Search results for: cultural factors

Authors: Christos Karolemeas, Avgi Vassi, Georgia Christodoulopoulou

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Although the past decades, planning a cycle network became an inseparable part of all transportation plans, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the way planning is made, in order to create safe and direct cycling networks that gather the parameters that positively influence one's decision to cycle. The aim of this article is to study, evaluate and visualize the bikeability of cities. This term is often used as the 'the ability of a person to bike' but this study, however, adopts the term in the sense of bikeability as 'the ability of the urban landscape to be biked'. The methodology used included assessing cities' accessibility by cycling, based on international literature and corresponding walkability methods and the creation of a 'bikeability index'. Initially, a literature review was made to identify the factors that positively affect the use of bicycle infrastructure. Those factors were used in order to create the spatial index and quantitatively compare the city network. Finally, the bikeability index was applied in two case studies: two Greek municipalities that, although, they have similarities in terms of land uses, population density and traffic congestion, they are totally different in terms of geomorphology. The factors suggested by international literature were (a) safety, (b) directness, (c) comfort and (d) the quality of the urban environment. Those factors were quantified through the following parameters: slope, junction density, traffic density, traffic speed, natural environment, built environment, activities coverage, centrality and accessibility to public transport stations. Each road section was graded for the above-mentioned parameters, and the overall grade shows the level of bicycle accessibility (low, medium, high). Each parameter, as well as the overall accessibility levels, were analyzed and visualized through Geographic Information Systems. This paper presents the bikeability index, its' results, the problems that have arisen and the conclusions from its' implementation through Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats analysis. The purpose of this index is to make it easy for researchers, practitioners, politicians, and stakeholders to quantify, visualize and understand which parts of the urban fabric are suitable for cycling.

Keywords: accessibility, cycling, green spaces, spatial data, urban environment

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Authors: Bhawna Shivan

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Indian monuments have been spoken of as for variety, extent, completeness and beauty unsurpassed perhaps unequaled in world. India’s monumental heritage is a part and parcel of India today. The underlying issue with the monumental heritage in contemporary times is that these monuments suffered many times with various degrees of threats/ pressures which hampered their beauty. In the current situation, the urbanization policies for sustainable development and tourism management pay no attention to the basic point of conservation and protection of these cultural heritages rather they focus more on profit earned from these sites. Many times rich heritage is found balancing between conflicting pressures of conservation of heritage elements with sustainability and local economic development. There is a need of a new attitude to India’s independent and democratic ideology. The paper will enquire about the historical perspective by analyzing and understanding the importance of Mughal Architecture while focusing on Humayun Tomb while assessing the value and sentiment people attach to these monuments. It will also put the focus on the future of these monuments in the era of globalization and urbanization. The role of public and private authorities for conservation and sustainable development of these monuments. As well as assessing other facilities like toilets, parking, eatery joint, Museum with Display of structural representation and display of books, and a mobile shop. The research will be helpful in assessing the importance of heritage buildings whether they are a tool of enhancing ‘Tourism Industry’ for Central and State Government or really there is still some future of these monuments. Can we still consider these heritage sites as the integral part of our society in this urbanized world? The study will also analyze the attitude of the central and state government towards a building when it declared as a ‘World Heritage Site’. The study will also examine how the Youth and other aged generations append their sentimental values towards them, say (what is their purpose of coming to a heritage site, what makes them coming here, how they view this particular monument) Apart from this, probing the factors such as rapid growth of cities and its population, increasing value of urban land and effect of globalization on urban growth pattern that are capable of producing a variety of threats and pressures on any monument for instance Humayun Tomb.

Keywords: globalization, monuments, tourism, urban heritage

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Authors: Shannon Hashemi, Alireza Daneshfar

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Accounting ethical awareness has been widely promoted in recent years both in academia and in practice. However, the effectiveness of ethical awareness on accountants' judgment and choice of action is still debatable. This study investigates whether Machiavellianism and gender, as significant personality factors, influence the effect of ethical awareness on accountants' decision-making. Using an experiment, the results of ANOVA tests show that although introducing ethical awareness positively influences the accountants' judgment and choice of action, such an effect is significantly moderated by the accountants' Machiavellianism score and gender. Specifically, the test results show that the effect of introducing ethical awareness was higher on males with low Machiavellian score. The results also show that when the Machiavellian scores were high, the effect of ethical awareness was lower for both males and females. Applications of the results are discussed for accounting professionals as well as accounting ethics educators and researchers.

Keywords: ethical awareness, accounting decision making, Machiavellianism, ANOVA, ethics, accounting education

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Authors: Baghdasaryan Marinka

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The current scientific and engineering interest concerning the problems of preventing the emergency manifestations of drive synchronous motors, ensuring the ore grinding technological process has been justified. The analysis of the known works devoted to the abnormal operation modes of synchronous motors and possibilities of protection against them, has shown that their application is inexpedient for preventing the impermissible displays arising in the electrical drive synchronous motors ensuring the ore-grinding process. The main energy and technological factors affecting the technical condition of synchronous motors are evaluated. An algorithm for preventing the irregular operation modes of the electrical drive synchronous motor applied in the ore-grinding technological process has been developed and proposed for further application which gives an opportunity to provide smart solutions, ensuring the safe operation of the drive synchronous motor by a comprehensive consideration of the energy and technological factors.

Keywords: synchronous motor, abnormal operating mode, electric drive, algorithm, energy factor, technological factor

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Authors: Yen-Ku Kuo, Chie-Bein Chen, Jyh-Yi Shih, Kuang-Yi Lin, Chien-Han Peng

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This study is primarily concerned with exploring what factors affect the consumer’s intention of using mobile phone e-book. In developing research structure, we adopted technology acceptance model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) as a foundation. The analysis method of structural equation model (SEM) was used to carry out this study. Subjects were 261 users who are using or used the mobile phone e-book. The findings can be summed up as follows: (1) The subjective norm and job relevance has non-significant and positive influence to the perceived usefulness. This represents now the user are still in a small number and most of them used it in non-work related purpose. (2) The output quality, result demonstrability and perceived ease of use were confirmed to have positive and significant influence to the perceived usefulness. (3) The moderator “innovative diffusion” affects the relationship between the attitude and behavior intention. These findings could be a reference for the practice and future study to make further exploration.

Keywords: mobile phone e-book, technology acceptance model (TAM), innovation diffusion theory (IDT), structural equation model (SEM)

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Authors: Ndou Rembuluwani Moddy, Daniel Ter Goon, Takalani Grace Tshitangano, Lindelani Fhumudzani Mushaphi

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Obesity is a global public health problem. The study aimed to determine the risk factors associated with and the consequences of obesity among residents of Tshikota, Makhado Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa. A cross-sectional study involving 318 randomly selected adults aged 18-45 years residing at Tshikota, Makhado Local Municipality, South Africa. Sociodemographic information includes age, gender, educational level, occupation, behavioral lifestyle, environmental, psychological, and family history. Anthropometric, blood pressure, and blood glucose measurements followed standard procedure. The prevalence of obesity and overweight was 35.5% and 28.6%, respectively. About 75.2% of obese do not engage in physical activity. Most participants (63.5%) take meals three times a day, and 19.2% do not skip breakfast. Most participants do not have access to fruits and vegetables. Participants who were pre-hypertensive were 92(28.9%) and 32(10.1%) were in Stage 1 hypertension. Of the participants with Class 1 obesity, 40.9% were pre-hypertensive, and 15.2% were in Stage 1 hypertension. In Class 2 obesity, 37.8% were pre-hypertensive, and 26.7% were in Stage 1 hypertension. There was a significant difference between BMI and blood pressure among participants (p=0.00). About 6.1% of the participants in Class 1 obesity were at high risk, and 3.0% were at very high risk of glucose levels. Regarding cholesterol levels, 65 (20.4%) were at borderline, and 17(5.3%) were at high risk. There was no significant difference in BMI and cholesterol levels among participants (p= 0.20). The prevalence of obesity and overweight was high among residents of this setting. Age, marital and educational status, and employment were significantly associated with obesity. An obesity awareness campaign is crucial, and the availability of supermarkets and full-service grocery stores would provide accessibility to healthy food such as fruits and vegetables.

Keywords: obesity, overweight, risk factors, adults.

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Authors: Ali R. Alshawawreh, Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco J. Blanco-Encomienda

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Collaboration between marketing and business intelligence (BI) is crucial in today's ever-evolving business landscape. These two domains play pivotal roles in molding customers' experiential knowledge. Marketing insights offer valuable information regarding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. Conversely, BI facilitates data-driven decision-making, leading to heightened operational efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction. Customer experiential knowledge (CEK) encompasses customers' implicit comprehension of consumption experiences influenced by diverse factors, including social and cultural influences. This study primarily focuses on telecommunications companies in Jordan, scrutinizing how experiential customer knowledge mediates the relationship between marketing intelligence and business intelligence. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as the resource-based view (RBV) and service-dominant logic (SDL), the research aims to comprehend how organizations utilize their resources, particularly knowledge, to foster Evolution. Employing a quantitative research approach, the study collected and analyzed primary data to explore hypotheses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) facilitated by Smart PLS software evaluated the relationships between the constructs, followed by mediation analysis to assess the indirect associations in the model. The study findings offer insights into the intricate dynamics of organizational Creation, uncovering the interconnected relationships between business intelligence, customer experiential knowledge-based innovation (CEK-DI), marketing intelligence (MI), and product and service innovation (PSI), underscoring the pivotal role of advanced intelligence capabilities in developing innovative practices rooted in a profound understanding of customer experiences. Furthermore, the positive impact of BI on PSI reaffirms the significance of data-driven decision-making in shaping the innovation landscape. The significant impact of CEK-DI on PSI highlights the critical role of customer experiences in driving an organization. Companies that actively integrate customer insights into their opportunity creation processes are more likely to create offerings that match customer expectations, which drives higher levels of product and service sophistication. Additionally, the positive and significant impact of MI on CEK-DI underscores the critical role of market insights in shaping evolutionary strategies. While the relationship between MI and PSI is positive, the slightly weaker significance level indicates a subtle association, suggesting that while MI contributes to the development of ideas, In conclusion, the study emphasizes the fundamental role of intelligence capabilities, especially artificial intelligence, emphasizing the need for organizations to leverage market and customer intelligence to achieve effective and competitive innovation practices. Collaborative efforts between marketing and business intelligence serve as pivotal drivers of development, influencing customer experiential knowledge and shaping organizational strategies and practices. Future research could adopt longitudinal designs and gather data from various sectors to offer broader insights. Additionally, the study focuses on the effects of marketing intelligence, business intelligence, customer experiential knowledge, and innovation, but other unexamined variables may also influence innovation processes. Future studies could investigate additional factors, mediators, or moderators, including the role of emerging technologies like AI and machine learning in driving innovation.

Keywords: marketing intelligence, business intelligence, product, customer experiential knowledge-driven innovation

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Authors: Moksha Singh

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The proponents of deinstitutionalization, including Goffman and others, in their works, have regarded institutions (orphanages to be specific) as regulated social arrangements that negatively impinge upon a resident’s development. They, therefore, propose alternative forms of care. However, even after five decades of this critique institutionalization remains the only hope for children with social, physical and mental disabilities in larger parts of the developing world such as the conflict affected state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. This paper is based on the experiences of children who lost their parents to insurgency and counter-insurgency operations and the rehabilitation process. This study is qualitative in nature and adopts descriptive-cum-exploratory research design. Using theoretical sampling, six orphanages and thirty one child residents who lost their parent(s) in the course of the armed conflict in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India were studied in the year 2009-2010. It included interviews, observation, life histories and introspective accounts of the orphans and the management. The results were drawn through the qualitative examination, understanding, and interpretation of the primary and secondary data. The findings suggested that rehabilitation of these conflict-affected children is taking place mainly through residential child care facilities run by non-governmental bodies. Alternative forms of rehabilitation are not functional in the state because of various geopolitical and socio-cultural complexities. Even after five years of arriving at these conclusions and more, the state of Jammu and Kashmir still lacks a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for these children. This has further encouraged a mushroomed growth of legal and illegal institutions. Some of these institutions compromise the standard norms of functioning and yet remain the only hope for thousands rendered orphan. These institutions, therefore, are there to stay as other alternative forms of care are not available in the state. A comprehensive intervention policy is needed based on the cultural specifics of the state and incorporation of views of institutions offering aid, the state and the children. The paper introduces Small Group Residential Care Model through which it is expected that the restoration process can be made smooth and effective.

Keywords: armed conflict, children's rights, institutionalization, orphanages, rehabilitation

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Authors: Yi-Hsien Wang, Fu-Ju Yang, Hwa-Rong Shen, Rui-Lin Tseng

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The business is notably related to the market risk according to the increase of liberalization of financial markets. Hence, the company usually utilized high financial leverage of derivatives to hedge the risk. When the company choose different hedging instruments to face a variety of exchange rate risk, we employ the Multinomial Logistic-AHP to analyze the impact of various derivatives. Hence, the research summarized the literature on relevant factors affecting managers selected exchange rate hedging instruments, using Multinomial Logistic Model and and further integrate AHP. Using Experts’ Questionnaires can test multi-level selection and hedging effect of different hedging instruments in order to calculate the hedging instruments and the multi-level factors of weights to understand the gap between the empirical results and practical operation. Finally, the Multinomial Logistic-AHP Model will sort the weights to analyze. The research findings can be a basis reference for investors in decision-making.

Keywords: exchange rate risk, derivatives, hedge, multinomial logistic-AHP

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Authors: Akriti Srivastava, Soumi Awasthy

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One of the disciplines that provoked increased interest in the importance of intelligence is the management and organization development literature. Organization intelligence is a key enabling force underlying many vital activities and processes dominating organizational life. Hence, the factors which lead to organizational intelligence and the result which comes out of the whole procedure is important to be understood with the understanding of OI. The focus of this research was to uncover potential antecedents and consequences of organizational intelligence, thus a non-experimental explanatory survey research design was used. A non-experimental research design is in which the manipulation of variables and randomization of samples are not present. The data was collected with the help of the questionnaire from 321 scientists from different laboratories of an R & D organization. Out of which 304 data were found suitable for the analysis. There were 194 males (age, M= 35.03, SD=7.63) and 110 females (age, M= 34.34, SD=8.44). This study tested a conceptual model linking antecedent variables (leadership and organizational culture) to organizational intelligence, followed by organizational innovational capability and organizational performance. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze the hypothesized model. But, before that, confirmatory factor analysis of organizational intelligence scale was done which resulted in an insignificant model. Then, exploratory factor analysis was done which gave six factors for organizational intelligence scale. This structure was used throughout the study. Following this, the final analysis revealed relatively good fit of data to the hypothesized model with certain modifications. Leadership and organizational culture emerged out as the significant antecedents of organizational intelligence. Organizational innovational capability and organizational performance came out to be the consequent factors of organizational intelligence. But organizational intelligence did not predict organizational performance via organizational innovational capability. With this, additional significant pathway emerged out between leadership and organizational performance. The model offers a fresh and comprehensive view of the organizational intelligence. In this study, prior studies in related literature were reviewed to offer a basic framework of organizational intelligence. The study proved to be beneficial for organizational intelligence scholarship, seeing its importance in the competitive environment.

Keywords: leadership, organizational culture, organizational intelligence, organizational innovational capability

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Authors: Bakr Gomaa

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Cross ventilation is an important and practical mean to achieve thermal comfort and conserve energy. This is especially true in the breezy waterfront settings. However, due to a number of factors, cross ventilation in buildings is usually studied by using oversimplified scenarios. It is then reasonable to study the impact of complex set of factors on the accuracy of predicting air flow rate because of wind driven cross ventilation. The objective of this paper is to provide architects with the tools necessary to achieve natural ventilation for cooling purposes in a waterfront urban canyon context. Also, urban canyons have not received much attention in terms of their impact on cross ventilation, and while we know how the wind flows between buildings in different urban canyon settings, the effect of the parallel-to-the-wind urban canyon on cross ventilation in buildings remains unclear. For this, we use detailed weather data, boundary layer correction factor, and CFD simulations to study the pressure patterns that form on the canyons surfaces in the case study of Alexandria. We found that the simplified numerical methods of calculating the cross ventilation in buildings can lead to inaccurate design decisions.

Keywords: cross ventilation, Alexandria, CFD, urban canyon

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Authors: Silvia Miele, Patrice Rusconi, Harriet Tenenbaum

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An increasingly multi-ethnic Europe has been pushing citizens’ boundaries on who should be entitled and to what extent to practise their own diversity. Indeed, according to a Standard Eurobarometer survey conducted in 2017, immigration is seen by Europeans as the most serious issue facing the EU, and a third of respondents reported they do not feel comfortable interacting with migrants from outside the EU. Many of these come from Muslim countries, accounting for 4.9% of Europe population in 2016. However, the figure is projected to rise up to 14% by 2050. Additionally, political debates have increasingly focused on Muslim immigrants, who are frequently portrayed as difficult to integrate, while nationalist parties across Europe have fostered the idea of insuperable cultural differences, creating an atmosphere of hostility. Using a 3 X 3 X 2 between-subjects design, it was investigated how people reason about endorsing religious and non-religious rights to minorities. An online survey has been administered to university students of three different countries (Italy, Spain and the UK) via Qualtrics, presenting hypothetical scenarios through a vignette methodology. Each respondent has been randomly allocated to one of the three following conditions: Christian, Muslim or non-religious (vegan) target. Each condition entailed three questions about children self-determination rights to exercise some control over their own lives and 3 questions about children nurturance rights of care and protection. Moreover, participants have been required to further elaborate on their answers via free-text entries and have been asked about their contact and quality of contact with the three targets, and to self-report religious, national and ethnic identification. Answers have been recorded on a Likert scale of 1-5, 1 being "not at all", 5 being "very much". A two-way ANCOVA will be used to analyse answers to closed-ended questions, while free-text answers will be coded and data will be dichotomised based on Social Cognitive Domain Theory for four categories: moral, social conventional and psychological reasons, and analysed via ANCOVAs. This study’s findings aim to contribute to the implementation of educational interventions and speak to the introduction of governmental policies on human rights.

Keywords: children's rights, Europe, migration, minority

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Authors: Moammar Dayoub

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The study aimed to know the reality of farmers and determine the extent of adoption of the recommendations of the fertilizer and the difficulties and problems they face. The study was conducted on a random sample of farmers consist of 95 farmers who had analysed their field soil in scientific research centres in agricultural southern region through the form specially prepared for this purpose, the results showed that the rate of adoption of the fertilizer recommendations whole amounted to an average of 36.9% in the southern region, The degree of adoption was 34.7% in the region. The results showed that 41% of farmers did not implement the recommendations because of the non-convenient analysis, and 34% due to neglect, and 15% due to the weather and an environment, while 10% of them for lack of manure in the suitable time. The study also revealed that Independent factors affecting the continuing adoption of soil analysis are: farms experience, sampling method in farmer’s schools, irrigated area, and personal knowledge of farmers in analysing the soil. Also, show that the application of fertilizer recommendations led to increased production by 15-20%, this analysis emphasizes the importance of soil analysis and adherence to the recommendations of the research centres.

Keywords: adoption, recommendations of the fertilizer, soil analysis, southern region

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Authors: Rahimah Abdulrahman, A. Eardle, Wilfred Alan, Abdel Hamid Soliman

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With the rapid development in technology, and advances in learning technologies, m-learning has begun to occupy a great part of our lives. The pace of the life getting together with the need for learning started mobile learning (m-learning) concept. In 2008, Saudi Arabia requested a national plan for the adoption of information technology (IT) across the country. Part of the recommendations of this plan concerns the implementation of mobile learning (m-learning) as well as their prospective applications to higher education within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The overall aim of the research is to explore the main issues that impact the deployment of m-learning in nursing institutes in Saudi Arabia, at the Armed Force Hospitals (AFH), Alhada. This is in order to be able to develop a generic model to enable and assist the educational policy makers and implementers of m-learning, to comprehend and treat those issues effectively. Specifically, the research will explore the concept of m-learning; identify and analyse the main organisational; technological and cultural issue, that relate to the adoption of m-learning; develop a model of m-learning; investigate the perception of the students of the Nursing Institutes to the use of m-learning technologies for their nursing diploma programmes based on their experiences; conduct a validation of the m-learning model with the use of the nursing Institute of the AFH, Alhada in Saudi Arabia, and evaluate the research project as a learning experience and as a contribution to the body of knowledge. Activity Theory (AT) will be adopted for the study due to the fact that it provides a conceptual framework that engenders an understanding of the structure, development and the context of computer-supported activities. The study will be adopt a set of data collection methods which engage nursing students in a quantitative survey, while nurse teachers are engaged through in depth qualitative studies to get first-hand information about the organisational, technological and cultural issues that impact on the deployment of m-learning. The original contribution will be a model for developing m-learning material for classroom-based learning in the nursing institute that can have a general application.

Keywords: activity theory (at), mobile learning (m-learning), nursing institute, Saudi Arabia (sa)

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Authors: Gabrielle Veloso, Melanie Porter, Kelsie Boulton, Adam Guastella

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The aim of the current systematic review was to examine child and parent factors and their associations with parent sensitivity towards children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Eight bibliographic databases were used to identify peer-reviewed journal articles examining these associations via quantitative analyses, with parent sensitivity measured via validated and reliable observation coding systems. Thirty-one studies were finalized as having met full criteria for inclusion. The review found agreement across studies that parent sensitivity was positively associated with the child’s initiations and responsiveness toward their parent, with more frequent parent-directed behaviors providing greater opportunity for parents to act and react in sensitive manner. There was also substantial evidence that parent sensitivity predicted later growth in child language ability and child social skills. Other factors such as child attachment, parent insightfulness toward their child, and parent resolution of the diagnosis were also identified across a number of studies as being positively associated with parent sensitivity, however, interpretations of these findings were limited by the absence of covariates identified in the literature as explaining much of the variance in parent sensitivity. With respect to non-significant associations, the literature reliably found that parents showed sensitivity toward their child with ASD, regardless of child age, ASD symptomology, concurrent child social skills, and concurrent child cognitive abilities. The robust associations found in this review and their potential explanations can serve as a jump off point in identifying an understanding protective and risk factors for families of children with ASD. With regard to future directions in research, assessment of the studies’ methodological quality identified points for improvement with respect to the measurement of parent sensitivity, as well as the consideration of several important methodological confounds that may be controlled for in statistical analyses.

Keywords: ASD, autism, parenting, parent sensitivity

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Authors: Nana Weng

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Firstly, based on two diamond models and Value-Rarity-Inimitability-Organization framework, this paper analyzes the Country Specific factors of and firm specific factors which influence subsidiaries’ sustainable competitive advantage. Then, according to the main content of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) research that HRM strategy should fit into corporate strategy, we explained what the SHRM practices should be in the context of localization strategies within Multinational Enterprise (MNE) companies. Then we choose two Japanese MNE subsidiaries in the same industry and tested the hypothesis that localization SHRM practices positively impact on subsidiary’s sustainable competitive advantage, further positively affect firm integrated performance (both financial performance and organizational and organizational performance) lever through High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) of local employees.

Keywords: localization SHRM, firm integrated performance, Japanese MNE subsidiaries, Vietnam

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Authors: Laatra Zemmouri, Said Boukhechem, Samia Haffaf, Mohamed Lafri

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A study was conducted in order to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with abortion in ewes in the region of M’sila, located in central-eastern Algeria. A questionnaire was carried out to obtain information about the occurrence of abortion, sheep housing conditions, vaccination, feeding and management practices, and whether the farmers kept other livestock. This cross-sectional study was conducted for 36 months (between 2016 and 2019). A total of 71 sheep flocks were visited. Among 8168 ewes, we recorded 734 (8.99%) abortions and 3861 lambings. The risk factor analysis using multivariable logistic regression showed an association between abortion and vaccination against brucellosis (CI 95%= 2,76-1,35; p<0,001). Abortion decreased when dogs are owned (CI 95%= 0,36-0,84; p= 0.006), however, abortion increased with the presence of cats in farms (CI 95%= 1,24-2,8; p=0.003). There was a significant association between abortion and keeping goats (CI 95%= 1,18-2,40; p= 0.004), bovins (CI 95%= 0,3-0,68; p<0,001) and poultry CI 95%= 0,39-0,77; p= 0.001) in farms. Through this study, it is noticed that a strong association between the occurrence of abortion and estrus synchronization, stillbirth occurrence, and feed supplementation (p<0.05). Identification of the causes of abortion is an important task to reduce foetal losses and to improve livestock productivity.

Keywords: abortion, ewes, questionnaire, risk factors

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Authors: Lida Landicho, Analiza R. Adarlo, Janine Mae V. Corpuz, Joan C. Villanueva

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Testing the idea that the process of forgiveness is intrinsically different across diverse relationships, this study examined whether forgiveness can already be facilitated by children ages 4-6. Two different intervention sessions which consists of 40 children (half heard stories about unfair blame and half heard stories about a double standard (between subjects variable) was completed. Investigators performed experimental analyses to examine the role of forgiveness in social and familial context. Results indicated that forgiveness can already be facilitated by children. Children see scenarios on double standard to be more unfair than normal scenarios (Scenario 2 (double standard) (M=7.54) Scenario 1 (unfair blame) (M=4.50), Scenario 4 (double standard) (M=7.) Scenario 3 (getting blamed for something the friend did) (M=6.80)p <.05.The findings confirmed that children were generally willing to grant forgiveness to a mother even though she was unfair, but less so to a friend. Correlations between sex, age and forgiveness were analyzed. Significant relationships was found on scenarios presented and caring task scores (rxy= -.314).Their tendency to forgive was related to dispositional and situational factors.

Keywords: forgiveness, situational and dispositional factors, familial context, social context

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Authors: Josue Javier Martinez Flores, Jaime Alvarez Quintana

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A thermal rectifier consists of a device which can load a different heat flow which depends on the direction of that flow. That device is a thermal diode. It is well known that heat transfer in solids basically depends on the electrical, magnetic and crystalline nature of materials via electrons, magnons and phonons as thermal energy carriers respectively. In the present research, we have synthesized polycrystalline Ni-Cu alloys and identified the Curie temperatures; and we have observed that by way of secondary phase transitions, it is possible manipulate the heat conduction in solid state thermal diodes via transition temperature. In this sense, we have succeeded in developing solid state thermal diodes with a control gate through the Curie temperature via the activation and deactivation of magnons in Ni-Cu ferromagnetic alloys at room temperature. Results show thermal diodes with thermal rectification factors up to 1.5. Besides, the performance of the electrical rectifiers can be controlled by way of alloy Cu content; hence, lower Cu content alloys present enhanced thermal rectifications factors than higher ones.

Keywords: thermal rectification, Curie temperature, ferromagnetic alloys, magnons

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Authors: Dominic Sagar

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Manchester ‘King Cotton’, the first truly industrial city of the nineteenth century, passing on the baton to Detroit ‘Motor City’, is the first truly modern city. We are exploring the tales of the two cities, their rise and fall and subsequent post-industrial decline, their transitions and transformations, whilst alongside paralleling their corresponding, commercial, cultural, industrial and even agricultural, artistic and musical transactions and connections. The paper will briefly contextualize how technologies of the industrial age and modern age have been instrumental in the development of these cities and other similar cities including New York. However, the main focus of the study will be the present and more importantly the future, how globalisation and the advancements of digital technologies and industries have shaped the cities developments from AlanTuring and the making of the first programmable computer to the effect of digitalisation and digital initiatives. Manchester now has a thriving creative digital infrastructure of Digilabs, FabLabs, MadLabs and hubs, the study will reference the Smart Project and the Manchester Digital Development Association whilst paralleling similar digital and creative industrial initiatives now starting to happen in Detroit. The paper will explore other topics including the need to allow for zones of experimentation, areas to play, think and create in order develop and instigate new initiatives and ideas of production, carrying on the tradition of influential inventions throughout the history of these key cities. Other topics will be briefly touched on, such as urban farming, citing the Biospheric foundation in Manchester and other similar projects in Detroit. However, the main thread will focus on the music industries and how they are contributing to the regeneration of cities. Musically and artistically, Manchester and Detroit have been closely connected by the flow and transmission of information and transfer of ideas via ‘cars and trains and boats and planes’ through to the new ‘super highway’. From Detroit to Manchester often via New York and Liverpool and back again, these musical and artistic connections and flows have greatly affected and influenced both cities and the advancement of technology are still connecting the cities. In summary two hugely important industrial cities, subsequently both experienced massive decline in fortunes, having had their large industrial hearts ripped out, ravaged leaving dying industrial carcasses and car crashes of despair, dereliction, desolation and post-industrial wastelands vacated by a massive exodus of the cities’ inhabitants. To examine the affinity, similarity and differences between Manchester & Detroit, from their industrial importance to their post-industrial decline and their current transmutations, transformations, transient transgressions, cities in transition; contrasting how they have dealt with these problems and how they can learn from each other. With a view to framing these topics with regard to how various communities have shaped these cities and the creative industries and design [the new cotton/car manufacturing industries] are reinventing post-industrial cities, to speculate on future development of these themes in relation to Globalisation, digitalisation and how cities can function to develop solutions to communal living in cities of the future.

Keywords: cultural capital, digital developments, musical initiatives, zones of experimentation

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Authors: Abdullahi Musa Yusuf

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Culture and traditions are an embodiment of every society. In Africa, people are socialized into believing that the world is full of mysteries. Mysteries that can only be explain through the interpretation of some forces which are ordinarily beyond the comprehension of Man. These forces have the power and capability of influencing the lives of the living either benevolently or malevolently. To decipher these mysteries various religious and cultural practices were evolved. This paper is therefore an attempt to explain the traditional religious belief system and the relationship existing between the forces of the living and dead among the Igala people of the Central Nigeria Region.

Keywords: culture, tradition, mythology, Nigeria

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Authors: Ritika Jain, Rajnish Kumar

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The Department of Public Enterprises had made submissions of Self Evaluation Reports, for the purpose of corporate governance, mandatory for all central government owned enterprises. Despite this, an alarming 40% of the enterprises did not do so. This study examines the impact of external policy tools and internal firm-specific factors on corporate governance of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). We use a dataset of all manufacturing and non-financial services owned by the central government of India for the year 2010-11. Using probit, ordered logit and Heckman’s sample selection models, the study finds that the probability and quality of corporate governance is positively influenced by the CPSE getting into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the central government of India, and hence, enjoying more autonomy in terms of day to day operations. Besides these, internal factors, including bigger size and lower debt size contribute significantly to better corporate governance.

Keywords: corporate governance, central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), sample selection, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ordered logit, disinvestment

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Authors: Abdullahi Garba Abu, Muhammad Bello Sada, Aminu Abubakar

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Facebook and Twitter/X platforms are preferred and largely patronized by Youths in Nigeria. The simplicity and popularity of Facebook and Twitter/X have made them preferred social networking sites for Youths to handle or execute different political activities in favor of their chosen candidates or political parties. This is largely related to their interest in using the platform for the purposes of participation in 2023 political activities and general elections. The two Social Networking Sites were used to vigorously pursue party activities on the eve of the 2023 general elections. Youths engaged the two platforms in campaigning for their candidates and political parties and succeeded in reaching a wide audience, shared the policies and manifestos of their parties, engaged with supporters and even posted advertising campaigns for specific demographics. However, the utilization of Facebook and Twitter /X platforms during the 2023 elections was largely seen in two lights: positive and negative lights/intentions. Therefore, this research investigates the motivating factors for which largely Nigerian Youths engage Facebook and Twitter platforms in political activities, with reference to the 2023 general elections. The research uses a survey method through which it reaches out to respondents from all six geo-politial zones. The research found that Nigerian Youths utilize the two social media sites to campaign for politicians voluntarily based on their belief in the capabilities of the candidates. It also found out that Youths were lured into using Facebook and Twitter/X sites to campaign through tribal, religious, and ethnic factors. More so, the research found out that eagerness to share political materials in support of candidates made Youths in Nigeria share unverifiable content on Facebook and Twitter sites.

Keywords: Facebook, Twitter/X, Nigerian youths, 2023 elections

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Authors: Swarali Hingse, Shraddha Digole, Uday Annapure

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The present study investigates the biotransformation of ferulic acid to vanillin by Pycnoporus cinnabarinus and its optimization using one-factor-at-a-time method as well as statistical approach. Effect of various physicochemical parameters and medium components was studied using one-factor-at-a-time method. Screening of the significant factors was carried out using L25 Taguchi orthogonal array and then these selected significant factors were further optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Significant media components obtained using Taguchi L25 orthogonal array were glucose, KH2PO4 and yeast extract. Further, a Box Behnken design was used to investigate the interactive effects of the three most significant media components. The final medium obtained after optimization using RSM containing glucose (34.89 g/L), diammonium tartrate (1 g/L), yeast extract (1.47 g/L), MgSO4•7H2O (0.5 g/L), KH2PO4 (0.15 g/L), and CaCl2•2H2O (20 mg/L) resulted in amplification of vanillin production from 30.88 mg/L to 187.63 mg/L.

Keywords: ferulic acid, pycnoporus cinnabarinus, response surface methodology, vanillin

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Authors: Norbayah Mohd Suki, Norazah Mohd Suki

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This study aims to examine relationships between attitude, self-efficacy, and subjective norm with students’ behavioural intention to use public computing facilities at a library. Data was collected from 200 undergraduate students enrolled at a higher learning institution in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia via a structured questionnaire comprising closed-ended questions. Data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results show that students’ behavioural intention to use public computing facilities at the library is widely affected by subjective norm factor i.e. influence of the support of family members, friends and neighbours. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of factors likely to influence students’ behavioural intention to use public computing facilities at a library. It also offers valuable insights into factors which university librarians need to focus on to improve students’ behavioural intention to actively use public computing facilities at a library for quality information retrieval. Direction for future research is also presented.

Keywords: attitude, self-efficacy, subjective norm, behavioural intention

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Authors: Dana El-Mughayyar, Neil Manson, Erin Bigney, Eden Richardson, Dean Tripp, Edward Abraham

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Use of narcotics to treat pain has increased over the past two decades and is a contributing factor to the current public health crisis. Understanding the pre-operative risks of chronic narcotic use may be aided through investigation of psychological measures. The objective of the reported study is to determine predictors of narcotic use two years post-surgery in a thoracolumbar spine surgery population, including an array of psychological factors. A prospective observational study of 191 consecutively enrolled adult patients having undergone thoracolumbar spine surgery is presented. Baseline measures of interest included the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ-8), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Numeric Rating Scales for back and leg pain (NRS-B/L), SF-12’s Mental Component Summary (MCS), narcotic use and demographic variables. The post-operative measure of interest is narcotic use at 2-year follow-up. Narcotic use is collapsed into binary categories of use and no use. Descriptive statistics are run. Chi Square analysis is used for categorical variables and an ANOVA for continuous variables. Significant variables are built into a hierarchical logistic regression to determine predictors of post-operative narcotic use. Significance is set at α < 0.05. Results: A total of 27.23% of the sample were using narcotics two years after surgery. The regression model included ODI, NRS-Leg, time with condition, chief complaint, pre-operative drug use, gender, MCS, PCS subscale helplessness, and CPAQ subscale pain willingness and was significant χ² (13, N=191)= 54.99; p = .000. The model accounted for 39.6% of the variance in narcotic use and correctly predicted in 79.7% of cases. Psychological variables accounted for 9.6% of the variance over and above the other predictors. Conclusions: Managing chronic narcotic usage is central to the patient’s overall health and quality of life. Psychological factors in the preoperative period are significant predictors of narcotic use 2 years post-operatively. The psychological variables are malleable, potentially allowing surgeons to direct their patients to preventative resources prior to surgery.

Keywords: narcotics, psychological factors, quality of life, spine surgery

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Authors: Olajumoke Temilola Fatimat, Fasasi Fausat Kikelomo, Ishola Ganiyat Folasayo, Omayeka Mary

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Psychoactive substances are chemical substances that affect the normal functioning of the brain and cause changes in behavior, mood, and consciousness. Psychoactive substance abuse constitutes one of the most important risk–taking behavior among adolescents and young adults in secondary schools. The study, therefore, assessed the factors influencing the use of psychoactive substances among senior secondary students in Ibadan South–West Local Government Area, Oyo State. A descriptive non-experimental design was adopted; purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 330 respondents, while questionnaires were used for data collection. The descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentages, inferential statistics of chi-square, and analysis of variance were used for the analysis. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents had heard of the term substance abuse before 226 (75.3%); it was also revealed that the majority of the respondents had good knowledge of psychoactive substances, 67.8%. There was no significant relationship between age and knowledge of psychoactive substances among senior secondary students, with a p-value of 0.199. The outcome of this study indicates that drug abuse is increasing day by day among secondary school students and may have greatly contributed to poor performance in examinations as well as undermining academic ability and performance among students. It was recommended that efforts should be made by the school authorities of the secondary schools in Ibadan South–West Local Government Area, Oyo State, and in Oyo State generally in collaboration with health personnel to educate adolescents on psychoactive substance abuse. This is to ensure that adolescents are adequately educated and updated on knowledge of psychoactive substance abuse.

Keywords: factors, influence, psychoactive substance, secondary school

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Authors: Gerald Gwamba

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Formation and oil well sand production is one of the greatest and oldest concerns for the Oil and gas industry. The production of sand particles may vary from very small and limited amounts to far elevated levels which has the potential to block or plug the pore spaces near the perforated points to blocking production from surface facilities. Therefore, the timely and reliable investigation of conditions leading to the onset or quantifying sanding while producing is imperative. The challenges of sand production are even more elevated while producing in Waxy and Heavy wells with Clay Fine sands (WHFC). Existing research argues that both waxy and heavy hydrocarbons exhibit far differing characteristics with waxy more paraffinic while heavy crude oils exhibit more asphaltenic properties. Moreover, the combined effect of WHFC conditions presents more complexity in production as opposed to individual effects that could be attributed to a consolidation of a surmountable opposing force. However, research on a combined high WHFC system could depict a better representation of the surmountable effect which in essence is more comparable to field conditions where a one-sided view of either individual effects on sanding has been argued to some extent misrepresentative of actual field conditions since all factors act surmountably. In recognition of the limited customized research on sand production studies with the combined effect of WHFC however, our research seeks to apply the Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology based on latest literature to analyze the relationship between various interparticle factors in relation to selected sand control methods. Our research aims to unearth a better understanding of how the combined effect of interparticle factors including: strength, cementation, particle size and production rate among others could better assist in the design of an optimal sand control system for the WHFC well conditions. In this regard, we seek to answer the following research question: How does the combined effect of interparticle factors affect the optimization of sand control systems for WHFC wells? Results from experimental data collection will inform a better justification for a sand control design for WHFC. In doing so, we hope to contribute to earlier contrasts arguing that sand production could potentially enable well self-permeability enhancement caused by the establishment of new flow channels created by loosening and detachment of sand grains. We hope that our research will contribute to future sand control designs capable of adapting to flexible production adjustments in controlled sand management. This paper presents results which are part of an ongoing research towards the authors' PhD project in the optimization of sand control systems for WHFC wells.

Keywords: waxy-heavy oils, clay-fine sands, sand control optimization, interparticle factors, design of experiments

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Authors: Kai-Chieh Lin, Chih-Fu Wu, Hsiang Ling Hsu, Yung-Hsiang Tu, Chia-Chen Wu

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With the rapid development of computer technology, the design of computers and keyboards moves towards a trend of slimness. The change of mobile input devices directly influences users’ behavior. Although multi-touch applications allow entering texts through a virtual keyboard, the performance, feedback, and comfortableness of the technology is inferior to traditional keyboard, and while manufacturers launch mobile touch keyboards and projection keyboards, the performance has not been satisfying. Therefore, this study discussed the design factors of slim pressure-sensitive keyboards. The factors were evaluated with an objective (accuracy and speed) and a subjective evaluation (operability, recognition, feedback, and difficulty) depending on the shape (circle, rectangle, and L-shaped), thickness (flat, 3mm, and 6mm), and force (35±10g, 60±10g, and 85±10g) of the keyboard. Moreover, MANOVA and Taguchi methods (regarding signal-to-noise ratios) were conducted to find the optimal level of each design factor. The research participants, by their typing speed (30 words/ minute), were divided in two groups. Considering the multitude of variables and levels, the experiments were implemented using the fractional factorial design. A representative model of the research samples were established for input task testing. The findings of this study showed that participants with low typing speed primarily relied on vision to recognize the keys, and those with high typing speed relied on tactile feedback that was affected by the thickness and force of the keys. In the objective and subjective evaluation, a combination of keyboard design factors that might result in higher performance and satisfaction was identified (L-shaped, 3mm, and 60±10g) as the optimal combination. The learning curve was analyzed to make a comparison with a traditional standard keyboard to investigate the influence of user experience on keyboard operation. The research results indicated the optimal combination provided input performance to inferior to a standard keyboard. The results could serve as a reference for the development of related products in industry and for applying comprehensively to touch devices and input interfaces which are interacted with people.

Keywords: input performance, mobile device, slim keyboard, tactile feedback

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Authors: Helena Costa Oliveira, Carmem Oliveira, Rita Moutinho

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The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a continuous strategic monitoring model focused not only on financial issues but also on internal processes, patients/users, and learning and growth. Initially dedicated to business management, it currently serves organizations of other natures - such as hospitals. This paper presents a BSC designed for a Portuguese Acute Pain Unit (APU). This study is qualitative and based on the experience of collaborators at the APU. The management of APU is based on four perspectives – users, internal processes, learning and growth, and financial and legal. For each perspective, there were identified strategic objectives, critical factors, lead indicators and initiatives. The strategic map of the APU outlining sustained strategic relations among strategic objectives. This study contributes to the development of research in the health management area as it explores how organizational insufficiencies and inconsistencies in this particular case can be addressed, through the identification of critical factors, to clearly establish core outcomes and initiatives to set up.

Keywords: acute pain unit, balanced scorecard, hospital management, organizational performance, Portugal

Procedia PDF Downloads 144