This article discusses the development and application of various types of corporate social monitoring systems. Boycotts are a relatively simple form of social monitoring system which aim to produce changes in corporate social behavior. Boycotts may be organized by a single group, or by a number of groups simultaneously. Rating systems may be organized around a single issue, such as the Sullivan Principles rating scheme, or may include multiple companies and multiple issues, such as shopping guides or (...) ethical investment systems.Monitoring systems may be unidimensional or multidimensional, qualitative or quantitative, and absolute or relative. Consumers and investors appear to be the groups most likely to be targeted in these schemes. The importance of these monitoring systems appears to be increasing as both consumers and investors become more interested in using social criteria in decision-making. (shrink)

Rivers et al. raise two ethical issues in relation to the use of medication event monitoring systems (MEMS). The first issue, identified as an 'economic' concern, centres on the waste of health resources caused by patient failure to adhere to medication programmes. The second is the danger that MEMS may pose to 'the trust that should exist between patient and prescriber'. In what follows I offer an analysis of these issues, and their relationship to each other.

An interlocking-directorates monitoring system The subject of the study was interlocking directorates in Polish joint stock companies. In order to explore this area a monitoring system has been developed which consists of a database and query system. Data is automatically introduced from printed announcements into the MySQL database using PHP scripts.The phenomenon of interlocking directorates in Polish joint stock companies is comparable with other countries. Board members in Poland are significantly younger than, for example, in (...) the USA. Women constitute an important group of board members. Insurance companies and investment funds are closely connected with other companies, but banks are not.The monitoring system developed enables us to identify who is, and who was, a board member of every joint stock company. It also enables us to identify, for every person, which board he or she now serves on, and has served on, in the past. The system also enables us to produce different reports concerning, for example, changes in certain indexes in subsequent years. The system is also accessible via the Internet. (shrink)

The Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) is a relatively new device designed to overcome some of the disadvantages of traditional adherence-measuring techniques. MEMS has also been found useful in tracking adherence behaviour without the need to visit patients frequently. In this study each patient was given a pre-filled, labelled MEMS bottle and cap. Patients were monitored for 24 weeks. For patients specifically studied, there were periods when drug levels may have been low and some exhibited erratic medication-taking behaviour. (...) It is concluded that MEMS can measure adherence behaviour objectively, and so might be used to improve prescribing decisions, identify drug wastage and improve carer support. Further research is needed before the routine use of electronic medication monitoring can be recommended. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence of use of driver monitoring systems among U.S. adults, and factors influencing their adoption. One in five U.S. adults has used driver monitoring, primarily to obtain a discount on insurance. Safety benefits and financial incentives are likely to influence adoption.

Continued concern for animal welfare may be alleviated when welfare would be monitored on farms. Monitoring can be characterized as an information system where various stakeholders periodically exchange relevant information. Stakeholders include producers, consumers, retailers, the government, scientists, and others. Valuating animal welfare in the animal-product market chain is regarded as a key challenge to further improve the welfare of farm animals and information on the welfare of animals must, therefore, be assessed objectively, for instance, through monitoring. (...) Interviews with Dutch stakeholder representatives were conducted to identify their perceptions about the monitoring of animal welfare. Stakeholder perceptions were characterized in relation to the specific perspectives of each stakeholder. While producers tend to perceive welfare from a production point of view, consumers will use visual images derived from traditional farming and from the animals’ natural environments. Scientists’ perceptions of animal welfare are affected by the need to measure welfare with quantifiable parameters. Retailers and governments (policy makers) have views of welfare that are derived from their relationships with producers, consumers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and scientists. All interviewed stakeholder representatives stated that animal welfare is important. They varied in the extent to which they weighted economic considerations relative to concern for the animals’ welfare. Many stakeholders emphasized the importance of communication in making a monitoring system work. Overall, the perspectives for the development of a sustainable monitoring system that substantially improves farm animal welfare were assessed as being poor in the short term. However, a reliable system could be initiated under certain conditions, such as integrated chains and with influential and motivated stakeholders. A scheme is described with attention points for the development of sustainable monitoring systems for farm animal welfare in the long term. (shrink)

In this paper, we propose an Internet of Things to enhancing the experience of personal gardening as a method of therapy for mental-health patients, given a belief in its role in a person’s mood and general positivity, The proposed prototype continuously senses and monitors the state of an indoor plant through different sensors. The user is notified of the plant’s needs for water, sunlight, etc., through generated notifications from channels over cloud in-real time. Thus, we were able to successfully create (...) a humanised experience of recovery where the user can accessibly ‘talk’ with its plant through a smartphone. (shrink)

High degrees of uncertainty and a lack of effective therapeutic treatments have characterized the COVID-19 pandemic and the provision of drug products outside research settings has been controversial. International guidelines for providing patients with experimental interventions to treat infectious diseases outside of clinical trials exist but it is unclear if or how they should apply in settings where clinical trials and research are strongly regulated. We propose the Professional Oversight of Emergency-Use Interventions and Monitoring System as an alternative (...) pathway based on guidance developed for the ethical provision of experimental interventions to treat COVID-19 in Singapore. We support our proposal with justifications that establish moral duties for physicians to record outcomes data and for institutions to establish monitoring systems for reporting information on safety and effectiveness to the relevant authorities. Institutions also have a duty to support generation of evidence for what constitutes good clinical practice and so should ensure the unproven intervention is made the subject of research studies that can contribute to generalizable knowledge as soon as practical and that physicians remain committed to supporting learning health systems. We outline key differences between POEIMS and other pathways for the provision of experimental interventions in public health emergencies. (shrink)

We explore the view that subjective experiences, termed epistemic feelings in the literature, accompany reasoning, intuition and other cognitive processes. These epistemic feelings are considered to have a wide range of functions, providing us with information about many aspects of our cognitive content. For instance, they can tell us whether something we know is certain, uncertain, interesting, boring, doubtful, ambiguous, correct, plausible, informative, relevant, coherent or related to other cognitive content. To understand how epistemic feelings work is therefore essential in (...) comprehending any kind of thinking process, including any kind of reasoning process. In this work, we first analyze epistemic feelings with the aim of describing their nature and functions. Secondly, we explore the analogies and differences between somatic, emotional and epistemic feelings and try to show that epistemic feelings are not the same as epistemic emotions and that although somatic, emotional and epistemic feelings all make use of the same kinds of signals, they are triggered by different monitoring systems. Finally, we show that epistemic feelings guide us to choose specific kinds of reasoning processes and determine whether we rely on intuitions rather than on analytic reasoning. Finally, although epistemic feelings do not necessarily lead us to make the best choice in every context, they can be trained to provide us with better guidance. (shrink)

Environmental monitoring and security systems rely on efficient and accurate prediction of contaminant source locations from sensor data. However, modeling atmospheric dispersion often requires significant computational resources. To address this problem, utilizing a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) Neural Network for faster prediction of sensor readings based on source coordinates is a possible alternative approach. Hyperparameters for the MLP are optimized using a Grid Search method, aiming to identify the most suitable configuration for improved performance. We generated synthetic data via the (...) 2D advection–diffusion equation solution with the Finite Differences Method. Verification of the synthetic data integrity is conducted using the Finite Elements Method. The use of an MLP Neural Network model provides precise predictions in a fraction of the time taken by usual approaches. By enabling quick and accurate contaminant dispersion simulations, this approach holds promise for enhancing environmental monitoring and security systems, thereby safeguarding public health. (shrink)

We design and implement an intelligent IoT-based motion monitoring system to realize the monitoring of three important parameters, namely, the type of movement, the number of movements, and the period of movement in physical activities, and optimize the system to support the simultaneous use by multiple users. Considering the motion monitoring scenario for smart fit, the framework of an IoT-based motion monitoring system is proposed. The framework contains components such as active acquisition nodes, (...) wireless access points, data processing servers, and terminals. In terms of algorithm optimization, research related to active pattern recognition and periodic calculation methods is conducted. For active pattern recognition, two types of classification algorithms with different complexity are proposed based on Support Vector Machine and deep neural networks, respectively, to adapt to scenarios with different computational capabilities. For period calculation, a method based on over-zero detection and wavelet transform is proposed to count the number of actions and calculate the period of each action. In 100 times action cycle calculation experiments, the count statistic calculation method achieves 100% calculation accuracy and the active cycle calculation results are close to the real value, which proves the effectiveness of the cycle calculation method. The system provides a multiuser-oriented communication method and realizes accurate and reliable human movement monitoring, which has a wide application prospect in the fields of physical education and rehabilitation training. (shrink)

The Internet of Things is an emerging information industry. Applying the information collection, transmission, and processing technologies in the Internet of Things technology to environmental monitoring, environmental emergency, and other environmental protection supervision fields will greatly improve the speed and accuracy of environmental supervision and facilitate the scientific development of environmental protection. Through the Internet of Things, people can obtain a large amount of reliable real-time information, and it is not easy to be affected by time, place, and environment, (...) while the wireless sensor network has the advantages of easy installation and low cost, so environmental monitoring through the Internet of Things is the future development trend. In this paper, in view of the current situation of water scarcity and serious water pollution in China, combined with the development trend and advantages of the Internet of Things, and based on the inadequacy of the existing microbial sensor data collection equipment, we propose a design scheme of microbial concentration monitoring system for waters based on IoT. The system is based on Zig Bee wireless sensor network to build a common data acquisition platform and design special hardware to carry out high-precision microbial sensor data acquisition in water and through the PC to complete the real-time measurement data storage, waveform display, and data processing. In this paper, the schematic diagram and PCB board design of the system hardware module NUC120 main control board, CC2530 RF board, Wi-Fi wireless communication module, and high-precision ADC acquisition module are completed and fabricated. Then, the four modules are combined to realize the development of the data aggregation node and data acquisition node of the dedicated Zig Bee wireless network hardware device. (shrink)

Landslide is a critical natural geological hazard that causes severe damage to property, infrastructure, and humans. In general, some location-specific factors trigger a landslide. Wireless sensor network is an enabling technology to monitor most of the parameters associated with these factors. A challenge in landslide monitoring through WSN is that each sensed data item might be critical whereas the underlying wireless communication is often unreliable. In case of landslides, the terrains have irregular shapes, providing harsh conditions for wireless communication (...) thereby more data loss may be expected. This study focuses on the effect of lossy communication in WSN on the efficiency and accuracy of landslide monitoring systems. To this end, collaborative local data analysis is used to enable each node to decide locally whether its sensed data corresponds to a potential event-of-interest. Through extensive simulations, the performance of various landslide prediction and detection models has been evaluated. By and large, the study lets a significant insight into landslide monitoring before implementing a parameterized application for real-world deployment. (shrink)

The article first proposes a reflection on the status quo of classroom teaching in public universities, selects a large number of educational scenes, and analyzes these selected educational concepts in detail from a theoretical perspective. Through the establishment of a teaching quality monitoring system based on careful observation and analysis, several major problems in public university classrooms have been discovered: poor classroom interaction mode, single classroom interaction mode, low classroom interaction efficiency, and inefficient classroom interaction feedback. Specific manifestations (...) include the alienation of teacher–student relationship, insufficient student coverage, lack of interaction channels, lack of interaction context, only formalized teacher–student interaction, low impact, and simplification of teacher–student interaction. Summarizing the causes of classroom interaction problems, the article summarizes three factors: teachers, students, and the macro environment. In the experiment, 85% of the students thought that the teacher–student relationship was relatively ordinary. Among the 11 students who participated in the experiment, 60% of the students were very active in interactive classroom discussions. Therefore, based on the analysis of problems and factors, the article puts forward an optimization strategy to create a classroom interaction atmosphere, improve classroom interaction mode, improve classroom interaction efficiency, and strengthen classroom interaction feedback. In particular, it promotes the integration of teacher–student relationship, emphasizes the role of students, improves the level of classroom interaction, creates conditions for classroom interaction, improves teacher–student interaction control ability, enhances student interactive speech ability, strengthens error correction and feedback, and increases multiple feedback methods. (shrink)

For a better detection in Network information security monitoring system, the author proposes a method based on adaptive depth detection. A deep belief network was designed and implemented, and the intrusion detection system model was combined with a support vector machine. The data set adopts the NSL-KDD network communication data set, and this data set is authoritative in the security field. Redundant cleaning, data type conversion, normalization, and other processing operations are performed on the data set. Using (...) the data conversion method based on the probability mass function probability mass function coding, a standard data set with low redundancy and low dimensionality can be obtained. Research indicates that when the batch size reaches 64, the accuracy of the test set reaches its maximum value. As the batch size increases, the accuracy first increases and then decreases. When the batch size continues to increase, the model will inevitably fall into the local optimal state, resulting in the degradation of the detection performance of the system. In terms of the false alarm rate, the DBN-SVM model is also the highest; however, it is only 10.73%. Under the premise of increasing the detection rate, the false alarm rate is improved; for the overall detection performance of the model, it is within an acceptable range. In terms of accuracy, the DBN-SVM model also scored the highest. The accuracy rate is the ratio of normal and correct classification for intrusion detection. It can explain the detection ability of the model. In summary, the overall detection ability of the DBN-SVM model is the best. The good classification ability to use SVM is proved, and the classification of low-dimensional features is expected to increase the detection rate of the system. (shrink)

In this paper, through research and analysis of the communication network of the physical activity monitoring system, we combine wearable technology and identification technology and design a physical health monitoring bracelet that integrates multifaceted physical data collection and effective identity matching function. We match the identity through the chip and collect the physical fitness data generated in the process of exercise and centralized test by the sensor in real-time. Finally, the data transmission is realized through the WIFI (...) communication function to achieve the purpose of monitoring physical exercise and improving physical quality. To ensure the continuity and stability of information transmission, the joint transmission method of direct transmission and indirect transmission is essential. Besides, considering the energy causality limitation of sensor nodes and relay nodes, a collaborative transmission model of wireless body area network based on wireless cognitive network is constructed. And, a power allocation algorithm based on maximum ratio merging and wireless cognitive network is proposed, which puts forward a new idea for the future research of wireless body area network resource allocation. (shrink)

Privacy issues are frequently discussed amongst researchers, practitioners and patients in healthcare. However, psychiatric patients’ privacy issues get less attention in information system development (ISD), whereby they are one of the most important stakeholders. This paper applies Carew and Stapleton’s ISD privacy framework to psychiatric monitoring systems to understand the issues that are related to monitoring psychiatric patients’ behaviour. By understanding the privacy issues amongst patients, the research will be able to provide guidance to system developers (...) to produce a privacy-sensitive system that can contribute to the system engineering for international stability. We will elaborate each factor in the framework (physical, social, psychological and informational) and then explain the relationship to the privacy of psychiatric patient. (shrink)

The United States Food and Drug Administration , in collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers, have recently implemented a heavily revised risk-management program for patients on isotretinoin , a drug with known and pronounced teratogenic effects. This revised risk management plan places significant burdens on both providers and patients in the hopes of achieving its goal of reducing fetal exposure to isotretinoin. The main focus of this paper is to discuss the burdens of various aspects of the program in relationship to potential (...) corresponding benefits. In particular, we evaluate the pregnancy rates of women on isotretinoin therapy compared with that of the general population and the rate changes based on the risk management programs. Additionally, we investigate whether the benefits of the program for women have increased as the benefits have risen. We devote special attention to the ethical implications of the intent of the program and to an analysis of the ethical justification of the restrictions placed on women of childbearing potential as it compares to the risk-benefit relationship of using isotretinoin. (shrink)

A learning health system (LHS) seeks to establish a closer connection between clinical care and research and establishes new responsibilities for healthcare providers as well as patients. A new set of technological approaches in medication adherence monitoring can potentially yield valuable data within an LHS, and raises the question of the scope and limitations of patients’ responsibilities to use them. We argue here that, in principle, it is plausible to suggest that patients have a prima facie obligation to (...) use novel adherence monitors. However, the strength of the obligations depends considerably on the extent to which data that adherence monitors generate are, in fact, used to further the goals of LHSs. The way in which data ownership is structured in the USA poses a considerable challenge here, while the European Union framework offers a more promising alternative. (shrink)

Hemodynamic response to motor execution (ME) and motor imagery (MI) was investigated using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We used a 31 channel fNIRS system which allows non-invasive monitoring of cerebral oxygenation changes induced by cortical activation. Sixteen healthy subjects (mean-age 24.5 yeas) were recruited and the changes in concentration of hemoglobin were examined during right and left hand finger tapping tasks and kinesthetic MI. To suppress the systemic physiological interference, we developed a preprocessing procedure which prevents over-activated reporting (...) in NIRS-SPM. In the condition of ME, more activation was observed in the anterior part of the motor cortex including the pre-motor and supplementary motor area (pre-motor and SMA), primary motor cortex (M1) and somatosensory motor cortex (SMC; t (15) > 2.27), however, in the condition of MI, more activation was found in the posterior part of motor cortex including SMC ( t (15) > 1.81), which is in line with previous observations with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). (shrink)

There is sufficient evidence to believe that variations in the error-related negativity (ERN) are linked to dispositional characteristics in individuals. However, explanations of individual differences in the amplitude of the ERN cannot be derived from functional theories of the ERN. The ERN has a counterpart that occurs after correct responses (correct-response negativity, CRN). Based on the assumption that ERN and CRN reflect an identical cognitive process, variations in CRN might be associated with dispositional characteristics as well. Higher CRN amplitudes have (...) been found to reflect task engagement. In the present study, a simple-choice-reaction task was used to investigate ERN and CRN amplitudes in relation to their score on a conscientiousness scale. The task consisted of a simple rule that required pressing the left or right key when a circle or square appeared, respectively. During alternative conditions that occur infrequently, participants were instructed to violate or reverse the previously established response rules. Smaller ΔERN amplitudes (manifested in almost equal CRN and ERN amplitudes) and a tendency of better task performance from participants scoring high on the conscientiousness scale might indicate a greater focus on the task and higher motivation of responding correctly. In addition, higher Pc amplitudes directly following the CRN indicated that the response monitoring system of less conscientious participants showed a higher disengagement. The role of individual differences in CRN amplitude should be studied in future experiments on performance monitoring. (shrink)

Research has demonstrated that employee reactions to monitoring systems depend on both the characteristics of the monitoring system and how it is implemented. However, little is known about the role individual differences may play in this process. This study proposes that individuals have generalized attitudes toward organizational control and monitoring activities. We examined this argument by assessing the relationship between employees’ baseline attitudes toward a set of monitoring and control techniques that span the employment relationship. (...) We further explore the effects of employees’ generalized attitudes toward monitoring and their individual ethical orientations on their attitudinal reactions to an Internet monitoring system implemented in their workplace. Results of a longitudinal study indicate that as expected, prior beliefs and ethical orientation interact to affect employees’ reactions to monitoring systems. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (shrink)

Home cage monitoring (HCM) is increasingly being used in scientific studies but its application in the field of animal welfare is lagging. Advances in animal research are predominantly driven by scientific projects whose primary goal is increasing scientific knowledge but not animal welfare. Harnessing the potential of HCM to optimize animal welfare is clearly an ethical matter of Refinement, but it is also a prerequisite for improved quality and replicability in science and acceptance in society. HCM developments allow for (...) uninterrupted recording of various parameters, and their analyses can be exploited for improved welfare monitoring. Here we provide an overview regarding animal welfare measures used in HCM studies and describe new developments in different research areas based on new methodological developments. We point at the importance of combining different readouts as integrative toolbox for an optimal severity assessment regarding experimental and/or humane endpoints as refinement to reduce unnecessary and avoidable discomfort. Dynamical analyses are required because for example alterations of circadian activity (fragmented sleep-wake cycles) require discrimination of deviations during light and dark phase, e.g. hyperactivity during the light and hypoactivity during the dark phase. Finally, we must be careful about the changeover from physiology to pathology because basic knowledge about many measures in 24/7 HCM is not yet known. Most studies predominantly used young adult animals and provide data originating from short-term experiments performed outside the home cage. These cannot serve as gold-standard when it comes to animal welfare. Many factors such as age, sex, and (sub-)strain can all affect HCM measures and require further exploration to better understand the current physiology-pathology gap to support animal welfare assessment. Future perspectives of HCM technologies and their potential applications for animal welfare monitoring are discussed. (shrink)

This paper presents a method for the study of the influence of stability of a power transformer on the power system based on the vibration principle. Traditionally, the EMD and EEMD algorithms are employed to test the box vibration signal data of the power transformer under three working conditions. The proposed method utilizes a partial EMD screening along with MPEEMD method for the online monitoring of power transformer. A complete online monitoring system is designed by using (...) the STM32 processor and LabVIEW system. The proposed system is compared with EMD and EEMD algorithms in terms of the number of IMFs obtained by decomposition, maximum correlation coefficient, and mean square error. The inherent mode correlation, when compared with the mean square error of the reconstructed signal, shows that the reconstruction error of MPEEMD algorithm is 4.762×10−15 which is better than the traditional EMD algorithm. It is observed from the results that the proposed method outperforms both EMD and EEMD algorithms. (shrink)

Corporate social monitoring has reached its most systematic form and has had the most practical impact with regard to companies doing business in South Africa. The Sullivan Principles have guided the monitoring system for U.S. companies, of which about 166 remain in South Africa and about 140 have withdrawn. However, corporate social monitoring in South Africa is currently subject to certain tensions. The Rev. Sullivan has called for the withdrawal of U.S. companies, and has himself withdrawn (...) from the monitoring effort.This paper discusses the economic climate for U.S. business in South Africa both historically and currently, the conflicting pressures experienced by U.S. companies remaining there, and the effectiveness of strategies aimed to create pressure for companies to withdraw, including divestment resolutions, purchasing restrictions, and sanctions. (shrink)

The Mayday Scholars Program for 2001-2002 provided an opportunity to boards of nursing to present their experiences in monitoring the prescribing practices of advanced practice nurses and to research ways for improving their own investigation processes as professional disciplinary agencies for prescribing practices related to pain management. The Alabama Board of Nursing was interested in participating in the program based on its commitment to accountability for public protection. A gradual increase in disciplinary cases involving violations of prescribing practices by (...) certified registered nurse practitioners prompted our inquiry as to whether a proactive monitoring system was needed to determine compliance with regulations for advanced practice nurses in collaborative practice.In this article, we discuss selected elements related to pain management and regulatory factors, including nursing, that affect the treatment of pain. We present a brief overview of the evolution of advanced practice nursing, with an emphasis on the nurse practitioners movement, and prescription practices and pain management by nurse practitioners. (shrink)

The jurisprudence under international human rights treaties has had a considerable impact across countries. Known for addressing complex agendas, the work of expert bodies under the treaties has been credited and relied upon for filling the gaps in the realization of several objectives, including the peace and security agenda. -/- In 1982, the Human Rights Committee (ICCPR), in a General Comment observed that “states have the supreme duty to prevent wars, acts of genocide and other acts of mass violence ... (...) Every effort … to avert the danger of war, especially thermonuclear war, and to strengthen international peace and security would constitute the most important condition and guarantee for the safeguarding of the right to life.” Over the years, all treaty bodies have contributed in this direction, endorsing peace and security so as “to protect people against direct and structural violence … as systemic problems and not merely as isolated incidents …”. A closer look at the jurisprudence on peace and security, emanating from treaty monitoring mechanisms including state periodic reports, interpretive statements, the individual communications procedure, and others, reveals its distinctive nature. (shrink)

The behaviour of autonomous agents may deviate from that deemed to be for the good of the societal systems of which they are a part. Norms have therefore been proposed as a means to regulate agent behaviours in open and dynamic systems, where these norms specify the obliged, permitted and prohibited behaviours of agents. Regulation can effectively be achieved through use of enforcement mechanisms that result in a net loss of utility for an agent in cases where the agent’s behaviour (...) fails to comply with the norms. Recognition of compliance is thus crucial for achieving regulation. In this paper, we propose a general framework for observation of agents’ behaviour, and recognition of this behaviour as constituting, or counting as, compliance or violation. The framework deploys monitors that receive inputs from trusted observers, and processes these inputs together with transition network representations of individual norms. In this way, monitors determine the fulfillment or violation status of norms. The paper also describes a proof of concept implementation of the framework, and its deployment in electronic contracting environments. (shrink)

While the theory and practice of runtime monitoring are overall well developed, in embedded systems, runtime monitoring is not as common as one would expect. Especially small-scale embedded systems, which are found in many household devices, are often somewhat safety-critical and could benefit from the possibility to detect software or hardware defects that cannot be uncovered with verification alone. While monitoring frameworks such as RTLola and Copilot are available to address this problem, employing them leads to a (...) gap between verification and runtime monitoring by these frameworks having specialized specification languages for monitoring, and what can be expressed in them is incomparable to the capabilities of the temporal logics traditionally employed in formal verification.This paper discusses how (linear) temporal logic runtime monitoring for small-scale embedded systems can be made more efficient and attractive to the embedded systems practitioner. This includes identifying why monitoring for traditional temporal logics is somewhat inefficient in software, how this problem can be addressed in a low-cost way, and how runtime monitors can become a more useful component of an embedded system. By providing a way to translate a specification to monitor code that also tracks the reason for a specification violation, the overall approach discussed in the paper makes spending developer time on writing a relatively precise specification of a system to build attractive, which also helps paving the way to make formal verification for small-scale embedded systems more common. (shrink)

The use of technology in marketing has become an increasingly important competitive tool in developing and maintaining efficient and productive customer relationships. However, the ethics of using this technology has received little attention. This study investigates how and if marketing organizations are adapting their ethics policies to incorporate use of sales technology (ST). Based on in-depth interviews with executives from a variety of highly regulated to nonregulated business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries, our results show that, although most organizations indeed have codes (...) of ethics, there appears to be a gray area of how these codes address ST. Further, it appears that monitoring the ethical use of ST varies and can be a frustrating and time-consuming issue for marketing and sales executives. Implications of our findings are discussed for the benefit of marketing practitioners, ethics managers, and researchers. (shrink)

Tous les enfants ont droit à une école maternelle et primaire où ils se sentent en sécurité, où ils reçoivent le soutien dont ils ont besoin et où ils jouissent de conditions favorables à l’acquisition des connaissances et des compétences nécessaires pour mener une vie épanouie. Cependant, de nombreuses études et rapports indiquent que de nombreux enfants et élèves handicapés ne bénéficient pas du sentiment de sécurité, du soutien ou des conditions favorables auxquels ils ont droit. Nos connaissances en la (...) matière sont fragmentées et présentent des lacunes importantes, ce qui rend difficile le suivi de l’évolution des conditions de vie des enfants et des élèves handicapés au fil du temps. Il est également difficile d’évaluer l’efficacité des interventions ciblant ce groupe. Cela signifie que les politiques en matière d’éducation et de handicap, les autorités publiques, les autorités scolaires et les autres acteurs concernés ne disposent pas d’une base de connaissances suffisante pour assurer la bonne application du droit de tous les enfants et élèves à une bonne éducation et pour pallier les conséquences d’un handicap. Cet article résume et examine les résultats d’une enquête nationale menée en Suède, qui visait à créer un système national de collecte durable de données sur les résultats scolaires, le soutien et la situation sociale des élèves handicapés. Ce système permettrait de décrire, d’analyser et de suivre ces conditions au fil du temps. L’enquête s’est particulièrement intéressée aux aspects éthiques de la collecte accrue de données sur le handicap. Il est essentiel de disposer de connaissances plus nombreuses et de meilleure qualité si nous voulons réaliser nos ambitions d’une école inclusive fonctionnelle et d’une vie future pleinement inclusive pour les personnes handicapées. (shrink)

The article proposes an approach to monitoring the efficiency of consumption of energy resources in technological systems, which is based on observing the precedents of stationary energy consumption. This approach allows us to adapt to the local conditions of the technological system and to detect in a timely manner any disturbances of the technological process that lead to unexpected energy losses. The peculiarity of energy monitoring based on observing and fixing the precedents of stationary conditions of energy (...) consumption consists of the formation of precedent images in the form of stochastic estimates of factors of influence on energy consumption and subsequent processing by methods of artificial intelligence. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effects of the corporate governance model on social and environmental disclosure (SED). We analyze the disclosures of the 100 U.S. Best Corporate Citizens in the period 2005–2007, and we posit a series of simultaneous relationships between different attributes of the governance system and a multidimensional construct of corporate social performance (CSP). We consider both the extent and the quality of SED, with the purpose of identifying increasing levels of corporate commitment (...) to stakeholders and shedding some light on whether SED is used as a signal or rather as a legitimacy tool. Our empirical evidence shows that the stakeholders’ orientation of corporate governance is positively associated with CSP and SED. On the other hand, we do not find support for the monitoring intensity of corporate governance being negatively associated with social performance. We also find that CSP in the “product” dimension is positively associated with the extent and quality of SED whilst CSP in the “people” dimension is negatively associated with the extent and quality of SED. At a time when shareholders and stakeholders share more common aspects in their relationships with firms, this is a significant area to explore and this research fills an important lacuna in this respect. (shrink)

This article examines the construction and implementation of the Sullivan Principles, a two-decade effort to use corporate codes of conduct to improve the behavior of multinational corporations in South Africa under apartheid. Without organized social movement pressure, corporations would not have agreed to adopt the code, and corporate compliance required sustained pressure from the anti-apartheid movement. The system's independent monitoring process was problematic, and managers' definitions of “good corporate citizenship” were more guided by monitors'emphases than by substantive concerns. (...) Based on the historic case, the article raises questions about the voluntaristic, stateless character of transnational corporate codes of conduct and questions whether such codes offer a viable strategy for improving working conditions. (shrink)

This article discloses topical issues of the need for constant monitoring of changes in the business activity in enterprise structures. The main purpose of the study is to monitor the business activity of industrial enterprise structures of Ukraine to predict their development under martial law. A critical analysis of the content of scientific publications to solve the problem of improving the management of business activity of business structures revealed the lack of attention of scientists to the problems under study. (...) The relevance of its solution is due to the scale of the impact of military conflicts on the business activity in enterprise structures, which requires its monitoring to further establish the state and ensure compliance of the business with the norms that are considered necessary to maintain a certain level of stability of development or to survive, to determine areas where the business can improve its activities and become more profitable. The methodological basis is the system of methods used to obtain the final results of the study: theoretical generalization – to deepen the essence of the concept of «monitoring business activity»; analysis, synthesis and logical generalization – to obtain conclusions during monitoring of business confidence and business climate in industry; prognostic – to predict the development of industrial business structures of Ukraine under martial law. The object of research in the work is the business activity of business structures. The article presents the results of monitoring business confidence and business climate in the industry of Ukraine under martial law. Analysis, synthesis and logical generalization of monitoring results became the basis for further forecasting the development of business structures. The results of the study can be useful for business structures that seek to maintain a certain level of stability of development and identify areas of improvement. (shrink)

This research addresses the challenges related to the collection and transmission of measurement data during the monitoring of military and other strategically significant objects. The solution involved creating a proprietary distributed system that operates on Wi-Fi technology and leverages the national military radio communication system for long-distance data transfer. Measurements were gathered for several key parameters, including the distance between cracks and joints, magnetometer readings, and the position and potential tilt of objects across three axes based on (...) accelerometer and gyroscope data. A significant aspect of the study was the server setup, which allowed for the creation of new data reception channels. These channels were essential for the further processing and analysis of measurement results. This system is capable of addressing complex issues such as predicting the technical condition of strategically important objects. The thoroughness of the analysis enables the identification and diagnosis of potential errors, as well as the detection of delays within the communication system. Additionally, optimizing energy consumption parameters extended the duration of research activities at remote locations, which ultimately prolongs the lifespan and maintenance intervals of the control system. The flexibility in programming the module boards and compatibility with various electronic measuring sensors make it possible to adjust the system for a wide range of applications. This adaptability significantly broadens the scope of research, expanding it to diverse fields such as agriculture, ecology, energy, healthcare, meteorology, and more. (shrink)

During the recent decades, a global culrural-institutional network has gradually grown lip to project, implement, and use an enormous technological web that is supposed to observe, monitor, communicate, inventory, and assess our environment and its biodiversity in order to implement sustainable management models. The majority of "knowledge tools" that have been incorporated in the mainstream of this "techno-web" are amply based on a combination of mechanistic biology, genetic reductionism, economical determinism and neo-Darwinian cultural and biological perspectives. These approaches leave aside (...) many of the qualitative and relational aspects that can only be grasped by considering the semiotic networks operative in complex ecological and cultural systems. In this paper, it is suggested that a biosemiotic approach to ecology may prove useful for the modelling process which in turn will allow the construction of meaningful monitoring systems. It is aJso advanced that it may as well serve to better integrate our understanding and monitoring of ecosystems into the cultural process of searching for (human) sustainability. (shrink)

Big cities and growing industrial areas bring high risk of different kinds of pollutions which would implicate to the quality of life of the society. Discovering and monitoring of polluted areas using autonomous mobile robots is nowadays a frequently considered solution concerning both environmental and human safety problems. Being part of a distributed control system, such robots can help to improve the efficiency of the existing conventional pollution prevention systems. On the other hand, during the last decade, wireless (...) sensor networks have provoked the interest of specialists from different areas by imposing a large number of theoretical and practical challenges related to their implementation. This paper attempts to deal with both issues by presenting a possible way for building robotized WSNs that can be suitable for solving different environmental monitoring tasks. The goal is to transform the WSN into an adaptive sensor system with intelligent behavior that can be used to discover and track spots or areas where given monitored environmental parameters violate defined thresholds. The inclusion of robotized agents into the WSN structure can provide additional flexibility with respect to the installation of the network sensors and allow reliable information gathering and transfer. The proposed algorithmic methods have been tested on a pre-built laboratory prototype of a robotized WSN. The robotized agents have been built using iRobot Create mobile platforms that are additionally equipped with a single-chip computers Gumstix Verdex pro TM XL6P with various expansion modules. (shrink)

The supervisor of the activities of a system user should benefit from the knowledge contained in the event logs of the user. They allow the monitoring of the sequential and parallel user activities. To make event logs more accessible to the supervisor, we suggest a process mining approach, including first the design of an understanding model of the activities of a system user. The model design is based on the relationships between the event logs and the activities (...) of a system user. An intervention model completes the understanding model to assist the supervisor. The intervention model enables an action of the supervisor on the critical activities, and the detection of anomalies. The models are automatically designed with a model-driven engineering approach. An experiment on a smart home system illustrates this tooled design, where the supervisor is a medical or paramedical staff member. (shrink)

Considerable controversy has surrounded the use of computerized performance monitoring (CPM) by employers. Critics of this technology contend that CPM usage raises serious ethical concerns. Beliefs that the use of computerized performance monitors results in unfair performance evaluation, stress and health problems underlie much of the current concern over this technology. A field study was undertaken to provide empirical evidence that could be used to guide the design and use of computerized performance monitors to minimize these problems. One hundred (...) forty three members of the Communication Workers of America participated in a cross sectional field study. The study examined the relationship between various monitoring system characteristics and employees'' health problems, stress and satisfaction with the performance evaluation process. The ethical implications of the results are discussed. (shrink)