Search results for: business curriculum

Authors: Mamta

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Communication is the mixture of the various activities such as words, body language, volume and voice tone. Mankind has always throughout its history had the necessity for communication. It starts from birth and continues throughout life. Communication is just the right means of success and advancement in a workplace. Communication is one of the means to connect to different people at far distances. The modern workplace is inherently collaborative, and this collaboration relies on effective communication among co-workers. Also it has been observed that a lack in good communication skills especially within a workplace can result in conflicts and chaos hence hindering the productivity of an organization. Thus there is a dire need for developing good and effective communication skills which will result in increase in productivity and will enhance its efficiency.

Keywords: communication skills, professional communication, workplace communication, workplace efficiency

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Authors: M. Strémy, P. Závacký, P. Cuninka, M. Juhás

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Main goal of this paper is to introduce our design of private cloud for storing large amount of data, especially pictures, and to provide good technological backend for data analysis based on parallel processing and business intelligence. We have tested hypervisors, cloud management tools, storage for storing all data and Hadoop to provide data analysis on unstructured data. Providing high availability, virtual network management, logical separation of projects and also rapid deployment of physical servers to our environment was also needed.

Keywords: cloud, glusterfs, hadoop, juju, kvm, maas, openstack, virtualization

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Babaei, Sanaz Kamrani

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The main problems That arise In adopting most Enterprise resources planning (ERP) strategies come from organizational, complex information systems like the ERP integrate the data of all business areas within the organization. The implementation of ERP is a difficult process as it involves different types of end users. Based on literature, we proposed a conceptual framework and examined it to find the effect of some of the individual, organizational, and technological factors on the usage of ERP and its impact on the end user. The results of the analysis suggest that computer self-efficacy, organizational support, training, and compatibility have a positive influence on ERP usage which in turn has significant influence on panoptic empowerment and individual performance.

Keywords: factor, influencing, enterprise, system

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Authors: Zuzana Crhová, Karel Kolman, Drahomíra Pavelková

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Knowledge is considered as an important asset which can help organizations to create competitive advantage. The necessity of taking care of these assets is more important in these days – in days of turbulent changes in business environment. Knowledge could facilitate adaption to constant changes. The aim of this paper is to describe how the knowledge sharing can be supported in the manufacturing companies. The methods of case studies and grounded theory were used to present information gained by carrying out semi-structured interviews. Results show that knowledge sharing is supported in very similar ways in respondent companies.

Keywords: case study, human resource management, knowledge, knowledge sharing

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Authors: Lenore Van Den Berg

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Vocabulary development is positively associated with reading development, reading comprehension, and academic achievement. It is frequently stated that South Africa is in the midst of a literacy crisis. The past 24 years since the first democratically elected government have not revolutionised the education system; rather, after various curriculum changes and continued struggles to incorporate all 11 official languages as languages of instruction, research shows that 78 per cent of South African Grade 4 learners are functionally illiterate. The study sets out to find solutions to this problem and to add to the research base on vocabulary acquisition by assessing the effect of integrating the principles of explicit, interactive vocabulary instruction, within the context of storybook reading, on Grade 1 vocabulary acquisition. Participants comprised of 69 Grade 1 English second language learners from three classes in two government primary schools. The two schools differ in socio-economic status (SES), with School A having a lower SES than School B. One Grade 1 class was randomly assigned to be the Experimental Group, while two other classes served as control groups. The intervention took place for a period of 18 weeks and consisted of 30-minute storybook reading sessions, accompanied by interactive vocabulary instruction, twice a week. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IV (PPVT-IV) was the diagnostic test administered to all learners before the intervention, as a pre-test, and after the interventions as a post-test. Data regarding excising vocabulary instruction practices and approaches were also collected through classroom observations and individual, semi-structured interviews with the Experimental Group’s teacher. Findings suggest that second language storybook reading, accompanied by explicit, interactive vocabulary instruction, have a positive impact on Grade 1 vocabulary acquisition but that vocabulary teaching practices and socio-economic status also play a key role in vocabulary acquisition.

Keywords: interactive vocabulary instruction, second language vocabulary, storybook reading, vocabulary acquisition, reading development, PPVT

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Authors: Md. Nuru Miah, A. F. M. Akhter Uddin

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Medicinal plants are grown naturally in a tropical environment in Bangladesh and used as drug and therapeutic agents in the health care system. According to Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), there are 722 species of medicinal plants in the country. Of them, 255 plants are utilized by the manufacturers of Ayurvedic and Unani medicines. Medicinal plants like Aloevera, Ashwagonda, shotomul,Tulsi, Vuikumra, Misridana are extensively cultivated in some selected areas as well; where Aloevera scored the highest position in production. In the early 1980, Ayurvedic and Unani companies procured 80 percent of medicinal plants from natural forests, and the rest 20 percent was imported. Now the scenario has changed; 80 percent is imported, and the rest 20 percent is collected from local products(Source: Astudy on sectorbased need assessment of Business promotion council-Herbal products and medicinal plants, page-4). Uttara Development Program Society, a leading Non- Government development organization in Bangladesh, has been implementing a value chain development project under promoting Agricultural commercialization and Enterprises of Pally Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Natore Sadar Upazila from April 2017 to sustainably develop the technological interventions for products and market development. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase income, generate employment and develop this sector as a sustainable business enterprise. Altogether 10,000 farmers (Nursery owners, growers, input supplier, processors, whole sellers, and retailers) are engaged in different activities of the project. The entrepreneurs engaged in medicinal plant cultivation did not know and follow environmental and good agricultural practices. They used to adopt traditional methodology in production and processing. Locally the farmers didn’t have any positive initiative to expand their business as well as developvalue added products. A lot of diversified products could be possible to develop and marketed with the introduction of post-harvest processing technology and market linkage with the local and global buyer. Training is imparted to the nursery owners and herbal growers on production technologies, sowing method, use of organic fertilizers/compost/pesticides, harvesting procedures, and storage facilities. Different types of herbal tea like Rosella, Moringa, Tulshi, and Basak are being produced and packed locally with a good scope of its marketing in different cities of the country. The project has been able to achieve a significant impact in the development of production technologies, but still, there is room for further improvement in processing, packaging, and marketing level. The core intervention of the current project to develop some entrepreneurs for branding, packaging, promotion, and marketing while considering environment friendly practices. The present strategies will strengthen the knowledge and skills of the entrepreneurs for the production and marketing of their products, maintaining worldwide accepted compliance system for easy access to the global market.

Keywords: aloe vera, herbs and shrubs, market, interventions

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Authors: Rituraj Deka, Nomi Baruah

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The development of information technology during the past few years resulted in designing of more and more complex software. The outsourcing of software development makes a higher requirement for the management of software development project. Various software enterprises follow various paths in their pursuit of excellence, applying various principles, methods and techniques along the way. The new research is proving that CMMI and Agile methodologies can benefit from using both methods within organizations with the potential to dramatically improve business performance. The paper describes a mapping between CMMI key process areas (KPAs) and Feature-Driven Development (FDD) communication perspective, so as to increase the understanding of how improvements can be made in the software development process.

Keywords: Agile, CMMI, FDD, KPAs

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Authors: Yen Sun, Pariang Siagian

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The aim of this paper is to examine the progress of financial inclusion in Indonesia. The object of this paper is Micro Enterprises (MEs) and methodology used will be qualitative method by using surveys and questionnaires. The results show that there are still 20% MEs have no banking facilities at all and about 78% MEs still use their own capital to run their business. Furthermore, personal characteristics such as gender and education are factors that can explain financial inclusion. It is also said that in general MEs need banking product and services. However, there are still barriers that hinder them to be financially included. The most barriers they have to face are marketing exclusion. It shows that they have lack information about banking product and services since marketing strategy from bank is not disseminated clearly through various media.

Keywords: financial inclusion, financial exclusion, micro enterprises, Indonesia

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Authors: Lena Shulyakovskaya

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Every year, schools aim to develop and adopt new technology and pedagogy as a way to equip today's students with the needed 21st Century skills. However, the field of primary and secondary education may not be as open to embracing change in reality. Despite the drive to reform and innovation, the field of education in Canada is still very much steeped in tradition and uses many of the practices that came into effect over 50 years ago. Among those are employment and retention practices. Millennials are the youngest generation of professionals entering the workplace at this time and the ones leaving their jobs within just a few years. Almost half of new teachers leave Canadian schools within their first five years on the job. This paper discusses one of the contributing factors that lead Canadian millennial teachers to either leave or stay in the profession - standardized education system. Using an exploratory case study approach, in-depth interviews with former and current millennial teachers were conducted to learn about their experiences within the K-12 system. Among the findings were the young teachers' concerns about the constant changes to teaching practices and technological implementations that claimed to advance teaching and learning, and yet in reality only disguised and reiterated the same traditional, outdated, and standardized practices that already existed. Furthermore, while many millennial teachers aspired to be innovative with their curriculum and teaching practices, they felt trapped and helpless in the hands of school leaders who were very reluctant to change. While many new program ideas and technological advancements are being made openly available to teachers on a regular basis, it is important to consider the education field as a whole and how it plays into the teachers' ability to realistically implement changes. By the year 2025, millennials will make up approximately 75% of the North American workforce. It is important to examine generational differences among teachers and understand how millennial teachers may be shaping the future of primary and secondary schools, either by staying or leaving the profession.

Keywords: 21st century skills, millennials, teacher attrition, tradition

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Authors: Bahadır Erişti

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Values are the behavioral procedures of society based communication and interaction process that includes social and cultural backgrounds. The policy of learning and teaching in higher education is oriented towards constructing knowledge and skills, based on theorist framework of cognitive and psychomotor aspects. This approach makes people not to develop generosity, empathy, affection, solidarity, justice, equality and so on. But the sensorial gains of education system provide the integrity of society interaction. This situation carries out the necessity of values education’s in higher education. The current study aims to consider values education from the viewpoint of students in higher education. Within the framework of the current study, an open ended survey based scenario of higher education students was conducted with the students’ social, cognitive, affective and moral developments. In line with this purpose, the following situations of the higher education system were addressed based on the higher education students’ viewpoint: The views of higher education students’ regarding values that are tried to be gained at the higher education system; The higher education students’ suggestions regarding values education at the higher education system; The views of the higher education students’ regarding values that are imposed at the higher education system. In this study, descriptive qualitative research method was used. The study group of the research is composed of 20 higher education postgraduate students at Curriculum and Instruction Department of Educational Sciences at Anadolu University. An open-ended survey was applied for the purpose of collecting qualitative data. As a result of the study, value preferences, value judgments and value systems of the higher education students were constructed on prioritizes based on social, cultural and economic backgrounds and statues. Multi-dimensional process of value education in higher education need to be constructed on higher education-community-cultural background cooperation. Thus, the act of judgement upon values between higher education students based on the survey seems to be inherent in the system of education itself. The present study highlights the students’ value priorities and importance of values in higher education. If the purpose of the higher education system gains on values, it is possible to enable society to promote humanity.

Keywords: higher education, value, values education, values in higher education

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Ríos Reyes, Andrés Felipe Mejía Durán, Oscar Mauricio Castellanos Alarcón

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There is no doubt of great importance to make it known that planet Earth is an entity in constant change and transformation; processes such as construction and destruction are part of the evolution of the territory. Geoeducation workshops represent a significant contribution to the search for educational projects focused on teaching relevant geoscience topics to make natural threats known in schools through recreational and didactic activities. This initiative represents an educational alternative that must be developed with the participation of primary and secondary schools, universities, and local communities. The methodology is based on several phases, which include: diagnosis to know the best teaching method for basic concepts and establish a starting point for the topics to be taught, as well as to identify areas and concepts that need to be reinforced and/or deepened; design of activities that involve all students regardless of their ability or level; use of accessible materials and experimentation to support clear and concise explanations for all students; adaptation of the teaching-learning process to individual needs; sensitization about natural threats; and evaluation and feedback. It is expected to offer a series of activities and materials as a significant contribution to the search for educational projects focused on teaching relevant geoscientific topics such as natural threats associated with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, etc. The major findings of this study are the pedagogical strategies that primary and secondary school teachers can appropriate to face the challenge of transferring geological knowledge and to advise decision-makers and citizens on the importance of geosciences for daily life. We conclude that the knowledge of the natural threats to our planet is very important to contribute to mitigating their risk.

Keywords: workshops, geoeducation, curriculum, geosciences, natural threats

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Authors: Ishtiaq Ahmad Gondal, Mubasher Hussain

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Although the world always has spent a lot to counter the terror, thousands of millions of dollars have been spent in this regard after 9/11 that result to thwart some dangerous plots of terrorists. It is also un-ignorable that the terrorists, keeping the counterterrorist actions in their mind, always planned new ways for their operations, yet there is one thing still common in most terrorists' attacks: to use the label of religion, regardless any specific religion, in any form. The terrorism, in past few years, has also hit state's security, its consistency and coherence for achieving their cultural, political and military objectives. So, if they are not treated harshly for making the people's minds and their society dirty they will continue spreading chaos, anarchy and destruction among the ignorant and innocent people. Australia is doing its best to eliminate terrorism by using different tools such as by educating people and reducing poverty. There is still need to improve the tool of education as it can be used as one of the most effective tools to counter the terrorism. It is, as this paper will highlight, the need of contemporary time for establishing some high level educational centers that can educate people and keep them safe from any kind of terror incident. This study also concluded that common man, to keep himself saved from such activities and incidents, can be educated through public awareness movements and campaigns on media and at social gatherings. There is, according to the study, a need to reorganize the curriculum taught in different educational institutions especially in Islamic Schools (Madāris) that are assumed by some western writers as place of extremists, for the better understanding of moral and social obligations, fundamental rights, religious beliefs as well as cultural and social values to promote social justice and equality. This paper is an attempt to show the role of the Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre in this regard.

Keywords: social justice, counterterrorism, educational policy, religion, peace, terrorism

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Authors: Mirjana Dokmanovic

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The paper will introduce main findings of the research of the responses of the Central European and South Eastern European (CEE/SEE) countries to the global economic and financial crisis in 2008 from human rights and gender perspectives. The research methodology included desk research and qualitative analysis of the available data, studies, statistics, and reports produced by the governments, the UN agencies, international financial institutions (IFIs) and international network of civil society organizations. The main conclusion of the study is that the governments in the region missed to assess the impacts of their anti-crisis policies both ex ante and ex post from the standpoint of human rights and gender equality. Majority of the countries have focused their efforts solely on prompting up the banking and financial sectors, and construction business sectors. The tremendous debt which the states have accumulated for the rescue of banks and industries lead to further cuts in social expenses and reduction of public services. Decreasing state support to health care and social protection and declining family incomes made social services unaffordable for many families. Thus, the economic and financial crisis stirred up the care crisis that was absorbed by women’s intensifying unpaid work within a family and household to manage household survival strategy. On the other hand, increased burden of the care work weakened the position of women in the labour market and their opportunities to find a job. The study indicates that the artificial separation of the real economy and the sphere of social reproduction still persist. This has created additional burden of unpaid work of women within a family. The aim of this paper is to introduce the lessons learnt for future: (a) human rights may not be derogated in the times of crisis; (b) the obligation of states to mitigate negative impacts of economic policies to population, particularly to vulnerable groups, must be prioritized; (c) IFIs and business sector must be liable as duty bearers with respect to human rights commitments.

Keywords: CEE/SEE region, global financial and economic crisis, international financial institutions, human rights commitments, principle of non-derogability of human rights

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Authors: Zamri Omar, Alifi Zainal Abidin

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Although flying machines have made their tremendous technological advancement since the first successfully flight of the heavier-than-air aircraft, its benefits to the greater community are still belittled. One of the reasons for this drawback is due to the relatively high cost needed to fly on the typical light aircraft. A smaller and lighter plane, widely known as Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) has the potential to attract more people to actively participate in numerous flying activities, such as for recreational, business trips or other personal purposes. In this paper, we propose a new LSA design with some simple, yet important analysis required in the aircraft conceptual design stage.

Keywords: light sport aircraft, conceptual design, aircraft layout, aircraft

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Authors: Ranbir Singh, Deepinder Kaur

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Network security is an important aspect in every field like government offices, Educational Institute and any business organization. Network security consists of the policies adopted to prevent and monitor forbidden access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network. Network security is very complicated subject and deal by only well trained and experienced people. However, as more and more people become wired, an increasing number of people need to understand the basics of security in a networked world. The history of the network security included an introduction to the TCP/IP and interworking. Network security starts with authenticating, commonly with a username and a password. In this paper, we study about various types of attacks on network security and how to handle or prevent this attack.

Keywords: network security, attacks, denial, authenticating

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Authors: Tan Lay Cheng (Cheryl), Low Huiqi

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Background: All children learn at different pace. Individualized learning is an approach that tailors to the individual learning needs of each child. When implementing this approach, educators have to base their lessons on the understanding that all students learn differently and that what works for one student may not work for another. In the current early childhood environment, individualized learning is for children with diverse needs. However, a typical developing child is also able to benefit from individualized learning. This research abstract explores the concept of utilizing DNA-MILE, a patented (in Singapore) DNA-based assessment tool that can be used to measure a variety of factors that can impact learning. The assessment report includes the dominant intelligence of the user or, in this case, the child. From the result, a personalized learning plan that is tailored to each individual student's needs. Methods: A study will be conducted to investigate the effectiveness of DNA-MILE in supporting individualized learning. The study will involve a group of 20 preschoolers who were randomly assigned to either a DNA-MILE-assessed group (experimental group) or a control group. 10 children in each group. The experimental group will receive DNA Mile assessments and personalized learning plans, while the control group will not. The children in the experimental group will be taught using the dominant intelligence (as shown in the DNA-MILE report) to enhance their learning in other domains. The children in the control group will be taught using the curriculum and lesson plan set by their teacher for the whole class. Parents’ and teachers’ interviews will be conducted to provide information about the children before the study and after the study. Results: The results of the study will show the difference in the outcome of the learning, which received DNA Mile assessments and personalized learning plans, significantly outperformed the control group on a variety of measures, including standardized tests, grades, and motivation. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that DNA Mile can be an effective tool for supporting individualized learning. By providing personalized learning plans, DNA Mile can help to improve learning outcomes for all students.

Keywords: individualized, DNA-MILE, learning, preschool, DNA, multiple intelligence

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Authors: M. Radunovic

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Region of Southeastern Europe has a substantial energy resource potential and is witnessing an increasing rate of power and energy project investments. This comes as a result of countries harmonizing their legal framework and market regulations to conform the ones of European Union, enabling direct private investments. Funding in the power and energy market in this region originates from various resources and investment entities, including commercial and institutional ones. Risk anticipation and assessment is crucial to project success, especially given the long exploitation period of project in power and energy domain, as well as the wide range of stakeholders involved. This paper analyzes the possibility of combined application of tools used in total quality management and international financing institutions for project planning, execution and evaluation, with the goal of anticipating, assessing and minimizing the risks that might occur in the development and execution phase of a power and energy project in the market of southeastern Europe. History of successful project management and investments both in the industry and institutional sector provides sufficient experience, guidance and internationally adopted tools to provide proper project assessment for investments in power and energy. Business environment of southeastern Europe provides immense potential for developing power and engineering projects of various magnitudes, depending on stakeholders’ interest. Diversification on investment sources provides assurance that there is interest and commitment to invest in this market. Global economic and political developments will be intensifying the pace of investments in the upcoming period. The proposed approach accounts for key parameters that contribute to the sustainability and profitability of a project which include technological, educational, social and economic gaps between the southeastern European region and western Europe, market trends in equipment design and production on a global level, environment friendly approach to renewable energy sources as well as conventional power generation systems, and finally the effect of the One Belt One Road Initiative led by People’s Republic of China to the power and energy market of this region in the upcoming period on a long term scale. Analysis will outline the key benefits of the approach as well as the accompanying constraints. Parallel to this it will provide an overview of dominant threats and opportunities in present and future business environment and their influence to the proposed application. Through concrete examples, full potential of this approach will be presented along with necessary improvements that need to be implemented. Number of power and engineering projects being developed in southeastern Europe will be increasing in the upcoming period. Proper risk analysis will lead to minimizing project failures. The proposed successful combination of reliable project planning tools from different investment areas can prove to be beneficial in the future power and engineering investments, and guarantee their sustainability and profitability.

Keywords: capital investments, lean six sigma, logical framework approach, logical framework matrix, one belt one road initiative, project management tools, quality function deployment, Southeastern Europe, total quality management

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Authors: Mai Hoang Minh

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Financial statements (FS) are tools which provide information to users for making business decisions. This article is going to present the survey which clarifies the role of financial statement to Commercial Banks’ loan decisions in Vietnam. Moreover, this also discusses about financial statement’s quality currently, thereby making suggestions for enterprises to enhance the usefulness of accounting information in borrowing activities.

Keywords: usefulness of financial statement, accounting information quality, loan decisions

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Authors: U.-B. Schaer, M. Wehr, R. Hodler

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Background: Most nursing students require more training time for necessary nursing skills than defined by nursing schools curriculum to acquire basic nursing skills. Given skills training lessons are too brief to enable effective student learning, meaning in-depth skills practice and repetition various learning steps. This increases stress levels and the pressure to succeed for a nursing student with slower learning capabilities. Another possible consequence is that nursing students are less prepared in the required skills for future clinical practice. Intervention: The Bern College of Higher Education of Nursing, Switzerland, started the independent peer practice learning program in 2012. A concept was developed which defines specific aims and content as well as student’s rights and obligations. Students enlist beforehand and order the required materials. They organize themselves and train in small groups in allocated training location in the area of Learning Training and Transfer (LTT). During the peer practice, skills and knowledge can be repeatedly trained and reflected in the peer groups without the presence of a tutor. All invasive skills are practiced only on teaching dummies. This allows students to use all their potential. The students may access learning materials as literature and their own student notes. This allows nursing students to practice their skills and to deepen their knowledge on corresponding with their own learning rate. Results: Peer group discussions during the independent peer practice learning support the students in gaining certainty and confidence in their knowledge and skills. This may improve patient safety in future daily care practice. Descriptive statics show that the number of students who take advantage of the independent peer practice learning increased continuously (2012-2018). It has to be mentioned that in 2012, solely students of the first semester attended the independent peer practice learning program, while in 2018 over one-third of the participating students were in their fifth semester and final study year. It is clearly visible that the demand for independent peer practice learning is increasing. This has to be considered in the development of future teaching curricula.

Keywords: learning program, nursing students, peer learning, skill training

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Authors: Harneet Walia, Morteza Zihayat

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Customer acquisition has become one of the critical issues of any business in the 21st century; having a healthy customer base is the essential asset of the bank business. Term deposits act as a major source of cheap funds for the banks to invest and benefit from interest rate arbitrage. To attract customers, the marketing campaigns at most financial institutions consist of multiple outbound telephonic calls with more than one contact to a customer which is a very time-consuming process. Therefore, customized direct marketing has become more critical than ever for attracting new clients. As customer acquisition is becoming more difficult to archive, having an intelligent and redefined list is necessary to sell a product smartly. Our aim of this research is to increase the effectiveness of campaigns by predicting customers who will most likely subscribe to the fixed deposit and suggest the most suitable month to reach out to customers. We design a Time Aware Upsell Prediction Framework (TAUPF) using two different approaches, with an aim to find the best approach and technique to build the prediction model. TAUPF is implemented using Upsell Prediction Approach (UPA) and Clustered Upsell Prediction Approach (CUPA). We also address the data imbalance problem by examining and comparing different methods of sampling (Up-sampling and down-sampling). Our results have shown building such a model is quite feasible and profitable for the financial institutions. The Time Aware Upsell Prediction Framework (TAUPF) can be easily used in any industry such as telecom, automobile, tourism, etc. where the TAUPF (Clustered Upsell Prediction Approach (CUPA) or Upsell Prediction Approach (UPA)) holds valid. In our case, CUPA books more reliable. As proven in our research, one of the most important challenges is to define measures which have enough predictive power as the subscription to a fixed deposit depends on highly ambiguous situations and cannot be easily isolated. While we have shown the practicality of time-aware upsell prediction model where financial institutions can benefit from contacting the customers at the specified month, further research needs to be done to understand the specific time of the day. In addition, a further empirical/pilot study on real live customer needs to be conducted to prove the effectiveness of the model in the real world.

Keywords: customer acquisition, predictive analysis, targeted marketing, time-aware analysis

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Authors: M. A. M. Hayati Adilin, D. Ajau, A. S. Siti Khuzaimah, K. Mastura, R. Nik Muhammad Syafiq, M. N. Noor Fatin Nadiah

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The school environment is one of many factors related to the increment of overweight and obesity among children. There is an evidence to suggest that the school environmental factor has an independent effect towards health-related behaviour of children and school culture. It may have a significant impact towards the emergence of childhood obesity through their influence on eating pattern and physical activity level. The objective of this study is to identify the school environmental factors (i.e. physical, economic, political and socio-cultural) towards healthy eating and physical activity of urban and rural primary school children in preventing childhood obesity. This can be identified by examining the compliance of rural and urban school environment with whole-school environmental mapping framework. The study design was a cross-sectional study. A total of 60 schools were randomly selected (30 urban and 30 rural) in Selangor, Western Peninsular Malaysia in 2013 and 60 teachers (responsible for student affairs and the school curriculum) have been interviewed face to face by using a whole school mapping questionnaire followed by observation of the school environment . This study has demonstrated that schools in both areas (rural and urban) comply mostly with the physical environmental mapping (83.3%), followed by socio-cultural environmental mapping, 65%. Meanwhile, the political environmental mappings in both urban and rural schools show a low compliance percentage, which is 56.7%. For economic environmental mapping, only 10% of both schools are complied. As a conclusion, this study has demonstrated that schools in both areas do not fully comply with the whole school environmental mapping framework, especially economic and political. However, holistic approach is needed and many improvements can be proposed to promote healthy eating and physical activities among school children. Government, families and schools as well as communities and the media should be included together with any strategies for preventing childhood obesity.

Keywords: childhood obesity, healthy eating, physical activity, school environment

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Authors: Changmin Jiang

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In this paper, we build a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between two recent trends in airline frequent-flyer programs (FFPs): the adoption of the “coalition” business model with other commercial partners, and the separation from airlines’ operations. We show that commercial partners benefit from teaming up with FFP, while increasing the number of commercial partners will increase the total profit; it reduces the average profit of the parties involved. Furthermore, we show that the number of commercial partners of an FFP is negatively related with the benefit to keep the FFP in-house.

Keywords: frequent flyer program, coalition, commercial partners, spin-off

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Authors: Zhan Panpan, Lu Lan, Sun Yong, He Xiongwen, Yan Dong, Gu Ming

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The function of the two spacecraft docking network, the communication and control of a docking target with various spacecrafts is realized in the space lab data management system. In order to solve the problem of the complex data communication mode between the space lab and various spaceships, and the problem of software reuse caused by non-standard protocol, a data management software system supporting rendezvous and docking with various spaceships has been designed. The software system is based on CCSDS Spcecraft Onboard Interface Service(SOIS). It consists of Software Driver Layer, Middleware Layer and Appliaction Layer. The Software Driver Layer hides the various device interfaces using the uniform device driver framework. The Middleware Layer is divided into three lays, including transfer layer, application support layer and system business layer. The communication of space lab plaform bus and the docking bus is realized in transfer layer. Application support layer provides the inter tasks communitaion and the function of unified time management for the software system. The data management software functions are realized in system business layer, which contains telemetry management service, telecontrol management service, flight status management service, rendezvous and docking management service and so on. The Appliaction Layer accomplishes the space lab data management system defined tasks using the standard interface supplied by the Middleware Layer. On the basis of layered architecture, rendezvous and docking tasks and the rendezvous and docking management service are independent in the software system. The rendezvous and docking tasks will be activated and executed according to the different spaceships. In this way, the communication management functions in the independent flight mode, the combination mode of the manned spaceship and the combination mode of the cargo spaceship are achieved separately. The software architecture designed standard appliction interface for the services in each layer. Different requirements of the space lab can be supported by the use of standard services per layer, and the scalability and flexibility of the data management software can be effectively improved. It can also dynamically expand the number and adapt to the protocol of visiting spaceships. The software system has been applied in the data management subsystem of the space lab, and has been verified in the flight of the space lab. The research results of this paper can provide the basis for the design of the data manage system in the future space station.

Keywords: space lab, rendezvous and docking, data management, software system

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Authors: Meysam Saidi

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While the specific externalities and required regulatory measures in relation to Islamic banking are fairly uncertain, the business is growing across the world. Unofficial data indicate that the Islamic Finance market is growing with annual rate of 15% and it has reached 1.3 $ trillion size. This trend is associated with inherent systematic connection of Islamic financial institutions to other entities and different sectors of economies. Islamic banking has been subject of market development policies in major economies, most notably the UK. This trend highlights the need for identification of distinct risk features of Islamic banking and crafting customized regulatory measures. So far there has not been a significant systemic crisis in this market which can be attributed to its distinct nature. However, the significant growth and spread of its products worldwide necessitate an in depth study of its nature for customized congruent regulatory measures. In the post financial crisis era some market analysis and reports suggested that the Islamic banks fairly weathered the crisis. As far as heavily blamed conventional financial products such as subprime mortgage backed securities and speculative credit default swaps were concerned the immunity claim can be considered true, as Islamic financial institutions were not directly exposed to such products. Nevertheless, similar to the experience of the conventional banking industry, it can be only a matter of time for Islamic banks to face failures that can be specific to the nature of their business. Using the experience of conventional banking regulations and identifying those peculiarities of Islamic banking that need customized regulatory approach can aid to prevent major failures. Frank Knight has stated that “We perceive the world before we react to it, and we react not to what we perceive, but always to what we infer”. The debate over congruent Islamic banking regulations might not be an exception to Frank Knight’s statement but I will try to base my discussion on concrete evidences. This paper first analyzes both theoretical and actual features of Islamic banking in order to ascertain to its peculiarities in terms of market stability and other externalities. Next, the paper discusses distinct features of Islamic financial transactions and banking which might require customized regulatory measures. Finally, the paper explores how a more transparent path for the Islamic banking regulations can be drawn.

Keywords: Islamic banking, regulation, risks, capital requirements, customer protection, financial stability

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Authors: Armen Grigoryan, Milena Arakelyan

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The idea of smart logistics is still quite a complicated one. It can be used to market products to a large number of customers or to acquire raw materials of the highest quality at the lowest cost in geographically dispersed areas. The use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management has the potential to revolutionize the way that goods are tracked, transported, and managed. Smart contracts are simply computer programs written in one of the blockchain programming languages (Solidity, Rust, Vyper), which are capable of self-execution once the predetermined conditions are met. They can be used to automate and streamline many of the traditional manual processes that are currently used in logistics and supply chain management, including the tracking and movement of goods, the management of inventory, and the facilitation of payments and settlements between different parties in the supply chain. Currently, logistics is a core area for companies which is concerned with transporting products between parties. Still, the problem of this sector is that its scale may lead to detainments and defaults in the delivery of goods, as well as other issues. Moreover, large distributors require a large number of workers to meet all the needs of their stores. All this may contribute to big detainments in order processing and increases the potentiality of losing orders. In an attempt to break this problem, companies have automated all their procedures, contributing to a significant augmentation in the number of businesses and distributors in the logistics sector. Hence, blockchain technology and smart contracted legal agreements seem to be suitable concepts to redesign and optimize collaborative business processes and supply chains. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the scope of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the field of logistics and supply chain management. This study discusses the research question of how and to which extent smart contracts and blockchain technology can facilitate and improve the implementation of collaborative business structures for sustainable entrepreneurial activities in smart supply chains. The intention is to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management and to identify any gaps or limitations in the current knowledge on this topic. This review aims to provide a summary and evaluation of the key findings and themes that emerge from the research, as well as to suggest potential directions for future research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management.

Keywords: smart contracts, smart logistics, smart supply chain management, blockchain and smart contracts in logistics, smart contracts for controlling supply chain management

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Authors: Huixuan Xu

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The present study was set out to investigate the extent to which and how service-learning fostered a sample of 138 Hong Kong undergraduates’ interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation development. Interpersonal competence is presented when an individual shows empathy with others, provides intelligent advice to others and has practical judgment. Cooperative orientation reflects individuals’ willingness to work with others to achieve common goals. A quality service-learning programme may exhibit the features of provision of meaningful service, close link to curriculum, continuous reflection, youth voice, and diversity. Mixed methods were employed in the present study. Pre-posttest survey was administered to capture individual undergraduates’ development of interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation over a period of four months. The respondents’ evaluation of service-learning elements was administered in the post-test survey. Focus groups were conducted after the end of the service-learning to further explore how the certain service-learning elements promoted individual undergraduates’ development of interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation. Three main findings were reported from the study. (1) The scores of interpersonal competence increased significantly from the pretest to the posttest, while the change of cooperative orientation was not significant. (2) Cooperative orientation and interpersonal competence were correlated positively with the overall course quality respectively, which suggested that the more a service-learning course complied with quality practice, the students became more competent in interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation. (3) The following service-learning elements showed higher impacts: (a) direct contact with service recipients, which engaged students in practicing interpersonal skills; (b) individual participants’ being exposed to a situation that required communication and dialogue with people from diverse backgrounds with different views; (c) experiencing interpersonal conflicts among team members and having the conflicts solved; (d) students’ taking a leading role in a project-based service. The present study provides compelling evidence about what elements in a service-learning program may foster undergraduates’ development of cooperative orientation and interpersonal competence. Implications for the design of service-learning programmes are provided.

Keywords: undergraduates, interpersonal competence, cooperation orientation, service-learning

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Authors: Shian Wan, Yi-Chang Wang, Yu-Chien Lin

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This research discussed the various theories of service design, the importance of service design methodology, and the development of transformative service design framework. In this study, transformative service design is applied while building a new brand community service for women, children and infants retailing business. The goal is to enhance the brand recognition and customer loyalty, effectively increase the brand community engagement by embedding the brand community in social network and ultimately, strengthen the impact and the value of the company brand.

Keywords: service design, transformative service design, brand community, innovation

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Authors: Torben Hansen, Lars Gronholdt, Alexander Josiassen, Anne Martensen

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Consumers often exhibit a bias in their knowledge; they often think that they know more or less than they do. The concept of 'knowledge over/underconfidence' (O/U) has in previous studies been used to investigate such knowledge bias. O/U appears as a combination of subjective and objective knowledge. Subjective knowledge relates to consumers’ perception of their knowledge, while objective knowledge relates to consumers’ absolute knowledge measured by objective standards. This separation leads to three scenarios: The consumer can either be knowledge calibrated (subjective and objective knowledge are similar), overconfident (subjective knowledge exceeds objective knowledge) or underconfident (objective knowledge exceeds subjective knowledge). Knowledge O/U is a highly useful concept in understanding consumer choice behavior. For example, knowledge overconfident individuals are likely to exaggerate their ability to make right choices, are more likely to opt out of necessary information search, spend less time to carry out a specific task than less knowledge confident consumers, and are more likely to show high financial trading volumes. Through the use of financial services as a case study, this study contributes to previous research by examining how consumer knowledge O/U affects two types of trust (broad-scope trust and narrow-scope trust) and consumer relationship satisfaction. Trust does not only concern consumer trust in individual companies (i.e., narrow.-scope confidence NST), but also concerns consumer confidence in the broader business context in which consumers plan and implement their behavior (i.e., broad scope trust, BST). NST is defined as "the expectation that the service provider can be relied on to deliver on its promises’, while BST is defined as ‘the expectation that companies within a particular business type can generally be relied on to deliver on their promises.’ This study expands our understanding of the interplay between consumer knowledge bias, consumer trust, and relationship marketing in two main ways: First, it is demonstrated that the more knowledge O/U a consumer becomes, the higher/lower NST and levels of relationship satisfaction will be. Second, it is demonstrated that BST has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge O/U and satisfaction, such that knowledge O/U has a higher positive/negative effect on relationship satisfaction when BST is low vs. high. The data for this study comprises 756 mutual fund investors. Trust is particularly important in consumers’ mutual fund behavior because mutual funds have important responsibilities in providing financial advice and in managing consumers’ funds.

Keywords: knowledge, cognitive bias, trust, customer-seller relationships, financial services

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Authors: Alonge Isaac Olusola

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Taking a cue from countries such as China and Japan, there is no doubt that the teaching and learning of Mother Tongue ( MT) or Language of Immediate Environment (LIE) is a potential source of development in every country. The engine of economic, scientific, technological and political advancement would be more functional when the language of instruction for teaching and learning in schools is in the child’s mother tongue. The purpose of this paper therefore, is to delve into the genesis of the official recognition given to the teaching and learning of Nigerian languages at national level with special focus on Yoruba language. Yoruba language and other Nigerian languages were placed on a national pedestal by a Nigerian Educational Minister, Late Professor Babatunde Fafunwa, who served under the government of General Ibrahim Babangida (1985 – 1993). Through his laudable effort, the teaching and learning of Nigerian languages in schools all over the nation was incorporated officially in the national policy of education. Among all the Nigerian languages, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba were given foremost priorities because of the large population of their speakers. Since the Fafunwa era, Yoruba language has become a national subject taught in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria. However, like every new policy, its implementation has suffered several forms of criticisms and impediments from governments, policy makers, curriculum developers, school administrators, teachers and learners. This paper has been able to arrive at certain findings through oral interviews, questionnaires and evaluation of pupils/students enrolment and performances in Yoruba language with special focus on the South-west and North central regions of Nigeria. From the research carried out, some factors have been found to be responsible for the successful implementation or otherwise of Yoruba language instruction policy in some schools, colleges and higher institutions in Nigeria. In conclusion, the paper made recommendations on how the National Policy of Education would be implemented to enhance the teaching and learning of Yoruba language in all Nigerian schools.

Keywords: language of immediate environment, mother tongue, national policy of education, yoruba language

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Authors: Lito M. Amit, Venecio U. Ultra, Young-Woong Song

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The business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines is expanding rapidly attracting more than 2% of total employment. Currently, the BPO industry is confronted with several issues pertaining to sustainable productivity such as meeting the staffing gap, high rate of employees’ turnover and workforce retention, and the occupational health and safety (OHS) of call center agents. We conducted a survey of OHS programs and health concerns among call center agents in the Philippines and determined the sociocultural factors that affect the vulnerability of call center agents to occupational health risks and hazards. The majority of the agents affirmed that OHS are implemented and OHS orientation and emergency procedures were conducted at employment initiations, perceived favorable and convenient working environment except for occasional noise disturbances and acoustic shock, visual, and voice fatigues. Male agents can easily adjust to the demands and changes in their work environment and flexible work schedules than female agents. Female agents have a higher tendency to be pressured and humiliated by low work performance, experience a higher incidence of emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and experience more physical stress than male agents. The majority of the call center agents had a night-shift schedule and regardless of other factors, night shift work brings higher stress to agents. While working in a call center, higher incidence of headaches and insomnia, burnout, suppressed anger, anxiety, and depressions were experienced by female, younger (21-25 years old) and those at night shift than their counterpart. Most common musculoskeletal disorders include body pain in the neck, shoulders and back; and hand and wrist disorders and these are commonly experienced by female and younger workers. About 30% experienced symptoms of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders and weakened immune systems. Overall, these findings have shown the variable vulnerability by a different subpopulation of call center agents and are important in the occupational health risk prevention and management towards a sustainable human resource for BPO industry in the Philippines.

Keywords: business process outsourcing industry, health risk of call center agents, socio-cultural determinants, Philippines

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