Search results for: North American ice service

Authors: Chia-Ching Tsai

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In the literature, the positive effect of service co-recovery has been evidenced, and which customers’ attribution is the key successful factor has also been indicated. There is also literature investigating on initiation of co-recovery for finding out the superior way to co-recovery, and indicating co-recovery initiated by employees causes better effect of co-recovery. This research postulates the consequences of co-recovery by different initiators affect customers’ attribution and the resultant results. Thus, this research uses a 3x2 factorial design to investigate the impact of initiator of co-recovery and consequence of co-recovery on customers’ attribution and post-recovery satisfaction. The results show initiation of co-recovery has a significant influence on internal attribution, and the employee initiator causes the highest internal attribution. The consequences of co-recovery interact with initiators of co-recovery on internal attribution significantly. Moreover, internal attribution significantly affects post-recovery satisfaction.

Keywords: service co-recovery, initiation of co-recovery, attribution, post-recovery satisfaction

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Authors: Abdeljalil Métioui

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The purpose of this paper is to present the results of research on the conceptual representations of 128 Quebec (Canada) pre-service teachers enrolled in their third year of university in a program to train elementary teachers about heat and temperature. To identify their conceptual representations about heat and temperature, we constructed a multiple-choice questionnaire consisting of five questions. For each question, they had to explain their choice of an answer. At the methodological level, this step is essential to be able to identify the student conceptual representations. It should be noted that the selected questions were based: (1) on the works have done worldwide on primary and secondary students’ misconceptions about heat and temperature; (2) on the notions prescribed in the curriculum related to the physical world and (3) on student’s everyday contexts. As illustrations, the following are the erroneous conceptual representations identified in our analysis of the data collected: (1) The change of state of the matter does not require a constant temperature, (2) The temperature is a measure in degrees to indicate the level of heat of an object or person, (3) The mercury contained in a thermometer expands when it is heated so that the particles which constitute it expand and (4) The sensation of cold (or warm) is related to the difference in temperature. In conclusion, we will see that it is possible to develop situations of conflict, dealing specifically with the limits of the analogy between heat and temperature. These situations must consider the conceptual representations of the pre-service teachers, as well as the relevant scientific understanding of the concept of heat and temperature.

Keywords: conceptual representation, heat, temperature, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Suraj Nair, Aravindkumar Vijayalingam, Alexander Perzylo, Alois Knoll

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In the last decade robotics research and development activities have grown rapidly, especially in the domain of service robotics. Integrating service robots into human occupied spaces such as homes, offices, hospitals, etc. has become increasingly worked upon. The primary motive is to ease daily lives of humans by taking over some of the household/office chores. However, several challenges remain in systematically integrating such systems in human shared work-spaces. In addition to sensing and indoor-navigation challenges, programmability of such systems is a major hurdle due to the fact that the potential user cannot be expected to have knowledge in robotics or similar mechatronic systems. In this paper, we propose a cognitive system for service robotics which allows non-expert users to easily model system behaviour in an underspecified manner through abstract tasks and objects associated with them. The system uses domain knowledge expressed in the form of an ontology along with logical reasoning mechanisms to infer all the missing pieces of information required for executing the tasks. Furthermore, the system is also capable of recovering from failed tasks arising due to on-line disturbances by using the knowledge base and inferring alternate methods to execute the same tasks. The system is demonstrated through a coffee fetching scenario in an office environment using a mobile robot equipped with sensors and software capabilities for autonomous navigation and human-interaction through natural language.

Keywords: cognitive robotics, reasoning, service robotics, task based systems

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Authors: Maisa Sales Gama Tobias, Humberto de Paiva Junior, Luciano Silva Brito, Rui António Rodrigues Ramos

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Waterway transport in the Amazon was the first means of access and occupation in the region. For the economic and social matter of high importance, still nowadays one of the main transport modes to several places in the region. To some places, still the only transport mode. With the advent of the pandemic, transport companies that already faced management challenges began to experience unprecedented structural changes and trends in trade and global supply chains. Thus, companies need operational reorganization to maintain the sustainability of the service under the penalty of loss of demand. Allied to this fact, it was observed that the demand presented behavior changes to adapt to this new moment. However, the lack of information about these changes makes it difficult to find solutions to maintain the quality of service. This work aimed to characterize the changes in the demand of waterway passengers through an empirical study with field research involving interviews with users and crew, on-board journeys, and visits to the waterway service company. The case study is the route Belém-Camara, on Marajó Island, in the state of Pará. This line is traditionally the only means of transport for this route, besides air transport on a much smaller scale. The collected data had a descriptive and analytical statistical treatment presented in this work. As the main result, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes, mainly in trip time and motives and, in the perception itself on service quality by part of the demand, with the increase of trip time and the feeling of insecurity. In conclusion, the service operator must review cost management and business survival strategies and tactics. The viability of the service and the social guarantee of transport proved to be threatened, putting at risk the service to the riverside populations.

Keywords: demand of waterway transport passengers, data analysis, COVID-19, amazonia

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Authors: A. Robbin

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Language selection can be an efficient negotiation strategy employed by both service or product providers and their customers to achieve transactional success. The transactional scenario in Gbagi Market, Ibadan, Nigeria provides an appropriate setting for the exploration of the Nigerian multilingual situation with its own interesting linguistic peculiarities which questions the functionality of the ‘Lingua Franca’ in trade situations. This study examined English Language proficiency among Yoruba Traders in Gbagi Market, Ibadan and its use as determinants of transactional success during service encounters. Randomly selected Yoruba-English bilingual traders and customers were administered questionnaires and the data subjected to statistical and descriptive analysis using Giles Communication Accommodation Theory. Findings reveal that only fifty percent of the traders used for the study were proficient in speaking English language. Traders with minimal proficiency in Standard English, however, resulted in the use of the Nigerian Pidgin English. Both traders and customers select the Mother Tongue, which is the Yoruba Language during service encounters but are quick to converge to the other’s preferred language as the transactional exchange demands. The English language selection is not so much for the prestige or lingua franca status of the language as it is for its functions, which include ease of communication, negotiation, and increased sales. The use of English during service encounters is mostly determined by customer’s linguistic preference which the trader accommodates to for better negotiation and never as a first choice. This convergence is found to be beneficial as it ensures sales and return patronage. Although the English language is not a preferred code choice in Gbagi Market, it serves a functional trade strategy for transactional success during service encounters in the market.

Keywords: communication accommodation theory, language selection, proficiency, service encounter, transaction

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Authors: Mohammed Alhammad

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The movement towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools has become widely accepted practice in many countries. However in Saudi Arabia, this is not happening. Instead the practice for students with learning difficulties (LD) is to study in special classrooms in mainstream schools and they are not included with their peers, except at break times and morning assembly, and on school trips. There are a number of barriers that face implementing inclusion for students with LD in mainstream classrooms: one such barrier is the training of teachers. The training, either pre- or in-service, that teachers receive is seen as playing an important role in leading to the successful implementation of inclusion. The aim of this presentation is to explore how pre-service training and in-service training are acting as barriers for implementing inclusion of students with LD in mainstream primary schools in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of teachers. The qualitative research approach was used to explore this barrier. Twenty-four teachers (general education teachers, special education teachers) were interviewed using semi-structured interview and a number of documents were used as method of data collection. The result showed teachers felt that not much attention was paid to inclusion in pre-services training for general education teachers and special education teachers in Saudi Arabia. In addition, pre-service training for general education teachers does not normally including modules on special education. Regarding the in-service training, no courses at all about inclusion are provided for teachers. Furthermore, training courses in special education are few. As result, the knowledge and skills required to implemented inclusion successfully.

Keywords: inclusion, learning difficulties, Saudi Arabia, training

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Authors: Babajide S. Adeokin, Oguntoyinbo O. Kazeem

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The not so pleasing state of the nation's quality of education has been a major area of research. Many researchers have looked into various aspects of the educational system and organizational structure in relation to the quality of service delivery of the staff members. However, there is paucity of research in areas relating to the sense of competence and commitment in relation to leadership styles. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the impact of leadership style and sense of competence on the performance of post-primary school teachers in Oyo state Nigeria. Data were generated across public secondary schools in the city using survey design method. Ibadan as a metropolis has eleven local government areas contained in it. A systematic random sampling technique of the eleven local government areas in Ibadan was done and five local government areas were selected. The selected local government areas are Akinyele, Ibadan North, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan South and Ibadan South-West. Data were obtained from a range of two – three public secondary schools selected in each of the local government areas mentioned above. Also, these secondary schools are a representation of the variations in the constructs under consideration across the Ibadan metropolis. Categorically, all secondary school teachers in Ibadan were clustered into selected schools in those found across the five local government areas. In all, a total of 272 questionnaires were administered to public secondary school teachers, while 241 were returned. Findings revealed that transformational leadership style makes room for job commitment when compared with transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles. Teachers with a high sense of competence are more likely to demonstrate more commitment to their job than others with low sense of competence. We recommend that, it is important an assessment is made of the leadership styles employed by principals and school administrators. This guides administrators and principals in to having a clear, comprehensive knowledge of the style they currently adopt in the management of the staff and the school as a whole; and know where to begin the adjustment process from. Also to make an impact on student achievement, being attentive to teachers’ levels of commitment may be an important aspect of leadership for school principals.

Keywords: Ibadan, leadership style, sense of competence, teachers, public secondary schools

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Authors: I Putu Deny Arthawan Sugih Prabowo, Eko Nugroho, Rudy Hartanto

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Known, Green IT is a concept about how to use the technology (IT) wisely, efficiently, and environmentally. However, it exists as the consequence of the rapid-growth of the technology (especially IT) currently. Not only for the environments, the usage of Green IT applications, e.g. Cloud Computing (Cloud Storage) and E-Money (E-Cash), also gives its benefits for the organizational business strategy (especially the organizational product/service strategy) in order to gain the organizational competitive advantage (to be the market leader). This paper takes the case at E-Money as a Value-Added Services (VAS) of a telecommunication firm (company) in Indonesia which it also competes with the competitors’ similar product (service). Although it has been a popular telecommunication firm’s product/service, but its strategic values for the organization (firm) is still unknown, and therefore, the aim of this paper is for analyzing its strategic values for gaining the organizational competitive advantage. However, in this paper, its strategic value analysis is viewed by how to assess (consider) its strategic benefits and also manage the challenges or risks of its implementation at the organization as an organizational product/service. Then the paper uses a research model for investigating the influences of both perceived risks and the organizational cultures to the usage of Green IT Application at the organization and also both the usage of Green IT Application at the organization and the threats-challenges of the organizational products/services to the competitive advantage of the organizational products/services. However, the paper uses the quantitative research method (collecting the information from the field respondents by using the research questionnaires) and then, the primary data is analyzed by both descriptive and inferential statistics. Also in this paper, SmartPLS is used for analyzing the primary data by the quantitative research method. Besides using the quantitative research method, the paper also uses the qualitative research method, such as interviewing the field respondent and/or directly field observation, for deeply confirming the quantitative research method’s analysis results at the certain domain, e.g. both organizational cultures and internal processes that support the usage of Green IT applications for the organizational product/service (E-Money in this paper case). However, the paper is still at an infant stage of in-progress research. Then the paper’s results may be used as a reference for the organization (firm or company) in developing the organizational business strategies, especially about the organizational product/service that relates to Green IT applications. Besides it, the paper may also be the future study, e.g. the influence of knowledge transfer about E-Money and/or other Green IT application-based products/services to the organizational service performance that relates to the product (service) in order to gain the competitive advantage.

Keywords: Green IT, competitive advantage, strategic value, organization (firm or company), organizational product (service)

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Authors: Yared Yitagesu Tilahun

Abstract:

Every nation, developed or developing, relies on transportation, but Addis Abeba City's transportation service is impacted by a number of variables. The current study's objectives are to determine the factors that influence transportation and gauge consumer satisfaction with such services in Addis Abeba. Customers and employees of Addis Ababa's transportation service authority would be the study's target group. 40 workers of the authority would be counted as part of the 310 000 clients that make up the population of the searcher service. Using a straightforward random selection technique, the researcher only chose 99 customers and 28 staff from this enormous group due to the considerable cost and time involved. Data gathering and analysis options included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results of this poll show that young people between the ages of 18 and 25 make up the majority of respondents (51.6%). The majority of employees and customers indicated that they are not satisfied with Addis Ababa's overall transportation system. The Addis Abeba Transportation Authority prioritizes client happiness by providing fair service. The company should have a system in place for managing time, resources, and people effectively. It should also provide employees the opportunity to contribute to client handling policies.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, transportation, services, determinants

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Authors: Lisa C. Wan

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To address customers’ safety concerns, more and more hospitality companies are using service robots to provide contactless services. For many companies, the switch from human employees to service robots to lower the contagion risk during and after the pandemic may be permanent. The market size for hospitality service robots is estimated to reach US$3,083 million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 25.5% from 2021 to 2030. While service robots may effectively reduce interpersonal contacts and health risk, it also eliminates the social interactions desired by customers. A recent survey revealed that more than 60% of Americans feel lonely during the pandemic. People who are traveling can also feel isolated when they are at a hotel far away from home. It is therefore important for the hospitality companies to understand whether and how social robots can remedy deprived social connection not only due to a pandemic but also for a trip away from home in the post-pandemic future. This study complements extant hospitality literature regarding service robots by examining how service robots can forge social connections with customers. The service robots we are concerned with are those that can interact and communicate with humans; we broadly refer to them as social robots. We define a social robot as one that is equipped with interaction capabilities – it can either be one that directly interacts with the consumer or one through which the consumer can interact with other humans. Drawing on the theories of mind perception, we propose that service robots can foster social connectedness and increase the perception of social competence of the robot, but these effects will vary across cultures. By applying theories of mind perception and cultural dimension to the hospitality setting, this study shows that service robots that are equipped with social connection function will receive a more favorable evaluation from the consumers and enhance their intention to visit a hotel. The more favorable reaction to social robots is stronger for collectivists (i.e., Asians) than individualists (i.e., Westerners). To our knowledge, this is among the first studies to investigate the impact of culture on consumer reactions to social robots in the hospitality and tourism context. Moreover, this research extends the literature by examining whether people imbue non-human entities (i.e., telepresence social robots) with social competence. Because social robots that foster social connection with humans are still rare in hospitality and tourism, this aspect is an underexplored research area. Our study is the first to propose that, just like their human counterparts that possess relevant social skills, social robots’ interaction capabilities (e.g., telepresence robots) are used to infer social competence. More studies will be conducted to examine consumer reactions to humanoid (vs. non-humanoid) robot in the hospitality settings to generalize our research findings.

Keywords: service robots, COVID-19, social connection, cultures

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Authors: Benjaporn Yaemjamuang, Sasitorn Jetanont

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The three star hotels in Sukhumvit area of Bangkok and the potential to be in the tourism industry joining the ASEAN Community were studied. The findings revealed that the representative samples satisfy the potential of hotel services at a high level in all aspects. The level of service satisfaction by gender is not different. On the other hand, for different ethnic origins, ages, occupations, levels of education, the satisfaction on the services varies in significance level of 0.05. Factors associated with satisfaction in the services of the hotel include a potential location and environment. It was also found that satisfaction with the service aspects are related as follows: services (r = .810), food (r = .807), booking service (r = .768), room condition (r = .762) and security (r =.756) which is aligned with the coefficient .826.

Keywords: three star hotel, ASEAN community, potential in tourism industry, Bangkok

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Authors: Faranak Omidian

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The aim of this research was to examine the quality of education service at master's level in the Islamic Azad University of Dezful. In terms of objective, this is an applied research and in regard to methodology, it is a descriptive analytical research. The statistical population included all students of master's degree in the Islamic Azad University of Dezful. The sample size was determined using stratified random sampling method in different fields of study. The research questionnaire is the translated version of standardized Abdullah's HEdPERF 41-item scale which is based on a 5-point Likert scale. In order to determine the validity, the translated questionnaire was given to the professors of educational sciences. The correlation among all questions has been regarded at a value of 0.644. The results showed that the quality of educational service at master's level in this university, based on chi-square goodness of fit test, was equal to 73.36 and its degree of freedom was 2 at a significant level of 0.001, indicating the low desirability of the services. According to Friedman test, academic responsiveness has been reported to be in a higher status than other dimensions with an average rank of 3.94 while accessibility, with an average rank of 2.15, has been in the lowest status from master's students' viewpoint.

Keywords: educational service quality, master's level, Iranian university

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Authors: Nivedita Paul

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Marriages in India are part and parcel of kinship and cultural practices. Marriage practices differ in India because of cross-regional diversities in social relations which itself has evolved as a result of causal relationship between space and culture. As the place is important for the formation of culture and other social structures, therefore there is regional differentiation in cultural practices and marital customs. Based on the cultural practices some scholars have divided India into North and South kinship regions where women in the North get married early and have lesser autonomy compared to women in the South where marriages are mostly consanguineous. But, the emergence of new modes and alternative strategies such as matrimonial advertisements becoming popular, as well as the increase in women’s literacy and work force participation, matchmaking process in India has changed to some extent. The present study uses data from Indian Human Development Survey II (2011-12) which is a nationally representative multitopic survey that covers 41,554 households. Currently married women of age group 15-49 in their first marriage; whose year of marriage is from the 1970s to 2000s have been taken for the study. Based on spouse selection experiences, the sample of women has been divided into three marriage categories-self, semi and family arranged. Women in self-arranged or love marriage is the sole decision maker in choosing the partner, in semi-arranged marriage or arranged marriage with consent both parents and women together take the decision, whereas in family arranged or arranged marriage without consent only parents take the decision. The main aim of the study is to show the spatial and regional variations in spouse selection decision making. The basis for regionalization has been taken from Irawati Karve’s pioneering work on kinship studies in India called Kinship Organization in India. India is divided into four kinship regions-North, Central, South and East. Since this work was formulated in 1953, some of the states have experienced changes due to modernization; hence these have been regrouped. After mapping spouse selection patterns using GIS software, it is found that the northern region has mostly family arranged marriages (around 64.6%), the central zone shows a mixed pattern since family arranged marriages are less than north but more than south and semi-arranged marriages are more than north but less than south. The southern zone has the dominance of semi-arranged marriages (around 55%) whereas the eastern zone has more of semi-arranged marriage (around 53%) but there is also a high percentage of self-arranged marriage (around 42%). Thus, arranged marriage is the dominant form of marriage in all four regions, but with a difference in the degree of the involvement of the female and her parents and relatives.

Keywords: spouse selection, consent, kinship, regional pattern

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Authors: Miriam Colleran, Barbara Sheehy-Skeffington

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Background: To explore if there are unique features in the palliative care needs of patients with intellectual disability that may impact on planning for resource and service provision for them. Aim: The purpose of this practice review is to assess the indications for, numbers of and outcomes of care for adults with intellectual disabilities referred to a specialist palliative care service over a twoyear period. Service utilization aspects considered included the frequency of home visits by a specialist palliative care doctor or clinical nurse specialist and the number of hospice admissions that occurred for the patients. Method: A retrospective review was carried out of persons 18 years and older with intellectual disabilities referred to a specialist palliative care service over a 5-year period from 30.11.3018 to 29.11.2023. A manual review was carried out of the register using key terms, namely, known residential care and community dwelling places of service providers for persons with intellectual disabilities in the area and registered diagnoses in addition to the patients known to the clinicians who had intellectual disabilities. Results: 25 referrals were made to the specialist palliative care service of 23 persons with intellectual disabilities during that time. However, this may be an underestimate. 15 women and 8 men were referred with an age range of 19 to 86 years of age. The majority had a diagnosis of Down’s syndrome or Trisomy 21. 5 patients referred did not have home visits from the specialist palliative care team. A range of 2 to 48 phone calls per person occurred by the specialist palliative care team regarding this cohort of patients. The outcomes for the patients included discharge and death. The majority of patients that died, did so in the community. One person however died in hospital. Another person died in a hospice out of area. Conclusion: Providing specialist palliative care for adults with intellectual disabilities is an important element of palliative care. The dominance of the community as the place of death for these patients and the limited number of patients dying in either hospice or hospital are noteworthy. Further research is necessary and education to inform, support, and empower specialist palliative care professionals in optimizing palliative and end-of-life care for persons with intellectual disabilities and to inform service development and provision.

Keywords: about intellectual disability, palliative care

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Authors: Dragan Zivotic, Mirjana Ilic, Aleksandra Perovic, Predrag Gavrilovic

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As with the provision of other services, the service quality perception is one of the key factors that the modern manager must pay attention to. Countries in which the state regulation is in transition also have specific features in providing fitness services. Identification of the dimensions in which the most significant different service quality perception between different types of fitness centers, enables managers to profile the offer according to the wishes and expectations of users. The aim of the paper was the comparison of the quality of services perception in the field of fitness in Serbia between three categories of fitness centers: the privately owned centers, the publicly owned centers, and the Public-private partnership centers. For this research 350 respondents of both genders (174 men and 176 women) were interviewed, aged between 18 and 68 years, being beneficiaries of fitness services for at least 1 year. Administered questionnaire with 100 items provided information about the 15 basic areas in which they expressed the service quality perception in the gym. The core sample was composed of 212 service users in private fitness centers, 69 service users in public fitness centers and 69 service users in the public-private partnership. Sub-samples were equal in representation of women and men, as well as by age and length of use of fitness services. The obtained results were subject of univariate analysis with the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance. Significant differences between the analyzed sub-samples were not found solely in the areas of rapid response and quality outcomes. In the multivariate model, the results were processed by backward stepwise discriminant analysis that extracted 3 areas that maximize the differences between sub-samples: material and technical basis, secondary facilities and coaches. By applying the classification function 93.87% of private centers services users, 62.32% of public centers services users and 85.51% of the public-private partnership centers users of services were correctly classified (total 86.00%). These results allow optimizing the allocation of the necessary resources in profiling offers of a fitness center in order to optimally adjust it to the user’s needs and expectations.

Keywords: fitness, quality perception, management, public ownership, private ownership, public-private partnership, discriminative analysis

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Authors: Yared Yitagesu Tilahun

Abstract:

Every nation, developed or developing, relies on transportation, but Addis Abeba City's transportation service is impacted by a number of variables. The current study's objectives are to determine the factors that influence transportation and gauge consumer satisfaction with such services in Addis Abeba. Customers and employees of Addis Ababa's transportation service authority would be the study's target group. 40 workers of the authority would be counted as part of the 310 000 clients that make up the population of the searcher service. Using a straightforward random selection technique, the researcher only chose 99 customers and 28 staff from this enormous group due to the considerable cost and time involved. Data gathering and analysis options included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results of this poll show that young people between the ages of 18 and 25 make up the majority of respondents (51.6%). The majority of employees and customers indicated that they are not satisfied with Addis Ababa's overall transportation system. The Addis Abeba Transportation Authority prioritizes client happiness by providing fair service. The company should have a system in place for managing time, resources, and people effectively. It should also provide employees the opportunity to contribute to client handling policies.

Keywords: transportation, customer satisfaction, services, determinants

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Authors: Cheng-Yu Tsai, Wen-Te Liu, Chen-Chen Lo, Yin-Tzu Lin, Kang Lo

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Background: Driving fatigue related to inadequate or disordered sleep accounts for a major percentage of traffic accidents. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a common respiratory disorder during sleep. However, the effects of OSAS severity on driving drowsiness remain unclear. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between OSAS severity and driving fatigue. Methodologies: The physical condition while driving was obtained from the questionnaires to classify the state of driving fatigue. OSAS severity was quantified as the polysomnography, and the mean hourly number of greater than 3% dips in oxygen saturation during examination in a hospital in New Taipei City (Taiwan). The severity of OSAS was diagnosed by the apnea and hypopnea index (AHI) with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) guideline. The logistic regression model was used to examine the associations after adjusted age, gender, neck circumstance, waist circumstance, and body mass index (BMI). Results: There were 880 subjects recruited in this study, who had been done polysomnography for evaluating severity for OSAS as well as completed the driver condition questionnaire. 752 subjects were diagnosed with OSA, and 484 subjects had fatigue driving behavior in the past week. Patients diagnosed with OSAS had a 9.42-fold higher odds ratio (p < 0.01, 95% CI = 5.41 – 16.42) of driving drowsiness for cohorts with a normal degree. Conclusion: We observe the considerable correlation between OSAS and driving fatigue. For the purpose of promoting traffic safety, OSAS should be monitored and treated.

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, driving fatigue, polysomnography, apnea and hypopnea index

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Authors: Nazeema Ahmed

Abstract:

Mental health in higher education has received increasing attention over the past few decades. The high academic demands of the engineering degree, coupled with students’ mental health challenges, have led to higher education institutions offering psychotherapeutic services to students. This paper discusses an evaluation of the psychotherapy service at the University of Cape Town. The aim was to determine (i) the efficacy of the service; and (ii) the impact of race, gender, and language of the therapist on the students’ therapeutic process. An online survey was sent to 109 students who attended psychotherapy. The majority expressed favorable experiences of psychotherapy, with reports of increased capacity to engage with their academic work. Most students did not experience the gender, race, or language of the psychologists to be barriers to their therapy. The findings point to a need for ongoing psychological support for students.

Keywords: psychotherapy, efficacy, engineering, education

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Authors: Jitender Sodhi, Shweta Talati, A. K. Gupta, Pankaj Arora

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Background:Equipment donation to hospitals in resource-limited settings can significantly benefit services in these settings albeit requires important ethical, practical and financial issues to be considered before accepting donations. Objective: To understand the decision making process leading to acceptance/ rejection/ deferment of equipment donation from the perspective of a public sector teaching tertiary care hospital. Design: Retrospective, record based study. Setting: 2000-bedded public sector teaching tertiary care hospital in North India. Methods: A total of 30 cases of equipment donation from March 2010-October 2013, were analysed for their decision process leading to acceptance/rejection/deferment.Each case was studied retrospectively and data pertaining to the agenda and decision taken was collected. Results: A total of 30 cases of equipment donation received from March 2010- October 2013 were screened, out of which 17 (56.6%) were for diagnostic purpose and 13 (43.3%) for therapeutic purpose. Out of 30 cases, 16 (53.3%) were accepted and 8 (26.6%) were rejected. The remaining 6 cases included 3 (10%) which required further clarification and other 3 (10%) which were out of the domain of committee. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of equipment donation in resource limited settings and considerations involved while making decisions for acceptance/rejections/defermentof such donations.

Keywords: equipment donation, teaching hospital, decision-making, North India

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Authors: Wajid Hussain

Abstract:

The paper draws upon the study of socioeconomic reality as associated with discursively manipulative strategies in the representative fictional works from the South Asian Indian and the Afro-American literature. The study determines the context to which power functions behind the discourse of the powerful social groups, investigates how the socially established identities, such as constituted by caste and race, serve the vested interests of these elites, and, finally, ascertains the reaction which this socioeconomic monopoly of the few incurs from the socioeconomically dominated majority of the society. The study examines this notion in the selected fictional works by applying the methodological theory of Dialectical Materialism, which is the philosophical foundation of Marxism, and the concept of Discourse and Manipulation, a perspective form of Critical Discourse Analysis. The study adds a new dimension to the existing literature in that it not only focuses on the tussle between the social classes as based on the socioeconomic disparity but also traces out the emergence of the individuals from the socioeconomically victimized groups. Besides, it studies this endless socioeconomic process, as based on class distinction, from the perspective of discourse as well.

Keywords: dialectical materialism, discourse and manipulation, caste, race

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Authors: Yuling Cui, Danhao Deng, Chaowei Wang, Weidong Wang

Abstract:

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used in wireless communication, attracting more and more attention from researchers. UAVs can not only serve as a relay for auxiliary communication but also serve as an aerial base station for ground users (GUs). However, limited energy means that they cannot work all the time and cover a limited range of services. In this paper, we investigate 2D UAV trajectory design and power allocation in order to maximize the UAV's service time and downlink throughput. Based on deep reinforcement learning, we propose a depth deterministic strategy gradient algorithm for trajectory design and power distribution (TDPA-DDPG) to solve the energy-efficient and communication service quality problem. The simulation results show that TDPA-DDPG can extend the service time of UAV as much as possible, improve the communication service quality, and realize the maximization of downlink throughput, which is significantly improved compared with existing methods.

Keywords: UAV trajectory design, power allocation, energy efficient, downlink throughput, deep reinforcement learning, DDPG

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Authors: Nur Azaliah Abu Bakar, Harihodin Selamat, Mohd Nazri Kama

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This article provides a systematic review of existing research related to the Service-oriented Enterprise Architecture (SoEA) adoption and maturity measurement model. The review’s main goals are to support research, to facilitate other researcher’s search for relevant studies and to propose areas for future studies within this area. In addition, this article provides useful information on SoEA adoption issues and its related maturity model, based on research-based knowledge. The review results suggest that motives, critical success factors (CSFs), implementation status and benefits are the most frequently studied areas and that each of these areas would benefit from further exposure.

Keywords: systematic literature review, service-oriented architecture, adoption, maturity model

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Authors: Michal Stelmach

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is a critical analysis of the security policy in the field of the fight against transnational criminal groups in Central America in XXI century. We are analyzing all taken issues from several perspectives: political, anthropological, sociological and legal which allows me to confront behavior and the attitudes of the political elites against official legislative changes and declared actions, strategies and policies against practice. In the first part of paper we would like to present the genesis and characteristic of transnational gangs, called maras and next we would like to present their activities and roles within chosen sectors of organized crimes. In the second part we will analyze the government’s policy towards transnational criminal groups. The analysis will be concentrated on public safety policy implemented in specific Central American countries as well as regional international cooperation. The main intention of the author is to present the state of the security in Central America in XXI century by emphasizing failures and successes in the fight against transnational criminal organizations. Additionally we want to present and define the challenges currently facing the region now and to show the prediction of the situation’s development within next future and to define the recommendations on the design of public security policies in Central American countries.

Keywords: maras, public security, human rights, Central America

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Authors: Shannon Melideo

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Post-secondary schools that provide specialized instruction for college students with special needs have been in existence for some time in the United States of America. Whether students experience learning disabilities, visual impairments, physical limitations, Autism Spectrum Disorders or any other issue that impacts their learning are able to attend universities that intentionally cater to their needs. While this selection of post-secondary education may be preferred by some students, other have sought a different experience. Over the last ten years, the number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) attending traditional universities in the United States of America has increased significantly. Students with ASD tend to select smaller, private institutions that appear to offer more personal attention and services. This paper will examine how traditional American universities are preparing for this relatively new group of students in their college classrooms. This paper will provide a brief historical timeline of access to university instruction for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and how and if students with ASD are received in colleges around the globe, and best research supported practices for success.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, access to learning, university instruction, accommodations

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Authors: Azadeh Shahbazi

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This study tries to find out the determinants of capital structure in hotel industry in 7 important hotel chains in USA within the period of 12 years of 2000 to 2012. The study is used a panel pooled regression to realize the relation among different variables. Results show that the variables which could make changes in the capital structure of firms are Non-Debt Tax Shield and Tangibility.

Keywords: capital structure, service industry, hospitality, finance

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Authors: Lucy W. Mburu, Richard Karanja, Simon N. Mwendia

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Over recent years, learners have experienced a constant need to access on demand knowledge that is fully aligned with the paradigm of cloud computing. As motivated by the global sustainable development goal to ensure inclusive and equitable learning opportunities, this research has developed a framework hinged on the knowledge-as-a-service architecture that utilizes knowledge from ambient learning systems. Through statistical analysis and decision tree modeling, the study discovers influential variables for ambient learning among university students. The main aim is to generate a platform for disseminating and exploiting the available knowledge to aid the learning process and, thus, to improve educational support on the ambient learning system. The research further explores how collaborative effort can be used to form a knowledge network that allows access to heterogeneous sources of knowledge, which benefits knowledge consumers, such as the developers of ambient learning systems.

Keywords: actionable knowledge, ambient learning, cloud computing, decision trees, knowledge as a service

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Authors: Armijos-Orellana Ana, González-Calle María, Maldonado-Matute Juan, Guerrero-Maxi Pedro

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Nowadays, the digital economy represents a fundamental element to guarantee economic and social development, whose importance increased significantly with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the benefits it offers, it can also be detrimental to those developing countries characterized by a wide digital divide. It is for this reason that the objective of this research was to identify and describe the main characteristics, benefits, and obstacles of the digital economy for Latin American countries. Through a bibliographic review, using the analytical-synthetic method in the period 1995-2021, it was determined that the digital economy could give way to structural changes, reduce inequality, and promote processes of social inclusion, as well as promote the construction and participatory development of organizational structures and institutional capacities in Latin American countries. However, the results showed that the digital economy is still incipient in the region and at least three factors are needed to establish it: joint work between academia, the business sector and the State, greater emphasis on learning and application of digital transformation and the creation of policies that encourage the creation of digital organizations.

Keywords: developing countries, digital divide, digital economy, digital literacy, digital transformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: U. Ali Rahoma, Nabil Esawy, Fawzia Ibrahim Moursy, A. H. Hassan, Samy A. Khalil, Ashraf S. Khamees

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The design of any solar energy conversion system requires the knowledge of solar radiation data obtained over a long period. Satellite data has been widely used to estimate solar energy where no ground observation of solar radiation is available, yet there are limitations on the temporal coverage of satellite data. Reanalysis is a “retrospective analysis” of the atmosphere parameters generated by assimilating observation data from various sources, including ground observation, satellites, ships, and aircraft observation with the output of NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) models, to develop an exhaustive record of weather and climate parameters. The evaluation of the performance of reanalysis datasets (ERA-5) for North Africa against high-quality surface measured data was performed using statistical analysis. The estimation of global solar radiation (GSR) distribution over six different selected locations in North Africa during ten years from the period time 2011 to 2020. The root means square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE) and mean absolute error (MAE) of reanalysis data of solar radiation range from 0.079 to 0.222, 0.0145 to 0.198, and 0.055 to 0.178, respectively. The seasonal statistical analysis was performed to study seasonal variation of performance of datasets, which reveals the significant variation of errors in different seasons—the performance of the dataset changes by changing the temporal resolution of the data used for comparison. The monthly mean values of data show better performance, but the accuracy of data is compromised. The solar radiation data of ERA-5 is used for preliminary solar resource assessment and power estimation. The correlation coefficient (R2) varies from 0.93 to 99% for the different selected sites in North Africa in the present research. The goal of this research is to give a good representation for global solar radiation to help in solar energy application in all fields, and this can be done by using gridded data from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ECMWF and producing a new model to give a good result.

Keywords: solar energy, solar radiation, ERA-5, potential energy

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Authors: Martina Marinelli, Samanta Vellante, Francesco Pilotti, Daniele Di Valerio, Gaetanino Paolone

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Any development in web marketing technology requires changes in information engineering to identify instruments and techniques suitable for the production of software applications for informative marketing. Moreover, for large web solutions, designing an interface that enables human interactions is a complex process that must bridge between informative marketing requirements and the developed solution. A user-friendly interface in web marketing applications is crucial for a successful business. The paper introduces mkInfo - a software platform that implements informative marketing. Informative marketing is a new interpretation of marketing which places the information at the center of every marketing action. The creative team includes software engineering researchers who have recently authored an article on automatic code generation. The authors have created the mkInfo software platform to generate informative marketing web applications. For each web application, it is possible to automatically implement an opt in page, a landing page, a sales page, and a thank you page: one only needs to insert the content. mkInfo implements an autoresponder to send mail according to a predetermined schedule. The mkInfo platform also includes e-commerce for a product or service. The stakeholder can access any opt-in page and get basic information about a product or service. If he wants to know more, he will need to provide an e-mail address to access a landing page that will generate an e-mail sequence. It will provide him with complete information about the product or the service. From this point on, the stakeholder becomes a user and is now able to purchase the product or related services through the mkInfo platform. This paper suggests a possible definition for Informative Marketing, illustrates its basic principles, and finally details the mkInfo platform that implements it. This paper also offers some Informative Marketing models, which are implemented in the mkInfo platform. Informative marketing can be applied to products or services. It is necessary to realize a web application for each product or service. The mkInfo platform enables the product or the service producer to send information concerning a specific product or service to all stakeholders. In conclusion, the technical contributions of this paper are: a different interpretation of marketing based on information; a modular architecture for web applications, particularly for one with standard features such as information storage, exchange, and delivery; multiple models to implement informative marketing; a software platform enabling the implementation of such models in a web application. Future research aims to enable stakeholders to provide information about a product or a service so that the information gathered about a product or a service includes both the producer’s and the stakeholders' point of view. The purpose is to create an all-inclusive management system of the knowledge regarding a specific product or service: a system that includes everything about the product or service and is able to address even unexpected questions.

Keywords: informative marketing, opt in page, software platform, web application

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Authors: Emanuela Zilli, Antonella Ruffatto, Davide Bonaldo, Stefano Bevilacqua, Tommaso Caputo, Luisa Fontana, Carmelina Saraceno, Antonio Sturaroo, Teodoro Sava, Antonio Madia

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The new Hospital in Cittadella - ULSS 6 Euganea Health Trust, in the North-East of Italy (400 beds, project completion date in 2026), will partially take the place of the existing building. Interesting features have been suggested in order to project a modern, “environmental-friendly” and “people-friendly” building. Specific multidisciplinary meetings (involving stakeholders and professionals with different backgrounds) have been organized on a periodic basis in order to guarantee the appropriate implementation of logistic and organizational solutions related to eco-sustainability, integration with the context, and the concept of “design for all” and “humanization of care.” The resulting building will be composed of organic shapes determined by the external environment (sun movement, climate, landscape, pre-existing buildings, roads) and the needs of the internal environment (areas of care and diagnostic-treatment paths reorganized with experience gained during the pandemic), with extensive use of renewable energy, solar panels, a 4th-generation heating system, sanitised and maintainable surfaces. There is particular attention to the quality of the staff areas, which include areas dedicated to psycho-physical well-being (relax points, yoga gym), study rooms, and a centralized conference room. Outdoor recreational spaces and gardens for music and watercolour therapy will be included; atai-chi gym is dedicated to oncology patients. Integration in the urban and social context is emphasized through window placement toward the gardens (maternal-infant, mental health, and rehabilitation wards). Service areas such as dialysis, radiology, and labs have views of the medieval walls, the symbol of the city’s history. The new building has been designed to pursue the maximum level of eco-sustainability, harmony with the environment, and integration with the historical, urban, and social context; the concept of humanization of care has been considered in all the phases of the project management.

Keywords: environmental-friendly, humanization, eco-sustainability, new hospital

Procedia PDF Downloads 112