Welcoming the Christ Child: Family Readings for the Nativity Lent, "The Annunciation and Mary Visits Elizabeth," by Elissa Bjeletich, illustrated by Jelena Jeftic (Sebastian Press, 2017).

"Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr," from Royal Saints: A coloring book with stories of saintly royalty throughout the history of Christianity (Draw Near Designs). Saints drawn by Marian Adams. Stories & Borders by Abigail Holt. Layout by Caroline Gann.

Bobby interviews Elizabeth Crispina Johnson, author of And Then Nicholas Sang and What Do You Hear, Angel?

Dr. Albert Rossi interviews Fr. Sergius Halvorsen on the topic of "Apologetics and Evangelization: The Dangers of Profiteering." Rev. Dr. J. Sergius Halvorsen is the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY.

Bobby Maddex interviews Elizabeth Crispina Johnson, author of the Conciliar Press children's books And Then Nicholas Sang and What Do You Hear, Angel? Both books were illustrated by Masha Lobastov.

The heart of Feast of the Annunciation is evangelism in its most perfect reception, by a Woman who hears and believes the proclamation of the Gospel.

The firefighters, police officers and a nurse are being honoured with a new award for those who died in the line of duty.

MPs for Dartford and Bexleyheath and Crayford want the route extended from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet.

Aim/Purpose: This review’s main objective was to examine the existing literature on the use of 3D printers in primary education, covering students aged six to twelve across general, special, and inclusive educational environments. Background: A review of the literature indicated a significant oversight – prior reviews insufficiently distinguish the application of 3D printing in primary education from its utilization at higher educational tiers or focused on particular subject areas and learning domains. Considering the distinct nature and critical role of primary education in developing young students’ cognitive abilities and skills, it is essential to concentrate on this specific educational stage. Methodology: The scoping review was selected as the preferred research method. The methodological robustness was augmented through the utilization of the backward snowballing technique. Consequently, a total of 50 papers were identified and subjected to thorough analysis. Contribution: This review has methodically compiled and analyzed the literature on 3D printing use among elementary students, offering a substantial addition to academic conversations. It consolidated and organized research on 3D printers’ educational uses, applying robust and credible criteria. Findings: Many studies featured small sample sizes and limited research on inclusive and special education. The analysis revealed 82 distinct research goals and 13 educational fields, with STEM being the predominant focus. Scholars showed considerable interest in how 3D printers influence skills like creativity and problem-solving, as well as emotions such as engagement and motivation. The majority of studies indicated positive outcomes, enhancing academic achievement, engagement, collaboration, creativity, interest, and motivation. Nonetheless, challenges were noted, highlighting the necessity for teacher training, the expense of equipment, technical difficulties, and the complexities of blending new methods with traditional curricula. Recommendations for Practitioners: To capitalize on the benefits that 3D printers bring, curriculum planners are urged to weave them into their programs, ensuring alignment with educational standards and skill development. The critical role educators play in the effective implementation of this technology necessitates targeted professional development programs to equip them with the expertise for successful integration. Moreover, 3D printing presents a unique opportunity to advance inclusive education for students with disabilities, offering tailored learning experiences and aiding in creating assistive technologies. In recognizing the disparities in access to 3D printing, educational leaders must address the financial and logistical barriers highlighted in the literature. Strategic initiatives are essential to democratize 3D printing access, ensuring all students benefit from this educational tool. Recommendation for Researchers: Comparative studies are critical to elucidate the specific advantages and limitations of 3D printing technology due to the scarcity of research contrasting it with other tools. The variability in reporting durations of interventions and research environments underscores the necessity for uniform methodologies and benchmarks. Because research has predominantly focused on STEM/STEAM education, expanding into different educational areas could provide a comprehensive understanding of 3D printing’s capabilities. The existence of neutral and negative findings signals an opportunity for further investigation. Exploring the factors that impede the successful integration of 3D printing will inform the creation of superior pedagogical approaches and technological refinements. Future Research: As the review confirmed the significant promise of 3D printing technology in enriching education, especially in the context of primary education, the imperative for continued research to refine its application in primary education settings is highlighted.

This paper presents the success story of the intuitive vision of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) high school educator in South Africa. The growth and evolution of a Community of Practice towards a full-fledged living lab is investigated. A grounded theory study analyses the living lab concept and highlights some of the current challenges secondary high school ICT education face within the South African educational landscape. Some of the concepts, ideas, best practices, and lessons learned in the establishment and running of two web based technologies to support secondary school ICT subjects is discussed. The researchers present a motivation for the use of living labs to address some of the issues identified and highlights how the existing platforms fits into bigger design.

One effective way of accelerating the commercialization of university innovations (inventions) is to execute a “Technological Entrepreneurship” framework that helps the execution of agreements between universities and industry for commercialization. Academics have been encouraged to commercialize their research and findings yet the level of success of commercialization of inventions (innovations) in industry is questionable. As there is no agreed commercialization framework to guide the execution of processes to support inventions moving from laboratories to the right market. The lack of capabilities of appropriate processes have undermined the turning of innovation and products into wealth. The research questions are designed to identify the constraints and hindrances of commercialization and the characteristics of successful processes built from framework based on selected case studies of incubation capabilities within universities commercialization program.

Aim/Purpose: To monitor Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) established by the United Nations through the hierarchical architecture of informing systems Background: The paper discusses the case of Poland and its Gdansk region Contribution: The solution combines the big-picture of civilization with small-picture of a nation, regions, cities, and firms Findings: The presented solution can be implemented if the political will can be secured. Recommendations for Practitioners: Take the main idea of this paper and adapt to your local case. Recommendation for Researchers: Develop some prototypes of presented informing systems and test in your local environment Impact on Society: The success of the sustainability of globalizing society can be secured if the coherent informing systems can be applied to the planning, monitoring, and implementation of the UN's universal SDG. Future Research: Work on the modeling of costs and benefits of the presented solution.

Aim/Purpose: This exploratory study investigates the influential factors of users’ decisions in the dilemma of whether to agree to online personalization or to protect their online privacy. Background: Various factors related to online privacy and anonymity were considered, such as user’s privacy concern on the Web in general and particularly on social networks, user online privacy literacy, and field of study. Methodology: To this end, 155 students from different fields of study in the Israeli academia were administered closed-ended questionnaires. Findings: The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that as the participants’ privacy concern increases, they tend to prefer privacy protection over online personalization. In addition, there were significant differences between men and women, as men tended to favor privacy protection more than women did. Impact on Society: This research has social implications for the academia and general public as they show it is possible to influence the personalization-privacy tradeoff and encourage users to prefer privacy protection by raising their concern for the preservation of their online privacy. Furthermore, the users’ preference to protect their privacy even at the expense of their online malleability may lead to the reduction of online privacy-paradox behavior. Future Research: Since our results were based on students' self-perceptions, which might be biased, future work should apply qualitative analysis to explore additional types and influencing factors of online privacy behavior.

Aim/Purpose: This journal paper seeks to understand historical aspects of data management, leading to the current data issues faced by organizational executives in relation to big data and how best to present the information to circumvent big data challenges for executive strategic decision making. Background: This journal paper seeks to understand what executives value in data visualization, based on the literature published from prior data studies. Methodology: The qualitative methodology was used to understand the sentiments of executives and data analysts using semi-structured interview techniques. Contribution: The preliminary findings can provide practical knowledge for data visualization designers, but can also provide academics with knowledge to reflect on and use, specifically in relation to information systems (IS) that integrate human experience with technology in more valuable and productive ways. Findings: Preliminary results from interviews with executives and data analysts point to the relevance of understanding and effectively presenting the data source and the data journey, using the right data visualization technology to fit the nature of the data, creating an intuitive platform which enables collaboration and newness, the data presenter’s ability to convey the data message and the alignment of the visualization to core the objectives as key criteria to be applied for successful data visualizations Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners, specifically data analysts, should consider the results highlighted in the findings and adopt such recommendations when presenting data visualizations. These include data and premise understanding, ensuring alignment to the executive’s objective, possessing the ability to convey messages succinctly and clearly to the audience, having knowledge of the domain to answer questions effectively, and using the right technology to convey the message. Recommendation for Researchers: The importance of human cognitive and sensory processes and its impact in IS development is paramount. More focus can be placed on the psychological factors of technology acceptance. The current TAM model, used to describe use, identifies perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use as the primary considerations in technology adoption. However, factors that have been identified that impact on use do not express the importance of cognitive processes in technology adoption. Future Research: Future research requires further focus on intangible and psychological factors that could affect technology adoption and use, as well as understanding data visualization effectiveness in corporate environments, not only predominantly within the Health sector. Lessons from Health sector studies in data visualization should be used as a platform.

Aim/Purpose: A vital business activity within socio-technical enterprises is tacit knowledge externalization, which elicits and explicates tacit knowledge of enterprise employees as external knowledge. The aim of this paper is to integrate diverse aspects of externalization through the Enterprise Ontology model. Background: Across two decades, researchers have explored various aspects of tacit knowledge externalization. However, from the existing works, it is revealed that there is no uniform representation of the externalization process, which has resulted in divergent and contradictory interpretations across the literature. Methodology : The Enterprise Ontology model is constructed step-wise through the conceptual and measurement views. While the conceptual view encompasses three patterns that model the externalization process, the measurement view employs certainty-factor model to empirically measure the outcome of the externalization process. Contribution: The paper contributes towards knowledge management literature in two ways. The first contribution is the Enterprise Ontology model that integrates diverse aspects of externalization. The second contribution is a Web application that validates the model through a case study in banking. Findings: The findings show that the Enterprise Ontology model and the patterns are pragmatic in externalizing the tacit knowledge of experts in a problem-solving scenario within a banking enterprise. Recommendations for Practitioners : Consider the diverse aspects (what, where, when, why, and how) during the tacit knowledge externalization process. Future Research: To extend the Enterprise Ontology model to include externalization from partially automated enterprise systems.

Aim/Purpose: This study explores how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce by focusing on the ongoing interaction between the SMME, its context, and process of e-commerce institutionalization. Background: It is believed that institutionalization of e-commerce provides significant benefits of unlimited access to new markets, and access to new, improved, inexpensive and convenient operational methods of transacting. Although prior studies have examined the adoption of e-commerce and the enabling and constraining factors, few have examined e-commerce (i) institutionalization (that is, post-adoption), and (ii) from a gender perspective. This study aims to respond to this paucity in the literature by exploring how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce. Methodology: The study follows a qualitative inquiry approach for both data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were adopted for data collection and thematic analysis implemented on the data. SMMEs were purposively sampled to allow for the selection of information-rich SMMEs for study and specifically those that have gone through the experience of adoption and in some cases have institutionalized e-commerce. Contribution: The empirical findings explain how the institutionalization process from interactive e-commerce to transactive e-commerce unfolds in the Mozambican context. Findings: Transition from interactive to transactive e-commerce is firstly influenced by (i) the type of business the SMME is engaged in; and (ii) customer and trading partner’s readiness for e-commerce. Secondly, the transition process is influenced by the internal factors of (i) manager’s demographic factors; (ii) mimetic behaviour arising from exposure to (foreign) organizations in the same industry that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iii) the business networks developed with some of these organizations that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iv) access to financial resources; and (v) social media technologies. Thirdly, the process is influenced by external contextual factors of (i) limited government intervention towards e-commerce endeavors; (ii) limited to lack of financial institutions readiness for e-commerce; (iii) lack of local available IT expertise; (iv) consumer’s low purchasing power due to economic recessions; (vi) international competitive pressure; and (vii) sociocultural practices. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study provides SMME managers, practitioners, and other stakeholders concerned with women’s development with a better understanding of the process in order to develop appropriate policies and interventions that are suitable for the reality of women-led SMMEs in Mozambique and other developing countries with similar contextual characteristics. Recommendation for Researchers: The study contributes to the existing debate of e-commerce and the use of ICT for development in developing countries by providing a distinct contribution of the institutionalization process and how the contextual structures influence this process. Impact on Society: Women-led SMME managers can learn from the different experiences, and compare their e-commerce efforts with SMMEs that were able to institutionalize and make strategies for improvements within their organizations. Future Research: The manner in which women-led SMMEs employ e-commerce requires further investigation to understand how issues related to gender, the cultural context, and different regions or countries impact this process.

Aim/Purpose: Based on the social exchange theory, this study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions between organizational socialization and knowledge sharing. Background: With the advent of the era of the knowledge economy, knowledge has been replacing traditional resources such as capital, labor, and land to become the critical resources of enterprises. The competitiveness of an organization depends much on the effectiveness of its knowledge management; the success of its knowledge management largely relies upon employees’ motivation and willingness to engage in knowledge sharing. Methodology: This study is a longitudinal analysis of data collected from 281 newcomers in Chinese enterprises at two-time points with a one-month interval. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test hypotheses by calculating standardized path coefficients and their significance levels. Contribution: The study examined models linking organizational socialization and knowledge sharing that included organizational links and sacrifice as mediators and trust as a moderator. Findings: Results show that the influences of organizational socialization on knowledge sharing change regularly over time. In the role management stage, coworker support and prospects for the future impact the practices of knowledge sharing through links and sacrifice. Moreover, the findings show that trust moderates the effect of links and sacrifice on employees’ knowledge sharing. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study can help enterprises develop targeted human resource management strategies, improve the degree of job embeddedness within the organization, and thus encourage more knowledge sharing among employees. Recommendation for Researchers: First, researchers could pay attention to more underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between organizational socialization and knowledge sharing. Second, focusing on specific cultural context and dimension of concepts may provide a new insight for the future study and help add greater theoretical precision to knowledge sharing. Impact on Society: First, this study suggests that coworker support and prospects for the future improve knowledge sharing within the organization. Second, understanding how job embeddedness (organizational links and organizational sacrifice) acts as a mediator enhancing knowledge sharing, managers should consider raising their attachment relationship to organizations from two aspects: links and sacrifice. Third, knowledge sharing takes place in a team-oriented context, where the success of the team requires high-quality relationships among individual team members within the team as a whole. Future Research: Researchers in the future should employ experimental research design or utilize longitudinal data to ensure that the findings reveal causation. In addition, future research can investigate how the initial level and later changes of organizational socialization are associated with knowledge sharing beyond the observational scope of traditional cross-sectional and lagged research designs.

Aim/Purpose: The research aims to investigate the factors that influence the continuous use of mobile banking applications to complete banking monetary transactions. Background: Despite a significant increase in the use of mobile banking applications, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, new evidence indicates that the use rate of mobile banking applications for operating banking monetary transactions has declined. Methodology: The study proposed an integrated model based mainly on the process virtualization theory (PVT) with other novel factors such as mobile banking application anthropomorphism and virtual process failure risk. The study model was empirically validated using structural equation modeling analysis on quantitative data from 484 mobile banking application users from Jordan. Contribution: The study focuses on continuing use or post-adoption behavior rather than pre-adoption behavior. This is important since the maximum and long-term viability, as well as the financial investment in mobile banking applications, depend on regular usage rather than first-time use or initial experience. Findings: The results indicate that process virtualizable and anthropomorphism have a strong positive impact on bank customers’ decisions to continue using mobile banking applications to complete banking monetary transactions. Meanwhile, the negative impact of virtualization process failure risk on continuous use has been discovered. The found factors explain 67.5% of the variance in continuous use. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study identified novel, significant factors that affect bank customers’ decisions to use mobile banking applications frequently, and these factors should be examined, matched, satisfied, or addressed when redesigning or upgrading mobile applications. Banks should provide users with clear directions, processes, or tutorials on how to complete monetary transactions effectively. They should also embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to improve their applications and products with anthropomorphic features like speech synthesizers, Chatbots, and AI-powered virtual bank assistants. This is expected to help bank customers conduct various banking services conveniently and securely, just as if interacting with real people. The study further recommends that banks create and publish clear norms and procedures, as well as promote tolerance and protect consumers’ rights when the process fails or mistakes occur. Recommendation for Researchers: The study provides measurement items that were specifically built for the context of mobile banking applications based on PVT notions. Researchers are invited to reuse, test, and modify existing measurement items, as well as submit new ones if necessary. The study model does not consider psychological aspects like trust and satisfaction, which would provide additional insight into factors affecting continuing use. Researchers could potentially take a different approach by focusing on user resistance and non-adoption. Impact on Society: Financial inclusion is problematic, particularly in underdeveloped nations. According to financial inclusion research, Jordanians rarely utilize mobile banking apps. Continuous usage of mobile banking applications will be extremely beneficial in closing the financial inclusion gap, particularly among women. Furthermore, it could help the country’s efforts to transition to a digital society. Future Research: The majority of study participants are from urban areas. Future studies should focus on consumers who live in rural areas. It was also suggested that the elderly be targeted because they may have different views/perspectives on the continued use of mobile banking applications.

The purpose of this investigation is to define the central contents and issues of the impact of informing systems on the rise and development of Virtual Civilization. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary big-picture view of the Virtual Civilization’s elements of development and their interdependency. Among the findings are: Virtual Civilization has infrastructural characteristics, a world-wide unlimited, socially constructed work and leisure space in cyberspace, and it can last centuries/millennia - as long as informing systems are operational. Practical implications: The mission of Virtual Civilization is to control the public policy of real civilizations in order to secure the common good in real societies. Social implication: The quest for the common good by virtual society may limit or even replace representative democracy by direct democracy which, while positively solving some problems, may eventually trigger permanent political chaos in real civilizations. Originality: This investigation, by providing an interdisciplinary and civilizational approach at the big-picture level defined the ethics question of the role of informing systems in the development of Virtual Civilization.

The following definition of “option” is given in Wikipedia - “In finance, an option is a contract, which gives the buyer (the owner or holder) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date, depending on the form of the option” (“Option,” n.d.). Option as a risk management (mitigation) tool is broadly used in finance and trade. At the same time, it introduces asymmetry in the sense that, probabilistically, it limits the level of losses (e.g., the price of the option) and allows for unlimited gains. In the market of sophisticated devices (as smart phones, tablets, etc.), where technologies are rapidly advancing, customers usually do not have the experience to use all features of the device at the time of the purchase. Due to the lack of appropriate expertise, the risk of misinforming, leading to not purchasing the “right” device is high, but given enough time to learn the capabilities of the device and map these to the needs and tasks that device will be used for, could provide the client with substantial long term benefits. Warranty of misinforming is a mechanism that provides the client with the opportunity to explore the device and master its features under limited risk of financial losses. Thus, the warranty of misinforming could be considered as an option - the custom-ers buy it (at a fixed cost) and may gain (theoretically) unlimited benefit by realizing (within the terms of the warranty) that the device can be used to solve a variety of problems not envisaged at the time of purchase. In this study we present the idea of treating the warranty of misinforming as an option in finances and provide examples to illustrate our viewpoint.

Aim/Purpose: The integration of knowledge through the transdisciplinary method with the three concepts civilization, ideology, and geopolitics (CIG) enables the analysis of international relations in a new perspective and the informing strategists of countries, organizations, analysts, clients, etc. These three concepts express the transdisciplinarity that offers a new theoretical explanation and the informing science approach. Background: The integration of knowledge using the three concepts for the analysis of international relations has found adequate explanations from 1890 until the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. Therefore, the CIG model theoretically and practically finds support for more than a century, as argued in the paper. Methodology: The present paper uses a mixed theory based on transdisciplinary methodology and informing science. The literature was reviewed to find and build the theoretical basis and provide appropriate examples. The theory is also based on the model used by Francis Fukuyama in his books on building and dissolution of states (middle-range theory). Contribution: This paper enables the rethinking of the limitations of research on a theoretical and practical basis that is done in many scientific circles, not to eliminate others but to enrich science even more. Findings: In the paper, the main findings are the following: Integrating the three CIG concepts according to the transdisciplinary method offers a new perspective to explain international relations using the IS method; The integration of the three concepts is worthwhile after 1980, when the model of cabinet governments falls, Bismarck falls, and public opinion starts to emerge; It was after 1980 that theories of civilization and geopolitics began to emerge along with ideologies to apply in practice; These three concepts offer explanations based on a CIG zone and in the periphery of the CIG zone. In the CIG zone the security sphere is more stable and long-term, while in periphery the cooperation is temporary and not long termed; The paper shows that the Cold War period is divided into two periods; The paper also finds that CIG explains with examples the events that happened after the Cold War and until present days; The paper also shows, based on the strategies of the superpowers, how they are extending their influence based on the CIG concepts. The paper also shows new patterns of cooperation and clashes between the superpowers’ security zones, which also provide an explanatory perspective for the USA withdrawal from Afghanistan. (We do not talk in the paper about the Afghanistan issue and USA withdrawal). Recommendation for Researchers: Scientific attributes in the integration of knowledge give researchers a more open and comprehensive perspective to make more accurate and practical analyses of international relations. According to this model, other theories are enriched that use the transdisciplinary method, IS, and the CIG as a model for the integration of knowledge. Future Research: Researchers and practitioners of this CIG model can find answers such as “Why did the USA fail in Afghanistan and why was it successful in Kosovo?” as well as other questions about finding a solution for Iraq, cooperation with China, etc.

Aim/Purpose: The Covid-19 pandemic has created many adverse effects. It overloads the healthcare system, causes deaths, and angers some at anti-covid restrictions. This study examines the feasibility of using technical and technological ideas to overcome these effects. The solution is based on new knowledge about the virus, its nature, formation, and activation in the environment. Background: The rapid spread of a new coronavirus infection is taking place against the background of a lack of time required to create new treatment scenarios for the disease, development, production, and vaccine safety research. In such a situation, it became necessary to gain this time for organizing and conducting events that could reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Methodology: The science that studies the morphology, physiology, genetics, ecology, and evolution of viruses is virology. The modern development of virology is moving towards a more accurate and comprehensive description of the mechanisms of interaction of viruses with the host organism. This contributed to the emergence of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and immunomics. However, in virology, there is no particular discipline that sets itself three fundamental goals: to substantiate a single concept of the emergence of viruses; to study the natural mechanisms of formation of virus molecules in the environment; to describe the natural mechanisms of activation of certain viruses in the environment that cause viral pandemics. As a result, there are many articles among the published scientific articles on viruses dealing with the mechanisms of interaction of viruses with the host organism. However, there are no articles on the natural mechanisms of formation and activation of certain viruses in the environment. In the absence of such specialized articles, we were forced to use the method of systems transdisciplinary generalization of disciplinary knowledge to achieve our article’s purpose. Generalization created new knowledge about the nature of viruses, about the mechanisms of their formation and activation in the environment and cells of biological organisms. It is logical to assume that to synchronize the state of biological objects of all functional ensembles on the planet, it is necessary to create and activate appropriate “technological tools.” We have suggested and proved that RNA viruses play the role of such tools. Piezoelectricity activates viruses. It occurs during the compression and stretching of sedimentary rocks and bases of continental plates in different territories. Contribution: The systems transdisciplinary generalization of the knowledge of scientific disciplines made it possible to edit the concept of viruses, to eliminate stereotypes that arose due to the use of unsuccessful analogies. As a result of this generalization, it was possible to prove that viruses are not intracellular parasites. The virus is a “technological tool” of the planetary organizing component. This “tool” aims to correct the genetic programs of organisms of all functional ensembles (plants, animals, people), which will maintain the state of organisms and the parameters of their metabolism in changing environmental conditions. Findings: The viruses that triggered pandemics in the 20th century and early 21st century are RNA viruses. RNA molecules play the role of “technological tools” that the planetary organizing component uses to carry out short-term and long-term adjustments and constant support of the genetic programs of biological organisms. Therefore, in such a situation, it is advisable to talk not about the fight against the virus but only about eliminating the negative manifestations of the Covid-19 pandemic: reducing the number of people in need of emergency hospitalization, eliminating cases of the acute course of the disease and deaths. It is proposed to use certain technical and technological ideas and solutions to eliminate these negative manifestations. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper recommends that researchers use new interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. They challenge assumptions and conclusions about the nature of viruses, and the mechanisms of their formation and activation in the environment can initiate. Such new research might describe the mechanisms that form and activate viruses in the environment and the body’s cells. They also might provide practical use of this knowledge to eliminate the multiple speculations and fears that arise against the background of reports of the likely appearance of more deadly viruses and viral infections. Future Research: The results of a systems transdisciplinary generalization of disciplinary knowledge about the nature and purpose of viruses are essential for expanding the horizon of the scientific worldview. Future fundamental research on the mechanisms of objective organizing constituents, a general description given in this article, will contribute to a deeper understanding of chemical and biological evolution mechanisms in which modern humanity is involved. In due time, such an understanding will allow a new look at the existing scenarios of the world socio-economic order, explore and describe new principles of sustainable development of society.

We advance a model that highlights contingent linkages between overconfidence and narcissism, entrepreneurial entry, and the successful realization of venture opportunities. Overall, our proposals point to a paradox in which entrepreneurs high in overconfidence and narcissism are propelled toward more novel venture contexts—where these qualities are most detrimental to venture success, and are repelled from more familiar venture contexts—where these qualities are least harmful, and may even facilitate venture success. To illuminate these patterns of misalignment, we attend to the defining characteristics of alternative venture contexts and the focal mechanisms of overconfidence and narcissism.

In Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (3rd edition) (SCSR), David Chandler and William B. Werther Jr. advance the view that the ability of firms to create value for a range of stakeholders over the medium- and long-term requires that they embed CSR into their strategies and operations. Its focus on the integration of CSR into strategic planning and implementation distinguishes SCSR from competing business and society textbooks, which tend to survey the field or focus on the management of the firm's relationships with stakeholders and society.

Contemporary business schools are expected to educate their students to embrace ethical and pro-social values. But can business schools rise to this challenge? Comparing a business school to another professional school that encourages pro-social values, social work, we investigated value profiles as reflected in school websites and among their students. The findings show that the business school expresses self-enhancement values (power and achievement) more, and pro-social values (benevolence and universalism) less than the social work school. We further investigated self-selection and socialization as complementary organizational processes that may lead to, and sustain, the value profile of each school. Our findings show that as early as the first week of studies, freshmen's values are congruent with the value profile of their department, indicating a value-based self-selection process. To investigate socialization, we compared freshmen and seniors and conducted a yearlong study among freshmen. The findings revealed a small change in students' values throughout their training, providing only some support for value socialization. Altogether, our findings suggest that business schools that are interested in pro-social students should attract and select students that emphasize these values, rather than rely on socialization attempts.

The Heinz-Nixdorf-Chair for Distributed Information Systems at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (Germany) invites applications for a fully funded PhD student position in Biodiversity Data Visualization for the data management project of the Biodiversity Exploratories (BE) Priority Program.

Deadline for application: 2nd, May 2014

Start date: June 2014 or later

What this is about

The data management project provides the platform for data storage and information exchange for the projects of the DFG Priority Program "Biodiversity Exploratories". Examples of the thematic focus of the projects include botany, forestry, soil, animal, fluxes, modeling, and remote sensing. This diversity is reflected in the format, structure, and semantics of their data which we manage.

Tasks in this project will be centered on the investigation and development of novel visualization methods and user-friendly tools for exploration, search and discovery, quality assurance and integration of the heterogeneous, large volume biodiversity data.  Overall, the study should contribute to the science of visualization for big-data-driven biodiversity research.

More information on the requirements, conditions and how to apply find in the official job offer attached below.

Target group: programmers, developers and system engineers. The workshop is open to anybody who might be interested to learn more about the DINA-system.

Preliminary agenda:

• Presentations from all DINA-partners
• APIs, service oriented architecture and road map for distributed development, guidelines and principles on how to build a module and join the DINA-system
• Case studies
• Delivery options: creating installations from hosted environment, virtual machines down to code.

A detailed program will be available by the end of August 2014.

There will be a SETF-meeting for DINA consortium members on the 15th of September.

Welcome to register for the workshop here:

DINA - Technical Workshop 16-18 September, Stockholm

The workshop is an activity within WP 1 Task 1.4

April proved to be an eventful month for EU BON, hosting the presentation of two major project results, not only within the same month, but in the course of one week. While CSIC and partners were launching the beta-version of the long-waited Biodiversity Portal in Seville, another EU BON team was busy to search for Integrated approaches for focused biodiversity data mobilization in Stockholm.

About the Portal:

In a dedicated session at the WP2 meeting in Seville, Spain, EU BON partners had the chance to view their work for the last couple of years materialising into one of the main expected project results - the European Biodiversity Portal. That said, what was then presented on 29 April is a beta version, with the final release of the portal planned to become available in early 2017.

Participants at the Seville Workshop, April 2016. Credit: A. Hoffmann

Nonetheless, this beta version already addresses the main aim to offer a unique service for analysing and understanding biodiversity change in Europe. For instance, users can explore how relative abundance of species (within a larger group) changes over time by using big data mediated by GBIF. There is also a spatial browser for locating datasets in any part of the world, which may be usable for computing the EBVs for species populations.

Additionally, an online analytical data processing (OLAP) toolbox has been included in this release. Based on GEOSS technology, the new portal lets users harvest and simultaneously access data from several directories, including GBIF, LTER, EuMon (coming), PESI, and GEOSS sources.

This release also highlights the products of the EU BON project, including new methods and analyses packed in factsheets and infographics for the convenience of scientists and policy users alike. Explore the portal’s beta version here.

Suggestions of how to develop the beta portal further towards the full release are appreciated. Use the feedback form at the welcome page.

Integrated biodiversity data mobilization:

It is a challenge for Bioinformatics group in Europe and around the world to find better ways to integrate different systems and technology. In EU BON’s Task 1.4 the approach to solving this issue was to integrate different systems managing natural history collections and molecular data systems using the best techniques available.

In a dedicated workshop, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, developers in the sphere of bioinformatics were presented with the project’s Data Mobilization Toolkit. This particular workshop was mainly focused on Docker as a tool to move towards a more integrated environment. Docker has revolutionized system integration and in the workshop the Swedish team shared their experience with dockerizing the DINA-system.

Discussions during the Stockholm workshop; Credit: Karin Karlsson

The workshop ended with a hackathon where they together explored the possibilities for using Docker in selected parts of integrating Pluto-F, JACQ and DINA.

Target group: programmers, developers and system engineers. The workshop is also open to anybody who might be interested to learn more about the DINA-system.

Preliminary agenda:

• Presentations from all DINA-partners
• APIs, service oriented architecture and road map for distributed development guidelines and principles on how to build a module and join the DINA-system
• Case studies
• Delivery options: creating installations from hosted environment, virtual machines down to code.

Workshop Program.

There will be a SETF-meeting for DINA consortium members on the 15th of September.

Welcome to register for the workshop here:

DINA - Technical Workshop 16-18 September, Stockholm

The workshop is an activity within WP 1 Task 1.4

Workshop on beta versions of data mobilization systems at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm.

Registration link: http://goo.gl/forms/pCvjglXpcN

With about 87 percent of precincts reporting, 57 percent of residents voted against the measure, according to the Associated Press.

The post Question 4: Voters reject legalization of some psychedelic substances appeared first on Boston.com.

Cement production and processes emit over 5 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted by human activity. Reducing that environmental impact is a high priority among cement producers. Cement producers are now publishing their Environmental, Social and Governance credentials concerning energy use in their operations, greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.

Ann Arbor, MI — Nearly 3 out of 5 workers who are hospitalized with traumatic injuries return to their jobs after being discharged, but many of them endure financial hardships and other issues, results of a recent study led by researchers from the University of Michigan show.

East Lansing, MI — Work-related injuries requiring hospitalization increased for the third straight year in Michigan, recent data from Michigan State University shows.