Search results for: actual dimensions

Authors: K. Y. S. Putri, Heri Fathurahman, Yuki Surisita, Widi Sagita, Kiki Dwi Arviani

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Society needs the assistance of academics in understanding and being skilled in health communication literacy. Information technology runs very fast while health communication literacy skills in getting health communication information during the pandemic are not as fast as the development of information technology. The research question is whether there is an influence of health communication on information technology in health information during the pandemic in Indonesia. The purpose of the study is to find out the influence of health communication on information technology in health information during the pandemic in Indonesia. The concepts of health communication literacy and information technology are used this study. Previous research is in support of this study. Quantitative research methods by disseminating questionnaires in this study. The validity and reliability test of this study is positive, so it can proceed to the next statistical analysis. Descriptive results of variable health communication literacy are of positive value in all dimensions. All dimensions of information technology are of positive value. Statistical tests of the influence of health communication literacy on information technology are of great value. Discussion of both variables in the influence of health communication literacy and high-value information technology because health communication literacy has a high effect in information technology. Respondents to this study have high information technology skills. So that health communication literacy in obtaining health information during the 2019-2022 pandemic is needed. Research advice is that academics are still very much needed by the community in the development of society during the pandemic.

Keywords: health information, health information needs, literacy health communication, information technology

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Authors: Randy Molejona Jr., Elaine Nicole Saquin

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The area around the Ajuy river in Iloilo, Philippines, is currently being mined for manganese ore, and river water samples exceed the maximum manganese contaminant level set by US-EPA. At the same time, the surplus of local bivalve waste is another environmental concern. Synthetic chemical treatment compromises water quality, leaving toxic residues. Therefore, an alternative treatment process is biosorption or using the physical and chemical properties of biomass to adsorb heavy metals in contaminated water. The study aims to extract crude chitin from shell wastes of Bractechlamys vexillum, Perna viridis, and Placuna placenta and determine its adsorption capacity on manganese in simulated and actual mine water. Crude chitin was obtained by pulverization, deproteinization, demineralization, and decolorization of shells. Biosorption by flocculation followed 5 g: 50 mL chitin-to-water ratio. Filtrates were analyzed using MP-AES after 24 hours. In both actual and simulated mine water, respectively, B. vexillum yielded the highest adsorption percentage of 91.43% and 99.58%, comparable to P. placenta of 91.43% and 99.37%, while significantly different to P. viridis of -57.14% and 31.53%, (p < 0.05). FT-IR validated the presence of chitin in shells based on carbonyl-containing functional groups at peaks 1530-1560 cm⁻¹ and 1660-1680 cm⁻¹. SEM micrographs showed the amorphous and non-homogenous structure of chitin. Thus, crude chitin from B. vexillum and P. placenta can be bio-sorbents for water treatment of manganese-impacted effluents, and promote appropriate waste management of local bivalves.

Keywords: biosorption, chitin, FT-IR, mine effluents, SEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Zahra Alimorad

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There is a strong belief that language teachers' actual practices in the classroom context are largely determined by the underlying perceptions they hold about the nature of language and language learning. That being so, it can be envisaged that teaching procedures of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers teaching reading comprehension will mainly be driven by their perceptions about the nature of reading. To examine this issue, four Iranian university professors holding Ph.D. in either TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or English Literature who were teaching English to Engineering and Sciences students were recruited to participate in this study. To collect the necessary data, classroom observations and follow-up semi-structured interviews were used. Furthermore, the materials utilized by the teachers such as textbooks, syllabuses, and tests were also examined. Although it can be argued that their perceptions were partially compatible with the established principles, results of the study pointed to a lack of congruence between these teachers' perceptions and their practices, on the one hand, and between the established principles and the practices, on the other. While the literature mostly supports a metacognitive-strategy approach to reading comprehension, the teachers were mainly adopting a skills-based approach to the teaching of reading. That is, they primarily focused on translation as the core activity in the classroom followed by reading aloud, defining words, and explaining grammatical structures. This divergence was partly attributed to the contextual constraints and partly to students' lack of motivation by the teachers.

Keywords: English teachers, perceptions, practice, principles, reading comprehension

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: P. K. Raheemudheen, Vibha Sharma, C. B. Tripathi

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Background and Aim: Intimate relationships are one of the major sources of unhappiness for emerging adults(18-25 years) and the extent of worry from it is higher for them as compared to older adults. This increases their vulnerability to develop anxiety and depression. Current academic literature have highlighted adult attachment have a crucial role in determining the psycho social adjustment and psychopathology in Emerging Adulthood. In this context, present study is an attempt to explore patterns of adult attachment styles, availability of attachment figures and dimensions of intimate relationship among emerging adults. Method: The participants(n=30) were emerging adults diagnosed with anxiety or/and depression seeking treatment from IHBAS, Delhi. Relationship Style Questionnaire was used to assess the adult attachment styles and Multidimensional Relationship Questionnaire was used to assess dimensions of intimate relationship. Results& Discussion: Results showed that majority of the participants have insecure attachment styles. They perceived their attachment figure as insensitive and unavailable. Further, it was found that participants experience multiple difficulties to establish and maintain healthy intimate relationships. These findings highlight Adult attachment insecurities seem to contribute to anxiety and depression among emerging adults. It proved a conceptual foundation for planning interventions to deal with these attachment based correlate of anxiety and depression which may be more amenable to therapeutic change.

Keywords: emerging adult, adult attachment, intimate relationship, anxiety

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Priyanka Jani

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The main focus of this research is to consider the objective of nursing curriculum in concern with pediatric nurses in respect to various parameters such as causes, reporting and prevention of medication protocol errors. A design or method selected for the study is the descriptive and cross sectional with respect to analytical study. Nurses were selected from inpatient pediatric wards of 5 hospitals in Gujarat, as a population. 126 pediatric nurses gave approval to participate in the research and completed with quarter questionnaires. The actual data was collected and analyzed. The actual data was collected and analyzed. The medium age of the nurses was 25.7 ± 3.68 years; the maximum was lady (97.6%) pediatric nurses stated that the most common causes of medication protocol errors were large work time (69.2%) and a huge ratio of patient: nurse (59.9%). Even though the highest number of nurses (89%) made use of a medication protocol errors notification system, or else they use to check it before. Many errors were not reported and nurses cited abeyant claims of nurses in case of adverse and opposite output for patient (53.97%), distrust (52.45%), and fear of various/different protocol for mediations (42%) among the causes of insufficient of notification in concern to ignorance, nurses most commonly noted the requirement for efficient data concerning the safe use of medications (47.5%). This is the frequent study made by researcher in Gujarat about the pediatric nurse curriculum regarding medication protocol errors. The outputs debate that there is a requirement for ongoing coaching of pediatric nurses regarding safe & secure medication observation and that the causes and post reporting of medication protocol errors by hand further survey.

Keywords: pediatric, medication, protocol, errors

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Bahman Ghaderi, Hedayat Hosseini, Parviz Kafche

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The role of knowledge management processes in achieving the strategic goals of organizations is crucial. To this end, understanding the relationship between knowledge management processes and different aspects of strategic thinking (followed by long-term organizational planning) should be considered. This research examines the relationship between each of the five knowledge management processes (creation, storage, transfer, audit, and deployment) with each dimension of strategic thinking (vision, creativity, thinking, communication and analysis) in one of the major sectors of the food industry in Iran. In this research, knowledge management and its dimensions (knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, knowledge transfer, knowledge auditing, and finally knowledge utilization) as independent variables and strategic thinking and its dimensions (creativity, systematic thinking, vision, strategic analysis, and strategic communication) are considered as the dependent variable. The statistical population of this study consisted of 245 managers and employees of Minoo Food Industrial Group in Tehran. In this study, a simple random sampling method was used, and data were collected by a questionnaire designed by the research team. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software. LISERL software is also used for calculating and drawing models and graphs. Among the factors investigated in the present study, knowledge storage with 0.78 had the most effect, and knowledge transfer with 0.62 had the least effect on knowledge management and thus on strategic thinking.

Keywords: knowledge management, strategic thinking, knowledge management processes, food industry

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Authors: Guanqiao Wang, Hongyang Yu

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There is a lot of repetitive work in the traditional construction industry. These repetitive tasks can significantly improve production efficiency by replacing manual tasks with robots. There- fore, robots appear more and more frequently in the construction industry. Navigation and positioning are very important tasks for construction robots, and the requirements for accuracy of positioning are very high. Traditional indoor robots mainly use radiofrequency or vision methods for positioning. Compared with ordinary robots, the indoor plastering robot needs to be positioned closer to the wall for wall plastering, so the requirements for construction positioning accuracy are higher, and the traditional navigation positioning method has a large error, which will cause the robot to move. Without the exact position, the wall cannot be plastered, or the error of plastering the wall is large. A new positioning method is proposed, which is assisted by line lasers and uses image processing-based positioning to perform more accurate positioning on the traditional positioning work. In actual work, filter, edge detection, Hough transform and other operations are performed on the images captured by the camera. Each time the position of the laser line is found, it is compared with the standard value, and the position of the robot is moved or rotated to complete the positioning work. The experimental results show that the actual positioning error is reduced to less than 0.5 mm by this accurate positioning method.

Keywords: indoor plastering robot, navigation, precise positioning, line laser, image processing

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Authors: Tejinder Singh Sidhu

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Hot corrosion has been recognized as a severe problem in steam-powered electricity generation plants and industrial waste incinerators as it consumes the material at an unpredictably rapid rate. Consequently, the load-carrying ability of the components reduces quickly, eventually leading to catastrophic failure. The inability to either totally prevent hot corrosion or at least detect it at an early stage has resulted in several accidents, leading to loss of life and/or destruction of infrastructures. A number of countermeasures are currently in use or under investigation to combat hot corrosion, such as using inhibitors, controlling the process parameters, designing a suitable industrial alloy, and depositing protective coatings. However, the protection system to be selected for a particular application must be practical, reliable, and economically viable. Due to the continuously rising cost of the materials as well as increased material requirements, the coating techniques have been given much more importance in recent times. Coatings can add value to products up to 10 times the cost of the coating. Among the different coating techniques, thermal spraying has grown into a well-accepted industrial technology for applying overlay coatings onto the surfaces of engineering components to allow them to function under extreme conditions of wear, erosion-corrosion, high-temperature oxidation, and hot corrosion. In this study, the hot corrosion performances of Ni-20Cr and Cr₃C₂-NiCr coatings developed by High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) process have been studied. The coatings were developed on a Fe-based superalloy, and experiments were performed in an actual industrial environment of a coal-fired boiler. The cyclic study was carried out around the platen superheater zone where the temperature was around 1000°C. The study was conducted for 10 cycles, and one cycle was consisting of 100 hours of heating followed by 1 hour of cooling at ambient temperature. Both the coatings deposited on Fe-based superalloy imparted better hot corrosion resistance than the uncoated one. The Ni-20Cr coated superalloy performed better than the Cr₃C₂-NiCr coated in the actual working conditions of the coal fired boiler. It is found that the formation of chromium oxide at the boundaries of Ni-rich splats of the coating blocks the inward permeation of oxygen and other corrosive species to the substrate.

Keywords: hot corrosion, coating, HVOF, oxidation

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Authors: Hasan Taştan, Ayşen Ciravoğlu

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The rapid growth of the human population and the environmental degradation associated with increased consumption of resources raises concerns on sustainability. Social sustainability constitutes one of the three dimensions of sustainability together with environmental and economic dimensions. Even though there is not an agreement on what social sustainability consists of, it is a well known fact that it necessitates user participation. The fore, this study aims to observe and analyze the role of user participation on social sustainability. In this paper, the links between user participation and indicators of social sustainability have been searched. In order to achieve this, first of all a literature review on social sustainability has been done; accordingly, the information obtained from researches has been used in the evaluation of the projects conducted in the developing countries considering user participation. These examples are taken as role models with pros and cons for the development of the checklist for the evaluation of the case studies. Furthermore, a case study over the post earthquake residential settlements in Turkey have been conducted. The case study projects are selected considering different building scales (differing number of residential units), scale of the problem (post-earthquake settlements, rehabilitation of shanty dwellings) and the variety of users (differing socio-economic dimensions). Decisionmaking, design, building and usage processes of the selected projects and actors of these processes have been investigated in the context of social sustainability. The cases include: New Gourna Village by Hassan Fathy, Quinta Monroy dwelling units conducted in Chile by Alejandro Aravena and Beyköy and Beriköy projects in Turkey aiming to solve the problem of housing which have appeared after the earthquake happened in 1999 have been investigated. Results of the study possible links between social sustainability indicators and user participation and links between user participation and the peculiarities of place. Results are compared and discussed in order to find possible solutions to form social sustainability through user participation. Results show that social sustainability issues depend on communities' characteristics, socio-economic conditions and user profile but user participation has positive effects on some social sustainability indicators like user satisfaction, a sense of belonging and social stability.

Keywords: housing projects, residential areas, social sustainability, user participation

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Authors: Ayman Othman, Tallat Ali

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A pavement maintenance management system (PMMS) was developed for the city of Aswan as a model of a small city to provide the road maintenance department in Aswan city with the capabilities for comprehensive planning of the maintenance activities needed to put the internal pavement network into desired physical condition in view of maintenance budget constraints. The developed system consists of three main stages. First is the inventory & condition survey stage where the internal pavement network of Aswan city was inventoried and its actual conditions were rated in segments of 100 meters length. Second is the analysis stage where pavement condition index (PCI) was calculated and the most appropriate maintenance actions were assigned for each segment. The total maintenance budget was also estimated and a parameter based ranking criteria were developed to prioritize maintenance activities when the available maintenance budget is not sufficient. Finally comes the packaging stage where approved maintenance budget is packed into maintenance projects for field implementation. System results indicate that, the system output maintenance budget is very reasonable and the system output maintenance programs agree to a great extent with the actual maintenance needs of the network. Condition survey of Aswan city road network showed that roughness is the most dominate distress. In general, the road network can be considered in a fairly reasonable condition, however, the developed PMMS needs to be officially adapted to maintain the road network in a desirable condition and to prevent further deterioration.

Keywords: pavement, maintenance, management, system, distresses, survey, ranking

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Authors: Tuğrul Varol, Halil Barış Özel

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In this study which has been conducted in Akçasu Forest Range District of Devrek Forest Directorate; 3 methods (cover removal with human force, cover removal with Hitachi F20 Excavator, and cover removal with agricultural equipment mounted on a Ferguson 240S agriculture tractor) utilized in weed control efforts in regeneration of degraded oriental beech forests have been compared. In this respect, 3 methods have been compared by determining certain work hours and standard durations of unit areas (1 hectare). For this purpose, evaluating the tasks made with human and machine force from the aspects of duration, productivity and costs, it has been aimed to determine the most productive method in accordance with the actual ecological conditions of research field. Within the scope of the study, the time studies have been conducted for 3 methods used in weed control efforts. While carrying out those studies, the performed implementations have been evaluated by dividing them into business stages. Also, the actual data have been used while calculating the cost accounts. In those calculations, the latest formulas and equations which are also used in developed countries have been utilized. The variance of analysis (ANOVA) was used in order to determine whether there is any statistically significant difference among obtained results, and the Duncan test was used for grouping if there is significant difference. According to the measurements and findings carried out within the scope of this study, it has been found during living cover removal efforts in regeneration efforts in demolished oriental beech forests that the removal of weed layer in 1 hectare of field has taken 920 hours with human force, 15.1 hours with excavator and 60 hours with an equipment mounted on a tractor. On the other hand, it has been determined that the cost of removal of living cover in unit area (1 hectare) was 3220.00 TL for man power, 788.70 TL for excavator and 2227.20 TL for equipment mounted on a tractor. According to the obtained results, it has been found that the utilization of excavator in weed control effort in regeneration of degraded oriental beech regions under actual ecological conditions of research field has been found to be more productive from both of aspects of duration and costs. These determinations carried out should be repeated in weed control efforts in degraded forest fields with different ecological conditions, it is compulsory for finding the most efficient weed control method. These findings will light the way of technical staff of forestry directorate in determination of the most effective and economic weed contol method. Thus, the more actual data will be used while preparing the weed control budgets, and there will be significant contributions to national economy. Also the results of this and similar studies are very important for developing the policies for our forestry in short and long term.

Keywords: artificial regeneration, weed control, oriental beech, productivity, mechanization, man power, cost analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Handan Ertaş

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The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between organizational trust level and organizational justice of Municipality officials. Correlational method has been used via descriptive survey model and Organizational Justice Perception Scale, Organizational Trust Inventory and Interpersonal Trust Scale have been applied to 353 participants who work in Konya Metropolitan Municipality and central district municipalities in the study. Frequency as statistical method, Independent Samples t test for binary groups, One Way-ANOVA analyses for multi-groups and Pearson Correlation analysis have been used to determine the relation in the data analysis process. It has been determined in the outcomes of the study that participants have high level of organizational trust, “Interpersonal Trust” is in the first place and there is a significant difference in the favor of male officials in terms of Trust on the Organization Itself and Interpersonal Trust. It has also been understood that officials in district municipalities have higher perception level in all dimensions, there is a significant difference in Trust on the Organization sub-dimension and work status is an important factor on organizational trust perception. Moreover, the study has shown that organizational justice implementations are important in raising trust of official on the organization, administrator and colleagues, and there is a parallel relation between Organizational Trust components and Organizational Trust dimensions.

Keywords: organizational trust level, organizational justice perceptions, staff, Konya

Procedia PDF Downloads 318

Authors: Hasan Serdar Öge, Esra Çiftçi, Kazım Karaboğa

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The main purpose of the research is to address the role of psychological harassment behaviors (mobbing) to which employees are exposed and personality characteristics over work alienation. Research population was composed of the employees of Provincial Special Administration. A survey with four sections was created to measure variables and reach out the basic goals of the research. Correlation and step-wise regression analyses were performed to investigate the separate and overall effects of sub-dimensions of psychological harassment behaviors and personality characteristic on work alienation of employees. Correlation analysis revealed significant but weak relationships between work alienation and psychological harassment and personality characteristics. Step-wise regression analysis revealed also significant relationships between work alienation variable and assault to personality, direct negative behaviors (sub dimensions of mobbing) and openness (sub-dimension of personality characteristics). Each variable was introduced into the model step by step to investigate the effects of significant variables in explaining the variations in work alienation. While the explanation ratio of the first model was 13%, the last model including three variables had an explanation ratio of 24%.

Keywords: alienation, five-factor personality characteristics, mobbing, psychological harassment, work alienation

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Authors: Sonia Arradaza-Pajaron, Maria Aida Manila

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Teaching is considered the noblest yet believed to be one of the most complicated and challenging professions. Along this view, every teacher-producing institution should look into producing quality pre-service graduates who are efficacious enough with the right attitude and to deal with the task accorded to them. This study investigated the association between self-efficacy and attitude of graduating pre-service teachers with their actual student teaching performance. Survey questionnaires on self-efficacy and attitude toward practice teaching were fielded to the 90 actual respondents while their practice teaching grade was extracted to serve as the other main variable. Data were analyzed and treated statistically utilizing weighted mean and Pearson r to determine the relationship of variables of the study. Findings revealed that attitude of respondents of the three curricular programs was favorable, and they are self-efficacious. Their practice teaching performance was interpreted as very good. Results further showed a significant positive relationship between their self-efficacy and practice teaching performance. It showed that their rating was a manifestation of self- efficacious group. Although they exude positive attitude towards practice teaching, yet no significant relationship was seen with their attitude and performance. Moreover, data manifested that most of them can pay attention during their conduct of lessons in the class, as well as, listen attentively to their cooperating teachers during post conferences. They can perform student teaching tasks better even when there were other interesting things to do. Most of all, they can regulate or suppress not so pleasant thoughts or feelings and take things lightly even in most challenging situations. As gleaned from the results, it can be concluded that there was an association between self-efficacy and practice teaching performance of the respondents.

Keywords: academic achievement, attitude, self-efficacy, student teaching performance

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Authors: Hussein Yousif Aziz

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This paper discussed the design and analysis of bridge foundation subjected to load of train with three codes, namely AASHTO code, British Standard BS Code 8004 (1986), and Chinese code (TB10002.5-2005).The study focused on the design and analysis of bridge’s foundation manually with the three codes and found which code is better for design and controls the problem of high settlement due to the applied loads. The results showed the Chinese codes are costly that the number of reinforcement bars in the pile cap and piles is more than those with AASHTO code and BS code with the same dimensions. Settlement of the bridge was calculated depending on the data collected from the project site. The vertical ultimate bearing capacity of single pile for three codes is also discussed. Other analyses by using the two-dimensional Plaxis program and other programs like SAP2000 14, PROKON many parameters are calculated. The maximum values of the vertical displacement are close to the calculated ones. The results indicate that the AASHTO code is economics and safer in the bearing capacity of single pile. The purpose of this project is to study out the pier on the basis of the design of the pile foundation. There is a 32m simply supported beam of box section on top of the structure. The pier of bridge is round-type. The main component of the design is to calculate pile foundation and the settlement. According to the related data, we choose 1.0m in diameter bored pile of 48m. The pile is laid out in the rectangular pile cap. The dimension of the cap is 12m 9 m. Because of the interaction factors of pile groups, the load-bearing capacity of simple pile must be checked, the punching resistance of pile cap, the shearing strength of pile cap, and the part in bending of pile cap, all of them are very important to the structure stability. Also, checking soft sub-bearing capacity is necessary under the pile foundation. This project provides a deeper analysis and comparison about pile foundation design schemes. Firstly, here are brief instructions of the construction situation about the Bridge. With the actual construction geological features and the upper load on the Bridge, this paper analyzes the bearing capacity and settlement of single pile. In the paper the Equivalent Pier Method is used to calculate and analyze settlements of the piles.

Keywords: pile foundation, settlement, bearing capacity, civil engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Fatima Alsalem

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Objectives: This study aims to explore the perceived credibility of social media influencers and their effect on purchase intention. In addition, the study aims to investigate the relationship between satisfaction with content promoted via social media and its relation to purchasing intention. Methodology: This study uses an exploratory and quantitative methodology. It was implemented through a cross-sectional survey that asked respondents to identify the time they spend using social media, satisfaction with influencers’ content, types of influencers they prefer, motivations to use social media, purchase intention of products promoted by influencers, as well as three credibility dimensions. Sample: the sample included 1184 Kuwaiti nationals, of which 50.4% (N=593) were males and 49.6% (N=584) were females. Results: The analysis of the data indicated that comedy and entertainment influencers are the most preferred type of influencers, while fashion influencers “fashionistas” are the least preferred. Based on the results of the regression analysis, the perceived credibility of influencers and satisfaction with their content is positively related to higher purchase intention. While all dimensions of credibility are positively related to higher purchase intention, attractiveness is the strongest predictor. Conclusion: The significant value of this study is the examination of the perceived credibility of influencers and the type of influencer social media users prefer to follow. The current research proves that the attractiveness of influencers is the highest dimension of their perceived credibility, which was prevalent in the findings.

Keywords: influencers, social media, mass media, credibility

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Authors: Pedram Saadati, Zahra Nazari

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In the last decade, the role and importance of knowledge-based technological businesses in the insurance industry has greatly increased, and due to the weakness of previous studies in Iran, the current research deals with the design of the InsurTech empowerment model. In order to obtain the conceptual model of the research, a hybrid framework has been used. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative part were experts, and in the quantitative part, the InsurTech activists. The tools of data collection in the qualitative part were in-depth and semi-structured interviews and structured self-interaction matrix, and in the quantitative part, a researcher-made questionnaire. In the qualitative part, 55 indicators, 20 components and 8 concepts (dimensions) were obtained by the content analysis method, then the relationships of the concepts with each other and the levels of the components were investigated. In the quantitative part, the information was analyzed using the descriptive analytical method in the way of path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The proposed model consists of eight dimensions of supporter capability, supervisor of insurance innovation ecosystem, managerial, financial, technological, marketing, opportunity identification, innovative InsurTech capabilities. The results of statistical tests in identifying the relationships of the concepts with each other have been examined in detail and suggestions have been presented in the conclusion section.

Keywords: insurTech, knowledge-base, empowerment model, factor analysis, insurance

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Authors: Leila Niroomand, Reza Rafigh

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Nowadays, the world is going under a dramatic change from an industry-centered society to an information-centered one. In other words, we are experiencing a transition from real, physical world into a virtual one. Stepping into the information age and running an effective life within the information-centered society demands getting acquainted with characteristics peculiar to such society. Recently, new technologies such as telecommunication and mobile technologies have changed vehemently and accumulation of achievements and information has become so important and brought about changes in occupational structures. The intellectual structure of this day and age depends on deep attention to creative and knowledge-based human resource collaboration instead of merely functioning human resource. Present study scrutinizes the contribution of different dimensions of mobile technologies including perceived use, perceived enjoyment, continuance intention, confirmation and satisfaction to the creativity of personnel. The statistical population included infrastructure communications company employees totaling 2431 persons out of which 331 individuals were chosen as sample based on Morgan and Krejcie table. This research is descriptive and the questionnaire was used for data gathering and it was distributed among those who used telegram application. 228 questionnaires were analyzed by the researcher. Applying SPSS software, Pierson correlation coefficient was analyzed and it was found out that all dimensions of mobile technologies except satisfaction correlate with the creativity of employees.

Keywords: mobile technologies, continuance intention, perceived enjoyment, confirmation, satisfaction, creativity, perceived use

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Authors: Wesley Preßler, Lucie Schmidt

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Digital transformation is playing an increasingly important role in the development of smart residential quarters. In order to accompany and steer this process and ultimately make the success of the transformation efforts measurable, it is helpful to use an appropriate maturity model. However, conventional maturity models for digital transformation focus primarily on the evaluation of processes and neglect the information and power imbalances between the stakeholders, which affects the validity of the results. The Multi-Generation Smart Community (mGeSCo) research project is developing an interdisciplinary maturity model that integrates the dimensions of digital literacy, interpretive patterns, and technology acceptance to address this gap. As part of the mGeSCo project, the technological development of selected dimensions in the Smart Quarter Jena-Lobeda (Germany) is being investigated. A specific maturity model, based on Cohen's Smart Cities Wheel, evaluates the central dimensions Working, Living, Housing and Caring. To improve the reliability and relevance of the maturity assessment, the factors Digital Literacy, Interpretive Patterns and Technology Acceptance are integrated into the developed model. The digital literacy dimension examines stakeholders' skills in using digital technologies, which influence their perception and assessment of technological maturity. Digital literacy is measured by means of surveys, interviews, and participant observation, using the European Commission's Digital Literacy Framework (DigComp) as a basis. Interpretations of digital technologies provide information about how individuals perceive technologies and ascribe meaning to them. However, these are not mere assessments, prejudices, or stereotyped perceptions but collective patterns, rules, attributions of meaning and the cultural repertoire that leads to these opinions and attitudes. Understanding these interpretations helps in assessing the overarching readiness of stakeholders to digitally transform a/their neighborhood. This involves examining people's attitudes, beliefs, and values about technology adoption, as well as their perceptions of the benefits and risks associated with digital tools. These insights provide important data for a holistic view and inform the steps needed to prepare individuals in the neighborhood for a digital transformation. Technology acceptance is another crucial factor for successful digital transformation to examine the willingness of individuals to adopt and use new technologies. Surveys or questionnaires based on Davis' Technology Acceptance Model can be used to complement interpretive patterns to measure neighborhood acceptance of digital technologies. Integrating the dimensions of digital literacy, interpretive patterns and technology acceptance enables the development of a roadmap with clear prerequisites for initiating a digital transformation process in the neighborhood. During the process, maturity is measured at different points in time and compared with changes in the aforementioned dimensions to ensure sustainable transformation. Participation, co-creation, and co-production are essential concepts for a successful and inclusive digital transformation in the neighborhood context. This interdisciplinary maturity model helps to improve the assessment and monitoring of sustainable digital transformation processes in smart residential quarters. It enables a more comprehensive recording of the factors that influence the success of such processes and supports the development of targeted measures to promote digital transformation in the neighborhood context.

Keywords: digital transformation, interdisciplinary, maturity model, neighborhood

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Authors: Zineb Jibraili, Said Ouhadi, Jorge Arana

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Introduction: Organizational performance is recognized by some theorists as one-dimensional concept, and by others as multidimensional. This concept, which is already difficult to apply in traditional companies, is even harder to identify, to measure and to manage when voluntary organizations are concerned, essentially because of the complexity of that form of organizations such as sport clubs who are characterized by the multiple goals and multiple constituencies. Indeed, the new culture of professionalization and modernization around organizational performance emerges new pressures from the state, sponsors, members and other stakeholders which have required these sport organizations to become more performance oriented, or to build their capacity in order to better manage their organizational performance. The evaluation of performance can be made by evaluating the input (e.g. available resources), throughput (e.g. processing of the input) and output (e.g. goals achieved) of the organization. In non-profit organizations (NPOs), questions of performance have become increasingly important in the world of practice. To our knowledge, most of studies used the same methods to evaluate the performance in NPSOs, but no recent study has proposed a club-specific model. Based on a review of the studies that specifically addressed the organizational performance (and effectiveness) of NPSOs at operational level, the present paper aims to provide a multidimensional framework in order to understand, analyse and measure organizational performance of sport clubs. This paper combines all dimensions founded in literature and chooses the most suited of them to our model that we will develop in Moroccan sport clubs case. Method: We propose to implicate our unified model of evaluating organizational performance that takes into account all the limitations found in the literature. On a sample of Moroccan sport clubs ‘Football, Basketball, Handball and Volleyball’, for this purpose we use a qualitative study. The sample of our study comprises data from sport clubs (football, basketball, handball, volleyball) participating on the first division of the professional football league over the period from 2011 to 2016. Each football club had to meet some specific criteria in order to be included in the sample: 1. Each club must have full financial data published in their annual financial statements, audited by an independent chartered accountant. 2. Each club must have sufficient data. Regarding their sport and financial performance. 3. Each club must have participated at least once in the 1st division of the professional football league. Result: The study showed that the dimensions that constitute the model exist in the field with some small modifications. The correlations between the different dimensions are positive. Discussion: The aim of this study is to test the unified model emerged from earlier and narrower approaches for Moroccan case. Using the input-throughput-output model for the sketch of efficiency, it was possible to identify and define five dimensions of organizational effectiveness applied to this field of study.

Keywords: organisational performance, model multidimensional, evaluation organizational performance, sport clubs

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Authors: Eunjung Lee

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This research investigates the intricate connection between cultural differences and online consumer behaviors by integrating Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions theory with analysis methodologies such as text mining, data mining, and topic analysis. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how national cultural differences influence individuals' behaviors when engaging with online reviews. To ensure the relevance of our investigation, we systematically analyze and interpret the cultural nuances influencing online consumer behaviors, especially in the context of online reviews. By anchoring our research in Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions theory, we seek to offer valuable insights for marketers to tailor their strategies based on the cultural preferences of diverse global consumer bases. In our methodology, we employ advanced text mining techniques to extract insights from a diverse range of online reviews gathered globally for a specific product or service like Netflix. This approach allows us to reveal hidden cultural cues in the language used by consumers from various backgrounds. Complementing text mining, data mining techniques are applied to extract meaningful patterns from online review datasets collected from different countries, aiming to unveil underlying structures and gain a deeper understanding of the impact of cultural differences on online consumer behaviors. The study also integrates topic analysis to identify recurring subjects, sentiments, and opinions within online reviews. Marketers can leverage these insights to inform the development of culturally sensitive strategies, enhance target audience segmentation, and refine messaging approaches aligned with cultural preferences. Anchored in Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions theory, our research employs sophisticated methodologies to delve into the intricate relationship between cultural differences and online consumer behaviors. Applied to specific cultural dimensions, such as individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term vs. short-term orientation, the study uncovers nuanced insights. For example, in exploring individualism vs. collectivism, we examine how reviewers from individualistic cultures prioritize personal experiences while those from collectivistic cultures emphasize communal opinions. Similarly, within masculinity vs. femininity, we investigate whether distinct topics align with cultural notions, such as robust features in masculine cultures and user-friendliness in feminine cultures. Examining information-seeking behaviors under uncertainty avoidance reveals how cultures differ in seeking detailed information or providing succinct reviews based on their comfort with ambiguity. Additionally, in assessing long-term vs. short-term orientation, the research explores how cultural focus on enduring benefits or immediate gratification influences reviews. These concrete examples contribute to the theoretical enhancement of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions theory, providing a detailed understanding of cultural impacts on online consumer behaviors. As online reviews become increasingly crucial in decision-making, this research not only contributes to the academic understanding of cultural influences but also proposes practical recommendations for enhancing online review systems. Marketers can leverage these findings to design targeted and culturally relevant strategies, ultimately enhancing their global marketing effectiveness and optimizing online review systems for maximum impact.

Keywords: comparative analysis, cultural dimensions, marketing intelligence, national culture, online consumer behavior, text mining

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Authors: Luciana Brandao Ferreira, Janaina de Moura Engracia Giraldi, Fabiana Gondim Mariutti, Marina Toledo de Arruda Lourencao

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Developing countries, such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are hosting sports mega-events to promote socio-economic development and image enhancement. Thus, this paper aims to verify the image of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, as the host city of 2016 Olympic Games, considering the main cognitive and affective image dimensions. The research design uses exploratory factorial analysis to find the most important factors highlighted in the city image dimensions. The data were collected by structured questionnaires with an international respondents sample (n=274) with high international travel experience. The results show that Rio’s image as a sport mega-event host city has two main factors in each dimension: Cognitive ('General Infrastructure'; 'Services and Attractions') and Affective ('Positive Feelings'; 'Negative Feelings'). The most important factor related to cognitive dimension was 'Services and Attractions' which is more related to tourism activities. In the affective dimension 'Positive Feelings' was the most important factor, which means a good result considering that is a city in an emerging country with many unmet social demands.

Keywords: Rio de Janeiro, 2016 olympic games, host city image, cognitive image dimension, affective image dimension

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Authors: Neşe Alkan

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Purpose: The point that applied/clinical psychology, which is the practice and research discipline of the mental health field, has reached today can be summarized as the necessity of handling the psychological well-being of people from multiple perspectives and the goal of moving it to a higher level. Clients' subjective assessment of their own condition and wellbeing is an integral part of evidence-based interventions. There is a need for tools through which clients can evaluate the effectiveness of the psychotherapy/intervention performed with them and their contribution to the wellbeing and wellbeing of this process in a valid and reliable manner. The aim of this research is to meet this need, to test the reliability and validity of the index in Turkish, and explore its usability in the practices of both researchers and psychotherapists. Method: A total of 213 adults aged between 18-54, 69.5% working and 29.5% university students, were included in the study. Along with their demographic information, the participants were administered a set of scales: wellbeing, life satisfaction, spiritual satisfaction, shopping addiction, and loneliness, namely via an online platform. The construct validity of the wellbeing scale was tested with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity were tested with two-way full and partial correlation analyses and, measurement invariance was tested with one-way analysis of variance. Results: Factor analyzes showed that the scale consisted of six dimensions as it is in its original structure. The internal consistency of the scale was found to be Cronbach α = .82. Two-way correlation analyzes revealed that the wellbeing scale total score was positively correlated with general life satisfaction (r = .62) and spiritual satisfaction (r = .29), as expected. It was negatively correlated with loneliness (r = -.51) and shopping addiction (r = -.15). While the scale score did not vary by gender, previous illness, or nicotine addiction, it was found that the total wellbeing scale scores of the participants who had used antidepressant medication during the past year were lower than those who did not use antidepressant medication (F(1,204) = 7.713, p = .005). Conclusion: It has been concluded that the 12-item wellbeing scale consisting of six dimensions can be used in research and health sciences practices as a valid and reliable measurement tool. Further research which examines the reliability and validity of the scale in different widely used languages such as Spanish and Chinese is recommended.

Keywords: wellbeing, intervention effectiveness, reliability and validity, effectiveness

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Authors: Jung Lee, L. G. Pee

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The 'Like' function in social media platforms represents the immediate responses of social media users to postings and other users. A large number of 'likes' is often attributed to fame, agreement, and support from others that many users are proud of and happy with. However, what 'like' implies exactly in social media context is still in discussion. Some argue that it is an accurate parameter of the preferences of social media users, whereas others refute that it is merely an instant reaction that is volatile and vague. To address this gap, this study investigates how social media users perceive the 'like' function and behave differently based on their perceptions. This study posits the following arguments. First, 'like' is interpreted as a quantified form of social capital that resides in social media platforms. This incarnated social capital rationalizes the attraction of people to social media and belief that social media platforms bring benefits to their relationships with others. This social capital is then conceptualized into cognitive and emotive dimensions, where social capital in the cognitive dimension represents the awareness of the 'likes' quantitatively, whereas social capital in the emotive dimension represents the receptions of the 'likes' qualitatively. Finally, the ambivalent perspective of the social media users on 'like' (i.e., social capital) is applied. This view rationalizes why social media users appreciate the reception of 'likes' from others but are aware that those 'likes' can distort the actual responses of other users by sending erroneous signals. The rationale on this ambivalence is based on whether users perceive social media as private or public spheres. When social media is more publicized, the ambivalence is more strongly observed. By combining the ambivalence and dimensionalities of the social capital, four types of social media users with different mechanisms on liking behaviors are identified. To validate this work, a survey with 300 social media users is conducted. The analysis results support most of the hypotheses and confirm that people have ambivalent perceptions on 'like' as a social capital and that perceptions influence behavioral patterns. The implication of the study is clear. First, this study explains why social media users exhibit different behaviors toward 'likes' in social media. Although most of the people believe that the number of 'likes' is the simplest and most frank measure of supports from other social media users, this study introduces the users who do not trust the 'likes' as a stable and reliable parameter of social media. In addition, this study links the concept of social media openness to explain the different behaviors of social media users. Social media openness has theoretical significance because it defines the psychological boundaries of social media from the perspective of users.

Keywords: ambivalent attitude, like function, social capital, social media

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Authors: Rahmat Hajimineh, Ebrahim Rezaei Rad

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The war between Russia and Ukraine is considered a very important event in international relations, especially after the end of the Cold War, a war that has had wide dimensions since its beginning. Dimensions that, in addition to political issues, have especially affected the world economy and especially the two countries. The most important issue in the field of the economy that was affected by the war between Russia and Ukraine was the issue of energy. Russia is one of the largest producers and suppliers of natural gas for European countries, and 40% of European gas is supplied by Russia. For this reason, it is natural that European countries have problems in this regard. On the other hand, Ukraine is considered the gateway to Europe for Russia regarding the export of natural gas. The war in Ukraine has had severe effects on gas and energy in Europe. From this point of view, European countries are looking to diversify their energy path by switching to renewable energies, and they are also looking at other energy-producing countries like Qatar to meet their energy needs. In this article, we are trying to investigate the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on Qatar's policies in the field of fossil and renewable energy. The descriptive-analytical method and the theoretical framework of energy security have been used to review this article. Based on this, the article examines the situation of fossil and renewable energies in Qatar and, on the other hand, the effects of the war in Ukraine on both energies in Qatar. The findings of this article also indicate that Qatar has made changes in its energy policies after the war in Ukraine, which seems to be possible due to its high potential, especially in the field of renewable and fossil energy. There is an export of surplus production of this country to other countries, especially European countries.

Keywords: Ukraine War, fossil fuels, renewable energy, energy security, Qatar

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Authors: Mohammad A. Khasawneh

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Asphalt concrete pavements gradually lose their skid resistance causing safety problems especially under wet conditions and high driving speeds. In order to enact the actual field polishing and wearing process of asphalt pavement surfaces in a laboratory setting, several laboratory-scale accelerated polishing devices were developed by different agencies. To mimic the actual process, friction and texture measuring devices are needed to quantify surface deterioration at different polishing intervals that reflect different stages of the pavement life. The test could still be considered lengthy and to some extent labor-intensive. Therefore, there is a need to come up with another method that can assist in investigating the bituminous pavement surface characteristics in a practical and time-efficient test procedure. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a well-developed image analysis technique to characterize asphalt pavement surfaces without the need to use conventional friction and texture measuring devices in an attempt to shorten and simplify the polishing procedure in the lab. Promising findings showed the possibility of using image analysis in lieu of the labor-sensitive-variable-in-nature friction and texture measurements. It was found that the exposed aggregate surface area of asphalt specimens made from limestone and gravel aggregates produced solid evidence of the validity of this method in describing asphalt pavement surfaces. Image analysis results correlated well with the British Pendulum Numbers (BPN), Polish Values (PV) and Mean Texture Depth (MTD) values.

Keywords: friction, image analysis, polishing, statistical analysis, texture

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Authors: Anders Troedsson

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For us humans, risk and insecurity are intimately linked to vulnerabilities - where there is vulnerability, there is potentially risk and insecurity. Reducing vulnerability through compensatory measures means decreasing the likelihood of a certain external event be qualified as a risk/threat/assault, and thus also means increasing the individual’s sense of security. The paper suggests that a meaningful way to approach the study of risk/ insecurity is to organize thinking about the vulnerabilities that external phenomena evoke in humans as perceived by them. Such phenomena are, through a set of given vulnerabilities, potentially translated into perceptions of "insecurity." An ontological discussion about salient timespace characteristics of external phenomena as perceived by humans, including such which potentially can be qualified as risk/threat/assault, leads to the positing of two dimensions which are central for describing what in the paper is called the essence of risk/threat/assault. As is argued, such modeling helps analysis steer free of the subjective factor which is intimately connected to human perception and which mediates between phenomena “out there” potentially identified as risk/threat/assault, and their translation into an experience of security or insecurity. A proposed set of universally given vulnerabilities are scrutinized with the help of the two dimensions, resulting in a modeling effort featuring four realms of vulnerabilities which together represent a dynamic whole. This model in turn informs modeling on human security.

Keywords: human vulnerabilities, human security, immediate-inert, material-immaterial, timespace

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Authors: Tohid Eskandarzadeh, Nader Bahlouli, Turaj Behnam, Azra Jafarzadeh

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The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to propose an optimal pattern to evaluate the staff management performance of the water and sewage organization. The performance prism-model was used to evaluate the following significant dimensions of performance: organizational strategies, organizational processes, organization capabilities, stakeholders’ partnership and satisfaction. In the present study, a standard, valid and reliable questionnaire was used to obtain data about the five dimensions of the performance prism model. 169 sample respondents were used for responding the questionnaire who were selected from the staff of water and waste-water organization in western Azerbaijan, Iran. Also, Alpha coefficient was used to check the reliability of the data-collection instrument which was measured to be beyond 0.7. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by means of SPSS version 18. The results obtained from the data analysis indicated that the performance of the staff management of the water and waste-water organization in western Azerbaijan was acceptable in terms of organizational strategies, organizational process, stakeholders’ partnership and satisfaction. Nevertheless, it was found that the performance of the staff management with respect to organizational abilities was average. Indeed, the researchers drew the conclusion that the current performance of the staff management in this organization in western Azerbaijan was less than ideal performance.

Keywords: performance evaluation, performance prism model, water, waste-water organization

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Authors: J. P. Panda, K. Sasmal, H. V. Warrior

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Eddy viscosity models in turbulence modeling can be mainly classified as linear and nonlinear models. Linear formulations are simple and require less computational resources but have the disadvantage that they cannot predict actual flow pattern in complex geophysical flows where streamline curvature and swirling motion are predominant. A constitutive equation of Reynolds stress anisotropy is adopted for the formulation of eddy viscosity including all the possible higher order terms quadratic in the mean velocity gradients, and a simplified model is developed for actual oceanic flows where only the vertical velocity gradients are important. The new model is incorporated into the one dimensional General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). Two realistic oceanic test cases (OWS Papa and FLEX' 76) have been investigated. The new model predictions match well with the observational data and are better in comparison to the predictions of the two equation k-epsilon model. The proposed model can be easily incorporated in the three dimensional Princeton Ocean Model (POM) to simulate a wide range of oceanic processes. Practically, this model can be implemented in the coastal regions where trasverse shear induces higher vorticity, and for prediction of flow in estuaries and lakes, where depth is comparatively less. The model predictions of marine turbulence and other related data (e.g. Sea surface temperature, Surface heat flux and vertical temperature profile) can be utilized in short term ocean and climate forecasting and warning systems.

Keywords: Eddy viscosity, turbulence modeling, GOTM, CFD

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Authors: Ludivine Gueho, Sylvain Fleury, Eric Jamet

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Driver distraction is known to be a major contributing factor of car accidents. Since many years, constructors have been designing embedded technologies to face this problem and reduce distraction. Being able to predict user acceptance would further be helpful in the development process to build appropriate systems. The present research aims at modelling the acceptability of a specific system, an innovative personalized and contextualized embedded radio, through an online survey of 202 people in France that assessed the psychological variables determining intentions to use the system. The questionnaire instantiated the dimensions of the extended version of the UTAUT acceptability model. Because of the specific features of the system assessed, we added 4 dimensions: perceived security, anxiety, trust and privacy concerns. Results showed that hedonic motivation, i.e., the fun or pleasure derived from using a technology, and performance expectancy, i.e., the degree to which individuals believe that the characteristics of the system meet their needs, are the most important dimensions in determining behavioral intentions about the innovative radio. To a lesser extent, social influence, i.e., the degree to which individuals think they can use the system while respecting their social group’s norms and while giving a positive image of themselves, had an effect on behavioral intentions. Moreover, trust, that is, the positive belief about the perceived reliability of, dependability of, and confidence in a person, object or process, had a significant effect, mediated by performance expectancy. In an applicative way, the present research reveals that, to be accepted, in-car embedded new technology has to address individual needs, for instance by facilitating the driving activity or by providing useful information. If it shows hedonic qualities by being entertaining, pretty or comfortable, this may improve the intentions to use it. Therefore, it is clearly important to include reflection about user experience in the design process. Finally, the users have to be reassured on the system’s reliability. For example, improving the transparency of the system by providing information about the system functioning, could improve trust. These results bring some highlights on determinant of acceptance of an in-vehicle technology and are useful for constructors to design acceptable systems.

Keywords: acceptability, innovative embedded radio, structural equation, user-centric evaluation, UTAUT

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