Claim Extraction and Dynamic Stance Detection in COVID-19 Tweets

The information ecosystem today is noisy, and rife with messages that contain a mix of objective claims and subjective remarks or reactions. Any automated system that intends to capture the social, cultural, or political zeitgeist, must be able to analyze the claims as well as the remarks. Due to the deluge of such messages on social media, and their tremendous power to shape our perceptions, there has never been a greater need to automate these analyses, which play a pivotal role in fact-checking, opinion mining, understanding opinion trends, and other such downstream tasks of social consequence. In this noisy ecosystem, not all claims are worth checking for veracity. Such a check-worthy claim, moreover, must be accurately distilled from subjective remarks surrounding it. Finally, and especially for understanding opinion trends, it is important to understand the stance of the remarks or reactions towards that specific claim. To this end, we introduce a COVID-19 Twitter dataset, and present a three-stage process to (i) determine whether a given Tweet is indeed check-worthy, and if so, (ii) which portion of the Tweet ought to be checked for veracity, and finally, (iii) determine the author's stance towards the claim in that Tweet, thus introducing the novel task of topic-agnostic stance detection. © 2023 ACM.

Study on Dynamic Change of Land Usage in Hongta District Based on Sentinel-2

This work utilizes Sentinel-2A L1C remote sensing photographs from the years 2018, 2020, and 2022 to identify the different land use categories in the study area using the support vector machine (SVM) technique. The accuracy of categorization is greater than 90%. This research explores four factors of the dynamic change in land use in Hongta District from 2018 to 2022: the proportion of various types of land;the extent of something like the changing land usage;land use transfer;and the dynamic degree of the change in land use. According to the study's results, the proportion of cultivated and grassland land grew, while the quantity of barren and construction land fell by 1.90 percent, 0.03 percent, and 0.69 percent, respectively. The water system land portion of total area increased by 2.58 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively. After comparing the two research periods, the entire dynamic degree of the second stage is determined to be 3.5 percent lower than that of the first stage, and the pace of land use change is quite sluggish, which may be associated with the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. The outcomes of the research may give the natural resources department the knowledge it needs to manage land resources properly. © 2023 SPIE.

Demystifying and Analysing Metaverse Towards Education 4.0

The word Metaverse has influenced many sectors such as healthcare, education, retail and manufacturing and few more industries are there which will be impacted by 2026 as per the research conducted by Gartner. The word 'Metaverse' especially in education sector came into existence after the COVID-19 epidemic when the humanity were forced to think about the new methodology of educating and teaching. This ecosphere is the combination of technologies which enables multimodal interactions with artificial environment, electronic library and people such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). It is believed that metaverse will improve collaboration, training process will be enhanced and most importantly it will create a happier workplace. This is only the reason that many corporate giants like Nvidia, facebook, apple, epic Games and companies has shifted towards this pedagogical ecosystem. This technology has the potential which enables absolute incorporating user conversation in actual-time and compelling interactivity with digital artifact. In this paper, we are addressing metaverse in education along with a detailed framework of metaverse in education. It includes a comparative study of conventional education, online education and metaverse education based on parameters like place of learning, resources used, teaching methodology, learning experience, learning target and learning assessment. Competency based education, energize student and positive attitude towards learning. The various challenges of the metaverse in educational sector are also debated. This paper will help the researcher's fraternity to get a deeper insight along with a clear perception of this ecosystem in education. © 2023 IEEE.

(Co-)learning and (Co-)evaluation in Scholarly Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities in the Covid-19 Era

The study aims at exploring the influence of global coronavirus pandemic on teaching, learning and evaluation processes involved in Higher Education (HE) by analysing the way in which knowledge exchange is reframed through ICTs and technology. Through the interpretative lens of Service Dominant logic, the chapter rereads HE as an ecosystem and investigates theoretically: (1) the transformations introduced in information management, technology adoption, resource integration, value co-creation and co-learning processes to challenge the sanitary emergency;(2) the way in which the adoption of this transformation can redefine the rules, practices and institutions in Higher education system. The results identify the different tech-nological touchpoints that can be implemented in teaching, learning and evaluation to boost co-learning and the different mechanisms that can foster the emergence of social change and innovation. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Managing Emergencies Through Resilience: The Case of Turin Smart City

The study explores the enabling factors of resilience as a key lever to address complexity, challenge technological evolution and foster growth in urban contexts. The goal is to explore the determinants of resilience to understand how smart cities can seize opportunities for innovation starting from disruptive event through the right combination of technology, human and social capital. Resilient smart cities can challenge environmental changes and develop proactive behaviors that encourage the attainment of social, economic and environmental well-being. Therefore, being resilient entails the redefinition of orientation, business models, technology and resource allocation to turn a crisis (such as Covid-19 pandemic) into an opportunity for development. Given the need to clarify the key determinants of resilience in contemporary cities, this article aims at exploring: (1) the main drivers for resilience to challenge a crisis;(2) how the drivers o resilience can be activated and combined to create opportunities for innovation. The empirical research is based on a content analysis that explores the case study of the Italian smart city of Turin. The results allow the identification of the determinants of resilience according to an exploratory approach, in which the smart projects and the set of technologies, resources and institutions exchanged and co-developed by Turin smart city are classified to obtain some enabling dimensions for resilience. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Service-Dominant Logic and Service Management 4.0

Contemporary service environments characterized by advanced technologies augmenting customer-frontline interactions present significant changes in the working environment of service managers. The COVID-19 pandemic further transformed the way of doing business in the service industry. This chapter explicates how complex contemporary service environments can be better understood, when applying service-dominant (S-D) logic informed strategies and methodologies that promote value cocreation processes and the engagement of broad sets of actors. It points toward—what we coin Service Management 4.0—a possible future for service management that embraces human-centered technologies, smart (cyber-physical) service ecosystems, inclusive and nature-positive service. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

What is hidden in the luggage? First assessments of illegal seashells gathering in Sardinia (Italy)

Natural souvenirs collection has been identified as a driving force in biodiversity and habitat degradation of tropical marine ecosystems. This work considers this phenomenon in the Mediterranean region taking Sardinia (Italy), one of the most renowned tourism destinations, as a case study. The biological material seized at Cagliari-Elmas Airport (years 2019–2020: 138 kg) was analyzed: 199 taxa were identified, gastropods (112 species, 7866 pieces) and bivalves (63 species, 34,218 pieces) resulted the most represented classes. Twenty-two protected species were found in the tourists' luggage including Patella ferruginea and Pinna nobilis, the invertebrates most threatened with extinction in the Mediterranean Sea. This study demonstrates that the illegal collection of natural mementos is common in Sardinia, thus its relevance is not limited to tropical regions. Regulation, enforcement and compliance shortcomings emerged, highlighting the importance of strengthening stakeholders' collaboration for a deeper insight on this phenomenon and implementing effective conservation strategies.

Exploring the Newer Horizons of Online Therapy – Its use and Effectiveness

The advancement of computing technology is becoming more important in the healthcare industry. Remotely assisted pain management treatments (Eaton et al., 2014) and tele-psychology (Godleski et al., 2012;Caver et al., 2020) have both been effectively adopted in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system throughout the United States. The American Psychological Association (2013) notes that the increasing reliance on technology to facilitate the delivery of psychological services brings with it a number of novel possibilities, factors to consider, and obstacles to practise. Glueckauf et al. (2018) found that although approximately 40% of practising clinical psychologists in the United States had utilised tele-psychology, the vast majority (60%) had never done so. Most clinical psychologists they surveyed expressed reservations about providing services through video chat and hence exclusively saw patients in person. Glueckauf et al. (2018) found that over half of psychologists surveyed felt they needed more training in crisis management for online therapy, and that nearly all therapists (79%) were worried about issues related to security, confidentiality, and HIPAA. © 2023, Journal for ReAttach Therapy and Developmental Diversities. All Rights Reserved.

International Symposium on Eastern Indonesia Marine Ecosystems

EditorsAgus Setiawan, Iis Triyulianti, Charlie Ester de Fretes, Muhammad Zain Tuakia, Sem Likumahua, Faisal Hamzah, Corry Yanti Manullang, Dewi Seswita Zilda, Abdul Wahab Radjab, Muhammad Fadli, Rafidha Dh. Ahmad Opier, Ahmad Romdon.PrefaceThe evaluation of the First Symposium on Banda Sea Ecosystem (ISBSE) held by the Research Center for Deep Sea (then under the Indonesian Institute of Sciences-LIPI) in 2017 indicated the need to expand the geographic coverage area of the symposium. As the follow up, in 2022, the Research Center organized the International Symposium on Eastern Indonesia Marine Ecosystems (ISEIME), with the objective is to gather all marine scientists and observers to meet and share their knowledge and recent information regarding marine ecosystems in eastern Indonesia and the country in general. ISEIME is one of various international conferences that organized by the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency-BRIN to focus on topics such as Oceanography and Climate Change;Marine Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Ecology;Marine Monitoring and Management;Marine Pollution;and Marine Geosciences. The event took place on the 24th of November 2022.Human health problems due to the pandemic of COVID-19 in Indonesia has decreased recently, yet in some parts of the country still show slight increase cases. To this end, we decided to conduct the ISEIME 2022 virtually using the zoom platform, which was remotely organized from Ambon, eastern Indonesia. The symposium was commenced by a report from the chairman of ISEIME and subsequently followed by a welcoming-remarks by the Head of Research Center for Deep Sea, Intan Suci Nurhati, Ph.D. In the first session, two keynote speakers (Prof. Ocky Karna Radjasa and Prof. Dwi Listyo Rahayu from BRIN) were given 30-40 minutes to present their talks and followed by a 30 minutes Q&A. Three invited speakers, Prof. Stevan Steinke, Prof. Wiedong Yu and Prof. Madya Dr. Tuan Nurul Sabiqah Tuan Anuar delivered their talks during the second session. In the parallel session, 30 speakers were divided into five different rooms according to the topics and they were given 15 minutes each to deliver their presentations, followed by 5 minutes Q&A.The event has gained a great success due to hard work from the collaboration between the local committee in Ambon, Bali and Jakarta. We would like to thank BRIN International Conference Event Organizer who had taken part in providing time and financial support during the event. Special acknowledgement to all speakers who contribute in the event by imparting their knowledge during the talks and discussions, and also their willingness to participate and contribute in the future marine research in Indonesia. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to all authors who contribute their findings through their written papers, and for their significant thoughts and ideas in discussions during their presentations. Finally, we give a great appreciation and many thanks to reviewers who have voluntarily participated and contributed not only in judging papers, but also in providing constructive comments and suggestions for authors to improve their manuscripts.ISEIME chairmanSem LikumahuaList of ISEIME Committee is available in this Pdf.

A QGIS plugin for BONDS project: integrating field data with geographical, remote sensing and health information

Open source Geographic Information System (GIS) have been fostering spatial data research such as Earth observation and environmental monitoring for more than 30 years. More recently, globally available geospatial information combined with web technologies are providing new environments and tools for data handling. Thus, binding the mapping and processing capabilities of traditional GIS to the accessibility and reliability of web-based data providers can bring new opportunities for research. In this paper, we built a QGIS plugin to explore the integration of different public data providers in Brazil along with field data produced by the BONDS project. The biOdiversity conservatioN with Development in Amazon wetlandS project (BONDS) proposes to develop biodiversity scenarios for the Amazonian floodplains aiming to support solutions to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. The use of web services enabled dynamic and fast access to several products ranging from remote sensing images, land use and land cover, territorial cartography, water quality, to COVID-19 health data, and more. © 2022 National Institute for Space Research, INPE. All rights reserved.

The experience of countries in implementing the principles of "one health". Comparative review

Relevance: The global consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic emphasize today the importance of the concept of "One Health" for the health system, which provides for the use of a coordinated, joint, interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach to eliminate potential or existing risks arising at the interface of the "environment-animal-human-ecosystem". The aim of the work is to study the experience of countries in implementing the concept of "One Health". Search strategy: comparative analysis of publications on the research topic, sources indexed in the databases of the electronic library e-Library, Google Academy, Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus. 26 countries from the European Union, South America and Africa were subject to analysis. The criteria defined are: institutional framework;mechanisms of intersectoral interaction and programs/tools for the implementation of the concept of "One Health". Results: The literature review provides a comparative analysis of the experience of implementing the concept of "One Health" in 26 countries. Realizing the importance of "One Health" in the general concept of public safety, countries have launched an active policy to promote it in the last decade. Characteristic features of country policies are the intersectoral approach with appropriate support from the government of the country, the activity of all participants in promoting the initiative and their investment.

Preface

Following the success of 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 International Conference on Science & Technology Applications in Climate Change (STACLIM), the Institute of Climate Change (IPI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is proud to extend our promotion of research and education for the advancement of climate change studies. The 2022 International Conference on Science & Technology Applications in Climate Change (STACLIM 2022) with the theme "Climate change mitigation action through the lens of science and technology” is the fifth in the series of conferences organized by IPI. This year the conference was carried out in virtual form through the Webex platform (29 – 30 November 2022) due to the COVID-19 travel restriction. Through the virtual form, the science community is able to share their research findings in time.The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers in fields of Environmental Science, Health Sustainability, Mathematics, Sustainable Energy, Economic Sustainability, Socio-Cultural Studies, Social Science, Atmospheric Science, and related fields, to present their research findings as well as create new opportunities for future research collaborations. This event is envisaged to witness active participation from various eminent environmental and earth scientists, engineers and students from academia, industry and government sectors for addressing complications associated with climate change and to draw forth novel and ground-breaking initiatives and solutions for climate resilience.The plenary sessions in the main room were opened by two keynote speeches from leading experts including Prof. Dr. Lisa Stein from University of Alberta, Canada on "Microbial Solutions to Mitigating Climate Change”, Prof. Dr. Haruko Kurihara from University of Ryukyus, Japan, on "Ocean acidification impacts on marine ecosystem and its potential mitigation solutions”. As the keynote session was open for public registration, we had participants joining the event. It was then followed by the invited speaker sessions consisting of Prof. Dr. Fredolin Tangang (UKM), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rawshan Ara Begum (Macquarie University, Australia), Dr. Shantanu Kumar Pani (National Central University, Taiwan) and Mr. Saud Aldrees (University of Oxford, England). The program was then continued with oral presentation of 72 papers in 3 parallel breakout rooms. Each presenter was given up to 15 mins for presentation and Q&A sessions. There were additional 13 non-presenters who joined in during the presentation session. Presenters and participants have attended the conference from their respective countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria, India, and Ukraine.The conference went well with great support and synergy of the staff and personnel from Institute of Climate Change, UKM. To document and promulgate the research findings and ideas shared, we are very pleased to publish the accepted research papers of STACLIM 2022 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES).The EditorsList of Organizing Committee is available in this Pdf.

Sustainability Reporting Ecosystem: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Overhaul during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The preparation of sustainability reports, which a negligible number of organisations had been doing until recently, will soon be the new reality for many more organisations. This research aims to present changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the ecosystem of sustainability reporting pronouncements, especially those used by organisations. In our research, we compare important information about two different periods and the content demands in reporting on sustainability. Changes in the ecosystem are fundamental and unique. Based on the analysis of events and documents, the current research shows the changes in the ecosystem and the future dynamics in the ecosystem, including the principle standard setters (i.e., International Sustainability Standards Board and European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, EFRAG). The research shows that although the changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, they did not significantly impact the ecosystem's development or slow down or stop their development. The COVID-19 pandemic did not affect the speed or dynamics of changes. In the last few years, EFRAG and the European Union established their position and gained a significant influence in sustainability reporting, with EFRAG at the forefront. The European Sustainability Reporting Standards will be mandatory for organisations doing business in the European Union. At the same time, we do not expect that the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards will be directly endorsed for use in the European Union. The paper presents a new perspective on examining sustainability via developing organisations' reporting demands within the framework of the uncertain environment caused by COVID-19. In this context, our research also contributes to the literature. The study also has a potential practical impact on organisations and management since it illuminates a wide range of selected sustainability viewpoints and their reporting.

Ecology in the age of climate change: Challenges facing the effective implementation of nature-based solutions in terrestrial ecosystems

At this stage of the Great Acceleration of the Anthropocene, humanity is experiencing the global issues of worsening climate change impacts, devastating damage from more frequent and severe natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which are attributable to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. The global community recognises that these issues pose severe societal and economic risks. “Nature-based solutions” have been posited as a means to address these threats. Nature-based solutions utilise natural terrestrial ecosystem functions to provide environmental, social and economic benefits at low cost. The growing social demand for nature-based solutions constitutes an opportunity for the field of ecology to expand beyond the conventional focus on biodiversity and conservation and shift to presenting biodiversity and ecosystem functions as the basis of human well-being and social sustainability. We sought to identify a trajectory for ecological research that is aimed at contributing to the effective implementation of nature-based solutions. First, we summarise current social needs related to terrestrial ecosystem utilisation. Next, we provide an overview of existing literature and knowledge regarding biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystem function, which are critical to nature-based solutions. Finally, we identify outstanding ecological hurdles to the implementation of these strategies and propose a way forward based on our findings. We explain that any basic presentation of ecological processes requires addressing the impacts of climate change and the interrelatedness of biodiversity, climate and social systems. Enhanced ecological process models are critical for linking biodiversity and ecosystems with climate and social systems. It is crucial to establish a framework that embeds monitoring systems, data infrastructure and delivery systems within society to mobilise terrestrial ecosystem and biodiversity data and results. Furthermore, the implementation of nature-based solutions must include acknowledging trade-offs in objectives and transdisciplinary research with other fields and stakeholders with the shared goal of transformative change. Ecological research must demonstrate more clearly how terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystems are linked to human health and well-being, as well as how they are affected by production and consumption systems. In the age of climate change, the knowledge and tools of the ecologist form the foundation of nature-based solutions and provide an indispensable theoretical basis for this approach.Alternate :æŠ„éŒ²äººæ–°ä¸–ã®å¤§åŠ é€Ÿã¨ã‚‚å‘¼ã°ã‚Œã‚‹æ°—å€™å¤‰å‹•ã®æ™‚ä»£ã«ãŠã„ã¦ã€æ°—å€™å¤‰å‹•å½±éŸ¿ã®é¡•åœ¨åŒ–ã€è‡ªç„¶ç½å®³ã®æ¿€ç”šåŒ–ãƒ»é »ç™ºåŒ–ã€COVID-19の世界的流行などの地球規模の問題が増大している。国際社会では、ã"ã‚Œã‚‰ã®å•é¡Œã¯ç”Ÿæ…‹ç³»ã®åŠ£åŒ–ã‚„ç”Ÿç‰©å¤šæ§˜æ€§ã®æå¤±ãŒè¦å› ã§ã‚ã‚‹ã"と、そして社会経済にも多大な損害ã‚'与える大きなリスクであるã"とが共通の認識となりつつある。そのような状況ã‚'åæ˜ ã—ã€é™¸åŸŸç”Ÿæ…‹ç³»ã®å¤šé¢çš„ãªæ©Ÿèƒ½ã‚'活用するã"とで、低いコストでç'°å¢ƒãƒ»ç¤¾ä¼šãƒ»çµŒæ¸ˆã«ä¾¿ç›Šã‚'もたらし、社会が抱える複数の課題の解決に貢献する「自然ã‚'基盤とした解決策」という新しい概念に大きな期待が寄せられている。ã"の解決策への社会的なニーズの高まりは、生態学が長年取り組ã‚"できた生物多様性や生態系の保全に関する課題ã‚'超えて、生態学が生物多様性や生態系が豊かな人é–"社会ã‚'継続し発展させる知的基盤となるã"とや、生態学の社会的有用性ã‚'示す機会である。そã"で本稿では、気候変動時代における「自然ã‚'åŸºç›¤ã¨ã—ãŸè§£æ±ºç­–ã€ã®å®Ÿè·µã«å‘ã‘ãŸç”Ÿæ…‹å­¦ç ”ç©¶ã®æ–¹å‘ã¥ã‘ã‚'目的とし、陸域生態系の活用に対する社会的なニーズの現状ã‚'概観する。その上で、「自然ã‚'åŸºç›¤ã¨ã—ãŸè§£æ±ºç­–ã€ã®éµã¨ãªã‚‹é™¸åŸŸç”Ÿæ ‹ç³»ã®ç”Ÿç‰©å¤šæ§˜æ€§ã‚„ç”Ÿæ…‹ç³»æ©Ÿèƒ½ã«é–¢ã™ã‚‹çŸ¥è¦‹ã‚'整理して課題ã‚'抽出し、ã"れらã‚'è¸ã¾ãˆã¦ä»Šå¾Œã®ç”Ÿæ…‹å­¦ç ”ç©¶ã®æ–¹å‘æ€§ã‚'å…·ä½"的に示す。まず、現象の基礎的な理解という観点からは、生物多様性ã‚'含む陸域生態系と気候システムや社会システムとの相äº'関係性ã‚'含めた包括的な気候変動影響のメカニズムの解明と、予測・評価のためのプロセスモデルの高度化ã‚'進めるã"と、そして同時に、陸域生態系と生物多様性の変化ã‚'ç¤ºã™ãŸã‚ã®åŠ¹æžœçš„ãªãƒ¢ãƒ‹ã‚¿ãƒªãƒ³ã‚°ã¨æƒ…å ±åŸºç›¤ã®å¼·åŒ–ã‚'行い、データや分析結果ã‚'社会に還元するフレームワークã‚'構築するã"ã¨ãŒå„ªå…ˆäº‹é …ã§ã‚ã‚‹ã€‚ã‚ˆã‚Šå®Ÿè·µçš„ãªè¦³ç‚¹ã‹ã‚‰ã¯ã€ã€Œè‡ªç„¶ã‚'基盤とした解決策」の実装や社会変革などにおいて共通の目標ã‚'ã‚‚ã¤ä»–åˆ†é‡Žã¨ã®å­¦éš›ç ”ç©¶ã‚'積極的に行うã"とにより、実装における目的é–"のトレードオフã‚'示すã"と、健康・福祉の課題や生産・消費システムの中での陸域生態系や生物多様性への影響や役割ã‚'示すã"ã¨ãªã©ãŒå„ªå…ˆäº‹é …ã¨ãªã‚‹ã€‚æ°—å€™å¤‰å‹•ã«ä»£è¡¨ã•ã‚Œã‚‹ä¸ç¢ºå®Ÿæ€§ã®é«˜ã„ç'°å¢ƒä¸‹ã§ã€åŠ¹æžœçš„な「自然ã‚'åŸºç›¤ã¨ã—ãŸè§£æ±ºç­–ã€ã®å®Ÿæ–½ãŸã‚ã«ã¯ã€ãã®ç§‘å­¦çš„åŸºç›¤ã¨ãªã‚‹ç”Ÿæ…‹å­¦ã®çŸ¥è¦‹ã¨ãƒ„ãƒ¼ãƒ«ã¯ä¸å¯æ¬ ã§ã‚ã‚Šã€ã¾ãŸãã®å®Ÿè£…ã‚'通じた社会変革へのé"筋においても生態学の貢献が期待されている。

A Study on Information Disorders on Social Networks during the Chilean Social Outbreak and COVID-19 Pandemic

Information disorders on social media can have a significant impact on citizens' participation in democratic processes. To better understand the spread of false and inaccurate information online, this research analyzed data from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The data were collected and verified by professional fact-checkers in Chile between October 2019 and October 2021, a period marked by political and health crises. The study found that false information spreads faster and reaches more users than true information on Twitter and Facebook. Instagram, on the other hand, seemed to be less affected by this phenomenon. False information was also more likely to be shared by users with lower reading comprehension skills. True information, on the other hand, tended to be less verbose and generate less interest among audiences. This research provides valuable insights into the characteristics of misinformation and how it spreads online. By recognizing the patterns of how false information diffuses and how users interact with it, we can identify the circumstances in which false and inaccurate messages are prone to becoming widespread. This knowledge can help us to develop strategies to counter the spread of misinformation and protect the integrity of democratic processes.

Creative Economy and Sustainable Regional Growth: Lessons from the Implementation of Entrepreneurial Discovery Process at the Regional Level

The creative economy sector is tightly associated with sustainable development and Sustainable Economic Goals (SDGs). The creative industries contribute to sustainability in a variety of ways. They are essential in accelerating sustainable consumption and production patterns and promoting regional sustainable development. This paper attempts to stress the role of the creative economy in promoting sustainable regional growth by focusing on smart specialization priority areas in the region of Attica. The latter has been accomplished by presenting the current regional policy model and the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) methodology in the region of Attica. This paper concludes that the EDP paves the way for the formulation of policy lessons enhancing the link between the creative economy and sustainable regional growth. In a nutshell, three major conclusions derived from the present paper include the following aspects: (i) the formulation of an integrated smart specialisation strategy requires an ongoing and well-structured process along the policy cycle (structured life-cycle approach);(ii) the deployment of a robust innovation ecosystem requires a comprehensive approach of engaging and mobilising regional actors and identifying their needs and priorities;(iii) the lessons observed through the exploration of the case study lead to concrete findings regarding the critical importance of long-term interactive institutional learning and policy co-design as a precondition for an effective regional ecosystem.

Regulatory Competition, Coordination and Polity Convergence in the Covid Ecosystemic Crisis: A Policy Approach

The paper briefly sketches different "adaptations” possible to address the Covid crisis and then advances three possible avenues for future policy analysis of Covid-related measures, each of these avenues being based on a "conjecture”, respectively an evolutionary, a critical, and a cosmopolitan, and conjecture. The evolutionary conjecture implies regulatory transplants, the critical conjecture elicits competition of Covid-related measures, and the cosmopolitan conjecture assumes coordination of policies. The paper discusses how these conjectures based on pre-Covid literature could explain the regulatory dynamics and then asserts that growing evidence shows that regulatory measures appear to naturally lead to a "polity convergence” based on a common core of "Covid-biopower” and "Covid-biopolitics”. This convergence defies the initial expectations that the fragmented reactions to the Covid crisis could be explained by using the traditional research tools and also poses unprecedented critical issues that demand an expansion of the horizon of policy research.

Community-based disaster risk reduction efforts in facing the threat of abrasion disasters at Bungin Beach, Bekasi Regency during the covid-19 pandemic

Abrasion causes coastal areas to have a very high level of dynamics and often has an impact on environmental damage, so it needs to be anticipated. In the last 2 years, the whole world has faced a crisis caused by the pandemic due to Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19). During the pandemic, the environment where coastal communities live is still threatened with abrasion. Some mangrove planting and rehabilitation activities had to be stopped to suppress the spread of the virus. The purpose of this study was to identify the role of community groups (Tourism Awareness Group) as a key factor in overcoming abrasion events during the Covid-19 pandemic at Bungin Beach. Interviews and direct observations were conducted to obtain survey data. Additional analyzes were then carried out through relevant journals and literature reviews. As a result, from 1997 to 2021 there has been abrasion on Bungin beach. The Tourism Awareness Group plays a role in post-pandemic recovery, especially in the economic sector. Through mangrove planting activities, not only to restore the economy of coastal communities during the pandemic but also to protect coastal ecosystems from the threat of abrasion on Bungin Beach.

Disruption and recovery of river planktonic community during and after the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China

During the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, large amounts of anti-coronavirus chemicals, such as antiviral drugs and disinfectants were discharged into the surrounding aquatic ecosystem, causing potential ecological damage. Here, we investigated plankton in the Wuhan reaches of the Yangtze River, before, during, and after COVID-19, with the river reaches of three adjacent cities sampled for comparison. During the COVID-19, planktonic microbial density declined significantly. Correspondingly, the eukaryotic and prokaryotic community compositions and functions shifted markedly, with increasing abundance of chlorine-resistant organisms. Abundance of antibiotic resistance genes, virulence factor genes, and bacteria containing both genes increased by 2.3-, 2.7-, and 7.9-fold, respectively, compared to other periods. After COVID-19, all measured plankton community compositional and functional traits recovered in the Yangtze River.

The Rise of AI-powered companies

Artificial intelligence is emerging as a game-changer in the business world, with impacts across all sectors. AI allows business to process massive amounts of data instantaneously, and to scale solutions at almost zero marginal cost, forcing companies to adapt and reimagine their business and operations. The Rise of AI-Powered Companies examines some of the most successful examples of companies using artificial intelligence to their advantage. From AI-enabled countries across the globe that stayed resilient and strong in the face of COVID-19, to Business-to-Consumer businesses that transformed their product development processes thanks to unprecedented amounts of consumer data, increasing their revenues manifold along the way. The book then delves into the critical enablers to becoming AI-powered and the critical steps to activate and integrate them within business organizations. Starting with data strategy, it examines new forms of data sharing and how companies should think about governance and privacy risks. It then focuses on human-AI collaboration and its role in building a stronger team culture. Finally, "Responsible AI" is discussed as well as the impact of AI-powered businesses on society at large. AI-powered companies will become the norm in the years to come. By unpacking and showcasing the major steps of a successful AI transformation, this book will help guide organizations in making the critical leap to become AI-powered-essential to survive and remain competitive in the near future. © 2022 The BCG Henderson Institute. All rights reserved.