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The purpose of this paper is to report thick film environmental and chemical sensor arrays designed for deployment in both subterranean and submerged aqueous applications.

Various choices of materials for reference electrodes employed in these different applications have been evaluated and the responses of the different sensor types are compared and discussed.

Results indicate that the choice of binder materials is critical to the production of sensors capable of medium term deployment (e.g. several days) as the binders not only affect the tradeoff between hydration time and drift but also have a significant bearing on device sensitivity and stability. Sensor calibration is shown to remain an issue with long‐term deployments (e.g. several weeks) but this can be ameliorated in the medium term with the use of novel device fabrication and packaging techniques.

The reported results indicate that is possible through careful choice of materials and fabrication methods to achieve near stable thick film reference electrodes that are suitable for use in solid state chemical sensors in a variety of different application areas.

The purpose of this paper is to summarise the authors' experience in furthering the educative use of Information Technology and the internet in the primary schools of northeast Portugal. The main goal of the Programme “Internet in Schools” is the development of Information Technology in Portuguese schools. It focuses on the use of the technology, rather than on its immediate pedagogical use. The characteristics of the target regions help in understanding this aim: teachers and students, as well as the population in general, were largely unaware of the potential of IT in general.

The project, the first and still the largest of its kind in Portugal, ultimately involved 1,137 schools, more than 1,700 teachers, and roughly 13,000 pupils. It was decided to centre the training process in the schools and communities themselves. The methodology implemented is distributed rather than centralised, and involves a series of school visits interspersed with training sessions.

The transfer of the training process from the university campus to the schools and communities themselves allowed for a very high degree of teacher participation. The first school visit was vital, allowing for the creation of a strong feeling of empathy between the trainer and the teachers and pupils. This was undoubtedly one of the main factors that lead to an easier and more enthusiastic participation from the teachers. The efforts to put theory into practice in the classrooms were rewarded by a quicker rate of acceptance of IT in the classroom. The use of the internet, namely of web services and e‐mail, was stimulated through the various training and awareness raising sessions (supported by Netmobiles) directed at the community in general. Such sessions enabled many individuals in the region to have their first contact with and experience of IT. This constitutes a sound and valuable contribution in terms of awareness raising, training and development towards IT in the region. The following factors played a very important role in the achievement of the goals: the training team was always present or could be easily contacted; both teachers and pupils contributed with material and resources; there was a continuous exchange of experiences; a vast number of individuals and entities participated in the project.

This was the first and still the largest approach of its kind in Portugal, and this is the only paper purposing and describing the used methodology in detail and the main conclusions reached.

This study aimed to analyse if significant pedagogical transitions occurred from Pre-Covid-19 to Covid-19 period concerning applied teaching methods, course content, assessment strategies, technical support and faculty's readiness.

This is a quantitative study wherein perceptions of 116 faculty (from higher education institutions) from 22 countries were collected through an online survey. The authors classified the responses by five measurement characteristics and treatment, that is, Pre-Covid and during Covid. ANOVA test identified the differences between the ten groups. The authors also conducted ANOVA test for five Pre-Covid groups and five Covid groups and found meaningful differences among those groups.

The authors compared the differences by the treatment, that is, Pre-Covid and Covid, and found the significant difference in teaching methods, assessment strategies and faculty's readiness while there was no significant difference found in course content and technological support.

The findings and recommendations have a practical application for higher education leaders, curriculum managers and faculty working within this academic environment of online learning either completely remote or hybrid.

The interpretive analysis suggests key improvement areas where education policymakers and higher education strategists need to pay attention to developing strategies and be proactive to cope with any future emergencies whilst maintaining high standards of teaching and learning. This includes devising strategies to prepare faculty competencies to teach in a virtual learning environment, to revamp the assessment strategies and teaching methods.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the role of American culture in social foresight as practiced by American futurists. It also seeks to describe how American culture has been expropriated by corporate culture, which is global. Finally, the paper seeks to depict various scenarios of the future of the USA and to consider an imperative of the futurist to reform the role of the professional futurist consultant in the capacity of social foresight that sets as its chief aim the transformation of business practice towards a sustainable, restorative economy.

The paper is a critical approach to American and corporate culture by exposing major assumptions behind business ideology and practice. It also applies the same critical approach to the way futures has been practiced within the capitalist paradigm during the past 50 years. It is a civilisational critique that also points towards an integral solution for sustainable, restorative business practice.

It was found that superficial efforts at sustainable solutions will not be enough to manage the impending collapse of industrial civilization. What is required is a wholesale transformation that is indicative of a paradigm shift towards a natural capitalism in which business practice is totally guided by sustainability and restoration of the natural systems rather than mere, narrowly focused “bottom line” ideology. It finds that social foresight can play a positive role in directing this transition and crisis of humanity.

Hopefully, the paper will contribute to the progress of futures towards a more specifically focused matter of social foresight. It should help futurists to recognize their leadership role, which should guide business entrepreneurs and social innovation towards the realization of sustainability and restoration. At the same time, it emphasizes the need to embrace rather than shun activism, to link with other progressives who seek to redefine the relationship of government and business through democratic means. The paper emphasizes the need to protect and restore a future that is being systematically undermined and destroyed.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and provide an overview of the history, evolution and existing research on continuous improvement (CI). It reviews a large number of research papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally.

The paper systematically categorizes the published literature, analyzes and reviews it methodically.

The paper reveals the important concepts, case studies and surveys in concerned with CI methodology. The contributions of CI programmes towards improving manufacturing performance of the organizations and CI values that underlies continuous improvement have also been highlighted.

The literature on classification of CI has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various CI practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. Further the future implications have also been discussed for the smooth and effective implementation of CI practices in manufacturing organizations.

The paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications on the field in question and their classification. It will be useful to researchers, professionals and others concerned with this subject to understand the significance of CI methodology.

The purpose of this article is to examine the regime to remediate contaminated land in the UK set out in Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and to analyse the UK Government's intent and objectives in introducing the regime. The legislative provisions and the statutory guidance that accompanies that legislation are then analysed to determine whether those objectives could have been met.

A research approach was taken to trace the legislative history of Part 2A and to analyse the statutory provisions and the statutory guidance. The approach included researching Parliamentary debates on the statute, consultations on the statutory guidance, other information published by the UK Government, commentaries on the regime, and contaminated land regimes in other jurisdictions.

The paper found that the introduction of a contaminated land regime that delegates primary implementation and enforcement authority to local authorities, and that severely limits their discretion in doing so, has resulted in a regime that has proven to be unworkable in practice and that has failed to meet its objectives.

The article is the first paper to examine the legislative intent and objectives behind Part 2A and to analyse their effect on the provisions in the statute and the statutory guidance and their implementation and enforcement.

Several telecommunication networking activities are underway in Arizona. The state is experiencing a tremendous rate of growth, with an accompanying demand for services. Arizona's geography is a challenge to the telecommunications industry with its mix of desert, mountains, and federal lands, including recreational areas and Indian reservations. While the majority of the population live in a few urban areas, there is the demand in the rural areas for equal access to information.

MEW requirements for transporting heavy loads in power plant construction, transferring ship cargoes to the shore and providing economic, quiet and energy conservative inter‐city transportation are reviving interest in lighter‐than‐air vehicles throughout the world. Military planners, too, are taking another look at the use of airships for some military missions for which they seem to be particularly well‐adapted.