Search results for: gambling decision

Authors: Kim Jin-OK, Lee Jin-Eui, Han Seung-Hoon, Kim Nam-Jo

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This study aimed to analyze the effect of the motivation of Chinese tourists to visit North Korea on their decision making process. Chinese tourists account for a considerable portion of foreign tourists in the world, while North Korea is the favorite tourist attraction of Chinese tourists. The motivation to visit North Korea was divided into three factors: the redness, which is the modern cultural heritage of Communism based on the red tourism accounting for the significant portion of domestic tourism, the novelty of the special environment of North Korean society, and the convenience of tour to North Korea in terms of geographical distance and policy of China. Red tourism refers to visiting the places of revolutionary events, monuments, artifacts and the residences of previous communist leaders, and other places related to the past Chinese Communist Party. As a revolutionary tourism, red tourism has recently been taking place in the old communist countries to recall their memories on the revolutionary places in China, as well as in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, Bulgaria, Cuba, etc. In order to examine the effect of the segmented motivations on the revisit intention of Chinese tourists who have experienced a tour to North Korea, this study employed the model of goal-directed behavior, a model developed by adding a variable of emotion to the theory of planned behavior, which has a strong explanatory power on the decision making process of people in social science. For achieving the aim of the study, the data was collected through the survey in Dandong, China against Chinese tourists who have visited North Korea. The results of this study found that not only the novelty of North Korea, but also the redness, which accounts for the largest proportion in the domestic tourism, are significantly affecting overseas tour of Chinese tourists at this time point where overseas tour of Chinese tourists continue to increase. The results, therefore, suggest that the old communist countries, including those in Asia, need an emotional promotion strategy that stimulates nostalgia by focusing on the redness of the modern cultural heritage of Communism to attract Chinese tourists.

Keywords: model of goal-directed behavior, modern cultural heritage, North Korea, red tourism

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Authors: Christian Neunzig, Simon Fahle, Jürgen Schulz, Matthias Möller, Bernd Kuhlenkötter

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Due to increasing cost pressure in global markets, artificial intelligence is becoming a technology that is decisive for competition. Predictive quality enables machinery and plant manufacturers to ensure product quality by using data-driven forecasts via machine learning models as a decision-making basis for test results. The use of cross-process Bosch production data along the value chain of hydraulic valves is a promising approach to classifying the quality characteristics of workpieces.

Keywords: predictive quality, hydraulics, machine learning, classification, supervised learning

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Authors: Mohammad Daud Ali

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For the past decade, marketing ethics has been a central point for academic researchers and practitioners. In particular, the development of frameworks and models to help in the analysis of marketing decisions are the focus of research. The current study aims at finding whether ethical decisions (honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect) affect organizational marketing decisions. A selection of 250 respondents was purposely made from the telecommunication industry of Pakistan, out of which 204 responses were induced at an acceptable rate of 81.6%. A five-point Likert Scale, itemized with 12 items, was adopted from Taylor-Dunlop & Lester (2000) and used to draw responses regarding ethics.

Keywords: marketing, ethics, decisions making, telecommunication, Pakistan

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Authors: Cachanda K. Orellana

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This study examined preservice teachers’ perceptions of their role in digital citizenship education. Data was gathered via surveys and coursework from the preservice teachers’ instructional technology course. Pre-service teachers were asked about their role in digital citizenship education during a unit on digital dilemmas. Findings suggest that teacher education programs should consider digital citizenship education as more than the acquisition of a set of skills and behaviors and prepare preservice teachers to support students’ ability to engage in ethical decision-making in digital spaces.

Keywords: digital citizenship, digital dilemmas, pre-service teachers, teacher education

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Authors: Mine Koyaz, M. Cem Altun

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Selection of the materials satisfying the expected performances is significantly important for any design. Today, with the constantly evolving and developing technologies, the material options are so wide that the necessity of the use of some support tools in the selection process is arising. Therefore, as a sub process of building element design, a systematic material selection tool is developed, that defines four main steps of the material selection; definition, research, comparison and decision. The main purpose of the tool is being an educational instrument that would show a methodic way of material selection in architectural detailing for the use of architecture students. The tool predefines the possible uses of various material databases and other sources of information on material properties. Hence, it is to be used as a guidance for designers, especially with a limited material knowledge and experience. The material selection tool not only embraces technical properties of materials related with building elements’ functional requirements, but also its sensual properties related with the identity of design and its environmental impacts with respect to the sustainability of the design. The method followed in the development of the tool has two main sections; first the examination and application of the existing methods and second the development of trial versions and their applications. Within the scope of the existing methods; design support tools, methodic approaches for the building element design and material selection process, material properties, material databases, methodic approaches for the decision making process are examined. The existing methods are applied by architecture students and newly graduate architects through different design problems. With respect to the results of these applications, strong and weak sides of the existing material selection tools are presented. A main flow chart of the material selection tool has been developed with the objective to apply the strong aspects of the existing methods and develop their weak sides. Through different stages, a different aspect of the material selection process is investigated and the tool took its final form. Systematic material selection tool, within the building element design process, guides the users with a minimum background information, to practically and accurately determine the ideal material that is to be chosen, satisfying the needs of their design. The tool has a flexible structure that answers different needs of different designs and designers. The trial version issued in this paper shows one of the paths that could be followed and illustrates its application over a design problem.

Keywords: architectural education, building element design, material selection tool, systematic approach

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Authors: Satish Kumar, Nisha Goyal

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In the stock market, individual investors exhibit different kinds of behaviour. Traditional finance is built on the notion of 'homo economics', which states that humans always make perfectly rational choices to maximize their wealth and minimize risk. That is, traditional finance has concern for how investors should behave rather than how actual investors are behaving. Behavioural finance provides the explanation for this phenomenon. Although finance has been studied for thousands of years, behavioural finance is an emerging field that combines the behavioural or psychological aspects with conventional economic and financial theories to provide explanations on how emotions and cognitive factors influence investors’ behaviours. These emotions and cognitive factors are known as behavioural biases. Because of these biases, investors make irrational investment decisions. Besides, the emotional and cognitive factors, the social influence of media as well as friends, relatives and colleagues also affect investment decisions. Psychological factors influence individual investors’ investment decision making, but few studies have used qualitative methods to understand these factors. The aim of this study is to explore the behavioural factors or biases that affect individuals’ investment decision making. For the purpose of this exploratory study, an in-depth interview method was used because it provides much more exhaustive information and a relaxed atmosphere in which people feel more comfortable to provide information. Twenty investment advisors having a minimum 5 years’ experience in securities firms were interviewed. In this study, thematic content analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts. Thematic content analysis process involves analysis of transcripts, coding and identification of themes from data. Based on the analysis we categorized the statements of advisors into various themes. Past market returns and volatility; preference for safe returns; tendency to believe they are better than others; tendency to divide their money into different accounts/assets; tendency to hold on to loss-making assets; preference to invest in familiar securities; tendency to believe that past events were predictable; tendency to rely on the reference point; tendency to rely on other sources of information; tendency to have regret for making past decisions; tendency to have more sensitivity towards losses than gains; tendency to rely on own skills; tendency to buy rising stocks with the expectation that this rise will continue etc. are some of the major concerns showed by experts about investors. The findings of the study revealed 13 biases such as overconfidence bias, disposition effect, familiarity bias, framing effect, anchoring bias, availability bias, self-attribution bias, representativeness, mental accounting, hindsight bias, regret aversion, loss aversion and herding bias/media biases present in Indian investors. These biases have a negative connotation because they produce a distortion in the calculation of an outcome. These biases are classified under three categories such as cognitive errors, emotional biases and social interaction. The findings of this study may assist both financial service providers and researchers to understand the various psychological biases of individual investors in investment decision making. Additionally, individual investors will also be aware of the behavioural biases that will aid them to make sensible and efficient investment decisions.

Keywords: financial advisors, individual investors, investment decisions, psychological biases, qualitative thematic content analysis

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Authors: Rawan Hakawati, Beatrice Smyth, David Rooney, Geoffrey McCullough

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Targets have been set in the EU to increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 20% by 2020, but developments have not occurred evenly across the member states. Northern Ireland is almost 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels. With such high energy dependency, Northern Ireland is particularly susceptible to the security of supply issues. Linked to fossil fuels are greenhouse gas emissions, and the EU plans to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. The use of indigenously produced biomass could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and external energy dependence. With a wide range of both crop and waste feedstock potentially available in Northern Ireland, anaerobic digestion has been put forward as a possible solution for renewable energy production, waste management, and greenhouse gas reduction. Not all feedstock, however, is the same, and an understanding of feedstock suitability is important for both plant operators and policy makers. The aim of this paper is to investigate biomass suitability for anaerobic digestion in Northern Ireland. It is also important that decisions are based on solid scientific evidence. For this reason, the methodology used is multi-criteria decision matrix analysis which takes multiple criteria into account simultaneously and ranks alternatives accordingly. The model uses the weighted sum method (which follows the Entropy Method to measure uncertainty using probability theory) to decide on weights. The Topsis method is utilized to carry out the mathematical analysis to provide the final scores. Feedstock that is currently available in Northern Ireland was classified into two categories: wastes (manure, sewage sludge and food waste) and energy crops, specifically grass silage. To select the most suitable feedstock, methane yield, feedstock availability, feedstock production cost, biogas production, calorific value, produced kilowatt-hours, dry matter content, and carbon to nitrogen ratio were assessed. The highest weight (0.249) corresponded to production cost reflecting a variation of £41 gate fee to 22£/tonne cost. The weights calculated found that grass silage was the most suitable feedstock. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted to investigate the impact of weights. The analysis used the Pugh Matrix Method which relies upon The Analytical Hierarchy Process and pairwise comparisons to determine a weighting for each criterion. The results showed that the highest weight (0.193) corresponded to biogas production indicating that grass silage and manure are the most suitable feedstock. Introducing co-digestion of two or more substrates can boost the biogas yield due to a synergistic effect induced by the feedstock to favor positive biological interactions. A further benefit of co-digesting manure is that the anaerobic digestion process also acts as a waste management strategy. From the research, it was concluded that energy from agricultural biomass is highly advantageous in Northern Ireland because it would increase the country's production of renewable energy, manage waste production, and would limit the production of greenhouse gases (current contribution from agriculture sector is 26%). Decision-making methods based on scientific evidence aid policy makers in classifying multiple criteria in a logical mathematical manner in order to reach a resolution.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biomass as feedstock, decision matrix, renewable energy

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Authors: Gete Umbrey, Saifur Rahman

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Graphs are found to be most capable in computing, and its abstract structures have been applied in some specific computations and algorithms like in phase encoding controller, processor microcontroller, and synthesis of a CMOS switching network, etc. Being motivated by these works, we develop an independent approach to study semiring structures and various properties by defining the binary operations which in fact, seems analogous to an existing definition in some sense but with a different approach. This work emphasizes specifically on the construction of semigroup and semiring structures on the set of undirected graphs, and their properties are investigated therein. It is expected that the investigation done here may have some interesting applications in theoretical computer science, networking and decision making, and also on joining of two network systems.

Keywords: graphs, join and union of graphs, semiring, weighted graphs

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Authors: Peter Crow

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Boards and directors have been subjects of much scholarly research and public interest over several decades, more so since the succession of high profile company failures of the early 2000s. An array of research outputs including information, correlations, descriptions, models, hypotheses and theories have been reported. While some of this research has shed light on aspects of the board–performance relationship and on board tasks and behaviours, the nature and characteristics of the supposed board–performance relationship remain undetermined. That satisfactory explanations of how boards influence company performance have yet to emerge is a significant blind spot. Yet the board is ultimately responsible for company performance, in accordance with the wishes of shareholders. The aim of this paper is to explore corporate governance and board practice through the lens of strategic management, and to take tentative steps towards a new conception of corporate governance. The findings of a recent longitudinal multiple-case study designed to explore the board’s involvement in strategic management are reported. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from two quasi-public large companies in New Zealand including from first-hand observations of boards in session, semi-structured interviews with chief executives and chairmen and the inspection of company and board documentation. A synthetic timeline framework was used to collate the financial, board structure, board activity and decision-making data, in order to provide a holistic perspective. Decision sequences were identified, and realist techniques of abduction and retroduction were iteratively applied to analyse the multi-year data set. Using several models previously proposed in the literature as a guide, conjectures were formed, tested and refined—the culmination of which was a provisional model of how boards can influence performance via strategic management. The model builds on both existing theoretical perspectives and theoretical models proposed in the corporate governance and strategic management literature. This paper seeks to add to the understanding of how boards can make meaningful contributions to value creation via strategic management, and to comment on the qualities of directors, social interactions in boardrooms and other circumstances within which influence might be possible given the highly contingent relationship between board activity and business performance outcomes.

Keywords: board practice, case study, corporate governance, strategic management

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Authors: Dina Siniora, Jasia Baig

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During the past few decades, the healthcare system has undergone profound changes in their healthcare decision-making competencies and moral aptitudes due to the vast advancement in technology, clinical skills, and scientific knowledge. Healthcare decision-making deals with morally contentious dilemmas ranging from illness, life and death judgments that require sensitivity and awareness towards the patient’s preferences while taking into consideration medicine’s abilities and boundaries. As the ever-evolving field of medicine continues to become more scientifically and morally multifarious; physicians and the hospital administrators increasingly rely on ethics committees to resolve problems that arise in everyday patient care. The role and latitude of responsibilities of ethics committees which includes being dispute intermediaries, moral analysts, policy educators, counselors, advocates, and reviewers; suggest the importance and effectiveness of a fully integrated committee. Despite achievements on Integrated Ethics and progress in standards and competencies, there is an imminent necessity for further improvement in quality within ethics consultation services in areas of credentialing, professionalism and standards of quality, as well as the quality of healthcare throughout the system. These concerns can be resolved first by collecting data about particular quality gaps and comprehend the level to which ethics committees are consistent with newly published ASBH quality standards. Policymakers should pursue improvement strategies that target both academic bioethics community and major stakeholders at hospitals, who directly influence ethics committees. This broader approach oriented towards education and intervention outcome in conjunction with preventive ethics to address disparities in quality on a systematic level. Adopting tools for improving competencies and processes within ethics consultation by implementing a credentialing process, upholding normative significance for the ASBH core competencies, advocating for professional Code of Ethics, and further clarifying the internal structures will improve productivity, patient satisfaction, and institutional integrity. This cannot be systemically achieved without a written certification exam for HCEC practitioners, credentialing and privileging HCEC practitioners at the hospital level, and accrediting HCEC services at the institutional level.

Keywords: ethics consultation, hospital, medical ethics, quality

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Authors: Ishani Maheshika

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The intermediary role performed by freight forwarders in exportation has become significant in fulfilling businesses’ supply chain needs in this dynamic world. Since the success of exporter’s business is at present, highly reliant on supply chain optimization, cost efficiency, profitability, consistent service and responsiveness, the decision of selecting the most beneficial freight forwarder has become crucial for exporters. Although there are similar foreign researches, prior researches covering Sri Lankan setting are not in existence. Moreover, results vary with time, nature of industry and business environment factors. Therefore, a study from the perspective of Sri Lankan exporters was identified as a requisite to be researched. In order to identify and prioritize key factors which have affected the exporter’s decision in selecting freight forwarders in Sri Lankan context, Sri Lankan export industry was stratified into 22 sectors based on commodity using stratified sampling technique. One exporter from each sector was then selected using judgmental sampling to have a sample of 22. Factors which were identified through a pilot survey, was organized under 6 main criteria. A questionnaire was basically developed as pairwise comparisons using 9-point semantic differential scale and comparisons were done within main criteria and subcriteria. After a pre-testing, interviews and e-mail questionnaire survey were conducted. Data were analyzed using Analytic Hierarchy Process to determine priority vectors of criteria. Customer service was found to be the most important main criterion for Sri Lankan exporters. It was followed by reliability and operational efficiency respectively. The criterion of the least importance is company background and reputation. Whereas small sized exporters pay more attention to rate, reliability is the major concern among medium and large scale exporters. Irrespective of seniority of the exporter, reliability is given the prominence. Responsiveness is the most important sub criterion among Sri Lankan exporters. Consistency of judgments with respect to main criteria was verified through consistency ratio, which was less than 10%. Being more competitive, freight forwarders should come up with customized marketing strategies based on each target group’s requirements and expectations in offering services to retain existing exporters and attract new exporters.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, freight forwarders, main criteria, Sri Lankan exporters, subcriteria

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Authors: Amel Ltifi, Ahmed Zouinkhi, Med Salim Bouhlel

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Spontaneous networks such as VANET are in general deployed in an open and thus easily accessible environment. Therefore, they are vulnerable to attacks. Trust management is one of a set of security solutions dedicated to this type of networks. Moreover, the strong mobility of the nodes (in the case of VANET) makes the establishment of a trust management system complex. In this paper, we present a concept of ‘Active Vehicle’ which means an autonomous vehicle that is able to make decision about trustworthiness of alert messages transmitted about road accidents. The behavior of an “Active Vehicle” is modeled using Petri Nets.

Keywords: active vehicle, cooperation, petri nets, trust management, VANET

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Authors: Kim Michelle Siegling, Thomas Spengler, Sebastian Herzog

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In personnel economics, the choice of a leadership style is about the question of how a supervisor should lead his or her employees in such a way that operational goals are achieved. In this paper, it is assumed that such leadership decisions are made according to the situation. Thus, the optimal or at least a permissible leadership style has to be selected from a set of several possible leadership styles. For this choice, a wide range of models has been developed in the scientific literature, from which the so-called normative decision model will be picked out and focused on. While the original model is based on univocal rules, this paper develops a fuzzy rule system.

Keywords: leadership, leadership styles, rule based systems, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Jelena Radmanovic

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On 5 March 2020, the International Criminal Court has decided to authorize the investigation into the crimes allegedly committed on the territory of Afghanistan after 1 May 2003. The said determination has raised several controversies, including the recently imposed sanctions by the United States, furthering the United States' long-standing rejection of the authority of the International Criminal Court. The purpose of this research is to address the said investigation in light of its importance for the prevention of impunity in the cases where the perpetrators are nationals of Non-Party States to the Rome Statute. Difficulties that the International Criminal Court has been facing, concerning the establishment of its jurisdiction in those instances where an involved state is not a Party to the Rome Statute, have become the most significant stumbling block undermining the importance, integrity, and influence of the Court. The Situation in Afghanistan raises even further concern, bearing in mind that the Prosecutor’s Request for authorization of an investigation pursuant to article 15 from 20 November 2017 has initially been rejected with the ‘interests of justice’ as an applied rationale. The first method used for the present research is the description of the actual events regarding the aforementioned decisions and the following reactions in the international community, while with the second method – the method of conceptual analysis, the research will address the decisions pertaining to the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction and will attempt to address the mentioned Decision of 5 March 2020 as an example of good practice and a precedent that should be followed in all similar situations. The research will attempt parsing the reasons used by the International Criminal Court, giving rather greater attention to the latter decision that has authorized the investigation and the points raised by the officials of the United States. It is a find of this research that the International Criminal Court, together with other similar judicial instances (Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), has presented the world with the possibility of non-impunity, attempting to prosecute those responsible for the gravest of crimes known to the humanity and has shown that such persons should not enjoy the benefits of their immunities, with its focus primarily on the victims of such crimes. Whilst it is an issue that will most certainly be addressed further in the future, with the situations that will be brought before the International Criminal Court, the present research will make an attempt at pointing to the significance of the situation in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court as such and the international criminal justice as a whole, for the purpose of putting an end to impunity.

Keywords: Afghanistan, impunity, international criminal court, sanctions, United States

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Authors: Tobias Huwer, Thomas Bobek, Gunter Spöcker

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Driving forces for enhancements in production are trends like digitalization and individualized production. Currently, such developments are restricted to assembly parts. Thus, complex freeform surfaces are not addressed in this context. The need for efficient use of resources and near-net-shape production will require individualized production of complex shaped workpieces. Due to variations between nominal model and actual geometry, this can lead to changes in operations in Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) to make CAPP manageable for an adaptive serial production. In this context, 3D CAD data can be a key to realizing that objective. Along with developments in the geometrical adaptation, a preceding inspection method based on CAD data is required to support the process planner by finding objective criteria to make decisions about the adaptive manufacturability of workpieces. Nowadays, this kind of decisions is depending on the experience-based knowledge of humans (e.g. process planners) and results in subjective decisions – leading to a variability of workpiece quality and potential failure in production. In this paper, we present an automatic part inspection method, based on design and measurement data, which evaluates actual geometries of single workpiece preforms. The aim is to automatically determine the suitability of the current shape for further machining, and to provide a basis for an objective decision about subsequent adaptive manufacturability. The proposed method is realized by a workflow-based approach, keeping in mind the requirements of industrial applications. Workflows are a well-known design method of standardized processes. Especially in applications like aerospace industry standardization and certification of processes are an important aspect. Function blocks, providing a standardized, event-driven abstraction to algorithms and data exchange, will be used for modeling and execution of inspection workflows. Each analysis step of the inspection, such as positioning of measurement data or checking of geometrical criteria, will be carried out by function blocks. One advantage of this approach is its flexibility to design workflows and to adapt algorithms specific to the application domain. In general, within the specified tolerance range it will be checked if a geometrical adaption is possible. The development of particular function blocks is predicated on workpiece specific information e.g. design data. Furthermore, for different product lifecycle phases, appropriate logics and decision criteria have to be considered. For example, tolerances for geometric deviations are different in type and size for new-part production compared to repair processes. In addition to function blocks, appropriate referencing systems are important. They need to support exact determination of position and orientation of the actual geometries to provide a basis for precise analysis. The presented approach provides an inspection methodology for adaptive and part-individual process chains. The analysis of each workpiece results in an inspection protocol and an objective decision about further manufacturability. A representative application domain is the product lifecycle of turbine blades containing a new-part production and a maintenance process. In both cases, a geometrical adaptation is required to calculate individual production data. In contrast to existing approaches, the proposed initial inspection method provides information to decide between different potential adaptive machining processes.

Keywords: adaptive, CAx, function blocks, turbomachinery

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Authors: K. M. Anusha, R. Krishnaveni

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Crossing a decade of the 21st century, the paradigm of human resources can be seen evolving with the strategic gene induced into it. There seems to be a radical shift descending as the corporate sector calls on its HR team to become strategic rather than administrative. This transferal eventually requires the metrics employed by these HR teams not to be just operationally reactive but to be aligned to an evidence-based strategic thinking. Realizing the growing need for a prescriptive metric model for effective HR analytics, this study has designed a conceptual framework for a basic metric model that can assist IT-HRM professionals to transition to a practice of evidence-based decision-making to enhance organizational performance.

Keywords: metric model, evidence based HR, HR analytics, strategic HR practices, IT sector

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Authors: Mona Ghafouri-Azar, Sara Diamond, Jeremy Bowes, Grace Yuan, Aimee Burnett, Michelle Wyndham-West, Sara Wagner, Anand Pariyarath

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Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In Canada, it is responsible for 23% of total CO2emissions from fuel combustion, and emissions from the transportation sector are the second largest source of emissions after the oil and gas sector. Currently, most Canadian public transportation systems rely on buses that operateon fossil fuels.Canada is currently investing billions of dollars to replacediesel buses with electric busesas this isperceived to have a significant impact on climate mitigation. This paper focuses on the possible impacts of zero emission buses (ZEB) on sustainable development, considering three dimensions of sustainability; environmental quality, economic growth, and social development.A sustainable transportation system is one that is safe, affordable, accessible, efficient, and resilient and that contributes minimal emissions of carbon and other pollutants.To enable implementation of these goals, relevant indicators were selected and defined that measure progress towards a sustainable transportation system. These were drawn from Canadian and international examples. Studies compare different European cities in terms of development, sustainability, and infrastructures, by using transport performance indicators. A Normalized Transport Sustainability index measures and compares policies in different urban areas and allows fine-tuning of policies. Analysts use a number ofmethods for sustainable analysis, like cost-benefit analysis (CBA) toassess economic benefit, life-cycle assessment (LCA) to assess social, economic, and environment factors and goals, and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) analysis which can comparediffering stakeholder preferences.A multi criteria decision making approach is an appropriate methodology to plan and evaluate sustainable transit development and to provide insights and meaningful information for decision makers and transit agencies. It is essential to develop a system thataggregates specific discrete indices to assess the sustainability of transportation systems.Theseprioritize indicators appropriate for the differentCanadian transit system agencies and theirpreferences and requirements. This studywill develop an integrating index that alliesexistingdiscrete indexes to supporta reliable comparison between the current transportation system (diesel buses) and the new ZEB system emerging in Canada. As a first step, theindexes for each category are selected, and the index matrix constructed. Second, the selected indicators arenormalized to remove anyinconsistency between them. Next, the normalized matrix isweighted based on the relative importance of each index to the main domains of sustainability using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. This is accomplished through expert judgement around the relative importance of different attributes with respect to the goals through apairwise comparison matrix. The considerationof multiple environmental, economic, and social factors (including equity and health) is integrated intoa sustainable transit planning index (STPI) which supportsrealistic ZEB implementation in Canada and beyond and is useful to different stakeholders, agencies, and ministries.

Keywords: zero emission buses, sustainability, sustainable transit, transportation, analytical hierarchy process, environment, economy, social

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Authors: Remzi Saltoglu, Nazmia Humaira, Gokhan Inalhan

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During aircraft maintenance scheduling, operator calculates the budget of the maintenance. Usually, this calculation includes only the costs that are directly related to the maintenance process such as cost of labor, material, and equipment. In some cases, overhead cost is also included. However, in some of those, downtime cost is neglected claiming that grounding is a natural fact of maintenance; therefore, it is not considered as part of the analytical decision-making process. Based on the normalized data, we introduce downtime cost with its monetary value and add its seasonal character. We envision that the rest of the model, which works together with the downtime cost, could be checked with the real life cases, through the review of MRO cost and airline spending in the particular and scheduled maintenance events.

Keywords: aircraft maintenance, downtime, downtime cost, maintenance cost

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Authors: M. Jafari Toosy, A. Zamani

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This article, considering the result of pandemics at the international level and all activities and projects performed virtually and the need for resource management and virtual teams in this period identifies the components of virtual management after searching the available resources. Exploration of virtual management in the pandemic era is explored in 10 international articles. The results of research with this method and according to the tasks and topics related to management knowledge and definition of virtual teams can be divided into topics such as planning, decision making, control, organization, leadership, attention to growth and capability, resources and facilities, Communication, creativity, innovation and security. In order to explain the nature of virtual management, a definition of virtual management was provided.

Keywords: management, virtual, virtual team management, pandemic, team

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Authors: Farzana Esmailkassam, Usakorn Kunanuvat, Zahraa Mohammed Ali

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Objective: The key barrier in Clozapine treatment of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) includes frequent bloods draws to monitor neutropenia, the main drug side effect. WBC and ANC monitoring must occur throughout treatment. Accurate WBC and ANC counts are necessary for clinical decisions to halt, modify or continue clozapine treatment. The CSAN Pronto point-of-care (POC) analyzer generates white blood cells (WBC) and absolute neutrophils (ANC) through image analysis of capillary blood. POC monitoring offers significant advantages over central laboratory testing. This study evaluated the performance of the CSAN Pronto against the Beckman DxH900 Hematology laboratory analyzer. Methods: Forty venous samples (EDTA whole blood) with varying concentrations of WBC and ANC as established on the DxH900 analyzer were tested in duplicates on three CSAN Pronto analyzers. Additionally, both venous and capillary samples were concomitantly collected from 20 volunteers and assessed on the CSAN Pronto and the DxH900 analyzer. The analytical performance including precision using liquid quality controls (QCs) as well as patient samples near the medical decision points, and linearity using a mix of high and low patient samples to create five concentrations was also evaluated. Results: In the precision study for QCs and whole blood, WBC and ANC showed CV inside the limits established according to manufacturer and laboratory acceptability standards. WBC and ANC were found to be linear across the measurement range with a correlation of 0.99. WBC and ANC from all analyzers correlated well in venous samples on the DxH900 across the tested sample ranges with a correlation of > 0.95. Mean bias in ANC obtained on the CSAN pronto versus the DxH900 was 0.07× 109 cells/L (95% L.O.A -0.25 to 0.49) for concentrations <4.0 × 109 cells/L, which includes decision-making cut-offs for continuing clozapine treatment. Mean bias in WBC obtained on the CSAN pronto versus the DxH900 was 0.34× 109 cells/L (95% L.O.A -0.13 to 0.72) for concentrations <5.0 × 109 cells/L. The mean bias was higher (-11% for ANC, 5% for WBC) at higher concentrations. The correlations between capillary and venous samples showed more variability with mean bias of 0.20 × 109 cells/L for the ANC. Conclusions: The CSAN pronto showed acceptable performance in WBC and ANC measurements from venous and capillary samples and was approved for clinical use. This testing will facilitate treatment decisions and improve clozapine uptake and compliance.

Keywords: absolute neutrophil counts, clozapine, point of care, white blood cells

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Authors: Adheesh Budree, Olaf Jacob, Louis CH Fourie, James Njenga, Gabriel D Hoffman

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Business Intelligence (BI) is implemented by organisations for many reasons and chief among these is improved data support, decision support and savings. The main purpose of this study is to determine BI requirements and availability within South African organisations. The study addresses the following areas as identified as part of a literature review; assessing BI practices in businesses over a range of industries, sectors and managerial functions, determining the functionality of BI (technologies, architecture and methods). It was found that the overall satisfaction with BI in larger organisations is low due to lack of ability to meet user requirements.

Keywords: business intelligence, business value, data management, South Africa

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Authors: Maria Antonieta Erna Castillo Holly

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During the last decade, data analysis, strategic decision making, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in Latin American agriculture have been a challenge. In some countries, the availability, quality, and reliability of historical data, in addition to the current data recording methodology in the field, makes it difficult to use information systems, complete data analysis, and their support for making the right strategic decisions. This is something essential in Agriculture 4.0. where the increase in the global demand for fresh agricultural products of tropical origin, during all the seasons of the year requires a change in the production model and greater agility in the responses to the consumer market demands of quality, quantity, traceability, and sustainability –that means extensive data-. Having quality information available and updated in real-time on what, how much, how, when, where, at what cost, and the compliance with production quality standards represents the greatest challenge for sustainable and profitable agriculture in the region. The objective of this work is to present a methodological proposal for the collection of georeferenced data from the protected agriculture sector, specifically in production units (UP) with tall structures (Greenhouses), initially for Venezuela, taking the state of Mérida as the geographical framework, and horticultural products as target crops. The document presents some background information and explains the methodology and tools used in the 3 phases of the work: diagnosis, data collection, and analysis. As a result, an evaluation of the process is carried out, relevant data and dashboards are displayed, and the first satellite maps integrated with layers of information in a geographic information system are presented. Finally, some improvement proposals and tentatively recommended applications are added to the process, understanding that their objective is to provide better qualified and traceable georeferenced data for subsequent analysis of the information and more agile and accurate strategic decision making. One of the main points of this study is the lack of quality data treatment in the Latin America area and especially in the Caribbean basin, being one of the most important points how to manage the lack of complete official data. The methodology has been tested with horticultural products, but it can be extended to other tropical crops.

Keywords: greenhouses, protected agriculture, data analysis, geographic information systems, Venezuela

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Authors: Š. Čemerková, M. Wilczková

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The paper deals with the importance of information flow for providing of defined level of customer service in the firms. Setting of the criteria for the selection and implementation of logistics information system is a prerequisite for ensuring of the flow of information in firms. The decision on the selection and implementation of logistics information system is linked to the investment costs and operating costs, which are included in the total logistics costs. The article also deals with the conclusions of the research focused on the logistics information system selection in companies in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: customer service, information system, logistics, research

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Authors: Alireza Nikbakht Shahbazi, Emadeddin Shirali

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Since optimization issues of water resources are complicated due to the variety of decision making criteria and objective functions, it is sometimes impossible to resolve them through regular optimization methods or, it is time or money consuming. Therefore, the use of modern tools and methods is inevitable in resolving such problems. An accurate and essential utilization policy has to be determined in order to use natural resources such as water reservoirs optimally. Water reservoir programming studies aim to determine the final cultivated land area based on predefined agricultural models and water requirements. Dam utilization rule curve is also provided in such studies. The basic information applied in water reservoir programming studies generally include meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and water reservoir related data, and the geometric characteristics of the reservoir. The system of Dez dam water resources was simulated applying the basic information in order to determine the capability of its reservoir to provide the objectives of the performed plan. As a meta-exploratory method, genetic algorithm was applied in order to provide utilization rule curves (intersecting the reservoir volume). MATLAB software was used in order to resolve the foresaid model. Rule curves were firstly obtained through genetic algorithm. Then the significance of using rule curves and the decrease in decision making variables in the system was determined through system simulation and comparing the results with optimization results (Standard Operating Procedure). One of the most essential issues in optimization of a complicated water resource system is the increasing number of variables. Therefore a lot of time is required to find an optimum answer and in some cases, no desirable result is obtained. In this research, intersecting the reservoir volume has been applied as a modern model in order to reduce the number of variables. Water reservoir programming studies has been performed based on basic information, general hypotheses and standards and applying monthly simulation technique for a statistical period of 30 years. Results indicated that application of rule curve prevents the extreme shortages and decrease the monthly shortages.

Keywords: optimization, rule curve, genetic algorithm method, Dez dam reservoir

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Authors: Emmanuel Carlo Belara, Albert John Dela Merced, Mark Anthony Dominguez, Diomari Erasga, Jerome Ferrer, Bernard Ombrog

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Social distancing errors are a common prevalence between vaccinated and unvaccinated in the Filipino community. This study aims to identify and relate the factors on how they affect our daily lives. Observed factors include memory, attention, anxiety, decision-making, and stress. Upon applying the ergonomic tools and statistical treatment such as t-test and multiple linear regression, stress and attention turned out to have the most impact to the errors of social distancing.

Keywords: vaccinated, unvaccinated, socoal distancing, filipinos

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Authors: Fatma Khadra

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The objective of this research is to identify the acceptance of new technology in a sample of 150 Participants from Qatar University. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we used the Davis’s scale (1989) which contains two item scales for Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use. The TAM represents an important theoretical contribution toward understanding how users come to accept and use technology. This model suggests that when people are presented with a new technology, a number of variables influence their decision about how and when they will use it. The results showed that participants accept more technology because flexibility, clarity, enhancing the experience, enjoying, facility, and useful. Also, results showed that younger participants accept more technology than others.

Keywords: new technology, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, technology acceptance model

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Authors: João Coutinho-Rodrigues, Nuno Sousa, Luís Alçada-Almeida

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Transportation infrastructure systems are fundamental in modern society and economy. However, they need modernizing, maintaining, and reinforcing interventions which require large investments. In many countries, accumulated intervention delays arise from aging and intense use, being magnified by financial constraints of the past. The decision problem of managing the renewal of large backlogs is common to several types of important transportation infrastructures (e.g., railways, roads). This problem requires considering financial aspects as well as operational constraints under a multidimensional framework. The present research introduces a linear programming multiobjective model for managing railway infrastructure asset renewal. The model aims at minimizing three objectives: (i) yearly investment peak, by evenly spreading investment throughout multiple years; (ii) total cost, which includes extra maintenance costs incurred from renewal backlogs; (iii) priority delays related to work start postponements on the higher priority railway sections. Operational constraints ensure that passenger and freight services are not excessively delayed from having railway line sections under intervention. Achieving a balanced annual investment plan, without compromising the total financial effort or excessively postponing the execution of the priority works, was the motivation for pursuing the research which is now presented. The methodology, inspired by a real case study and tested with real data, reflects aspects of the practice of an infrastructure management company and is generalizable to different types of infrastructure (e.g., railways, highways). It was conceived for treating renewal interventions in infrastructure assets, which is a railway network may be rails, ballasts, sleepers, etc.; while a section is under intervention, trains must run at reduced speed, causing delays in services. The model cannot, therefore, allow for an accumulation of works on the same line, which may cause excessively large delays. Similarly, the lines do not all have the same socio-economic importance or service intensity, making it is necessary to prioritize the sections to be renewed. The model takes these issues into account, and its output is an optimized works schedule for the renewal project translatable in Gantt charts The infrastructure management company provided all the data for the first test case study and validated the parameterization. This case consists of several sections to be renewed, over 5 years and belonging to 17 lines. A large instance was also generated, reflecting a problem of a size similar to the USA railway network (considered the largest one in the world), so it is not expected that considerably larger problems appear in real life; an average of 25 years backlog and ten years of project horizon was considered. Despite the very large increase in the number of decision variables (200 times as large), the computational time cost did not increase very significantly. It is thus expectable that just about any real-life problem can be treated in a modern computer, regardless of size. The trade-off analysis shows that if the decision maker allows some increase in max yearly investment (i.e., degradation of objective ii), solutions improve considerably in the remaining two objectives.

Keywords: transport infrastructure, asset renewal, railway maintenance, multiobjective modeling

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Authors: Laila Oubahman, Duleba Szabolcs

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Public transport stakeholders aim to increase the ridership ratio by encouraging citizens to use common transportation modes. For this sight, improving service quality is a crucial option to reach the quality desired by users and reduce the gap between desired and perceived quality. Multi-criteria decision aid has been applied in literature in recent decades because it provides efficient models to assess the most impacting criteria on the overall assessment. In this paper, the PROMETHEE method is combined with the best-worst approach to construct a consensual model that avoids rank reversal to support stakeholders in ameliorating service quality.

Keywords: best-worst method, MCDA, PROMETHEE, public transport

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Authors: Handan Alan, Ulkü Baykal

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Personal characteristics help people understand and recognize both themselves and other people. They are also known to have direct effects on managerial behaviors. Managers’ personalities indicate how they think, perceive reality and relate to others, and affect their decision-making and problem-solving methods. This descriptive study aims to determine the personal characteristics of nurse managers and the personal and professional factors that affect them since sufficient data does not exist on personal characteristics despite the focus on the leadership and managerial characteristics in nursing. The study population consisted of nurses working in administrative positions at hospitals affiliated with the public hospitals union, research and practice hospitals affiliated with universities and private hospitals in cities in the Marmara Region. The study sample consisted of nurse managers working in the hospitals that permitted conducting the study (excluding private branch hospitals). The data were collected after obtaining the approval of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (Approval date: 1.7.2015, Decision No: 2015-01) and written official permissions from the administrations of the hospitals included in the study. The data analysis was carried out using means and standard deviations (SD) as descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance for inter-group comparisons and the independent samples t-test for paired group comparisons. A significance threshold of p < 0.05 was used to evaluate the findings. The data were collected using the Five Factor Personality Inventory. The study included 900 nurse managers, who obtained the highest mean score on the conscientiousness dimension (X=4.22 ±0.35). This dimension was followed by their mean scores on the agreeableness (X=4.06±0.40), intelligence (X=4.05±0.37), extroversion (X=3.50±0.43), and emotional instability (X=2.07±0.53) dimensions. Statistically significant differences were found between the independent variables of age, gender, marital status, education level, work institution, professional experience, institutional experience, managerial experience, administrative position, work unit and managerial education when compared using the five factor personality inventory (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the nurse managers described themselves having high conscientiousness. Statistically significant differences were found between the five factor personality inventory mean scores and their personal and professional characteristics.

Keywords: nurse manager, personality, personal characteristics, professional characteristics

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Authors: Oyelade Oluwatoyin

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The phenomenon of crises in educational sector in Nigeria has reached its peak in the 21st century. Thus, this paper examines the strategies that can be used in managing the conflict situation in Nigeria Higher Institution of learning. The causes of conflicts such as inadequate funding, insufficient school facilities, poor working condition, poor enrolment, proliferation of higher institutions and unfavourable administrative decision are the major detriment of law and order i.e. strike action, destruction of property and programmes coupled with the student unrest. This write-up will make use of the available information and with the aim of adding value to existing knowledge. It was recommend that steps should be taken by policy maker to prevent scourge of conflicts in tertiary institutions in Nigeria

Keywords: conflicts, higher institutions, management, measures

Procedia PDF Downloads 370