Search results for: psychological capital

Authors: Ahmed Mateen, Zhu Qingsheng, Muhammad Awais, Muhammad Yahya Saeed

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This paper targets the rising factor of entrepreneurship innovation, which lacks in Pakistan as compared to the other countries or the regions like China, India, and Malaysia, etc. This is an exploratory and explanatory study. Major aspects have identified as the direction for the policymakers while highlighting the issues in true spirit. IT needs to be considered not only as a technology but also as itself growing as a new community. IT management processes are complex and broad, so generally requires extensive attention to the collective aspects of human variables, capital and technology. In addition, projects tend to have a special set of critical success factors, and if these are processed and given attention, it will improve the chances of successful implementation. This is only possible with state of the art intelligent decision support systems and accumulating IT staff to some extent in decision processes. This paper explores this issue carefully and discusses six issues to observe the implemented strength and possible enhancement.

Keywords: security and defense forces, IT-incentives, big IT-players, IT-entrepreneurial-culture

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Authors: Yan Jia China

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The ruins is a kind of historical intention, which is also the current real existence of developing city. Zen culture of ancient China has a profound esthetic emotion, similarly, the west establish the concept of aesthetics of relic along with the Romanism’s (such as Rousseau etc.) sentiment to historical ruins at the end of 18th century. Nowadays, with the decline of traditional industrial society as well as the rise of post-industrial age, contemporary society must face the ruins and garbage problem which is left by industrial society. Commencing from the perspective of emotion and memory, this paper analyzes the importance for emotional needs as well as their existing status of several projects, such as the Capital Steelworks in Beijing (industrial devastation), the Shibati old section in Chongqing (urban slums) and the Old Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem (ruins of war). It emphasizes urban design which is started from emotion and the sustainable development of city memory through managing the urban ruins which is criticized by people with the perspective of ecology and art.

Keywords: cultural heritage, urban ruins, ecology, emotion, sustainable urban memory

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Authors: Pallavi Thacker, H. P. Mathur

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This paper tries to find out from the available literature the status of Competitive Advantage. It has been stated a number of times that firms must strive to attain sustainable competitive advantage; but is the concept of sustainability of advantage still valid in this new diversified and too-rapidly changing world? The paper reaches a conclusion that the answer is “no”. Gone is the time when once attained position could easily be retained forever or at-least for a substantial amount of time. We live in a time which is very much globalised. We are used to a high level of competition from all directions. Technological advances, developed human capital, flexibility and end number of factors make the sustenance of competitive advantage difficult. This paper analyses competitive advantage from the view points of Michael Porter (who talks about sustainability) and Rita Gunther McGrath (who says competitive advantage can no more be sustained). It uses many examples and evidences from papers, journals and news. A research in this area is very much required (especially in a developing country like India) so that industries, firms and people can find out the suitable strategies that match with the changing times.

Keywords: competitive advantage, sustainable, transient, globalisation

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Authors: Basil Manos, Parthena Chatzinikolaou, Fedra Kiomourtzi

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This paper presents a mathematical model for the sustainable management of agricultural resources in irrigated agriculture. This is a multicriteria mathematical programming model and used as a tool for the planning, analysis and simulation of farm plans in rural irrigated areas, as well as for the study of impacts of the various policies in irrigated agriculture. The model can achieve the optimum farm plan of an agricultural region taking in account different conflicting criteria as the maximization of gross margin and the minimization of fertilizers used, under a set of constraints for land, labor, available capital, common agricultural policy etc. The proposed model was applied to four prefectures in central Greece. The results show that in all prefectures, the optimum farm plans achieve greater income and less environmental impacts (less irrigated water use and less fertilizers use) than the existent plans.

Keywords: sustainable use of agricultural resources, irrigated agriculture, multicriteria analysis, optimum income

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Authors: Leonore Robieux, Franck Zenasni, Marc Pocard, Clarisse Eveno

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Empirical data in health psychology studies show the necessity to consider the doctor-patient communication and its positive impact on outcomes such as patients’ satisfaction, treatment adherence, physical and psychological wellbeing. In this line, the present research aims to define the role and determinants of an effective doctor–patient communication during the treatment of patients with serious illness (peritoneal carcinomatosis). We carried out a prospective longitudinal study including patients treated for peritoneal carcinomatosis of various origins. From November 2016, to date, data were collected using validated questionnaires at two times of evaluation: one month before the surgery (T0) and one month after (T1). Thus, patients reported their (a) anxiety and depression levels, (b) standardized and individualized quality of life and (c) how they perceived communication, attitude and empathy of the surgeon. 105 volunteer patients (Mean age = 58.18 years, SD = 10.24, 62.2% female) participated to the study. PC arose from rare diseases (14%), colorectal (38%), eso-gastric (24%) and ovarian (8%) cancer. Three groups are defined according to the severity of their pathology and the treatment offered to them: (1) important surgical treatment with the goal of healing (53%), (2) repeated palliative surgical treatment (17%), and (3) the patients recused for surgical treatment, only palliative approach (30%). Results are presented according to Baron and Kenny recommendations. The regressions analyses show that only depression and anxiety are sensitive to the communication and empathy of surgeon. The main results show that a good communication and high level of empathy at T0 and T1 limit depression and anxiety of the patients in T1. Results also indicate that the severity of the disease modulates this positive impact of communication: better is the communication the less are the level of depression and anxiety of the patients. This effect is higher for patients treated for the more severe disease. These results confirm that, even in the case severe disease a good communication between patient and physician remains a significant factor in promoting the well-being of patients. More specific training need to be developed to promote empathic care.

Keywords: clinical empathy, determinants, healthcare, psychological wellbeing

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Authors: Sarah Elshahat, Tina Moffat

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Suboptimal mental health is a considerable global public health challenge that leads to considerable inequalities worldwide. Newcomers are at elevated risk for developing mental health issues as a result of social exclusion, stigmatization, racism, unequal employment opportunities, and discrimination. The problem can be especially serious amongst Arabic-speaking immigrants and refugees (ASIR) whose mental wellness may have already been affected by exposure to political violence, persecution, hunger or war in their countries of origin. A scoping review was conducted to investigate pre- and post-migration mental health determinants amongst ASIR in North America (the U.S. and Canada), who are a rapidly growing population in both regions. Pertinent peer-reviewed papers and grey literature were located through a systematic search of five electronic databases (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Anthropology Plus, and Sociology Database). A stakeholder consultation was implemented to validate the analyzed findings of the included 44 studies. About 80% of the studies were carried out in the US, underscoring a lack of Canadian ASIR-mental health research. A gap in qualitative, mixed-method, and longitudinal research was detected, where approximately two-thirds of the studies adopted a cross-sectional method. Pre-migration determinants of mental health were related to the political unrest, violence and armed conflict in the Arab world, increasing post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological distress levels among ASIR. English language illiteracy and generational variations in acculturation patterns were major post-migration mental health triggering factors. Exposure to domestic violence, stigmatization, poverty, racialization, and harassment were significant post-migration mental health determinants that stem from social inequalities, triggering depression, and distress amongst ASIR. Family conflicts linked to child-rearing and gendered norms were considered as both pre- and post-migration mental health triggering factors. Most post-migration mental health protective factors were socio-culturally related and included the maintenance of positive ethnic identity, faith, family support, and community cohesion. Individual resilience, articulated as self-esteem and hope, was a significant negative predictor of depression and psychological distress among ASIR. Community-engaged, mixed-methods, and longitudinal studies are required to address the current gap in mental health research among ASIR in North America. A more thorough determination of potential mental health triggers and protective factors would help inform the development of mental wellness and resilience-promoting programs that are culturally sensitive to ASIR. On the policy level, the Health in All Policies framework of the World Health Organization can be potentially useful for addressing social and health inequalities among ASIR, reducing mental health challenges.

Keywords: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress, resilience

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Authors: Ankita Shanker, Angus Nurse

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The notion of animal rights is an emerging trend in various spaces, including judicial and societal discourse. But one of the key purposes of recognizing the fundamental rights of anyone is their de-objectification. Animals are a prime example of a group that has rights that are neither recognized nor protected in any meaningful way, and anything that purports differently fails to ameliorate this because it still objectifies animals. Animals are currently treated by law and society as commodities with primarily (though not exclusively) instrumental value to some other rights-holder, such as humans or nature. So most protections that are afforded to them are done so in furtherance of the interests that they allegedly further, be it social morality or environmental protection. Animal rights are thus often seen as an application or extension of the rights of humans or, more commonly, the rights of nature. What this means is that animal rights are not always protected or even recognized in their own regard, but as stemming from some other reason, or worse, instrumentally as means to some other ends. This has two identifiable effects from a legal perspective: animal rights are not seen as inherently justified and are not seen as inherently valuable. Which in turn means that there can be no fundamental protection of animal rights. In other words, judicial protection does not always entail protection of animal ‘rights’ qua animal rights, which is needed for any meaningful protections to be afforded to animals. But the effects of this legal paradigm do not end at the legal status of animals. Because this status, in turn, affects how persons and the societies of which they form part see animals as a part of the rights of others, such as humans or nature, or as valuable only insofar as they further these rights, as opposed to as individuals with inherent worth and value deserving of protection regardless of their instrumental usefulness to these other objectives. This does nothing to truly de-objectify animals. Because even though most people would agree that animals are not objects, they continue to treat them as such wherever it serves them. For individuals and society to resolve, this inconsistency between stance and actions is for them to believe that animals are more than objects on a psychological and societal level. In this paper, we examine the implications of this perception of animals and their rights on the legal protections afforded to them and on the minds of individuals and civil society. We also argue that a change in the legal and societal status of animals can be brought about only through judicial, psychological, and sociological acknowledgment that animals have inherent value and deserve protection on this basis. Animal rights derived in such a way would not need to place reliance on other justifications and would not be subject to subjugation to other rights should a conflict arise.

Keywords: animal rights law, animal protection laws, psycho-socio-legal studies, animal rights, human rights, rights of nature

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Authors: Manasi V. Shah

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Organizations, in the competitive era, are participating in the competency act. They have discerned that, strategically researched and defined competencies when put up on the shelf, can help in achieving business goals. The research focuses on critical elements of competency-based talent acquisition process from practical vantage, with significant experience in a variety of business settings. The research is exploratory and descriptive in nature. The research conduct and outcome is the hinge on with reference to Indian Industries. It elaborates about the concept, practice and a brief model that human resource practitioner can use for effective talent acquisition process, which in turn would be in alignment with business performance. The research helps to present a prudent understanding of recruiting and selecting apt human capital, that can fit in a given job role and has action oriented competency based assessment approach for measuring the probable success of a job incumbent in a given job role.

Keywords: competency based talent acquisition, competency model, talent acquisition concept, talent acquisition practice

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Authors: Pedro Mauricio Acosta, Carlos Andrés Caro

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This research presents the regionalization of IDF curves for the department of Boyacá, Colombia, which comprises 16 towns, including the provincial capital, Tunja. For regionalization adjustment parameters (U and alpha) of the IDF curves stations referred to in the studied area were used. Similar regionalization is used by the interpolation of intensities. In the case of regionalization by parameters found by the construction of the curves intensity, duration and frequency estimation methods using ordinary moments and maximum likelihood. Regionalization and interpolation of data were performed with the assistance of Arcgis software. Within the development of the project the best choice to provide a level of reliability such as to determine which of the options and ways to regionalize is best sought. The resulting isolines maps were made in the case of regionalization intensities, each map is associated with a different return period and duration in order to build IDF curves in the studied area. In the case of the regionalization maps parameters associated with each parameter were performed last.

Keywords: intensity duration, frequency curves, regionalization, hydrology

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Authors: S. Madhusudhan, G. V. Vaniprabha

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Worldwide statistics have shown that smoking contributes significantly to mortality, with nicotine, being more addictive. Smoking causes more than 7,00,000 deaths/year in India. Compared to the general population, the prevalence of smoking is found to be much higher among people with psychotic disorders and, more so in schizophrenia. Schizophrenic patients who smoke tend to have higher frequency of heavy smoking, with rates ranging from 60% to as high as 80%. Hence, smokers with psychiatric disorders suffer higher rates of morbidity and mortality secondary to smoking related illnesses.

Keywords: brief intervention, nicotine dependence, schizophrenia

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Authors: Basil Manos, Parthena Chatzinikolaou, Fedra Kiomourtzi

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This paper presents a Multicriteria Mathematical Programming model for farm planning and sustainable optimization of agricultural production. The model can be used as a tool for the analysis and simulation of agricultural production plans, as well as for the study of impacts of various measures of Common Agriculture Policy in the member states of European Union. The model can achieve the optimum production plan of a farm or an agricultural region combining in one utility function different conflicting criteria as the maximization of gross margin and the minimization of fertilizers used, under a set of constraints for land, labor, available capital, Common Agricultural Policy etc. The proposed model was applied to the region of Larisa in central Greece. The optimum production plan achieves a greater gross return, a less fertilizers use, and a less irrigated water use than the existent production plan.

Keywords: sustainable optimization, multicriteria analysis, agricultural production, farm planning

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Authors: M. S. Turan, Dimple

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Due to implementation of IFRS by several developed and developing countries, India has no option other than to converge their accounting standards with IFRS. There are over 10,000 listed companies required to implement IFRS in India. IFRS based financial information presented by a company is different from the same information provided by Indian GAAPs. In this study, we have brought out and analyzed the effect of IFRS reporting on the financial statements of selected companies. The results reveal that convergence with IFRS brought prominent positive variations in the values of quick ratio, debt/equity ratio, proprietary ratio and net profit ratio, while negative variation is brought in the values of current ratio, debt to total assets ratio, operating profit ratio, return on capital employed and return on shareholders’ equity ratios. It also presents significant changes in the values of items of balance sheet, profit and loss account and cash flow statement.

Keywords: IFRS, reporting standards, convergence process, results

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Authors: Dorottya Horváth, Andras Lang, Diana Varro-Horvath

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This research activity and study is part of a major research effort to gain an integrative, neuropsychological, and personality psychological understanding of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and thus improve the specification of diagnostic and therapeutic care. In the past, the neuropsychology section has investigated working memory, executive function, attention, and behavioural manifestations in children. Currently, we are looking for personality psychological protective factors for ADHD and its symptomatic exacerbation. We hypothesise that secure attachment, adaptive emotion regulation, and high resilience are protective factors. The aim of this study is to measure and report the results of a Hungarian sample of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children (CERQ-k) because before studying groups with different developmental differences, it is essential to know the average scores of groups with neurotypical devel-opment. Until now, there was no Hungarian version of the above test, so we used our own translation. This questionnaire has been developed to assess children's thoughts after experiencing negative life events. It consists of 4-4 items per subscale, for a total of 36 items. The response categories for each item range from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). The subscales were self-blame, blaming others, acceptance, planning, positive refocusing, rumination or thought-focusing, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, and catastrophizing. The data for this study were collected from 120 children aged 9-14 years. It was analysed using descriptive statistical analysis, where the mean and standard deviation values for each age group, as well as the Cronbach's alpha value, were significant in testing the reliability of the questionnaire. The results showed that the questionnaire is a reliable and valid measuring instrument also on a Hungarian sample. These developments and results will allow the use of a version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for children in Hungarian and pave the way for the study of different developmental groups such as children with learning disabilities and/or with ADHD.

Keywords: neurotypical development, emotion regulation, negative life events, CERQ-k, Hungarian average scores

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Authors: Chitresh Kumar, Santanu Gupta

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The research work intends to understand the process of initiation, planning and development of capital-intensive urban area level infrastructure development in East Asian Cities (specific to Indian Cities). With the onset of emphasis on sustainable urban transport, self-financed urban local bodies, it has become of utmost important to identify infrastructure and projects on a priority basis, which provide optimal utility to the urban area. Through identification of Spatial, Demographic and Socio-Economic and Political Instability Parameters and their trends for the past 60 years at the urban area and state level, the paper attempts to identify the most suitable time period when initiation of the project would become economically and demographically viable for the city.

Keywords: urban planning, regional planning, mass transit, infrastructure development, spatial planning

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Authors: Ugur Karakaya, Hasan Bulent Kantarcı

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In this study, firstly democratic thoughts which directly or indirectly affect economic development and/or the interaction between authoritarian regimes and the economic development and the direction and channels of this interaction were studied and then the study tried to determine how democracy affects economic development. It was concluded that the positive contributions of democracy to economic development were more determinant than the effects that were either negative or restrictive in terms of development. When compared to autocracy, since democracy is more successful in managing social conflicts, ensuring political stability and preventing social disasters such as famine, it contributes more to economic development. Democracy also facilitates delegation of authority, provides a stable investment environment and accelerates mobilization of resources in accordance with economic growth/development. Democracy leads to an increase in human capital accumulation and increases the growth rate through reducing income inequality. It can be said that democratic regimes are the most appropriate ones in terms of increasing economic performance and supporting economic development through their strong institutional structures and the assurance they will ensure in property rights.

Keywords: democracy, economic growth, economic freedom, autocratic regime

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Authors: Orhan Sezgin, Mehmet Kursad Ordu

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In today’s business world, among a number of forces, employees are seen as the most important components in order to survive and achieve organizational goals successfully. Improving the performance and effectiveness of the employees that also are called the “human capital” is one of the most important responsibilities of today’s managers. Managers are expected to provide a workplace to improve the employee’s performance and commitment. Improving the performance and effectiveness of the employees is one of the most significant responsibilities of managers. They are expected to provide a workplace to improve employee’s performance and commitment. This study has concentrated on the exploring of the associations among the basic concepts of organizational behavior science including organizational culture, organizational justice behavior. These concepts play significant roles both on the improvement of employees and the organizations.

Keywords: organization culture, organizational justice, procedural justice, distributive justice

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Authors: Abimbola Adedeji, Ahmad Shauqi Zubir

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This paper examines the profitability and risk between investing in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) and gold mutual funds compares to gold prices. The main focus in determining whether there are similarities or differences between those financial products is the tracking error. The importance of understanding the similarities or differences between the gold ETFs, gold mutual funds and gold prices is derived from the fact that gold ETFs and gold mutual funds are used as substitutions for investors who are looking to profit from gold prices although they are short in capital. 10 hypotheses were tested. There are 3 types of tracking error used. Tracking error 1 and 3 gives results that differentiate between types of ETFs and mutual funds, hence yielding the answers in answering the hypotheses that were developed. However, tracking error 2 failed to give the answer that could shed light on the questions raised in this study. All of the results in tracking error 2 technique only telling us that the difference between the ups and downs of the financial instruments are similar, statistically to the physical gold prices movement.

Keywords: gold etf, gold mutual funds, tracking error

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Authors: Ning Niu

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The study hinges on consumer taste, food industry (wine production) and cultural consumption (vineyard tourism) which are related to the Chinese market, consumers, and visitors traveling to Australian vineyards. The research topic can be summed up as: the economic importance of the Chinese market on Australian wine production; the economic importance of the Chinese market have an impact on how Australian wine is produced or packaged; the impact of mass Chinese wine tourism on Australian vineyards; the gendered and cultured experience of wine tourism for Chines visitors. This study aims to apply the theories of Pierre Bourdieu into the research in food industry and cultural consumption; investigate Chinese experiences with Australian wine products and vineyard tours; to explore the cultural, gendered and class influences on their experiences. The academic background covers the concepts of habitus, taste, capital proposed by Pierre Bourdieu along with long-lasting concepts within China’s cultural context including mianzi (face, dignity/honor/hierarchy) and guanxi (connections/social network), in order to develop new perspectives to study the tastes of Chinese tourists coming to Australia for wine experiences. The documents cited from Australian government or industries will be interpreted, and the analysis of data will constitute the economic background for this current study. The study applies qualitative research and draws from the fieldwork, choosing ethnographic observation, interviews, personal experiences and discursive analysis of government documents and tourism documents. The expected sample size includes three tourism professionals, two or three local Australian wine producers, and 20 to 30 Chinese wine consumers and visitors travelling to Australian vineyards. An embodied ethnography will be used to observe the Chinese participants’ feelings, thoughts, and experiences of their engagement with Australian wine and vineyards. The researcher will interview with Chinese consumers, tourism professionals, and Australian winemakers to collect primary data. Note-taking, picture-taking, and audio-recording will be adopted with informants’ permissions. Personal or group interview will be last for 30 and 60 minutes respectively. Personal experiences of the researcher have been analyzed to respond to some research questions, and have accumulated part of primary data (e.g., photos and stories) to discover how 'mianzi' and 'guanxi' influence Australian wine and tourism industries to meet the demands’ of Chinese consumers. At current stage, the secondary data from analysis of official and industrial documents has proved the economic importance of Chinese market is influencing Australian wine and tourism industries. And my own experiences related to this study, in some sense, has proved the Chinese cultural concepts (mianzi and guanxi) are influencing the Australian wine production and package along with vineyard tours. Future fieldwork will discover more in this research realm, contribute more to knowledge.

Keywords: habitus, taste, capital, mianzi, guanxi

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Authors: Venkata Ravi Kumar Veluru

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Indian traditional neighborhoods are socially active and sometimes intrusive communities, which are losing their qualities due to western influences, undermining the traditional Indian values by blind adaptation of western neighborhood concepts since the scale is not suitable to the Indian context. This paper aims to understand the qualities of Indian traditional neighborhoods by evaluating a traditional neighborhood of Jaipur, comparing it with a modern planned neighborhood of Chandigarh, designed by a foreign planner, in the neighborhood concept of the western world, to find out the special qualities of traditional Indian neighborhoods as compared to western concepts in terms of social spaces, by way of physical observation of selected neighborhoods and residents structured questionnaire survey. The combined analysis found that social spaces are abundantly available in traditional neighborhoods, which are missing in modern neighborhoods, which are the main qualities where interactions happen, aiming towards the formation of social capital. The qualities of traditional neighborhoods have to be considered while designing new neighborhoods in India.

Keywords: Indian neighborhoods, modern neighborhoods, neighborhood planning, social spaces, traditional neighborhoods

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Authors: Maria Dora Horvath, Norbert Buzas, Zsanett Tesch

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Diabetes management poses many unique challenges for children and their parents. The use of a diabetes management device should not be one of these challenges as the purpose of these devices is to make the management more convenient. The objective of our study was to examine how demographical, psychological and diabetes-related factors determine the choices parents make regarding their child’s diabetes management technologies and how they perceive advanced devices. We conducted the study using an online questionnaire with 318 parents (mostly mothers). The questions of the survey were about demographical, diabetes-related and psychological factors (diabetes management problems, diabetes management competence). In addition, we asked the parents opinions about advanced diabetes management devices. We expanded our data with semi-structured in-depth interviews. 61 % of the participants Self-Monitored Blood Glucose (SMBG), and 39 % used a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGM). Considering insulin administration, 58 % used Multiple Daily Insulin Injections (MDII) and 42 % used Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (CSII). Parents who used diverse combinations of diabetes management devices showed significant differences in age (parents’ and child’s), the monthly cost of diabetes, the duration of diabetes, the highest level of education and average monthly household income. CGM users perceived diabetes management problems significantly more severe than SMBG users and CSII users felt significantly more competent in diabetes management than MDII users. Avoiding CGM use due to lack of financial resources was determined by diagnosis duration. While avoiding its use by the cause of the child rejecting, it was determined by the child’s age and diabetes competence. Using MDII instead of CSII because of the child’s rejection was determined by the monthly cost of diabetes and child’s age. We conducted a complex empirical study in which we examined perceptions and experiences of advanced and less advanced diabetes management technologies comprehensively. Our study highlights the factors that fundamentally influence parents’ motivations and choices about diabetes management technologies. These results could contribute to developing diabetes management technologies more suitable for children living with type 1 diabetes and their parents.

Keywords: advanced diabetes management technologies, children living with type 1 diabetes, diabetes management, motivation, parents

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Authors: Irfan Zafar

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Over the years the Telecom Industry in the country has shown a lot of progress in terms of infrastructure development coupled with the availability of telecom services. This has however led to the cut throat completion among various operators thus leading to reduced tariffs to the customers. The profit margins have seen a reduction thus leading the operators to think of other avenues by adopting new models while keeping the quality of service intact. The outsourcing of the network and the resources is one such model which has shown promising benefits which includes lower costs, less risk, higher levels of customer support and engagement, predictable expenses, access to the emerging technologies, benefiting from a highly skilled workforce, adaptability, focus on the core business while reducing capital costs. A lot of research has been done on outsourcing in terms of reasons of outsourcing and its benefits. However this study is an attempt to analyze the effects of the outsourcing on an organizations performance (Telecommunication Sector) considering the variables (1) Cost Reduction (2) Organizational Performance (3) Flexibility (4) Employee Performance (5) Access to Specialized Skills & Technology and the (6) Outsourcing Risks.

Keywords: outsourcing, ICT, telecommunication, IT, networking

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Authors: Lizel Bertie, Kim Johnston

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Parental emotion regulation plays a central role in the socialisation of emotion, especially when teaching young children to cope with negative emotions. Despite evidence which shows non-supportive parental responses to children’s expression of negative emotions has implications for the social and emotional development of the child, few studies have investigated risk factors which impact parental emotion socialisation processes. The current study aimed to explore the extent to which parental stress contributes to both difficulties in parental emotion regulation and non-supportive parental responses to children’s expression of negative emotions. In addition, the study examined whether parental use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy facilitates the influence of parental stress on non-supportive responses by testing the relations in a mediation model. A sample of 140 Australian adults, who identified as parents with children aged 5 to 10 years, completed an online questionnaire. The measures explored recent symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, the use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy, and hypothetical parental responses to scenarios related to children’s expression of negative emotions. A mediated regression indicated that parents who reported higher levels of stress also reported higher levels of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy and increased use of non-supportive responses in relation to young children’s expression of negative emotions. These findings suggest that parents who experience heightened symptoms of stress are more likely to both suppress their emotions in parent-child interaction and engage in non-supportive responses. Furthermore, higher use of expressive suppression strongly predicted the use of non-supportive responses, despite the presence of parental stress. Contrary to expectation, no indirect effect of stress on non-supportive responses was observed via expressive suppression. The findings from the study suggest that parental stress may become a more salient manifestation of psychological distress in a sub-clinical population of parents while contributing to impaired parental responses. As such, the study offers support for targeting overarching factors such as difficulties in parental emotion regulation and stress management, not only as an intervention for parental psychological distress, but also the detection and prevention of maladaptive parenting practices.

Keywords: emotion regulation, emotion socialisation, expressive suppression, non-supportive responses, parental stress

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Different transportation modes have key operational advantages and disadvantages, providing a variety of different transport options to users and passengers. This paper reviews key variables for the competition between air transport and other transport modes. The aim of this paper is to review the competition between air transport and other transport modes, providing results in terms of perceived cost for the users, for destinations high competitiveness for all transport modes. The competitor analysis variables include the cost and time outputs for each transport option, highlighting the level of competitiveness on high demanded Origin-Destination corridors. The case study presents the output of a such analysis for the OD corridor in Greece that connects the Capital city (Athens) with the second largest city (Thessaloniki) and the different transport modes have been considered (air, train, road). Conventional wisdom is to present an easy to handle tool for planners, managers and decision makers towards pricing policy effectiveness and demand attractiveness, appropriate to use for other similar cases.

Keywords: competitor analysis, transport economics, transport generalized cost, quantitative modelling

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Authors: P. Ayawei, A. D. Spiff

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It is certain that most African diasporans have experienced several types of traumas, which have conjured unprecedented psychological disorders needing adequate psychomorphological psychometrics. However, slavery was a long-term, multidimensional experience involving black victimization as well as effective black coping. In assessing, collecting, and analyzing the needed data, we first identify a group that has experienced a jolting, unpredictable, and monstrous assault. Second, we assess the depth of the trauma and an unambiguous period that marks the termination of the trauma using the alliterational psychomorphological psychometrics deca perimeter.

Keywords: slavery, Diaspora, Africa, psychomorphology, psychometrics, ancestry, disorder, phobias and trauma

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Authors: Fatima Boutaleb

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Entrepreneurship proves to be crucial for the economic growth and development, since it contributes to job creation and the improvement of the overall productivity thus generating a positive impact upon society at various levels. Promoting entrepreneurship stimulates therefore economic diversity that is key to the betterment and/or maintaining of the standard of living. In fact, recent research suggests that entrepreneurship contributes to development by creating businesses and jobs, stimulating innovation, creating social capital across borders, and channeling political and financial capital. However, different research studies indicate that among the main factors impeding the entrepreneurship are politico-economic as socio-cultural problems, with an intensity for those related to young people and to women. In the MENA region, discrimination inherent in gender is alarming: Only one woman in eight runs her own business against 1 in 3 men. In most countries, young women and young men are facing problems involving access to finance, inadequate infrastructure, lack of support and, in general, an ecosystem that is rather unfavorable. According to the International Labor Organization, North Africa and the Middle East has the highest unemployment rate in all other regions of the world. In other hand, nearly a quarter of the population under 30 is unemployed and youth unemployment costs more than $40 billion each year to the region. In the current context, the situations in the Middle East and North Africa region are singular, both in terms of demographic trends and socio-economic issues around the employment of a large and better trained youth, but still strongly affected by unemployment and under-employment. According to a study published in 2015 by McKinsey, the world gain 26% of additional GDP (47% in the MENA region), more than 28 trillion dollars by 2025, if women came to participate, as well as men, to the economy. Promoting entrepreneurship represents an excellent alternative for the countries whose productive fabric fails to integrate the contingent of young people entering the job market each year. The MENA region, presenting entrepreneurial activity rates below those of other regions in terms of comparable development, has undoubtedly leeway at this level, even though the region displays large national heterogeneity, namely in the priority given to the promotion of entrepreneurship. The objective of this article is therefore to examine the women entrepreneurial vocation in the MENA region, to see to what extent research on the determinant of gender can provide information on the trend of the emerging entrepreneurial activity whether driven by necessity or by opportunity and, on this basis, to submit public policy proposals for the improvement of the mechanisms of inclusion among the youth women people. The objective is not to analyze the causality models but rather to identify the entrepreneurial construct specific to the MENA region via the analysis of GEM data from 2017 to 2019 among adults belonging to 10 countries of the MENA region. Notably, the study shows that inclusion of young women may be enhanced. These disadvantaged segments frequently intend to become entrepreneurs, but they tend not to enact their vocational intentions.

Keywords: economic development, entrepreneurial activity, GEM, gender, informal sector

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Authors: Gladie Lui

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The global credit crisis of 2008 aroused renewed interest in the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms to safeguard investor interests. In this paper, we measure the effect of the crisis from 2008 to 2009 on the stock performance of 976 Hong Kong-listed companies and examine its link to corporate governance mechanisms. It is evident that the crisis and the economic downturn affected different industries. Empirical results show that firms with an independent board and a high concentration of ownership and management ownership had lower abnormal stock returns, but a lower price volatility during the global financial crisis. These results highlight that no single corporate governance mechanism is fit for all types of financial crises and time frames. To strengthen investors’ confidence in the ability of companies to deal with such swift financial catastrophes, companies should enhance the dynamism and responsiveness of their governance mechanisms in times of turbulence.

Keywords: board of directors, capital market, corporate governance, financial crisis

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Authors: Osama Hidayat, Yoshitaka Kajiat

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Kabul is a city that is highly representative of Afghanistan’s rapid urbanization process. As the city rapidly expands, there are enormous challenges to the sustainable use of land resources. This paper evaluates land use change and urban spatial expansion, from 1950 to 2016, in Kabul the capital of Afghanistan, using satellite images, field observation, and socio-economic data. The discussion covers the reduction in rural-to-urban land conversion, the delineation of urban growth boundaries, arable land reclamation and the establishment of farmland protection areas, urban upgrading, and the investigation and prosecution of illegal construction. This paper considers the aspects of urbanization and land management systems in Afghanistan. Efficient frames are outlined in Kabul for the following elements: governmental self-restraint and policy modification. The paper concludes that Kabul’s sustainable land use practices can provide a reference for other cities in Afghanistan.

Keywords: urban land expansion, urbanization, land use policy, sustainable development

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Authors: Suneet Jagdev, Hrishabh Amrodia, Siddharth Menon, Abhishek Singh, Mansi Shivhare

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Delhi, the National Capital, has undergone a surge in development rate, consequently engendering an unprecedented increase in population. Over the years the city has transformed into a car-centric infrastructure with high-speed corridors, flyovers and fast lanes. A considerable section of the population is hankering to rehabilitate to the good old cycling days, in order to contribute towards a green environment as well as to maintain their physical well-being. Furthermore, an extant section of Delhi’s population relies on cycles as their primary means of commuting in the city. Delhi has the highest number of cyclists and second highest number of pedestrians in the country. However, the tumultuous problems of unregulated traffic, inadequate space on roads, adverse weather conditions stifle them to opt for cycling. Lately, the city has been facing a conglomeration of problems such as haphazard traffic movement, clogged roads, congestion, pollution, accidents, safety issues, etc. In 1957, Delhi’s cyclists accounted for 36 per cent of trips which dropped down to a mere 4 per cent in 2008. The declining rate is due to unsafe roads and lack of proper cycle lanes. Now as the 10 percent of the city has cycle tracks. There is also a lack of public recreational activities in the city. These conundrums incite the need of a covered elevated cycling bridge track to facilitate the safe and smooth cycle commutation in the city which would also serve the purpose of an alternate urban public space over the cycle bridge reducing the cost as well as the space requirement for the same, developing a user–friendly transportation and public interaction system for urban areas in the city. Based on the archival research methodologies, the following research draws information and extracts records from the data accounts of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. as well as the Centre for Science and Environment, India. This research will predominantly focus on developing a prototype design for high speed elevated bicycle lanes based on different road typologies, which can be replicated with minor variations in similar situations, all across the major cities of our country including the proposed smart cities. Furthermore, how these cycling lanes could be utilized for the place making process accommodating cycle parking and renting spaces, public recreational spaces, food courts as well as convenient shopping facilities with appropriate optimization. How to preserve and increase the share of smooth and safe cycling commute cycling for the routine transportation of the urban community of the polluted capital which has been on a steady decline over the past few decades.

Keywords: bicycle track, prototype, road safety, urban spaces

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Authors: Momoka Sunohara, Ashley J. Lemieux, Esther Yakobov, Andrew G. Ryder, Tomas Jurcik

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Immigration brings changes in many aspects of an individual's life, from social support dynamics, to housing and language, as well as difficulties with regards to discrimination, trauma, and loss. Past research has mostly emphasized individual differences in mental health and has neglected the impact of social-ecological context, such as acculturation and ethnic density. Purpose: The present study aimed to assess the relationship between variables associated with social integration such as perceived ethnic density and ways of coping, as well as psychological adjustment in a rapidly growing non-visible minority group of immigrants in Canada. Data: A small subset of an archival data from our previously published study was reanalyzed with additional variables. Data included information from 269 Russian-Speaking immigrants in Montreal, Canada. Method: Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) investigated the relationship between two sets of variables. SAS PROC CANCORR was used to conduct CCA on a set of social integration variables, including ethnic density, discrimination, social support, family functioning, and acculturation, and a set of psychological well-being variables, including distress, depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. In addition, canonical redundancy analysis was performed to calculate the proportion of variances of original variables explained by their own canonical variates. Results: Significance tests using Rao’s F statistics indicated that the first two canonical correlations (i.e., r1 = 0.64, r2 = 0.40) were statistically significant (p-value < 0.0001). Additionally, canonical redundancy analysis showed that the first two well-being canonical variates explained separately 62.9% and 12.8% variances of the standardized well-being variables, whereas the first two social integration canonical variates explained separately 14.7% and 16.7% variances of the standardized social integration variables. These results support the selection of the first two canonical correlations. Then, we interpreted the derived canonical variates based on their canonical structure (i.e., correlations with original variables). Two observations can be concluded. First, individuals who have adequate social support, and who, as a family, cope by acquiring social support, mobilizing others and reframing are more likely to have better self-esteem, greater life satisfaction and experience less feelings of depression or distress. Second, individuals who feel discriminated yet rate higher on a mainstream acculturation scale, and who, as a family, cope by acquiring social support, mobilizing others and using spirituality, while using less passive strategies are more likely to have better life satisfaction but also higher degree of depression. Implications: This model may serve to explain the complex interactions that exist between social and emotional adjustment and aid in facilitating the integration of individuals immigrating into new communities. The same group may experience greater depression but paradoxically improved life satisfaction associated with their coping process. Such findings need to be placed in the context of Russian cultural values. For instance, some Russian-speakers may value the expression of negative emotions with significant others during the integration process; this in turn may make negative emotions more salient, but also facilitate a greater sense of family and community connection, as well as life satisfaction.

Keywords: acculturation, ethnic density, mental health, Russian-speaking

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Authors: Christopher I. Ifeacho, Adeleke Omolade

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The paper examines the relationship between energy price dynamics and green growth in Sub Sahara African Countries. The quest for adopting green energy in order to improve green growth that can engender sustainability and stability has received more attention from researchers in recent times. This study uses a panel autoregressive distributed lag approach to investigate this relationship. Findings from the result showed that energy price dynamics and exchange rates have more short-run significant impacts on green growth in individual countries rather than the pooled result. Furthermore, the long-run result confirmed that inflation and capital have a significant long-run relationship with green growth. The causality test result revealed the existence of a bi-directional relationship between green growth and energy price dynamics. The study recommends caution in a currency devaluation and improvement in renewable energy production in the Sub Sahara Africa in order to achieve sustainable green growth.

Keywords: green growth, energy price dynamics, Sub Saharan Africa, relationship

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