This study explores the primary drivers influencing sustainable project management (SPM) practices in the construction industry. This research study seeks to determine whether firms are primarily motivated by external pressures or internal values when embracing SPM practices. In doing so, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on SPM drivers by considering coercive pressures (CP), ethical responsibility (ER), and green transformational leadership (GTL) as critical enablers facilitating a firm’s adoption of SPM practices. Based on data from 196 project management practitioners in Pakistan, structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationships. Results highlight that CP influences the management of sustainability practices in construction projects, signifying firms’ concern for securing legitimacy from various institutional actors. As an ‘intrinsic value’, ER emerges as a significant motivator for ecological stewardship, driven by a genuine commitment to promoting sustainable development. This study also unveils the significant moderating effect of GTL on the association among CP, ER, and SPM. Lastly, the results of IMPA reveal that ER slightly performs better than CP as it helps firms internalize the essence of sustainability. This research study expands our understanding of SPM drivers in construction projects by exploring the differential impact of external pressures and the firm’s intrinsic values. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners, aiding them in promoting SPM to attain sustainable development goals.
The use of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) has led to several opposing legal opinions regarding their violations of international law. The responsibility of the state, individuals, and corporations as producers, designers, and programmers is all being taken into consideration. If the decision to kill humans without “meaningful human control” is transferred to computers, it would be hard to attribute accountability for the actions of AWS to their corporations. Consequently, this means that corporate actors will enjoy impunity in all cases. The present paper indicates that the most significant problem arising from the use of AWS is the attribution of responsibility for its violation. Corporations are not subject to liability for the legitimate use of weapons under international law. The main problem with corporate responsibility, according to article 25 (4) of the Rome Statute, is that the provision only relates to individual criminal responsibility and that the ICC shall only have jurisdiction over natural persons. Nevertheless, corporations may be held accountable under aspects of international law. The paper proposes a more positive view on artificial intelligence, raising corporations’ accountability in international law by historically linking the judging of business leaders. The article identifies aiding and abetting as well as co-perpetration as the two modes of accountability under international law potentially linked to AWS. The study also explores the main ambiguity in international law relating to corporate aiding and abetting of human rights violations by presenting the confusion on determining the standards of these 2 modes of liability before the ICC and International ad doc Tribunal. Moreover, with the new age of war heavily dependent on AI and AWS, one cannot easily and precisely ascertain who must be held accountable for war crimes because of the unanticipated facts in decision-making combined with the aiding or abetting of violations of international law. International law prioritizes the goal of ending impunity for the individual and largely neglects the need to achieve the same goal for corporate complicity. In sum, progress to regulate the use of AWS by corporate actors could be enormously helpful to the cause of ending impunity.
Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the important vegetables in Egypt. The study was conducted in the vegetable field to study the effect of different rates of phosphorus fertilizers and foliar application of Nano-Boron, Chitosan, and Naphthalene Acidic Acid (NAA) on growth and seed productivity of Onion plant (Allium cepa L., cv. Giza 6 Mohassan). The experiments were carried out in a split-plot design with three replicates. The main plot contains 3 rates of phosphorus treatments (30, 45 and 60 kg P2O5/feddan), Subplot includes foliar application of Nano-Boron, Nano-Chitosan and Naphthalene Acidic Acid (NAA) at a concentration of 50 ppm for each and sprayed at three times (50, 65 and 80 days after transplanting). Increasing the phosphorus fertilizers rate to 60 kg P2O5/fed significantly affects the growth and seed production of the Onion plant. Foliar application of nano-boron at 50 ppm concentration gave maximum values of onion seed yield in both seasons. Results stated that the correlation between yield and yield contributing characters over two years was highly significant. It could be recommended that P application at a rate of 60 kg P2O5 and sprayed onion plants at 50 ppm nano-boron three times (at 50, 65, and 80 days from transplanting) gave the highest seed yield of onion plants. Moreover, the maximum increments of inflorescence diameter (94.4%) were recorded to nano-boron foliar spray (60 p × nB) compared to the other treatments in both seasons.
Resisting the adoption of medical artificial intelligence (AI), it is suggested that this opposition can be overcome by combining AI awareness, AI risks, and responsibility displacement. Through effective integration of public AI dangers and displacement of responsibility, some of these major concerns can be alleviated. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has adopted the use of chatbots to provide medical advice, whereas heart disease diagnoses can be made by IBM’s Watson. This has the ability to improve healthcare by increasing accuracy, efficiency, and patient outcomes. The resistance may be due to concerns about losing jobs, anxieties about misdiagnosis or medical mistakes, and the consciousness of AI systems drifting more responsibility away from medical professionals. There is hesitancy among healthcare professionals and the general public about the deployment of AI, despite the fact that healthcare is being revolutionised by AI, its uses are pervasive. Participants’ awareness of AI in healthcare, AI risk, resistance to AI, responsibility displacement and ethical considerations were gathered through questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and correlation analyses were used to establish the relationship between resistance and medical AI. The study’s objective seeks to collect data on primary and public AI awareness, perceptions of risk and feelings of displacement that the professionals have regarding medical AI. Some of these concerns can be resolved when AI awareness is effectively integrated and patients, healthcare providers, as well as the general public are well informed about AI’s potential advantages. Trust is built when, AI related issues such as bias, transparency, and data privacy are critically addressed. Another objective is to develop a seamless integration of risk management, communication and awareness of AI. Lastly to assess how this comprehensive approach has affected hospital settings’ ambitions to use medical AI. Fusing AI awareness, risk management, and effective communication can be used as a comprehensive strategy to address and promote the application of medical AI in hospital settings. An argument made by Chen et al. is that providing training in AI can improve adoption intentions while lowering complexity through the awareness of AI.
Introduction: Chatbots are increasingly utilized in education, offering real-time, personalized communication. While research has explored technical aspects of chatbots, user experience remains under-investigated. This study examines a model for evaluating user experience and satisfaction with chatbots in higher education. Methodology: A four-factor model (information quality, system quality, chatbot experience, user satisfaction) was proposed based on prior research. An alternative two-factor model emerged through exploratory factor analysis, focusing on “Chatbot Response Quality” and “User Experience and Satisfaction with the Chatbot.” Surveys were distributed to students and faculty at a university in Ecuador to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis validated both models. Results: The two-factor model explained a significantly greater proportion of the data’s variance (55.2%) compared to the four-factor model (46.4%). Conclusion: This study suggests that a simpler model focusing on chatbot response quality and user experience is more effective for evaluating chatbots in education. Future research can explore methods to optimize these factors and improve the learning experience for students.
Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that drastically hinders plant growth and development, resulting in lower crop yields and productivity. As one of the most consumed vegetables worldwide, tomato (Solanum lycropersicum L.) plays a key role in the human diet. The current study aimed to explore the differential tolerance level of two tomato varieties (Rio Grande and Agata) to salt stress. To this end, various growth, physiological and biochemical attributes were assessed after two weeks of 100 mM NaCl treatment. Obtained findings indicated that, although the effects of salt stress included noticeable reductions in shoots’ and roots’ dry weights and relative growth rate as well as total leaf area, for the both cultivars, Rio Grande performed better compared to Agata variety. Furthermore, despite the exposure to salt stress, Rio Grande was able to maintain an adequate tissue hydration and a high leaf mass per area (LMA) through the accumulation of proline. However, relative water content, LMA and proline content were noticeably decreased for Agata cultivar. Likewise, total leaf chlorophyll, soluble proteins and total carbohydrates were significantly decreased; whereas, malondialdehyde was significantly accumulated in response to salt stress for the both cultivars. Moreover, such negative effects were remarkably more pronounced for Agata relative to Rio Grande cultivar. Overall, the current study provided evidence that, at the early growth stage, Rio Grande is more tolerant to salt stress than Agata variety. Therefore, Rio Grande variety may constitute a good candidate for inclusion in tomato breeding programs for salt-tolerance and is highly recommended for tomato growers, particularly in salt-affected fields.
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