Search results for: activity-based benefit approach

Authors: Virginia Chambers, Kamryn York, Mark Marnich

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T.I.M.E. for STEM (Transforming Integrative Maker Education for STEM learning) focuses on improving the quality and effectiveness of STEM education for pre-service teachers through a focus on the integration of maker space pedagogy. This National Science Foundation-funded project primarily focuses on undergraduate pre-service teaching students majoring in elementary education. The study contributes to the knowledge about teaching and learning by developing, implementing, and assessing faculty development, interactive instruction, and STEM lesson plan development. This project offers a valuable opportunity to improve STEM thinking skills by formally integrating STEM concepts throughout the pre-service teacher curriculum using an interdisciplinary approach. T.I.M.E. for STEM utilizes a maker space laboratory at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. However, the project design is such that other institutions of higher education can replicate the program with or without a physical maker space lab as the project’s findings and “maker mindset” are employed. Utilizing qualitative research methodology, the project investigates the following research question: What do pre-service teachers (education students) and faculty members identify as areas of pedagogical growth in STEM learning and teaching in a makerspace environment? This research highlights the impact of makerspace pedagogy on improving STEM education learning outcomes through an interdisciplinary constructivist approach. The project is expected to have a multiplier effect as it impacts STEM disciplinary and higher education faculty, pre-service teachers, and teacher preparation programs at other universities that benefit from what is learned at Point Park University. Ultimately, the future elementary students of the well-prepared pre-service teachers steeped in maker pedagogy and STEM content will have the potential to develop higher-level thinking skills and improve their mathematics and scientific achievement, which are essential for the 21st century STEM workforce.

Keywords: maker education, STEM learning, teacher education, elementary education

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Authors: Irsanti Hasyim, Christian Wibisono, Angela Teressia

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Social enterprises, as one of the way of doing business are on the rise and emerging from the innovations of decades of social initiatives. In simple way, social enterprises use the business platform to achieve social and/or environmental objectives whilst simultaneously seeking a financial return. In Indonesia, the number of social enterprises rapidly grows and most of them were using social media as their business platform. Social Media are perceived as tools for creating online communities of users who share interests, activities, and objectives. Many companies view the use of online communities in social media as a profitable marketing tool from which they can derive several benefits. Through social media, consumers share experiences with and suggest ideas to others while developing new relationships within their communities. Therefore, this study intends to identify the benefits that participants in online communities seek and examine the relationships between members’ levels of participation, brand trust, and brand commitment. Using convenience sampling method, 236 fully answered questioner was collected and used as a sample of this research. The sample of this research consisted of member or follower in several social media from selected social enterprise in Indonesia. Data collected in this research were process by using Partial Least Square and came up with the result that functional benefit and monetary benefit, are only two from five benefits that proposed were the only variable that has significant result even though from APC, ARS and AARS outcomes show that the model can be claimed to be significant.

Keywords: brand trust, brand commitment, social enterprise, social media

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Authors: Sepideh Jabbari Behnam, Zahrasadat Saide Zarabadi

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A city is an intertwined texture from the relationship of different components in a whole which is united in a one, so designing the whole complex and its planning is not an easy matter. By considering that a city is a complex system with infinite components and communications, providing flexible layouts that can respond to the unpredictable character of the city, which is a result of its complexity, is inevitable. Parametric design approach as a new approach can produce flexible and transformative layouts in any stage of design. This study aimed to introduce parametric design as a modern approach to respond to complex urban issues by using descriptive and analytical methods. This paper firstly introduces complex systems and then giving a brief characteristic of complex systems. The flexible design and layout flexibility is another matter in response and simulation of complex urban systems that should be considered in design, which is discussed in this study. In this regard, after describing the nature of the parametric approach as a flexible approach, as well as a tool and appropriate way to respond to features such as limited predictability, reciprocating nature, complex communications, and being sensitive to initial conditions and hierarchy, this paper introduces parametric design.

Keywords: complexity theory, complex system, flexibility, parametric design

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Authors: Kamran Baksh Soomro, Amin Talei, Sina Alaghmand

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Due to the declining freshwater availability to agriculture in many areas, the utilization of saline irrigation requires more consideration. For this purpose, the effects of saline irrigation on the economics of crop yield and soil salinity should be understood. A two-year field experiment was carried out during 2017-18 with three replications to investigate the effect of saline groundwater on the economics of bitter gourd production and soil salinity status after harvesting the crop. Two irrigation treatments, i.e., fresh quality irrigation water (IT₁ EC 0.56 dS.m⁻¹ (control) and other is saline groundwater ( IT₂ EC 2.56 dS.m⁻¹) were used under drip system of irrigation. Cost-benefit analysis is often used to assess adaptation approaches. In this study, it has been observed that the salts under IT₁ (fresh quality water) and IT₂ (saline groundwater) did not accumulate in the wetted zone. However, the salts were observed deposited at wetted periphery under both the treatments after the crop end at all the three sampling depths under drip system of irrigation. Moreover, the costs and benefits associated with different irrigation treatments for two consecutive seasons for bitter-gourd cultivation were also investigated, and it was found that the average gross returns per hectare in season 1 were USD 5008.22 and 4454.78 under irrigation treatment IT₁ and IT₂ respectively. Whereas in season 2 the average gross returns per hectare were 3713.47 and 3140.51 under IT₁ and IT₂ respectively.

Keywords: ground-water, soil salinity, drip irrigation, wetted zone, wetted periphery, cost benefit analysis

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Authors: Nuhi Arslani, Aleks Brumec

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Adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) accounts for 20% of emergency surgical procedures and intraabdominal adhesions account for 65% of such cases. In a 10-year post-operative period of abdominal surgery patients, around 35% of them will be readmitted because of ASBO. The first step in approaching ASBOs is using the Bologna guidelines, which include a thorough initial evaluation to diagnose or rule out an ASBO and then proceed with either further imaging studies or emergency surgery, which can be either open or laparoscopic. The contraindications for a laparoscopic approach include hemodynamic instability of the patient and infections in the peritoneum or port sites. Studies have shown that a laparoscopic approach to adhesiolysis is linked with a significantly smaller risk of readmissions and reoperations as well as with faster recovery time and fewer postoperative infections, but has a higher risk of bowel injuries, so a careful selection of patients is required. Although studies favor a laparoscopic approach, many countries still prefer a laparotomy, often because a laparoscopic approach requires surgeons to be highly skilled in the procedure. In the US and UK, between 50 and 60% of surgeons would approach an ASBO with laparoscopy, while in Italy, this number is around 15% and it is most likely similar in Slovenia. We believe that in the right cases and in the right patients, a laparoscopic approach can be equally feasible for treating ASBOs and is associated with fewer intraoperative and postoperative complications.

Keywords: adhesive small bowel obstruction, laparoscopy, adhesions, adhesiolysis

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Authors: Royia Soliman, Salma ElAnsary, Akram Amin Abdellatif, Florian Holzapfel

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Model-Based Safety Analysis (MBSA) is an approach in which the system and safety engineers share a common system model created using a model-based development process. The model can also be extended by the failure modes of the system components. There are two famous approaches for the addition of fault behaviors to system models. The first one is to enclose the failure into the system design directly. The second approach is to develop a fault model separately from the system model, thus combining both independent models for safety analysis. This paper introduces a hybrid approach of MBSA. The approach tries to use informal abstracted models to investigate failure behaviors. The approach will combine various concepts such as directed graph traversal, event lists and Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP). The approach is implemented using an Object Oriented programming language. The components are abstracted to its failure logic and relationships of connected components. The implemented approach is tested on various flight control systems, including electrical and multi-domain examples. The various tests are analyzed, and a comparison to different approaches is represented.

Keywords: flight control systems, model based safety analysis, safety assessment analysis, system modelling

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Authors: Warda Khan, Remo Lachmann, Adarsh S. Garakahally

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The increasing complexity of software and its applicability in a wide range of industries, e.g., automotive, call for enhanced quality assurance techniques. Test automation is one option to tackle the prevailing challenges by supporting test engineers with fast, parallel, and repetitive test executions. A high degree of test automation allows for a shift from mundane (manual) testing tasks to a more analytical assessment of the software under test. However, a high initial investment of test resources is required to establish test automation, which is, in most cases, a limitation to the time constraints provided for quality assurance of complex software systems. Hence, a computer-aided creation of automated test cases is crucial to increase the benefit of test automation. This paper proposes the application of machine learning for the generation of automated test cases. It is based on supervised learning to analyze test specifications and existing test implementations. The analysis facilitates the identification of patterns between test steps and their implementation with test automation components. For the test case generation, this approach exploits historical data of test automation projects. The identified patterns are the foundation to predict the implementation of unknown test case specifications. Based on this support, a test engineer solely has to review and parameterize the test automation components instead of writing them manually, resulting in a significant time reduction for establishing test automation. Compared to other generation approaches, this ML-based solution can handle different writing styles, authors, application domains, and even languages. Furthermore, test automation tools require expert knowledge by means of programming skills, whereas this approach only requires historical data to generate test cases. The proposed solution is evaluated using various multi-label evaluation criteria (EC) and two small-sized real-world systems. The most prominent EC is ‘Subset Accuracy’. The promising results show an accuracy of at least 86% for test cases, where a 1:1 relationship (Multi-Class) between test step specification and test automation component exists. For complex multi-label problems, i.e., one test step can be implemented by several components, the prediction accuracy is still at 60%. It is better than the current state-of-the-art results. It is expected the prediction quality to increase for larger systems with respective historical data. Consequently, this technique facilitates the time reduction for establishing test automation and is thereby independent of the application domain and project. As a work in progress, the next steps are to investigate incremental and active learning as additions to increase the usability of this approach, e.g., in case labelled historical data is scarce.

Keywords: machine learning, multi-class, multi-label, supervised learning, test automation

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Authors: Djamal Hamadi, Sifeddine Abderrahmani, Toufik Maalem, Oussama Temami

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In recent years many finite elements have been developed for plate bending analysis. The formulated elements are based on the strain based approach. This approach leads to the representation of the displacements by higher order polynomial terms without the need for the introduction of additional internal and unnecessary degrees of freedom. Good convergence can also be obtained when the results are compared with those obtained from the corresponding displacement based elements, having the same total number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the plate bending elements are free from any shear locking since they converge to the Kirchhoff solution for thin plates contrarily for the corresponding displacement based elements. In this paper the efficiency of the strain based approach compared to well known displacement formulation is presented. The results obtained by a new formulated plate bending element based on the strain approach and Kirchhoff theory are compared with some others elements. The good convergence of the new formulated element is confirmed.

Keywords: displacement fields, finite elements, plate bending, Kirchhoff theory, strain based approach

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Authors: Naznine Anwar, Kim Cornish, Izelle Labuschagne, Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis

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Falls and subsequent injuries are common features in symptomatic Huntington’s disease (symp-HD) individuals. As part of daily walking, navigating around obstacles may incur a greater risk of falls in symp-HD. We designed obstacle-crossing experiment to examine adaptive gait dynamics and to identify underlying spatiotemporal gait characteristics that could increase the risk of falling in symp-HD. This experiment involved navigating around one or two ground-based obstacles under two conditions (walking while navigating around one obstacle, and walking while navigating around two obstacles). A total of 32 participants were included, 16 symp-HD and 16 healthy controls with age and sex matched. We used a GAITRite electronic walkway to examine the spatiotemporal gait characteristics and inter-trail gait variability when participants walked at their preferable speed. A minimum of six trials were completed which were performed for baseline free walk and also for each and every condition during navigating around the obstacles. For analysis, we separated all walking steps into three phases as approach steps, navigating steps and recovery steps. The mean and inter-trail variability (within participant standard deviation) for each step gait variable was calculated across the six trails. We found symp-HD individuals significantly decreased their gait velocity and step length and increased step duration variability during the navigating steps and recovery steps compared with approach steps. In contrast, HC individuals showed less difference in gait velocity, step time and step length variability from baseline in both respective conditions as well as all three approaches. These findings indicate that increasing spatiotemporal gait variability may be a possible compensatory strategy that is adopted by symp-HD individuals to effectively navigate obstacles during walking. Such findings may offer benefit to clinicians in the development of strategies for HD individuals to improve functional outcomes in the home and hospital based rehabilitation program.

Keywords: Huntington’s disease, gait variables, navigating around obstacle, basal ganglia dysfunction

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Authors: Vahid Nademi

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In response to widely used wearable medical devices equipped with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and insulin pump, the advanced control methods are still demanding to get the full benefit of these devices. Unlike costly clinical trials, implementing effective insulin-glucose control strategies can provide significant contributions to the patients suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes. This study deals with a key role of two-layer insulin-glucose regulator based on model-predictive-control (MPC) scheme so that the patient’s predicted glucose profile is in compliance with the insulin level injected through insulin pump automatically. It is achieved by iterative optimization algorithm which is called an integrated perturbation analysis and sequential quadratic programming (IPA-SQP) solver for handling uncertainties due to unexpected variations in glucose-insulin values and body’s characteristics. The feasibility evaluation of the discussed control approach is also studied by means of numerical simulations of two case scenarios via measured data. The obtained results are presented to verify the superior and reliable performance of the proposed control scheme with no negative impact on patient safety.

Keywords: blood glucose monitoring, insulin pump, predictive control, optimization

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Authors: Ali M. Alakeel

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Assertion-based software testing has been shown to be a promising tool for generating test cases that reveal program faults. Because the number of assertions may be very large for industry-size programs, one of the main concerns to the applicability of assertion-based testing is the amount of search time required to explore a large number of assertions. This paper presents a new approach for assertions exploration during the process of Assertion-Based software testing. Our initial exterminations with the proposed approach show that the performance of Assertion-Based testing may be improved, therefore, making this approach more efficient when applied on programs with large number of assertions.

Keywords: software testing, assertion-based testing, program assertions, generating test

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Authors: Majid Etaati, Hamid Majedi

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Relational planning approach proposed by Patsy Healey goes beyond the physical proximity and emphasizes social proximity. This approach stresses the importance of nodes and flows between nodes. Current plans in European cities have incrementally incorporated this approach, but urban plans in Iran have still stayed very detailed and rigid. In response to the weak evaluation results of the comprehensive planning approach in Qazvin, the local authorities applied the City Development Strategy (CDS) to cope with new urban challenges. The paper begins with an explanation of relational planning and suggests that Healey gives urban planners about spatial strategies and then it surveys relational factors in CDS of Qazvin. This study analyzes the extent which CDS of Qazvin have highlighted nodes, flows, and dynamics. In the end, the study concludes that there is a relational understanding of urban dynamics in the plan, but it is weak.

Keywords: relational, dynamics, city development strategy, urban planning, Qazvin

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Authors: Namubiru Zula, Janice Desire Busingue

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Pro-active educational approaches have lately been adapted Globally in the Conservation of Natural Resources. This led to the introduction of the co-management system, which worked for some European Countries on the conservation of sharks and other Natural resources. However, this approach has drastically failed in the Fishery sector on Lake Victoria; and the punitive education approach has been re-instated. Literature is readily available about the punitive educational approaches and scanty with the pro-active one. This article analyses the pro-active approach adopted by the Department of Fisheries for the orientation of BMU leaders in a co-management system. The study is interpreted using the social constructivist lens for co-management of the fishery resource to ensure that fishers are also back to fishing sustainably. It highlights some of the education methods used, methodological challenges that included the power and skills gap of the facilitators and program designers, and some implications to practice.

Keywords: beach management units, fishers, education methods, proactive approach, punitive approach

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Authors: Bolatbek Rysbaiuly, Aliya S. Azhibekova

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Problems concerning the interpretation of the well testing results belong to the class of inverse problems of subsurface hydromechanics. The distinctive feature of such problems is that additional information is depending on the capabilities of oilfield experiments. Another factor that should not be overlooked is the existence of errors in the test data. To determine reservoir properties, some inverse problems for parabolic equations were investigated. An approach to solving the inverse problems based on the method of regularization is proposed.

Keywords: iterative approach, inverse problem, parabolic equation, reservoir properties

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Authors: Faith G. Ehiemua, Chandra E. Ulinfun

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This work presents two approaches that use competing models to combat criminality in human trafficking. It argues that oath-taking is an approach used to combat and repress crime by natives of African descent. Therefore, certain value choices reflected explicitly or implicitly in its habitual functioning are features of crime control, a model of the criminal process used to repress and prevent crime. By pitting the approaches against each other, the work examines the utility of the purpose of each approach with the aim of assessing moral worthiness. The approaches adopted are descriptive, normative, and theoretical. The findings reveal that oath-taking is effective in human trafficking mainly because Africans believe that the African traditional system is efficient. However, the utilitarian ethical theory applied to the use of oath-taking in human trafficking shows oath-taking as protecting the interest of human traffickers against the general good of society.

Keywords: human rights, human trafficking, oath taking, utilitarianism, victim-centered approach

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Authors: Amal Jmaii, Damien Rousseliere, Besma Belhadj

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We explore the relationship between internal migration and poverty in Tunisia. We present a methodology combining potential outcomes approach with multiple imputation to highlight the effect of internal migration on poverty states. We find that probability of being poor decreases when leaving the poorest regions (the west areas) to the richer regions (greater Tunis and the east regions).

Keywords: internal migration, potential outcomes approach, poverty dynamics, Tunisia

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Authors: Seifoddini Hamid, Mardikoraeem Mahsa, Ghorayshi Roya

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Manufacturing facility location selection is an important strategic decision for many industrial corporations. In this paper, a new approach to the manufacturing location selection problem is proposed. In this approach, cluster analysis is employed to identify suitable manufacturing locations based on economic, social, environmental, and political factors. These factors are quantified using the existing real world data.

Keywords: manufacturing facility, manufacturing sites, real world data

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Authors: Hacer Unver, Rukuye Aylaz

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Aim: This study was conducted in order to determine the effects of exercising on quality of life in pregnancy. Material and Method: The population of the study was formed by 580 pregnants who were registered to 10 Family Health Center located in the city center of Malatya. The sample of the study, on the other hand, was formed by 230 pregnants who had minimal sample size according to known population sample size calculation. The data of this descriptive study was collected between October 2013 and September 2014 from the Family Health Centers located in the city center of Malatya. The data were collected using pregnant introductory form, exercise benefit and barrier scale, quality of life scale. Percentage distributions, t-test, Variance Analysis (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and Pearson Correlation tests were used in the analysis of the data. Result: It was determined that 69.1% of the pregnants participating to the study did not know the benefits of exercising and 89.6% did not exercise. Quality of life mental health scores of those who exercised were determined to be higher and statistically significant (p<0.05). A positive correlation was determined between the exercise benefit scala and physical quality of life scores of the pregnants in this study (0.268, p=0.001). It was also detected that the more exercise performed led to higher total quality of life scores. Conclusion: In consequence, exercising was determined to positively affect the quality of life in pregnants. Therefore, it is recommended that nurses should give education regarding the importance and benefits of exercise during pregnancy in order to increase the quality of life.

Keywords: exercise, midwife, pregnant woman, quality of life

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Authors: Nurvita Wijayanti

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The movie titled The King’s Speech is based on a true story telling an English king suffers from stuttering and how he gets the treatment from the therapist, so that he can reduce the high frequency on stuttering. The treatment uses the unique approach implying the linguistic principles. This study shows how the language works significantly in order to treat the stuttering sufferer using psychological approach. Therefore, the linguistic study is done to analyze the treatment activity. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar is used as the main approach in this study along with qualitative descriptive method. The study finds that the therapist though using the orthodox approach applies the psycholinguistic method to overcome the king’s stuttering.

Keywords: psycholinguistics, stuttering, systemic functional grammar, treatment

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Authors: Ashwini Mahesh Jagatap

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This paper presents the language learning strategy with respect to speaking skill with collaborative learning approach. Collaborative learning has been proven to be efficient learning methodology for all kinds of students. Students are working in groups of two or more, reciprocally searching for understanding, Solutions, or meanings, or creating a product. The presentation highlights the different stages which can be implemented during actual implementation of the methodology in the class room teaching learning process.

Keywords: collaborative classroom, collaborative learning approach, language skills, traditional teaching

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Authors: Jose Carlos Rodriguez, Mario Gomez

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In the last years, the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has gained popularity. It reveals the importance of a supportive community and adequate economic environment for entrepreneurial activity, and thus the possibility of developing a different perspective on the innovation system. On the other hand, the (regional/technology) innovation system approach lacks in its analyses the presence of an entrepreneur as a key actor that develops innovations. In this regard, this paper examines the foundations of both theoretical approaches (the entrepreneurial ecosystems and the regional/technology systems of innovation) and their contributions to understand entrepreneurial activity at different levels of analyses, namely national, regional or local. The paper makes a literature review on both perspectives of innovation stressing the role played by entrepreneurs in these theoretical approaches. It concludes remarking that the regional/technology innovation systems approach and the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach have established themselves in their own right, but the regional/technology innovation system approach is a predecessor of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach.

Keywords: entrepreneurial ecosystems, innovation systems, entrepreneurial activity, comparative analysis

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Authors: Mas Rahmah

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Indonesia is the most populous Southeast Asian nations, as Indonesia`s population is constantly growing, food security has become a crucial trending issue. Although Indonesia has more than enough natural resources and agricultural products to ensure food security for all, Indonesia is still facing the problem of food security because of adverse weather conditions, increasing population, political instability, economic factors (unemployment, rising food prices), and the dependent system of agriculture. This paper will analyze that Geographical Indication (GI) can aid in transforming Indonesian agricultural-dependent system by tapping the unique product attributes of their quality products since Indonesia has a lot of agricultural products with unique quality and special characteristic associated with geographical factors such as Toraja Coffee, Alor Vanili, Banda Nutmeg, Java Tea, Deli Tobacco, Cianjur Rise etc. This paper argues that the reputation and agricultural products and their intrinsic quality should be protected under GI because GI will provide benefit supporting the food security program. Therefore, this paper will expose the benefit of GI protection such as increasing productivity, improving the exports of GI products, creating employment, adding economic value to products, and increasing the diversity of supply of natural and unique quality products, etc. that can contribute to food security. The analysis will finally conclude that the scenario of promoting GI may indirectly contribute to food security through adding value by incorporating territory specific cultural, environmental and social qualities into production, processing and developing of unique local, niche and special agricultural products.

Keywords: geographical indication, food security, agricultural product, Indonesia

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Authors: T. Miková

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This paper analyzes the effect of a single uniform accounting rule on reporting quality by investigating the influence of IFRS on earnings management. This paper examines whether earnings management is reduced after IFRS adoption through the use of “loss avoidance thresholds”, a method that has been verified in earlier studies. This paper concentrates on two European countries: one that represents the continental code law tradition with weak protection of investors (France) and one that represents the Anglo-American common law tradition, which typically implies a strong enforcement system (the United Kingdom). The research investigates a sample of 526 companies (6822 firm-year observations) during the years 2000 – 2013. The results are different for the two jurisdictions. This study demonstrates that a single set of accounting standards contributes to better reporting quality and reduces the pervasiveness of earnings management in France. In contrast, there is no evidence that a reduction in earnings management followed the implementation of IFRS in the United Kingdom. Due to the fact that IFRS benefit France but not the United Kingdom, other political and economic factors, such legal system or capital market strength, must play a significant role in influencing the comparability and transparency cross-border companies’ financial statements. Overall, the result suggests that IFRS moderately contribute to the accounting quality of reported financial statements and bring benefit for stakeholders, though the role played by other economic factors cannot be discounted.

Keywords: accounting standards, earnings management, international financial reporting standards, loss avoidance, reporting quality

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Authors: Arzu Akar Gençer, Mübeccel Gönen

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The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of the projects based on Reggio Emilia Approach, on the creative thinking skills of preschool children. The study is carried out with eighteen 6 years old children in a class of a preschool, and entailed the development of projects based on Reggio Emilia approach with the children, for a period of 3 months. The study employs qualitative model. The children were analyzed with reference to the creative thinking aspects (rationality, originality, flexibility, and applicability) of the projects applied. As the projects based on Reggio Emilia approach arose out of the interests and curiosity of the children, and had their roots in the existing class culture, it is possible to conclude that they have an impact on the creativity of the children with reference to the aspects of creative thinking.

Keywords: Reggio Emilia approach, project, creativity, preschool children

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Authors: Stanley Yap, Patrick Kee Peng Kong, Chong Wei Ying, Leow Hon Wei

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Purpose: This study examines the comprehensive household retirement planning based on the level of financial literacy in Malaysia. Sufficient financial literacy is essential to make financial decision on Malaysian household retirement planning. Design/Methodology/Approach: Numerous measurements consist of present value of total retirement fund needed, future value of the expenses and inflation-adjusted interest rate are used in this paper. Therefore, we are able to identify the retirement gap that needs to be considered immediately. Findings: Our results show, firstly, adequate financial literacy is vital to achieve long term household retirement planning. Secondly, there is no retirement gap where the future value of the existing financial assets is greater than the lump sum needs during retirement phase. Thirdly, financial assets should be prepared in early age to accumulate substantial funding to support household retirement life. Practical Implications: The outcomes benefit to retiree and working adults. It highlights the importance of financial literacy to retirement planning. It is also a milestone for Malaysian to achieve developed country if Malaysian has sufficient retirement funding. Originality/Value: There is currently lack of in-depth research on financial literacy related to household retirement planning. Further, the paper also focusses on financial literacy, as a means to assist those in funding retirement resources, in order to fulfil the retirement gap.

Keywords: financial literacy, retirement planning, retirement resources, retirement gap, Malaysian household

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Authors: Yuanyuan Wang, Chun Hui

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Drawing on social capital theory, this article discusses how individuals may utilize network ties to come up with creativity. Social capital theory elaborates how network ties enhances individual creativity from three dimensions: structural access, and relational and cognitive mechanisms. We categorize network ties into strong and weak in terms of tie strength. With less structural constraints, weak ties allow diverse and heterogeneous knowledge to prosper, further facilitating individuals to build up connections among diverse even distant ideas. On the other hand, strong ties with the relational mechanism of cooperation and trust may benefit the accumulation of psychological capital, ultimately to motivate and sustain creativity. We suggest that differential ties play different roles for individual creativity: Weak ties deliver informational benefit directly rifling individual creativity from informational resource aspect; strong ties offer solidarity benefits to reinforce psychological capital, which further inspires individual creativity engagement from a psychological viewpoint. Social capital embedded in network ties influence individuals’ informational acquisition, motivation, as well as cognitive ability to be creative. Besides, we also consider the moderating effects constraining the relatedness between network ties and creativity, such as knowledge articulability. We hypothesize that when the extent of knowledge articulability is low, that is, with low knowledge codifiability, and high dependency and ambiguity, weak ties previous serving as knowledge reservoir will not become ineffective on individual creativity. Two-wave survey will be employed in Mainland China to empirically test mentioned propositions.

Keywords: network ties, social capital, psychological capital, knowledge articulability, individual creativity

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Authors: Aasim Siddiqui

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In a country where 45.6 per cent of the total population lives below the poverty line, according to the Human Development Report 2014 by UNDP, an increasing number of private companies are now dedicating their resources to remedy this situation of chronic poverty. Most corporations in Pakistan now have a separate and dedicated department for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), albeit with varying goals and hence different strategies for achieving those goals. Similarly, Marine Group of Companies (MRGC) also has a robust CSR policy which the group implements through a Non-Government Organization (NGO) called Organization for Social Development Initiatives (OSDI). This organization, which operates under the ambit of MRGC’s CSR division, has a concentrated focus on helping the poorest communities in the rural areas of Pakistan to break out of intergenerational poverty. This paper maps the theoretical strategies as well as practical activities undertaken by OSDI for poverty alleviation via rural development in Pakistan. To obtain in-depth information of demographics, livelihood and socio-economic indicators in OSDI’s focused districts; a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies was used during the course of this research. The paper highlights and explains OSDI’s unique three-pronged approach which aims at reducing poverty through income generation via the livelihood assistance program and through the provision of access to the most basic services (including health and education) via the community development and food security programs. Modeled on the concept of capacity building, OSDI’s modus operandi is centered on disbursing timely microcredit facilities to farmers who can benefit from these funds by investing in productive assets to foster financial capability for the future. With a focus on increasing the income of poor farmers, OSDI’s approach is to integrate all the socio-economic facets: education, health and sanitation and food security, to induce a sustained positive impact on their living standards.

Keywords: CSR, poverty, rural, sustainability

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Authors: Tharaki S. Hettiarachchi

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Sustainable construction has gained massive attention in the present world as the construction industry is highly responsible for carbon emissions and other types of unsustainable practices. Yet, the construction industry has not been able to completely attain sustainable goals. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the extent to which sustainability has been considered within the scope of construction project management and to analyze the challenges, gaps, and constraints associated. Accordingly, this study develops a sustainable framework to integrate in construction project management. In accomplishing the research aim, this research integrates a qualitative approach while relying on secondary data sources. The data shall be then analyzed with the use of a systematic literature review (SLR) method while following the PRISMA (2020) guideline and represented in a statistical form. The outcomes of this study may become highly significant in identifying the nature of the existing sustainable frameworks associated with construction project management scopes and to develop a new framework to integrate in order to enhance the effectiveness of sustainable applications in construction management. The outcomes of this research may benefit present and future construction professionals and academicians to organize sustainable construction-related knowledge in a useful way to apply in practical implementation for effective project management. Overall, this study directs present and future construction professionals toward an advanced construction project management mechanism.

Keywords: construction, framework development, project management, sustainability

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Authors: Dakeyi Athanase

Abstract:

The ratification of an international human rights legal instrument provides signatory States with an opportunity to assume a set of obligations and rights for the benefit of their citizens, offering increased possibilities, opportunities, and means to access an improved quality of life – to be, to appear, and to become. Developed nations typically experience cultural, political, social, economic, legal, and regulatory transformations in response to this transition. In a methodologically proactive approach, mechanisms undergo a visible and comprehensible process of qualitative and quantitative change. Conversely, in nations undergoing development, the response to such ratification varies. Some demonstrate positive policy changes, while others remain stagnant or regress. Cameroon falls into the second category, despite efforts, as it legally prohibits 50% of its population with disabilities from acquiring the status of a person with a disability. The overarching goal of this communication is to highlight these deficiencies and their detrimental effects on various aspects of life, fostering awareness among beneficiaries and advocating for more inclusive transformations in the country. Our project employs a popular and participatory methodological approach by involving beneficiaries and their organizations in its preparation. It is also inclusive, representing the diversity of disabilities and engaging natural and legal persons from various backgrounds. Active consultations occur at all levels of the activities. Anticipated outcomes include raising awareness globally among nations, international cooperation organizations, NGOs, and other inclusive development actors. We seek their support for local advocacy efforts to fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Concurrently, we hope they express solidarity with the victims in Cameroon who have been left behind and recommend legal reforms to align domestic and international legislation with the promotion and protection of disability rights.

Keywords: droit, convention, handicap, discrimination, participation, inclusion

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Authors: Andrew Adjah Sai, Portia Opoku Boadi

Abstract:

Explaining change is an abstract endeavor. Many management scholars have adopted metaphors to explain change. In this paper, we deal with the drivers of technological change. We use a historical and theoretical approach to review and elaborate on the concepts and context about a specific case. We discuss the limitations of each approach proffered and the implications as a consequence on technological change. We present plurality and multiplicity of perspectives using a socio-technical approach to explain technological change contextually on an organizational level. We show by using our model how technology absorption and diffusion can be accelerated through artefactual institutions to enable social change. The multiplicity of perspectives and plurality of our arguments creates a fine explanation of the e-Estonia case as an example.

Keywords: artefactual institutions, e-Estonia, social change, technological trajectories

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