achieve consensus among the different stakeholders on specific issues vital for translating genomic data into precision healthcare; 5) building competence and genomic literacy skills among various target groups; and 6) public engagement (informing and educating the public). Taken together, these actions will enable building a roadmap towards the expedient application of genomic data in Finnish healthcare and promoting the health of our citizens.

Russian's Smart Cities : Risks and Opportunities

Over the past ten years, the creation of "smart cities" has become a priority area for the development of the digital economy in the world, in our country this direction is just beginning to develop both in legal and regulatory documents, and in economic, social aspects. The achievement of reference points for the spatial development of the economy is due to the implementation of the Smart City project. In our country, the Smart City project is aimed at creating an effective urban management system, creating security and comfortable living conditions for citizens and increasing the competitiveness of Russian cities. The implementation of the national project "Housing and Urban Environment" and the national program "Digital Economy" is being implemented as part of the national project "Smart City", which was developed by the Ministry of Construction of Russia and started in 2018. The implementation of the "Smart City" project is gradually being implemented in various regions of the Russian Federation using digital technologies in urban infrastructure development. The implementation of this project involves taking into account the economic potential of the region, financial resources, human capital (level of education and age of the population), innovation potential, which is determined by the availability and quality of the relevant business infrastructure, scientific, technical and educational base. When implementing each project, risks are not excluded: social, economic, political, technological, which must be taken into account when implementing the Smart City project. The work considered the problems of introducing a national project in the regions, as well as during the analysis highlighted the risks in creating "smart cities." The main directions of trends in the development of "smart cities" are considered: social, economic, technological. The IQ index of the largest "smart cities" for the period 2019-2020 was analyzed. Dynamics of growth of "intellectual" index of digitalization of Russian cities revealed.

Regional tourism and recreation domain as an object of competitiveness research

The article addresses the concept of tourism and recreation domain and emphasizes the ambiguous approaches to its interpretation and the lack of established understanding of the economic nature and structural composition of the domain. It offers to consider the tourism and recreation domain in the region as a component of its economic system where tourism and recreation activity takes place – economic activity directed at meeting the tourism and recreation needs of the local population and residents of other regions and countries based on the use of natural and other resources and factors with peculiar tourism and recreation attractiveness. The article specifies that resources and factors of natural and artificial origin (attractions) are the key factors in the forming of the tourism and recreation destinations as areas where the tourism and recreation activity and processes of interaction between tourists and vacationers with the relevant infrastructure take place. The quality of attractions is much determined by the sectoral structure of the tourism and recreation domain of the regions, which stipulates the importance of outlining the author’s understanding of the structure of tourism and recreation activity as such economic activity type as tourism and recreation activity is absent in the national classifier. The article suggests singling out sanatorium activities (providing economic entities with accommodation and sanatorium treatment in the region) and tourism and recreation activity (providing economic entities with tourism, leisure, and other recreational and allied services in the region). In turn, tourism and recreation activity by resources attractiveness in the context of evaluating the economic competitiveness should be considered across the following types: natural resources factors-related (natural resources attractiveness) – cognitive hiking, sports and wellness, extreme, alpine skiing, environmental tourism, hunting, fishing, green rural tourism (agrotourism), wellness holidays; historical and cultural factors-related (historical and cultural attractiveness) – excursions, religious tourism, ethnocultural and festival tourism; commercial and social factors-related (commercial and social attractiveness) – business, entertainment, congress tourism, shopping. Key attractiveness factors are determined for each type. Their evaluation is the basic one for determining the development capacity and competitiveness of the domain in the region.

Regions of the North-West of Russia: Analysis of the Conditions for the Implementation of Social Innovation

Introduction. International experience shows that social innovation is an important tool for regional development, although this type of innovation is a relatively new phenomenon for Russia. On the basis of the research conducted, the article analyzes the conditions for the implementation of social innovation which has a significant potential to meet the challenges of territorial development. Materials and Methods. Based on materials from open sources, as well as on an expert survey conducted by the Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the direct participation of the author, the conditions for the implementation of social innovation prevailing in the constituent entities of the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation were analyzed in the context of legal, infrastructural, economic, and socio-cultural components. Using the results of the expert survey, a quantitative assessment of the level of development of the conditions for the implementation of social innovation was given. The main barriers preventing the reproduction of social innovation within the territory under consideration were revealed. Results. The study has revealed that in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District the conditions for the implementation of social innovation are at the stage of active development: infrastructure and legislation are being formed; financial, tax and property support is being provided; educational programs are being implemented. The study has also shown that there are a number of problematic aspects associated with the underdevelopment of the regulatory framework, with the lack of Centers for innovation in the social sphere in a number of constituent entities, with the limited availability of some financial instruments, with low social and innovative activity of people, etc. Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained are supported by other studies, which substantiates the need for policy adjustment towards improving the relevant regulatory framework, economic conditions, infrastructure, and socio-cultural environment. The research materials can be used by regional authorities when making managerial decisions to support social innovation; they can also be useful for further studies within the framework of the issues under consideration.

Regions of the North-West of Russia: Analysis of the Conditions for the Implementation of Social Innovation

Introduction. International experience shows that social innovation is an important tool for regional development, although this type of innovation is a relatively new phenomenon for Russia. On the basis of the research conducted, the article analyzes the conditions for the implementation of social innovation which has a significant potential to meet the challenges of territorial development. Materials and Methods. Based on materials from open sources, as well as on an expert survey conducted by the Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the direct participation of the author, the conditions for the implementation of social innovation prevailing in the constituent entities of the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation were analyzed in the context of legal, infrastructural, economic, and socio-cultural components. Using the results of the expert survey, a quantitative assessment of the level of development of the conditions for the implementation of social innovation was given. The main barriers preventing the reproduction of social innovation within the territory under consideration were revealed. Results. The study has revealed that in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District the conditions for the implementation of social innovation are at the stage of active development: infrastructure and legislation are being formed; financial, tax and property support is being provided; educational programs are being implemented. The study has also shown that there are a number of problematic aspects associated with the underdevelopment of the regulatory framework, with the lack of Centers for innovation in the social sphere in a number of constituent entities, with the limited availability of some financial instruments, with low social and innovative activity of people, etc. Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained are supported by other studies, which substantiates the need for policy adjustment towards improving the relevant regulatory framework, economic conditions, infrastructure, and socio-cultural environment. The research materials can be used by regional authorities when making managerial decisions to support social innovation; they can also be useful for further studies within the framework of the issues under consideration.

Teaching scientific creativity through philosophy of science

There is a demand to nurture scientific creativity in science education. This paper proposes that the relevant conceptual infrastructure with which to teach scientific creativity is often already included in philosophy of science courses, even those that do not cover scientific creativity explicitly. More precisely, it is shown how paradigm theory can serve as a framework with which to introduce the differences between combinational, exploratory, and transformational creativity in science. Moreover, the types of components given in Kuhn’s disciplinary matrix are argued to indicate a further subdivision within transformational creativity that makes explicit that this most radical type of creativity that aims to go beyond and thus to transform the current paradigm can take many different directions. More generally, it is argued that there are several synergies between the topic of scientific creativity and paradigm theory that can be utilized in most philosophy of science courses at relative ease. Doing so should promote the understanding of scientific creativity among students, provide another way to signify the relevance of paradigm theory, and more strategically be a way of reinforcing the place of philosophy of science in science education.

Reliable Data Acquisition System for a Low-Cost Accelerograph Applied to Structural Health Monitoring

This paper presents and evaluates a continuous recording system designed for a low-cost seismic station. The architecture has three main blocks. An accelerometer sensor based on MEMS technology (Microelectromechanical Systems), an SBC platform (Single Board Computer) with embedded Linux and a microcontroller device. In particular, the microcontroller represents the central component which operates as an intermediate agent to manage the communication between the accelerometer and the SBC block. This strategy allows the system for data acquisition in real time. On the other hand, the SBC platform is used for storing and processing data as well as in order to configure the remote communication with the station. This proposal is intended as a robust solution for structural health monitoring (i.e. in order to characterize the response of an infrastructure before, during and after a seismic event). The paper details the communication scheme between the system components, which has been minutely designed to ensure the samples are collected without information loss. Furthermore, for the experimental evaluation the station was located in the facilities on a relevant infrastructure, specifically a hydroelectric dam. The system operation was compared and verified with respect to a certified accelerograph station. Results prove that the continuous recording system operates successfully and allows for detecting seismic events according to requirements of structural health applications (i.e. detects events with a frequency of vibration less than 100 Hz). Specifically, through the system implemented it was possible to characterize the effect of a seismic event of 4 MD reported by the regional seismology network and with epicenter located about 30 Km of the hydroelectric dam. Particularly, the vibration frequencies detected on the infrastructure are in the range of 13 Hz and 29 Hz. Regarding the station performance, results from experiments reveals an average CPU load of 51%, consequently the processes configured on the SBC platform do not involve an overload. Finally, the average energy consumption of the station is close to 2.4 W, therefore autonomy provided by the backup system is aroud of 10 hours.