The world-wide diffusion and recognition of Technology Foresight suggests that it is of value for quite diverse types of economies and societies. Its merit as an important tool of strategic intelligence for policy-making also in small countries and transition economies depends on a careful tailoring to specific needs. Practice of Foresight is rather diverse also among small countries, but appro...

Leachate pollution index (LPI) value can be used as a tool to assess the leachate pollution potential of landfill sites particularly at places where there is a high risk of leachate migration and pollution of groundwater and thus can help to take necessary decisions as deem fit. In this paper, leachate treatment efficiency was evaluated on the basis of LPI value of leachate before and after tre...

Standardized and objective design criteria for evaluating web-based learning platforms can effectively distinguish the quality of a platform and, therefore, contribute in improving web-based learning outcomes. This is a two-phase study, in which Delphi technique and heuristic evaluation were employed in the first phase to develop the evaluation criteria and scale of web-based learning platforms...

The purpose of this study is to explore the ranking of international airlines operation cost control strategies based on empirical studies of an international full-service airlines operation in Taiwan. Cost control has become more and more important for airlines in recent years, especially after experiencing a severe increase in crude oil prices and the 2008 serious financial crisis. In this st...

Background and aims: The ability to acquire the best evidence efficiently is important for busy healthcare professionals who have to make decision within a limited time. However, the current available assessment tools in evidence-based medicine (EBM), e.g. Berlin questionnaire and Fresno test, were not designed for examining evidence-searching capability. The objective of this study was to deve...

European Union is an important global actor in terms of economy, welfare and soft security but its institutional development and ambitions has to consider both the issues of grand challenges, resilience, disaster management, in accordance with its citizens’ will and skills. The Lisbon Treaty as well as the recent legislation on civil protection produced incremental change and improved the Emerg...

Methods Recruitment will comprise two phases. In the primary phase, individuals identified through a systematic review of the literature of yoga for musculoskeletal conditions will be invited to participate. In the secondary phase, a snowball technique will allow primary phase participants to recommend other researchers to contribute to the Delphi process. Inclusion criteria are involvement in ...

This paper proposed a sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) framework to measure the sustainable performance of the semiconductor industry. Based on the principle of four perspectives of balanced scorecard (BSC), of which two were changed from the financial and customer perspectives to sustainability and stakeholder perspectives to deal the insufficiently addressed issue of corporate social ...

Under the circumstances of limited government funds, the future pollution remediation policies and practical implementation may need contemplation from the perspective of maximized efficacy, in order to pursue the most effective resource allocation. In fact, different pollution sources and types affect the value of surrounding properties differently in significance and scope. Therefore, benefit...

Background and objectives: Evolutionary medicine is a rapidly growing field that uses the principles of evolutionary biology to better understand, prevent and treat disease, and that uses studies of disease to advance basic knowledge in evolutionary biology. Over-arching principles of evolutionary medicine have been described in publications, but our study is the first to systematically elicit ...