Search results for: innovative workplace behavior

Authors: Itulelo Matiyabu Imaja, Patrick Ndayizigamiye, Manoj Maharaj

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There are many catalysts of corruption. These include amongst others, lack of effective control measures to deter or detect corrupt behaviour. Literature suggests that ICT could assist in curbing corruption through the implementation of automated systems, citizens engagement through e-government and online media to name a few. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, lack of transparency and accountability in public funds collection and allocation contribute to corruption in funds mismanagement. Using the accountability theory and available literature, this paper analyses how Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) institutions could be strengthened through ICT in order to deter instances of corruption. Findings reveal that DRC lacks reliable control, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that could identify potentially corrupt behavior. In addition, citizens and civil society organizations who are meant to hold the institutions accountable are not given secure platform to express their views and potentially flag any corrupt behavior. Hence, the paper presents a preliminary conceptual framework that depicts how ICT could be used to strengthen current institutions to potentially deter corrupt behavior in public funds management in Congo.

Keywords: corruption, ICT adoption, transparency, DR Congo

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Authors: Barbora Chmelíková

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Financial literacy is a widely discussed topic on the national and international level by governments, organizations and academia. For this reason this study analyses financial knowledge, financial behavior and financial attitudes of students of finance. The aim of the paper is to determine whether the financial literacy of university students studying finance differs from the level of financial literacy in selected OECD countries. The research was conducted at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. The empirical study comprises questions related to several aspects of financial literacy, as well as socio-demographic data enabling more thorough analysis. The results indicate that improvement in financial literacy of university students is still required, even though their major is finance related.

Keywords: financial literacy, financial behavior, personal finance management, university students

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Authors: Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Sri Ratna Rahayu, Efa Nugroho, Bertakalswa Hermawati

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In Indonesia, from 2007 until 2013, the prevalence of overnutrition in children under five years and school age tends to increase. Clean and Health Life Behavior of school children supporting nutrition status still below the determined target. On the other side, school institution is an ideal place to educate and form health behavior, that should be initiated as early as possible (Early Age Education/PAUD level). The objective of this research was to find out the effectivity of education model through partnership with school institution in urban region, city of Semarang, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The research used quantitative approach supported with qualitative data. The population consist of all mother having school children of ages 3-5 years within the research region; sampling technique was purposive sampling, as many as 237 mothers. Research instrument was Clean and Health Life Behavior evaluation questionaire, and video as education media. The research used experimental design. Data analysis used effectivity criteria from Sugiyono and 2 paired sampel t test. Education model optimalization in the effort to improve nutrition status indicates t test result with signification < 0.05 (there was significant effect before and after model intervention), with effectivity test result of 79% (effective), but still below expected target which is 80%. Education model need to be utilized and optimallized the implementation so that expected target reached.

Keywords: nutrition status, early age education, clean dan health life behavior, education model

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Authors: S. Reaz Ahmed, M. S. Kaiser

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The tribological behavior of commercially used Perspex was evaluated under dry and wet sliding condition using a pin-on-disc wear tester with different applied loads ranging from 2.5 to 20 N. Experiments were conducted with varying sliding distance from 0.2 km to 4.6 km, wherein the sliding velocity was kept constant, 0.64 ms^-1. The results reveal that the weight loss increases with applied load and the sliding distance. The nature of the wear rate was very similar in both the sliding environments in which initially the wear rate increased very rapidly with increasing sliding distance and then progressed to a slower rate. Moreover, the wear rate in wet sliding environment was significantly lower than that under dry sliding condition. The worn surfaces were characterized by optical microscope and SEM. It is found that surface modification has significant effect on sliding wear performance of Perspex.

Keywords: Perspex, wear, friction, SEM

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Authors: Kirsty Liddiard

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In this paper, we detail the politics and practicalities of co-produced disability research with disabled young people with life-limiting and life-threatening impairments in our ESRC funded project, Life, Death, Disability and the Human: Living Life to the Fullest. We centre our Co-Researcher Collective of disabled young people who, through virtual research methods and social technologies, are co-leading this innovative project exploring the lives, hopes, desires and ambitions of young disabled people living short(er) lives. Co-production is an established approach; however, our co-researchers have led us to develop inclusive and transformative research practices that engage with online social research methods in innovative ways. Through this discussion, we demarcate the Academy and ‘research process’ as potentially deeply ableist spaces that propogate the normative researcher as non-disabled; someone integrated into the Academy and insecure employment; and who enacts normative modes of leadership. We use our experiences of co-production in Living Life to the Fullest, then, to show that research – as a discipline, a set of politics, and scholarly practice – must be transformed in order to enable new inclusive research futures that support meaningful co-production with marginalised young people. In conclusion, as we detail our experiences, we aim to encourage disability studies researchers and others to adopt virtual environments and social technologies when researching with and for the lives of disabled people.

Keywords: co-production, illness, youth, technology

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Authors: Tatyana Kolmykova, Elvira Sitnikova

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Globalization is one of the key processes that are shaping the modern world. There are different often quite opposite attitudes toward globalization. However, it is impossible to avoid the effects of international integration, and they should be addressed in the process of formation and development of the national industrial sector.

Keywords: integrated structures, industrial sector, globalization, national

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Authors: Nattapong Techarattanased, Paweena Sribunrueng

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The objective of this study is to investigate strategies in customer relationship management and customers’ behavior in making decision on buying car insurance of Southeast Insurance Co. Ltd. in Bangkok. Subjects in this study included 400 customers with the age over 20 years old to complete questionnaires. The data were analyzed by arithmetic mean and multiple regressions. The results revealed that the customers’ opinions on the strategies in customer relationship management, i.e. customer relationship, customer feedback, customer follow-up, useful service suggestions, customer communication, and service channels were in moderate level but on the customer retention was in high level. Moreover, the strategy in customer relationship management, i.e. customer relationship, and customer feedback had an influence on customers’ buying decision on buying car insurance. The two factors above can be used for the prediction at the rate of 34%. In addition, the strategy in customer relationship management, i.e. customer retention, customer feedback, and useful service suggestions had an influence on the customers’ buying decision on period of being customers. The three factors could be used for the prediction at the rate of 45%.

Keywords: strategies, customer relationship management, behavior in buying decision, car insurance

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Authors: Odete Paiva, Cláudia Seabra, José Luís Abrantes, Fernanda Cravidão

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There is a clear ‘cult of authenticity’, at least in modern Western society. So, there is a need to analyze the tourist perception of authenticity, bearing in mind the destination, its attractions, motivations, cultural distance, and contact with other tourists. Our study seeks to investigate the relationship among cultural values, image, sense of place, perception of authenticity and behavior intentions at World Heritage Historic Centers. From a theoretical perspective, few researches focus on the impact of cultural values, image and sense of place on authenticity and intentions behavior in tourists. The intention of this study is to help close this gap. A survey was applied to collect data from tourists visiting two World Heritage Historic Centers – Guimarães in Portugal and Cordoba in Spain. Data was analyzed in order to establish a structural equation model (SEM). Discussion centers on the implications of model to theory and managerial development of tourism strategies. Recommendations for destinations managers and promoters and tourist organizations administrators are addressed.

Keywords: authenticity perception, behavior intentions, cultural tourism, cultural values, world heritage historic centers

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Authors: Nikhil Padhye

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Recently a new phenomenon for bonding of polymeric films in solid-state, at ambient temperatures well below the glass transition temperature of the polymer, has been reported. This is achieved by bulk plastic compression of polymeric films held in contact. Here we analyze the process of cold-rolling of polymeric films via finite element simulations and illustrate a flexible and modular experimental rolling-apparatus that can achieve bonding of polymeric films through cold-rolling. Firstly, the classical theory of rolling a rigid-plastic thin-strip is utilized to estimate various deformation fields such as strain-rates, velocities, loads etc. in rolling the polymeric films at the specified feed-rates and desired levels of thickness-reduction(s). Predicted magnitudes of slow strain-rates, particularly at ambient temperatures during rolling, and moderate levels of plastic deformation (at which Bauschinger effect can be neglected for the particular class of polymeric materials studied here), greatly simplifies the task of material modeling and allows us to deploy a computationally efficient, yet accurate, finite deformation rate-independent elastic-plastic material behavior model (with inclusion of isotropic-hardening) for analyzing the rolling of these polymeric films. The interfacial behavior between the roller and polymer surfaces is modeled using Coulombic friction; consistent with the rate-independent behavior. The finite deformation elastic-plastic material behavior based on (i) the additive decomposition of stretching tensor (D = De + Dp, i.e. a hypoelastic formulation) with incrementally objective time integration and, (ii) multiplicative decomposition of deformation gradient (F = FeFp) into elastic and plastic parts, are programmed and carried out for cold-rolling within ABAQUS Explicit. Predictions from both the formulations, i.e., hypoelastic and multiplicative decomposition, exhibit a close match. We find that no specialized hyperlastic/visco-plastic model is required to describe the behavior of the blend of polymeric films, under the conditions described here, thereby speeding up the computation process .

Keywords: Polymer Plasticity, Bonding, Deformation Induced Mobility, Rolling

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Authors: Amruta Amune, Rohit Agrawal, Yashashree Shastri, Syeda Zarah Aiman, Rutuja Rathi, Vaishnav Suryawanshi, Sameer Sumbhe

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Every human being needs a sense of security. The requirement for security has risen in proportion with the population growth. However, because of a scarcity of resources, effective protection is not possible. It costs a lot of money to get appropriate security that not many can handle or afford. The goal of the study was to find a solution to the issue by developing a system capable of providing strong protection at a very low cost when long-term benefits are taken into account. The objective was to design and develop a robot that could travel around and survey the region and inform the command center if anything unusual was found. The system will be controlled manually on the server to find out its workplace's paths. The system is outfitted with a camera so that it can be used to capture built-in live video of the attacker and display it on the server.

Keywords: night patrolling, node MCU, server, security

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Authors: Fatiha Boudjema, Samia Boudergua, Abdallah Elhirtsi Nour El Houda, Ahmed Mbarek Kaouther

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The main objective of our work is to prepare and characterize a moisturizing lip balm based on natural ingredients such as waxes, vegetable oils, and shea butter. First, the vegetable and essential oils were extracted, and then lip balm was prepared. The extracted oils and the lip balm were submitted to many tests in order to guarantee their quality and effectiveness. These tests show that our balm has a shear thinning behavior with a melting point of 58 °C and that it spreads easily on the skin without showing an allergic reaction. The balm showed a moisturising effect and stability over the two-month period at storage room temperature condition.

Keywords: lip balm, natural products, rheological study, antioxydant activity

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Authors: I Putu Yuda Hananta, Inke Kusumastuti

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The latest Indonesian Biology and Behavior Surveillance (IBBS) conducted by Indonesian Ministry of Health reported a large proportion of men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging in oral sex in their recent sexual history. While it is considered as a pleasuring and safe, oral sex might facilitate the transmission of various sexually transmitted infection (STI) pathogens. This study was aimed to investigate the oral sex practice among MSM in Indonesian urban settings to help delineate demographic and behavior determinants of such practice. In 2014, 501 MSM in 8 clinic-based and outreach STI services were recruited in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Denpasar, Indonesia. Respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire inquiring about their demographics and sexual history. Median age (interquartile range) of the respondents was 27 (24-30) years; most completed senior high school (54.3%), worked in informal jobs (57.9%), and single (60.9%); and 32.3% reported receiving money in exchange for sex. Oral sex was practiced by most respondents: insertive only (10.0%), receptive only (6.0%), and both (82.4%). A separate multivariable analysis was performed using logistic regression to identify the determinants for receptive and insertive oral sex. Factors associated with receptive oral sex were having more than 10 sex partner(s) in the preceding 6 months vs 1 partner, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) [95% CI]=3.40 [1.22-9.42], p=0.03; and history of receptive-insertive anal sex vs no history, aOR=4.37 [1.76-10.82], p=0.01. Factors associated with insertive oral sex were receiving money for sex vs. not receiving, aOR=2.98 [1.10-8.04], p=0.02; and history of receptive-insertive anal sex vs. no history, aOR=2.10 [0.51-8.74], p<0.001. Only a few respondents reported consistent condom use (11.6% and 12.0% for receptive and insertive oral sex, respectively). Our findings demonstrated that while oral sex is a common practice among MSM, the consistency of condom use in oral sex is very low. In addition, certain sex behavior (number of sex partners, sex work and history of anal sex) were associated with oral sex, and this might need to be addressed during health promotion efforts on STI prevention through oral-genital contact.

Keywords: behavior, Indonesia, men who have sex with men, oral sex

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Authors: Saeid Sahmani

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Due to size-dependent behavior of nanostrustures, the classical continuum models are not applicable for the analyses at this submicrion size. Surface stress effect is one of the most important matters which make the nanoscale structures to have different properties compared to the conventional structures due to high surface to volume ratio. In the present study, free vibration characteristics of nanoplates are investigated including surface stress effects. To this end, non-classical plate model based on Gurtin-Murdoch elasticity theory is proposed to evaluate the surface stress effects on the vibrational behavior of nanoplates subjected to different boundary conditions. Generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method is employed to discretize the governing non-classical differential equations along with various edge supports. Selected numerical results are given to demonstrate the distinction between the behavior of nanoplates predicted by the classical and present non-classical plate models that leads to illustrate the great influence of surface stress effect. It is observed that this influence quite depends on the magnitude of the surface elastic constants which are relevant to the selected material.

Keywords: nanomechanics, surface stress, free vibration, GDQ method, small scale effect

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Authors: Faiza Mnasri, Kamilia Abahri, Mohammed El Ganaoui, Slimane Gabsi

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Most of the building materials are considered porous, and composed of solid matrix and pores. In the pores, the moisture can be existed in two phases: liquid and vapor. Thus, the mass balance equation is comprised of various moisture driving potentials that translate the movement of the different existing phases occupying pores and the hygroscopic behavior of a porous construction material. This study suggests to resolve a hygrothermal mathematical model of heat and mass transfers in different porous building materials by a numerical investigation. Thereby, the evolution of temperature and moisture content fields has been processed. So, numerous series of hygrothermal calculation on several cases of wall are exposed. Firstly, a case of monolayer wall of massive wood has been treated. In this part, we have compared the numerical solution of the model on one and two dimensions and the effect of dimensional space has been evaluated. In the second case, three building materials (concrete, wood fiberboard and wooden insulation) are tested separately with the same boundary conditions and their hygrothermal behavior are compared. The evaluation of the exchange of heat and air at the interface between the wall and the interior ambiance is carried.

Keywords: building materials, heat transfer, moisture diffusion, numerical solution

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Authors: J. Tamosaityte

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The research paper analyzed the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) meaning and how the meaning of CSR evoluted and changed during the last years. The paper suggests to expand CSR understanding in framework of Corporate Socially Responsible Behavior (CSRB), CSR integration into business strategy and CSR effect with stakeholders engagement, when all the business is based on CSR. A business that is fully based on CSR may act in a more successful way and reach better business results in the long-term perspective. Strong business’s commitment to CSR might also strengthen company’s reputation and be one of significant element to achieve business sustainability.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, corporate socially responsible behavior, strategy, stakeholders engagement, reputation

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Authors: Okba Belahssen, Lazhar Torchane, Said Benramache, Abdelouahed Chala

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This paper presents corrosion behavior of the plasma-nitrided 32CrMoV13 steel. Different kinds of samples were tested: non-treated, plasma nitrided samples. The structure of layers was determined by X-ray diffraction, while the morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The corrosion behavior was evaluated by electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). The corrosion tests were carried out in acid chloride solution (HCl 1M). Experimental results showed that the nitrides ε-Fe2−3N and γ′-Fe4N present in the white layer are nobler than the substrate but may promote, by galvanic effect, a localized corrosion through open porosity. The better corrosion protection was observed for nitrided sample.

Keywords: plasma-nitrided, 32CrMoV13 steel, corrosion, EIS

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Authors: Stephens Oluyemi Adetunji, Nel Norma Margaret, Naidu Narainsamy

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Empathy has been identified by researchers to be a crucial factor in helping adolescents to refrain from delinquent behavior. Adolescent delinquent behavior is a social problem that has become a source of concern to parents, psychologists, educators, correctional services, researchers as well as governments of nations. Empathy is a social skill that enables an individual to understand and to share another’s emotional state. An individual with a high level of empathy will avoid any act or behavior that will affect another person negatively. The need for this study is predicated on the fact that delinquent adolescent behavior could lead to adult criminality. This, in the long run, has the potential of resulting in an increase in crime rate thereby threatening public safety. It has therefore become imperative to explore the level of empathy of delinquent adolescents who have committed crime and are awaiting trial. It is the conjecture of this study that knowledge of the empathy level of delinquent adolescents will provide an opportunity to design an intervention strategy to remediate the deficit. This study was therefore designed to determine the level of empathy of delinquent adolescents. In addition, this study provides a better understanding of factors that may prevent adolescents from developing delinquent behavior, in this case, delinquents’ empathy levels. In the case of participants who have a low level of empathy, remediation strategies to improve their empathy level would be designed. Two research questions were raised to guide this study. A mixed methods research design was employed for the study. The sample consists of fifteen male adolescents who are between 13-18 years old with a mean age of 16.5 years old. The participants are adolescents who are awaiting trial. The non-probability sampling technique was used to obtain the sample for the quantitative study while purposive sampling was used in the case of the qualitative study. A self–report questionnaire and structured interview were used to assess the level of empathy of participants. The data obtained was analysed using the simple percentages for the quantitative data and transcribing the qualitative data. The result indicates that most of the participants have low level of empathy. It is also revealed that there is a difference in the empathy level on the basis of whether they are from parents living together and those whose parents are separated. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that the level of empathy of participants be improved through training and emphasizing the importance of stimulating family environment for children. It is also recommended that programs such as youth mentoring and youth sheltering be established by the government of South Africa to address the menace of delinquent adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents, behavior, delinquents, empathy

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Authors: Khalid S. Hashim, Andy Shaw, Rafid Alkhaddar, David Phipps, Ortoneda Pedrola

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Temperature is an essential parameter in the electrocoagulation process (EC) as it governs the solubility of electrodes and the precipitates and the collision rate of particles in water being treated. Although it has been about 100 years since the EC technology was invented and applied in water and wastewater treatment, the effects of temperature on the its performance were insufficiently investigated. Thus, the present project aims to fill this gap by an innovative use of perforated flow columns in the designing of a new EC reactor (ECR1). The new reactor (ECR1) consisted of a Perspex made cylinder container supplied with a flow column consisted of perorated discoid electrodes that made from aluminium. The flow column has been installed vertically, half submerged in the water being treated, inside a plastic cylinder. The unsubmerged part of the flow column works as a radiator for the water being treated. In order to investigate the performance of ECR1; water samples with different initial temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 °C) to the ECR1 for 20 min. Temperature of effluent water samples were measured using Hanna meter (Model: HI 98130). The obtained results demonstrated that the ECR1 reduced water temperature from 35, 30, and 25 °C to 24.6, 23.8, and 21.8 °C respectively. While low water temperature, 15 °C, increased slowly to reach 19.1 °C after 15 minutes and kept the same level till the end of the treatment period. At the same time, water sample with initial temperature of 20 °C showed almost a steady level of temperature along the treatment process, where the temperature increased negligibly from 20 to 20.1 °C after 20 minutes of treatment. In conclusion, ECR1 is able to control the temperature of water being treated around the room temperature even when the initial temperature was high (35 °C) or low (15 °C).

Keywords: electrocoagulation, flow column, treatment, water temperature

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Authors: S. Boukais, A. Nekmouche, N. Khelil, A. Kezmane

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The first intent of this study is to develop a finite element model that can predict correctly the behavior of the reinforced concrete column. Second aim is to use the finite element model to investigate and evaluate the effect of the strengthening method by jacketing of the reinforced concrete column, by considering different interface contact between the old and the new concrete. Four models were evaluated, one by considering perfect contact, the other three models by using friction coefficient of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5. The simulation was carried out by using Abaqus software. The obtained results show that the jacketing reinforcement led to significant increase of the global performance of the behavior of the simulated reinforced concrete column.

Keywords: strengthening, jacketing, rienforced concrete column, Abaqus, simulation

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Authors: Zainur Rahman

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Meaningful work is the topic that will be discussed in this article, especially in changing period. It has an important role because by reaching meaningful work, it will drive to be positive in the workplace. Therefore, task performance will be increased and cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) will be reduced. Moreover, it is influenced by situational factor, which is transformational leadership. In this conceptual paper, the author discusses how the construct of meaningful work influenced by transformational leadership that will have impact on the follower’ work outcomes in the organizational change. It is proposed that the construct of meaningful work are susceptible with situational variable. Transformational leaders who are respectful on the process of humanizing the followers affect task performance and reduce CAOC in organizational change.

Keywords: transformational leadership, meaningful work, task performance, CAOC

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Authors: Ellen Lagast, Melissa Ceuterick, Mark Leys

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Although adolescence is a stressful period with an increased risk for mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, little in-depth knowledge is available on the determinants of the use of psychotropic drugs (BZD/SSRIs) and the effects. A qualitative research with adolescents in Flanders was performed. Based on indepth interviews, the interviewees indicate feelings of ambiguity towards their medication use because on the one hand the medication helps to manage their mental vulnerability and disrupted lives, but on the other hand they experience a loss of control of their self and their environment. Undesired side-effects and stigma led to a negative pharmaceutical self. The interviewed youngsters also express dissatisfaction about the prescription behavior with regard to psychotropic drugs of their general practitioner (GP). They wished to have received more information about alternative non-pharmaceutical treatment options. Notwithstanding these comments, the majority of the interviewees maintained trust in their GP to act in their best interest. This paper will relate the prescription behavior in primary care to the organization of mental health care to better understand the “phamaceuticalization” and medicalization of mental health problems in Belgium. Belgium implemented fundamental mental health care reforms to collaborate, to integrate care and to optimize continuity of care. Children and adolescents still are confronted with long waiting lists to access (non-medicalized) mental health services. This access to mental health care partly explains general practitioners’ prescription behavior of psychotropics. Moreover, multidisciplinary practices have not pervaded primary health care yet. Medicalization and pharmaceuticalization of mental health vulnerabilities of youth are both a structural and cultural problem.

Keywords: adolescents, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, mental health system, psychotropic drugs

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Authors: Masica Jordan Alston, Angela N. Bullock, Angela S. Henderson, Stephanie Strianse, Sade Dunn, Joseph Hackett, Alaysia Black Hackett, Marcus Mason

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The Energy Model of Cumulative Grief was created in 2018. The Energy Model of Cumulative Grief utilizes historic models of grief stage theories. The innovative model is additionally unique due to its focus on cultural responsiveness. The Energy Model of Cumulative Grief helps to train practitioners who work with clients dealing with grief and loss. This paper assists in introducing the world to this innovative model and exploring how this model positively impacted a convenience sample of 140 practitioners and individuals experiencing grief and loss. Respondents participated in Webinars provided by the National Grief and Loss Center of America (NGLCA). Participants in this cross-sectional research design study completed one of three Grief and Loss Surveys created by the Grief and Loss Centers of America. Data analysis for this study was conducted via SPSS and Survey Hero to examine survey results for respondents. Results indicate that the Energy Model of Cumulative Grief was an effective resource for participants in addressing grief and loss. The majority of participants found the Webinars to be helpful and a conduit to providing them with higher levels of hope. The findings suggest that using The Energy Model of Cumulative Grief is effective in providing culturally responsive grief and loss resources to practitioners and clients. There are far reaching implications with the use of technology to provide hope to those suffering from grief and loss worldwide through The Energy Model of Cumulative Grief.

Keywords: grief, loss, grief energy, grieving brain

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Authors: Surekha B. Bansode, Shakeela K. Shareef

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Working women have to face complex issues of family life and professional life. Stress is the condition that results from person’s response to physical, emotional or environmental factors. The stress response can cause problems when it overreacts or fails to turn off and reset itself properly. In the present investigation correlation between stress and blood glucose level in working women group and non working women group was studied. Working women when compared with non working women, experienced more physical and psychological stress. An additional increase in fasting blood glucose levels could be attributed to stress and anxiety they undergo at the workplace. This may lead to increase their susceptibility to develop type II Diabetes Mellitus in coming future.

Keywords: blood sugar, nutrition, stress, working women

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Authors: Nizar Mansour, Chiha Gaha, Emna Gara

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The present research investigates the relationship among HRM practices, knowledge sharing behavior and a certain number of intermediary variables in the context of Tunisian knowledge-intensive firms. Results suggest that five HR practices influence either directly or indirectly the knowledge sharing behavior through enhancing the value of human capital and fostering a learning-oriented organizational climate. Results have strong theoretical implications for both the fields of knowledge management and strategic human resource management. Managerial implications are also derived.

Keywords: human capital, knowledge intensive firms, knowledge sharing, organizational climate, Tunisia

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Authors: Nabaouia.Maktouf, Ali Ben Moussa, Saïd Turki

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This paper discusses the effect of an attached flexible membrane on the control of fluid around a circular cylinder. A parametric study has been investigated for different positions, sizes, modes as well as frequencies of oscillation of the flexible membrane. The numerical investigation was conducted for a Reynolds number equal to 150 using the commercial code Fluent 16.0 and parallel calculation into 4 processors. The motion of the flexible membrane was managed by the dynamic mesh and compiled into Fluent as a user-defined function. The first part of this paper discusses the effect of changing the position of a flexible membrane sized 8° as an angle of aperture on the aerodynamic coefficients. Results show that the flexible membrane placed at 110° from the stagnation point presents more non-linearity on the behavior of the drag coefficient compared to the drag behavior when placed at 180°, relative to the stagnation point. The effect of the size of the flexible surface was studied for the corresponding angles of aperture: 32° and 42°, respectively. The effect of modes (modes 1, 2, and 3) of vibrations has been investigated at a constant frequency of vibration f=2Hz for angles 32° and 42°. All the calculations have been done with a constant amplitude A =0.001m. A non-linearity of the drag coefficient was clearly observed for all the sizes, modes as well as frequencies of excitation. The Fast Fourier transformation shows the appearance of the natural shedding frequency and the multiples of the frequency of excitation. An increase in the modes of oscillation leads to a more linear behavior of the drag coefficient.

Keywords: fluid flow control, numerical simulation, dynamic mesh, aerodynamic forces, flexible membrane

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Authors: Minjung Maing, Sibei Liu

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This research discusses the results of a study of window opening behavior of large housing developments in the high-density megacity of Hong Kong. The methods used for the study involved field observations using photo documentation of the four cardinal elevations (north, south-east, and west) of two large housing developments in a very dense urban area of approx. 46,000 persons per square meter within the city of Hong Kong. The targeted housing developments (A and B) are large public housing with a population of about 13,000 in each development of lower income. However, the mean income level in development A is about 40% higher than development B and home ownership is 60% in development A and 0% in development B. Mapping of the surrounding amenities and layout of the developments were also studied to understand the available activities to the residents. The photo documentation of the elevations was taken from November 2016 to February 2018 to gather a full spectrum of different seasons and both in the morning and afternoon (am/pm) times. From the photograph, the window opening behavior was measured by counting the amount of windows opened as a percentage of all the windows on that façade. For each date of survey data collected, weather data was recorded from weather stations located in the same region to collect temperature, humidity and wind speed. To further understand the behavior, simulation studies of microclimate conditions of the housing development was conducted using the software ENVI-met, a widely used simulation tool by researchers studying urban climate. Four major conclusions can be drawn from the data analysis and simulation results. Firstly, there is little change in the amount of window opening during the different seasons within a temperature range of 10 to 35 degrees Celsius. This means that people who tend to open their windows have consistent window opening behavior throughout the year and high tolerance of indoor thermal conditions. Secondly, for all four elevations the lower-income development B opened more windows (almost two times more units) than higher-income development A meaning window opening behavior had strong correlations with income level. Thirdly, there is a lack of correlation between outdoor horizontal wind speed and window opening behavior, as the changes of wind speed do not seem to affect the action of opening windows in most conditions. Similar to the low correlation between horizontal wind speed and window opening percentage, it is found that vertical wind speed also cannot explain the window opening behavior of occupants. Fourthly, there is a slightly higher average of window opening on the south elevation than the north elevation, which may be due to the south elevation being well shaded from high angle sun during the summer and allowing heat into units from lower angle sun during the winter season. These findings are important to providing insight into how to better design urban environments and indoor thermal environments for a liveable high density city.

Keywords: high-density housing, subtropical climate, urban behavior, window opening

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Authors: Elizabeth Perry, Jylana Sheats

Abstract:

Scholars posit that there is an overlap between the fields of Behavioral Economics (BE) and Behavior Science (BSci)—and that consideration of concepts from both may facilitate a greater understanding of health decision-making processes. For example, the ‘intention-action gap’ is one BE concept to explain sup-optimal decision-making. It is described as having knowledge that does not translate into behavior. Complementary best BSci practices may provide insights into behavioral determinants and relevant behavior change techniques (BCT). Within the context of BSci, this exploratory study aimed to apply a BE concept with demonstrated effectiveness in financial decision-making to a health behavior: influenza (flu) vaccine uptake. Adults aged >18 years were recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a digital labor market where anonymous users perform simple tasks at low cost. Eligible participants were randomized into 2 groups, reviewed a scenario, and then completed a survey on the likelihood of receiving a flu shot. The ‘usual care’ group’s scenario included standard CDC guidance that supported the behavior. The ‘intervention’ group’s scenario included messaging about people who did not receive the flu shot. The framing was such that participants could learn from others’ (strangers) mistakes and the subsequent health consequences: ‘Last year, other people who didn’t get the vaccine were about twice as likely to get the flu, and a number of them were hospitalized or even died. Don’t risk it.’ Descriptive statistics and chi-square analyses were performed on the sample. There were 648 participants (usual care, n=326; int., n=322). Among racial/ethnic minorities (n=169; 57% aged < 40), the intervention group was 22% more likely to report that they were ‘extremely’ or ‘moderately’ likely to get the flu vaccine (p = 0.11). While not statistically significant, findings suggest that framing messages from the perspective of learning from the mistakes of unknown others coupled with the BCT ‘knowledge about the health consequences’ may help influence flu vaccine uptake among the study population. With the widely documented disparities in vaccine uptake, exploration of the complementary application of these concepts and strategies may be critical.

Keywords: public health, decision-making, vaccination, behavioral science

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Authors: A. Hadadi, M. Abdollahi, A. Dustmohammadi

Abstract:

The growing use of DGs in distribution networks provide many advantages and also cause new problems which should be anticipated and be solved with appropriate solutions. One of the problems is transient voltage drop and short circuit in the electrical network, in the presence of distributed generation - which can lead to instability. The appearance of the short circuit will cause loss of generator synchronism, even though if it would be able to recover synchronizing mode after removing faulty generator, it will be stable. In order to increase system reliability and generator lifetime, some strategies should be planned to apply even in some situations which a fault prevent generators from separation. In this paper, one fault current limiter is installed due to prevent DGs separation from the grid when fault occurs. Furthermore, an innovative objective function is applied to determine the impedance optimal amount of fault current limiter in order to improve transient stability of distributed generation. Fault current limiter can prevent generator rotor's sudden acceleration after fault occurrence and thereby improve the network transient stability by reducing the current flow in a fast and effective manner. In fact, by applying created impedance by fault current limiter when a short circuit happens on the path of current injection DG to the fault location, the critical fault clearing time improve remarkably. Therefore, protective relay has more time to clear fault and isolate the fault zone without any instability. Finally, different transient scenarios of connection plan sustainability of small scale synchronous generators to the distribution network are presented.

Keywords: critical clearing time, fault current limiter, synchronous generator, transient stability, transient states

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Riffat Sultana, Ahmed Ali Samejo

Abstract:

Desert Locust is a critical pest of crop and non-crop plants throughout the old world including Pakistan. Geographically, this pest invades 31 million km2 in about 60 countries during the gregarious phase which may bring calamity. The present study is carried out in order to conduct field observations on oviposition behavior from Thar Desert, Pakistan. Females preferred loose soil for oviposition rather than packed or hard soil. The depth of egg pods inside the soil was measured up to 8.996±1.40 cm, and duration of egg laying was measured up to 105.9±26.4 min. Besides this, an insightful recognition has been made that the solitary females oviposited predominantly in the vicinity of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and guar or cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) crops in cultivated fields while in uncultivated land preferred the surroundings of bekar grass (Indigofera caerulea) and snow bush (Aerva javanica). It was also observed that nymphs preferred to feed on these host plants. Furthermore, experimental outcomes indicated that gravid females oviposited on the bottom of perforated plastic cages while, they did not find suitable soil for oviposition.

Keywords: calamity, cultivated fields, desert locust, host plants, oviposition behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: H. Hosseini, B. V. Berdyshev, I. Iskopintsev

Abstract:

This paper presents a rheological model for producing shape-memory thermoplastic polymers. Shape-memory occurs as a result of internal rearrangement of the structural elements of a polymer. A non-linear viscoelastic model was developed that allows qualitative and quantitative prediction of the stress-strain behavior of shape-memory polymers during heating. This research was done to develop a technique to determine the maximum possible change in size of heat-shrinkable products during heating. The rheological model used in this work was particularly suitable for defining process parameters and constructive parameters of the processing equipment.

Keywords: elastic deformation, heating, shape-memory polymers, stress-strain behavior, viscoelastic model

Procedia PDF Downloads 317