6,869 research outputs found
The Globalization of Artificial Intelligence: African Imaginaries of Technoscientific Futures
Imaginaries of artificial intelligence (AI) have transcended geographies of the Global North and become increasingly entangled with narratives of economic growth, progress, and modernity in Africa. This raises several issues such as the entanglement of AI with global technoscientific capitalism and its impact on the dissemination of AI in Africa. The lack of African perspectives on the development of AI exacerbates concerns of raciality and inclusion in the scientific research, circulation, and adoption of AI. My argument in this dissertation is that innovation in AI, in both its sociotechnical imaginaries and political economies, excludes marginalized countries, nations and communities in ways that not only bar their participation in the reception of AI, but also as being part and parcel of its creation.
Underpinned by decolonial thinking, and perspectives from science and technology studies and African studies, this dissertation looks at how AI is reconfiguring the debate about development and modernization in Africa and the implications for local sociotechnical practices of AI innovation and governance. I examined AI in international development and industry across Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, by tracing Canada’s AI4D Africa program and following AI start-ups at AfriLabs. I used multi-sited case studies and discourse analysis to examine the data collected from interviews, participant observations, and documents.
In the empirical chapters, I first examine how local actors understand the notion of decolonizing AI and show that it has become a sociotechnical imaginary. I then investigate the political economy of AI in Africa and argue that despite Western efforts to integrate the African AI ecosystem globally, the AI epistemic communities in the continent continue to be excluded from dominant AI innovation spaces. Finally, I examine the emergence of a Pan-African AI imaginary and argue that AI governance can be understood as a state-building experiment in post-colonial Africa. The main issue at stake is that the lack of African perspectives in AI leads to negative impacts on innovation and limits the fair distribution of the benefits of AI across nations, countries, and communities, while at the same time excludes globally marginalized epistemic communities from the imagination and creation of AI
Urbanised forested landscape: Urbanisation, timber extraction and forest care on the Vișeu Valley, northern Romania
By looking at urbanisation processes from the vantage point of the forest, and the ways in which it both constitutes our living space while having been separated from the bounded space of the urban in modern history, the thesis asks: How can we (re)imagine urbanisation beyond the limits of the urban? How can a feminine line of thinking engage with the forest beyond the capitalist-colonial paradigm and its extractive project? and How can we “think with care” (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017) towards the forest as an inhabitant of our common world, instead of perpetuating the image of the forest as a space outside the delimited boundaries of the city? Through a case study research, introducing the Vișeu Valley in northern Romania as both a site engaged in the circulation of the global timber flow, a part of what Brenner and Schmid (2014) name “planetary urbanisation”, where the extractive logging operations beginning in the late XVIIIth century have constructed it as an extractive landscape, and a more than human landscape inhabited by a multitude of beings (animal, plant, and human) the thesis argues towards the importance of forest care and indigenous knowledge in landscape management understood as a trans-generational transmission of knowledge, that is interdependent with the persistence of the landscape as such. Having a trans-scalar approach, the thesis investigates the ways in which the extractive projects of the capitalist-colonial paradigm have and still are shaping forested landscapes across the globe in order to situate the case as part of a planetary forest landscape and the contemporary debates it is engaged in. By engaging with emerging paradigms within the fields of plant communication, forestry, legal scholarship and landscape urbanism that present trees and forests as intelligent beings, and look at urbanisation as a way of inhabiting the landscape in both indigenous and modern cultures, the thesis argues towards viewing forested landscapes as more than human living spaces. Thinking urbanisation through the case of the Vișeu Valley’s urbanised forested landscape, the thesis aligns with alternate ways of viewing urbanisation as co-habitation with more than human beings, particularly those emerging from interdisciplinary research in the Amazon river basin (Tavares 2017, Heckenberger 2012) and, in light of emerging discourses on the rights of nature, proposes an expanded concept of planetary citizenship, to include non-human personhood
Beam scanning by liquid-crystal biasing in a modified SIW structure
A fixed-frequency beam-scanning 1D antenna based on Liquid Crystals (LCs) is designed for application in 2D scanning with lateral alignment. The 2D array environment imposes full decoupling of adjacent 1D antennas, which often conflicts with the LC requirement of DC biasing: the proposed design accommodates both. The LC medium is placed inside a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) modified to work as a Groove Gap Waveguide, with radiating slots etched on the upper broad wall, that radiates as a Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA). This allows effective application of the DC bias voltage needed for tuning the LCs. At the same time, the RF field remains laterally confined, enabling the possibility to lay several antennas in parallel and achieve 2D beam scanning. The design is validated by simulation employing the actual properties of a commercial LC medium
Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report
Summary report for Irish Ocean Climate & Ecosystem Status Report also published here. This Irish Ocean Climate & Ecosystem Status
Summary for Policymakers brings together the
latest evidence of ocean change in Irish waters.
The report is intended to summarise the current
trends in atmospheric patterns, ocean warming,
sea level rise, ocean acidification, plankton and
fish distributions and abundance, and seabird
population trends. The report represents a
collaboration between marine researchers within
the Marine Institute and others based in Ireland’s
higher education institutes and public bodies. It
includes authors from Met Éireann, Maynooth
University, the University of Galway, the Atlantic
Technological University, National Parks and
Wildlife, Birdwatch Ireland, Trinity College Dublin,
University College Dublin, Inland Fisheries Ireland,
The National Water Forum, the Environmental
Protection Agency, and the Dundalk Institute of
Technology.This report is intended to summarise the
current trends in Ireland’s ocean climate. Use
has been made of archived marine data held by
a range of organisations to elucidate some of
the key trends observed in phenomena such as
atmospheric changes, ocean warming, sea level
rise, acidification, plankton and fish distributions
and abundance, and seabirds. The report aims to
summarise the key findings and recommendations
in each of these areas as a guide to climate
adaptation policy and for the public. It builds on the
previous Ocean Climate & Ecosystem Status Report
published in 2010.
The report examines the recently published
literature in each of the topic areas and combines
this in many cases with analysis of new data sets
including long-term time series to identify trends
in essential ocean variables in Irish waters. In
some cases, model projections of the likely future
state of the atmosphere and ocean are presented
under different climate emission scenarios.Marine Institut
An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains
This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration,
dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual
frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at
the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet
been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually.
To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative
study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would
address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical
adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered
appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and
various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of
grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two
levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in
improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and
iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards
the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply
chain performance.
The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply
chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging
conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it
allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed
insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are
connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological
contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of
terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research
methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could
adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain
desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities
Quantifying the Impacts of Flash Flooding on Dominica’s Material Stocks in Buildings: A GIS-based methodological framework for Small Island States
Economic growth is usually accompanied by extensive extraction of natural resources, especially in developing countries. From a “material-stock-flow-service” perspective, the substantial part (e.g., construction materials) of the extracted natural resources as inflows to a society get accumulated in the built environment as “material stocks” (MS). Depending on the end-use types of their containers, MS provide essential services to a society such as housing, education and transportation. When an environmental hazard strikes, MS lose their functionality due to the destruction of the physical structure of their carriers, resulting in extra construction waste that then must be cleared for recovery. To make a society more resilient to environmental hazards, which is especially important in small island states with limited natural and human resources, the knowledge of exposure of MS to hazard risk is critical.
This research focuses on the quantity and spatial distribution of MS in buildings in the context of intense rainfall-triggered flash flooding in Dominica, a small island state in the Caribbean region. A Geographical Information System (GIS)-based stock-driven methodology is used to quantify four typical types of construction materials: concrete, aggregates, timber, and steel. To quantify exposed MS in buildings to flash flooding, an event-based flood model is used to generate flood inundation extents at the national scale. To investigate the degrees to which the exposed households are susceptible to the impacts of environmental hazards, this research also designs a resident survey to collect social factors contributing to household vulnerability to hazards. For 2020, the total MS in the building sector is estimated at 6,574 kt, equivalent to 91 t per capita, given Dominica’s population of the year. In terms of the distributions of MS in different material categories, concrete accounts for 86% of the total MS in buildings, followed by aggregate at 7%, timber at 4% and steel at 3%. Examining the exposure of MS in buildings to flash flooding, it is found that flood events of larger magnitudes would result in more MS contained in the exposed buildings. For flash flood events with 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year return periods, the numbers of exposed buildings are 2,781, 3,030, and 3,274, respectively, which contain 17%, 18%, and 19% of the total MS in buildings in Dominica. This research demonstrates how to link the results of material stock accounting to flash flood modelling, approaching the concept of socio-economic metabolism from an environmental hazard risk perspective. Knowledge of the quantity and spatial distribution of the exposed MS in buildings can assist local governments in making cost-effective mitigation plans before a hazard event. Although the designed survey was not implemented due to travel restrictions, it is a valuable instrument to collect the information about household vulnerability to environmental hazards, which can help hazard response agencies with more-efficient rescue operations during a hazardous event
Enablers of Remote Monitoring Technology Utilization in Availability Solutions
Digitaaliset teknologiat muuttavat nopeasti tapaa, jolla yritykset kilpailevat. Täten yritysten tulee vastata kilpailuun muuttamalla liiketoimintamallejaan vastamaan jatkuvasti muuttuvia asiakkaiden strategisia ongelmia ja vastaavasti luomaan kilpailuetua digitaalisia teknologioita hyödyntämällä. Etävalvontatekniikalla on havaittu olevan tärkeä rooli näiden uusien liiketoi-mintamallien ja arvolupauksien mahdollistamisessa. Vaikka yritykset ovatkin käyttäneet etä-valvontatekniikkaa palvelullistettujen liiketoimintamallien ja täten arvolupauksien toteutta-misessa varsin laajasti, kirjallisuus on näiden kahden välisen yhteyden tarkastelun kannalta pinnallista. Täten, mahdollisia keinoja tulee tarkastella ja panostaa tämän alueen teoreetti-sen perustan kehittämiseen.
Tämä pro gradu pyrkii edistämään ymmärrystä mahdollisista uusista arvolupauksista digitaa-lisen palvelullistamisen mahdollistamana, ja siten osallistua tämän alueen teoreettisen pe-rustan kehittämiseen. Tämä pro gradu tutkii saatavuuden arvolupauksen arvoa tuottavia mekanismeja ja etävalvontatekniikan käytön hyötyjä, sekä näiden kahden yhteyden mahdol-listajia. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten saatavuusratkaisut luovat mahdollisuuden uusien teknologioiden markkinoille viemiseen ja mitä tarvitaan, jotta etävalvontateknologia mahdol-listaa käytettävyyden arvolupauksen toteuttamisen. Tutkimuksessa käytettävä tapausorgani-saatio avaa erinomaisen väylän teorian kehittämiselle, sillä heidän matkansa edistyneiden palvelujen tarjoamiseen on vielä alussa. Tämä tutkimus on toteutettu käyttämällä kvalitatii-vista tapaustutkimus lähestymistapaa, joka koostuu asiakkaiden ja järjestelmätoimittajan haastatteluista. Tutkimus sisältää kuusi asiakashaastattelua arvoa luovien mekanismien to-dentamiseksi, sekä etävalvontateknologiaan kohdistuva asiantuntijahaastattelu analysoi-maan tarvittavia mahdollistajia.
Tutkimuksessa havaitaan etenkin yhden arvonluontimekanismin olevan merkittävässä roolis-sa saatavuusratkaisujen tarjoamisessa sekä tarve organisaation uskottavalle kyvykkyydelle toteuttaa merkittävät arvolupaukset. Jotta etävalvontatekniikkaa voidaan hyödyntää saata-vuusratkaisujen tarjoamisessa ja riskien pienentämisessä, tulee organisaatiolla olla käytös-sään mahdollisuuden määritteleviä sekä laatua parantavia tekijöitä. Nämä havainnot rikas-tuttavat digitaalisen palvelullistamisen empiiristä perustaa, sekä edistää ymmärrystä palve-lullistettujen arvolupausten ja etävalvontatekniikan yhdistävistä tekijöistä
The nexus between e-marketing, e-service quality, e-satisfaction and e-loyalty: a cross-sectional study within the context of online SMEs in Ghana
The spread of the Internet, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic have given impetus to online shopping in Ghana and the subregion. This situation
has also created opportunities for SMEs to take advantage of online marketing technologies.
However, there is a dearth of studies on the link between e-marketing and e-loyalty in terms
of online shopping, thereby creating a policy gap on the prospects for business success for
online SMEs in Ghana. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the relationship
between the main independent variable, e-marketing and the main dependent variable, e-loyalty, as well as the mediating roles of e-service quality and e-satisfaction in the link between
e-marketing and e-loyalty. The study adopted a positivist stance with a quantitative method.
The study was cross-sectional in nature with the adoption of a descriptive correlational design.
A Structural Equation Modelling approach was employed to examine the nature of the
associations between the independent, mediating and dependent variables. A sensitivity
analysis was also conducted to control for the potential confounding effects of the
demographic factors. A sample size of 1,293 residents in Accra, Ghana, who had previously
shopped online, responded to structured questionnaire in an online survey via Google Docs.
The IBM SPSS Amos 24 software was used to analyse the data collected. Positive
associations were found between the key constructs in the study: e-marketing, e-service
quality, e-satisfaction and e-Loyalty. The findings from the study gave further backing to the
diffusion innovation theory, resource-based view theory, and technology acceptance model.
In addition, e-service quality and e-satisfaction individually and jointly mediated the
relationship between e-marketing and e-loyalty. However, these mediations were partial,
instead of an originally anticipated full mediation. In terms of value and contribution, this is the
first study in a developing economy context to undertake a holistic examination of the key
marketing performance variables within an online shopping context. The study uniquely tested
the mediation roles of both e-service quality and e-satisfaction in the link between e-marketing
and e-loyalty. The findings of the study are novel in the e-marketing literature as they
unearthed the key antecedents of e-loyalty for online SMEs in a developing economy context.
The study suggested areas for further related studies and also highlighted the limitations
Feature Papers in Compounds
This book represents a collection of contributions in the field of the synthesis and characterization of chemical compounds, natural products, chemical reactivity, and computational chemistry. Among its contents, the reader will find high-quality, peer-reviewed research and review articles that were published in the open access journal Compounds by members of the Editorial Board and the authors invited by the Editorial Office and Editor-in-Chief
- …