Search results for: effective management includes political stability

Authors: L. Krpalkova, N. O' Mahony, A. Carvalho, S. Campbell, G. Corkery, E. Broderick, J. Walsh

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Farm management and operations will drastically change due to access to real-time data, real-time forecasting, and tracking of physical items in combination with Internet of Things developments to further automate farm operations. Dairy farms have embraced technological innovations and procured vast amounts of permanent data streams during the past decade; however, the integration of this information to improve the whole farm-based management and decision-making does not exist. It is now imperative to develop a system that can collect, integrate, manage, and analyse on-farm and off-farm data in real-time for practical and relevant environmental and economic actions. The developed systems, based on machine learning and artificial intelligence, need to be connected for useful output, a better understanding of the whole farming issue, and environmental impact. Evolutionary computing can be very effective in finding the optimal combination of sets of some objects and, finally, in strategy determination. The system of the future should be able to manage the dairy farm as well as an experienced dairy farm manager with a team of the best agricultural advisors. All these changes should bring resilience and sustainability to dairy farming as well as improving and maintaining good animal welfare and the quality of dairy products. This review aims to provide an insight into the state-of-the-art of big data applications and evolutionary computing in relation to smart dairy farming and identify the most important research and development challenges to be addressed in the future. Smart dairy farming influences every area of management, and its uptake has become a continuing trend.

Keywords: big data, evolutionary computing, cloud, precision technologies

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Authors: Tomasz L. Nawrocki, Danuta Szwajca

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The growing importance of reputation in building enterprise value and achieving long-term competitive advantage creates the need for its measurement and evaluation for the management purposes (effective reputation and its risk management). The paper presents practical application of self-developed corporate reputation assessment model from the viewpoint of stock market investors. The model has a pioneer character and example analysis performed for selected industry is a form of specific test for this tool. In the proposed solution, three aspects - informational, financial and development, as well as social ones - were considered. It was also assumed that the individual sub-criteria will be based on public sources of information, and as the calculation apparatus, capable of obtaining synthetic final assessment, fuzzy logic will be used. The main reason for developing this model was to fulfill the gap in the scope of synthetic measure of corporate reputation that would provide higher degree of objectivity by relying on "hard" (not from surveys) and publicly available data. It should be also noted that results obtained on the basis of proposed corporate reputation assessment method give possibilities of various internal as well as inter-branch comparisons and analysis of corporate reputation impact.

Keywords: corporate reputation, fuzzy logic, fuzzy model, stock market investors

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Authors: Chaiwat Tantarangsee

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The purposes of this study are: 1) to study the frequent English writing errors of students registering the course: Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and 2) to find out the results of writing error correction by using coded indirect corrective feedback and writing error treatments. Samples include 28 2nd year English Major students, Faculty of Education, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Tool for experimental study includes the lesson plan of the course; Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and tool for data collection includes 4 writing tests of short texts. The research findings disclose that frequent English writing errors found in this course comprise 7 types of grammatical errors, namely Fragment sentence, Subject-verb agreement, Wrong form of verb tense, Singular or plural noun endings, Run-ons sentence, Wrong form of verb pattern and Lack of parallel structure. Moreover, it is found that the results of writing error correction by using coded indirect corrective feedback and error treatment reveal the overall reduction of the frequent English writing errors and the increase of students’ achievement in the writing of short texts with the significance at .05.

Keywords: coded indirect corrective feedback, error correction, error treatment, frequent English writing errors

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Authors: Patrick Nüß

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I estimate management opposition against unions in terms of hiring discrimination by a large scale field experiment in the German labor market. The results show that callback rates for union members decrease significantly in the presence of high sectoral union density and large firm size. I further explore how this effect varies with regional and sectoral labor dispute intensity and find that management opposition is stronger when a sector is exposed to an intense labor dispute. There is evidence that the observed management opposition can be explained by sectoral union threat effects. Sectors with lower hiring discrimination have lower coverage of collective agreements, and in the absence of a collective agreement, they are less likely to follow the collective agreement wage setting.

Keywords: trade unions, Industrial relations, management opposition, union threat, labor disputes, field experiments

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Authors: Joao Gouveia

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This is a study about Hegelian political and moral philosophy. Our aim is to understand the relevance that Hegel attributes to ethics in the concrete political configuration of society. But our analysis isn’t limited to Hegel’s most known political work (the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts). Instead, we also analyze the Phänomenologie des Geistes and establish a comparison between them. In the Moralität of the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, consciousness acquires the disposition that allows it to see any determination as its own (the certainty about itself or Gewissen). This certainty is the essential disposition that makes itself felt throughout all Sittlichkeit –the dispositions of family member and citizen (Bürger) are only configurations of it. Although consciousness is alienated in these dispositions, it doesn’t lose the certainty about itself that it reached in the Moralität. As our major finding, we point out that it is the moral learning that allows consciousness to resist the temptation of focusing so intensely on specific content that it excludes all the others (a temptation that is stimulated by the very intensity with which each content presents itself to consciousness). As the world of Bildung of the Phänomenologie des Geistes isn’t preceded by a sphere of Moralität, consciousness is thrown into a frenzy of destruction of all the powers of objectivity, and it ends up having to withdraw from the concrete contents and to focus in an abstract whole, where it doesn’t find opposite determinacies. The evidence supporting our thesis is the fact that the transition from abstraction into particularity, that we see in the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, allows the preservation of abstraction (it isn’t lost as we penetrate in particularity). On the other hand, the transition we find in the Phänomenologie des Geistes is a transition from particularity to abstraction, which takes every particularity to be eliminated in the war with others. While in the Phänomenologie des Geistes, the state may only be seen as a moment or facet of the object (it is only Staatsmacht); in the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, it is seen as a whole that contains various moments in itself (Staat). Therefore, the element of the Phänomenologie des Geistes that is closer to the State of the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts is language (or the language of perversion) –something that can’t be defined as an individuality. This way, we want to show that, between the Phänomenologie des Geistes and the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, there is truly no remarkable evolution to report in Hegel’s ethical thought. What the difference in the structure of the two works show is a specific thesis respecting the influence of ethics in the configuration of society, and this thesis has implications at various levels, including in the philosophy of history.

Keywords: Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, Hegelian ethics, Hegelian politics, Phänomenologie des Geistes

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Authors: Moses Pinto, Ana Paula Monte

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The present research analyses the interactions between various categories of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that mediate the relationship between CSR and financial performance in Multinational Enterprises (MNE) in light of the present socio-political factors prevalent in the countries under observation. In the research it has been hypothesized that the absence of consensus in the empirical literature on the CSR–financial performance relationship may be explained by the existence of synergies (Complementarities) between the different CSR components. Upon investigation about whether such relationships exist, a final unbalanced panel sample of 1000 observations taken from 100 Multinational Enterprises per year functioning in the Schengen countries and one south east Asian country namely: India, over the span of 10 years i.e. from the year 2008 to 2018 has been analyzed. The empirical analysis used in the research methodology employs dynamic Panel Data in time series specifically, the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) which had been used to detect the varying degrees of relationships between the CSR and financial performance parameters in the background of the socio-political factors prevailing in the countries at the time and also taking into account the bilateral treaty obligations between the countries under observation. The econometric model has employed the financial ratio namely the Return on Assets (ROA) as an indicator of financial performance in order to gauge the internal performance and valuation of a firm as opposed to the Tobin’s Q that provides for the external evaluation of a firm’s financial performance which may not always be accurate. The various CSR dimensions have demonstrated significant correlations to the ‘ROA’ which include some negatively associated correlations and one positively associated correlation that is highly significant throughout the analysis of the observations, namely the correlation between the ‘ROA’ and the CSR dimension: ‘Environment’. The results provide a deeper insight in the synergistic CSR activities that managers could adapt into their Firm’s CSR strategy in order to enhance the ‘ROA’ and also to understand which interactions between the CSR dimensions can be adapted together due to their positively correlated association with each other and the ROA. The future lines of research would be inclined to investigate the effects of socio-political factors on the ROA of the MNEs through better designed econometric models.

Keywords: CSR, financial performance, complementarity, sociopolitical factors

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Authors: J. P. Chollom, G. M. Kumleng, S. Longwap

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The search for higher order A-stable linear multi-step methods has been the interest of many numerical analysts and has been realized through either higher derivatives of the solution or by inserting additional off step points, supper future points and the likes. These methods are suitable for the solution of stiff differential equations which exhibit characteristics that place a severe restriction on the choice of step size. It becomes necessary that only methods with large regions of absolute stability remain suitable for such equations. In this paper, high order block implicit multi-step methods of the hybrid form up to order twelve have been constructed using the multi-step collocation approach by inserting one or more off step points in the multi-step method. The accuracy and stability properties of the new methods are investigated and are shown to yield A-stable methods, a property desirable of methods suitable for the solution of stiff ODE’s. The new High Order Block Implicit Multistep methods used as block integrators are tested on stiff differential systems and the results reveal that the new methods are efficient and compete favourably with the state of the art Matlab ode23 code.

Keywords: block linear multistep methods, high order, implicit, stiff differential equations

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Authors: Mengdi Zhang, Zhenji Gao, Ning Kang, Rongmei Liu

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Management and application of geological big data is an important part of China's national big data strategy. With the implementation of a national big data strategy, geological big data management becomes more and more critical. At present, there are still a lot of technology barriers as well as cognition chaos in many aspects of geological big data management and application, such as data sharing, intellectual property protection, and application technology. Therefore, it’s a key task to make better use of new technologies for deeper delving and wider application of geological big data. In this paper, we briefly introduce the basic principle of blockchain technology at the beginning and then make an analysis of the application dilemma of geological data. Based on the current analysis, we bring forward some feasible patterns and scenarios for the blockchain application in geological big data and put forward serval suggestions for future work in geological big data management.

Keywords: blockchain, intellectual property protection, geological data, big data management

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Authors: Yu Hung Chiang, Hei Chia Wang

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In the academic area, it is important for research to find proper research domain. Many researchers may refer to conference issues to find their interesting or new topics. Furthermore, conferences issues can help researchers realize current research trends in their field and learn about cutting-edge developments in their specialty. However, online published conference information may widely be distributed; it is not easy to be concluded. Many researchers use search engine of journals or conference issues to filter information in order to get what they want. However, this search engine has its limitation. There will still be some issues should be considered; i.e. researchers cannot find the associated topics which may be useful information for them. Hence, use Knowledge Management (KM) could be a way to resolve these issues. In KM, ontology is widely adopted; but most existed ontology construction methods do not consider social information between target users. To effective in academic KM, this study proposes a method of constructing research Topic Maps using Open Directory Project (ODP) and Social Information Processing (SIP). Through catching of social information in conference website: i.e. the information of co-authorship or collaborator, research topics can be associated among related researchers. Finally, the experiments show Topic Maps successfully help researchers to find the information they need more easily and quickly as well as construct associations between research topics.

Keywords: knowledge management, topic map, social information processing, ontology extraction

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Authors: Ugbor Raphael Oluchukwu

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The survey research design was adopted to examine whether liquidity and cash management practices of owner-managed firms in South East Nigeria influence their profitability, growth and survival. Four independent variables (accounting systems, working capital management, budgetary control, and managerial planning) were used in the evaluation which was restricted to eight small firms. Results indicate that one variable, working capital management alone dominate the liquidity perception of owner managers. As a result, owner managers find it difficult to meet maturing business obligations as growth sets in. The study also reveals that the four independent variables have significant impact on the profitability, growth and survival of owner managed firms. Owner managers are therefore advised to undertake regular entrepreneurship training in order to upgrade their liquidity and cash management knowledge and practices to enhance their overall performance.

Keywords: liquidity management, owner-managed firm, profitability, survival

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Sujan Barua

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Buddhism relies upon natural events which are appeared from the four auto-elements of nature. It has seemed to be an authentic proof of mono-actions that have chronically been existing through our lives circles into the action and reaction that can produce more and more suffering in entire beings. Religion is called such politic through giving up on worthy concerns. Birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death are just a politic of four conditions that depend upon one mind. Those are greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the first fueling to fall into a worthy realm again and again. It is because of having numerous ways of sense faculties, six senses, and five aggregates. These are all defaults of the deluded mind’s conditions and total ignorance covered by not understanding through the emancipating religion. Buddhism is dependent upon the threefold morality, which is the basic politic of giving up birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death. Morality is the primordial theme of reach at ultimate happiness called “Nirvana”. It is a politic of one’s non-understanding ignorance. In Buddhism, the Buddha emphasizes that to understand the politic of the samsara, one must profoundly understand the own action that appears from the threefold ways. One must need authentically verify the own karma and reflection from the self-mind. The worthy concerns are the cause of political suffering to fall in samsara. By avoiding the entire, one can attain ultimate happiness. To attain Nirvana is not like an achievement of worthy happiness and proper understanding of functionality as we comfort in our daily lives. There is no virtue or non-virtual deeds to rebirth, no gripes, no upsetting, no greed, no hatred, no aging, no sickness, no death. It is totally uprooted from 31 types of states of worthy concerns. Nirvana is the stability of ultimate realization, but worthy states are the levels of grasping impurities in life span that make us fall into one clan according to our actions. By profoundly observing, the Buddha crucially founds that the source of rebirth is ignorance. Ignorance drives physical, verbal, and mental, which makes us reborn into the 31 types of realms in cycling existence. It is believed that the best knowledge of how many beings are in this world except the Enlightenment one. The enlightened one knows everything while he thinks about when it is causally necessary for demonstrating someone or verifying the truth of the relational way. It is a political view for entire beings that are chronic because covering by ignorance. It is tremendously toxic, and the person who truly understands this politic of turning here to there is a person who wishes to have eager to find the truth and way to leave those massive toxicities to discover the fixed state of nonexistence. The word non-existence is known as “Suiyata” or emptiness. One can able to find the ultimate truth with the effort of achieving the arch truth of leaving suffering from the cycling system.

Keywords: ultimate realization, nirvana, the easiest way policy to give up worthily concerns, profound understanding of 31 types of cosmology, four noble truths

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Authors: Emmanuel Pedler, Elena Raevskikh, Maxime Jaffré

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Can the cultural geography of European cities be durably managed by European policies? To answer this question, two hypotheses can be proposed. (1) Either European cultural policies are able to erase cultural inequalities between the territories through the creation of new areas of cultural attractiveness in each beneficiary neighborhood, city or country. Or, (2) each European region historically rooted in a number of endogenous socio-historical, political or demographic factors is not receptive to exogenous political influences. Thus, the cultural attractiveness of a territory is difficult to measure and to impact by top-down policies in the long term. How do these two logics - European and local - interact and contribute to the emergence of a valued, popular sense of a common European cultural identity? Does this constant interaction between historical backgrounds and new political concepts encourage a positive identification with the European project? The European cultural policy programs, such as ECC (European Capital of Culture), seek to develop new forms of civic cohesion through inclusive and participative cultural events. The cultural assets of a city elected ‘ECC’ are mobilized to attract a wide range of new audiences, including populations poorly integrated into local cultural life – and consequently distant from pre-existing cultural offers. In the current context of increasingly heterogeneous individual perceptions of Europe, the ECC program aims to promote cultural forms and institutions that should accelerate both territorial and cross-border European cohesion. The new cultural consumption pattern is conceived to stimulate integration and mobility, but also to create a legitimate and transnational ideal European citizen type. Our comparative research confronts contrasting cases of ‘European Capitals of Culture’ from the south and from the north of Europe, cities recently concerned by the ECC political mechanism and cities that were elected ECC in the past, multi-centered cultural models vs. highly centralized cultural models. We aim to explore the impacts of European policies on the urban cultural geography, but also to understand the current obstacles for its efficient implementation.

Keywords: urbanism, cultural policies, cultural institutions, european cultural capitals, heritage industries, exclusion effects

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Authors: Farhin Delawala

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In the context of Palestine and the broader Middle East, this study delves into the Apartheid regime in Palestine, the country under occupation, and the intricate ties between the United States of America (USA) and the settler colony of ‘Israel’. The paper provides an explanation of the colonisation of Palestine as well as the forms of Apartheid. Moreover, it explains the provisions of United Nations (UN) international laws and how they have been broken by the settler colony of ‘Israel’. The paper contends that the US, motivated by its security interests in the region, has strategically influenced the political instability in the Middle East and the illegal occupation of Palestine. Furthermore, this paper proposes an alternative path of a one-state solution to foster a more peaceful and stable society and advocates for the integration of the Palestinian population into the region, from Gaza and the West Bank, under equal citizen rights. Thereby, the ethno-theocratic nature of the settler colony as an ethno-theocratic state is dismantled.

Keywords: apartheid, one-state solution, Palestine, political instability, settler colony

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Authors: Farzad Khajavi

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Recognition of the interaction between active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and excipients is a pivotal factor in the development of all pharmaceutical dosage forms. By predicting the interaction between API and excipients, we will be able to prevent the advent of impurities or at least lessen their amount. In this study, we used principle component analysis (PCA) to predict the interaction between Gliclazide as a secondary amine with Lactose in pharmaceutical solid dosage forms. The infrared spectra of binary mixtures of Gliclazide with Lactose at different mole ratios were recorded, and the obtained matrix was analyzed with PCA. By plotting score columns of the analyzed matrix, the incompatibility between Gliclazide and Lactose was observed. This incompatibility was seen experimentally. We observed the appearance of the impurity originated from the Maillard reaction between Gliclazide and Lactose at the chromatogram of the manufactured tablets in room temperature and under accelerated stability conditions. This impurity increases at the stability months. By changing Lactose to Mannitol and using Calcium Dibasic Phosphate in the tablet formulation, the amount of the impurity decreased and was in the acceptance range defined by British pharmacopeia for Gliclazide Tablets. This method is a fast and simple way to predict the existence of incompatibility between excipients and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Keywords: PCA, gliclazide, impurity, infrared spectroscopy, interaction

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Authors: Alireza Shahraki, Kaveh Keshmiry Zadeh

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Total quality management in libraries is of particular importance because high-quality libraries can facilitate the sustained development process in countries. This study has been conducted to examine the feasibility of implementation of total quality management in libraries of Sistan and Baluchestan and to provide an appropriate model for this concern. All of the officials and employees of Sistan and Baluchestan libraries (23 individuals) constitute the population of the study. Data gathering tool is a questionnaire that is designated based on ISO9000. The data extracted from questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software. Results indicate that the highest degree of conformance to the 8 principles of ISO9000 is attributed to the principle of 'users' (69.9%) and the lowest degree is associated with 'decision making based on facts' (39.1%). Moreover, a significant relationship was observed among the items (1 and 3), (2 and 5), (2 and 7), (3 and 5), (4 and 5), (4 and 7), (4 and 8), (5 and 7), and (7 and 8). According to the research findings, it can generally be said that it is not eligible now to utilize TQM in libraries of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Keywords: quality management, total quality, university libraries, libraries management

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Authors: Ali Reza Sattarzadeh, Ronny J. Kutadinata, Pubudu N. Pathirana, Van Thanh Huynh

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Traffic congestion has become a severe worldwide problem, affecting everyday life, fuel consumption, time, and air pollution. The primary causes of these issues are inadequate transportation infrastructure, poor traffic signal management, and rising population. Traffic flow forecasting is one of the essential and effective methods in urban congestion and traffic management, which has attracted the attention of researchers. With the development of technology, undeniable progress has been achieved in existing methods. However, there is a possibility of improvement in the extraction of temporal and spatial features to determine the importance of traffic flow sequences and extraction features. In the proposed model, we implement the convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning models for mining nonlinear correlations and their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy of traffic flow prediction in the real dataset. According to the experiments, the results indicate that implementing Conv-LSTM networks increases the productivity and accuracy of deep learning models for traffic flow prediction.

Keywords: deep learning algorithms, intelligent transportation systems, spatiotemporal features, traffic flow prediction

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Authors: Anurag Reddy Ramireddy, Abrar Ahmed, G. Sourya Sri Harsha, Pushkala Muralidharan

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Supply chains have been developing over time since the inception of commercial trade and barter. The Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is a powerful way to differentiate a company from its competitors and it can greatly influence the plan success. With increased awareness to corporate responsibility and the requirement to meet the terms with environmental policy, GSCM is becoming increasingly important for companies. This paper explains the concept of green supply chain management, the difference between conventional supply chain management and green supply management and how GSCM benefits organizations while at the same time supporting a sustainable environment system. An effort has also been made to analyse research already done in this field while exploring the challenges and barriers that organizations face in implementing GSCM practices in their existing systems.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, green supply chain management, sustainability

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Authors: Wanida Suwunniponth

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This research paper aimed to developing a causal relationship model of success factors of customer relationship management of tourism in Thailand and to investigating relationships among the potential factors that facilitate the success of customer relationship management (CRM). The research was conducted in both quantitative and qualitative methods, by utilizing both questionnaire and in-depth interview. The questionnaire was used in collecting the data from 250 management staff in the hotels located within Bangkok area. Sampling techniques used in this research included cluster sampling according to the service quality and simple random sampling. The data input was analyzed by use of descriptive analysis and System Equation Model (SEM). The research findings demonstrated important factors accentuated by most respondents towards the success of CRM, which were organization, people, information technology and the process of CRM. Moreover, the customer relationship management of tourism business in Thailand was found to be successful at a very significant level. The hypothesis testing showed that the hypothesis was accepted, as the factors concerning with organization, people and information technology played an influence on the process and the success of customer relationship management, whereas the process of customer relationship management factor manipulated its success. The findings suggested that tourism business in Thailand with the implementation of customer relationship management should opt in improvement approach in terms of managerial structure, corporate culture building with customer- centralized approach accentuated, and investment of information technology and customer analysis, in order to capacitate higher efficiency of customer relationship management process that would result in customer satisfaction and retention of service.

Keywords: customer relationship management, casual relationship model, tourism, Thailand

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Authors: Rosli Mohd Yunus, A. K. M. Moshiul Alam, Mohammad Dalour Beg

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In the case of advance polymeric materials reinforcement and thermal stability of matrix is a focused arena of researchers. The distribution of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polymer matrix influences material properties. In this study, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been dispersed in unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) through solution mixing and sonication techniques using tetra hydro furan (THF) solvent. Nanocomposites have been fabricated with solution mixing and without solution mixing. Viscosity, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) investigations have been conducted to study the distribution as well as interaction between matrix and MWCNT. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and pyrolysis behavior have been conducted to study the thermal degradation and stability of nanocomposites. In addition, the SEM micrographs of nanocomposite residual chars were exhibited more packed together. Incorporation of CNT enhances crystallinity and mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites. Correlations among MWCNTs dispersion, nucleation, fracture morphology and various properties have been made.

Keywords: char, multiwall carbon nanotubes, nano composite, pyrolysis

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Authors: Giorgi Katamadze

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Open public service and accountability towards citizens is an important feature of democratic state based on rule of law. Effective use of electronic resources simplifies bureaucratic procedures, makes direct communications, helps exchange information, ensures government’s openness and in general helps develop electronic/digital democracy. Development of electronic democracy should be a strategic dimension of Georgian governance. Formation of electronic democracy, its functional improvement should become an important dimension of the state’s information policy. Electronic democracy is based on electronic governance and implies modern information and communication systems, their adaptation to universal standards. E-democracy needs involvement of governments, voters, political parties and social groups in an electronic form. In the last years the process of interaction between the citizen and the state becomes simpler. This process is achieved by the use of modern technological systems which gives to a citizen a possibility to use different public services online. For example, the website my.gov.ge makes interaction between the citizen, business and the state more simple, comfortable and secure. A higher standard of accountability and interaction is being established. Electronic democracy brings new forms of interactions between the state and the citizen: e-engagement – participation of society in state politics via electronic systems; e-consultation – electronic interaction among public officials, citizens and interested groups; e-controllership – electronic rule and control of public expenses and service. Public transparency is one of the milestones of electronic democracy as well as representative democracy as only on mutual trust and accountability can democracy be established. In Georgia, institutional changes concerning establishment and development of electronic democracy are not enough. Effective planning and implementation of a comprehensive and multi component e-democracy program (central, regional, local levels) requires telecommunication systems, institutional (public service, competencies, logical system) and informational (relevant conditions for public involvement) support. Therefore, a systematic project of formation of electronic governance should be developed which will include central, regional, municipal levels and certain aspects of development of instrumental basis for electronic governance.

Keywords: e-democracy, e-governance, e-services, information technology, public administration

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Authors: C. Benhamideche

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Fluoroaluminate glasses have been reported as the earliest heavy metal fluoride glasses. By comparison with flurozirconate glasses, they offer a set of similar optical features, but also some differences in their elastic and chemical properties. In practice they have been less developed because their stability against devitrification is smaller than that of the most stable fluoroziconates. The purpose of this study was to investigate glass formation in systems AlF3-YF3-PbF2-MgF2-MF2 (M= Li, Na, K). Synthesis was implemented at room atmosphere using the ammonium fluoride processing. After fining, the liquid was into a preheated brass mold, then annealed below the glass transition temperature for several hours. The samples were polished for optical measurements. Glass formation has been investigated in a systematic way, using pseudo ternary systems in order to allow parameters to vary at the same time. We have chosen the most stable glass compositions for the determination of the physical properties. These properties including characteristic temperatures, density and proprieties elastic. Glass stability increases in multicomponent glasses. Bulk samples have been prepared for physical characterization. These glasses have a potential interest for passive optical fibers because they are less sensitive to water attack than ZBLAN glass, mechanically stronger. It is expected they could have a larger damage threshold for laser power transmission.

Keywords: fluoride glass, aluminium fluoride, thermal properties, density, proprieties elastic

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Authors: A. Banovcinova, M. Zakova

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Labor market activity and paid employment should be a key factor in protecting individuals and families from falling into poverty and providing them with sufficient resources to meet the needs of their members. However, due to various processes in the labor market as well as the influence of individual factors and often insufficient social capital, there is a relatively large group of households that cannot eliminate paid employment and find themselves in a state of so-called working poverty. The aim of the research was to find out what strategies families use in managing poverty and meeting their needs and which of these strategies prevail in the Slovak population. A quantitative research strategy was chosen. The method of data collection was a structured interview focused on finding out the use of individual management strategies and also selected demographic indicators. The research sample consisted of members of families in which at least one member has a paid job. The condition for inclusion in the research was that the family's income did not exceed 60% of the national median equalized disposable income. The analysis of the results showed 5 basic areas to which management strategies are related - work, financial security, needs, social contacts and perception of the current situation. The prevailing strategies were strategies aimed at increasing and streamlining labor market activity and the planned and effective management of the family budget. Strategies that were rejected were mainly related to debt creation. The results make it possible to identify the preferred ways of managing poverty in individual areas of life, as well as the factors that influence this behavior. This information is important for working with families living in a state of working poverty and can help professionals develop positive ways of coping for families.

Keywords: copying strategies, family, in-work poverty, quantitative research

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Authors: Radwa Elshorbagy, Alaa Elden Balbaa, Khaled Ayad, Waleed Reda

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Introduction: Ankle sprain is a common lower limb injury that is complicated by high recurrence rate. The cause of recurrence is not clear; however, changes in motor control have been postulated. Objective: to determine the contribution of proximal hip strategy to dynamic postural control in patients with recurrent ankle sprain. Methods: Fifteen subjects with recurrent ankle sprain (group A) and fifteen healthy control subjects (group B) participated in this study. Abductor-adductors as well as flexor-extensor hip musculatures control was abolished by fatigue using the Biodex Isokinetic System. Dynamic postural control was measured before and after fatigue by the Biodex Balance System. Results: Repeated measures MANOVA was used to compare between and within group differences, in group A fatiguing of hip muscles (flexors-extensors and abductors-adductors) increased overall stability index (OASI), anteroposterior stability index (APSI) and mediolateral stability index (MLSI) significantly (p=0.00) whereas; in group B fatiguing of hip flexors-extensors increased significantly OASI and APSI only (p= 0.017, 0.010; respectively) while fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors has no significant effect on these variables. Moreover, patients with ankle sprain had significantly lower dynamic balance after hip muscles fatigue compared to the control group. Specifically, after hip flexor-extensor fatigue, the OASI, APSI and MLSI were increased significantly than those of the control values (p= 0.002, 0.011, and 0.003, respectively) whereas fatiguing of hip abductors-adductors increased significantly in OASI and APSI only (p=0.012, 0.026, respectively). Conclusion: To maintain dynamic balance, patients with recurrent ankle sprain seem to rely more on the hip strategy. This means that those patients depend on a top to down instead of down to top strategy clinical relevance: patients with recurrent ankle sprain less efficient in maintaining the dynamic postural control due to the change in motor strategies. Indicating that health care providers and rehabilitation specialists should treat CAI as a global/central and not just as a simple local or peripheral injury.

Keywords: hip strategy, ankle strategy, postural control, dynamic balance

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Authors: Shan Wang, Fahad Alhathal, Daniel Hobson

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User-centered design skills play an important role in crafting a positive and intuitive user experience for software applications. Embracing a user-centric design approach involves understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviors of the end-users throughout the design process. This mindset not only enhances the usability of the software but also fosters a deeper connection between the digital product and its users. This paper encompasses a 6-month knowledge exchange collaboration project between an academic institution and an external industry in 2023, aims to improve the user experience of a digital platform utilized for a knowledge management tool, to understand users' preferences for features, identify sources of frustration, and pinpoint areas for enhancement. This research conducted one of the most effective methods to implement user-centered design through co-design workshops for testing user onboarding experiences that involve the active participation of users in the design process. More specifically, in January 2023, we organized eight workshops with a diverse group of 11 individuals. Throughout these sessions, we accumulated a total of 11 hours of qualitative data in both video and audio formats. Subsequently, we conducted an analysis of user journeys, identifying common issues and potential areas for improvement. This analysis was pivotal in guiding the knowledge management software in prioritizing feature enhancements and design improvements. Employing a user-centered design thinking process, we developed a series of graphic design solutions in collaboration with the software management tool company. These solutions were targeted at refining onboarding user experiences, workplace interfaces, and interactive design. Some of these design solutions were translated into tangible interfaces for the knowledge management tool. By actively involving users in the design process and valuing their input, developers can create products that are not only functional but also resonate with the end-users, ultimately leading to greater success in the competitive software landscape. In conclusion, this paper not only contributes insights into designing onboarding user experiences for software within a co-design approach but also presents key theories on leveraging the user-centered design process in software design to enhance overall user experiences.

Keywords: user experiences, co-design, design process, knowledge management tool, user-centered design

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Authors: Osifeko Olalekan Remigious, Osifeko Christiana Osikorede, Folarin Bolanle Eunice, Olugbenga Adebola Shodiya

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In this period of economic problem, nations are looking for avenues to improve their economy, preserve their environment and socio-political environment, educational institutions are not left out as there is the need for them to increase their economy and preserve their socio political environment. Sports is one of the ways through which sustainable development can be achieved. The purpose of this study was to examine the barriers to sports participation. A total of 1025 students were purposively selected from all the five schools in the College. A questionnaire which has a reliability coefficient of 0.71 was used for data collection. Data collected were subjected to the descriptive survey research design. Findings showed that facilities, funds and lectures schedule were significant barriers to sports participation. It was recommended that sports facilities should be provided by the Lagos State government.

Keywords: MOCPED sports, sustainable development, sports participation, state government

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Authors: Andrea ČopíKová

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Competency Based Management is a new approach to management, which solves organization’s challenges with complexity and with the aim to find and solve organization’s problems and learn how to avoid these in future. They teach the organizations to create, apart from the state of stability – that is temporary, vital organization, which is permanently able to utilize and profit from internal and external opportunities. The aim of this paper is to propose a process of competency model design, based on which a competency model for a financial department manager in a production company will be created. Competency models are very useful tool in many personnel processes in any organization. They are used for acquiring and selection of employees, designing training and development activities, employees’ evaluation, and they can be used as a guide for a career planning and as a tool for succession planning especially for managerial positions. When creating a competency model the method AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and quantitative pair-wise comparison (Saaty’s method) will be used; these methods belong among the most used methods for the determination of weights, and it is used in the AHP procedure. The introduction part of the paper consists of the research results pertaining to the use of competency model in practice and then the issue of competency and competency models is explained. The application part describes in detail proposed methodology for the creation of competency models, based on which the competency model for the position of financial department manager in a foreign manufacturing company, will be created. In the conclusion of the paper, the final competency model will be shown for above mentioned position. The competency model divides selected competencies into three groups that are managerial, interpersonal and functional. The model describes in detail individual levels of competencies, their target value (required level) and the level of importance.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, competency, competency model, quantitative pairwise comparison

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Authors: David Oyewumi Oyekunle, David Preston, Florence Ibeh

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The paper provides an overview of the impacts of the human dimension in project management and team management on projects, which is increasingly affecting the performance of organizations. Recognizing its crucial significance, the research focuses on analyzing the psychological and interpersonal dynamics within project teams. This research is highly significant in the dynamic field of project management, as it addresses important gaps and offers vital insights that align with the constantly changing demands of the profession. A case study was conducted at the University of Salford to examine how human activity affects project management and performance. The study employed a mixed methodology to gain a deeper understanding of the real-world experiences of the subjects and project teams. Data analysis procedures to address the research objectives included the deductive approach, which involves testing a clear hypothesis or theory, as well as descriptive analysis and visualization. The survey comprised a sample size of 40 participants out of 110 project management professionals, including staff and final students in the Salford Business School, using a purposeful sampling method. To mitigate bias, the study ensured diversity in the sample by including both staff and final students. A smaller sample size allowed for more in-depth analysis and a focused exploration of the research objective. Conflicts, for example, are intricate occurrences shaped by a multitude of psychological stimuli and social interactions and may have either a deterrent perspective or a positive perspective on project performance and project management productivity. The study identified conflict elements, including culture, environment, personality, attitude, individual project knowledge, team relationships, leadership, and team dynamics among team members, as crucial human activities to minimize conflict. The findings are highly significant in the dynamic field of project management, as they address important gaps and offer vital insights that align with the constantly changing demands of the profession. It provided project professionals with valuable insights that can help them create a collaborative and high-performing project environment. Uncovering human influence on project performance, effective communication, optimal team synergy, and a keen understanding of project scope are necessary for the management of projects to attain exceptional performance and efficiency. For the research to achieve the aims of this study, it was acknowledged that the productive dynamics of teams and strong group cohesiveness are crucial for effectively managing conflicts in a beneficial and forward-thinking manner. Addressing the identified human influence will contribute to a more sustainable project management approach and offer opportunities for exploration and potential contributions to both academia and practical project management.

Keywords: human dimension, project management, team dynamics, conflict resolution

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Authors: Napatsorn Suput-Anyaporn

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This paper aimed to investigate multilateral relationships across the factors which included labor shortage, trade union, turnover rate of employee, labor law and regulation, and effectiveness of foreign worker administration in the scope of foreign workers in the industrial manufacturing sector of Thailand. The research employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches, in which foreign workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in the industrial manufacturing sector in selected areas of Thailand were sampled for the quantitative data collection, and persons in the chief executive management and the supervisor levels, and persons in the academic area in relation with foreign workers were selected as the sample for the qualitative data collection method. Thus, a questionnaire, in-depth interview and focus group were utilized as tools in this research paper. The discussion placed an emphasis on the fact that Thailand should design more effective law and regulations for the foreign workers administration and management in response to preparing for the coming ASEAN Economic Community with the declaration of the free- flow labor movement policy.

Keywords: industrial manufacturing sector, labor law and regulation, labor shortage, migrant worker, trade union, turnover rate of employee

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Guanghua Yu

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This article has examined the rise of the UK, US, and China at different historical times to explain the argument that it is open access in the economic sphere, as well as institutional building related to the protection of property rights, contract enforcement, financial market, the rule of law, and human resource accumulation that determine economic and human development. Both the UK, after the Glorious Revolution in the seventeenth century, and China, after its adoption of the open door policy at the end of the 1970s, follow such a path of development. The difference between the UK and China in moving toward that path is the different coordination of elites. While the coordination of elites in the UK through parliament played important roles in forcing the government to consider the wider encompassing interest in society after the Glorious Revolution, the coordination of elites in China has mainly been achieved by the Communist Party of China such that the Chinese Government has started to pay greater deal of attention to the wider encompassing interest in the country from 1978. The article has also examined the rise of the US following colonial settlement to independence and institutional building thereafter. The US case is similarly consistent with the argument that open access in the economic sphere and institutional building matter the most to economic development. More decentralized methods of the coordination of elites in the US among colonies (states), the federal governments, and other political groups similarly shaped the path towards open access in the economic sphere and institutional building. As such, open access in the political sphere plays an indirect role in development at best. If that is correct, there are possibilities that different political systems are able to achieve coordination of elites so that governments will turn their attention to development.

Keywords: open access, interconnected institutions, democracy, development

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Authors: Koyangbo Guere Monguia Michel Alex Emmanuel

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In e-government and especially recruitment, many researches have been conducted to build a trustworthy and reliable online or application system capable to process users or job applicant files. In this research (Government Recruitment Agency), cloud computing, identity management and public key encryption have been used to management domains, access control authorization mechanism and to secure data exchange between entities for reliable procedure of processing files.

Keywords: cloud computing network, identity management systems, public key encryption, access control and authorization

Procedia PDF Downloads 363