Universities multistakeholder contribution to smart city ecosystem development

Purpose: This paper investigates the mutually advantageous value-driven innovations brought by Universities as a key actor in the development of innovation exploiting Smart City opportunities. The final aim is to under-stand the role, tasks and contribution of Universities in Smart City pro-jects. Methodology: The study followed an exploratory and qualitative meth-odology and consisted of 44 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Smart City experts. The choice of the respondents was adjusted to approve the direct and indirect effect of developing the smart ecosystem in various organizational multistakeholder environments. Results: The study found three main areas in which Universities may con-tribute to Smart City projects: a) knowledge/technology creation and transfer; b) social/societal involvement; c) ecosystem facilita-tor/networking.Implications: This paper offers several implications for different stake-holders such as policy makers, Universities’ top managers and firms. Impli-cations for policy managers imply the change in the approach to consumers because most of them do not understand why they need smart solutions. Moreover, it highlights that bureaucracy and lack of an innovative mental-ity kill smart city projects, so the governmental structures should be wired first. Finally, it calls for a huge financial platform (incentives and new fi-nancial mechanisms) and legal changes (legal frameworks should be aligned with peculiarities of Smart Cities).Implications for top managers of Universities are related to the rethink of Universities in smart city innovation ecosystems with the possibility to play an active role. Implications for MNEs and SMEs include that Univer-sities may help in understanding the opportunities around Smart City initi-atives (there is often opacity on the return of investments). At the same time, Universities may help in dealing with public governments and local stakeholders (public and private)

Direct Estimation of Differences in Causal Graphs

We consider the problem of estimating the differences between two causal directed acyclic graph (DAG) models with a shared topological order given i.i.d. samples from each model. This is of interest for example in genomics, where changes in the structure or edge weights of the underlying causal graphs reflect alterations in the gene regulatory networks. We here provide the first provably consistent method for directly estimating the differences in a pair of causal DAGs without separately learning two possibly large and dense DAG models and computing their difference. Our two-step algorithm first uses invariance tests between regression coefficients of the two data sets to estimate the skeleton of the difference graph and then orients some of the edges using invariance tests between regression residual variances. We demonstrate the properties of our method through a simulation study and apply it to the analysis of gene expression data from ovarian cancer and during T-cell activation

The Notion of Norm in The History of Translation: Pragmatic Aspects

In this paper we shall consider the pragmatic aspects of translation that are connected with the participants in the translation act: the Sender (S), the Reciever (R), the Translator (Tr). Most East European and Soviet linguists view translation as indirect cross-Ianguage and cross-cultural communication (Jager, 1975: Komissarov, 1980: Shveitser, 1988). Translation is necessitated when participants do not share a common language; due to this, direct communication, which is a two phase process (creation of the text by S and perception of the text by R), indirect communication via a Tr has in addition an intermediate stage, of transforming the text expressed in one language code into the language code of the R. The task of the Tr is to facilitate the contact between participants who do not share a common language, and to retain an equivalence between the original text and the textthat results from the transformation. The translator's role is compl icated by the fact that the primary communication act and the secondary communication act may be taking place in different historical, temporal and cultural location

Analysts: “Consultants” or “Independent Policy Actors”

The author points out empirical indicators to distinguish “consultants” from analysts as “independent policy actors”. The complexity of decision-making processes in modern states created demand for independent expert support. This demand has been satisfied by new institutes of intellectual political support – think tanks. Support, an estimation of political decisions and alternatives, generating of ideas, education and elite formation became their functions. According to the functional approach, due to the complexity and scale of modern administrative problems, the expert became an integral part of the decision-making process. In differentiated social systems, in order to increase the efficiency of decisions and to maintain the social “feedback” mechanism, policy-makers involve experts, including think tanks, to work out new and to estimate old political decisions. In these processes think tanks are engaged, conducting researches and consultations for the decision-makers. So in modern states the mechanism of “feedback” is carried out. In practice, we can see some analysts and experts who pretend to play a dominant role in policy; some who legitimize policy of the government, decisions of a political leader or a current political regime; some who conduct professional research and development of the “feedback mechanism” within a policy cycle; and some who have real power on minds of the elites and/or citizens. The author aims to figure out the factors that influence the changing political status of the analysts, what makes them independent political actors, and in what conditions they come to serve the elites’ interest. And, most importantly, how we can fix or stabilize the analysts’ status as independent and powerful political actors even in an unfavorable political climate

IST Austria Thesis

Immune cells migrating to the sites of infection navigate through diverse tissue architectures and switch their migratory mechanisms upon demand. However, little is known about systemic regulators that could allow the acquisition of these mechanisms. We performed a genetic screen in Drosophila melanogaster to identify regulators of germband invasion by embryonic macrophages into the confined space between the ectoderm and mesoderm. We have found that bZIP circadian transcription factors (TFs) Kayak (dFos) and Vrille (dNFIL3) have opposite effects on macrophage germband infiltration: Kayak facilitated and Vrille inhibited it. These TFs are enriched in the macrophages during migration and genetically interact to control it. Kayak sets a less coordinated mode of migration of the macrophage group and increases the probability and length of Levy walks. Intriguingly, the motility of kayak mutant macrophages was also strongly affected during initial germband invasion but not along another less confined route. Inhibiting Rho1 signaling within the tail ectoderm partially rescued the Kayak mutant phenotype, strongly suggesting that migrating macrophages have to overcome a barrier imposed by the stiffness of the ectoderm. Also, Kayak appeared to be important for the maintenance of the round cell shape and the rear edge translocation of the macrophages invading the germband. Complementary to this, the cortical actin cytoskeleton of Kayak- deficient macrophages was strongly affected. RNA sequencing revealed the filamin Cheerio and tetraspanin TM4SF to be downstream of Kayak. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and immunostaining revealed that the formin Diaphanous is another downstream target of Kayak. Immunostaining revealed that the formin Diaphanous is another downstream target of Kayak. Indeed, Cheerio, TM4SF and Diaphanous are required within macrophages for germband invasion, and expression of constitutively active Diaphanous in macrophages was able to rescue the kayak mutant phenotype. Moreover, Cher and Diaphanous are also reduced in the macrophages overexpressing Vrille. We hypothesize that Kayak, through its targets, increases actin polymerization and cortical tension in macrophages and thus allows extra force generation necessary for macrophage dissemination and migration through confined stiff tissues, while Vrille counterbalances it

The Chinese Students' Digital Competencies Formation in the Educational Space of the Russian University

In the past two decades, in the context of internationalization of higher education, the formation of a digital society in Russia and overseas the requirements for higher education have changed significantly. Digital skills and competencies should be acquired by a person in the education system, so the role of higher education and learning in general is growing. The Chinese students’ influx to the Russian universities is increasing, which presents a challenge for the Russian universities to develop the digital skills of the Chinese students demanded on the global labor market. The main objectives of the study were to determine the basic digital competencies that Chinese students need to form in the process of training at the Russian higher school. The study was conducted at three universities in Yekaterinburg. The research methodology combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. 500 Russian and 500 Chinese students were questioned on the basis of quota sampling. In-depth interviews with 50 experts were conducted. The study has revealed the basic digital competencies required by Chinese students. They include: the ability to quickly respond to the intensification of ICT development, the ability to independently master and create innovations, the ability to work in network organizations with a decentralized management system (including Russian-Chinese), the skill of continuous self-education, the skill of self-study situation analysis and the skills of operational decision making. The research has found that in modern Russia there is a need to coordinate interstate, regional and university levels of innovative educational cooperation between Russia and China, to train Russian highly qualified specialists for the implementation of bilateral digital educational cooperation and to increase the financial component of the innovative development of the Russian-Chinese educational cooperation. Keywords: digitalization of higher education, digital competencies, Chinese students, the educational space of the Russian university, the interaction of the Russian and the Chinese higher school

Transformation Processes of the Corporate Development in Russia: Social Responsibility Issues

The financial and economic crisis made visible the level of readiness to changes in the different types of organizations throughout the world and Russia. The variation of social and economic programs implemented by governmental and corporate sectors is widely seen; not all of them work positively for population, especially in the emerging markets countries. In the same time 20 years of the market economy in Russia, for instance, have definitely built a new social and economic system; but has Russia changed fundamentally in the management techniques? The presented paper generalizes some trends of the corporate development in Russia in the context of social responsibility and socio-economic transformation. The author attempts to define the place of Russia on the world map of corporate social responsibility. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Linguorhetorical aspects of prose and poetry interaction in literary discourse: synergetic approach

The article deals with prose and poetry interaction in literary discourse within synergetic approach