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Unmanned systems (UMS) have become comprehensively and firmly established in many armed forces. They open up cost, effectiveness and security advantages in important dimensions of the military capability spectrum or open up new options on the battlefield. These include, for example, longer missions compared to manned systems, reduced risk to soldiers or the possibility of comprehensive reconnaissance in high-risk operational environments. The development of EMS is linked to advances in numerous fields of technology and opens up economic potential that goes beyond the military sphere. However, at the latest since thousands of airborne armed drones were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, EMS are also associated with challenges in terms of security, arms control policy and international law. The TAB report describes the state of development and military use of unmanned air, land and sea systems in the national and international context and provides an overview of current and future key technologies for the development of EMS. In addition, it addresses the economic dimension of unmanned systems in the defence and civilian submarkets of the national and international economic system, in order to analyse the civilian innovation and deployment potential of EMS on this basis. The report also places unmanned systems in the legal framework provided by arms and arms export control treaties as well as international legal norms and takes stock of the current treaties with regard to their relevance for EMS in order to conclude by identifying the need for political and social information and ...

The instating of the queen mothers of Ghana—an ancient tradition in the region, much documented by researchers and highly valued for its equitable political influence—was discontinued during colonial times. It was revived recently, and as a traditional and contemporized practice, it embodies the "politics of care" (Stein) exhibited by maternal groups in challenging situations through its proactive interactions with several Ghanaian communities. This article examines the effective deployment of this tradition in a particular region of Ghana where these women leaders are working selflessly and systematically to care for vulnerable people at every level. The transformational leadership style of the queen mothers shows great concern for people and relationships and, thus, has a more interactive, nurturing, and democratic style (Hassan and Silong 363). The queen mothers challenge the maleoriented leadership style that has become prevalent in postcolonial Africa while contesting the essentialization of motherhood based solely on patriarchal interpretations of and assumptions about the female role in families (O'Reilly 14). As the case of the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association (MKQMA)—which has 370 queen mothers as members (Steegstra 110)—shows, when women get together and care for a community, they can achieve great things: caring for children, providing nutrition, education, social connections, and safety nets, and enhancing visibility for the causes vital to communities, to name just a few. Hence, this article attempts to catalog and evaluate the radical maternal frame of the initiatives taken by the queen mothers in Ghana and their growing local and regional influence.

In this research paper, we have developed a new cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning System using the Linked Servers technology. Our focus is on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), seeking for ways of assisting them enjoy the huge benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning and the internet cloud. Our ERP system can integrate key business processes into a single software solution, and enables seamless flow of information from heterogeneous data sources across all functional areas of the organization and beyond. The new system was developed using the prototyping methodology, considered as best suited for a project of this kind due its advantage of active user involvement throughout the development process. Using the questionnaire as our major data gathering instrument, user requirements were gathered from selected SMEs across the south-east geopolitical region of Nigeria to aid our design. A thorough Requirement Analysis was carried out to ensure proper design of the prototype system, and, using the system development life cycle approach, we carried out design of the architectural frameworks for the cloud based ERP system, to illustrate basic layout of application deployment and the synchronization mechanism for data exchange between vendor servers and the central server. Result obtained from our study shows that the new ERP software solution provides improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. We recommend the creating of enabling environment by appropriate government authorities, and a systematic implementation of the findings of this research paper by corporate business owners. Keywords: Internet-cloud, ERP, Vendor servers, SMEs, Data integration.

A general survey of the contemporary Nigerian theatre and drama reveals that several contemporary Nigerian dramatists have harnessed the art of abuse—invectives— as a device for conveying meanings in their works and achieving their satiric goals. These dramatists create characters that engage abuse to articulate the thematic concerns of their drama, accentuate the conflicts in them, and establish the socio-cultural and political setting of their drama. Although extant works on satiric plays have focused on the use of language, and other satiric devices such as grotesque, irony, burlesque, innuendo, sarcasm, among others (Adeoti 1994; Adenigbo & Alugbin 2020; Mireku-Gyimah 2013; Nyamekye & Debrah 2016), sufficient scholarly attention has not been given to the art of abuse as a trope in Nigerian drama. The article explores the artistic significance of abuse and its forms in selected works of two contemporary Nigerian dramatists: Femi Osofisan's Altine's Wrath (2002) and Ola Rotimi's Who is a Patriot? (2006). These two plays are selected because they manifest ample deployment of the art of abuse and engage various sociopolitical issues. Hence, the article discusses how the art of abuse in these plays projects and addresses such sociopolitical realities as oppression, exploitation, resistance, self-interest versus national interest, and capitalism, among others. The article engages the principles of superiority theory of humour as espoused by Henri Bergson (2003) for textual analysis. It contends and concludes that abuse, as an inherent part of social and human interactions, has been an effective tool in satirising ills in individuals and society at large.

This article proposes that product intervention constitutes a form of residual lawmaking by ESMA that allows it to tackle aspects of investor protection not addressed by EU incomplete financial laws. Whilst product intervention may bring about certain advantages and may contribute to mitigating regulatory arbitrage problems, it constitutes a highly intrusive regulatory mechanism that raises important questions concerning: (a) ESMA's rationale and motivations for its use; (b) its compliance with the EU constitutional framework; and (c) its adequacy for the regulation of complex financial products. This article addresses these questions through an analysis of the rationale and consequences of ESMA's product intervention measures on binary options and contracts for differences of May 2018–July 2019, and of recent reforms of ESMA's powers. It offers three main contributions to the existing literature. First, it contributes to the literature on administrative discretion and agencies' rulemaking through an analysis of the political economy of ESMA's deployment of product intervention powers and, also, of what this reveals about the relationships between ESMA and the EU Institutions, on the one side, and ESMA and National Competent Authorities, on the other. Second, it contributes to the literature on the constitutionality of EU agencies through an examination of the compliance of ESMA's product intervention measures with EU constitutional law and requirements. Third, it examines whether product intervention constitutes an adequate mechanism to address problems pertaining to investor protection in complex financial products markets and, in doing so, it contributes to the scholarly discussion on complex financial products' regulation.

This study analyses the challenges in implementing lean manufacturing (LM) in the wood & furniture industry. In order to facilitate the smooth implementation of LM practices in this industry, the challenges in terms of its deployment need to be analysed and observed. Realising this importance, this study proposes a model, using PLS-SEM, which focuses on dealing with the challenges faced in the implementation of lean in the wood & furniture industry. The model consists of ten challenges that were determined based on a survey involving 46 SMEs companies in Malaysia. The findings revealed that the implementation of LM is significantly affected by 3 main issues, namely: knowledge, resources, and, culture and human attitude. Furthermore, the analyses also highlighted four dominant challenges which are related to culture and human attitude issues – lack of employee commitment, lack of senior management's interest and support, difficult to implement, and LM is viewed as "current trend". Overall, the ability to deal with the challenges involving factors of knowledge, and culture and human attitude, determine the success of LM implementation, especially in companies that have limited resources. This study would help wood & furniture SMEs, government agencies, professional bodies, and academics to better understand the challenges when implementing LM practices. Overall, this study aims at investigating the relationships between the three challenges to better promote LM in the scope under study. Therefore, several activities were proposed to overcome the abovementioned challenges and subsequently contributing to the current body of knowledge. ; N/A

It is important to count on tools to help software professionals to evaluate the software process and how it may be affected by factors related to its deployment. Simulation models are a valuable means to illustrate the behaviour of such a process since scenario generation supports the prediction of potential outcomes and the prevention of undesired scenarios which are harmful to the process and the company in charge of the project to be developed. This work explores the effectiveness of introducing system dynamics (SD) models in the software engineers' process of understanding, from a management perspective, the software process dynamics. The used SD simulation model of the software process emphasises the representation of an iterative process. The COCOMO II model drivers and their main attributes were used, providing a set of reference factors that affect the software process, the estimation of project cost and the effort required. A set of 59 junior software professionals with no previous knowledge about SD participated in a validation study. For simple predictive scenarios, there was no important improvement effect, while for more complex predictive scenarios SD helped them to guess better and provide a rationale for the expected behaviour of the software process performance. ; This work has beensupportedby the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid‐Spain) under the Multiannual Agree-ment with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (EPUC3M17) and in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation)

A general survey of the contemporary Nigerian theatre and drama reveals that several contemporary Nigerian dramatists have harnessed the art of abuse—invectives— as a device for conveying meanings in their works and achieving their satiric goals. These dramatists create characters that engage abuse to articulate the thematic concerns of their drama, accentuate the conflicts in them, and establish the socio-cultural and political setting of their drama. Although extant works on satiric plays have focused on the use of language, and other satiric devices such as grotesque, irony, burlesque, innuendo, sarcasm, among others (Adeoti 1994; Adenigbo & Alugbin 2020; Mireku-Gyimah 2013; Nyamekye & Debrah 2016), sufficient scholarly attention has not been given to the art of abuse as a trope in Nigerian drama. The article explores the artistic significance of abuse and its forms in selected works of two contemporary Nigerian dramatists: Femi Osofisan's Altine's Wrath (2002) and Ola Rotimi's Who is a Patriot? (2006). These two plays are selected because they manifest ample deployment of the art of abuse and engage various sociopolitical issues. Hence, the article discusses how the art of abuse in these plays projects and addresses such sociopolitical realities as oppression, exploitation, resistance, self-interest versus national interest, and capitalism, among others. The article engages the principles of superiority theory of humour as espoused by Henri Bergson (2003) for textual analysis. It contends and concludes that abuse, as an inherent part of social and human interactions, has been an effective tool in satirising ills in individuals and society at large.

International audience ; BACKGROUND: In the European Union, 300,000 newborn babies are born prematurely every year. Their care is ensured in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) where vital signs are constantly monitored. In addition, other descriptors such as motion, facial and vocal activities have been shown to be essential to assess neurobehavioral development. AIM: In the scope of the European project Digi-NewB, we aimed to develop and evaluate a new audio-video device designed to non-invasively acquire multi-modal data (audio, video and thermal images), while fitting the wide variety of bedding environment in NICU. METHODS: Firstly, a multimodal system and associated software and guidelines to collect data in neonatal intensive care unit were proposed. Secondly, methods for post-evaluation of the acquisition phase were developed, including the study of clinician feedback and a qualitative analysis of the data. RESULTS: The deployment of 19 acquisition devices in six French hospitals allowed to record more than 500 newborns of different gestational and postmenstrual ages. After the acquisition phase, clinical feedback was mostly positive. In addition, quality of more than 300 recordings was inspected and showed that 77% of the data is exploitable. In depth, the percentage of sole presence of the newborn was estimated at 62% within recordings. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that audio-video acquisitions are feasible on a large scale in real life in NICU. The experience also allowed us to make a clear observation of the requirements and challenges that will have to be overcome in order to set up audio-video monitoring methods.

NAKHIJEVAN REGION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TREATY OF MOSCOW AND OF THE RUSSIAN–TURKISH–AZERBAIJANIAN RELATIONS IN 1920-1921

As it was necessary for the Kemalist Turkey to abolish the results of the Treaty of Sèvres, it came to an understanding with the Soviet Russia and gained assistance of its Red Army. Thus, the Turkish detachments returned into Nakhijevan on July 28, 1920, though they were driven out of it earlier by the forces of the Republic of Armenia. The latter one agreed to consider this district a "contestable" territory and adopted the deployment of the Bolshevik Army in it. Taking into account the fatal course of the Turkish-Armenian War of 1920, the official Yerevan did not reject on October 28 the future referendum in Nakhijevan; and the RSFSR accepted the unshakeable right of Armenia in regard to this district. However, the Alexandropol Treaty was signed on December 2, and the Republic of Armenia referred a conduct of referendum and control over the whole area to the Turkish Army. This Treaty deprived Armenia of the sovereign rights regarding Nakhijevan. Subsequent stubbornness of Turkey, together with its contribution to the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, produced the Treaty of Moscow, signed on March 16/18, 1921. This transaction grossly violated the international law and without participance of the third party – independent, though sovietized but mutinous Armenia, had transferred trusteeship over Nakhijevan to Azerbaijan. On October 13, 1921, Armenia got a tiny territorial cession, sanctioned the Treaty of Kars and recognized the new status of Nakhijevan.

Canada has been an enthusiastic developer and implementer of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, currently accounting for nearly 20 per cent of installed CCUS capacity globally. Along with a steep hike in the federal carbon price announced in 2020, the government has crafted a hydrogen-centric strategy to support a decarbonized economic transition, with CCUS identified as a key enabler of both pathways. On the one hand, CCUS justifies continued investment in the oil and gas sector through the permanent sequestering of CO2. On the other hand, creating additional economic value from the blue hydrogen generated from CCUS can demonstrate the viability of carbon-negative hydrogen production using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or from electrolysis with offsets from direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS). Oil and gas firms, supported by their peers in heavy industry, have announced blue hydrogen, oilsands CCUS, and carbon transportation projects which – if implemented – could transform the province of Alberta and disrupt the Canadian economy. Despite the bold vision of the government's strategy and the announced projects, there are potential challenges to widespread CCUS deployment, including technological scope, project finance, and regulatory assurance. Carbon pricing will support project economics, but only up to a certain point, especially given the volatility of commodity markets and declines in Canadian oil and gas sector investment. And federal and provincial regulations – with the allied components of social, Indigenous and environmental support – will require clarity if announced projects are to be implemented.

The UK government has put Lateral Flow Antigen Tests (LFATs) at the forefront of its strategy to scale up testing in the coronavirus pandemic. However, evidence from a pilot trial using an LFAT to identify asymptomatic infections in the community suggests that the test missed over half of the positive cases in the tested population. This raises the question of whether it can it be ethical to use an inaccurate test to guide public health measures. We begin by explicating different dimensions of test accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value), and why they matter morally, before highlighting key data from the Liverpool pilot. We argue that the poor sensitivity of the LFAT in this pilot suggests that there are important limitations to what we can expect these tests to achieve. A test with low sensitivity will provide false negative results, and in doing so generate the risk of false assurance and its attendant moral costs. However, we also suggest that the deployment of an insensitive but specific test could identify many asymptomatic carriers of the virus who are currently being missed under existing arrangements. Having outlined ways in which the costs of false reassurance could potentially be mitigated, we conclude that the use of an insensitive LFAT in mass testing may be ethical if (i) it is used predominantly to identify positive cases (ii) it is a cost-effective method of achieving that goal and (iii) if other public health tools can effectively prevent widespread false reassurance.

Objective The aim of this paper was to synthesize the experimental research on factors that affect takeover performance during conditionally automated driving. Background For conditionally automated driving, the automated driving system (ADS) can handle the entire dynamic driving task but only for limited domains. When the system reaches a limit, the driver is responsible for taking over vehicle control, which may be affected by how much time they are provided to take over, what they were doing prior to the takeover, or the type of information provided to them during the takeover. Method Out of 8446 articles identified by a systematic literature search, 48 articles containing 51 experiments were included in the meta-analysis. Coded independent variables were time budget, non-driving related task engagement and resource demands, and information support during the takeover. Coded dependent variables were takeover timing and quality measures. Results Engaging in non-driving related tasks results in degraded takeover performance, particularly if it has overlapping resource demands with the driving task. Weak evidence suggests takeover performance is impaired with shorter time budgets. Current implementations of information support did not affect takeover performance. Conclusion Future research and implementation should focus on providing the driver more time to take over while automation is active and should further explore information support. Application The results of the current paper indicate the need for the development and deployment of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services and driver monitoring.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a panoramic and systematic view of 10 Sustainable Campus Network (SCN) universities' internal entities in charge of the sustainability effort – such as offices, committees, units, programs, or other, showing how some institutions have gained increasing deployment and momentum. However, their appearance and growth pathways have had significant disparities.


Design/methodology/approach
Global and local agendas have had a strong influence on Chilean higher education institutions. A relevant signal has been the creation of the SCN, formed by 21 Chilean universities, whose vision is to help shape a fair and environmentally healthy civilization contributing from the higher education realm. This work adopts a survey design methodological approach. It describes the following resulting components obtained from the aggregated data: (a) emergence processes and environments, (b) governance models and operational mechanisms, (c) networks and collaboration, and (d) final products generated, for sustainability governing entities within universities in Chile.


Findings
The main findings indicate that at the institutional level, the Cleaner Production Agreement for higher education institutions and the creation of the SCN have been key drivers in the formalization of several entities leading the sustainability efforts within Chilean universities. Also, regarding the degree of commitment to sustainability, the most active internal stakeholder corresponds to students.


Originality/value
The present work represents a pioneering effort in the Chilean context to identify and systematize the challenges, organizational structures, and key accomplishments of sustainability governing entities in higher education nationwide.

PurposeIn urban streets of developing countries, informal e-rickshaw operation can contribute to the development of economically viable, citizen-oriented and environmentally friendly transport systems. Even though informal e-rickshaw operation is important, significant gaps are apparent in the literature in relation to e-rickshaw sustainability issues and policies, and the development of a methodology grounded in a robust theoretical base. The current paper aims to address these gaps by integrating stakeholder theory (ST) and resource dependency theory (RDT) as we consider the linkage between e-rickshaw operation and the sustainability concept.Design/methodology/approachWe apply fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD), integrated with the 0–1 non-linear optimisation technique, to identify optimal policies for the e-rickshaw informal sector on Khulna city's urban streets in Bangladesh.FindingsThe results suggest that optimal policies should be formalised to regularise e-rickshaw operation. Appropriate supervision and monitoring; infrastructural support for battery charging, parking, battery recycling and solar panel installation; and training and development should all be provided.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical and managerial implications of our results are discussed, with future research suggestions presented.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, no previous study has used ST and RDT in e-rickshaw sector research. We recognised that the stakeholder settings for sustainability policies can well influence the behaviour of informal e-rickshaw operators while allotting the necessary resources to this sector. This move assists researchers and policymakers to understand the stakeholders and resource dependency sustainability requirements of this sector and the implementation of the required policies.