Cabell's

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide answers regarding the factors that motivate or discourage the quadruple helix (QH) stakeholders and the wider public in citizen science (CS) activities. The research reveals a current overview of the perceptions, attitudes, concerns and motivation with regard to development of CS ecosystem in four countries: Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain. Design/methodology/approach – The researchers deploy a mixed methodology, entailing an indepth literature review and a large-scale quantitative survey (approximately 2,000 citizens) targeting QH stakeholders and general public from the local national ecosystems. The results contain both descriptive statistics and statistical analysis per country. After the comprehensive overview of drivers and barriers regarding the participation in CS activities in general, the focus is narrowed down on the engagement motivation of different QH stakeholders and the differences in enabling/hindering factors at the local ecosystems. Findings – Depending on the country and the pre-existing level of CS maturity, the results provide a complicated network of factors that unlock or block participation in CS activities. These factors include, to name a few, political maturity, civic engagement, technological infrastructures, economic growth, culture of stakeholder collaboration, psychological stimulus and surplus of resources. The implications of the findings necessitate the alignment of the envisioned CS ecosystem with the local dynamics in each country. Research limitations/implications – The quantitative nature of the survey method, limited sample size and only four countries context are noted as limitations of the study and offer future research potential for longitudinal settings and mixed-methods studies. Originality/value – The results contribute to the wider literature on CS that focuses on perspectives, possibilities and differences in local contexts with respect to the public engagement by developing CS ecosystem.

This study aims to investigate factors impacting work engagement and individual performance of teachers. The survey-based quantitative approach was used. The sample comprised 455 teachers working in lower and upper secondary education institutions in Lithuania. The findings show that work engagement is a full mediator of the relationship between managerial support (β = 0.319), organizational support (β = 0.432), control (β = 0.374), colleague support (β = 0.456), work pressure (β = –.587), and task performance as the effect of work engagement on task performance is significant (β = 0.229). Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that remote work moderates the relationships between managerial support (β = 0.560***), organizational support (β =0.332**), colleague support (β =0.234*), work pressure (β=0.456***), control (β =0.443**), and work engagement. Finally, remote work moderates the relationships between managerial support (β =0.453***), organizational support (β =0.332*), colleague support (β =0.441*), work pressure (β =0.456***), control (β =0.444**), and task performance. These insights are valuable to school principals, as they provide a deeper understanding of the factors that determine the task performance of teachers. Remote work requires more job resources to increase engagement and task performance. School principals should focus on increasing engagement through feedback and consultations, psychological safety and development opportunities, and contributing to the individual job performance of teachers. The study supplements the JD-R model with remote work perceived as a contextual factor and thus extends the scientific debate on the application of this model in the teaching occupation.

This study introduces a new multi-criteria group decision-making model in organ transplant transportation networks under uncertain situations. A new combined weighting approach is presented to obtain expert weights with various kinds of opinions by integrating similarity measure and subjective judgments of experts. Also, the CRITIC approach is given to obtain transportation criteria weights. Finally, a novel integrated ranking approach is proposed to calculate the rank of each alternative based on ideal point solution and relative preference relation (RPR) methods. This study regards an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set to cope with the vagueness of uncertain conditions in a real case study.

The development of a sports cluster is an important social task, the solution of which contributes not only to the balance of the local economy, but also to the involvement of the most progressive segments of the population in entrepreneurial activities, tending to a proper lifestyle and active leisure. The growth of entrepreneurial activity in this segment of the economy is determined by many factors, including the state policy for the development of sports and tourism. As a global industry, sport is a potentially significant contributor to climate change, both through carbon emissions and through its impact on sustainable development practices. The purpose of the study is to explore environmental factors influencing the development of the sports cluster in the Kazakhstan and further prospects for its development using forecasting and modelling methods. The environmental policy of the sports movement must be carried out within the broader framework of sustainable development. The environmental work of the sports movement is currently focused on the protection and management of resources and the natural environment in order to improve social and economic conditions. All this should be aimed at education on environmental issues and specific measures for its protection.

Algorithmic trading models are now widely used in investment decision-making. By grounding these models in scientific knowledge, investors can obtain efficient results in financial markets. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the drug manufacturing industry has received substantial attention from investors. The purpose of our research is to form an investment portfolio using an algorithmic trading model in the drug manufacturing industry. The model covers the entire process of portfolio formation: market analysis, selection of industry, selection of particular stocks, data mining, forecasting and investment decision-making. Three portfolios – maximum return, minimum risk and maximum Sharpe ratio – are constructed and compared across two periods. Portfolios formed using deep learning forecasting outperformed the index in more cases than did portfolios created using the Monte Carlo simulation. Portfolio formation using algorithmic trading models is suitable for individual investors, can be easily automated using the computer application and can not only be applied to one industry but diversified across various sectors.

In the article, we examine the promotion of hate and autocracy in the environment of liberal democracy and market economy, comparing economic values with social capital, as well as the relationship between ideology and authoritarian populism. We use the method of critical analysis, together with a synthetic method to describe the integrated socio-politico-economic phenomena. We develop the theses as follows. 1. The free market is inseparable from the freedom of speech and press. 2. Freedom of speech and economic activities has many limitations including the responsibility of actors, social state politics, and ideology. 3. The biggest threat to freedom lies in very democracy which tends to evolve into populist autocracy. 4. The constitution guarantees both freedom of speech and economic activities but it is effective only when the majority is convinced of the value of constitutional democracy.

The structure of ceramics is non-uniform, and many scientists have studied the size and distribution of pores and capillaries in ceramic products. The mechanism of disintegration of ceramic products during freezing is reviewed in detail. Rapid forecasting methods based on one parameter are not promising. Forecasting methods, when based on a higher number of parameters, are much more reliable and better show the frost resistance of ceramic products. In the current period, two directions of ceramic product forecasts are distinguished, one area basis on structural and strength parameters, the other on deformation parameters. Rapid forecasting methods allow for the evaluation of the frost resistance of ceramic products quickly enough, and by applying them, it is possible to stop the entry of low-quality products into construction.

Business organizations and management encompass a wide range of aspects requiring research and analysis. Two key issues are communications management and employee participation promotion within firms. This study focused on the variables of communication and participation in organizational structure, business decision making, transmission of orders, supervision, and control in small and micro-enterprises in the Canary Islands, Spain. The research examined the two variables’ ability to generate increased involvement in and employee identification with their firm. The analytical framework applied sought to investigate Canarian managers’ criteria and priorities regarding using communication and participation as management tools. The methodology included the Rasch analysis technique. The study analyses seven variables considered relevant in relation to communication that are communication between management and workers, fluid and informal communication, use of information technology in internal communication, access of all workers to new information technology, linking/relationship systems between units of the same level, linking/relationship systems between units of different levels and the existence of information disseminated as a tool. Likewise, among the variables related to participation, twelve variables recognized as relevant in the literature are analysed. These variables are setting specific objectives for workers, individual initiative, cooperation, decentralization of decision making, control, participation in decision making, participation in setting objectives, workers' autonomy in decision making when carrying out their work, initiative in their work, control of their work, commitment and involvement of managers in daily work and delegation of authority to lower levels. The predominance of small businesses, in many cases managed by their owners, allows us to appreciate a vertical communication based on direct supervision, from top to bottom. The results reveal a poorly balanced combination of communication and participation systems in Canarian firms. These marked imbalances have consequences for managers’ coordination mechanisms and potential for effectively managing their firms.

This study links three important global governance issues: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, China-Lithuania (EU) relations and The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Our orientation to sustainability as it relates to China and Lithuania is both methodological and analytical. We view the impact of the Brundtland Report as an approach to temporal planning. It is also a solution to the problem of political legitimation for China and Lithuania, as time horizons differ according to differing sectors of the social system. There are layerings of horizons along local, national, and global development. Within the context of sustainability, the focus on development centres economic objectives and priorities of which government, business, and policy organizations must be mindful in their decision-making. All decisions create time horizon constraints. In the case of China and Lithuania, sustainability developments emanate from recent totalitarian regimes under a command organizational structure. Both now embark upon market economies, creating challenges for each in their efforts to maintain stability in transition. A typology of time horizons and an example of their possible impacts are discussed.

The goals and objectives of a project as well as the needs, requirements and expectations of the project stakeholders may contradict or non-fulfillment of them may have different detrimental and negative consequences for the project. Therefore, project stakeholders should be effectively managed, but it is not possible to satisfy all project stakeholders and meet all of their expectations and requirements. As a result, project team must strike a balance between the project goals and objectives and the needs, requirements and expectations of the project stakeholders in order to complete the project successfully. Despite highlighting the significant importance of project stakeholder management, there exists a notable gap in exerting an effective decision support system to adopt stakeholder engagement strategies particularly in oil and gas construction projects. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for the identification, prioritization and selection of the stakeholder engagement strategies in one of the large size oil and gas construction projects in Iran. In this paper, a hybrid method which is the combination of the SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threat) analysis and fuzzy Delphi method is first exploited for identifying the appropriate stakeholder engagement strategies. Subsequently, fuzzy SWARA (Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) is employed to weight the crucial criteria, and finally, fuzzy WASPAS (Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment) is utilized to prioritize the identified stakeholder engagement strategies. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on project stakeholder management by presenting a novel framework for identifying, ranking and selecting the suitable strategies for effective stakeholder engagement considering one of the largest oil and gas construction projects in the country. The value of this study is in applicability of the proposed methodology for project managers and practitioners in other oil and gas construction projects.