Today's Resources Research Articles

Materializing responsible futures: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of circular design experiences in construction

Reimagining design as a transformative practice for realizing a circular built environment is both urgent and important. Many of today's resource problems can be traced back to the way constructions are being designed. The adoption of circular design practices may alleviate these problems. Most previous research has either mapped the boundaries of contemporary circular design practices or pushed those boundaries with new interventions. The lived experiences of designers are, however, often overlooked. Little remains known about what it is like to be engaged in and how to ‘live through’ circular design. This study therefore seeks to understand the practice from the perspective of designers themselves. Through applying an interpretative phenomenological analysis to unstructured interview data collected from ten frontrunning Dutch designers, it explores both the what and how of circular design. Four emergent themes were found that illuminate the experience itself. Circular design is, accordingly, interpreted as a practice which: proclaims responsibility towards the Earth, materializes future-oriented solutions, deals with a multi-headed monster, and involves orchestrating a design ecosystem. These themes are illustrated with narrative accounts of designers' actual experiences. The rich, in-depth insights offer ample learning opportunities to better understand and facilitate unfolding circularity transitions. Circular design is, as such, theorized as a vital practice that can shape the built environment through materializing responsible futures.

Exploring human capital management practices: A comprehensive review

This paper comprehensively reviews Human Capital Management (HCM) practices, focusing on key dimensions such as Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, Recruitment and Selection, and Career Management. The success and survival of an organization depend on the efficient management of human resources in today's fast-paced, cutthroat commercial world. Through an extensive analysis of existing literature and empirical studies, this review identifies the critical role of HCM practices in enhancing employee skills, performance, engagement, and retention. The examination of Training and Development initiatives reveals their significance in fostering employee growth, improving competencies, and ensuring adaptability to changing job requirements. Similarly, Performance Appraisal systems emerge as essential tools for providing feedback, aligning individual goals with organizational objectives, and driving continuous improvement. Recruitment and Selection processes are highlighted as crucial stages in acquiring and retaining top talent, emphasizing the importance of aligning recruitment strategies with organizational culture and goals. Moreover, Career Management practices are explored in depth, emphasizing their role in promoting employee satisfaction, retention, and professional growth through clear career pathways, mentoring, and skill enhancement opportunities. Overall, this review underscores the need for organizations to prioritize effective HCM practices as strategic imperatives. By investing in the development, engagement, and retention of human capital, organizations can adapt to market dynamics, foster innovation, and achieve sustainable growth. The findings of this review offer valuable insights for practitioners and scholars alike, informing future research directions and guiding the implementation of HCM strategies in diverse organizational contexts.

Examining the Effects of Biochar in Spinach Cultivation with Increased Irrigation Water Salinity on Some Physical and Physiological Properties of the Plant

The inadequacy of fresh water resources in today's conditions has revealed the use of salty water as an alternative water source in agricultural irrigation but salinity, which is shown as the most important source of abiotic stress, increases osmotic stress and decreases the water intake of the plant, resulting in a physiological drought. For this reason, there is a need for applications to improve the decreasing efficiency in the use of salt water in irrigation through different practical and economic approaches. This study investigating the effects of biochar application into the soil against irrigation water salinity in spinach cultivation on some physical and physiological properties of the plant was carried out in five-liter pots in greenhouse conditions, in a completely randomized factorial experimental design with three replications, in three different irrigation water salinity levels with NaCl salt source [I0: tap water; 0.4 (control), I1: 2.5, I2: 5 dS m-1] and three different biochar dosage based on weight [B0: 0 (control), B1: 1.5, B2: 3%] conditions. As a result of the study, plant height, leaf number and area, shoot wet weight from physical properties and chlorophyll and leaf relative water contents from physiological properties decreased with increasing irrigation water salinity levels but the membrane damage decreased, while the physical and physiological properties of spinach increased with the increasing mixing ratio of biochar to the soil, excluding membrane damage. It was found that the use of biochar against irrigation water salinity can be recommended considering that mixing biochar to the soil against irrigation water salinity in spinach cultivation regulates the physical and physiological properties of the plant but to obtain more comprehensive information on this subject, evaluation of different irrigation water salinity and biochar ratios in terms of field studies has emerged as a recommendable result.

ЦИФРОВА ФІНАНСОВА ГРАМОТНІСТЬ: КОМПОНЕНТИ ТА МЕТОДИ ПІДВИЩЕННЯ

This article is dedicated to the topic of financial literacy and its development in the context of the digitization of financial services. Traditional financial literacy is insufficient for effectively utilizing financial resources in today's digital world. The concept of digital financial literacy is introduced. It combines the skills of using financial services and the use of digital technologies. In the article is proposed authors’ definition of digital financial literacy by components, which include awareness of digital financial products and services, awareness of potential digital financial risks, control over them, and knowledge of the rights of consumers of financial services. These components are crucial for the development of digital financial literacy. The article highlights potential security risks, such as digital fraud, technical failures, and excessive reliance on digital services. The importance of understanding digital footprint and online reputation is emphasized. The article provides simple principles to help users protect their personal information and avoid fraud. It explains the need for understanding consumer rights and compensation procedures to enable individuals to protect their rights. Understanding these aspects of digital financial literacy is essential for effectively managing financial resources in today's digital world. Research conducted in 2021 showed that technology users have a higher level of financial literacy compared to those who do not use technology. However, the overall level of financial literacy in Ukraine is still insufficient for making informed financial decisions. The National Bank of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and other international, governmental, and non-governmental organizations are focusing on the development of financial literacy among the population. It is recommended to focus on the development of digital financial literacy, using communication campaigns, sharing information about providers of digital financial services, financial education initiatives, and awareness-raising about digital crimes and consumer rights in financial services.

A Study on Work Life Balance of the Employees with Reference to Education Sector

The majority of us are pushed to work harder, quicker, and with less resources in today's hectic workplace. There appears to be greater pressure than ever before to succeed. We're supposed to be excellent parents, lead happy personal lives where we enjoy our hobbies, give back to the community, and take excellent care of our children while working two or three jobs at once.taking care of our bodies, brains, and souls. While seeking balance is an admirable objective, most people just cannot achieve it. Instead, it has turned into another item in an ever-growing, guilt-inducing list of "to-dos." Sometimes we must put in more hours than usual, and other times we can take more time off. Our interests and passions can sometimes be our primary focus, but other times, other priorities must take precedence. There may be times when we take really good care of ourselves and other times when we fall a little short; times when we give our family a lot of attention and other times when there isn't as much energy or daily time to do so. In order to live a balanced life and realise your full potential, you must regularly renew and refresh your creative energies.

Applications of ionic liquids for the biochemical transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels and biochemicals: A critical review

Lignocellulosic materials are valuable resources in today's bioprocess technologies; however, their recalcitrance is a major barrier in industry regarding their conversion to microbial products. For this purpose, in this study, the synthesis of ionic liquids (ILs), its function in the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials, its biochemistry and possible toxic effects were investigated. In addition, the bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials pretreated with ionic liquids to biofuels (bioethanol, biobutanol, biogas and hydrogen) and various biochemicals is discussed in detail. For this, the focus is on the potential of ILs for industrial integration and use in large-scale reactors. ILs offer significant advantages due to their potential for ease of use and their features such as recovery and reuse after pretreatment. However, there are economic and technical problems that need to be solved to expand ILs in industrial systems and increase their use potential. To overcome these problems and the usability of ILs technologies in industry, techno-economic analyses has been examined and compared with traditional processes.

THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: THE NECESSITY OF FACING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0

The management of human resources in today's organizations presents a challenge from a strategic perspective. In order to successfully usher in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, it is essential to realign the new business culture with the empowerment of behavior and performance that is required as part of the individual and organizational learning process. The purpose of this study is to investigate how human resource management has developed in response to Industry 4.0. This research is qualitative, and it employs a qualitative approach in conjunction with a descriptive methodology. The findings of the study indicate that human resource management is a strategic partner for organizations, which in turn generates optimism within those organizations in light of the fourth industrial revolution and VUCA. This study investigates the various epochs in the development of HRM, beginning with personnel management and moving on to human resource management and finally human capital management.

A systematic approach for assessing water, energy and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic: case study of Mexico.

Assessing the security of the water–energy–food nexus is a topic of great importance, which allows determining the situation of each resource to implement actions for sustainable management of these resources in today's society. For this reason, a systematic procedure is proposed to evaluate the synergies of the water–energy–food nexus in a large region that is divided into subregions that allow considering their interactions. The new procedure considers the availability, accessibility and regional interdependence of resources while annexing economic and social aspects. A composite index called the WEF Global Index is developed, which involves the WEF nexus index and has nine indicators that evaluate the availability, accessibility and regional interdependence of each resource in the water–energy–food nexus. This new index considers the Gross Domestic Product per capita and the involved population. As a case study, the 32 states of Mexico were considered to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and the security of the water-energy-food nexus at the state level. For this, the composite index was evaluated in the years 2019 and 2020. The results show that from 2019 to 2020, the value of the global index increased in 13 states, in 21 states the security index of the WEF nexus increased, and in 9 states the GDP per capita index increased. On the other hand, the results indicate that in 11 states there was no improvement in the nexus security index due to the increase in water demand, which considerably affected the water availability indicator.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10668-022-02671-2.

Recent advances on the evacuated tube solar collector scrutinizing latest innovations in thermal performance improvement involving economic and environmental analysis

Solar energy plays the most pivotal role in providing energy demand among all renewable energy resources in today's world. Hence, significant advances are being made to harness solar energy by using ever-evolving technologies such as solar collectors. Evacuated tube collectors have been in the center of attention due to high thermal efficiency and desirable performance in unfavorable weather conditions. This paper provides new insight into how ETSC has changed drastically to improve thermal performance. A full-scale comparison has been drawn between thermosyphon vacuum tube and flat plate units at the commencement to demonstrate the competency and uniqueness of evacuated tube collectors. At the next step, numerous numerical and experimental investigations have been compiled and presented to cover the latest innovations and developments in thermal modifications of evacuated tube collectors concerning the use of PCM, working fluids, and design parameters. Furthermore, to evaluate the thermal efficiency of collectors, mathematical modeling is also presented based on single-tube and the whole collector. Evacuated tube collectors have various residential and industrial applications for water heating, solar drying, solar desalination, and air conditioning which have been discussed extensively. In addition, challenges and obstacles in utilizing evacuated tube collectors have been identified and need to be tackled to reach higher thermal performance. Last but not least, an economic-environmental analysis is presented, which consequently demonstrated that evacuated tube collectors are cost-effective and impose less danger to the environment than flat plate collectors.

Planning for Success: A Call to Optimize Nato Cyber Training

Abstract Training is an investment in tomorrow fueled by the needs and resources of today. It is time-consuming to build training correctly, but even more so to do it poorly. The model that NATO uses to create and evaluate its training programmes is based on accepted industry standards, but it is not necessarily being used to its full potential in the area of cyberspace. The efficacy of the model is predicated on the objective quality of the deliverables it produces, yet development initiatives are often rushed or under-supported. Current evaluative practices also do not sufficiently confirm the quality of the training produced. More careful and deliberate planning is required, not only to create valid cyber training solutions for the Alliance, but also to ensure that its cyber training achieves organizational goals.

Fast-Curing Mussel-Inspired Adhesive Derived from Vegetable Oil.

The development of functional materials based on renewable resources is of great significance in today's resource shortage. Here, we present an effective way to synthesize a mussel-inspired adhesive from acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO), a renewable and commercially available small molecular material with a molecular weight around 1200 Da, by a one-step esterification reaction with the affordable 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHA). By taking advantages of both the double bond and the catechol moiety presented in this small molecular adhesive, a short curing time was achieved with UV irradiation. An average bonding strength around 1.4 MPa at a curing time of only around 10 min on a glass substrate was observed, which reached 3.1 MPa (average 2.8 MPa) at a curing time of 2 h under ambient conditions. The curing time is much shorter, and the bonding strength is obviously stronger than the conditions where conventional oxidation agents such as IO4- or oxidation/coordination agents such as Fe3+ are used as the curing agent. Furthermore, the AESO-g-DHA can be used as an underwater adhesive, and an appreciable bonding strength up to 0.64 MPa was observed, which is superior than most of currently known commercialized glues. Given that the adhesive could be synthesized from low-cost renewable resources in one step, it might be a potential candidate for large-scale practical application.

Motivation factors of engineers in private sector construction industry

Human resource in today's world is recognized as a strategic asset which drives organizations to superior in the industrial competition. With the effective identification of employee attributes, all the determinants of productivity can be obtained. This research assesses engineers' motivation factors in the construction industry's private sector and further examined their response to various attributes, including age and gender. A structured and self-administrated systematic qualitative approach was utilized to collect data from 120 engineers. Twenty-six motivational factors were grouped according to Maslow's need theory, and the paper presents a comprehensive analysis based on the relative importance and response percentages of the identified factors. The most influential need level among them was statically determined as the esteem needs to be followed by basic needs, belonging needs, safety needs, and self-actualization needs. Out of the twenty-six factors, good work discipline is the most influential motivational factor for female engineers, whereas company name and stability have become the most important factor for male engineers. A variation of those factors' relative importance is also determined for various age groups. These results would help senior management to formulate effective policies to improve employee retention in the construction industry

Water and Sanitation Management: During and after COVID-19 Pandemic

Pandemics have threatened human civilization time and again. Currently, the whole world is dealing with COVID-19, a never seen situation in a hundred years, after the deadly Spanish Flu during 1918-1920. With no specific medicines or vaccines, the best way to keep infections under control is by maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing, as per WHO guidelines. Hygiene and sanitization are ensured with clean water, a highly stressed resource in today's times. In this perspective, we try to cover the immediate management of water resources and sanitation facilities in stalling the spread of the pandemic. Further, suggestions regarding robust water and sanitation infrastructure and management practices have been discussed that can be adopted by the administration and modified as per local requirements. This pandemic is no less than a disaster, though not natural, but ecological. Past epidemics are pointing towards an increase in the occurrence of a public health crisis of current magnitude and more. This calls for a paradigm shift towards development and preparedness.

МІСЦЕ І РОЛЬ КОМУНІКАЦІЙ У СИСТЕМІ МЕНЕДЖМЕНТУ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙ

The article is dedicated to the nutrition of the right to comunication with the position of managing processes in system management at the level of organization. Thus, communication should be considered as a tool of the process management that affects the internal and external environment of the enterprise. In the market conditions of the enterprise should pay attention not only to the economic condition of the enterprise, but and to develop an effective communication strategy for the exchange of management information. In management, communication skills and rhetorical abilities play an important role. Because of how well the manager will succeed establish interaction with subordinates and colleagues, convince them of necessity the implementation of management decisions depends on the effectiveness of the activity the organization as a whole or its individual structural units. Communication providing between people and organizations turn to strategic resource in today's unstable environment needed to ensure efficiency and creating conditions for new quality growth of companies, are concluded. The main theoretical aspects of internal communication in the system of managing the warehouse as an effective warehouse function are provided. It has been broken down with respect to the important principles of development strategy, so that you can effectively manage the system, to lower the risks in the minds of unintentionality. Communication is a pervasive and complex process that involves people talking during personal communication or in groups, at meetings, talking on the phone, or reading and writing business memos, letters, and reports. The development of management theory and practice has become the basis for developing principles of cooperation and integration that provide significant competitive advantages. Different approaches to the management of communications are studied and on this basis innovative measures to improve communication processes in the enterprise are formulated. The relevance and practical importance of the problem of organization of communication processes in organizations, as well as their insufficient degree of study, determined the choice of purpose of this article.

Key Success Factors of Information Systems Security

The issue of information systems security, and thus information as key resource in today's information society, is something that all organizations in all sectors face in one way or another. To ensure that information remain secure, many organizations have implemented a continuous, structured and systematic security approach to manage and protect an organization's information from undermining individuals by establishing security policies, processes, procedures, and information security organizational structures. However, despite this, security threats, incidents, vulnerabilities and risks are still raging in many organizations. One of the main causes of this problem is poor understanding of information systems security key success factors. Identifying and understanding of information security key success factors can help organizations to manage how to focus limited resources on those elements that really impact on success, therefore saving time and money and creating added value and further enabling operational business. This research, based on comprehensive literature review, summarizes most cited key success factors of information systems security identified in scientific articles indexed in relevant databases, of which the top three success factors were management support, information security policy and information security education, training and awareness. At the end, article states identified research gaps and provides readers with possible directions for further researches

A web application for hydrogeomorphic flood hazard mapping

A detailed delineation of flood-prone areas over large regions represents a challenge that cannot be easily solved with today's resources. The main limitations lie in algorithms and hardware, but also costs, scarcity and sparsity of data and our incomplete knowledge of how inundation events occur in different river floodplains. We showcase the implementation of a data-driven web application for regional analyses and detailed (i.e., tens of meters) mapping of floodplains, based on (a) the synthesis of hydrogeomorphic features into a morphological descriptor and (b) its classification to delineate flood-prone areas. We analysed the skill of the descriptor and the performance of the mapping method for European rivers. The web application can be effectively used for delineating flood-prone areas, reproducing the reference flood maps with a classification skill of 88.59% for the 270 major river basins analysed across Europe and 84.23% for the 64 sub-catchments of the Po River.

Experimental quantum key distribution beyond the repeaterless secret key capacity

Quantum communications promise to revolutionise the way information is exchanged and protected. Unlike their classical counterpart, they are based on dim optical pulses that cannot be amplified by conventional optical repeaters. Consequently they are heavily impaired by propagation channel losses, which confine their transmission rate and range below a theoretical limit known as repeaterless secret key capacity. Overcoming this limit with today's technology was believed to be impossible until the recent proposal of a scheme that uses phase-coherent optical signals and an auxiliary measuring station to distribute quantum information. Here we experimentally demonstrate such a scheme for the first time and over significant channel losses, in excess of 90 dB. In the high loss regime, the resulting secure key rate exceeds the repeaterless secret key capacity, a result never achieved before. This represents a major step in promoting quantum communications as a dependable resource in today's world.

A study on the perception of school teachers on HRM effectiveness in Coimbatore city, Tamil Nadu

Human capital is considered as the best national resource in today's knowledge driven world. School education plays a major role in creating well disciplined and social conscious citizens of India. Developing countries should understand the importance of education and as should develop a sound educational system. Sustainable development of economy and society is closely related to education. A school should have competent teachers as teachers are responsible for inculcating values in students. The study aimed at measuring the perception of school teachers on HRM Effectiveness. Primary data were collected from 349 teachers working in higher secondary schools located in Coimbatore city. The data were analysed using statistical tools Mean, Standard deviation and ANOVA. The results revealed that focus should be given on improving the quality of teachers by providing appropriate training programmes and by following suit able feedback mechanism.

СТРАТЕГІЧНІ НАПРЯМИ ФОРМУВАННЯ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ ДЛЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО ЗРОСТАННЯ УКРАЇНИ

Introduction . The massive deficit and high price policy on energy resources in today's conditions are becoming one of the main factors behind the containment of economic growth in most countries of the world. The weakness of the energy system of our state is revealed due to the rising prices of most fossil energy sources, which form the basis of the structure of national energy consumption. Therefore, the strategy for further development requires state support, which should be to provide granting privileges and incentives for investments aimed at developing various energy sectors, in particular renewable energy and biofuels production . Purpose . The research aims at studying is to develop and substantiate the strategic directions of the formation of national energy security in order to ensure the growth of the Ukrainian economy. Methods. Method of theoretical analyses and graphic method are used. Results. The stable world tendency for stable growth of the share of renewable energy sources for optimization of the general structure of fuel and energy balance is highlighted. The main priority directions in increasing energy efficiency and implementing the energy saving potential are the technological and structural restructuring of the economy and the social sphere of the country. Biological fuels in the overall structure of renewable energy sources are considered as an important resource for diversifying energy sources and ensuring energy security. Originality. In the article highlights the strategic directions of the formation of national energy security for Ukraine's economic growth different from the ones existing in the following: 1) the most influential factors are defined for the formation of the energy sector of any country; 2) the main directions of increasing energy efficiency and implementation of the energy saving potential are established; 3) priority directions are formed for effective solution of urgent technical and technological, regulatory and environmental problems in overcoming the energy crisis processes in the state; 4) defines the main aspects and methodological provisions for ensuring energy security of the state. Conclusion . To a large extent, energy security is due to the level of development and use of available energy resources and the depth of their complex processing, the state of control over expenditures on fuel and energy resources, the level of energy saving and consumption of renewable energy sources. When choosing energy sources and technologies for their receipt, they must be guided by the cost of a full cycle of energy supply (production, transportation, distribution and consumption of energy), including health and environmental costs. It is necessary to develop a general strategy for the development of the energy sector to reduce the energy intensity of the economy by introducing new technologies, progressive standards, modern systems of control, management and accounting, transportation and consumption of energy resources, and the development of market mechanisms for stimulating the production of biological fuels.

Natural Resource Problems and Suggestions for resolving these problems in Fırtına Watershed

One of the most important socio-economic problems in rural areas is inequality in income distribution and poverty, which is also the cause of conflicts in direct resourceuse. There is no doubt that struggling with poverty is not an effort to increase incomes alone. The fight against poverty, of course, including protection of natural resources as well as the use of natural resources, requires planning with integrated and longrange applications. In other words, especially if natural resource management does not include sustainable implementations of basin-based integrated plans, resources are entering the process of extinction. Fighting poverty and raising rural prosperity in the rural area, of course, it is necessary to use natural and cultural resources. On the other hand, it is the most basic problem that resource management needs to solve the use of natural resources should be kept at a level that does not jeopardize the existence of resources and the natural resource management should be based on an approach which emphasizes protection. If natural resources are to be used to provide job and income opportunities in an area, the sustainability of these jobs and revenues will, of course, be limited to the power of resources protection. The most important dilemma in today's resource management plans is the conflict between use and protection of natural resources. Conflicts; It may be due to the excessive use of natural resource by the people living in a region and some times by the opposition of the local people against the investments for development, that is their motivation of resource conservation. Two goals have been identified in working with these assessments. These are; To identify of natural resource management problems and to create strategies and solutions to solve these problems in Fırtına Watershed. Data used in the study were obtained from field studies carried out since the long run in the Fırtına watershed; face to face interviews with local residents, public and private sectore presentatives; information obtained from the applied surveys and studies conducted by different researchers related to the Fırtına Basin. According to this study: Despite the significant investments being made, the planning and strategies of natural resources management to support the rural development is not well enough; The necessity for the innovative research works to provide multiple use of forest and pasture resources in Fırtına valley is inadequate and should be initiated immediately; Kaçkar Mountains National Park, which has a great potential for tourism and which is located in the Fırtına basin, does not have sufficient number and quality stuff to protect it sresources; The consequences of developing inadequate or inadequate capacities of institutions in administrative activities in the Fırtına basin have emerged, and the strategies and evaluations for resolving these problems have been put forward.