Search results for: economic policy uncertainty

Authors: Do Thi Ha, Khanitta Nuntaboot

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Background: Competency of nurses is vital to safe nursing practice as well as essential component to drive quality of nursing services. There exists little up to date information concerning actual competency among Vietnamese nurses. Purposes: The purpose of this study is to identify the actual nursing competency among nurses in clinical settings in Vietnam. Methods: A qualitative study, ethnographic method, comprised of the participant-observation, in-depth interview, and focus group discussion with multidisciplinary groups of nurses employing in Cho Ray hospital, Vietnam, managers/administrators, nurse teachers, medical doctors, other health care providers, patients and family members which derived from purposeful sampling technique. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: Five essential themes of nursing competencies among nurses were identified include (1) knowledge, (2) skills, (3) attitude and value-based nursing practice, (4) legal and ethical competencies, and (5) transcultural competencies. Basic and advanced knowledge were identified as further two dimensions of knowledge. There were five sub themes identified as further dimensions of skills include technical skills, communication skills, organizing and management skills, teamwork and interrelationship, and critical thinking skills. Conclusions: The findings from this study provide valuable information and understanding of the actual competency among nurses in clinical settings in Vietnam. It is expected that this understanding would assist in developing a guide to nursing education and training, nursing practice and relevant policy regulation used for promoting nursing competency among nurses.

Keywords: ethnographic method, nursing competency, qualitative design, Vietnam

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Authors: Anatoly V. Stepanov, Maria Y. Ilyushkina, Alexander S. Burnasov

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Expansion of tourism, especially after WWII, has led to significant improvements in the regional infrastructure. The present study has revealed a lot of progress in the advancement of industrial heritage narrative in the Central Urals. The evidence comes from the general public’s increased fascination with some of Europe’s oldest mining and industrial sites, and the agreement of many stakeholders that the Urals industrial heritage should be preserved. The development of tourist sites in Nizhny Tagil and Nevyansk, gold-digging in Beryosovsky, gemstone search in Murzinka, and the progress with the Urals Gemstone Ring project are the examples showing the immense opportunities of industrial heritage tourism development in the region that are still to be realized. Regardless of the economic future of the Central Urals, whether it will remain an industrial region or experience a deeper deindustrialization, the sprouts of the industrial heritage tourism should be advanced and amplified for the benefit of local communities and the tourist community at large as it is hard to imagine a more suitable site for the discovery of industrial and mining heritage than the Central Urals Region of Russia.

Keywords: industrial heritage, mining heritage, Central Urals, Russia

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Authors: Mary Josephine

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Waste of certain process can be the input source of other sectors in order to reduce environmental pollution. Today there are more and more solid wastes are generated, but only very small amount of those are recycled. So, the threatening of environmental pressure to public health is very serious. The methods considered for the treatment of solid waste are biogas tanks or processing to make animal feed and fertilizer, however, they did not perform well. An alternative approach is growing mushrooms on waste residues. This is regarded as an environmental friendly solution with potential economic benefit. The substrate producers do their best to produce quality substrate at low cost. Apart from other methods, this can be achieved by employing biologically degradable wastes used as the resource material component of the substrate. Mushroom growing is a significant tool for the restoration, replenishment and remediation of Earth’s overburdened ecosphere. One of the rational methods of waste utilization involves locally available wastes. The present study aims to find out the yield of mushroom grown on locally available waste for free and to conserve our environment by recycling wastes.

Keywords: biodegradable, environment, mushroom, remediation

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Authors: Breanna Wright, Peter Bragge

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Diagnostic error rates in healthcare are approximately 10% of cases. Diagnostic errors can cause patient harm due to inappropriate, inadequate or delayed treatment, and such errors contribute heavily to medical liability claims globally. Therefore, addressing diagnostic error is a high priority. In most cases, diagnostic errors are the result of faulty information synthesis rather than lack of knowledge. Specifically, the majority of diagnostic errors involve cognitive factors, and in particular, cognitive biases. Emergency Departments are an environment with heightened risk of diagnostic error due to time and resource pressures, a frequently chaotic environment, and patients arriving undifferentiated and with minimal context. This project aimed to develop a behavioural, evidence-informed intervention to reduce diagnostic error in Emergency Departments through co-design with emergency physicians, insurers, researchers, hospital managers, citizens and consumer representatives. The Forum Process was utilised to address this aim. This involves convening a small (4 – 6 member) expert panel to guide a focused literature and practice review; convening of a 10 – 12 person citizens panel to gather perspectives of laypeople, including those affected by misdiagnoses; and a 18 – 22 person structured stakeholder dialogue bringing together representatives of the aforementioned stakeholder groups. The process not only provides in-depth analysis of the problem and associated behaviours, but brings together expertise and insight to facilitate identification of a behaviour change intervention. Informed by the literature and practice review, the Citizens Panel focused on eliciting the values and concerns of those affected or potentially affected by diagnostic error. Citizens were comfortable with diagnostic uncertainty if doctors were honest with them. They also emphasised the importance of open communication between doctors and patients and their families. Citizens expect more consistent standards across the state and better access for both patients and their doctors to patient health information to avoid time-consuming re-taking of long patient histories and medication regimes when re-presenting at Emergency Departments and to reduce the risk of unintentional omissions. The structured Stakeholder Dialogue focused on identifying a feasible behavioural intervention to review diagnoses in Emergency Departments. This needed to consider the role of cognitive bias in medical decision-making; contextual factors (in Victoria, there is a legislated 4-hour maximum time between ED triage and discharge / hospital admission); resource availability; and the need to ensure the intervention could work in large metropolitan as well as small rural and regional ED settings across Victoria. The identified behavioural intervention will be piloted in approximately ten hospital EDs across Victoria, Australia. This presentation will detail the findings of all review and consultation activities, describe the behavioural intervention developed and present results of the pilot trial.

Keywords: behavioural intervention, cognitive bias, decision-making, diagnostic error

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Authors: Shahenaz Sidi, S. K. Tank

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When sparsely used industrial and commercial facilities are retired or abandoned, one of the biggest issues that arise is what to do with the remaining land. This land, referred to as a ‘Brownfield site’ or simply ‘Brownfield’ is often contaminated with waste and pollutants left behind by the defunct industrial facilities and factories that stand on the land. Phytoremediation has been proved a promising greener and cleaner technology in remediating the land unlike other chemical excavation methods. Helianthus annus is a hyper accumulator of lead. Helianthus annus can be used for remediation procedures in metal contaminated soils. It is a fast-growing crop which would favour soil stabilization. Its tough leaves and stems are rarely eaten by animals. The seeds (actively eaten by birds) have very low concentrations of potentially toxic elements, and represent low risk for the food web. The study is conducted to determine the phytoextraction potentials of the plant and the eventual seed harvesting and commercial oil production on remediated soil.

Keywords: Brownfield, phytoextraction, helianthus, oil, commercial

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Authors: Steven Woods

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The use of Corporate Social Responsibility Statements has become ubiquitous in society. The appeal to consumers by being a well-behaved social entity has become a strategy not just to ensure brand loyalty but also to further larger scale projects of corporate interests. Specifically, the use of CSR to position corporations as good planetary citizens involves not just self-promotion but also a way of transferring responsibility from systems to individuals. By using techniques labeled as “greenwashing” and emphasizing ethical consumption choices as the solution, corporations present themselves as good members of the community and pursuing sustainability. Ultimately, the primary function of Corporate Social Responsibility statements is to maintain the economic status quo of ongoing growth and consumption while presenting and environmentally progressive image to the public, as well as reassuring them corporate behavior is superior to government intervention. By analyzing the communication techniques utilized through content analysis of specific examples, along with an analysis of the frames of meaning constructed in the CSR statements, the practices of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability will be addressed from an ethical perspective.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, ethics, greenwashing, sustainability

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Authors: C. Chhorn, S. H. Han, S. W. Lee

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Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) has been used for decades in many pavement applications due to its economic cost and high construction speed. However, due to the lack of deep researches and experiences, this material has not been widely employed. An RCC mixture with appropriate consistency can induce high compacted density, while high density can induce good aggregate interlock and high strength. Consistency of RCC is mainly known to define its constructability. However, it was not well specified how this property may affect other properties of a constructed RCC pavement (RCCP). This study suggested the possibility of an ideal range of consistency that may provide adequate quality of RCCP. In this research, five sections of RCCP consisted of both 13 mm and 19 mm aggregate sections were investigated. The effects of consistency on compacted depth, strength, international roughness index (IRI), skid resistance are examined. From this study, a new range of consistency is suggested for RCCP application.

Keywords: compacted depth, consistency, international roughness index (IRI), pavement, roller-compacted concrete (RCC), skid resistance, strength

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Authors: Ghada S. Moussa

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With the increase in population along with economic prosperity, an enormous increase in the number and types of vehicles on the roads occurred. This fact brings a growing need for efficiently yet effectively classifying vehicles into their corresponding categories, which play a crucial role in many areas of infrastructure planning and traffic management. This paper presents two vehicle-type classification approaches; 1) geometric-based and 2) appearance-based. The two classification approaches are used for two tasks: multi-class and intra-class vehicle classifications. For the evaluation purpose of the proposed classification approaches’ performance and the identification of the most effective yet efficient one, 10-fold cross-validation technique is used with a large dataset. The proposed approaches are distinguishable from previous research on vehicle classification in which: i) they consider both geometric and appearance attributes of vehicles, and ii) they perform remarkably well in both multi-class and intra-class vehicle classification. Experimental results exhibit promising potentials implementations of the proposed vehicle classification approaches into real-world applications.

Keywords: appearance attributes, geometric attributes, support vector machine, vehicle classification

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Authors: Farrukh Javed, Krzysztof Podgórski

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We propose a new model that accounts for the asymmetric response of volatility to positive ('good news') and negative ('bad news') shocks in economic time series the so-called leverage effect. In the past, asymmetric powers of errors in the conditionally heteroskedastic models have been used to capture this effect. Our model is using the gamma difference representation of the generalized Laplace distributions that efficiently models the asymmetry. It has one additional natural parameter, the shape, that is used instead of power in the asymmetric power models to capture the strength of a long-lasting effect of shocks. Some fundamental properties of the model are provided including the formula for covariances and an explicit form for the conditional distribution of 'bad' and 'good' news processes given the past the property that is important for the statistical fitting of the model. Relevant features of volatility models are illustrated using S&P 500 historical data.

Keywords: heavy tails, volatility clustering, generalized asymmetric laplace distribution, leverage effect, conditional heteroskedasticity, asymmetric power volatility, GARCH models

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Authors: P. S. Surya Meghana, K. Lingeshwaran, C. Kannan, V. Raghavendran, C. Priya

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One of the most basic and powerful tools in all of science and medicine is the light microscope, the fundamental device for laboratory as well as research purposes. With the improving technology, the need for portable, economic and user-friendly instruments is in high demand. The conventional microscope fails to live up to the emerging trend. Also, adequate access to healthcare is not widely available, especially in developing countries. The most basic step towards the curing of a malady is the diagnosis of the disease itself. The main aim of this paper is to diagnose Malaria with the most common device, cell phones, which prove to be the immediate solution for most of the modern day needs with the development of wireless infrastructure allowing to compute and communicate on the move. This opened up the opportunity to develop novel imaging, sensing, and diagnostics platforms using mobile phones as an underlying platform to address the global demand for accurate, sensitive, cost-effective, and field-portable measurement devices for use in remote and resource-limited settings around the world.

Keywords: cellular, hand-held, health care, image processing, malarial parasites, microscope

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Authors: Ankush Agrawal, Nadia Bhuiyan

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The new product development (NPD) literature emphasizes the importance of introducing new products on the market for continuing business success. New products are responsible for employment, economic growth, technological progress, and high standards of living. Therefore, the study of NPD and the processes through which they emerge is important. The goal of our research is to propose a framework of critical success factors, metrics, and tools and techniques for implementing metrics for each stage of the new product development (NPD) process. An extensive literature review was undertaken to investigate decades of studies on NPD success and how it can be achieved. These studies were scanned for common factors for firms that enjoyed success of new products on the market. The paper summarizes NPD success factors, suggests metrics that should be used to measure these factors, and proposes tools and techniques to make use of these metrics. This was done for each stage of the NPD process, and brought together in a framework that the authors propose should be followed for complex NPD projects. While many studies have been conducted on critical success factors for NPD, these studies tend to be fragmented and focus on one or a few phases of the NPD process.

Keywords: new product development, performance, critical success factors, framework

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Authors: John Deely, Stephen Hynes, Mary Cawley, Sarah Hogan

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Domestic marine and coastal tourism have increased in importance over the last number of years due to the impacts of international travel, environmental concerns, associated health benefits and COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Consequently, this paper conceptualizes domestic marine and coastal tourism within an economic framework. Two logit models examine the factors that influence participation in the coastal day trips and overnight stays markets, respectively. Two truncated travel cost models are employed to explore trip duration, one analyzing the number of day trips taken and the other examining the number of nights spent in marine and coastal areas. Although a range of variables predicts participation, no one variable had a significant and consistent effect on every model. A division in access to domestic marine and coastal tourism is also observed based on variation in household income. The results also indicate a vibrant day trip market and large consumer surpluses.

Keywords: domestic marine and coastal tourism, day tripper, participation models, truncated travel cost model

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Authors: Steven R. Lawyer, Tereza Prihodova, Katerina Prihodova

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Delay discounting (DD) is one of the most frequently used behavioral-economic measures of impulsive choice, but there are few cross-cultural comparisons of discounting, and to the best of our knowledge, none compare patterns of DD across different commodities or compare real and hypothetical rewards across cultures. The purpose of this study was to compare patterns of DD for both real and hypothetical money and cigarettes among participants in the USA and the Czech Republic. Adult smokers from the United States and the Czech Republic completed standard measures of DD for hypothetical and real money (~$10USD) and cigarettes (1 pack, or 20 cigarettes). Contrary to data from the USA sample, Czech Republic participants discounted the value of real money steeper than hypothetical money, though this could be related to the relatively poor fit of the hyperbolic decay function to DD for hypothetical money in the Czech sample. These findings suggest that there might be cultural differences in delay discounting that warrant further attention.

Keywords: delay discounting, temporal discounting, cigarette smoking, real rewards, hypothetical rewards

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Authors: D. Norton

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This qualitative study focuses on the lived experience and displacement of young white-collar masculinities in Japan. In recent years, the salaryman lifestyle has undergone significant disruption - increased competition for regular employment, rise in non-regular structurings of labour across public/private sectors, and shifting role expectations within the home. Despite this, related scholarship hints at a continued reinforcement of the traditional male gender role - that the salaryman remains a key benchmark of Japanese masculine identity. For those in structural proximity to these more ‘normative’ performativities, interest lies their engagement with such narratives - how they make sense of their masculinity in response to stated changes. In light of the historical emphasis on labour and breadwinning logics, notions of respective security or precarity generated as a result remain unclear. Similarly, concern extends to developments within the private sphere - by what means young white-collar men construct ideas of singlehood and companionship according to traditional gender ideologies or more contemporary, flexible readings. The influence of these still-emergent status distinctions on the logics of the social group in question is yet to be explored in depth by gender scholars. This project, therefore, focuses on a salaryman archetype as hegemonic - its transformation amidst these changes and socialising mechanisms that continue to legitimate unequal gender hierarchies. For data collection, a series of ethnographic interviews were held over a period of 12 months with university-educated, white-collar male employees from both Osaka and the Greater Tokyo Area. Findings suggest a modern salaryman ideal reflecting both continuities and shifts within white-collar employment. Whilst receptive to more contemporary workplace practices, the narratives of those interviewed remain imbued with logics supporting patterns of internal hegemony. Regular/non-regular distinction emerged as the foremost variable for both material and discursive patterns of white-collar stratification, with variants of displacement for each social group. Despite the heightened valorisation of stable employment, regular workers articulated various concerns over a model of corporate masculinity seen to be incompatible with recent socioeconomic developments. Likewise, non-regular employees face detachment owing to a still-inflexible perception of their working masculinity as marginalized amidst economic precarity. In seeking to negotiate respective challenges, those interviewed demonstrated an engagement with various concurrent social changes that would often either accommodate, reinforce, or expand upon traditional role behaviours. Few of these narratives offered any notable transgression of said ideal, however, suggesting that within the spectre of white-collar employment in Japan for the near future, any substantive transformation of corporate masculinity remains dependant upon economic developments, less so the agency of those involved.

Keywords: gender ideologies, hegemonic masculinity, Japan, white-collar employment

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Authors: Anna M. Pretorius

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The emerging markets category for portfolio investment was introduced in 1986 in an attempt to promote capital market development in less developed countries. Investors traditionally diversified their portfolios by investing in different developed markets. However, high growth opportunities forced investors to consider emerging markets as well. Examples include the rapid growth of the “Asian Tigers” during the 1980s, growth in Latin America during the 1990s and the increased interest in emerging markets during the global financial crisis. As such, portfolio flows to emerging markets have increased substantially. In 2002 7% of all equity allocations from advanced economies went to emerging markets; this increased to 20% in 2012. The stronger links between advanced and emerging markets led to increased synchronization of asset price movements. This increased level of stock market integration for emerging markets is confirmed by various empirical studies. Against the background of increased interest in emerging market assets and the increasing level of integration of emerging markets, this paper focuses on the determinants of stock market integration of emerging market countries. Various studies have linked the level of financial market integration with specific economic variables. These variables include: economic growth, local inflation, trade openness, local investment, budget surplus/ deficit, market capitalization, domestic bank credit, domestic institutional and legal environment and world interest rates. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate to what extent trade-related determinants have an impact on stock market integration. The panel data sample include data of 16 emerging market countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey for the period 1998-2011. The integration variable for each emerging stock market is calculated as the explanatory power of a multi-factor model. These factors are extracted from a large panel of global stock market returns. Trade related explanatory variables include: exports as percentage of GDP, imports as percentage of GDP and total trade as percentage of GDP. Other macroeconomic indicators – such as market capitalisation, the size of the budget deficit and the effectiveness of the regulation of the securities exchange – are included in the regressions as control variables. An initial analysis on a sample of developed stock markets could not identify any significant determinants of stock market integration. Thus the macroeconomic variables identified in the literature are much more significant in explaining stock market integration of emerging markets than stock market integration of developed markets. The three trade variables are all statistically significant at a 5% level. The market capitalisation variable is also significant while the regulation variable is only marginally significant. The global financial crisis has highlighted the urgency to better understand the link between the financial and real sectors of the economy. This paper comes to the important finding that, apart from the level of market capitalisation (as financial indicator), trade (representative of the real economy) is a significant determinant of stock market integration of countries not yet classified as developed economies.

Keywords: emerging markets, financial market integration, panel data, trade

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Authors: M. C. Theong, F. L. Ang, G. J. Muga

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Growth of firms is influenced by environmental changes such as the global and national economy. On the other hand, it indicates the economic situation of a country. Therefore, it is imperative for firms to be sensitive to changes and to stay competitive and remain compatible with the environment. The Malaysian construction industry is prone to environmental changes due to its complexity. In order to survive in the construction industry, focus on the development of the firms themselves to achieve long term their long term goals is vital besides maximizing profits. The objective of this paper is to measure growth of the public listed construction companies in Malaysia and to investigate the development of the companies with highest, moderate and lowest growth. Growth is measured based on the companies' sales between year 2008 and 2012 collected via secondary data collection method. Findings show that the highest average growth created is 235.20 % while the lowest average growth is -22.75%. The construction companies remained active in the construction industry by implementing different sets of strategies and involving in several types of construction projects.

Keywords: growth, Malaysian construction industry, public listed companies, sales

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Authors: Penrug Pengsombut, Worawut Hamarn, Teerawuth Suwannasri, Kittiphong Songrukkiat, Kanatip Ratanachoo

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PTT Public Company Limited or simply PTT has played an important role in strengthening national energy security of the Kingdom of Thailand by transporting natural gas to customers in power, industrial and commercial sectors since 1981. PTT has been constructing and operating natural gas pipeline system of over 4,500-km network length both onshore and offshore laid through different area classifications i.e., marine, forest, agriculture, rural, urban, and city areas. During project development phase, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is conducted and submitted to the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) for approval before project construction commencement. Knowledge and experiences gained and revealed from EIA in the past projects definitely are developed to further advance EIA study process for newly 5th Transmission Natural Gas Pipeline Project (5TP) with approximately 415 kilometers length. The preferred pipeline route is selected and justified by SMARTi map, an advance digital one-map platform with consists of multiple layers geographic and environmental information. Sensitive area impact focus (SAIF) is a practicable impact assessment methodology which appropriate for a particular long distance infrastructure project such as 5TP. An environmental modeling simulation is adopted into SAIF methodology for impact quantified in all sensitive areas whereas other area along pipeline right-of-ways is typically assessed as an impact representative. Resulting time and cost deduction is beneficial to project for early start.

Keywords: environmental impact assessment, EIA, natural gas pipeline, sensitive area impact focus, SAIF

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Authors: Oussedik Lydia, Zaouani-Denoux Souâd

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In an economic context characterized by intense competition and the impact of new technologies, companies have a constant need to adapt to the environment and the changes imposed. This situation leads companies to take training actions to develop employees’ required skills. Further, training is considered as a strategic lever for the company's growth. Accordingly, an increasing number of companies are adopting training to ensure continuous employees qualification. Thus, the aim of this research is to understand the process of training engineering occurring in the context of a company's continuous training, which will help to identify the gaps that can hinder or promote the development of employees' knowledge and skills. The research methodology is based on a mixed-method approach. Interviews and questionnaires are implemented to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The study results can help managers to identify gaps at each stage of training design. Finally, the research findings provide important information to help design a training plan to support the development of employees' knowledge and performance.

Keywords: training engineering, training needs, training plan, competences, continuing training, perception

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Authors: P. Thepnarintra, S. Nikorn

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Agricultural machinery industry plays an important role in the industrial development especially the production industry of the country. There has been continuing development responding to the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on the small and medium size industry receiving a factory license typed number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The investigation was on the comparison between the management of the small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189 company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that there was no difference statistically at .05 in managing of the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and stability of the country.

Keywords: agricultural machinery, manufacturers, problems, on running the business

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Authors: William Ho, Agus Wicaksana

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Anecdotal evidence in the last decade shows that the occurrence of disruptive events and uncertainties in the supply chain is increasing. The coupling of these events with the nature of an increasingly complex and interdependent business environment leads to devastating impacts that quickly propagate within and across organizations. For example, the recent COVID-19 pandemic increased the global supply chain disruption frequency by at least 20% in 2020 and is projected to have an accumulative cost of $13.8 trillion by 2024. This crisis raises attention to organizational resilience to weather business uncertainty. However, the concept has been criticized for being vague and lacking a consistent definition, thus reducing the significance of the concept for practice and research. This study is intended to solve that issue by providing a comprehensive review of the conceptualization, measurement, and antecedents of operational resilience that have been discussed in the supply chain risk management literature (SCRM). We performed a Scholarly Network Analysis, combining citation-based and text-based approaches, on 252 articles published from 2000 to 2021 in top-tier journals based on three parameters: AJG ranking and ABS ranking, UT Dallas and FT50 list, and editorial board review. We utilized a hybrid scholarly network analysis by combining citation-based and text-based approaches to understand the conceptualization, measurement, and antecedents of operational resilience in the SCRM literature. Specifically, we employed a Bibliographic Coupling Analysis in the research cluster formation stage and a Co-words Analysis in the research cluster interpretation and analysis stage. Our analysis reveals three major research clusters of resilience research in the SCRM literature, namely (1) supply chain network design and optimization, (2) organizational capabilities, and (3) digital technologies. We portray the research process in the last two decades in terms of the exemplar studies, problems studied, commonly used approaches and theories, and solutions provided in each cluster. We then provide a conceptual framework on the conceptualization and antecedents of resilience based on studies in these clusters and highlight potential areas that need to be studied further. Finally, we leverage the concept of abnormal operating performance to propose a new measurement strategy for resilience. This measurement overcomes the limitation of most current measurements that are event-dependent and focus on the resistance or recovery stage - without capturing the growth stage. In conclusion, this study provides a robust literature review through a scholarly network analysis that increases the completeness and accuracy of research cluster identification and analysis to understand conceptualization, antecedents, and measurement of resilience. It also enables us to perform a comprehensive review of resilience research in SCRM literature by including research articles published during the pandemic and connects this development with a plethora of articles published in the last two decades. From the managerial perspective, this study provides practitioners with clarity on the conceptualization and critical success factors of firm resilience from the SCRM perspective.

Keywords: supply chain risk management, organizational resilience, scholarly network analysis, systematic literature review

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Authors: Bello Yusuf Idi

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The Gongola arm of the Upper Banue Trough, Northeastern Nigeria is predominantly covered by the outcrops of Limestone-bearing rocks in form of Sandstone with intercalation of carbonate clay, shale, basaltic, felsphatic and migmatide rocks at subpixel dimension. In this work, subpixel classification algorithm was used to classify the data acquired from landsat 7 Enhance Thematic Mapper (ETM+) satellite system with the aim of producing fractional distribution image for three most economically important solid minerals of the area: Limestone, Basalt and Migmatide. Linear Spectral Unmixing (LSU) algorithm was used to produce fractional distribution image of abundance of the three mineral resources within a 100Km2 portion of the area. The results show that the minerals occur at different proportion all over the area. The fractional map could therefore serve as a guide to the ongoing reconnaissance for the economic potentiality of the formation.

Keywords: linear spectral un-mixing, upper benue trough, gongola arm, geological engineering

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Authors: Mihaela Alina Stanciu, Daniel Toma

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With a touristic and economic potential among the highest in our country, Neamț County has a large number of impressive storage lakes (Izvoru Muntelui – Bicaz, Bâtca Doamnei, Vaduri, Pângărați), with high hydrographic capacities, but also a diversity of biotopes and habitats. Being an area with frequent exceedances of environmental quality indicators, we analyzed in this work their impact on the water quality parameters in three of the most visited lakes of Neamț County: Bâtca Doamnei, Vaduri, and Pângărați. An additional reason is the risk of the water eutrophication process in these lakes, representing one of the first six most important pollution problems worldwide. During the research carried out over a period of four years (2020 – 2024), we identified the major sources of water pollution for the mentioned reservoirs. We analyzed the type of impact produced by each source separately, and we proposed preventiong and control measures detailed according to their action on water quality parameters.

Keywords: ecosystem, environment, eutrophication, lakes, nutrients, pollution, water quality

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Authors: Taehyun Kim, Hyunjoo Park, Taehyun Kim

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Since the rapid economic development, Korea has recently entered a period of low growth due to population decline and aging. Due to the urbanization around the metropolitan area and the hollowing of local cities, the ecological capacity of a city is decreasing while ecological footprints are increasing, requiring a compact space plan for maintaining urban functions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between urban spatial structure and residents' ecological footprints for sustainable spatial planning. To do this, we try to analyze the relationship between intra-urban spatial structure, such as net/gross density and service accessibility, and resident ecological footprints of food, housing, transportation, goods and services through survey and structural equation modeling. The results of the study will be useful in establishing an implementation plan for sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially for sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) in the future.

Keywords: ecological footprint, structural equation modeling, survey, sustainability, urban spatial structure

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Authors: Muhammad Sohail Sajid, Muhammad Abdullah Malik, Muhammad Saqib, Faiz Ahmad Raza, Waseem Akram

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Aedes (Ae.) aegypti, the vector of pathogens of one health significance, has gained currency over the last decade. The present study reports the prevalence of A. aegypti larvae in indoor and outdoor niches from the three districts of different agro-geo-climatic zones of Punjab, including Chakwal (north), Faisalabad (central), and Dera Ghazi Khan (south). Mosquito larvae were collected, preserved, and transferred for identification. The relevant data were collected on a predesigned questionnaire. Stegomyia indices, including House Index (HI), Breteau Index (BI), and Container Index (CI), were calculated. The association of different breeding containers with the prevalence of Ae. aegypti larvae were estimated through Chi-square analysis. The highest Stegomyia indices were calculated in Chakwal (HI = 46.61%, BI = 91.67%, and CI = 15.28%) as compared to Faisalabad (HI = 34.11%, BI = 68.75% and, CI = 13.04%) and DG Khan (HI = 28.39%, BI = 68.23% and, CI = 11.29%), respectively. Irrespective of the geographical area, earthen jars, water tanks, and tree holes were found to be significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the abundance of Ae. aegypti larvae. However, tires and plastic bottles in Faisalabad and DG Khan while flower tubs and plastic buckets in Faisalabad and Chakwal were found to be significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the larval abundance. The results are a maiden attempt to correlate the magnitude of Ae. aegypti larvae in various microclimatic niches of Punjab, Pakistan, which might help in policy-making for preventive management of the menace.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, ecology, breeding habitats, Stegomyia indices, breeding containers

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Authors: Angie Al Habib, Khalid Al Siyabi

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To measure or asses any government’s efficiency we need to measure the performance of this government in regards to the quality of the service it provides. Using a technological platform in service provision became a trend and a public demand. It is also a public need to make sure these services are aligned to values and to the whole government’s strategy, vision and goals as well. Providing services using technology tools and channels can enhance the internal business process and also help establish many essential values to government services like transparency and excellence, since in order to establish e-services many standards and policies must be put in place to enable the handing over of decision making to a mature system oriented mechanism. There was no doubt that the Sultanate of Oman wanted to enhance its services and move it towards automation and establishes a smart government as well as links its services to life events. Measuring government efficiency is very essential in achieving social security and economic growth, since it can provide a clear dashboard of all projects and improvements. Based on this data we can improve the strategies and align the country goals to them.

Keywords: government, maturity, Oman, performance, service

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Authors: Rian de Villiers

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Human mobility is one of the most significant development, foreign policy and domestic issues in the world today. Teacher loss due to migration is a global phenomenon that is impacting both developed and developing nations the world over. The purpose of this study was to find out how many newly qualified South African teachers were planning to teach in a foreign country; what were the prospective migrant teachers’ motives for migration; what destination countries were the most popular and why; and what were the prospective migrant teachers’ information needs before leaving South Africa. A group of final-year Bachelor of Education student teachers from a single university responded to a questionnaire on intra-and intercontinental migration. The responses were analysed quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The findings showed that 79% of the students indicated that they would be teaching in South Africa, 9% were planning to teach in another country, while 8% were undecided. More than a third of the students (38%) said that they would like to teach in another country in five years time. Just more than a quarter of the students (27%) preferred Australia as a destination, followed by the United Kingdom (16%), Korea (16%) and the USA (14%). The student teachers’ most important motive to teach in a foreign country was the opportunity to travel (27%), followed by earning a higher salary (26%) and professional development (23%). The student teachers indicated that their most important migration needs before leaving South Africa were information about health care, accommodation and banking assistance. Huge loss of teachers to host countries has a serious, negative impact upon the education system of most developing and/or source countries, including South Africa. Several steps and strategies to resolve teacher loss in South Africa are discussed.

Keywords: migration, academic mobility, teachers, teacher students, South Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Emilie Zimet

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During networking and NCCD moderation meetings, best practices for identifying students who require Literacy Intervention are often discussed. Once these students are identified, consideration is given to the most effective process for prioritising those who have the greatest need for Literacy Support and the allocation of resources, tracking of intervention effectiveness and communicating with teachers/external providers/parents. Through a workshop, the group will investigate best practices to identify students who require literacy support and strategies to communicate and track their progress. In groups, participants will examine what they do in their settings and then compare with other models, including the researcher’s model, to decide the most effective path to identification and communication. Participants will complete a worksheet at the beginning of the session to deeply consider their current approaches. The participants will be asked to critically analyse their own identification processes for Literacy Intervention, ensuring students are not overlooked if they fall into the borderline category. A cut-off for students to access intervention will be considered so as not to place strain on already stretched resources along with the most effective allocation of resources. Furthermore, communicating learning needs and differentiation strategies to staff is paramount to the success of an intervention, and participants will look at the frequency of communication to share such strategies and updates. At the end of the session, the group will look at creating or evolving models that allow for best practices for the identification and communication of Literacy Interventions. The proposed outcome for this research is to develop a model of identification of students requiring Literacy Intervention that incorporates the allocation of resources and communication to key stakeholders. This will be done by pooling information and discussing a variety of models used in the participant's school settings.

Keywords: identification, student selection, communication, special education, school policy, planning for intervention

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Authors: Ebrahim Panah, Muhammad Yasir Babar

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Thanks to the development of online technology and social networks, people are able to communicate as well as learn. WhatsApp is a popular social network which is growingly gaining popularity. This app can be used for communication as well as education. It can be used for instructor-learner, learner-learner, and learner-content interactions; however, very little knowledge is available on these potentials of WhatsApp. The current study was undertaken to investigate university students’ perceptions of WhatsApp used as a tool for instructor-learner dialogue, learner-content dialogue, and learner-learner dialogue. The study adopted a survey approach and distributed the questionnaire developed by Google Forms to 54 (11 males and 43 females) university students. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The result of data analysis indicates that students have positive attitudes towards WhatsApp as a tool for Instructor-Learner Dialogue: it easy to reach the lecturer (4.07), the instructor gives me valuable feedback on my assignment (4.02), the instructor is supportive during course discussion and offers continuous support with the class (4.00). Learner-Content Dialogue: WhatsApp allows me to academically engage with lecturers anytime, anywhere (4.00), it helps to send graphics such as pictures or charts directly to the students (3.98), it also provides out of class, extra learning materials and homework (3.96), and Learner-Learner Dialogue: WhatsApp is a good tool for sharing knowledge with others (4.09), WhatsApp allows me to academically engage with peers anytime, anywhere (4.07), and we can interact with others through the use of group discussion (4.02). It was also found that there are significant positive correlations between students’ perceptions of Instructor-Learner Dialogue (ILD), Learner-Content Dialogue (LCD), Learner-Learner Dialogue (LLD) and WhatsApp Application in classroom. The findings of the study have implications for lectures, policy makers and curriculum developers.

Keywords: instructor-learner dialogue, learners-contents dialogue, learner-learner dialogue, whatsapp application

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Rahmoune Abdelhaq

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Systemic risk is a key concern for central banks charged with safeguarding overall financial stability. In this work, we investigate how systemic risk is affected by the structure of the financial system. We construct banking systems that are composed of a number of banks that are connected by interbank linkages. We then vary the key parameters that define the structure of the financial system — including its level of capitalization, the degree to which banks are connected, the size of interbank exposures and the degree of concentration of the system — and analyses the influence of these parameters on the likelihood of contagious (knock-on) defaults. First, we find that the better-capitalized banks are, the more resilient is the banking system against contagious defaults and this effect is non-linear. Second, the effect of the degree of connectivity is non-monotonic, that is, initially a small increase in connectivity increases the contagion effect; but after a certain threshold value, connectivity improves the ability of a banking system to absorb shocks. Third, the size of interbank liabilities tends to increase the risk of knock-on default, even if banks hold capital against such exposures. Fourth, more concentrated banking systems are shown to be prone to larger systemic risk, all else equal. In an extension to the main analysis, we study how liquidity effects interact with banking structure to produce a greater chance of systemic breakdown. We finally consider how the risk of contagion might depend on the degree of asymmetry (tier) inherent in the structure of the banking system. A number of our results have important implications for public policy, which this paper also draws out. This paper also discusses why bank risk management is needed to get the optimal one.

Keywords: financial stability, contagion, liquidity risk, optimal risk

Procedia PDF Downloads 396

Authors: Elizabeth Oyenike Abegunrin

Abstract:

This study is borne out of the dire need to improve the academic achievement of pupils in social studies. The paper attempted to reconcile the lacuna in teacher’s gender and primary school pupils’ achievement. With specific reference to Social Studies classroom, the aim of this study was to detail how pupils’ achievement is a function of the teacher’s gender as well as to establish the link (if any) between teacher’s gender and pupils’ educational achievement. The significance of this was to create gender-template standard for teachers, school owners, administrators and policy makers to follow in the course of engendering pupils’ achievement in Social Studies. By adopting a quasi-experimental research design, a sample of two hundred pupils was selected across five primary schools in Education District I, Lagos State and assigned to experimental and control groups. A 40-item Gender and Social Studies Achievement Test (GSSAT) was used to obtain data from the pupils. Having analyzed the data collected using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC), a reliability of 0.78 was obtained. Result revealed that teacher’s gender (male/female) had no significant effect on pupils’ achievement in Social Studies and that there was significant interaction effect of teacher’s commitment devoid of gender on the general education output of pupils in Social Studies. Taken together, the results revealed that there is a high degree correlation between teacher’s commitment and pupils academic achievement in social studies, and not gender-based. The study recommended that social studies teachers should re-assess their classroom instructional strategies and use more innovative instructional methods and techniques that will give the pupils equal opportunities to excel in social studies, rather than their gender differences.

Keywords: gender, academic achievement, social studies, primary school

Procedia PDF Downloads 207