An Architecture and Reference Implementation for WSN-Based IoT Systems

The Internet of Things and its technologies have evolved quickly in recent years. It became an umbrella term for various technologies, embedded devices, smart objects, and web services. Although it has gained maturity, there is still no clear or common definition of references for creating WSN-based IoT systems. In the awareness that creating an omniscient and ideal architecture that can suit all design requirements is not feasible, modular and scalable architecture that supports adding or subtracting components to fit a lot of requirements of various use cases should be provided as a starting point. This chapter discusses such an architecture and reference implementation. The architecture should cover multiple layers, including the cloud, the gateway, and the edges of the target system, which allows monitoring the environment, managing the data, programming the edge nodes and networking model to establish communication between horizontal and vertical embedded devices. In order to exemplify the proposed architecture and reference implementation, a smart irrigation case study is used.

An Overview of Multilingual Learners' Literacy Needs for the 21st Century

The most common definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. However, for teachers working with multilingual learners, the development of literacy skills is much more complex than this simple definition would suggest. Notions of literacy in the 21st century have evolved in response to a number of societal changes, such as globalization, large-scale human migration, and advances in digital technologies. This chapter considers how these societal changes have influenced conceptions and practices of literacy. It provides a brief overview of some important theoretical considerations that inform understandings of literacy development for multilingual learners, including critical literacy, multiliteracies, multimodal literacy, and translanguaging, and explores current conceptions of literacy to help second and foreign language (SFL) teachers better understand how to meet the literacy needs of multilingual learners in the 21st century, offering practical suggestions for teaching from a multiliteracies perspective.

The European Health Union: European Union’s Concern about Health for All. Concepts, Definition, and Scenarios

The COVID-19 pandemic brought visibility and intensified the discussions on the European Union’s (EU) health mandate. The proposals of the European Commission (EC) to move towards a European Health Union (EHU) can be seen as a starting point towards more integration in health. However, the definition of what the EHU will look like is not clear. This paper searches to find a common definition, and/or features for this EHU through a systematic literature review performed in May 2021. “European Union’s concern about health for all” is suggested as a definition. The main drivers identified to develop an EHU are: surveillance and monitoring, crisis preparedness, funding, political will, vision of public health expenditures, population’s awareness and interest, and global health. Based on these findings, five scenarios were developed: making a full move towards supranational action; improving efficiency in the actual framework; more coordination but no real change; in a full intergovernmentalism direction; and fragmentation of the EU. The scenarios show that the development of a EHU is possible inside the current legal framework. However, it will rely on increased coordination and has a focus on cross-border health threats. Any development will be strongly linked to political choices from Member States.

A scoping study of low-wage workers’ retirement in the U.S. after the Great Recession

Background Retirement comes with high risks for low-wage workers because of their cumulative disadvantages, and the Great Recession aggravated this population's working lives. However, there has been a lack of research about this vulnerable population's retirement. The purpose of this scoping study is to offer a comprehensive understanding of low-wage workers' retirement after the Great Recession. Methods Based on the rigorous method of scoping review by Arskey and O'Mally, the researcher systematically searched, selected, and synthesized literature. The articles were collected from eight databases and were published in January 2008 - February 2019. The search terms included terms related to retirement and low-wage. After systemically reviewing titles, abstracts, and full-texts from 5,268 articles, the final chart contains sample characteristics, definitions of low-wage workers, policy/programs, etc., from 23 peer-reviewed empirical studies. Results The results indicated that: 1) Most of the retirement studies covered middle-wage class workers, excluding low-wage workers because of their lack of retirement affordability; 2) There was no common definition of low-wage workers among scholars; 3) 11 studies assumed Social Security is the only retirement income for low-wage workers, and 12 studies investigated how to improve the workers' participation in other retirement programs; 4) Most studies were economic-centered; 5) Low-wage workers had different socioeconomic and labor market characteristics. Conclusion and Implications First, a consensus on the definition of low-wage is required to improve policies and programs associated with this population's retirement. Second, the life-course perspective approach from various disciplines is necessary to improve low-wage workers' retirement, considering diverse backgrounds.

Successful Deer Management in Scotland Requires Less Conflict Not More

What would successful deer management look like in Scotland? To some, flourishing populations of native wild deer represent success. But to others, negative impacts such as damage to woodlands and peatlands, agricultural and forestry losses, deer-vehicle collisions, and facilitating Lyme disease spread represent failure. Conflicting interests and incentives among people involved in deer management mean a common definition of success, and therefore clear management targets, remain elusive. While some environmental groups urgently call for an increase in the number of deer culled (shot) each year, other stakeholders aim to maximize deer numbers. Overcoming this governance failure will require clearly articulated, scientifically valid, and socially acceptable socio-ecological objectives to be co-produced by a broad range of stakeholders. Systematic monitoring of deer impacts will also be needed to evaluate the ability of specific management interventions to achieve defined objectives. Reintroducing Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) has been suggested as a means to reduce deer numbers and their negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts. However, evidence of lynx impacts on deer numbers, deer impacts, and social conflicts over deer suggest lynx reintroduction alone would not effectively reduce negative impacts of deer in Scotland, though it could be part of a broader solution. In the short-term, achieving sustainable numbers of deer in Scotland will require a substantial increase in the number of deer culled and effective changes to the way deer management is incentivized, regulated, implemented, and monitored.

Enterprise capital - Definition, theory and determinants of the structure

Purpose of the study: The main goal of the article is to define the company's capital, the concept of which in the literature is insignificant and broad. The subject of the research is also the characteristics of the capital structure and the factors that determine it. Methodology: The main research method was a critical review of the literature in the field of shaping the capital structure of enterprises, also in the perspective of the evolution of the theory of the optimal capital structure and the factors determining it. Main findings: The most common definition of capital describes this concept as a source of financing for the activities of an enterprise, and therefore equates it with the balance sheet concept of liabilities. The sources of origin of funds financing business activities forces the managers to search for their optimal structure ensuring the proper relationship between the planned profit and the acceptable level of risk. The literature presents many theories of capital structure and factors shaping it. When shaping the share of equity and borrowed capital in the total of liabilities, one should take into account the business sector of the enterprise, its environment and the risk appetite of the managers. Application of the study: The presented attempt to define the company's capital is in line with the considerations on this subject so far and aims to standardize this concept in the literature. The cross-section of the theory of capital structure allows for a historical approach to this issue and confirmation of the multidimensionality of the presented issues. The presented factors shaping the capital structure of enterprises specify the areas on which managers should focus when looking for an optimal relationship of equity and foreign capital. Originality/Novelty of the study: The issue of defining capital and its optimal structure is not new in the literature. However, it requires permanent analysis, which is conditioned by the volatility of macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions. Difficulties in a universal approach to this subject also force detailed research in specific industries and economic conditions.

THE CONCEPT OF ECO-EFFICIENCY IN FISHERIES. A LITERATURE REVIEW

In light of the decreasing level of biodiversity in the seas and oceans, humanity has to take action to simultaneously maintain a socio-ecological balance and a satisfactory level of fish catches. The degree to which these priorities are achieved can be analyzed using measures of eco-efficiency. The aim of this paper is to present the concept of eco-efficiency in fisheries in literature. In other words, to find out and compare which definitions and measurement methods are most often used by researchers in this area. For this purpose, manual content analysis has been used to research documents available in the SCOPUS database. The review found that, while literature on eco-efficiency in agriculture is abundant, there is still a deficit of research strictly on the fisheries sector. Among 980 articles, only 8 dealt accurately with the selected issue. The most common definition of eco-efficiency is the one proposed by the WBCSD, and the dominant method for measuring eco-efficiency in fisheries is DEA+LCA; however, social aspects are often omitted in these studies, and the studies themselves have a short time span. It is also mentioned that the results obtained in fisheries have lower reliability than in the agricultural sector, mainly due to the phenomenon of bycatch and poorer control of activity at sea.

Neonatal sepsis definitions from randomised clinical trials

Introduction Neonatal sepsis is a leading cause of infant mortality worldwide with non-specific and varied presentation. We aimed to catalogue the current definitions of neonatal sepsis in published randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Method A systematic search of the Embase and Cochrane databases was performed for RCTs which explicitly stated a definition for neonatal sepsis. Definitions were sub-divided into five primary criteria for infection (culture, laboratory findings, clinical signs, radiological evidence and risk factors) and stratified by qualifiers (early/late-onset and likelihood of sepsis). Results Of 668 papers screened, 80 RCTs were included and 128 individual definitions identified. The single most common definition was neonatal sepsis defined by blood culture alone (n = 35), followed by culture and clinical signs (n = 29), and then laboratory tests/clinical signs (n = 25). Blood culture featured in 83 definitions, laboratory testing featured in 48 definitions while clinical signs and radiology featured in 80 and 8 definitions, respectively. Discussion A diverse range of definitions of neonatal sepsis are used and based on microbiological culture, laboratory tests and clinical signs in contrast to adult and paediatric sepsis which use organ dysfunction. An international consensus-based definition of neonatal sepsis could allow meta-analysis and translate results to improve outcomes.

Coexisting With Different Human-Wildlife Coexistence Perspectives

Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable increase in scientific literature addressing human–wildlife interactions (HWI) and associated concepts, such as coexistence, tolerance, and acceptance. Despite increased attention, these terms are rarely defined or consistently applied across publications. Indeed, the meaning of these concepts, especially coexistence, is frequently assumed and left for the reader to interpret, making it hard to compare studies, test metrics, and build upon previous HWI research. To work toward a better understanding of these terms, we conducted two World Café sessions at international conferences in Namibia, Africa and Ontario, Canada. Here, we present the array of perspectives revealed in the workshops and build upon these results to describe the meaning of coexistence as currently applied by conservation scientists and practitioners. Although we focus on coexistence, it is imperative to understand the term in relation to tolerance and acceptance, as in many cases these latter terms are used to express, measure, or define coexistence. Drawing on these findings, we discuss whether a common definition of these terms is possible and how the conservation field might move toward clarifying and operationalizing the concept of human-wildlife coexistence.

THE CONCEPT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: DEFINITIONS IN A CONTEMPORARY MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

There have been some multiple understandings and considerations of the concept of consumer behavior, however little is known about the concept in this contemporary area. This research purpose is to explore the concept of consumer behavior under different aspects of its interpretation. The approach is based on a sound documentary analysis, with some direct and indirect observations. It consists of a sound search for relevant literature, followed by the evaluation of sources, an identification of themes, and gaps. The results show that there are some similarities but also some differences in the definition of the concept following the research context. As such, there is not a quite common definition of this concept. However, a common conception of consumer behavior refers to the particular perceptions of habits, lifestyles, attitude and practices. Keywords: Consumer behavior, Consumption, Africa, Marketing.