Search results for: adjustment of relationship between existing objets

Authors: Maria Jose Granero Paris, Ana Isabel Jimenez Zarco, Agustin Pablo Alvarez Herranz

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In the industrial sector collaboration with suppliers is key to the development of innovations in the field of processes. Access to resources and expertise that are not available in the business, obtaining a cost advantage, or the reduction of the time needed to carry out innovation are some of the benefits associated with the process. However, the success of this collaborative process is compromised, when from the beginning not clearly rules have been established that govern the relationship. Abundant studies developed in the field of innovation emphasize the strategic importance of the concept of “Governance”. Despite this, there have been few papers that have analyzed how the governance process of the relationship must be designed and managed to ensure the success of the collaboration process. The lack of literature in this area responds to the wide diversity of contexts where collaborative processes to innovate take place. Thus, in sectors such as the car industry there is a strong collaborative tradition between manufacturers and suppliers being part of the value chain. In this case, it is common to establish mechanisms and procedures that fix formal and clear objectives to regulate the relationship, and establishes the rights and obligations of each of the parties involved. By contrast, in other sectors, collaborative relationships to innovate are not a common way of working, particularly when their aim is the development of process improvements. It is in this case, it is when the lack of mechanisms to establish and regulate the behavior of those involved, can give rise to conflicts, and the failure of the cooperative relationship. Because of this the present paper analyzes the similarities and differences in the processes of governance in collaboration with suppliers in the European aerospace industry With these ideas in mind, we present research is twofold: Understand the importance of governance as a key element of the success of the collaboration in the development of product and process innovations, Establish the mechanisms and procedures to ensure the proper management of the processes of collaboration. Following the methodology of the case study, we analyze the way in which manufacturers and suppliers cooperate in the development of new products and processes in two industries with different levels of technological intensity and collaborative tradition: the automotive and aerospace. The identification of those elements playing a key role to establish a successful governance and relationship management and the compression of the mechanisms of regulation and control in place at the automotive sector can be use to propose solutions to some of the conflicts that currently arise in aerospace industry. The paper concludes by analyzing the strategic implications for the aerospace industry entails the adoption of some of the practices traditionally used in other industrial sectors. Finally, it is important to highlight that in this paper are presented the first results of a research project currently in progress describing a model of governance that explains the way to manage outsourced services to suppliers in the European aerospace industry, through the analysis of companies in the sector located in Germany, France and Spain.

Keywords: supplier collaboration, supplier relationship governance, innovation management, product innovation, process innovation

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Authors: Rajarshi Motilal

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The birth of the Internet and the rise of social media marked an important chapter in the history of humankind. Often termed the fourth scientific revolution, the Internet has changed human lives and cognisance. The birth of Web 2.0, followed by the launch of social media and social networking sites, added another milestone to these technological advancements where connectivity and influx of information became dominant. With billions of individuals using the internet and social media sites in the 21st century, “users” became “consumers”, and orthodox marketing reshaped itself to digital marketing. Furthermore, organisations started using sophisticated algorithms to predict consumer purchase behaviour and manipulate it to sustain themselves in such a competitive environment. The rampant storage and analysis of individual data became the new normal, raising many questions about data privacy. The excessive usage of the Internet among individuals brought in other problems of them becoming addicted to it, scavenging for societal approval and instant gratification, subsequently leading to a collective dualism, isolation, and finally, depression. This study aims to determine the relationship between social media usage in the modern age and the rise of psychological and cognitive imbalances in human minds. The literature review is positioned timely as an addition to the existing work at a time when the world is constantly debating on whether social media resignation is the only way to protect user data and restore the decaying cognitive balance.

Keywords: social media, digital marketing, consumer behaviour, internet addiction, data privacy

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Authors: Jerzy Bański

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The purpose of the paper is to describe the role of urban-rural partnership in social and economic development. The concept of urban-rural collaboration is relatively new and assumes the need to link large metropolitan areas with surrounding rural areas in a number of ways. It is strongly related to the existing concept of polycentric spatial development. At the European Union level, the first document to address the need for urban-rural partnerships was the European Spatial Development Perspective from 1999. The paper focuses on factors that generate social and economic success on examples of several metropolitan territories in Poland (Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, Krakow). A survey focused on rural communes made it possible to assess key success factors (location, social and economic, technological and organizational) that could be later used to determine the right course of action in the area of urban-rural cooperation, with the desired outcome being effective metropolitan area development. The main challenges to urban-rural partnership are issues associated with spatial planning, infrastructure and public services. These are areas of the greatest conflict of interest, too. Any analysis of urban-rural cooperation in metropolitan areas really needs to focus on the unique nature of this type of relationship. This includes issues such as commuting to work in the urban core and vice versa, complementarity of technical infrastructure, and joint strategic planning. Other forms of cooperation should focus on the tourist and recreational aspects of areas surrounding the urban core.

Keywords: partnership, rural areas, urbanization, metropolitan areas, Poland

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Authors: P. F. Wong, H. Salleh, F. A. Rahim

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The adoption of building information modeling (BIM) is increasing in the construction industry. However, quantity surveyors are slow in adoption compared to other professions due to lack of awareness of the BIM’s potential in their profession. It is still unclear on how BIM application can enhance quantity surveyors’ work performance and project performance. The aim of this research is to identify the capabilities of BIM in quantity surveying practices and examine the relationship between BIM capabilities and project performance. Questionnaire survey and interviews were adopted for data collection. Literature reviews identified there are eleven BIM capabilities in quantity surveying practice. Questionnaire results showed that there are several BIM capabilities significantly correlated with project performance in time, cost and quality aspects and the results were validated through interviews. These findings show that BIM has the capabilities to enhance quantity surveyors’ performances and subsequently improved project performance.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling (BIM), quantity surveyors, capability, project performance

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Authors: Muthukuda Arachchige Dona Shiroma Jeeva Shirajanie Niriella

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The necessity of protection of the rights of victims of crime is a matter of concerns today. In the criminal justice system, child victims who are subjected to sexual abuse/violence are more vulnerable than the other crime victims. When they go to the police to lodge the complaint and until the end of the court proceedings, these victims are re-victimized in the criminal justice system. The rights of the suspects, accused and convicts are recognized and guaranteed by the constitution under fair trial norm, contemporary penal laws where crime is viewed as an offence against the State and existing criminal justice system in many jurisdictions including Sri Lanka. In this backdrop, a reasonable question arises as to whether the existing criminal justice system, especially which follow the adversarial mode of judicial trial protect the fair trial norm in the criminal justice process. Therefore, this paper intends to discuss the rights of the sexually abused child victims in the criminal justice system in order to restore imbalance between the rights of the wrongdoer and victim and suggest legal reforms to strengthen their rights in the criminal justice system which is essential to end secondary victimization. The paper considers Sri Lanka as a sample to discuss this issue. The paper looks at how the child victims are marginalized in the traditional adversarial model of the justice process, whether the contemporary penal laws adequately protect the right of these victims and whether the current laws set out the provisions to provide sufficient assistance and protection to them. The study further deals with the important principles adopted in international human rights law relating to the protection of the rights of the child victims in sexual offences cases. In this research paper, rights of the child victims in the investigation, trial and post-trial stages in the criminal justice process will be assessed. This research contains an extensive scrutiny of relevant international standards and local statutory provisions. Case law, books, journal articles, government publications such as commissions’ reports under this topic are rigorously reviewed as secondary resources. Further, randomly selected 25 child victims of sexual offences from the decided cases in last two years, police officers from 5 police divisions where the highest numbers of sexual offences were reported in last two years and the judicial officers both Magistrates and High Court Judges from the same judicial zones are interviewed. These data will be analyzed in order to find out the reasons for this specific sexual victimization, needs of these victims in various stages of the criminal justice system, relationship between victimization and offending and the difficulties and problems that these victims come across in criminal justice system. The author argues that the child victims are considerably neglected and their rights are not adequately protected in the adversarial model of the criminal justice process.

Keywords: child victims of sexual violence, criminal justice system, international standards, rights of child victims, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Yuting Tan, Benchao Fan, Xiaoman Wei, Tao Yang

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In order to investigate the relationship between students’ perceived teacher support, parental emotional support, mastery goal orientation and school belonging, the questionnaire data of 11,898 15-year-olds (5,699 girls and 6,199 boys) in four Chinese provinces and cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang) that participated in PISA 2018 were used. The results showed that: (1) teacher support can positively and significantly predict students' school belonging; (2) mastery goal orientation played the mediating role in the relationship between teacher support and school belonging; (3) the second half path of students’ mastery goal orientation to the mediation process of teacher support and school belonging was regulated by parental emotional support. The results have important educational practice enlightenment for effectively promoting the school belonging of Chinese students.

Keywords: school belonging, teacher support, mastery goal orientation, parental emotional support

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Authors: Rajarshi Sharma, Rashidul Alam, Visavino Seleyi, Yuvila Sangtam

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The Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) relationship of rainfall amounts is one of the most commonly used tools in water resources engineering for planning, design and operation of water resources project, or for various engineering projects against design floods. The establishment of such relationships was reported as early as in 1932 (Bernard). Since then many sets of relationships have been constructed for several parts of the globe. The objective of this research is to derive IDF relationship of rainfall for western watershed of Guwahati, Assam. These relationships are useful in the design of urban drainage works, e.g. storm sewers, culverts and other hydraulic structures. In the study, rainfall depth for 10 years viz. 2001 to 2010 has been collected from the Regional Meteorological Centre Borjhar, Guwahati. Firstly, the data has been used to construct the mass curve for duration of more than 7 hours rainfall to calculate the maximum intensity and to form the intensity duration curves. Gumbel’s frequency analysis technique has been used to calculate the probable maximum rainfall intensities for a period of 2 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr, 50 yr, 100 yr from the maximum intensity. Finally, regression analysis has been used to develop the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curve. Thus, from the analysis the values for the constants ‘a’,‘b’ &‘c’ have been found out. The values of ‘a’ for which the sum of the squared deviation is minimum has been found out to be 40 and when the corresponding value of ‘c’ and ‘b’ for the minimum squared deviation of ‘a’ are 0.744 and 1981.527 respectively. The results obtained showed that in all the cases the correlation coefficient is very high indicating the goodness of fit of the formulae to estimate IDF curves in the region of interest.

Keywords: intensity-duration-frequency relationship, mass curve, regression analysis, correlation coefficient

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Authors: Jameelah Omolara Yaqub

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One of the main reasons for the existence of central bank is that it is believed that central banks have some influence on private sector decisions which will enable the Central Bank to achieve some of its objectives especially that of stable price and economic growth. By the assumption of the New Keynesian theory that prices are fully flexible in the short run, the central bank can temporarily influence real interest rate and, therefore, have an effect on real output in addition to nominal prices. There is, therefore, the need for the Central Bank to monitor, respond to, and influence private sector decisions appropriately. This thus shows that the Central Bank and the private sector will both affect and be affected by each other implying considerable interdependence between the sectors. The interdependence may be simultaneous or not depending on the level of information, readily available and how sensitive prices are to agents’ expectations about the future. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to determine whether the interdependence between asset prices and monetary policy are simultaneous or not and how important is this relationship. Studies on the effects of monetary policy have largely used VAR models to identify the interdependence but most have found small effects of interaction. Some earlier studies have ignored the possibility of simultaneous interdependence while those that have allowed for simultaneous interdependence used data from developed economies only. This study, therefore, extends the literature by using data from a developing economy where information might not be readily available to influence agents’ expectation. In this study, the direction of relationship among variables of interest will be tested by carrying out the Granger causality test. Thereafter, the interaction between asset prices and monetary policy in Nigeria will be tested. Asset prices will be represented by the NSE index as well as real estate prices while monetary policy will be represented by money supply and the MPR respectively. The VAR model will be used to analyse the relationship between the variables in order to take account of potential simultaneity of interdependence. The study will cover the period between 1980 and 2014 due to data availability. It is believed that the outcome of the research will guide monetary policymakers especially the CBN to effectively influence the private sector decisions and thereby achieve its objectives of price stability and economic growth.

Keywords: asset prices, granger causality, monetary policy rate, Nigeria

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Authors: Mohamed M. Diab, Koura G. Mohamed, A. Balbaa, Radwan Sh. Ahamed

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Background: Chronic mechanical low back pain (CMLBP) is the most common complaint of the working-age population. Mechanical low back pain is often a chronic, dull, aching pain of varying intensity that affects the lower spine. In the current proposal the hip rotation-CMLBP relationship is based on that limited hip motion will be compensated by motion in the lumbopelvic region and this increase force translates to the lumbar spine. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there a relationship between chronic mechanical low back pain (CMLBP) and hip medial and lateral rotation (peak torque and Range of motion (ROM) in patients with CMLBP. Methods: Sixty patients with CMLBP diagnosed by an orthopedist participated in the current study after signing a consent form. Their mean of age was (23.76±2.39) years, mean of weight (71.8±12.7) (Kg), mean of height (169.65±7.49) (Cm) and mean of BMI (25.5±3.86) (Kg/m2). Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to assess pain. Fluid Filled Inclinometer was used to measure Hip rotation ROM (medial and lateral). Isokinetic Dynamometer was used to measure peak torque of hip rotators muscles (medial and lateral), concentric peak torque with tow Isokinetic speeds (60ᵒ/sec and 180ᵒ/sec) was selected to measure peak torque. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that there is poor relationship between pain and hip external rotation ROM, also there is poor relation between pain and hip internal rotation ROM. There is poor relation between pain and hip internal rotators peak torque and hip external rotators peak torque in both speeds. Conclusion: Depending on the current study it is not recommended to give an importance to hip rotation in treating Chronic Mechanical Low Back Pain.

Keywords: hip rotation ROM, hip rotators strength, low back pain, chronic mechanical

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Authors: B. Makhlouf, O. Bouchhida, M. Nibouche, K. Laidi

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A variety of methods for selective harmonics elimination pulse width modulation have been developed, the most frequently used for real-time implementation based on look-up tables method. To address real-time requirements based in modified carrier signal is proposed in the presented work, with a general formulation to real-time harmonics control/elimination in switched inverters. Firstly, the proposed method has been demonstrated for a single value of the modulation index. However, in reality, this parameter is variable as a consequence of the voltage (amplitude) variability. In this context, a simple interpolation method for calculating the modified sine carrier signal is proposed. The method allows a continuous adjustment in both amplitude and frequency of the fundamental. To assess the performance of the proposed method, software simulations and hardware experiments have been carried out in the case of a single-phase inverter. Obtained results are very satisfactory.

Keywords: harmonic elimination, Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO), polynomial interpolation, pulse width modulation, real-time harmonics control, voltage inverter

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Authors: F. Uriel, M. M. Fernandez Liporace

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In the last decade, academic achievement in higher education has become a topic of agenda in Argentina, regarding the high figures of adjustment problems, academic failure and dropout, and the low graduation rates in the context of massive classes and traditional teaching methods. Psychological variables, such as perceived social support, academic motivation and learning styles and strategies have much to offer since their measurement by tests allows a proper diagnose of their influence on academic achievement. Framed in a major research, several studies analysed multiple samples, totalizing 5135 students attending Argentinean public universities. The first goal was aimed at the identification of statistically significant differences in psychological variables -perceived social support, learning styles, learning strategies, and academic motivation- by age, gender, and degree of academic advance (freshmen versus sophomores). Thus, an inferential group differences study for each psychological dependent variable was developed by means of student’s T tests, given the features of data distribution. The second goal, aimed at examining associations between the four psychological variables on the one hand, and academic achievement on the other, was responded by correlational studies, calculating Pearson’s coefficients, employing grades as the quantitative indicator of academic achievement. The positive and significant results that were obtained led to the formulation of different predictive models of academic achievement which had to be tested in terms of adjustment and predictive power. These models took the four psychological variables above mentioned as predictors, using regression equations, examining predictors individually, in groups of two, and together, analysing indirect effects as well, and adding the degree of academic advance and gender, which had shown their importance within the first goal’s findings. The most relevant results were: first, gender showed no influence on any dependent variable. Second, only good achievers perceived high social support from teachers, and male students were prone to perceive less social support. Third, freshmen exhibited a pragmatic learning style, preferring unstructured environments, the use of examples and simultaneous-visual processing in learning, whereas sophomores manifest an assimilative learning style, choosing sequential and analytic processing modes. Despite these features, freshmen have to deal with abstract contents and sophomores, with practical learning situations due to study programs in force. Fifth, no differences in academic motivation were found between freshmen and sophomores. However, the latter employ a higher number of more efficient learning strategies. Sixth, freshmen low achievers lack intrinsic motivation. Seventh, models testing showed that social support, learning styles and academic motivation influence learning strategies, which affect academic achievement in freshmen, particularly males; only learning styles influence achievement in sophomores of both genders with direct effects. These findings led to conclude that educational psychologists, education specialists, teachers, and universities must plan urgent and major changes. These must be applied in renewed and better study programs, syllabi and classes, as well as tutoring and training systems. Such developments should be targeted to the support and empowerment of students in their academic pathways, and therefore to the upgrade of learning quality, especially in the case of freshmen, male freshmen, and low achievers.

Keywords: academic achievement, academic motivation, coping, learning strategies, learning styles, perceived social support

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Authors: Wisdom Dordudnu, George M. Y. Owusu, Samuel N. Y. Simpson

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The recent failures of many corporate giants have generated intense research interest in the factors that influence accountants’ job performance. Against the backdrop that these factors also create an enabling environment for success at the work place, this study contributes to literature on job performance of accountants by exploring the impact of two psycho-spiritual factors: religiosity and spiritual intelligence on job performance of accountants in Ghana. The study employs a survey approach using questionnaires as the principal means of data collection to elicit responses from accountants working in the 222 certified firms of Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG). A structural equation modeling-based approach is employed to examine the relationship among the study constructs. Results of this study indicate that there is a positive relationship between these factors and accountants’ performance. It is expected that this study provides strong evidence and highlight the need for specific action from managers to look critically at the non-material aspect of accountants in accounting firms.

Keywords: job performance, psycho-spiritual, religiosity, spiritual intelligence

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Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

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Software engineers apply different measures to quantify the quality of software design. These measures consider artifacts developed at low or high level software design phases. The results are used to point to design weaknesses and to indicate design points that have to be restructured. Understanding the relationship among the quality measures and among the design quality aspects considered by these measures is important to interpreting the impact of a measure for a quality aspect on other potentially related aspects. In addition, exploring the relationship between quality measures helps to explain the impact of different quality measures on external quality aspects, such as reliability and maintainability. In this paper, we report a replication study that empirically explores the correlation between six well known and commonly applied design quality measures. These measures consider several quality aspects, including complexity, cohesion, coupling, and inheritance. The results indicate that inheritance measures are weakly correlated to other measures, whereas complexity, coupling, and cohesion measures are mostly strongly correlated.  

Keywords: quality attribute, quality measure, software design quality, Spearman correlation

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Authors: Azlinda Saadon

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This paper provides detail review on river bank erosion studies with respect to their processes, methods of measurements and factors governing river bank erosion. Bank erosion processes are commonly associated with river changes initiation and development, through width adjustment and planform evolution. It consists of two main types of erosion processes; basal erosion due to fluvial hydraulic force and bank failure under the influence of gravity. Most studies had only focused on one factor rather than integrating both factors. Evidences of previous works have shown integration between both processes of fluvial hydraulic force and bank failure. Bank failure is often treated as probabilistic phenomenon without having physical characteristics and the geotechnical aspects of the bank. This review summarizes the findings of previous investigators with respect to measurement techniques and prediction rates of river bank erosion through field investigation, physical model and numerical model approaches. Factors governing river bank erosion considering physical characteristics of fluvial erosion are defined.

Keywords: river bank erosion, bank erosion, dimensional analysis, geotechnical aspects

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Authors: R. Rajeswari

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An investigation was carried out to know the SOC stock and its change over time in benchmark soils of different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu. Roth.C model was used to assess SOC stock under existing and alternate cropping pattern. Soil map prepared on 1:50,000 scale from Natural Resources Information System (NRIS) employed under satellite data (IRS-1C/1D-PAN sharpened LISS-III image) was used to estimate SOC stock in different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu. Fifteen benchmark soils were selected in different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu based on their land use and the areal extent to assess SOC level and its change overtime. This revealed that, between eleven years of period (1997 - 2007). SOC buildup was higher in soils under horticulture system, followed by soils under rice cultivation. Among different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu hilly zone have the highest SOC stock, followed by north eastern, southern, western, cauvery delta, north western, and high rainfall zone. Although organic carbon content in the soils of North eastern, southern, western, North western, Cauvery delta were less than high rainfall zone, the SOC stock was high. SOC density was higher in high rainfall and hilly zone than other agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu. Among low rainfall regions of Tamil Nadu cauvery delta zone recorded higher SOC density. Roth.C model was used to assess SOC stock under existing and alternate cropping pattern in viz., Periyanaickenpalayam series (western zone), Peelamedu series (southern zone), Vallam series (north eastern zone), Vannappatti series (north western zone) and Padugai series (cauvery delta zone). Padugai series recorded higher TOC, BIO, and HUM, followed by Periyanaickenpalayam series, Peelamedu series, Vallam series, and Vannappatti series. Vannappatti and Padugai series develop high TOC, BIO, and HUM under existing cropping pattern. Periyanaickenpalayam, Peelamedu, and Vallam series develop high TOC, BIO, and HUM under alternate cropping pattern. Among five selected soil series, Periyanaickenpalayam, Peelamedu, and Padugai series recorded 0.75 per cent TOC during 2025 and 2018, 2100 and 2035, 2013 and 2014 under existing and alternate cropping pattern, respectively.

Keywords: agro climatic zones, benchmark soil, land use, soil organic carbon

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Authors: Sombol Mokhles

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Tackling climate change requires expanding networking opportunities between a diverse range of cities to accelerate climate actions. Existing climate city networks have limitations in actively engaging “ordinary” cities in networking processes between cities, as they encourage a few powerful cities to be followed by the many “ordinary” cities. To reimagine the networking opportunities between cities beyond global cities, this paper incorporates “cosmopolitan comparison” to expand our knowledge of a diverse range of cities using a data-driven approach. Through a cosmopolitan perspective, a framework is presented on how to utilise large data to expand knowledge of cities beyond global cities to reimagine the existing hierarchical networking practices. The contribution of this framework is beyond urban climate governance but inclusive of different fields which strive for a more inclusive and cosmopolitan comparison attentive to the differences across cities.

Keywords: cosmopolitan city comparison, data-driven approach, climate city networking, urban climate governance

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Authors: Haruna Maama

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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is gaining considerable attention despite being voluntary. Meanwhile, it consumes resources to provide ESG reporting, raising a question of its value relevance. The study examined the impact of ESG reporting on the market value of listed firms in SSA. The annual and integrated reports of 276 listed sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) firms. The integrated reporting scores of the firm were analysed using a content analysis method. A multiple regression estimation technique using a GMM approach was employed for the analysis. The results revealed that ESG has a positive relationship with firms’ market value, suggesting that investors are interested in the ESG information disclosure of firms in SSA. This suggests that extensive ESG disclosures are attempts by firms to obtain the approval of powerful social, political and environmental stakeholders, especially institutional investors. Furthermore, the market value analysis evidence is consistent with signalling theory, which postulates that firms provide integrated reports as a signal to influence the behaviour of stakeholders. This finding reflects the value placed on investors' social, environmental and governance disclosures, which affirms the views that conventional investors would care about the social, environmental and governance issues of their potential or existing investee firms. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the prediction of signalling theory. In the context of this theory, integrated reporting is seen as part of firms' overall competitive strategy to influence investors' behaviour. The findings of this study make unique contributions to knowledge and practice in corporate reporting.

Keywords: environmental accounting, ESG accounting, signalling theory, sustainability reporting, sub-saharan Africa

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Authors: Saif Hussein Abdallah Alghazo, Norshima Humaidi

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

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

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Authors: Katsumi Mera

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between strengths/weaknesses on studying and subjective well-being among Japanese working adults. We conducted an online questionnaire survey of Japanese working adults (aged 20-69) and obtained 1,063 valid responses. Subjective well-being was evaluated using the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, the method used in the World Happiness Survey, in which the highest possible life is set at 10, and the lowest possible life is set at 0. The mean subjective well-being of all 1,063 respondents was 5.87, which is a very similar value that was obtained in the Japanese World Happiness Survey in 2023. First, we investigated the respondents' strengths/weaknesses in studying and their subjective well-being. The results showed that the subjective well-being of the group who answered that they were good at studying (6.62) was significantly higher than that of the group who answered that they were poor at studying (5.15). Next, we investigated the subjective well-being of students who answered that they were good at Japanese, Math, English, Social studies, and Science, the major subjects in Japan, and found that the subjective well-being of the group that answered that they were good at these subjects was higher than that of the group that answered that they were poor at these subjects. When the correlation between the score of "strengths/weaknesses on studying" and the score of "subjective well-being" was examined, those who answered that they were good at studying had higher subjective well-being (correlation coefficient r = 0.26, p < 0.001). The correlation between the subjective well-being score and the score of "strengths/weaknesses on studying each subject” was examined. Among the subjects, the subjective well-being score was the highest for those who answered that they were good at English (correlation coefficient r = 0.17, p < 0.001). These results indicate a relationship between strengths/weaknesses on studying and subjective well-being among workers in Japan. These findings may provide an important basis for considering what kind of education should be focused on in order to nurture working adults with high levels of well-being.

Keywords: subject well-being, strengths/weaknesses, studying, Japanese working adults

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Authors: Herath M. P. C. Jayaweera, Samer Hanoun

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Path planning for on-time obstacle avoidance is an essential and challenging task that enables drones to achieve safe operation in any application domain. The level of challenge increases significantly on the obstacle avoidance technique when the drone is following a ground mobile entity (GME). This is mainly due to the change in direction and magnitude of the GME′s velocity in dynamic and unstructured environments. Force field techniques are the most widely used obstacle avoidance methods due to their simplicity, ease of use, and potential to be adopted for three-dimensional dynamic environments. However, the existing force field obstacle avoidance techniques suffer many drawbacks, including their tendency to generate longer routes when the obstacles are sideways of the drone′s route, poor ability to find the shortest flyable path, propensity to fall into local minima, producing a non-smooth path, and high failure rate in the presence of symmetrical obstacles. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper proposes an on-time three-dimensional obstacle avoidance method for drones to effectively and efficiently avoid dynamic and static obstacles in unknown environments while pursuing a GME. This on-time obstacle avoidance technique generates velocity waypoints for its obstacle-free and efficient path based on the shape of the encountered obstacles. This method can be utilized on most types of drones that have basic distance measurement sensors and autopilot-supported flight controllers. The proposed obstacle avoidance technique is validated and evaluated against existing force field methods for different simulation scenarios in Gazebo and ROS-supported PX4-SITL. The simulation results show that the proposed obstacle avoidance technique outperforms the existing force field techniques and is better suited for real-world applications.

Keywords: drones, force field methods, obstacle avoidance, path planning

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Authors: Varsha Reddy Jayar

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Background: Our elderly family members deserve our best care. It's our responsibility to ensure they're healthy and safe. The population of India is increasing rapidly. People are literally being born in the streets, and there is a high growth on taxes and healthcare costs. Indian families are challenged with taking care of everyone. When you have elderly parents and a demanding job, it can be difficult to take care of them. You might not have enough time to care for them when you're already working or dealing with emotional difficulties. Living alone in old age can cause older individuals to face many health risks. Many seniors find living and caring for themselves challenging when they live by themselves. This study explored the factors that affect whether or not elderly people choose to live in old age homes. Methods: This study was carried out on 123 elderly people living in different old age homes in Karnataka, India. The reason for their residence at the home was explored using an interview. Results: It was found that the most common reason for living in an old age home is due to abuse from children and grandchildren; the majority reported were Daughter in law issues in the family specific to the adjustment and understanding amongst them. Conclusion: More and more elderly people in India are choosing to stay in old age homes as they get older. The government and voluntary agencies must have some sort of arrangements for institutional support.

Keywords: old age home, elderly, Aging, challenges of aging

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Authors: Tatyana Kim

Abstract:

This paper seeks to explore the academic and sociocultural adaptation experiences of international students studying in Kazakhstan. Using multiple case study design, the research will be undertaken at two private Kazakhstani universities having a relatively large and diverse body of international students. Thus, 20 full-time undergraduate international students from the sampled universities will be interviewed to identify factors that impede or, vice versa, facilitate their academic and sociocultural adaptation in Kazakhstan, as well as to reveal how universities support these students in the process of their adaptation. To investigate the issue more deeply, it was decided to explore the university administrators’ viewpoint of the issue. Thus, six university administrators who are in charge of recruiting and supporting international students and, thus, are particularly knowledgeable about their experiences, have been recruited for this study. Identification of both students’ and administrators’ perspectives on the matter may help reveal miscommunication, if any, and gain greater insight into the phenomenon. The data will be collected between November 5, 2019, and December 10, 2019. Preliminary findings will be presented at the conference. Lysgaard’s U-curve adjustment theory (1955) will be employed as a guiding framework to discuss and interpret the findings.

Keywords: academic adaptation, adaptation, higher education, international students, sociocultural adaptation

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Authors: Wenjiang Deng, Tian Mou, Yudi Pawitan, Trung Nghia Vu

Abstract:

Estimation of isoform-level gene expression from RNA-seq data depends on simplifying assumptions, such as uniform reads distribution, that are easily violated in real data. Such violations typically lead to biased estimates. Most existing methods provide a bias correction step(s), which is based on biological considerations, such as GC content–and applied in single samples separately. The main problem is that not all biases are known. For example, new technologies such as single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) may introduce new sources of bias not seen in bulk-cell data. This study introduces a method called XAEM based on a more flexible and robust statistical model. Existing methods are essentially based on a linear model Xβ, where the design matrix X is known and derived based on the simplifying assumptions. In contrast, XAEM considers Xβ as a bilinear model with both X and β unknown. Joint estimation of X and β is made possible by simultaneous analysis of multi-sample RNA-seq data. Compared to existing methods, XAEM automatically performs empirical correction of potentially unknown biases. XAEM implements an alternating expectation-maximization (AEM) algorithm, alternating between estimation of X and β. For speed XAEM utilizes quasi-mapping for read alignment, thus leading to a fast algorithm. Overall XAEM performs favorably compared to other recent advanced methods. For simulated datasets, XAEM obtains higher accuracy for multiple-isoform genes, particularly for paralogs. In a differential-expression analysis of a real scRNA-seq dataset, XAEM achieves substantially greater rediscovery rates in an independent validation set.

Keywords: alternating EM algorithm, bias correction, bilinear model, gene expression, RNA-seq

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Authors: Ayse Inel Manav, Saliha Bozdogan Yesilot, Pinar Yesil Demirci, Gursel Oztunc

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Introduction: This study was conducted with a view to evaluating cognitive function level, depression, and quality of life of elderly people living in a nursing home. Methods: This study, which is cross-sectional and descriptive in nature, was conducted in the Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for the Elderly in Adana/Turkey between 1st of May and 1st of August, 2016. The participants included 118 elderly people who were chosen using simple random sampling method. The data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Standardized Mini Mental State Exam (SMMSE), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-OLD (WHOQOL-OLD) module. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM, SPSS, Turkey) program. Results: Of all the participants, 36,4% (n=43) were female, 63,6% (n=75) were male, and average age was 74,08 ± 8,23 years. The participants’ SMMSE mean score was found 20,37 ± 7,08, GDS mean score was 14,92 ± 4,29, and WHOQOL-OLD module mean score was 69,76 ± 11,54. There was a negative, significant relationship between SMMSE and GDS scores, a positive relationship between WHOQOL-OLD module total scores and a negative, significant relationship between GDS scores and WHOQOL-OLD module total scores. Discussıon and Conclusion: Results showed that more than half of the elderly people living in the nursing home experienced cognitive deterioration and depression; and cognitive state, depression, and quality of life were found to be significantly related to each other.

Keywords: depression, cognitive function level, quality of life

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Authors: Anees Raza, Liu Chunyan

Abstract:

Renewable energy technologies are need of the time and are already making the big impact in the climatic outlook of the world. Biogas technology is one of those, and it has a lot of benefits for its users. It is cost effective because it is produced from the raw material which is available free of cost to the livestock farmers. Bio-slurry, a by-product of biogas, is being used as fertilizer for the crops production and increasing soil fertility. There are many other household benefits of technology. Research paper discusses the benefits of biogas as perceived by the biogas users as well as non-users of Tehsil Jhang. Data were collected from 60 respondents (30 users and 30 non-users) selected purposively through validated and pre-tested interview schedule from the respondents. Collected data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Household benefits like ‘makes cooking easy,’ ‘Less breathing issues for working women in kitchens’ and ‘Use of bio-slurry as organic fertilizer’ had the highly significant relationship between them with t-values of 3.24, 4.39 and 2.80 respectively. Responses of the respondents about environmental benefits of biogas technology showed that ‘less air pollution’ had a significant relationship between them while ‘less temperature rise up than due to the burning of wood /dung’ had the non-significant relationship in the responses of interviewed respondents. It was clear from the research that biogas users were becoming influential in convincing non-users to adopt this technology due to its noticeable benefits. Research area where people were depending on wood to be used as fire fuel could be helped in reduction of cutting of trees which will help in controlling deforestation and saving the environment.People should be encouraged in using of biogas technology through providing them subsidies and low mark up loans.

Keywords: biogas technology, deforestation, environmental benefits, renewable energy

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Authors: Ceshi Sun, Yueyu Zhao, Yaobing Zhao, Zhiqiang Wang, Jian Peng, Pengxin Guo

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With the rapid development of transportation, there are more than 100 cable-stayed bridges with main span larger than 300 m in China. In order to ascertain the statistical relationships among the design parameters of stay cables and their distribution characteristics, 1500 cables were selected from 25 practical long-span cable-stayed bridges. A new relationship between the first order frequency and the length of cable was found by conducting the curve fitting. Then, based on this relationship other interesting relationships were deduced. Several probability density functions (PDFs) were used to investigate the distributions of the parameters of first order frequency, stress level and the Irvine parameter. It was found that these parameters obey the Lognormal distribution, the Weibull distribution and the generalized Pareto distribution, respectively. Scatter diagrams of the three parameters were plotted and their 95% confidence intervals were also investigated.

Keywords: cable, cable-stayed bridge, long-span, statistical analysis

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Authors: Kristine D. de Leon, Junifer A. Abatayo, Jose Cristina M. Pariña

Abstract:

The current study is a comparative analysis of the use of shell nouns as a cohesive device (CD) in an English for Second Language (ESL) setting in order to identify their use and relationship in the quality of second language (L2) writing. As these nouns were established to anticipate the meaning within, across or outside the text, their use has fascinated writing researchers. The corpus of the study included published articles from reputable journals and graduate students’ papers in order to analyze the frequency of shell nouns using “highly prevalent” nouns in the academic community, to identify the different lexicogrammatical patterns where these nouns occur and to the functions connected with these patterns. The result of the study implies that published authors used more shell nouns in their paper than graduate students. However, the functions of the different lexicogrammatical patterns for the frequently occurring shell nouns are somewhat similar. These results could help students in enhancing the cohesion of their text and in comprehending it.

Keywords: anaphoric, cataphoric, lexico-grammatical, shell nouns

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Authors: Kaige Shi, Chao Jiang, Xin Li

Abstract:

The swirl gripper is an electrically activated noncontact handling device that uses swirling airflow to generate a lifting force. This force can be used to pick up a workpiece placed underneath the swirl gripper without any contact. It is applicable, for example, in the semiconductor wafer production line, where contact must be avoided during the handling and moving of a workpiece to minimize damage. When a workpiece levitates underneath a swirl gripper, the gap height between them is crucial for safe handling. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a method to estimate the levitation gap height by detecting pressure at two points. The method is based on theoretical model of the swirl gripper, and has been experimentally verified. Furthermore, the force between the gripper and the workpiece can also be estimated using the detected pressure. As a result, the nonlinear relationship between the force and gap height can be linearized by adjusting the rotating speed of the fan in the swirl gripper according to the estimated force and gap height. The linearized relationship is expected to enhance handling stability of the workpiece.

Keywords: swirl gripper, noncontact handling, levitation, gap height estimation

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Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, Nour M. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

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An existing RC building in Madinah is seismically evaluated with and without infill wall. Four model systems have been considered i. e. model I (no infill), model IIA (strut infill-update from field test), model IIB (strut infill- ASCE/SEI 41) and model IIC (strut infill-Soft storey-ASCE/SEI 41). Three dimensional pushover analyses have been carried out using SAP 2000 software incorporating inelastic material behavior for concrete, steel and infill walls. Infill wall has been modeled as equivalent strut according to suggested equation matching field test measurements and to the ASCE/SEI 41 equation. The effect of building modeling on the performance point as well as capacity and demand spectra due to EQ design spectrum function in Madinah area has been investigated. The response modification factor (R) for the 5 story RC building is evaluated from capacity and demand spectra (ATC-40) for the studied models. The results are summarized and discussed.

Keywords: infill wall, pushover analysis, response modification factor, seismic assessment

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Authors: Zhidong Zhang, Zhi-Chao Zhang, Georgiana Duarte

Abstract:

This study examined withdrawn syndromes of Chinese school children in northeast China in Northeast China. Specifically, the study examined withdrawn behaviors and the relationship to anxious syndromes and education environments. The purpose is to examine how the elements of educational environments and the early adolescents’ behaviors as independent variables influence and possibly predict the school children’s withdrawn problems. Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA), was the instrument, used in collection of data. A stratified sampling method was utilized to collect data from 2532 participants in seven schools. The results indicated that several background variables influenced withdrawn problem. Specifically, age, grade, sports activities and hobbies had a relationship with the anxious/depressed variable. Further withdrawn syndromes and anxious problem indicate a significant correlation.

Keywords: anxious/depressed problem, ASEBA, CBCL, withdrawn syndromes

Procedia PDF Downloads 297