Кибербезопасность в образовательных сетях

The paper discusses the possible impact of digital space on a human, as well as human-related directions in cyber-security analysis in the education: levels of cyber-security, social engineering role in cyber-security of education, “cognitive vaccination”. “A Human” is considered in general meaning, mainly as a learner. The analysis is provided on the basis of experience of hybrid war in Ukraine that have demonstrated the change of the target of military operations from military personnel and critical infrastructure to a human in general. Young people are the vulnerable group that can be the main goal of cognitive operations in long-term perspective, and they are the weakest link of the System.У статті обговорюється можливий вплив цифрового простору на людину, а також пов'язані з людиною напрямки кібербезпеки в освіті: рівні кібербезпеки, роль соціального інжинірингу в кібербезпеці освіти, «когнітивна вакцинація». «Людина» розглядається в загальному значенні, головним чином як та, що навчається. Аналіз надається на основі досвіду гібридної війни в Україні, яка продемонструвала зміну цілей військових операцій з військовослужбовців та критичної інфраструктури на людину загалом. Молодь - це вразлива група, яка може бути основною метою таких операцій в довгостроковій перспективі, і вони є найслабшою ланкою системи.В документе обсуждается возможное влияние цифрового пространства на человека, а также связанные с ним направления в анализе кибербезопасности в образовании: уровни кибербезопасности, роль социальной инженерии в кибербезопасности образования, «когнитивная вакцинация». «Человек» рассматривается в общем смысле, в основном как ученик. Анализ представлен на основе опыта гибридной войны в Украине, которая продемонстрировала изменение цели военных действий с военного персонала и критической инфраструктуры на человека в целом. Молодые люди являются уязвимой группой, которая может быть главной целью когнитивных операций в долгосрочной перспективе, и они являются самым слабым звеном Систем

Micro wholesaling businesses involved in the sector of confectionary products - strategies of survival and growth

It can be argued that the problematic situation where micro Greek wholesaling businesses find themselves has been a result of the strong presence of supermarkets and superstores in the last years. The researcher attempts to picture the current market reality that constitutes the background of the Thesis by posing the main research question: "How can micro Greek wholesaling businesses involved in the confectionary products' sector identify and implement suitable survival and growth strategies in order to cope with increasing competition in a market characterized by a large expansion of supermarkets and chain stores?". The factors that triggered research are related to the researcher's avocation with the sector of confectionary products; having worked in a micro family wholesaling enterprise in the past (and still involved in it occasionally when demand for confectionary products is increased), the survival and growth prospects of this firm constitutes an issue of high importance for the researcher and his family. The researcher believes that the study of similar wholesaling firms-case studies would highlight potential survival and growth strategies, useful for the family business; in this way, he holds the view that he contributes to the solution of an intense family problem. Apart from the personal interest for the survival and growth of micro wholesaling firms, it can be argued that the confectionary products' sector is a dynamic field that provides the opportunities to a researcher to evolve to a consultant or a specialist practitioner

The use of enterprise resource planning systems in three leading bakeries in South Africa

There is a continued effort for organisations to invest in resources that enable them to reduce costs while increasing productivity to meet the needs of the customers in order to maximise profits. Such investments also empower them to gain competitive advantage in the market. In an endeavour to achieve this, organisations invest in implementing Information Technology (IT) software to assist in increasing efficiency. There are varieties of available software solutions that are used at various stages of the value-chain. One of these is the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Bakeries are no exception in exploring ways in which operations can be run more efficiently to reduce costs in the various levels of the supply chain through use of ERP systems. Although bakeries have invested many funds in implementing this system, they fail to enjoy the full returns on their investment of this system. The study compares the use of ERP systems between three leading bakers in Port Elizabeth, as part of convenience sampling, to identify any possible ineffective business practice applications and recommend some applicable solutions. In pursuing this study, a qualitative research was conducted. A critical literature review drawing on academic sources was conducted on the Supply Chain Management SCM. It provides an overview of SCM, and the effectiveness of ERP is SCM. Additionally, it provides benefits of using ERP in SCM. Furthermore, various tools that are used in measuring effectiveness of ERP systems were discussed. These tools included, Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness, part of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the balanced scored card. This was followed by a content analysis of web-based content of the three bakeries. Interview schedules were conducted using close-ended and open-ended questionnaires with the procurement, production, and distribution officers in the three bakeries to get a deeper understanding of the experience of the respondents. The questionnaires were distributed to twenty-seven (27) potential participants but interviews were conducted with only five (5) respondents. This constitutes a (5/27) 18.5% response rate. The questions on the questionnaires required a deeper understanding of the experiences of the respondents on their use of ERP. The questions were adopted from a balanced score card questionnaire that was previously used in measuring the performance of ERP systems.The study used Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use within the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to measure the effectiveness of ERP systems that are used in bakeries The analysis revealed that some production departments did not use the ERP system altogether while others used it as an archive and stuck to manual tasks resulting in duplication of tasks, which increase the workload of the departments. It also discourages interdepartmental information integration because other departments do not have easy and quick access to information from their production department. This department must share information to other departments through email. It was discovered that some end-users do not undergo formal training that affect their use of the system making it ineffective. Some found that their system was not user-friendly and increased their workload. Recommendations are made to the management of the bakeries on how to make the use of ERP effective for those planning to upgrade their current baking management systems

Retail Distribution Within the New York City Organic Cacao Market

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small physical commodities firm owners need to establish a distribution channel within the commodities market to enhance profits. The general business problem was that importing physical commodities from emerging markets was not profitable. The specific business problem was some small physical wholesale commodities firm managers lacked strategies to establish distribution channels for imported commodities. The information presented in this study is important to suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of organic cacao products to identify strategies to enhance their distribution channels. Disruptive innovation and the theory of constraints grounded the conceptual framework to relate ideas presented in this study. The central research question guiding the study concerned strategies small physical wholesale commodities firm owners used to establish distribution channels within the commodities market. Participants included 6 small business owners who gave recorded responses during in-depth, face-to-face interviews. The 6 interview recordings were transcribed, then coded and interpreted. Data analysis revealed 6 themes, which included price point strategy, B2B relationships, differentiation, strategic locations, sufficient operating capital, and customer relationships. Enhancing profits in the distribution channels of small organic cacao companies requires a holistic approach in the New York City area. The social implications of this study may draw attention to organic cacao, which is a healthy alternative to confectionery chocolate. Strategies introduced to enhance profits may increase economic growth in the local communities in the New York Tri-State area

Challenges and opportunities of development in Ethiopia through urban-rural economic linkages (URELs)

The transformation of rural people and land to urban land and culture is a natural discourse and inevitable process. In the process, more than half of the current world population are living in urban centres. The number of urban centres and their population is rapidly increasing while the situation of integrated development of urban centres and rural areas such URELs for sustainable development have given less attention in agricultural based countries (ABCs). Multi-disciplinary (agriculture and agro-industries) integration, multi-spatial (urban centre and its hinterlands) linkages, multiscalar (micromeso and macro) levels, multi-actors and stakeholders involvement are the noteworthy innovations in the field of development studies. This study mainly focused on URELs for agribusiness and value chains under the development themes of governance and development as well as contemporary debates. Policies, institutional settings and practical implementation strategies of integrated and balanced development discourse of basic sectoral and urban-rural economic linkages (URELs) missed in ABCs such as Ethiopia‟s comprehensive development policy ADLI neglecting the rapidly growing urban centres. Owing to this, this study is designed to examine the challenges and problems, status and agribusiness and efficiencies of URELs for exploring theoretical empirical model for virtuous circle URELs. Methodologically, the study used sequential explanatory mixed methods research and cross-sectional survey design. The sequential approach was quantitative method, qualitative method and integrating the two findings on interpretation and discussion. The findings present truncated BPLs and FPLs of agriculture and agroindustries. It was was mainly due to poor and greater ranges of efficiency from TE, AE and EE for both agriculture and agro-industries, form of government as ethnic-federalism and regionalism, violation of the existing institutional frameworks, dejure-defacto discrminatin, government businesses, policy and institutional settings, lack of R&D, many paradoxical acts and poor resources mobilization and utilization. These problems and challenges are taken as potential opportunities for improvement and new lens of developing empirical model. The overall recommendation lies on creating enabling environment for virtuous circle URELs and integrated regional development using regional development approach, avoiding illegal interventions, import-export balance, proper resource mobilization and utilization.Development StudiesD. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies

Food waste opportunities within the food wholesale and retail sectors

The aim of this research project is to provide the NSW Environment Protection Authority (NSW EPA) with a better understanding of the opportunities and barriers to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill from the wholesale, logistics and retail sector. This report presents the research findings and provides a series of recommendations as to how NSW EPA can most effectively engage with these sectors within the food supply chain to maximise performance while minimising disruption and costs

Scenario analysis report with policy recommendations: An assessment of sustainability, resilience, efficiency and fairness and effective chain relationships in VALUMICS case studies : Deliverable 8.4

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The final version of this report is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6534011The functioning of food value chains entails a complex organisation from farm to fork which is characterised by various governance forms and externalities which have shaped the overall food system. VALUMICS food value chain case studies: wheat to bread, dairy cows to milk, beef cattle to steak, farmed salmon to fillets and tomato to processed tomato were selected to enable explorative and empirical analysis to better understand the functioning of the food system and, to identify the main challenges that need to be addressed to improve sustainability, integrity, resilience, and fairness of European food chains. The VALUMICS system analysis was executed through four operational phases starting with Groundwork & analysis including mapping specific attributes and impacts of food value chains and their externalities. This was followed by Case study baseline analysis, which provided input to the third phase on Modelling and exploration of future scenarios and finally Policy and synthesis of the overall work. This report is an overall synthesis of the VALUMICS results as follows: • Key findings from the VALUMICS project on the functioning of European food value chains and their impacts on more sustainable, resilient, fairer, and transparent food system are summarised through a compilation of 25 Research Findings and Policy Briefs. • By highlighting the major contributions from the research activities throughout the four phases of the VALUMICS project, this report delivers an assessment of various factors influencing sustainability, resilience, efficiency and fairness and effective chain relationships of different food value chains, and their determinants. • The synthesis of the outcome allows the identification of opportunities and challenges characterising the functioning of food supply chains, and thus, the prospects and potentials for strengthening the EU food sector

A generic approach, employing information systems, for introducing manufacturing information systems in SME 's

This thesis presents an approach which the small and medium size firms can use in-house to introduce manufacturing information systems. The approach developed is generic and employs information system design and analysis techniques to guide Small and Medium size Enterprises (SME's) from specification of their need, right through to the implementation of an appropriate solution. Although there are various tools and methodologies that are available for large organisations needs, none are available for SME's. Therefore, the approach presented in this thesis provides original and significant improvements on current practice. The approach emphasises the importance of taking a company wide approach to analyse systems throughout its various departments to establish bad practices and system flaws which may impinge on the performance of the manufacturing operations. The research involved three independent stages. The first stage was the identification of the problem which was realised from two sources: literature survey and interviews with case study company managers. The second stage was the development of a novel approach. The final stage included the validation of the approach by implementing it in five different SMEs in the Devon and Cornwall region. Through the use of this work, company's are encouraged to improve ownership and commitment to the manufacturing information systems by fully involving the relevant company personnel in identifying and resolving various problems. The approach proposed also helps managers understand how the various processes work in other areas of company, and can subsequently lead to improvements in other departments

Overcoming constraints to innovation : a study of Tanzanian entrepreneurial firms in the food and beverage industry

Entrepreneurial firms operating in resource-constrained and uncertain environments find it difficult to engage in innovation activities due to challenging innovation constraints. Innovation constraints may block potential innovative firms from getting their innovation efforts off the ground or prevent them from engaging in innovation activities in the first place. Despite facing several challenges still some firms can innovate and bring to the market innovative products, and even penetrate new niche markets by utilizing varied sources of ideas and information. These firms appear to have strategies to overcome a variety of innovation constraints and the critical question is how they overcome those challenges. Using empirical data drawn from the Tanzanian food and beverage industry, this study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to understand innovation behaviour of entrepreneurial firms in the context characterised by scarcity of resources and uncertainties. Three separate but inter-related research questions were examined and they sought to understand the factors constraining innovation efforts of the Tanzanian food and beverage manufacturers and how the constraints were overcome. The quantitative phase employed structural equation modeling technique to investigate the impact of financial, knowledge, market and regulatory constraints on innovation and firm performance, and the role of bricolage in overcoming innovation constraints. The findings indicated that financial, market and regulatory constraints collectively hindered innovation of potentially innovative enterprises in the industry. However, the relationship of knowledge constraints with innovation was negative but insignificant which suggested that knowledge constraints were perceived as of little importance by innovative firms. Entrepreneurial bricolage which is defined as firms’ long-term behaviour of creating something from nothing by utilizing practical knowledge and creatively combining and transforming resources at hand into something new played a partial role in overcoming financial and market constraints, but such effects were absent in regulatory constraints. The implication for these results was that entrepreneurial bricolage was not a sole strategy that innovative firms employed to deal with various innovation constraints. Further qualitative research, with emphasis on uncovering other mitigation strategies was conducted and the results offered additional insights into innovation constraints that innovative firms considered important, how they affected their innnovation efforts, what caused them and how they were overcome. The study adds to the theory of bricolage by suggesting that innovation in resource-constrained and uncertain environment is an outcome of a mix of bricolage and conventional strategies. Recommendations for practice and policy are given to improve firm innovativeness