Search results for: social disorganization theory

Authors: Heide Imai

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The paper will introduce and discuss specific examples of urban practices which take place within the dynamic urban landscape of contemporary Tokyo. The rising interest and importance of derelict places as resilient and creative clusters will be analysed, before relating this to the rediscovery of small urban niches and the emergence of different forms of social entrepreneurs. Secondly, two different case study areas will be introduced before discussing different forms of hybrid lifestyles, social micro scale enterprises and social innovations, understanding the concept of ‘small places of resilience’ as zones of human interaction, desire and care in which spontaneous practices take place.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, social innovation, Tokyo, urban regeneration

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Authors: Andrew Kurochkin, Kostiantyn Bokhan

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In this study, a new meme dataset of ~650K meme instances was created, a technology of meme generation based on the state of the art deep learning technique - GPT-2 model was researched, a comparative analysis of machine-generated memes and human-created was conducted. We justified that Amazon Mechanical Turk workers can be used for the approximate estimating of users' behavior in a social network, more precisely to measure engagement. It was shown that generated memes cause the same engagement as human memes that produced low engagement in the social network (historically). Thus, generated memes are less engaging than random memes created by humans.

Keywords: content generation, computational social science, memes generation, Reddit, social networks, social media interaction

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Authors: Azadeh Davachi

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Although there is a growing interest in Iranian female migration and gender roles, little attention has been paid to how Iranian migrant women in Australia access and sustain social networks, both locally and spatially dispersed over time. Social network theories have much to offer an analysis of migrant’s social ties and interpersonal relationships. Thus, it is important to note that social media are not only new communication channels in a migration network but also that they actively transform the nature of these networks and thereby facilitate migration for migrants. Drawing on that, this article will focus on Iranian women migrants and the use of social media in migration in Australia. Based on the case of main social networks such as Facebook and Instagram; this paper will investigate that how women migrants use these networks to facilitate the process of migration and integration. In addition, with the use of social networks, they could promote their home business and as a result become more engaged economically in Australian society. This paper will focus on three main Iranian pages in Instagram and Facebook, they will contend that compared to men, women are more active in these social networks. Consequently, as this article will discuss with the use of these social media Iranian migrant women can become more engaged and overcome post migration hardships, thus, gender plays a key role in using social media in migrant communities. Based on these findings from these social media pages, this paper will conclude that social media are transforming migration networks and thereby lowering the threshold for migration. It also will be demonstrated that these networks boost Iranian women’s confidence and lead them to become more visible in Iranian migrant communities comparing to men.

Keywords: integration, gender, migration, women migrants

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Authors: Gamze Fahriye Pehlivan, Tulay Canitez

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The traditional Turkish houses becoming unusable are a result of the deterioration of the balanced interaction between users and house (human and house) continuing during the history. Especially depending upon the change in social structure, the houses becoming neglected do not meet the desires of the users and do not have the meaning but the shelter are becoming unusable and are being destroyed. A conservation policy should be developed and renovations should be made in order to pass the traditional houses carrying the quality of a cultural and historical document presenting the social structure, the lifestyle and the traditions of its own age to the next generations and to keep them alive.

Keywords: house, social structural change, social structural, traditional Turkish houses

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Authors: Salem El-Tohami Ashoor

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Here we show that the reduction of [Cr(ArN(CH2)3NAr)2Cl2] (1) where (Ar = 2,6-Pri2C6H3) and in presence of NaCp (2) (Cp= C5H5 = cyclopentadien), with a center coordination η5 interaction between Cp as co-ligand and chromium metal center, this was optimization by using density functional theory (DFT) and then was comparing with experimental data, also other possibility of Cp interacted with ion metal were tested like η1 ,η2 ,η3 and η4 under optimization system. These were carried out under investigation of density functional theory (DFT) calculation, and comparing together. Other methods, explicitly including electron correlation, are necessary for more accurate calculations; MB3LYP ( Becke)( Lee–Yang–Parr ) level of theory often being used to obtain more exact results. These complexes were estimated of electronic energy for molecular system, because it accounts for all electron correlation interactions. The optimised of [Cr(ArN(CH2)3NAr)2(η5-Cp)] (Ar = 2,6-Pri2C6H3 and Cp= C5H5) was found to be thermally more stable than others of chromium cyclopentadienyl. By using Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson model, as a basis of the molecular orbital (MO) analysis and showed the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest occupied molecular orbital LUMO.

Keywords: Chromium(III) cyclopentadienyl complexes, DFT, MO, HOMO, LUMO

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Authors: Karim Farahmandfar, Hamidolah Izadi, Mohammadreza Rezaei, Amin Ardali, Ebrahim Goshtasbi Rad, Khosro Jafarpoor

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Statistics illustrates that the higher amount of annual energy consumption is related to surmounting the demand in buildings. Therefore, it is vital to economize the energy consumption and also find the solution with regard to this issue. One of the systems for the sake of heating the building is floor heating. As a matter of fact, floor heating performance is based on convection and radiation. Actually, in addition to creating a favorable heating condition, this method leads to energy saving. It is the goal of this article to outline the constructal theory and introduce the optimization method in branch networks for floor heating. There are several steps in order to gain this purpose. First of all, the pressure drop through the two points of the network is calculated. This pressure drop is as a function of pipes diameter and other parameters. After that, the amount of heat transfer is determined. Consequently, as a result of the combination of these two functions, the final function will be determined. It is necessary to mention that flow is laminar.

Keywords: constructal theory, optimization, floor heating system, turbulent flow

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Authors: Dalia Suša Vugec, Vesna Bosilj Vukšić, Ljubica Milanović Glavan

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Business process management (BPM) is a well-known holistic discipline focused on managing business processes with the intention of achieving higher level of BPM maturity and better organizational performance. In recent period, traditional BPM faced some of its limitations like model-reality divide and lost innovation. Following latest trends, as an attempt to overcome the issues of traditional BPM, there has been an introduction of applying the principles of social software in managing business processes which led to the development of social BPM. However, there are not many authors or studies dealing with this topic so this study aims to contribute to that literature gap and to examine the link between the level of BPM maturity and the usage of social BPM. To meet these objectives, a survey within the companies with more than 50 employees has been conducted. The results reveal that the usage of social BPM is higher within the companies which achieved higher level of BPM maturity. This paper provides an overview, analysis and discussion of collected data regarding BPM maturity and social BPM within the observed companies and identifies the main social BPM principles.

Keywords: business process management, BPM maturity, process performance index, social BPM

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Authors: Emmanuel Iyamuremye

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Extreme rainfall events have caused significant damage to agriculture, ecology, and infrastructure, disruption of human activities, injury, and loss of life. They also have significant social, economic, and environmental consequences because they considerably damage urban as well as rural areas. Early detection of extreme maximum rainfall helps to implement strategies and measures, before they occur, hence mitigating the consequences. Extreme value theory has been used widely in modeling extreme rainfall and in various disciplines, such as financial markets, the insurance industry, failure cases. Climatic extremes have been analyzed by using either generalized extreme value (GEV) or generalized Pareto (GP) distributions, which provides evidence of the importance of modeling extreme rainfall from different regions of the world. In this paper, we focused on Peak Over Thresholds approach, where the Poisson-generalized Pareto distribution is considered as the proper distribution for the study of the exceedances. This research also considers the use of the generalized Pareto (GP) distribution with a Poisson model for arrivals to describe peaks over a threshold. The research used statistical techniques to fit models that used to predict extreme rainfall in Kigali. The results indicate that the proposed Poisson-GP distribution provides a better fit to maximum monthly rainfall data. Further, the Poisson-GP models are able to estimate various return levels. The research also found a slow increase in return levels for maximum monthly rainfall for higher return periods, and further, the intervals are increasingly wider as the return period is increasing.

Keywords: exceedances, extreme value theory, generalized Pareto distribution, Poisson generalized Pareto distribution

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Authors: Mahsa Khani Oushani, Mohammad Kazem Hasanvand

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Text and image have always been two important components in Iranian layout. The interactive connection between text and image has shaped the art of book design with multiple patterns. In this research, first the structure and visual elements in the research data were analyzed and then the position of the text element and the image element in relation to each other based on Roland Barthes theory on the three theories of text and image, were studied and analyzed and the results were compared, and interpreted. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pattern of text and image in the works of Kamaluddin Behzad based on three Roland Barthes communication theories, 1. Descriptive communication, 2. Reference communication, 3. Matched communication. The questions of this research are what is the relationship between text and image in Behzad's works? And how is it defined according to Roland Barthes theory? The method of this research has been done with a structuralist approach with a descriptive-analytical method in a library collection method. The information has been collected in the form of documents (library) and is a tool for collecting online databases. Findings show that the dominant element in Behzad's drawings is with the image and has created a reference relationship in the layout of the drawings, but in some cases it achieves a different relationship that despite the preference of the image on the page, the text is dispersed proportionally on the page and plays a more active role, played within the image. The text and the image support each other equally on the page; Roland Barthes equates this connection.

Keywords: text, image, Kamaluddin Behzad, Roland Barthes, communication theory

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Authors: Elron Fouten

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Recently, debates surrounding the social relevance of psychology in South Africa have focussed on how the growing neoliberal rationality within academia has again resulted in the discipline catering to the needs of powerful social groupings to protect its own economic interests, rather than producing socially relevant knowledge. Consequently, this study aimed to conduct a content analysis of the recent research output of psychology masters students, to establish whether it has produced research that addresses local and national psychosocial issues and as such deemed socially relevant knowledge. The study sampled clinical, counselling, and research psychology masters theses from 16 South African universities submitted between 1998 and 2017. Overall, 2001 theses were sampled, which were analysed using qualitative content analysis predominantly based on the descriptive categories identified in similar studies using published journal articles. Results indicated that empirical qualitative theses, using systems-oriented theory and post-modern frameworks were most prevalent. Further, traditional topics within psychology had relatively more weighting compared to more social topics. Although a significant number of theses recruited participants from working-class or poor backgrounds, there was an overreliance on participants from urban areas located in some of the country’s wealthiest provinces. Despite a strong adult-centric focus, trends regarding participants’ race and gender roughly resembled current population demographics. Overall, the results indicate that psychology in South Africa, at least at university-level, is to some extent trying to engage with national psychosocial concerns. However, there are still several key areas which need to be addressed to ensure the continued social relevance of the discipline.

Keywords: adult-centric, content analysis, relevance, psychosocial

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Authors: Gertrude I Hewapathirana, Mohamed M. Moustafa, Michel G. Zaitouni

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The purposes of this research are: (a) to provide an epistemological and ontological understanding of the WLB theory, practice, and research to illuminate how the WLB evolved between 2000 to 2020 and (b) to analyze peer-reviewed research to identify the gaps, hotspots, underlying dynamics, theoretical and thematic trends, influential authors, research collaborations, geographic networks, and the multidisciplinary nature of the WLB theory to guide future researchers. The research used four-step bibliometric network analysis to explore five research questions. Using keywords such as WLB and associated variants, 1190 peer-reviewed articles were extracted from the Scopus database and transformed to a plain text format for filtering. The analysis was conducted using the R version 4.1 software (R Development Core Team, 2021) and several libraries such as bibliometrics, word cloud, and ggplot2. We used the VOSviewer software (van Eck & Waltman, 2019) for network visualization. The WLB theory has grown into a multifaceted, multidisciplinary field of research. There is a paucity of research between 2000 to 2005 and an exponential growth from 2006 to 2015. The rapid increase of WLB research in the USA, UK, and Australia reflects the increasing workplace stresses due to hyper competitive workplaces, inflexible work systems, and increasing diversity and the emergence of WLB support mechanisms, legal and constitutional mandates to enhance employee and family wellbeing at multilevel social systems. A severe knowledge gap exists due to inadequate publications disseminating the "core" WLB research. "Locally-centralized-globally-discrete" collaboration among researchers indicates a "North-South" divide between developed and developing nations. A shortage in WLB research in developing nations and a lack of research collaboration hinder a global understanding of the WLB as a universal phenomenon. Policymakers and practitioners can use the findings to initiate supporting policies, and innovative work systems. The boundary expansion of the WLB concepts, categories, relations, and properties would facilitate researchers/theoreticians to test a variety of new dimensions. This is the most comprehensive WLB landscape analysis that reveals emerging trends, concepts, networks, underlying dynamics, gaps, and growing theoretical and disciplinary boundaries. It portrays the WLB as a universal theory.

Keywords: work-life balance, co-citation networks; keyword co-occurrence network, bibliometric analysis

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Authors: Josie Gardner

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The overall intention of this research is to reimagine peacebuilding in both in theory and practical application in light of the shortcomings and unsustainability of the current peacebuilding paradigm. These limitations are identified here as an overly rational-material approach to peacebuilding that neglects the inner dimension of peace for a fragmented rather than holistic model, and that espouses a conflict and violence-centric approach to peacebuilding. In counter, this presentation is purposed to investigate the dynamics of inner and outer peace as a holistic, complex system towards ‘inner-outer’ peacebuilding. This paper draws from primary research in the protracted conflict context of north-western India (Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh) as a case study. This presentation has two central aims. First, to introduce the process of inner (psycho-spiritual) peacebuilding, which has thus far been neglected by mainstream and orthodox literature. Second, to examine why inner peacebuilding is essential for realising sustainable peace on a broader scale as outer (socio-political) peace and to better understand how the inner and outer dynamics of peace relate and affect one another. To these ends, Josephine (the researcher/author/presenter) partnered with Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network to implement a series of action-oriented workshops and retreats centred around healing, reconciliation, leadership, and personal development for the dual purpose of collaboratively generating data, theory, and insights, as well as providing the youth leaders with an experiential, transformative experience. The research team created and used a novel methodological approach called Mapping Ritual Ecologies, which draws from Participatory Action Research and Digital Ethnography to form a collaborative research model with a group of 20 youth co-researchers who are emerging youth peace leaders in Kashmir, Jammu, and Ladakh. This research found significant intra- and inter-personal shifts towards an experience of inner peace through inner peacebuilding activities. Moreover, this process of inner peacebuilding affected their families and communities through interpersonal healing and peace leadership in an inside-out process of change. These insights have generated rich insights and have supported emerging theories about the dynamics between inner and outer peace, power, justice, and collective healing. This presentation argues that the largely neglected dimension of inner (psycho-spiritual) peacebuilding is imperative for broader socio-political (outer) change. Changing structures of oppression, injustice, and violence—i.e. structures of separation—requires individual, interpersonal, and collective healing. While this presentation primarily examines and advocates for inside-out peacebuilding and social justice, it will also touch upon the effect of systems of separation on the inner condition and human experience. This research reimagines peacebuilding as a holistic inner-outer approach. This offers an alternative path forward those weaves together self-actualisation and social justice. While contextualised within north-western India with a small case study population, the findings speak also to other conflict contexts as well as our global peacebuilding and social justice milieu.

Keywords: holistic, inner peacebuilding, psycho-spiritual, systems youth

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Authors: Kamran Yazdanbakhsh, Somayeh Mahmoudi

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Three reasons make good use of the decision theory in medicine: 1. Increased medical knowledge and their complexity makes it difficult treatment information effectively without resorting to sophisticated analytical methods, especially when it comes to detecting errors and identify opportunities for treatment from databases of large size. 2. There is a wide geographic variability of medical practice. In a context where medical costs are, at least in part, by the patient, these changes raise doubts about the relevance of the choices made by physicians. These differences are generally attributed to differences in estimates of probabilities of success of treatment involved, and differing assessments of the results on success or failure. Without explicit criteria for decision, it is difficult to identify precisely the sources of these variations in treatment. 3. Beyond the principle of informed consent, patients need to be involved in decision-making. For this, the decision process should be explained and broken down. A decision problem is to select the best option among a set of choices. The problem is what is meant by "best option ", or know what criteria guide the choice. The purpose of decision theory is to answer this question. The systematic use of decision models allows us to better understand the differences in medical practices, and facilitates the search for consensus. About this, there are three types of situations: situations certain, risky situations, and uncertain situations: 1. In certain situations, the consequence of each decision are certain. 2. In risky situations, every decision can have several consequences, the probability of each of these consequences is known. 3. In uncertain situations, each decision can have several consequences, the probability is not known. Our aim in this article is to show how decision theory can usefully be mobilized to meet the needs of physicians. The decision theory can make decisions more transparent: first, by clarifying the data systematically considered the problem and secondly by asking a few basic principles should guide the choice. Once the problem and clarified the decision theory provides operational tools to represent the available information and determine patient preferences, and thus assist the patient and doctor in their choices.

Keywords: decision making, medicine, treatment strategies, patient

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Authors: Jianlin Wang, Jiajia Zhao

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This paper applies the theory and empirical method to examine the relationship between electricity price and coal price, as well as electricity and industry output, for China during Jan 1999-Dec 2012. Our results indicate that there is no any causality between coal price and electricity price under other factors are controlled. However, we found a bi-directional causality between electricity consumption and industry output. Overall, the electricity price set by China’s NDRC is inefficient, which lead to the electricity supply shortage after 2004. It is time to reform electricity price system for China’s reformers.

Keywords: electricity price, coal price, power supply, China

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Authors: Tory Erickson

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The "Bidirectional Spacetime with Spatial Covariance and Wave-Particle Duality in Spacetime Flow" (BST-SCWPDF) Model introduces a framework aimed at unifying general relativity (GR) and quantum mechanics (QM). By proposing a concept of bidirectional spacetime, this model suggests that time can flow in more than one direction, thus offering a perspective on temporal dynamics. Integrated with spatial covariance and wave-particle duality in spacetime flow, the BST-SCWPDF Model resolves long-standing discrepancies between GR and QM. This unified theory has profound implications for quantum gravity, potentially offering insights into quantum entanglement, the collapse of the wave function, and the fabric of spacetime itself. The Bidirectional Spacetime with Spatial Covariance and Wave-Particle Duality in Spacetime Flow" (BST-SCWPDF) Model offers researchers a framework for a better understanding of theoretical physics.

Keywords: astrophysics, quantum mechanics, general relativity, unification theory, theoretical physics

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Authors: Soufiane Zerraf, Malika Tridane, Said Belaaouad

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CuHPO₃.2H₂O was synthesized by the direct method. CuHPO₃.2H₂O crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, space group P2₁2₁2₁, a = 6.7036 (2) Å, b = 7.3671 (4) Å, c = 8.9749 (4) Å, Z = 4, V = 443.24 (4) ų. The crystal structure was refined to R₁= 0.0154, R₂= 0.0380 for 19018 reflections satisfying criterion I ≥ 2σ (I). The structural resolution shows the existence of chains of ions HPO₃- linked together by hydrogen bonds. The crystalline structure is formed by chains consisting of Cu[O₃(H₂O)₃] deformed octahedral, which are connected to the vertices. The chains extend parallel to b and are mutually linked by PO₃ groups. The structure is closely related to that of CuSeO₃.2H₂O and CuTeO₃.2H₂O. The experimental studies of the infrared and Raman spectra were used to confirm the presence of the phosphate ion and were compared in the (0-4000) cm-1 region with the theoretical results calculated by the density functional theory (DFT) method to provide reliable assignments of all observed bands in the experimental spectra.

Keywords: crystal structure, X-ray diffraction, vibration study, thermal behavior, density functional theory

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Authors: Elif Eroglu Hall, Nurdan Sevim

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The purposes of this research are to clarify the determinants of Muslim immigrants in consuming halal food by using components of Theory of Planned Behavior. The study was done by surveying Turkish immigrants living in Cologne Germany. The results of this study show that the intentions of Muslim Turkish immigrants in consuming halal food is influenced by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.

Keywords: halal food, immigrants, religion, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Wenfen Bi, Zeng Lin

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As a developing country, China is badly in need of capital and talents to develop the socialist country with Chinese characteristics. However, a large proportion of high income people with know-how technique, wealth and management experience have immigrated or plan to immigrate to other countries. Of course, this phenomenon has attracted the attention from both the government and researchers. One explanation might be that these high-income people lack confidence in China’s social development. Based on the data on W city’s comprehensive social situation surveyed by center for the social survey research of Wuhan university (CSSR) in 2014, this paper employed the structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate whether personal income affects social confidence, via the mediating effect of the sense of social equity (sense of right equity and sense of distributive equity). Bootstrap mediation analysis revealed that after controlling Demographic variables, personal income had a significant negative influence on sense of right equity and in turn, sense of rights equity can significantly positively predict social confidence. While personal income had no significant effect on sense of distributive equity, and sense of distributive equity did not significantly affect macro social confidence. Also, the direct effects of personal income on social confidence became not significant. These findings revealed the inner mechanism of the relationship between the personal income and social confidence in contemporary China, which was caused by mediating effect of sense of rights equity. That is, the higher the personal income, the lower the sense of rights equity, the lower the social confidence. Thus, the boost of the social confidence, especially for the rich, does not only depend on the equitable distribution of material wealth, but also on the right equity and making people feel rights equally in common life.

Keywords: personal income, sense of right equity, sense of social equity, social confidence

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Authors: Eranga N. Somaratna, Pradeep Dharmadasa

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In the current competitive environment, the factors leading to organization success are not limited to the investment of capital, labor, and raw material, but in the ability of knowledge innovation from all the members of an organization. However, knowledge on its own cannot provide organizations with its promised benefits unless it is shared, as organizations are increasingly experiencing unsuccessful knowledge sharing efforts. In such a backdrop and due to the dearth of research in this area in the South Asian context, the study set forth to develop an understanding of the factors that influence knowledge-sharing behavior within an organizational framework, using widely accepted social psychology theories. The purpose of the article is to discover the determinants of knowledge-sharing intention and actual knowledge sharing behaviors of bank employees in Sri Lanka using an aggregate model. Knowledge sharing intentions are widely discussed in literature through the application of Ajzen’s Theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Theory of Social Capital (SCT) separately. Both the theories are rich to explain knowledge sharing intention of workers with limitations. The study, therefore, combines the TPB with SCT in developing its conceptual model. Data were collected through a self-administrated paper-based questionnaire of 199 bank managers from 6 public and private banks of Sri Lanka and analyzed the suggested research model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The study supported six of the nine hypotheses, where Attitudes toward Knowledge Sharing Behavior, Perceived Behavioral Control, Trust, Anticipated Reciprocal Relationships and Actual Knowledge Sharing Behavior were supported while Organizational Climate, Sense of Self-Worth and Anticipated Extrinsic Rewards were not, in determining knowledge sharing intentions. Furthermore, the study investigated the effect of demographic factors of bankers (age, gender, position, education, and experiences) to the actual knowledge sharing behavior. However, findings should be confirmed using a larger sample, as well as through cross-sectional studies. The results highlight the need for theoreticians to combined TPB and SCT in understanding knowledge workers’ intentions and actual behavior; and for practitioners to focus on the perceptions and needs of the individual knowledge worker and the need to cultivate a culture of sharing knowledge in the organization for their mutual benefit.

Keywords: banks, employees behavior, knowledge management, knowledge sharing

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Authors: Stephanie Gracelyn Rahaman, Chew Yin Teng, Manjit Singh Sandhu

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Corporate scandals have made stakeholders apprehensive of large companies and expect greater transparency in CSR matters. However, companies find it challenging to strategically communicate CSR to intended stakeholders and in the process may fall short on maximizing on CSR efforts. Given that stakeholders have the ability to either reward good companies or take legal action or boycott against corporate brands who do not act socially responsible, companies must create shared understanding of their CSR activities. As a result, communication has become a strategy for many companies to demonstrate CSR engagement and to minimize stakeholder skepticism. The main objective of this research is to examine the types of CSR communication strategies and predictors that guide CSR communication strategies. Employing Morsing & Schultz’s guide on CSR communication strategies, the study integrates stakeholder and institutional theory to develop a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework hypothesized that stakeholder (instrumental and normative) and institutional (regulatory environment, nature of business, mimetic intention, CSR focus and corporate objectives) dimensions would drive CSR communication strategies. Preliminary findings from semi-structured interviews in Malaysia are consistent with the conceptual model in that stakeholder and institutional expectations guide CSR communication strategies. Findings show that most companies use two-way communication strategies. Companies that identified employees, the public or customers as key stakeholders have started to embrace social media to be in-sync with new trends of communication. This is especially with the Gen Y which is their priority. Some companies creatively use multiple communication channels because they recognize different stakeholders favor different communication channels. Therefore, it appears that companies use two-way communication strategies to complement the perceived limitation of one-way communication strategies as some companies prefer a more interactive platform to strategically engage stakeholders in CSR communication. In addition to stakeholders, institutional expectations also play a vital role in influencing CSR communication. Due to industry peer pressures, corporate objectives (attract international investors and customers), companies may be more driven to excel in social performance. For these reasons companies tend to go beyond the basic mandatory requirement, excel in CSR activities and be known as companies that champion CSR. In conclusion, companies use more two-way than one-way communication and companies use a combination of one and two-way communication to target different stakeholders resulting from stakeholder and institutional dimensions. Finally, in order to find out if the conceptual framework actually fits the Malaysian context, companies’ responses for expected organizational outcomes from communicating CSR were gathered from the interview transcripts. Thereafter, findings are presented to show some of the key organizational outcomes (visibility and brand recognition, portray responsible image, attract prospective employees, positive word-of-mouth, etc.) that companies in Malaysia expect from CSR communication. Based on these findings the conceptual framework has been refined to show the new identified organizational outcomes.

Keywords: CSR communication, CSR communication strategies, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, conceptual framework, Malaysia

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Authors: Xinlan Zhang, Dandong Ge, Bingying Liu, Haoyang Liang

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With the rapid development of technology and urbanization, innovation has become an important driving force for urban development. Since the late 20th Century, a number of cities and regions have emerged in the world with innovation as the main driving force, and many of them are still the most important innovation centers in the world. Based on the perspective of innovation ecosystem theory, this paper compares Silicon Valley in the United States, Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Tsukuba in Japan and Zhongguancun in China to explore the reasons for the success of innovative regions and their respective characteristics, hoping to provide a reference for the development of other innovative cities. The main conclusions of this study are the following; firstly, different countries have different social backgrounds. The development model of innovative regions is closely related to the regional backgrounds. Secondly, the market force and the government power have important significance for the development of the innovation regions. The influence of the government power in the early stage of development is great, and in the latter stage, development is dominated by the market force. In addition, the self-organizing ability of the region has a great impact on the innovation ability of the region. Strong self-organizing ability is conducive to the development of innovation economy.

Keywords: contrastive study, development model, innovation ecosystem, innovative regions

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Authors: Xiaobai Li, Li Li, Yujin Hu, Weiming Deng, Zhe Ding

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A size-dependent Euler–Bernoulli beam model, which accounts for nonlocal stress field, strain gradient field and higher order inertia force field, is derived based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory considering velocity gradient effect. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived both in dimensional and dimensionless form by employed the Hamilton principle. The analytical solutions based on different continuum theories are compared. The effect of higher order inertia terms is extremely significant in high frequency range. It is found that there exists an asymptotic frequency for the proposed beam model, while for the nonlocal strain gradient theory the solutions diverge. The effect of strain gradient field in thickness direction is significant in low frequencies domain and it cannot be neglected when the material strain length scale parameter is considerable with beam thickness. The influence of each of three size effect parameters on the natural frequencies are investigated. The natural frequencies increase with the increasing material strain gradient length scale parameter or decreasing velocity gradient length scale parameter and nonlocal parameter.

Keywords: Euler-Bernoulli Beams, free vibration, higher order inertia, Nonlocal Strain Gradient Theory, velocity gradient

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Authors: R. Khoza, K. K. Govender

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The aim of the study was to review and critically evaluate the supply chain management (SCM) strategies and challenges in the private residential construction sector in South Africa. The study was grounded in three theories, namely, theory of constraints, principal-agency theory, and stakeholder theory. A quantitative approach was used to survey 320 private residential construction companies which registered with the National Homebuilders Registration Council (NHBRC) within the Gauteng province. The data from 250 questionnaires returned were analysed using SPSS (Versions 23) and Smart PLS. It became evident that the SCM challenges included lack of trust between the supplier and the organization; lack of adoption of SCM system; lack of a sufficiently skilled SCM workforce; and poor implementation of contract management. The findings also indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between the performance of the private residential construction sector in South Africa and SCM challenges, SCM strategies and SCM processes. A framework is proposed comprising SCM practices and strategies of private residential construction sector in South Africa, which will enable them to enhance performance.

Keywords: management challenges, residential housing, South Africa, supply chain management

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Authors: Ho Yeon Park, Kyoung-Jae Kim

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether friendship in social media can be an important factor in recommender system through social scientific analysis of friendship in popular social media such as Facebook and Twitter. For this purpose, this study analyzes data on friendship in real social media using component analysis and clique analysis among sub-group analysis in social network analysis. In this study, we propose an algorithm to reflect the results of sub-group analysis on the recommender system. The key to this algorithm is to ensure that recommendations from users in friendships are more likely to be reflected in recommendations from users. As a result of this study, outcomes of various subgroup analyzes were derived, and it was confirmed that the results were different from the results of the existing recommender system. Therefore, it is considered that the results of the subgroup analysis affect the recommendation performance of the system. Future research will attempt to generalize the results of the research through further analysis of various social data.

Keywords: sub-group analysis, social media, social network analysis, recommender systems

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Authors: Mohab Magdy Mostafa Mohamed

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The objective of this paper is to introduce a vertical handover (VHO) algorithm between wireless LANs (WLANs) and LTE mobile networks. The proposed algorithm is based on the fuzzy control theory and takes into consideration power level, subscriber velocity, and target cell load instead of only power level in traditional algorithms. Simulation results show that network performance in terms of number of handovers and handover occurrence distance is improved.

Keywords: vertical handover, fuzzy control theory, power level, speed, target cell load

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Authors: Saif Hussein Abdallah Alghazo, Norshima Humaidi

Abstract:

Adopting cybersecurity protective behaviour among the employees is seriously considered in the organization, especially when the Internet of Things (IoT) is widely used in Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) era. Cybersecurity issues arise due to weaknesses of employees’ behaviour such as carelessness and failure to adopt good practices of information security behaviour. Therefore, this study aims to explore the dimensions that might influence employees’ behaviour to adopt good cybersecurity practices and to develop a new holistic model related to this concept. The study proposed this by reviewing the existing works of literature related to this field extensively, especially by focusing on the existing theory such as Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). Moreover, this study has also explored the role of cybersecurity competency among the security manager in the organization since this construct is essential to enhance the protective behaviour towards cybersecurity among the employees in the organization. The proposed research model is important to be quantitatively tested in the future as the findings will serve as the input to the act that will enhance employee’s cybersecurity protective behaviour in the IR 4.0 environment.

Keywords: cybersecurity protective behaviour, protection motivation theory, IR 4.0, cybersecurity competency

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Authors: Nidhal Jamia, Sami El-Borgi

Abstract:

In this paper, the problem of a mixed-Mode crack embedded in an infinite medium made of a functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) with crack surfaces subjected to electro-mechanical loadings is investigated. Eringen’s non-local theory of elasticity is adopted to formulate the governing electro-elastic equations. The properties of the piezoelectric material are assumed to vary exponentially along a perpendicular plane to the crack. Using Fourier transform, three integral equations are obtained in which the unknown variables are the jumps of mechanical displacements and electric potentials across the crack surfaces. To solve the integral equations, the unknowns are directly expanded as a series of Jacobi polynomials, and the resulting equations solved using the Schmidt method. In contrast to the classical solutions based on the local theory, it is found that no mechanical stress and electric displacement singularities are present at the crack tips when nonlocal theory is employed to investigate the problem. A direct benefit is the ability to use the calculated maximum stress as a fracture criterion. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effects of crack length, material gradient parameter describing FGPMs, and lattice parameter on the mechanical stress and electric displacement field near crack tips.

Keywords: functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM), mixed-mode crack, non-local theory, Schmidt method

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Authors: Mohammad Mirzaei

Abstract:

The term "modernism" is at the heart of debates about 20th-century literature and critical theory. Astradur Eysteinsson argues here that the notion of modernity does not emerge directly from the literature it encompasses but is actually a product of critical practices related to non-traditional literature. By intervening in and relating them to modernist works and contemporary literary theories, Esteinsson takes a comprehensive look at the idea of modernity. Eysteinsson critically examines various expressions of modernism in the rich spectrum of American, British, and European literature, criticism, and theory. He first explored a number of modernist paradigms and found a conflict between modernism's potential for cultural subversion and its relatively conservative status as a formalist project. In turn, he sees these paradigms as interpretations and inventions of literary history. Seen in this way, modernism presents both a historical change in the literary scene and the context of this change. Imbued with the connotations of tradition and modernity, modernity fulfills its primary function. Highlights and defines the complex relationship between history and post-realist literature. Eysteinsson focuses on how concepts of modernism guide our understanding of literature and literary history and how they influence the evaluation of experimental and 3post realist works in literature and art. He discusses in detail the relationship between modernism and the key terms postmodernism, avant-garde, and realism. In staging a crisis of subject and reference, modernity is not a form of discourse but its subversion, the "other" that may reveal important aspects of our social and linguistic experience in Western culture.

Keywords: literature, modernism, western cultures, postmodernism

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Authors: Gkolfo I. Smani, Vasileios Megalooikonomou

Abstract:

Social influence and influence diffusion have been studied in social networks. However, most existing tasks on this subject focus on static networks. In this paper, the problem of maximizing influence diffusion in dynamic social networks, i.e., the case of networks that change over time, is studied. The DM algorithm is an extension of the MATI algorithm and solves the influence maximization (IM) problem in dynamic networks and is proposed under the linear threshold (LT) and independent cascade (IC) models. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm achieves a diffusion performance better by 1.5 times than several state-of-the-art algorithms and comparable results in diffusion scale with the Greedy algorithm. Also, the proposed algorithm is 2.4 times faster than previous methods.

Keywords: influence maximization, dynamic social networks, diffusion, social influence, graphs

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Sai-Kit Choi

Abstract:

While traditional social services heavily depended on Government funding and support, there were always time lag, and resources mismatch with the fast growing and changing social needs. This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of implementing Circular Economy concept in a social service setting with comparison to Government Policy in response to social needs in 3 areas: response time, suitability, and community participation. To investigate the effectiveness of implementing Circular Economy concept in a social service setting, a real service model, a community resources sharing platform, was set up and statistics of the first 6 months’ operation data were used as comparison with traditional social services. Literature review was conducted as a reference basis of traditional social services under Government Policy. Case studies were conducted to provide the qualitative perspectives of the innovative approach. The results suggest that the Circular Economy model showed extraordinarily high level of community participation. In addition, it could utilize community resources in response precisely to the burning social needs. On the other hand, the available resources were unstable when comparing to those services supported by Government funding. The research team concluded that Circular Economy has high potential in applications in social service, especially in certain areas, such as resources sharing platform. Notwithstanding, it should be aware of the stability of resources when the services targeted to support some crucial needs.

Keywords: circular economy, social innovation, community participation, sharing economy, social response

Procedia PDF Downloads 108