Search results for: organizational change agent

Authors: Ayobami Kehinde

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The literary representations of the family, tradition and change in African literature offer an immense, and as yet little theorised area of literary scholarship. Therefore, this paper explores the nexus among the family, tradition and change in five purposively selected post-colonial African fiction: Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Wale Okediran’s Tenants of the House, J. M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country, Tsitsi Dangrembga’s Nervous Condition and Meja Mwangi’s Striving for the Wind. The methodology centres on analysing, questioning, undermining and celebrating the family and its contemporary vicissitudes as depicted in the texts. This is with a view to exploring the postcolonial novel with references to concepts developed by major theorists in the field of postcolonial studies, including Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Kwame Appiah and Achille Mbembe. It is revealed that in spite of the fact that the family is a vital institution, the primary social unit in any community, an agent of acculturation and the first focus of development, independence and growth, the texts reflect a diversity of problems confronting the family unit in Africa. These include the multiple problems of disrupted family lives, enforced family separation, political and personal violence with the domestic environment. It is concluded that the post-colonial African novel is a quintessential weapon to analyse the continent, opening up to the reader the specific expressions and experiences of human lives and their wider contexts. Therefore, the post-colonial African novel is a primary socio-cultural indicator representing an immense variety of lived realities in the continent. The study, therefore, suggests a concerted concern with the preservation of traditional family structures and other related aspects, such as cultural values, spirituality, gender roles and mutual trust.

Keywords: family, African fiction, postcolonialism, African tradition, domestic dissonance

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Authors: Ian Marc G. Cabugsa, Zarine M. Hermita

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Phytoextraction capability of T. catappa in contaminated soils was done in the improvised greenhouse. The plant samples were planted to the soil which contained different concentrations of copper. Chelating agent EDTA was added to observe the uptake and translocation of copper in the plant samples. Results showed a significant increase of copper accumulation with the addition of EDTA at 250 and 1250 mgˑkg-1 concentration of copper in the contaminated soils (p<0.05). While translocation of copper was observed in all treatments, translocation of copper is not significantly enhanced by the addition of EDTA (p>0.05). Uptake and translocation were not directly affected the presence of EDTA. Furthermore, this study suggests that the T. catappa is not a hyperaccumulator of copper, and there is no relationship observed between the length of the plant and the copper uptake in all treatments.

Keywords: chelating agent EDTA, hyperaccumulator, phytoextraction, phytoremediation, terminalia catappa

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Authors: Unity Chipfupa, Aluwani Tagwi, Edilegnaw Wale

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Climate change adaptation studies are challenged by a limited understanding of how non-cognitive factors such as psychological capital affect adaptation decisions of smallholder farmers. The concept of psychological capital has not been fully applied in the empirical literature on climate change adaptation strategies. Hence, the study was meant to assess how psychological capital endowment affects climate change adaptation among smallholder farmers. A multivariate probit regression model was estimated using data collected from 328 smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The findings indicate that, among other factors, self-confidence and hope or aspirations in farming influence climate change adaptation decisions of smallholders. The psychological capital theory proved to be comprehensive in identifying specific psychological dimensions associated with adaptation decisions. However, the non-alignment of approaches for measuring non-cognitive factors made it difficult to compare results among different studies. In conclusion, the study recommends the need for practical ways for enhancing smallholders’ endowment with key non-cognitive abilities. Researchers should develop and agree on a comprehensive framework for assessing non-cognitive factors critical for climate change adaptation. This will improve the use of positive psychology theories to advance the literature on climate change adaptation. Other key recommendations include targeted support for communities facing higher risks of climate change, improving smallholders’ ability to adapt, promotion of social networks and the inclusion of farming objectives as an important indicator in climate change adaptation research.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, climate change adaptation, psychological capital, multivariate probit, non-cognitive factors.

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Authors: Anna Rogozińska-Pawełczyk

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A psychological contract is an agreement between the employer and an employee that covers the parties’ informal and frequently non-verbalized obligations and expectations towards each other. The contract is a cognitive pattern-governing employee’s behaviour in the organization. A gap between employee’s expectations and the organizational reality may lead to difficult-to-solve conflicts or cause the employee to modify their behaviour towards organizational values and goals, if they are willing and ready to verbalize their expectations. The article discusses psychological contracts in the financial institutions in Poland. Its theoretical part outlines the types of psychological contracts in organizations (relational, transactional, and balanced) and shows the process of their verbalization. The purpose of the article is to present how the type of the psychological contract relates to employee’s readiness to verbalize it. The article ends with conclusions arising from the study.

Keywords: customer contact staff in banks, employee expectations, financial institutions, mutual expectations, psychological contract, verbalization of the psychological contract

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Authors: Gui Yewei, Du Yanxia, Xiao Guangming, Liu Lei, Wei Dong, Yang Xiaofeng

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A phase change material (PCM) is a substance which absorbs a large amount of energy when undergoing a change of solid-liquid phase. The good physical and chemical properties of C or SiC foam reveal the possibility of using them as a thermal conductivity enhancer for the PCM. C or SiC foam composite PCM has a high effective conductivity and becomes one of the most interesting thermal storage techniques due to its advantage of simplicity and reliability. The paper developed a numerical method to simulate the heat transfer of SiC and C foam composite PCM, a finite volume technique was used to discretize the heat diffusion equation while the phase change process was modeled using the equivalent specific heat method. The effects of the porosity were investigated based on the numerical method, and the effects of the geometric model of the microstructure on the equivalent thermal conductivity was studies.

Keywords: SiC foam, composite, phase change material, heat transfer

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Authors: Itiola Kehinde Adeniran

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The study examined the effect of employees’ training on the performance of small scale enterprises in Oyo State. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 150 respondents through purposive sampling method. Linear regression was used with the aid of statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 to analyze the data collected in order to examine the effect of independent variable, employees’ training on dependent variable, performance (profit) of small scale enterprises. The result revealed that employees’ training has a significant effect on the performance of small scale enterprises. It was concluded that predictor variable namely (training) is 55.5% variance of enterprises performance (profitability). Therefore, the paper recommended that all small scale enterprises in Nigeria should embrace manpower training and development in order to improve employees’ performance leading to organizational profitability.

Keywords: training, employee performance, small scale enterprise, organizational profitability

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Authors: Asad Abbas, Muhammad Fezan Afzal, Muhammad Latif Anjum, Muhammad Azmat

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is used to link up real objects that use the internet to interact. IoT applications allow handling and operating the equipment in accordance with environmental needs, such as transportation and healthcare. IoT devices are linked together via a number of agents that act as a middleman for communications. The operation of a heat sensor differs indoors and outside because agent applications work with environmental variables. In this article, we suggest using Software Product Line (SPL) to model IoT agents and applications' features on an XML-based basis. The contextual diversity within the same domain of application can be handled, and the reusability of features is increased by XML-based feature modelling. For the purpose of managing contextual variability, we have embraced XML for modelling IoT applications, agents, and internet-connected devices.

Keywords: IoT agents, IoT applications, software product line, feature model, XML

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Authors: Vandana Maurya

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Positive psychological capital is the key contributor to the competitive advantage of the organizations. Moreover, work engagement and sense of humor are also positive notions and are able to facilitate positive workplace behaviour but the mechanism behind these relationships are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among work engagement, sense of humor and outcome variables (organizational citizenship behaviour and ethical performance) as well as investigating how psychological capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationships between work engagement, sense of humor and the outcome variables among healthcare professionals. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on healthcare professionals (n= 240). Data were collected using questionnaires which includes Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Multi-dimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), Organizational Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire, and Ethical Performance Scale (EPS). The results of the regression analyses showed that work engagement and sense of humor both positively predicted the outcome variables. Mediation analysis reveals that psychological capital mediates the relationship between predictor and outcome variables. The study recommends that the framework presented in this study can be an important tool for managers to enhance their employees’ psychological capital by increasing their levels of work engagement and sense of humor. In turn, psychological capital could be a positive resource for employees to dealing more ethically and enhancing more positive workplace behaviour.

Keywords: ethical performance, humor, organizational citizenship behavior, PsyCap, work engagement

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Authors: Poornima Gupta, Sadaf Siraj

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The study examined the organizational causes of organizational stress in women executives and entrepreneurs in India. This was done so that mediation strategies could be developed to combat the organizational stress experienced by them, in order to retain the female employees as well as attract quality talent. The data for this research was collected through the self- administered survey, from the women executives across various industries working at different levels in management. The research design of the study was descriptive and cross-sectional. It was carried out through a self-administered questionnaire filled in by the women executives and entrepreneurs in the NCR region. Multistage sampling involving stratified random sampling was employed. A total of 1000 questionnaires were distributed out of which 450 were returned and after cleaning the data 404 were fit to be considered for analyses. The overall findings of the study suggested that there were various job-related factors that induce stress. Fourteen factors were identified which were a major cause of stress among the working women by applying Factor analysis. The study also assessed the demographic factors which influence the stress in women executives across various industries. The findings show that the women, no doubt, were stressed by organizational factors. The mean stress score was 153 (out of a possible score of 196) indicating high stress. There appeared to be an inverse relationship between the marital status, age, education, work experience, and stress. Married women were less stressed compared to single women employees. Similarly, female employees 29 years or younger experienced more stress at work. Women having education up to 12th standard or less were more stressed compared to graduates and post graduates. Women who had spent more than two years in the same organization perceived more stress compared to their counterparts. Family size and income, interestingly, had no significant impact on stress. The study also established that the level of stress experienced by women across industries differs considerably. Banking sector emerged as the industry where the women experienced the most stress followed by Entrepreneurs, Medical, BPO, Advertising, Government, Academics, and Manufacturing, in that order. The results contribute to the better understanding of the personal and economic factors surrounding job stress and working women. It concludes that the organizations need to be sensitive to the women’s needs. Organizations are traditionally designed around men with the rules made by the men for the men. Involvement of women in top positions, decision making, would make them feel more useful and less stressed. The invisible glass ceiling causes more stress than realized among women. Less distinction between the men and women colleagues in terms of giving responsibilities, involvement in decision making, framing policies, etc. would go a long way to reduce stress in women.

Keywords: women, stress, gender in management, women in management

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Authors: Mary Funke Olabanji, Thando Ndarana, Nerhene Davis, Sylvester Okechukwu Ilo

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Scientific evidence indicates that climate change is already being experienced by farmers, and its impacts are felt on agricultural and food systems. Understanding the perceptions of farmers on climate change and how they respond to this change is essential to the development and implementation of appropriate policies for agriculture and food security. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of farmers’ perceptions of climate change, adopted coping strategies, long-term implications of their adaptation choices, and barriers to their decisions to adapt. Data were randomly collected from 73 respondents in five districts located in the Olifants catchment of South Africa. A combination of descriptive statistics and Chi-Square statistical tests using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the data obtained from the survey. Results show that smallholder farmers have an in-depth perception of climate change. The most significant changes perceived by farmers were increased temperature and low rainfall. The results equally revealed that smallholder farmers in the Olifants catchment had adopted several adaptation strategies in response to the perceived climate change. The significant adaptation strategies from the results include changing cropping patterns and planting date, use of improved seed variety, and chemical fertilizers. The study, therefore, concludes that crop diversification and agroforestry were more effective and sustainable in mitigating the impact of climate change.

Keywords: adaptation, climate change, perception, smallholder farmers

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Authors: Sung Duk Kim, Kwan U. Kim, Jin Sim, Ryong Jin Jang

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The phenomenon of seasonal variations in the Earth’s rotation velocity was discovered in the 1930s when a crystal clock was developed and analyzed in a quantitative way for the first time between 1955 and 1968 when observation data of the seasonal variations was analyzed by an atomic clock. According to the previous investigation, atmospheric circulation is supposed to be a factor affecting the seasonal variations in the Earth’s rotation velocity in many cases, but the problem has not been solved yet. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to apply dynamics to consider the Earth’s spatial motion, rotation, and change of shape of the Earth (movement of materials in and out of the Earth and change of the Earth’s figure) at the same time and in interrelation to the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximation regarding the Earth body as a system of mass points because the stability of the Earth’s rotation angular velocity is in the range of 10⁻⁸~10⁻⁹. For it, the equation was derived, which can consider the 3 kinds of motion above mentioned at the same time by taking the effect of the resultant external force on the Earth’s rotation into account in a relativistic way to the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximation. Therefore, the equation has been solved to obtain the theoretical values of periodic change in the Earth’s rotation velocity, and they have been compared with the astronomical observation data so to reveal the cause for the periodic change in the Earth’s rotation velocity.

Keywords: Earth rotation, moment function, periodic change, seasonal variation, relativistic change

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Authors: Gabriel Sunday Ayayia

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The paper argues that Ubuntu, as a philosophy that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and importance of community and mutual support, can be used as a social framework to address the problems of climate change and promote environmental sustainability. The research demonstrate that Ubuntu is an ideological concept that encourages collective action on climate change, with the emphasis on individual and collective commitment to taking concrete action to address the problems of climate change. The paper shows that Ubuntu can be employed as a social tool that would enhance the cultivation of shared identity and promote the sense of shared response responsibility to develop the resilience to cope with climate change. Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the study establishes the imperativeness of mutual support and cooperation through the lens of Ubuntu as a human-centered scalable response to the debacle of climate change. It recommends that we can build a society that values the environment and promotes sustainable practices by encouraging community involvement in sustainable initiatives by integrating Ubuntu-based principles to our decision-making processes, collaboration, leadership, human agency and governance.

Keywords: ubuntu, climate change, humanity, collective actions, community-based

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Authors: Abdmohammad Mousavi, Mohsen Shams, Mehdi Akbartabar Toori, Ali Mousavizadeh, Mohammad Ali Morowatisharifabad

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Introduction: The effectiveness of Transtheoretical Model constructs on dietary behavior change has been subject to questions by some studies. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between self–efficacy and decisional balance as mediator variables and transfer obese and overweight women among the stages of behavior change of calorie balanced dietary intake. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 448 obese and overweight 20-44 years old women were selected from three health centers in Yasuj, a city in south west of Iran. Anthropometric data were measured using standard techniques. Demographic, stages of change, self-efficacy and decisional balance data were collected by questionnaires and analyzed using One–Way ANOVA and Generalized Linear Models tests. Results: Demographic and anthropometric variables were not different significantly in different stages of change related to calorie intake except the pre-high school level of education (P=.047, OR=502, 95% CI= .255 ~ .990). Mean scores of Self-efficacy ( F(4.425)= 27.09, P= .000), decisional balance (F(4.394), P= .004), and pros (F(4.430)=5.33, P=000) were different significantly in five stages of change. However, the cons did not show a significant change in this regard (F(4.400)=1.83, P=.123). Discussion: Women movement through the stages of changes for calorie intake behavior can be predicted by self efficacy, decisional balance and pros.

Keywords: transtheoretical model, stages of change, self efficacy, decisional balance, calorie intake, women

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Authors: Abdellatif Chebboub

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Agricultural production is sensitive to weather and thus directly affected by climate change. Plausible estimates of these climate change impacts require combined use of climate, crop, and economic models. Results from previous studies vary substantially due to differences in models, scenarios, and data. This paper is part of a collective effort to systematically integrate these three types of models. We focus on the economic component of the assessment, investigating how nine global economic models of agriculture represent endogenous responses to seven standardized climate change scenarios produced by two climate and five crop models. These responses include adjustments in yields, area, consumption, and international trade. We apply biophysical shocks derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s representative concentration pathway with end-of-century radiative forcing of 8.5 W/m2. The mean biophysical yield effect with no incremental CO2 fertilization is a 17% reduction globally by 2050 relative to a scenario with unchanging climate. Endogenous economic responses reduce yield loss to 11%, increase area of major crops by 11%, and reduce consumption by 3%. Agricultural production, cropland area, trade, and prices show the greatest degree of variability in response to climate change, and consumption the lowest. The sources of these differences include model structure and specification; in particular, model assumptions about ease of land use conversion, intensification, and trade. This study identifies where models disagree on the relative responses to climate shocks and highlights research activities needed to improve the representation of agricultural adaptation responses to climate change.

Keywords: climate change, agriculture, weather change, danger of climate change

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Authors: Rafael Bezerra de Souza, José Ribas Vieira

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The judicial litigation on socio-economic rights (SERs), in a context of increasing centrality of the judiciary as an area of political debate for civil society actors, has assumed greater importance in the last two decades. This tendency to seek social change through the courts generated a long tradition of research on the role of legal institutions and of legal mobilization in the US and some European countries. However, little is known about these processes in Latin America, Asia and Africa. A significant portion of the Brazilian constitutional doctrine did not bother to investigate the phenomenon of constitutional judicial litigation of socio-economic rights, in a practical and empirical look, from the functioning of democratic institutions. The central issue of this study draws attention to the theoretical and analytic deficit of Brazilian constitutional doctrine: the lack of a holistic understanding of the effects and impact of judicial decisions. Consequently, for a proper understanding was analyzed if the trend of judicial litigation in Brazil - to ensure the fulfillment of its institutional mission to protect and ensure the effectiveness of socio-economic rights - has been accompanied by the establishment of institutional mechanisms that enable decision making and the implementation of SERs in complex cases involving structural and public policy. The lack of empirical studies in Law in order to verify this hypothesis justified the adoption of the case study method as an interdisciplinary methodological strategy between Law and Political Science, aiming to construct an explanation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Case and, in a complementary way, the process-tracing technique. Drawings of small-n type or case studies, when guided by theory, are more suitable to problems it is supposed to increase the potential of intensive analysis of causal processes. As a preliminary result, the Brazilian Supreme Court was not a sufficient agent to implement a relevant social change and to assure the protection of the social rights, because there were few measures that directly impacted the behavior of other institutional political actors and should, therefore, be considered another actor within a complex institutional arrangement.

Keywords: courts, case study, judicial litigation, social change

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Authors: Pooja Ichplani, Archna Kumar, Jessica Mayberry

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Community Video (CV) is a participatory medium that has immense potential to strengthen community communications and amplify the voice of people for their empowerment. By building capacities especially of marginalized community groups and providing a platform to freely voice their ideas, CV endeavours to bring about shifts towards more participatory, bottom up development processes and greater power in the hands of the people, especially the disadvantaged. In various parts of the world, among marginalized community groups, community video initiatives have become instrumental in facilitating micro-level, yet significant changes in communities. Video Volunteers (VV) is an organization that promotes community media and works towards providing disadvantaged communities with journalistic, critical thinking and creative skills they need for catalysing change in their communities. Working since 2002, VV has evolved a unique community media model fostering locally-owned and managed media production, as well as building people’s capacities to articulate and share their perspectives on the issues that matter to them – on a local and a global scale. Further, by integrating a livelihood aspect within its model, VV has actively involved people from poor marginalized communities and provided them a new tool for serving their communities whilst keeping their identities intact. This paper, based on a qualitative research, seeks to map the range of VV impacts in communities and provide an in-depth analysis of factors contributing to VV impacting change in communities. Study tools included content analysis of a longitudinal sample of impact videos produced, narratives of community correspondents using the Most Significant Change Technique (MSCT) and interviews with key informants. Using a multi-fold analysis, the paper seeks to gain holistic insights. At the first level, the paper profiles the Community Correspondents (CCs), spearheading change, and maps their personal and social context and their perceptions about VV in their personal lives. Secondly, at an organizational level, the paper maps the significance of impacts brought about in the CCs communities and their association, challenges and achievements while working with VV. Lastly, at the community level, it consists of analysis of the nature of impacts achieved and aspects influencing the same. Finally, the study critiques the functioning of Video Volunteers as a community media initiative using the tipping point theory emphasizing on the power of context that is constituted by their socio-cultural environment. It concludes how empowerment of its Community Correspondents, multifarious activities during pre and post video production, and other innovative mechanisms have enabled in center staging issues of marginalized communities and snowballing processes of change in communities.

Keywords: community media, empowerment, participatory communication, social change

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Authors: Rodrigo T. Lourenço, Margarida Mano

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Higher Education Institutions (HEI), and other levels of Education, face important challenges. One of the most relevant one is the ability to adapt to a society that is changing over time, whilst guarantying levels of training that do not merely react to such changes. Thus, interacting with society, particularly with surrounding communities and key stakeholders, has become an essential requirement for the sustainability of these institutions. One of the formal mechanisms implemented in European educational institutions has been the design of organizational structures that include a top governance body sharing its constitution with both internal members, students and external members. Such frame holds the core mission of involving communities in the governance of educational institutions, assuming, both strategic decision-making functions, with the approval of the institutions’ strategic plans, and a supervision function, approved by activity reports. It also plays an essential role in the life of institutions by holding the responsibility of electing its top executives. In Portugal, it has been almost a decade since the publication of RJIES, the legal framework of Higher Education, such bodies being designated by General Councils. Thus, one may highlight that there has been a better understanding of the operative process of these bodies, as well as their added value to the education system. It has also been possible to analyse the extent to which their core mission has been fulfilled and to understand its growing relevance, particularly regarding the autonomy of institutions. This article aims to contribute to this theme by presenting the results of a study on the role of these bodies in the governance of Public Portuguese HEI, with a special focus on the supervisory competence of organizational performance. Through questionnaires made to board members and interviews with chairpersons of the bodies and top managers of the institutions, it was possible to conclude that there is a high concern with the connections to the external environment. However, regarding organizational performance and the role of the Council as a supervisor of that performance, the activity of the bodies has fallen short of what would be expected. Several reasons may be identified. It is important to emphasize the importance of the profile of the external members and the relationship between the organ’s standard functioning and the election of the head of the institution.

Keywords: governance, stakeholders, supervision, performance

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Authors: El Ghazi Safae, Cherkaoui Mounia

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Within companies, emotions have been forgotten as key elements of successful management systems. Seen as factors which disturb judgment, make reckless acts or affect negatively decision-making. Since management systems were influenced by the Taylorist worker image, that made the work regular and plain, and considered employees as executing machines. However, recently, in globalized economy characterized by a variety of uncertainties, emotions are proved as useful elements, even necessary, to attend high-level management. The work of Elton Mayo and Kurt Lewin reveals the importance of emotions. Since then emotions start to attract considerable attention. These studies have shown that emotions influence, directly or indirectly, many organization processes. For example, the quality of interpersonal relationships, job satisfaction, absenteeism, stress, leadership, performance and team commitment. Emotions became fundamental and indispensable to individual yield and so on to management efficiency. The idea that a person potential is associated to Intellectual Intelligence, measured by the IQ as the main factor of social, professional and even sentimental success, was the main problematic that need to be questioned. The literature on emotional intelligence has made clear that success at work does not only depend on intellectual intelligence but also other factors. Several researches investigating emotional intelligence impact on performance showed that emotionally intelligent managers perform more, attain remarkable results, able to achieve organizational objectives, impact the mood of their subordinates and create a friendly work environment. An improvement in the emotional intelligence of managers is therefore linked to the professional development of the organization and not only to the personal development of the manager. In this context, it would be interesting to question the importance of emotional intelligence. Does it impact organizational performance? What is the importance of emotional intelligence and how it impacts organizational performance? The literature highlighted that measurement and conceptualization of emotional intelligence are difficult to define. Efforts to measure emotional intelligence have identified three models that are more prominent: the mixed model, the ability model, and the trait model. The first is considered as cognitive skill, the second relates to the mixing of emotional skills with personality-related aspects and the latter is intertwined with personality traits. But, despite strong claims about the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace, few studies have empirically examined the impact of emotional intelligence on organizational performance, because even though the concept of performance is at the heart of all evaluation processes of companies and organizations, we observe that performance remains a multidimensional concept and many authors insist about the vagueness that surrounds the concept. Given the above, this article provides an overview of the researches related to emotional intelligence, particularly focusing on studies that investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on organizational performance to contribute to the emotional intelligence literature and highlight its importance and show how it impacts companies’ performance.

Keywords: emotions, performance, intelligence, firms

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Authors: Akachi Odoemene

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Climate change and land grabbing are tightly interconnected in ways that are both diverse and complex. They have impacted each other in significant ways too. Both phenomena are not only a political reality, but have diverse dire implications, especially for food and livelihood security of vulnerable populations in developing economies. The critical nexus and interactions of climate change and land grabbing remain one of the challenges of sustainable development in modern times. The nuanced understanding of the nexus, importance and implications of climate change and land grabbing are the primary focus of this chapter. It begins with conceptual clarifications, particularly arguing that the absence of some important principles of engagement underline and define a land grab. It also analyses and notes a good number of contemporary land deals as 'one-sided', in which wealthy entities connive with local elites to exploit and disposes rural poor populations. The paper not only examines both global and local factors that drive land grabbing and, in some cases, their connections with the incidence of climate change, but also explores their crucial links with such sector as agriculture. It is argued and exhibited in the paper why certain societies are susceptible to the incidence of climate change and land grabbing, while the overall consequences of these phenomena on the affected societies are further interrogated. The paper concludes that the lack of political will by global political leaders to effectively combat and resolve critical issues associated with both climate change and land grabbing remains a daunting challenge. It notes that these phenomena – climate change and land grabbing – if not abated, will certainly become another set of global tragic episodes to be regretted in the future.

Keywords: climate change, land grabbing, global governance, developing economies

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Authors: Chryssi Vitsilaki, Apostolos Kostas, Ilias Efthymiou

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This paper presents selected best practices on online learning and teaching derived from a novel and innovating Lifelong Learning program through e-Learning, which has during the last five years been set up at the University of the Aegean in Greece. The university, capitalizing on an award-winning, decade-long experience in e-learning and blended learning in undergraduate and postgraduate studies, recently expanded into continuous education and vocational training programs in various cutting-edge fields. So, in this article we present: (a) the academic structure/infrastructure which has been developed for the administrative, organizational and educational support of the e-Learning process, including training the trainers, (b) the mode of design and implementation based on a sound pedagogical framework of open and distance education, and (c) the key results of the assessment of the e-learning process by the participants, as they are used to feedback on continuous organizational and teaching improvement and quality control.

Keywords: distance education, e-learning, life-long programs, synchronous/asynchronous learning

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Authors: Prakash Singh, Piet Maphodisa Kgohlo

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Knowledge-worker productivity is one of the biggest leadership challenges facing all organizations in the twenty-first century. It cannot be denied that knowledge-worker productivity affects all organizations. The work and the workforce are both undergoing greater changes currently than at any time, since the beginning of the industrial revolution two centuries ago. Employees welcome collegial teaming (CT) as an innovative way to develop their work-integrated learning competencies. Human resource development policies must evoke the symbiotic relationship between CT and work-integrated learning, seeing that employees need to be endowed with the competence to move from one skill to another, as each one becomes obsolete, and to simultaneously develop their cognitive and emotional intelligence. The outcome of this relationship must culminate in the development of highly productive knowledge-workers. While this study focuses on teachers, the conceptual framework and the findings of this research can be beneficial for any organization, public or private sector, business or non-business. Therefore, in this quantitative study, the benefits of CT are considered in developing human resources to sustain knowledge-worker productivity. The ANOVA p-values reveal that the majority of teachers agree that CT can empower them to overcome the challenges of managing curriculum change. CT can equip them with continuous and sustained learning, growth and improvement, necessary for knowledge-worker productivity. This study, therefore, confirms that CT benefits all workers, immaterial of their age, gender or experience. Hence, this exploratory research provides a new perspective of CT in addressing knowledge-worker productivity when organizational change alters the vision of the organization.

Keywords: collegial teaming, human resource development, knowledge-worker productivity, work-integrated learning

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Authors: Sima Najafzadehkhoei, George Vega Yon

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This paper presents an approach for calibrating Agent-Based Models (ABMs) efficiently, utilizing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. These machine learning techniques are applied to Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) models, which are a core framework in the study of epidemiology. Our method replicates parameter values from observed trajectory curves, enhancing the accuracy of predictions when compared to traditional calibration techniques. Through the use of simulated data, we train the models to predict epidemiological parameters more accurately. Two primary approaches were explored: one where the number of susceptible, infected, and recovered individuals is fully known, and another using only the number of infected individuals. Our method shows promise for application in other ABMs where calibration is computationally intensive and expensive.

Keywords: ABM, calibration, CNN, LSTM, epidemiology

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Authors: Jessica Lynne Hicksted

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Disability discrimination is a long-standing issue that, despite protections, continues to result in unemployment, underemployment, and lack of advancement for disabled persons. Visible stigma is researched substantially; however, less is known about the impact of stigma associated with identities that can be concealed. Although researchers have investigated this issue, currently there is no tool to measure this phenomenon. The purpose of this quantitative study was to create and validate a new tool to measure stigma associated with invisible disabilities. The study is grounded by Roberts’ conceptual model of professional image construction integrating social identity, impression management, and organizational behavior; Meisenbach’s stigma management communication theory addressing the vulnerabilities and resilience to stigma communication by focusing on how individuals encounter and react to perceived stigmas; and Kelley and Michela’s causal attribution theory. Participants included 1,412 adults in the United States 18 years or older currently employed or who have been employed within the last 5 years. Confirmatory factor analysis of the new Workplace Invisible Disabilities Experience scale showed excellent fit of the factor structure to the data, X₂/df = 1.855, CFI = .955, RMSEA = .045, p = .0001. The scale has three subscales, Ableism, Advocacy, and Acceptance, with excellent internal consistency reliability. Total score, Advocacy, and Acceptance were associated with intention to disclose. Implications for positive social change include helping organizations to understand the extent of invisible disability stigma that can help improve workplace performance and satisfaction.

Keywords: invisible disabilities, accommodations, acceptance, social change, workplace inclusion

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Authors: Safia Rabaaoui, Héla Hachicha, Ezzeddine Zagrouba

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Nowadays, cloud computing is becoming the more popular technology to various companies and consumers, which benefit from its increased efficiency, cost optimization, data security, unlimited storage capacity, etc. One of the biggest challenges of cloud computing is resource allocation. Its efficiency directly influences the performance of the whole cloud environment. Finding an effective method to address these critical issues and increase cloud performance was necessary. This paper proposes a mobile agents-based framework for dynamic resource allocation in cloud computing to minimize both the cost of using virtual machines and the makespan. Furthermore, its impact on the best response time and power consumption has been studied. The simulation showed that our method gave better results than here.

Keywords: cloud computing, multi-agent system, mobile agent, dynamic resource allocation, cost, makespan

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Authors: A. Arshad, M. Lehtonen. M. Humayun

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With the increasing Distributed Generation (DG) penetration, distribution systems are advancing towards the smart grid technology for least latency in tackling voltage control problem in a distributed manner. This paper proposes a Multi-agent based distributed voltage level control. In this method a flat architecture of agents is used and agents involved in the whole controlling procedure are On Load Tap Changer Agent (OLTCA), Static VAR Compensator Agent (SVCA), and the agents associated with DGs and loads at their locations. The objectives of the proposed voltage control model are to minimize network losses and DG curtailments while maintaining voltage value within statutory limits as close as possible to the nominal. The total loss cost is the sum of network losses cost, DG curtailment costs, and voltage damage cost (which is based on penalty function implementation). The total cost is iteratively calculated for various stricter limits by plotting voltage damage cost and losses cost against varying voltage limit band. The method provides the optimal limits closer to nominal value with minimum total loss cost. In order to achieve the objective of voltage control, the whole network is divided into multiple control regions; downstream from the controlling device. The OLTCA behaves as a supervisory agent and performs all the optimizations. At first, a token is generated by OLTCA on each time step and it transfers from node to node until the node with voltage violation is detected. Upon detection of such a node, the token grants permission to Load Agent (LA) for initiation of possible remedial actions. LA will contact the respective controlling devices dependent on the vicinity of the violated node. If the violated node does not lie in the vicinity of the controller or the controlling capabilities of all the downstream control devices are at their limits then OLTC is considered as a last resort. For a realistic study, simulations are performed for a typical Finnish residential medium-voltage distribution system using Matlab ®. These simulations are executed for two cases; simple Distributed Voltage Control (DVC) and DVC with optimized loss cost (DVC + Penalty Function). A sensitivity analysis is performed based on DG penetration. The results indicate that costs of losses and DG curtailments are directly proportional to the DG penetration, while in case 2 there is a significant reduction in total loss. For lower DG penetration, losses are reduced more or less 50%, while for higher DG penetration, loss reduction is not very significant. Another observation is that the newer stricter limits calculated by cost optimization moves towards the statutory limits of ±10% of the nominal with the increasing DG penetration as for 25, 45 and 65% limits calculated are ±5, ±6.25 and 8.75% respectively. Observed results conclude that the novel voltage control algorithm proposed in case 1 is able to deal with the voltage control problem instantly but with higher losses. In contrast, case 2 make sure to reduce the network losses through proposed iterative method of loss cost optimization by OLTCA, slowly with time.

Keywords: distributed voltage control, distribution system, multi-agent systems, smart grids

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Authors: Mara Balestrieri

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Climate change has long been the focus of attention for the growing impact of extreme weather events and global warming in many areas of the planet and the evidence of economic, social, and environmental damage caused by global warming. Nowadays, climate change is recognized as a critical global problem. Several initiatives have been undertaken over time to enhance the long theoretical debate and field experience in order to reduce Co2 emissions and contain climate alteration. However, the awareness that climate change is already taking place has led to a growing demand for adaptation. It is certainly a matter of anticipating the negative effects of climate change but, at the same time, implementing appropriate actions to prevent climate change-related damage, minimize the problems that may result, and also seize any opportunities that may arise. Consequently, adaptation has become a core element of climate policy and research. However, the attention to this issue has not developed in a uniform manner across countries. Some countries are further ahead than others. This paper examines the literature on climate change adaptation developed until 2018 in Italy, considering the urban dimension, to provide a framework for it, and to identify main topics and features. The papers were selected from Scopus and were analyzed through a matrix that we propose. Results demonstrate that adaptation to climate change studies attracted increasing attention from Italian scientific communities in the last years, although Italian scientific production is still quantitatively lower than in other countries and describes strengths and weaknesses in line with international panorama with respect to objectives, sectors, and problems.

Keywords: adaptation, bibliometric literature, climate change, urban studies

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Authors: Malek Jamaliah, Robert Powell

Abstract:

In spite of the influence of climate change on tourism destinations, particularly those rely heavily on natural resources, little attention paid to study the appropriate adaptation efforts to cope with, moderate and benefit from the impacts of climate change. The existing literature indicated that the research of climate change adaptation in the tourism and outdoor recreation field is at least 5-7 years behind other sectors such as water resources and agriculture. In Jordan, there are many observed changes in climate patterns such as higher temperatures, decreased precipitation and increased severity and frequency of drought. Dana Biosphere Reserve (DBR), the largest protected area and the major eco-tourism destination in Jordan, is facing climate change, which gradually degrading environment, shifting tourism seasons and changing livelihood and lifestyle of local communities. This study aims to assess climate change adaptation practices and policies used in DBR to cope with climate change related-risks. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with key informants in DBR to assess climate change adaptation practices. Direct content analysis (or a priori content analysis) was used to determine the components and indicators of climate change adaptation. The results found that DBR has implemented a wide range of adaptation practices, including infrastructure development, diversification of tourism products, environmentally-friendly practices, visitor management, land use management, rainwater collection, environmental monitoring and research, environmental education and collaboration with stakeholders. These diverse practices implicitly and explicitly play an important role in coping with the social, economic and environmental impacts caused by climate change. Finally, this study demonstrated that climate change adaptation is closely related to sustainable management of eco-tourism.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, dana biosphere reserve, ecotourism, sustainable management

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Authors: Silke Bustamante, Andrea Pelzeter, Andreas Deckmann, Rudi Ehlscheidt, Franziska Freudenberger

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CSR is associated with a great number of positive effects. This also includes the positive impact of CSR on the commitment of its employees. The internal CSR communication here takes the essential function as a mediator of the CSR performance of a company to the employees. The importance of CSR communication is, therefore, essential. Employees can usually only perceive the CSR efforts of a company if it is also communicated to them. Only if the employees perceive the CSR of their employer positively, the employer-CSR can also have a positive impact on their affective commitment. Therefore, organizational and individual factors are crucial and thus need to consider. This relationship between the organizational and individual factors was investigated in a qualitative case study in six companies of the German service sector. Expert interviews and focus group interviews were conducted and questionnaire-based ratings by company representatives were raised. Among the individual factors, in terms of CSR, the expectations and relevance of its employees, as well as the perception of CSR by the staff, are included. The organizational factors include the actual CSR performance and its communication. Ultimately, the impact of CSR on the commitment is examined with this holistic approach. The results show that the individual CSR perception does not always match the corporate CSR performance and its depiction in internal communication. Furthermore, employees have given suggestions on how CSR should be communicated by their employer. Knowledge memory systems (e.g. wiki) on the on hand and media-based information, on the other hand, were highlighted. Primarily the employee-related CSR is most important for the employees, whereas ecological CSR activities hardly play a role. The findings indicate the importance of CSR communication in the CSR concept as it provides the missing link between CSR performance and appreciation by an increase in commitment. It should only be communicated, what is done. CSR communication should also be carried out in a plausible and transparent way.

Keywords: CSR, employee commitment, employer brand, internal communication

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Authors: Mohammad Samarah, Benjamin Stark, Jennifer Kindle, Langley Payton

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Innovation is a key driver for companies, society, and economic growth. However, assessing and measuring innovation for individuals as well as organizations remains difficult. Our i5-Score presented in this study will help to overcome this difficulty and facilitate measuring the innovation potential. The score is based on a framework we call the 5Gs of innovation which defines specific innovation attributes. Those are 1) the drive for long-term goals 2) the audacity to generate new ideas, 3) the openness to share ideas with others, 4) the ability to grow, and 5) the ability to maintain high levels of optimism. To validate the i5-Score, we conducted a study at Florida Polytechnic University. The results show that the i5-Score is a good measure reflecting the innovative mindset of an individual or a group. Thus, the score can be utilized for evaluating, refining and enhancing innovation capabilities.

Keywords: Change Management, Innovation Attributes, Organizational Development, STEM and Venture Creation

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Authors: Nadia Theuma

Abstract:

Climate change is a reality that has started to leave an impact on the physical environment as well as on the built environment, in particular built heritage. This paper explores the argument that climate change is also a trigger which can lead to identifying a number of creative solutions that can transform built heritage into sustainable buildings. Using the Maltese Islands, and in particular the city of Valletta which is also a World Heritage Site, this paper illustrates some of the innovative solutions that are being developed to make heritage buildings more sustainable and in doing so, mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. The paper looks in detail at the most notable initiatives being developed, their implementation and application, which at times is not easy considering the restrictions within protected built heritage areas and the positive impacts that they will have on visitor experience and overall sustainability of the Maltese tourism product. The paper will conclude by outlining how these solutions can be adapted to buildings with similar climatic conditions.

Keywords: built heritage, creative solutions, climate change, Maltese Islands

Procedia PDF Downloads 291