Forging organizational resilience through green value co-creation: The role of green technology, green operations, and green transaction capabilities

The study assessed the mediating role of green organizational capabilities (green technology development, green operations, and green transactions), in the relationship between green value co-creation and organizational resilience among Chinese manufacturing firms, that is, firms' ability to build strong organizational resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It focused on manufacturing firms operating within Shenzhen, a coastal city located within the Guangdong province in southeastern China. The sample comprised 234 firms. Data were analysed using a covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that green value co-creation had no direct effect on organizational resilience, rather, its effect was realized indirectly through green organizational capabilities. The study concludes that manufacturing companies can augment their organizational capabilities by leveraging the knowledge of their customers through green value co-creation to build strong organizational resilience. Theoretical and managerial implications have been provided.

Effective Communication Strategy to Mitigate Citizen Complaints: Case from Kazakhstan

This paper explores the potential impacts of effective communication strategies on handling with citizen complaints. Governments from all over the world recently learnt a number of important lessons as a result of poor public relations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Public confusion and misunderstanding may result from poor government communication, not just during the global coronavirus pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the benefits of the recently launched eOtinish services for citizen complaints, as well as their implementation process, benefits, and obstacles. This quick analysis of Kazakhstan's evolving eOtinish program review is meant to serve as a conceptual starting point for future studies on effective e-government adoption. This article provides government with recommendations for establishing effective citizen complaint strategies through effective communication channels for use with the public. By using the eOtinish as a case study we propose to understand technological change in the public sector, in particular, how technology influences administrative capacity, through a new concept of technological capacity. The results of this study suggest in order to seek new solution in managing people complaint government reach to conclusion that implementation of technological changes fundamentally alter how public organizations function and how services are delivered. © 2022,Innovation Journal. All Rights Reserved.

Technology transfer in e-communication for small and medium enterprises as promoters of innovation and competitiveness

Globalization, technological innovations, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have promoted disruptive changes in buying and selling negotiation models through e-communication. As a result, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been forced to adapt to online channels. Considering market relevance, this article describes the survey results with 11 SMEs regarding their adherence to digital media. Moreover, a case study of a selected company demonstrated barriers and propulsions to digital adequacy. The aim was to promote SMEs' competitiveness through technology transfer, focusing on e-communication and strategic digital planning. The results show that the insertion of technology through digital media depends on the knowledge of the tools used in this medium. Therefore, despite being ready to use, SMEs have not yet fully leveraged digital media. Organizational barriers, such as lack of time for those responsible, lack of training and knowledge, and strategic planning, were observed. However, environmental factors such as competitive pressure and innovation-related policies are positive for insertion. Thus, there is room for companies to invest in digital strategic planning focused on improving sales, customer relations, and competitiveness. © 2022 IEEE.

Instructional Usability and Learner-User eXperience Assessment in a Virtual Reality Educational Milieu: A Deductive Tech-Instructionality Model from EdTech

Educational Technology (EdTech) lacks a foundational, formal, scientific, epistemic theory. Therefore, it lacks native constructs/variables and an epistemological object of study for scientifically deploying its work. This study determines the existence (ontology) of the theorized constructs Instructional Usability (UsI) and Learner-User eXperience (LUX) and defines their characterization (epistemology). Both constructs were modeled and instrumented. Furthermore, a Tech-Instructionality Model (TIM) was theorized and developed in this paper, both analytically and empirically. The model integrates UsI and LUX as two pairs of constructs linked with two EdTech epistemological objects of study, the instructional interface and the instructional interaction in two assessment modalities, testing mode (user-learner view) and inspection mode (expert/designer view). Two instruments were developed and validated in this study for testing mode, the Instructional Usability Scale (SUsI) and the Learner-User eXperience Questionnaire (QLUX). Both instruments were tested in a non-immersive virtual reality educational milieu during the academic lockdown of the Covid19 pandemic. The results show that both SUsI and QLUX consistently measured UsI and LUX, thus, providing a valid assessment for tech-instructionality and a foundation for constructing a scientific theory of EdTech. © 2023 IEEE.

Augmented, Virtual and Immersive Reality as Learning Support in TEC21 Educational Model

Virtual, augmented, and immersive reality opens a world of possibilities in education by allowing students to recreate authentic situations, such as operating machinery, assembling a product, or training tool handling, to mention a few. In the TEC21 educational model, the core is the challenge: A project with a real-world challenge assigned by the training partner results in students offering solution proposals.The trigger that accelerated the development of virtual, augmented, and immersive reality activities in distance learning was COVID-19 confinement. During this, these technologies recreated the laboratory and its facilities' learning through augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences.Using these technologies in the classroom allows students to achieve a great learning experience and develop skills for postgraduate studies and professional futures.Furthermore, now that we have returned to our physical facilities and laboratories, we can accelerate the learning obtained at the training partners' facilities, recreating processes and machinery through these immersive technologies and a hybrid experience for our students.The present research shows the activity learning design process and the statistical treatment of the data to provide continuous feedback during the activity;we examine the three transcendental variables in the educational process: The learning (academic rigor), the development of competencies, and the involvement or immersion of the students in the classroom. © 2023 IEEE.

RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION, FOOD SECURITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRIPRENEURS AND POLICYMAKERS

Population growth and more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic, have increased the number of severely food insecure people in sub-Saharan Africa. Food security is one of the most prominent tasks facing the global environment especially in Asia and Africa. With the increase in the population, drought, floods, disease outbreaks, poor farm network systems, water poverty, weak political and economic institutions, selfish leadership and economic challenges in Africa, the food security crisis appears to be an important issue that will require strategic and urgent attention. There is no doubt that traditional ways of farming are not sustainable in Africa because the land available for agriculture reduces as the population increases over time. Investment in new technologies is one of the strategies to improve farm yields and livestock outputs, and reduces the risk and negative effects of weather. The role of agripreneurship, in this context, towards ensuring food security cannot be underestimated. This study is quantitative research which analyses the historical and current time series data in order to predict the future event using inferential statistics. This study investigates the relationship between food security (FST), agricultural research and technology innovation (RTI) and economic growth (GDP) in Nigeria between 1980 and 2018. The study utilizes cointegration and causality tests to determine the long run relationship among the variables and their causal directions so as to know which variable caused the others. Understanding this relationship among the variables and causal direction are vital to making appropriate suggestions for policy makers. The results of the Johansen cointegration test reveals an existence of a long run relationship between the three series (FST, RTI, GDP). The results of vector error correction model indicate a short run causality from GDP to FST and RTI, respectively. Furthermore, the results of long run causality show two-way causality between FST and RTI, one-way causality from GDP to FST and RTI without feedback. This implies that when the economic activities improve in Nigeria in the short run, this engenders agricultural technology innovation deployment in the country which facilitates food security in the long run, while food security also facilitates agricultural technology innovation. The two-way causality between RTI and FST established in this study implies that increase in agricultural research investment would improve food security and vice versa. Thus, government and other private players such as agripreneurs in agricultural sector should intensify their spending in agricultural research on the one hand, and government should also provide appropriate incentives to motivate private stakeholders for agricultural R&D investment on the other hand. © 2023, African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. All Rights Reserved.

What was the impact of business performance on MSMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in the pattern of interactions between people and has also had an impact on market traders in Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to increase the competitiveness of MSMEs through entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and technology orientation toward product innovation and their impact on MSMEs' business performance. This study uses the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), and convenience sampling was used to select 160 MSMEs for the study sample. Based on the path coefficients that lead to business performance, technology orientation has a value of 16.1, followed by product innovation with a value of 10.6, market orientation with a value of 0.009, and entrepreneurship orientation with a value of 0.004, which have a positive effect on business performance. But if you look at what influences product innovation, the first is technology orientation at 0.357, followed by market orientation at 0.325, and entrepreneurial orientation at 0.245. This means that technology orientation is vital in improving business performance and product innovation. © 2023 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.

Mandated media innovation impacts on knowledge dissemination in workplace training

This conceptual paper examines voluntary versus mandatory cloud-based training, generating recommendations to harmonise the complementarity of face-to-face and online media in future careers. Technological change was already accelerating when the COVID-19 pandemic response turbocharged transformations of knowledge dissemination in training, thus impacting learning and competency development for the future. The methodology applies comprehensive, structured literature review following PRISMA guidelines with development of a novel conceptual framework illuminating facets of knowledge dissemination. Exploring the context of workplace training and the future of careers with aid of NVivo it was found that altered social cues in cloud training are generating changes in learner attention span, engagement, and peer-to-peer interaction, potentially increasing contract cheating. It is hence recommended that stakeholders demarcate theoretical and practical learning outcomes to develop hybrid cloud media and face-to-face knowledge dissemination to accentuate professional accreditation requirements, engagement and etiquette in virtual spaces, and improve understanding of work-home balance.

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Advancing Sustainable Development Goals in the Agriculture Sector

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the algorithms designed to make decisions, often using big real-time data to perform activities that at times go beyond human capabilities. Given the increasing gap in agricultural demand and supply worldwide, further widened by the COVID-19 pandemic (The pandemic has derailed the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) further off the track. The SDG financing gap per annum widened from USD 2.5 trillion to around USD 4.2 trillion), it necessitates innovative and cost-effective approaches to agriculture. AI has begun producing innovative technological solutions and data-driven insights to farming which gives confidence that it can be used to mitigate challenges around sustainable agricultural practices and facilitate getting SDGs back on track. In agriculture, AI has demonstrated immense potential in achieving enhanced productivity and improving the existing supply chains, delivery systems and market value/better pricing in both developed and developing countries for better utilisation of the produce. Several innovative uses of AI in agriculture have emerged worldwide, promising to advance farm productivity while improving sustainability and livelihoods at the same time. However, many of these experiments/pilots exist in silos. Due to this fragmented approach, a comprehensive understanding of how successful the use of AI has been in agriculture and what shortcomings or challenges were faced in some of these technological implementations has not been well evaluated. This chapter, therefore, assesses the pressing reasons to use innovative and cost-effective digital interventions like AI for SDGs in the agriculture sector. The paper then identifies the challenges in designing a successful AI programme and explores the potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships in this context. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Comparing the Use of Virtual Models vs. Fieldwork in Developing Geomatics Skills in Undergraduate Engineering Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Undergraduate students enrolled in Civil Engineering, Architecture, and Urban Planning (CAU) must develop competencies in Geomatics and Topography (G&T) as part of their learning process. During this time, theoretical concepts are traditionally taught with field practice using specialized tools such as a theodolite, laser level, and total station. Due to the environmental restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional field practice (TFP) was suspended, preventing access to equipment and study areas. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR), have been explored in the last decade for educational purposes. This paper studies the benefits of using these tools for developing G&T skills. This research aimed to assess students' learning outcomes using a traditional G&T teaching method and a new methodology based on Virtual Field Practice (VFP) for CAU students. The methodology provides a virtual study area for the CAU student by integrating point clouds derived from photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning. It also assesses their learning results and compares them against a control group using a validated instrument. Findings suggest continuing with fieldwork for a greater understanding and correct application of G&T concepts by students, and using virtual models as an efficient way to complement the acquisition of spatial information in the teaching-learning process. Until the publication of this article, we found no evidence in the literature at the undergraduate level of applying exercises like those proposed. © 2023 IEEE.

Rethinking regional economic resilience: Preconditions and processes shaping transformative resilience

The unpredictable impacts of sudden shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic or the current energy crisis accelerated by the Russia-Ukraine war have led to a renewed interest in regional economic resilience. Much of the literature focuses attention on how regional economies and industries could bounce back, that is, how they could return to their pre-shock conditions. Other scholars have proposed to construe resilience as bouncing forward to capture the mechanisms and processes that underpin positive adaptation and structural change in response to an acute crisis. In this article, we argue that both conceptualisations do not consider shocks and crises as a window of opportunity for regional economies to transform into a radically different and more desirable trajectory. We bring a new perspective into play, that is, transformative resilience which places shifts towards more sustainable pathways centre stage. This understanding of regional economic resilience acknowledges that a crisis may bring about permanent structural change and considers to what extent these transformations are to the benefit of society and the environment. This article seeks to identify in a conceptual way what factors and dynamics are vital for enhancing the transformative resilience of regions. To this end, we draw on recent insights from the debate on challenge-oriented regional innovation systems and elaborate on the role of pre-shock conditions and various core processes in building up regional transformative resilience.

Introduction: Global Pandemic, Human Security, Technology and Development

Human security concept has evolved over the last 20 years and covers the broader aspects of development, environment, and disaster risk reduction perspectives. In general, human security concerns itself with safeguarding and expanding people's vital freedom, with the ambition "freedom from want,” "freedom from fear,” and "freedom to live with dignity.” COVID-19, the global pandemic, has affected the lives and livelihoods of people globally, including the human security issues from losing livelihoods to losing choices for education, access to health, and safe water. Different technologies (both existing and emerging) are being used globally to address these issues, albeit differentially, creating a significant digital/technology divide. The divide would have a much larger impact on human security in the near future. On the contrary, social innovation plays an important positive role to address the challenges of human security. With this context, the chapter provides some historical perspective on the evolution of the concept of human security, its relation to different development, environment, and disaster-related frameworks, and role of technology in achieving human security. The chapter provides an overview of the book with a short introduction of each chapter and provides a few ways forward at the end. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Global Pandemic and Human Security: Technology and Development Perspective

This book highlights how the human security aspect has been affected by the global pandemic, based on the specific case study, field data, and evidence. COVID-19 has exemplified that the pandemic is global, but its responses are local. The responses depend on national governance and policy framework, use of technology and innovation, and people's perceptions and behavior, among many others. There are many differences in how the pandemic has affected the rich and the poor, urban and rural sectors, development and fiscal sectors, and developed and developing nations and communities. Echoing human security principles, the 2030 Agenda emphasized a "world free of poverty, hunger, disease and want… free of fear and violence… with equitable and universal access to quality education, health care, and social protection….to safe drinking water and sanitation… where food is sufficient, safe, affordable and nutritious… where habitats are safe, resilient and sustainable…and where there is universal access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy.” These basic human security [PA1] principles and development agenda are highly affected by the global pandemic worldwide, irrespective of its development and economic status. Thus, the book highlights the nexus between human security and development issues. It has two major pillars, one is the development and the other is technology issues. These two inter-dependent topics are discussed in the perspective of the global pandemic, making this the most important feature of this book. While the world is still in the middle of a pandemic, and possibly other natural and biological hazards may affect peoples' lives and livelihoods in the future, this book provides some key learning, which can be used to cope with future uncertainties, including climate risks. Thus, the book is timely and relevant to wider readers. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer 2022.

Do Online Challenge-Based Learning Help Professors Identify and Solve Community Problems During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

This research aims to identify online challenge-based learning (CBL) that builds on the problem-based learning practice to support professors working in two Mexican institutions with solutions to six social challenges defined by the institutions. Thirty-five professors from Tecnologico de Monterrey participated in developing the solutions related to given challenges by taking a social approach. For this activity, an online training session of one week was organized by the Faculty Development and Educational Innovation Center (CEDDIE) of Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City, Mexico. The data was collected through an online survey based on quantitative and qualitative questionnaires. We received fifteen complete responses out of thirty-five. Analyzing the results of this study affirmed that online CBL activities served professors to promote social interactions, develop pedagogical competencies, and share knowledge based on their learning experience through active collaboration with peers in the same institutions but from different disciplines and campuses to identify and solve existing societal issues. © 2023 IEEE.

Work in progress: Hybrid lab for engineering learning

This paper describes the implementation of a hybrid platform for experimental activities in engineering courses. The proposed platform can be used as a remote or face-to-face laboratory;it may also be ideal for the new normal after the Covid 19 pandemic. The proposal has the purpose to help engineering teachers to build this hybrid laboratory without specialized knowledge, requiring little time for its implementation and practically no economic investment. To validate the proposal, the process to build the course of a hybrid laboratory for Control System course is described in this paper, which is expected to have experimental activities within the university and from home. After the implementation, the full functionality of the laboratory will be carried out both in its remote and face-to-face format. © 2023 IEEE.

University centres for the study of data. Responsibility and institutional justice in a platform society

The use of digital platforms by the university communities to produce knowledge, research, teaching, and management has not only intensified but it has also diversified since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a context where higher education and the use of digital technologies are increasingly intertwined, universities can take advantage of this unplanned hiper-digitalization event to explore fundamental questions about learning and researching in a post-digital landscape. This article is the result of an exploratory study based on a co-design and virtual ethnography, analyzing the attributes and foci of 31 "data research center" in universities from 16 countries. Although the centers analyzed have different profiles and approaches, they all investigate the intensive use of data and its political-social implications, with a special interest in the fair and ethical use of data for administrative, research, and pedagogical activities. As result, this work provides 20 proposals, grouped into 4 dimensions of possible institutional areas of development for universities. These proposals aim to contribute to the critical analysis of how higher education institutions can play a central role to face the growing relevance of advanced data systems in our societies. © 2023 Grupo de Investigacion FORCE. All rights reserved.

Virtual Journey and Virtual Bio-Labs: Two Novel Strategies Implemented in the Pandemic to Boost Dynamic Learning in the Microbiology Laboratory

During the first months of 2020, the world was surprised by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational institutions were partially or fully closed. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies significantly disturbed traditional educational practices. In Mexico, Tecnologico de Monterrey faced one of the most sudden changes in its history, teaching all its courses 100% digitally. Its teachers had to search for alternative tools that would allow students to take practical classes, for example, laboratory, preserving the experience of being in a specialized laboratory even from home. This research evaluated two innovative tools designed and implemented for the Microbiology Laboratory subject. The first one is the Virtual BioLabs (VBL) application for using and managing specialized laboratory equipment. The second is Virtual Journey (VJ), a 360-degree interactive video to explain a foodborne bacterial infection [1]. We used qualitative and quantitative evaluation instruments to measure the impact of these tools during the pandemic. Results showed that the mean grade from pandemic groups using VBL was 93.5 vs. SS.5 obtained from those who did not use the app. Additionally, the grade average from pandemic groups before watching the VJ video was 63.5 vs. 93.5 after watching it. These results indicate that these strategies improved student performance, reflected in the increase in their averages. Finally, in the satisfaction survey, the students commented that using VBL and Virtual Journey made them feel more immersed in the laboratory, even at home. They enjoyed and liked both technical strategies. However, 93% of the students agreed that, although the virtual tools have excellent potential, their preference for face-To-face learning in practical laboratory subjects remains indisputable. © 2023 IEEE.

Can Universities Help "Build Back Better” in Education? The Socially Embedded University Responds to the Covid-19 Pandemic

The high impact disruptions in the external environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the socially embedded character of many universities around the world. University collaborations with schools during the pandemic suggest that they are institutions open to their external environment, capable of learning from and with their environment, and capable of influencing their external environment, helping to address significant social challenges. Drawing on a non-probabilistic survey administered to a convenience sample of 101 universities in 21 countries, I examine how they built partnerships with schools to sustain educational opportunity during the pandemic. The results are informative of the evolving nature of higher education and its mission. They illustrate the responsiveness of universities to societal needs. The findings show that universities are socially connected to their surrounding context, and that they see themselves as engines of social innovation at a time of great unexpected need. The study found the majority of universities to be engaged with schools supporting education during the pandemic. They see such engagement as part of their mission and strategy, even though they perceive it as challenging. Most of such engagements do not have a formalized "theory of action,” but are evolving as the crisis created by the pandemic itself evolved. While such engagement during the pandemic builds on pre-existing engagements with schools, the response during the pandemic provided an opportunity to integrate different efforts across various units. The majority of the universities in the study had a school of education, and about half have a program of pre-service teacher education and few of the collaborations established during the pandemic were new, most were based on pre-existing collaborations. In two thirds of the cases the collaborations with schools during the pandemic were initiated by University leaders. Most of the collaborations consist of developing alternative delivery channels and supporting teachers in developing new skills to teach remotely. Copyright © 2021 Reimers.

Factors to improve online education: A study on the impact of COVID-19 on Delhi students

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, people worldwide had to self-quarantine in their homes, resulting in the youth having to continue their education online. The lockdown and the effects of the pandemic impacted students' mental health, exhibiting frustration, stress, and depression. The latter is not ideal for a healthy learning environment, as it involves many coping mechanisms. This study analyzed a database compiling the habits of 1182 individuals in different age groups at various educational institutes in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), India. It identifies factors leading to proposing recommendations to improve students' online education experiences worldwide and facilitate their learning while caring for their mental health. A CRISP-DM methodology was followed to build a model capable of predicting students' satisfaction ratings for online classes by analyzing the students' demographic information and daily habits. © 2023 IEEE.

Policies to Stimulate Industrial Innovation by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Lessons Learned from the Public Procurement of Innovation during Emergencies

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have faced a heavy economic burden and uncertainty due to a contraction in resources and markets. As the world returns to normal conditions, we aim to synthesise key lessons from the pandemic and discuss which emergency actions should become routine to prevent or minimise the negative economic impact of future crises on SMEs and their innovation power. This paper reviews academic and non-academic literature on how governments can stimulate industrial innovation in SMEs based on experiences from public procurement of innovation during the pandemic. Our findings indicate that public procurement of innovation is a crucial tool to stimulate both the economy and new ideas. Against this backdrop, we propose the implementation of three related procurement policies: inter-agency and inter-governmental collaboration in the public procurement of innovation, cooperation partnerships between the government and firms, and the adoption of practices that encourage SME participation in the procurement of public innovation contracts. © 2023, Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. All rights reserved.