Search results for: the quality of human capital

Authors: Filiz Ersoz, Deniz Merdin, Taner Ersoz

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The objective of this study provides an insight into enterprises, who need to carry on their sustainability in harmony with the changing competition conditions, technology and laws, regarding the ISO 9001:2015. In the study, ISO 9001:2015, which is planned to be put in force and exists as a draft, was studied and its differences from the previous standard, ISO 9001:2008, were determined. To find out the differences, a survey was conducted among enterprises that implement a quality system. According to the findings obtained at the end of the study, it was observed that the enterprises attach importance to quality and follow the developments about quality management system, and they find the changes in the new draft document necessary.

Keywords: ISO 9001, quality, quality management system, quality revision

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Authors: Ichiro Takahashi

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One of the major assumptions of mainstream macroeconomics is the path independence of capital stock. This paper challenges this assumption by employing an agent-based approach. The simulation results showed the existence of multiple "quasi-steady state" equilibria of the capital stock, which may cast serious doubt on the validity of the assumption. The finding would give a better understanding of many phenomena that involve hysteresis, including the causes of poverty. The "market-clearing view" has been widely shared among major schools of macroeconomics. They understand that the capital stock, the labor force, and technology, determine the "full-employment" equilibrium growth path and demand/supply shocks can move the economy away from the path only temporarily: the dichotomy between the short-run business cycles and the long-run equilibrium path. The view then implicitly assumes the long-run capital stock to be independent of how the economy has evolved. In contrast, "Old Keynesians" have recognized fluctuations in output as arising largely from fluctuations in real aggregate demand. It will then be an interesting question to ask if an agent-based macroeconomic model, which is known to have path dependence, can generate multiple full-employment equilibrium trajectories of the capital stock in the super-long run. If the answer is yes, the equilibrium level of capital stock, an important supply-side factor, would no longer be independent of the business cycle phenomenon. This paper attempts to answer the above question by using the agent-based macroeconomic model developed by Takahashi and Okada (2010). The model would serve this purpose well because it has neither population growth nor technology progress. The objective of the paper is twofold: (1) to explore the causes of long-term business cycle, and (2) to examine the super-long behaviors of the capital stock of full-employment economies. (1) The simulated behaviors of the key macroeconomic variables such as output, employment, real wages showed widely diversified macro-economies. They were often remarkably stable but exhibited both short-term and long-term fluctuations. The long-term fluctuations occur through the following two adjustments: the quantity and relative cost adjustments of capital stock. The first one is obvious and assumed by many business cycle theorists. The reduced aggregate demand lowers prices, which raises real wages, thereby decreasing the relative cost of capital stock with respect to labor. (2) The long-term business cycles/fluctuations were synthesized with the hysteresis of real wages, interest rates, and investments. In particular, a sequence of the simulation runs with a super-long simulation period generated a wide range of perfectly stable paths, many of which achieved full employment: all the macroeconomic trajectories, including capital stock, output, and employment, were perfectly horizontal over 100,000 periods. Moreover, the full-employment level of capital stock was influenced by the history of unemployment, which was itself path-dependent. Thus, an experience of severe unemployment in the past kept the real wage low, which discouraged a relatively costly investment in capital stock. Meanwhile, a history of good performance sometimes brought about a low capital stock due to a high-interest rate that was consistent with a strong investment.

Keywords: agent-based macroeconomic model, business cycle, hysteresis, stability

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Authors: Adel Fathy Sadek Abdalla

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The issue of respect for human rights in Southeast Asia has become a major concern and is attracting the attention of the international community. Basically, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made human rights one of its main issues and in the ASEAN Charter in 2008. Subsequently, the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights ASEAN Human Rights (AICHR) was established. AICHR is the Southeast Asia Human Rights Enforcement Commission charged with the responsibilities, functions and powers to promote and protect human rights. However, at the end of 2016, the protective function assigned to the AICHR was not yet fulfilled. This is shown by several cases of human rights violations that are still ongoing and have not yet been solved. One case that has recently come to light is human rights violations against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Using a legal-normative approach, the study examines the urgency of establishing a human rights tribunal in Southeast Asia capable of making a decision binding on ASEAN members or guilty parties. Data shows ASEAN needs regional courts to deal with human rights abuses in the ASEAN region. In addition, the study also highlights three important factors that ASEAN should consider when establishing a human rights tribunal, namely: Volume. a significant difference in terms of democracy and human rights development among the members, a consistent implementation of the principle of non-interference and the financial issue of the continuation of the court.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security.

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Authors: Satinder Bhatia

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Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) was a concept introduced in India in 2009. Ever since then, there has been a fierce growth in the number of organizations registered as LLPs outpacing the number of registrations as private companies. Among other benefits extended to LLPs, the audit being mandated only for LLPs having a turnover of at least Rs 40 lakhs or capital contribution of Rs 25 lakhs, has been a major attraction. This has resulted in only about 10 per cent of LLPs coming under mandatory audit. Even for such companies, the accounting standards to be followed in the preparation of financial statements have not been specified. The Revised Indian Accounting Standards (Revised IndAS) which are aligned with IFRS to a great extent, may apply to LLPs only under limited conditions. Thus, the veracity of even the audited financial statements of LLPs can be questioned. If in future, these LLPs would like to list on a stock exchange to raise capital, there can be serious hurdles if investors do not find the financial statements to be reliable and consistent. LLPs are generally governed by country-specific rules in the area of accounts and audit. Thus, such rules vary across UK, EU and the USA. Some countries have adopted the IFRS for SMEs and since LLPs can be referred to as SMEs; they would come under the ambit of these IFRS provisions. Besides, as the scope of audit widens to cover qualitative information in addition to quantitative data, audit of LLPs has now acquired a new meaning and a new urgency as demands for at least limited purpose audits are arising from different stakeholders including lenders, suppliers, customers and joint venture partners.

Keywords: audit disclosures, audit quality, guidance for SMEs, non-audit services

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Authors: Wasfi Al Salamat, Shaker Al-Kharouf

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This study aims to examine the determinants of financial stability for 13 commercial banks listed on the Amman stock exchange (ASE) over the period (2007-2016) after controlling for the independent variables: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), earnings per share (EPS), growth in gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate and debt ratio to measure the financial stability by three main variables: capital adequacy, non-performing loans and the number of returned checks. The balanced panel data statistical approach has been used for data analysis. Results are estimated by using multiple regression models. The empirical results suggested that there is statistically significant negative effect of inflation rate and debt ratio on the capital adequacy while there is statistically significant positive effect of growth in gross domestic product on capital adequacy. In contrast, there is statistically significant negative effect of return on equity and growth in gross domestic product on the non-performing loans while there is statistically significant positive effect of inflation rate on non-performing loans. Finally, there is statistically significant negative effect of growth in gross domestic product on the number of returned checks while there is statistically significant positive effect of inflation rate on the number of returned checks.

Keywords: capital adequacy, financial stability, non-performing loans, number of returned checks, ASE

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Authors: Alan Luo, Hunter N. B. Moseley

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Many macromolecular structure entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have a range of regional (localized) quality issues, be it derived from x-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, or other experimental approaches. However, most PDB entries are judged by global quality metrics like R-factor, R-free, and resolution for x-ray crystallography or backbone phi-psi distribution statistics and average restraint violations for NMR. Regional quality is often ignored when PDB entries are re-used for a variety of structurally based analyses. The binding of ligands, especially ligands involved in energy metabolism, is of particular interest in many structurally focused protein studies. Using a regional quality metric that provides chemically interpretable information from electron density maps, a significant number of outliers in regional structural quality was detected across x-ray crystallographic PDB entries for proteins bound to biochemically critical ligands. In this study, a series of analyses was performed to evaluate both specific and general potential factors that could promote these outliers. In particular, these potential factors were the minimum distance to a metal ion, the minimum distance to a crystal contact, and the isotropic atomic b-factor. To evaluate these potential factors, Fisher’s exact tests were performed, using regional quality criteria of outlier (top 1%, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) versus non-outlier compared to a potential factor metric above versus below a certain outlier cutoff. The results revealed a consistent general effect from region-specific normalized b-factors but no specific effect from metal ion contact distances and only a very weak effect from crystal contact distance as compared to the b-factor results. These findings indicate that no single specific potential factor explains a majority of the outlier ligand-bound regions, implying that human error is likely as important as these other factors. Thus, all factors, including human error, should be considered when regions of low structural quality are detected. Also, the downstream re-use of protein structures for studying ligand-bound conformations should screen the regional quality of the binding sites. Doing so prevents misinterpretation due to the presence of structural uncertainty or flaws in regions of interest.

Keywords: biomacromolecular structure, coenzyme, electron density discrepancy analysis, x-ray crystallography

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Authors: Tareq M. Aziz Elven

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The issue of Human Rights enforcement in Southeast Asia has become the serious problem and attract the attention of international community. Principally, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has mentioned the Human Rights as one of the focus and be a part of the ASEAN Charter in 2008. It was followed by the establishment of ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). AICHR is the commission of Human Rights enforcement in Southeast Asia which has a duty, function, and an authority to conduct dissemination and protection of Human Rights. In the end of 2016, however, the function of protection mandated to AICHR have not achieved yet. It can be proved by several cases of Human Rights violation which still exist and have not settled yet. One of case which attracts the public attention recently is human rights violation towards Rohingya in Myanmar. Using the juridical-normative method, the research aims to examine the urgency of Human Rights court establishment in Southeast Asia region which able to issue the decision that binds the ASEAN members or the violating parties. The data shows that ASEAN needs to establish a regional court which intended to settle the Human Rights violations in ASEAN region. Furthermore, the research also highlights three strong factors should be settled by ASEAN for establishing human rights court i.e. the significant distinction of democracy and human rights development among the members, the strong implementation of non-intervention principle, and the financial matter to sustain the court.

Keywords: AICHR, ASEAN, human rights, human rights court

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Authors: Richu J. Babu, Sony Mathew, Sharon Rony Jacob, Soney C. George, Jibin C. Jacob

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Human hair is a non-biodegradable waste available in plenty throughout the world but is rarely explored for applications in engineering fields. Tensile strength of human hair ranges from 170 to 220 MPa. This property of human hair can be made use in the field of making bio-composites[1]. The composite is prepared by commixing the human hair and natural rubber in a two roll mill along with additives followed by vulcanization. Here the concentration of the human hair is varied by fine-tuning the fiber length as 20 mm and sundry tests like tensile, abrasion, tear and hardness were conducted. While incrementing the fiber length up to a certain range the mechanical properties shows superior amendments.

Keywords: human hair, natural rubber, composite, vulcanization, fiber loading

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Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Marjan Fayyazi, Parisa Sefati

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Audit quality is a popular topic in accounting and auditing research because recent decades’ financial crises reduce the reliability of financial reports to public investors and cause significant doubt about the audit profession. Therefore, doing research to identify effective factors in improving audit quality is necessary for bringing back public investors’ trust to financial statements as well as audit reports. In this study, we explore the relationship between audit rotation and audit quality. For this purpose, we employ the Duff (2009) model of audit quality to measure audit quality and use a questionnaire survey of 27 audit service quality attributes. Our results show that there is a negative relationship between auditor’s rotation and audit quality as we consider the auditor’s reputation, capability, assurance, experience, and responsiveness as surrogates for audit quality. There is no evidence for verifying a same relationship when we use the auditor’s independence and expertise for measuring audit quality.

Keywords: audit quality, auditor’s rotation, reputation, capability, assurance, experience, responsiveness, independence, expertise

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Authors: Emad Eid Nemr Danyal

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the problem of respect for human rights in Southeast Asia has come to be a prime problem and is attracting the attention of the worldwide community. basically, the affiliation of Southeast Asian international locations (ASEAN) made human rights one in every of its fundamental problems and in the ASEAN constitution in 2008. in the end, the Intergovernmental fee on Human Rights ASEAN Human Rights (AICHR) changed into mounted. AICHR is the Southeast Asia Human Rights Enforcement fee charged with the responsibilities, capabilities and powers to sell and defend human rights. but, at the quit of 2016, the protective function assigned to the AICHR turned into no longer but fulfilled. that is shown through numerous cases of human rights violations which are still ongoing and have now not but been solved. One case that has lately come to mild is human rights violations in opposition to the Rohingya human beings in Myanmar. the use of a prison-normative technique, the take a look at examines the urgency of setting up a human rights tribunal in Southeast Asia able to making a decision binding on ASEAN members or responsible events. facts suggests ASEAN desires regional courts to cope with human rights abuses inside the ASEAN area. in addition, the observe additionally highlights 3 essential elements that ASEAN must recall when setting up a human rights tribunal, specifically: quantity. a full-size distinction in terms of democracy and human rights development most of the individuals, a regular implementation of the precept of non-interference and the economic difficulty of the continuation of the court.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security

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Authors: Francis O. Iyoha, Daniel E. Gberevbie, Charles T. Iruonagbe, Matthew E. Egharevba

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Cost of governance in Nigeria has become a challenge to development and concern to practitioners and scholars alike in the field of business and social science research. It has been observed that it takes 70 percent of the nation’s revenue to maintain less than 20 percent of the Nigerian population that are public servants. Furthermore, it has been observed that on a consistent yearly basis, the recurrent expenditure of government from the national budget keeps rising, while capital expenditure meant for development keeps falling. The implication is that development is stagnated in the country. For instance, in the 2010 national budget of NGN4.60tn or USD28.75b, only NGN1.80tn or USD11.15b was set aside for capital expenditure. Also, in the 2013 national budget of NGN4.92tn or USD30.75b, only NGN1.50tn or USD9.38b was set aside for capital expenditure. Therefore, with the analysis of secondary data, this study examined the reasons for the high cost of governance in Nigeria. It observed that the high cost of governance in the country is in the interest of the ruling class, arising from their unethical behaviour – corrupt practices and the poor management of public resources. As a result, the study recommends the need to intensify the war against corruption and mismanagement of public resources by government officials as possible solution to overcome the high cost of governance in Nigeria. This could be achieved by strengthening the constitutional powers of the various anti-corruption agencies in the area of arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders without the interference of the executive arm of government either at the local, state or federal level.

Keywords: cost of governance, capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure, unethical behavior, Nigeria

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Authors: Vahid Bairami Rad

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With the rapid growth of the Internet and the globalization of the market, most enterprises are trying to attract and win customers in the highly competitive electronic market. Better e-service quality will enhance the relationship with customers and their satisfaction. So the measurement of eservice quality is very important but it is a complex process due to the complex nature of services. Literature predicts that there is a lack of universal definition of e-service quality. The e-service quality measures in banking have great importance in achieving high customer base. This paper proposes a conceptual model for measuring e-service quality in Iranian Banking Iran. Nine dimensions reliability, ease of use, personalization, security and trust, website aesthetic, responsiveness, contact and speed of delivery had been identified. The results of this paper may help to develop a proper scale to measure the e-service quality in Iranian Banking Industry, which may assist to maintain and improve the performance and effectiveness of e-service quality to retain customers.

Keywords: electronic banking, Dimensions, customer service quality, electronic, communication

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Authors: Khadija Amin

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The significant contribution of foreign investment in promoting economic recovery, especially in countries recovering from conflict, is generally recognized. This study examines the influence of foreign investment on the economic development of countries that have had long-lasting internal conflicts. The study examines the complex correlation between foreign investment and economic progress using the production function framework based on endogenous growth theory. In addition to foreign investment, the research considers a range of factors that affect economic growth, such as trade dynamics, the spread of information, attempts to promote peace, changes in the labor market, and the accumulation of domestic capital. The study challenges common beliefs by revealing a statistically negligible negative association between GDP growth and foreign investment (FI) inflows in post-war economies. The existing literature highlights the positive impact of trade and foreign investment on economic growth. However, this study emphasizes that these impacts are complex and depend on various contextual factors such as trade policies, infrastructure development, domestic investment levels, human capital development, and macroeconomic stability. The results emphasize the crucial significance of foreign investment in stimulating development while also drawing attention to the intricacies of precisely assessing its economic consequences. Measuring the economic impact of foreign investment is a difficult task that requires detailed analysis considering many contextual elements and changing socioeconomic conditions.

Keywords: economic grouths, foreign investment, trade policies, domestic investment

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Authors: Farshad Badie

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The central focus of this article is on the fact that knowledge is constructed from an interaction between humans’ experiences and over their conceptions of constructed concepts. Logical characterisation of ‘human inductive learning over human’s constructed concepts’ within terminological systems and providing a logical background for theorising over the Human Concept Learning Problem (HCLP) in terminological systems are the main contributions of this research. This research connects with the topics ‘human learning’, ‘epistemology’, ‘cognitive modelling’, ‘knowledge representation’ and ‘ontological reasoning’.

Keywords: human concept learning, concept construction, knowledge construction, terminological systems

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Authors: Joanna Maj

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Awe inspiring is the idea that emotions could be present in human-machine interactions, both on the human side as well as the machine side. Human factors present intriguing components and are examined in detail while discussing this controversial topic. Mood, attention, memory, performance, assessment, causes of emotion, and neurological responses are analyzed as components of the interaction. Problems in computer-based technology, revenge of the system on its users and design, and applications comprise a major part of all descriptions and examples throughout this paper. It also allows for critical thinking while challenging intriguing questions regarding future directions in research, dealing with emotion in human-machine interactions.

Keywords: biocomputing, biomedical engineering, emotions, human-machine interaction, interfaces

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Authors: Fatemeh Ghaemi, Padideh Feyzi, Zohreh Dortaj

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Cancer is one of the common diseases that may cause death due to malignancy. The physical problems of cancer patients can have an impact on the psychological and social aspects of their lives. Depression is one of these problems that threaten the lives of these patients and can also reduce their quality of life. Helping patients with cancer to find meaning in life can increase their level of health and improve their quality of life. This study thus examines the effectiveness of group logotherapy on the depression and quality of life of women with cancer. Depression was measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and quality of life was measured using Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQL) with acceptable and reliable indicators in the pre-test and post-test stages. The experimental group received group therapy in eight, sixty-minute sessions and the control group did not receive any intervention. After collecting the questionnaires, the mean and standard deviations were used to describe the data and the statistical method of multivariate analysis of covariance was used at the significant level (P≤0.05). The results were analyzed using SPSS(22). The results showed that there was a significant difference between post-test depression scores in the experimental group and the control group. Also, there was a significant difference between the post-test scores of quality of life and its components (psychological, physical, social and environmental health) in the experimental group and control group. The findings of this study showed the effectiveness of group logotherapy in decreasing depression and improving the quality of life of cancer patients. By focusing the minds of the people on the present and changing the attitude of the human being towards themselves, life and environment can help the depressed people, and by influencing the individual's view of himself, accepting responsibility, accepting life with purpose, paying attention to life uniformly, it allows a person to maintain his quality of life even with cancer. Therefore, it is recommended that this approach be used as a group intervention in hospitals and care units for cancer patients and even in people with certain diseases.

Keywords: cancer, depression, group psychiatry, quality of life

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Authors: Mostafa Ahmed Shokshok

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Libyan industrial companies face many challenges in today's competitive market. Quality management culture approaches is one of these challenges which may furnish the road to the Libyan industrial companies to effectively empower their employees and improve their ability to respond to the international competition. The primary objective of this paper is to design a practical approach to guide Libyan industrial companies toward successful quality culture implementation.

Keywords: TQM, quality culture, Libyan manufacturing industries, quality framework

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Authors: Francisco Fernandez de Castro

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The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) model gives monetary transfers to beneficiary families on the condition that they take specific education and health actions. According to the economic rationale of CCTs the poor need incentives to invest in their human capital because they are trapped by a lack of information and misleading beliefs. If left to their own decision, the poor will not be able to choose what is in their best interests. The basic assumption of the CCT model is that the poor need incentives to take care of their own education and health-nutrition. Due to the incentives (income cash transfers and conditionalities), beneficiary families are supposed to attend doctor visits and health talks. Children would stay in the school. These incentivized behaviors would produce outcomes such as better health and higher level of education, which in turn will reduce poverty. Based on a grounded theory approach to conduct a two-year period of qualitative data collection in northern Mexico, this study shows that this explanation is incomplete. In addition to the information failure and inadequate beliefs, there are structural barriers in everyday life of households that make health-nutrition and education investments difficult. In-depth interviews and observation work showed that the program takes for granted local conditions in which beneficiary families should fulfill their co-responsibilities. Data challenged the program’s assumptions and unveiled local obstacles not contemplated in the program’s design. These findings have policy and research implications for the CCT agenda. They bring elements for late programming due to the gap between the CCT strategy as envisioned by policy designers, and the program that beneficiary families experience on the ground. As for research consequences, these findings suggest new avenues for scholarly work regarding the causal mechanisms and social processes explaining CCT outcomes.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers, incentives, poverty, structural barriers

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Authors: Mark Anthony A. Catiil

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Teachers are the principal actors in the delivery of quality education to the learners. Unfortunately, as time goes by, some of them got low motivation at work. Absenteeism, tardiness, under time, and non-compliance to school policies are some of the end results. There is, therefore, a need to review the different human resource management practices of the school that contribute to teachers’ work satisfaction and motivation. Hence, this study determined the level of satisfaction of teachers on the human resource management practices of Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School. This mixed-methodology research was focused on the 45 teachers chosen using a stratified random sampling technique. Reliability-tested questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions were used to gather the data. Results revealed that the majority of the respondents are female, Teacher I, with MA units and have served for 11-20 years. Likewise, among the human resource management practices of the school, the respondents rated the lowest satisfaction on recruitment and selection (mean=2.15; n=45). This could mean that most of the recruitment and selection practices of the school are not well communicated, disseminated, and implemented. On the other hand, retirement practices of the school were rated with the highest satisfaction among the respondents (mean=2.73; n=45). This could mean that most of the retirement practices of the school are communicated, disseminated, implemented, and functional. It was recommended that the existing human resource management practices on recruitment and selection be reviewed to find out its deficiencies and possible improvement. Moreover, future researchers may also conduct a study between private and public schools in Gingoog City on the same topic for comparison.

Keywords: education, human resource management practices, satisfaction, teachers

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Authors: Martin Plener

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Developmental and democratization research has a long tradition of focusing on the relationship between democratization and economic development. However, recent studies have shown that economic development is not adequate to measure the actual living conditions of civilian people. In consequence, it is unclear if a democratization process helps to improve people’s quality of life. This work addresses this issue by investigating the influence of democratization on the Human Development Index (HDI) created by the United Nations. The main objective is to study the relationship between democracy and human development and whether democratization positively impacts the living conditions of the population over time. The main mechanism which supports a positive impact is that democratic structures promote participation and political involvement of people from all social classes resulting in a better articulation of interests and thus accountability to the government. To study this issue, a panel regression with Fixed-Effects is conducted. By that, it is examined if democracy has a positive impact on the HDI (Hypothesis 1) and secondly if the same effect weakens in more developed democracies compared to less developed democracies (Hypothesis 2). The results do not reveal a direct positive relationship between the democratization of a country and its development of the HDI, not supporting H1 which denies the first hypothesis. In contrast to the assumption of H2, the effect of democratization on human development seems to be negatively correlated in countries in which democracy is barely developed. Therefore, both hypotheses must be discarded. The results indicate rather a positive correlation between economic development on human development. Therefore, the impact of democracy on the well-being of countries’ citizens needs to be reinvestigated in order to create a better understanding of how improved human development can be achieved.

Keywords: democracy, human development, modernization theory, HDI, TSCS

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Authors: Uwe C. Fischer

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Mental health and well-being for employees working in the human service system are getting more and more important given the increasing rate of absenteeism at work. Besides individual capacities, social and community factors seem to be important in the working setting. Starting from a demand resource framework including the classical demand control aspects, social support systems, specific demands and resources of the client work, and work-family conflict were considered in the present study. We state hypothetically, that these factors have a meaningful association with the mental quality of life of employees working in the field of social, educational and health sectors. 1140 employees, working in human service organizations (education, youth care, nursing etc.) were asked for strains and resources at work (selected scales from Salutogenetic Subjective Work Assessment SALSA and own new scales for client work), work-family conflict, and mental quality of life from the German Short Form Health Survey. Considering the complex influences of the variables, we conducted a multiple hierarchical regression analysis. One third of the whole variance of the mental quality of life can be declared by the different variables of the model. When the variables concerning social influences were included in the hierarchical regression, the influence of work related control resource decreased. Excessive workload, work-family conflict, social support by supervisors, co-workers and other persons outside work, as well as strains and resources associated with client work had significant regression coefficients. Conclusions: Social support systems are crucial in the social, educational and health related service sector, regarding the influence on mental well-being. Especially the work-family conflict focuses on the importance of the work-life balance. Also the specific strains and resources of the client work, measured with new constructed scales, showed great impact on mental health. Therefore occupational health promotion should focus more on the social factors within and outside the working place.

Keywords: client interaction, human service system, mental health, social support, work-family conflict

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Authors: Salwana Hassan, Rashidah Abdul Rahman

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Poverty in rural Malaysia remains unresolved and contribute 7.8% to the whole poverty figure in Malaysia. Among the rural folks, 50% is women. Thus, women, as the significant human capital to fight the long lost battle of poverty , is indispensable. This will also serve as an equal opportunity for women to play active and positive roles to develop the society that has been the tasks for men all this while. More importantly rural women folks have the potential to offer better quality of life for their family by providing extra income and monetary support whenever their husbands are not able to work. The reality in this, however, cannot be solved easily as there are many factors that stand in the way and prevent the resolutions to be observed.In this regard, this paper describes a model that has been used to resolve such issues in rural Malaysia. The model utilizes a synergetic effort between an academic institution, an NGO that govern the rural women folks and a private trading company that sell the finished product. The project was conducted in rural area of Selangor and has been in operations since the end of 2013. It shows positive outcome and could be used in other rural areas of Malaysia. The project captures the influence of the NGO programs upon rural women entrepreneurship and how a private trading company can facilitate to help develop a community. As a result the project reveals that self-income generating activities by entrepreneurship are the important contributing factor to empowering rural women folks in Malaysia.

Keywords: poverty, empowerment, rural, entrepreneurship, community

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Authors: H. Yousefnia, SJ. Ahmadi, S. Sajadi, S. Zolghadri, A. Bahrami-Samani, M. Bagherzadeh

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Nowadays, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as the multitask agents have showed advantageous characteristics. The aim of this study was the preparation and quality control of 153Sm-DTPA-DA-SPION complex. Samarium-153 was produced by neutron irradiation of the enriched 152Sm2O3 in a research reactor for 5 d. For radiolabeling purposes, 8 mg of the ligand was added to the vial containing 153SmCl3 and the mixture was sonicated 30 min, while pH was adjusted to 7-8. The radiochemical purity of the complex was checked by the ITLC method using NH4OH:MeOH:H2O (0.2:2:4) as the mobile phase. This new radiolabeled complex was prepared with a radiochemical purity of higher than 98% in 30 min at the optimized condition. The complex was kept at room temperature and in human serum at 37 °C for 48 h, showed no loss of 153Sm from the complex. Considering all of these features, this new radiolabeled complex can be considered as a good therapeutic agent; however, further studies on its biological behavior are still needed.

Keywords: iron nanoparticles, preparation, quality control, 153Sm

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Authors: I. Diaz Sanchez, I. M. Martinez-Conesa, M. Illueca

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Accounting conservatism is a desirable quality of earnings that is positively associated with the stridency of regulatory and supervisory regimen and high market discipline. But how these three pillars interact each other is the main research question that is not empirically solved. We analyze how regulatory and supervisory regimes interact with the market discipline measures, such as listing status, ownership and market concentration using a sample of 14,651 bank-year observations covering 54 countries over the period 1997-2009. We evidence that regulation a supervision and extend on which they are enforcement is a strong mechanism to achieved accounting conservatism in those countries or situations where the market discipline fails. Generally, the supervisory power reinforces the effect of listing status, ownership and concentration on conservatism, while capital regulatory mitigates the effect of market discipline on conservatism. This paper may contribute to debate about the mechanism introduced by Basel III that strongly increases the regulation, his enforcement, and the supervisory power after long deregulation period. Although Market discipline is relevant to achieve the financial stability, strong Pillar I and II can ensure the quality of the accounting earnings to prevent bank failures.

Keywords: accounting conservatism, bank regulation, bank supervision, loan loss recognition, market discipline

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Authors: Jo Rhodes, Bruce Bergstrom, Peter Lok, Vincent Cheng

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The aim of this study is to determine key factors and processes for multinationals (MNCs) to develop an effective stakeholder engagement and sustainable development framework. A qualitative multiple-case approach was used. A triangulation method was adopted (interviews, archival documents and observations) to collect data on three global firms (MNCs). 9 senior executives were interviewed for this study (3 from each firm). An initial literature review was conducted to explore possible practices and factors (the deductive approach) to sustainable development. Interview data were analysed using Nvivo to obtain appropriate nodes and themes for the framework. A comparison of findings from interview data and themes, factors developed from the literature review and cross cases comparison were used to develop the final conceptual framework (the inductive approach). The results suggested that stakeholder engagement is a key mediator between ‘stakeholder network’ (internal and external factors) and outcomes (corporate social responsibility, social capital, shared value and sustainable development). Key internal factors such as human capital/talent, technology, culture, leadership and processes such as collaboration, knowledge sharing and co-creation of value with stakeholders were identified. These internal factors and processes must be integrated and aligned with external factors such as social, political, cultural, environment and NGOs to achieve effective stakeholder engagement.

Keywords: stakeholder, engagement, sustainable development, shared value, corporate social responsibility

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Authors: Andi Mursidi

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This study aims to investigate why the internal quality assurance system as the basis for the assessment of external quality assurance systems is not well developed at universities in Indonesia. To answer this problem, technical analysis used single instrumental case study with the respondents from ten universities. The findings of this study are the internal quality assurance system that is applied so far (1) only to gain accreditation; and (2) considered as a liability rather than as a necessity to meet the demands of quality standards. It needs strong commitment from internal stakeholders at the college/university to establish internal quality assurance systems that exceed the national standards of higher education. A high quality college/ university will have a good accreditation rank.

Keywords: internal stakeholders, internal quality assurance system, commitment, higher education

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Authors: Sonam Sandal, Susan Verghese P.

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The phrase "environmental tobacco smoke" (ETS) refers to exposure to tobacco smoke that isn't from your own smoking but instead is caused by being in close proximity to someone else's cigar, cigarette, or pipe smoke. Environmental cigarette smoke is one of the main contributors to indoor air pollution (IAP), which is exceedingly harmful to human health and results in millions of deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization. Sidestream smoke (SS), which is discharged from a cigarette's burning end in between puffs, is the primary cause of ETS. The bulk of the ETS residue is composed of gases that are produced while smoking through the cigarette paper, mainstream smoke (MS) ingested, and side stream smoke emitted while inhaling a puff from the burning end. Each of these mixtures—SS, ETS, and MS—is an aerosol composed of an IAP-causing vapor phase and a particle phase. Therefore, indoor air-cleaning equipment designed to remove particles will not significantly alter nicotine exposure but will alter the concentrations of other dangerous substances, including particulate matter (PM), PM 2.5, and PM 10. In conclusion, indoor airborne contaminants pose serious risks to human health. ETS degrades the air quality, and when someone breathes this bad air, it weakens their lungs and makes them more susceptible to COVID-19.

Keywords: pm 10, covid-19, indoor air pollution, cigarette smoke., pm 2.5

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Authors: Mariana Sary Khalifa Rezk

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The problem of respect for human rights in Southeast Asia has emerged as a main situation and is attracting the attention of the international network. Basically, the affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made human rights certainly one of its main troubles inside the ASEAN constitution in 2008. In the end, the Intergovernmental Fee on Human Rights ASEAN Human Rights (AICHR) was set up. AICHR is the Southeast Asia Human Rights Enforcement fee charged with the duties, functions and powers to sell and defend human rights. However, at the cease of 2016, the protecting feature assigned to the AICHR was no longer fulfilled. That is shown via several instances of human rights violations, which can be nonetheless ongoing and have not been solved. One case that has these days come to light is human rights violations against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Using a felony-normative method, the study examines the urgency of setting up a human rights tribunal in Southeast Asia able to decide binding on ASEAN members or responsible parties. Information indicates ASEAN desires regional courts to cope with human rights abuses in the ASEAN region. Furthermore, the look also highlights 3 critical elements that ASEAN ought to take into account whilst establishing a human rights tribunal, particularly quantity. A good sized distinction in phrases of democracy and human rights improvement a few of the participants, a consistent implementation of the principle of non-interference and the economic trouble of the continuation of the court docket.

Keywords: politics, human rights, humanities, mankind, law human rights, Nigerian legal provisions, shariah law, comparative study, charter

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Authors: Malinda Gayan Sirisena

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The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations. An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models. The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations. The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations.

Keywords: software quality assurance (SQA), offshore software development, quality assurance evaluation models, effectiveness of quality assurance

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Authors: Yi-Fung Lin, Pei-Chen Tsai

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Background: The hospital healthcare team provides 24-hour patient care, and therefore shift-work is inevitable in the nursing field. There is an increased awareness that shift-work affecting circadian rhythms may cause various health problems, especially in poor sleep quality, which may harm the quality of life. Purposes: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of demographic characteristics on nurses’ sleep quality and quality of life and the relationship between these predictors of nurses’ quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study was conducted with purposive sampling of 520 female nurses in a medical center in north Taiwan from July to September 2014. Data were collected with structured questionnaires using Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF). Outcomes: The main results include: 1) Irregular menstruation, non-regular exercisers, and more daily caffeine consumption have negative impacts on sleep quality. 2) Younger age, fewer children, low education level, low annual income, irregular menstruation, pain during menstrual cycles, non-regular exercisers, constipation, and poor sleep quality all contribute negative impacts on the quality of life. 3) The odds ratio of sleep disturbance between 12-hour shifts and 8-hour shifts was 2.26, but there was no significant difference regarding their quality of life scores. Conclusion: This study showed that there is a strong correlation between oncology nurses’ sleep quality and quality of life. Sleep quality is a significant predictor of quality of life in oncology nurses.

Keywords: oncology nurses, sleep quality, quality of life, shift-work

Procedia PDF Downloads 159