Search results for: organizational failure

Authors: Ahmed Noor Al-Qayyim

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During the past decades, the bridge structures are considered very important portions of transportation networks, due to the fast urban sprawling. With the failure of bridges that under operating conditions lead to focus on updating the default bridge inspection methodology. The structures health monitoring (SHM) using the vibration response appeared as a promising method to evaluate the condition of structures. The rapid development in the sensors technology and the condition assessment techniques based on the vibration-based damage detection made the SHM an efficient and economical ways to assess the bridges. SHM is set to assess state and expects probable failures of designated bridges. In this paper, a presentation for Frequency Response function method that uses the captured vibration test information of structures to evaluate the structure condition. Furthermore, the main steps of the assessment of bridge using the vibration information are presented. The Frequency Response function method is applied to the experimental data of a full-scale bridge.

Keywords: bridge assessment, health monitoring, damage detection, frequency response function (FRF), signal processing, structure identification

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Authors: Maithem Al-Saadi, Min An

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During airport planning and design stages, the major issues of capacity and safety in construction and operation of an airport need to be taken into consideration. The airside of an airport is a major and critical infrastructure that usually consists of runway(s), taxiway system, and apron(s) etc., which have to be designed according to the international standards and recommendations, and local limitations to accommodate the forecasted demands. However, in many cases, airport airsides are suffering from unexpected risks that occurred during airport operations. Therefore, safety risk assessment should be applied in the planning and design of airsides to cope with the probability of risks and their consequences, and to make decisions to reduce the risks to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) based on safety risk assessment. This paper presents a combination approach of Failure Modes, Effect, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Fuzzy Reasoning Approach (FRA), and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to develop a risk analysis model for safety risk assessment. An illustrated example is used to the demonstrate risk assessment process on how the design of an airside in an airport can be analysed by using the proposed safety design risk assessment model.

Keywords: airport airside planning and design, design for safety, fuzzy reasoning approach, fuzzy AHP, risk assessment

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Authors: Brandtner-Hafner Martin

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Adhesives are increasingly being used in the construction sector. On the one hand, this concerns dowel reinforcements using chemical anchors. On the other hand, the sealing and repair of cracks in structural concrete components are still on the rise. In the field of bonding, the interface between the joined materials is the most critical area. Therefore, it is of immense importance to characterize and investigate this section sufficiently by fracture analysis. Since standardized mechanical test methods are not sufficiently capable of doing this, recourse is made to an innovative concept based on fracture energy. Therefore, a series of experimental tests were performed using the so-called GF-principle to study the interface bonding safety of adhesively bonded concrete joints. Several different structural adhesive systems based on epoxy, CA/A hybrid, PUR, MS polymer, dispersion, and acrylate were selected for bonding concrete substrates. The results show that stable crack propagation and prevention of uncontrolled failure in bonded concrete joints depend very much on the adhesive system used, and only fracture analytical evaluation methods can provide empirical information on this.

Keywords: interface bonding safety, adhesively bonded concrete joints, GF-principle, fracture analysis

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Authors: Huijuan Liu, Fukun Li, Hao Yuan

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The bolted spherical node is a common type of joint in space steel structures. The bolt-sphere joint portion almost always controls the bearing capacity of the bolted spherical node. The investigation of the bearing performance and progressive failure in service often requires high-fidelity numerical models. This paper focuses on the constitutive models of bolt steel and sphere steel used in China’s space structure construction. The elastoplastic model is determined by a standard tensile test and calibrated Voce saturated hardening rule. The ductile damage is found dominant based on the fractography analysis. Then Rice-Tracey ductile fracture rule is selected and the model parameters are calibrated based on tensile tests of notched specimens. These calibrated material models can benefit research or engineering work in similar fields.

Keywords: bolt-sphere joint, steel, constitutive model, ductile damage, model calibration

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Authors: Amir Ahmadi, Hossein Ahmadi, Alireza Ahmadi

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been defined as the ability to empathize, persevere, control impulses, communicate clearly, make thoughtful decisions, solve problems, and work with others in a way that earns friends and success. These abilities allow an individual to recognize and regulate emotion, develop self-control, set goals, develop empathy, resolve conflicts, and develop skills needed for leadership and effective group participation. Due to the increasing complexity of organizations and different ways of thinking, attitudes and beliefs of individuals, Conflict as an important part of organizational life has been examined frequently. The main point is that the conflict is not necessarily in organization, unnecessary; But it can be more creative (increase creativity), to promote innovation, or may avoid wasting energy and resources of the organization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between principals emotional intelligence as one of the factors affecting conflict management among teachers. This relation was analyzed through cluster sampling with a sample size consisting of 120 individuals. The results of the study showed that, at the 95% level of confidence, the two secondary hypotheses (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals and use of competition and cooperation strategies of conflict management among teachers)were confirmed, but the other three secondary hypotheses (i.e. the relation between emotional intelligence of managers and use of avoidance, adaptation and adaptability strategies of conflict management among teachers) were rejected. The primary hypothesis (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals with conflict management among teachers) is supported.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, conflict, conflict management, strategies of conflict management

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Authors: Mutiara Amalina Khairisa, Purnama Arafah, Rahayu Listiana Ramli

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In recent years, so many cases of divorce increasingly occur. Betrayal in form of infidelity, less communication one another, economically problems, selfishness of two sides, intervening parents from both sides which frequently occurs in Asia, especially in Indonesia, the differences of both principles and beliefs, “Sense of Romantism” depletion, role confict, a large difference in the purpose of marriage,and sex satisfaction are expected as the primary factors of the causes of divorce. Every couple of marriage wants to reach happy life in their family but severe problems brought about by either of those main factors come as a reasonable cause of failure marriage. The purpose of this study is to find out how marital adjustment and supporting factors in ensuring the success of that previous marital adjusment are inseparable two things assumed as a framework can affect the success in marriage becoming a resolution to reduce the desires to divorce. Those two inseparable things are able to become an aspect of learning from the success of the different ethnics marriage to keep holding on wholeness.

Keywords: marital adjustment, marital sustainability, learning process, successful ethnicity differences marriage, basical cultural values

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Authors: Satya Pradhan, Venky Nanniyur

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As the software industry transitions from a license-based model to a subscription-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, many software development groups are using a hybrid development model that incorporates Agile and Waterfall methodologies in different parts of the organization. The traditional metrics used for measuring software quality in Waterfall or Agile paradigms do not apply to this new hybrid methodology. In addition, to respond to higher quality demands from customers and to gain a competitive advantage in the market, many companies are starting to prioritize quality as a strategic differentiator. As a result, quality metrics are included in the decision-making activities all the way up to the executive level, including board of director reviews. This paper presents key challenges associated with measuring software quality in organizations using the hybrid development model. We introduce a framework called Prevention-Inspection-Evaluation-Removal (PIER) to provide a comprehensive metric definition for hybrid organizations. The framework includes quality measurements, quality enforcement, and quality decision points at different organizational levels and project milestones. The metrics framework defined in this paper is being used for all Cisco systems products used in customer premises. We present several field metrics for one product portfolio (enterprise networking) to show the effectiveness of the proposed measurement system. As the results show, this metrics framework has significantly improved in-process defect management as well as field quality.

Keywords: quality management system, quality metrics framework, quality metrics, agile, waterfall, hybrid development system

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Authors: S. Candamano, A. Iorfida, F. Crea, A. Macario

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Recently, basalt fabric reinforced cementitious composites (FRCM) have attracted great attention because they result to be effective in structural strengthening and cost/environment efficient. In this study, authors investigate their mechanical behavior when an inorganic matrix, belonging to the family of alkali-activated binders, is used. In particular, the matrix has been designed to contain high amounts of industrial by-products and waste, such as Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash. Fresh state properties, such as workability, mechanical properties and shrinkage behavior of the matrix have been measured, while microstructures and reaction products were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffractometry. Reinforcement is made up of a balanced, coated bidirectional fabric made out of basalt fibres and stainless steel micro-wire, with a mesh size of 8x8 mm and an equivalent design thickness equal to 0.064 mm. Mortars mixes have been prepared by maintaining constant the water/(reactive powders) and sand/(reactive powders) ratios at 0.53 and 2.7 respectively. An appropriate experimental campaign based on direct tensile tests on composite specimens and single-lap shear bond test on brickwork substrate has been thus carried out to investigate their mechanical behavior under tension, the stress-transfer mechanism and failure modes. Tensile tests were carried out on composite specimens of nominal dimensions equal to 500 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm, with 6 embedded rovings in the loading direction. Direct shear tests (DST) were carried out on brickwork substrate using an externally bonded basalt-FRCM composite strip 10 mm thick, 50 mm wide and a bonded length of 300 mm. Mortars exhibit, after 28 days of curing, an average compressive strength of 32 MPa and flexural strength of 5.5 MPa. Main hydration product is a poorly crystalline aluminium-modified calcium silicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) gel. The constitutive behavior of the composite has been identified by means of direct tensile tests, with response curves showing a tri-linear behavior. Test results indicate that the behavior is mainly governed by cracks development (II) and widening (III) up to failure. The ultimate tensile strength and strain were respectively σᵤ = 456 MPa and ɛᵤ= 2.20%. The tensile modulus of elasticity in stage III was EIII= 41 GPa. All single-lap shear test specimens failed due to composite debonding. It occurred at the internal fabric-to-matrix interface, and it was the result of a fracture of the matrix between the fibre bundles. For all specimens, transversal cracks were visible on the external surface of the composite and involved only the external matrix layer. This cracking appears when the interfacial shear stresses increase and slippage of the fabric at the internal matrix layer interface occurs. Since the external matrix layer is bonded to the reinforcement fabric, it translates with the slipped fabric. Average peak load around 945 N, peak stress around 308 MPa and global slip around 6 mm were measured. The preliminary test results allow affirming that Alkali-Activated Materials can be considered a potentially valid alternative to traditional mortars in designing FRCM composites.

Keywords: Alkali-activated binders, Basalt-FRCM composites, direct shear tests, structural strengthening

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Authors: Bruno S. Soria, Mauricio R. Policena, Andre J. Souza

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The state of the cutting tool is an important factor to consider during machining to achieve a good surface quality. The vibration generated during material cutting can also directly affect the surface quality and life of the cutting tool. In this work, the effect of mechanical broken failure (MBF) on carbide insert tools during face milling of AISI 304 stainless steel was evaluated using three levels of feed rate and two spindle speeds for each tool condition: three carbide inserts have perfect geometry, and three other carbide inserts have MBF. The axial and radial depths remained constant. The cutting forces were determined through a sensory system that consists of a piezoelectric dynamometer and data acquisition system. Discrete Wavelet Transform was used to separate the static part of the signals of force and vibration. The roughness of the machined surface was analyzed for each machining condition. The MBF of the tool increased the intensity and force of vibration and worsened the roughness factors.

Keywords: face milling, stainless steel, tool condition monitoring, wavelet discrete transform

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Authors: Mershack O. Tetteh, Albert P. C. Chan, Amos Darko, Gabriel Nani

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International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) have evolved as an effective approach to sustainable development, given their myriad socio-economic and environmental benefits. Yet, they are not free of barriers and risks. In many studies, it is termed as risks for convenience’s sake. While the barriers and risks continue to affect the success of ICJVs, a systematic and reliable approach for managing them has yet to be developed. This study aims to identify and classify the barriers and risks factors affecting ICJVs through a systematic literature review. Based on a critical review of 54 papers published in peer-reviewed journals from 1990 to 2019, a conceptual framework was proposed for managing the barriers and risks in ICJV operations. The review showed that the barriers can be grouped into six including inter-organizational differences, lack of expertise and confidence, lack of effective planning and strategies, lack of knowledge of ICJV’s fundamentals, conflicts among ICJV entities, and management difficulties. The risks were also categorized into six: policy and political risks, legal risks, financial risks, management risks, project and technical risks, and market risks. The developed model would help practitioners achieve more efficient resource allocation and bring new perspectives for managerial practices in ICJVs. Moreover, it is positioned to alleviate the negligence of previous studies that combined the barriers and risks factors as one checklist.

Keywords: barriers, construction, international construction joint venture, risks, sustainable development

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Authors: Mohammad Molavi, Mohsen Nourai

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The emancipation of the Muslim nation from the numerous problems and achieving to the decent position is one of the old desires of Muslim. Increasing efforts to realize this wish based on religious and rational teachings is the main goal for Muslim reformist. Almost all scholars relying on the Qur'an teaching emphasize on the significant role of Islamic Unity for the revival of Islamic civilization. But their methods for achieving to the Islamic Unity are not so clear. Generally speaking, failure to provide specific solutions, uncertainty in the face of universal literature in politics and governance, and etc. are some of the challenges facing the Islamic Unity.This paper via the descriptive-analytical method and by focusing on theoretical aspects of the subject has attempted to analyze Imam Khomeini points of view. Research findings show that there are several significant differences between Imam Khomeini's idea of Islamic Unity and ideas like 'Pan-Turkism', 'Pan-Arabism' and so on. Some of Imam Khomeini's principles in this regard are as follow: Strategic approach to unity, relying on juridical certain and systematic attitude, comprehensive approach, Holistic, rationality, and moderation. So, there is no any generality speaking or ambiguity in Khomeini's thought.

Keywords: Qur'an, Imam Khomeini, islamic unity, islamic nation, islamic political thought

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Authors: Souhir Chelly, Asma Ben Cheikh, Hela Ghali, Salwa Khefacha, Lamine Dhidah, Mohamed Ben Rejeb, Houyem Said Latiri

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The hospital risk management department is firstly involved in the methodological analysis of grade zero sterilization incidents. The system is based on a subsequent analysis process in compliance with the ongoing requirements of the Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) for a reactive approach to risk, allowing to identify failures and start the appropriate preventive and corrective measures. The use of the association of litigation and risk management (ALARM) method makes easier the grade zero analysis and brings to light the team or institutional, organizational, temporal, individual factors representative of undesirable effects. Two main factors come out again from this analysis, pre-disinfection step of the emergency block unsupervised instrumentalist intern was poorly done since she did not remove the battery from micro air motor. At the sterilization unit, the worker who was not supervised by the nurse did the conditioning of the motor without having checked it if it still contained the battery. The main cause is that the management of human resources was inadequate at both levels, the instrumental trainee in the block who was not supervised by his supervisor and the worker of the sterilization unit who was not supervised by the responsible nurse. There is a lack of research help, advice, and collaboration. The difficulties encountered during this type of analysis are multiple. The first is based on its necessary acceptance by the various actors of care involved, which should not perceive it as a tool leading to individual punishment, but rather as a means to improve their practices.

Keywords: ALARM (Association of Litigation and Risk Management Method), incident, risk management, sterilization

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Authors: Tushar Vasant Salunkhe, Sariput M. Nawghare, Maheboobsab B. Nadaf, Sushovan Dutta, J. N. Mandal

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The model tests were conducted in the laboratory without and with plastic recycled polymer in fly ash steep slopes overlaying soft foundation soils like fly ash and power soil in order to check the stability of steep slope. In this experiment, fly ash is used as a filling material, and Plastic Recycled Polymers of diameter = 3mm and length = 4mm were made from the waste plastic product (lower grade plastic product). The properties of fly ash and plastic recycled polymers are determined. From the experiments, load and settlement have measured. From these data, load–settlement curves have been reported. It has been observed from test results that the load carrying capacity of mixture fly ash with Plastic Recycled Polymers slope is more than that of fly ash slope. The deformation of Plastic Recycled Polymers slope is slightly more than that of fly ash slope. A Finite Element Method (F.E.M.) was also evaluated using PLAXIS 3D version. The failure pattern, deformations and factor of safety are reported based on analytical programme. The results from experimental data and analytical programme are compared and reported.

Keywords: factor of safety, finite element method (FEM), fly ash, plastic recycled polymer

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Authors: Yasser A. Khalifa, Michael J. Tait, A. M. Asce, Wael W. El-Dakhakhni, M. Asce

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The quasi-static resistance functions for orthogonal corrugated core sandwich panels were determined experimentally. According to the American and Canadian codes for blast resistant designs of buildings UFC 3-340-02, ASCE/SEI 59-11, and CSA/ S850-12 the dynamic behavior is related to the static behavior under uniform loading. The target was to design a lightweight, relatively cheap, and quick sandwich panel to be employed as a sacrificial cladding for important buildings. For that an available corrugated cold formed steel sheet profile in North America was used as a core for the sandwich panel, in addition to using a quick, relatively low cost fabrication technique in the construction process. Six orthogonal corrugated core sandwich panels were tested and the influence of core sheet gauge on the behavior of the sandwich panels was explored using two different gauges. Failure modes, yield forces, ultimate forces, and corresponding deformations were determined and discussed.

Keywords: cold formed steel, lightweight structure, sandwich panel, sacrificial cladding, uniform loading

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Authors: Prakash Singh, Piet Maphodisa Kgohlo

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Knowledge-worker productivity is one of the biggest leadership challenges facing all organizations in the twenty-first century. It cannot be denied that knowledge-worker productivity affects all organizations. The work and the workforce are both undergoing greater changes currently than at any time, since the beginning of the industrial revolution two centuries ago. Employees welcome collegial teaming (CT) as an innovative way to develop their work-integrated learning competencies. Human resource development policies must evoke the symbiotic relationship between CT and work-integrated learning, seeing that employees need to be endowed with the competence to move from one skill to another, as each one becomes obsolete, and to simultaneously develop their cognitive and emotional intelligence. The outcome of this relationship must culminate in the development of highly productive knowledge-workers. While this study focuses on teachers, the conceptual framework and the findings of this research can be beneficial for any organization, public or private sector, business or non-business. Therefore, in this quantitative study, the benefits of CT are considered in developing human resources to sustain knowledge-worker productivity. The ANOVA p-values reveal that the majority of teachers agree that CT can empower them to overcome the challenges of managing curriculum change. CT can equip them with continuous and sustained learning, growth and improvement, necessary for knowledge-worker productivity. This study, therefore, confirms that CT benefits all workers, immaterial of their age, gender or experience. Hence, this exploratory research provides a new perspective of CT in addressing knowledge-worker productivity when organizational change alters the vision of the organization.

Keywords: collegial teaming, human resource development, knowledge-worker productivity, work-integrated learning

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Authors: Cui Fu, Yi-Zhou Zhuang, Sheng-Zhi Wang

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Full scale tests of six micropiles with different predrilled-hole parameters under low frequency cyclic lateral loading in-sand were carried out using the MTS hydraulic loading system to analyze the seismic performance of micropiles. Hysteresis curves, skeleton curves, energy dissipation capacity and ductility of micropiles were investigated. The experimental results show the hysteresis curves appear like plump bows in the elastic–plastic stage and failure stage which exhibit good hysteretic characteristics without pinching phenomena and good energy dissipating capacities. The ductility coefficient varies from 2.51 to 3.54 and the depth and loose backfill of oversized holes can improve ductility, but the diameter of predrilled-hole has a limited effect on enhancing its ductility. These findings and conclusions could make contribution to the practical application of the semi-integral abutment bridges and provide a reference for the predrilled oversized hole technology in integral abutment bridges.

Keywords: ductility, energy dissipation capacity, micropile with predrilled oversized hole, seismic performance, semi-integral abutment bridge

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Authors: Jessica Lynne Hicksted

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Disability discrimination is a long-standing issue that, despite protections, continues to result in unemployment, underemployment, and lack of advancement for disabled persons. Visible stigma is researched substantially; however, less is known about the impact of stigma associated with identities that can be concealed. Although researchers have investigated this issue, currently there is no tool to measure this phenomenon. The purpose of this quantitative study was to create and validate a new tool to measure stigma associated with invisible disabilities. The study is grounded by Roberts’ conceptual model of professional image construction integrating social identity, impression management, and organizational behavior; Meisenbach’s stigma management communication theory addressing the vulnerabilities and resilience to stigma communication by focusing on how individuals encounter and react to perceived stigmas; and Kelley and Michela’s causal attribution theory. Participants included 1,412 adults in the United States 18 years or older currently employed or who have been employed within the last 5 years. Confirmatory factor analysis of the new Workplace Invisible Disabilities Experience scale showed excellent fit of the factor structure to the data, X₂/df = 1.855, CFI = .955, RMSEA = .045, p = .0001. The scale has three subscales, Ableism, Advocacy, and Acceptance, with excellent internal consistency reliability. Total score, Advocacy, and Acceptance were associated with intention to disclose. Implications for positive social change include helping organizations to understand the extent of invisible disability stigma that can help improve workplace performance and satisfaction.

Keywords: invisible disabilities, accommodations, acceptance, social change, workplace inclusion

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Authors: Taguekou Kenfack Alexie

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For a long time, refugee protection has constituted one of the main concerns of the international community as a whole and for the South African government in particular.The focus of this paper is on the challenges refugees face in accessing their rights in South Africa. In particular, it analyses the legal framework for the protection of the socio economic rights of refugees under international law, regional and domestic law and the extent to which the rights have been realized. The main hypothesis of the study centered on the fact that the social protection of refugees in South Africa is in conformity with international standards. To test this hypothesis, the qualitative research method was applied. Refugee related legal instruments were analyzed as well as academic publications, organizational reports and internet sources. The data analyzed revealed that there has been enormous progress in meeting international standards in the areas of education, emergency relief and assistance, protection of women and refugee children. The results also indicated that much remain to be desired in such areas as nutrition, shelter, health care, freedom of movement and very importantly, employment and social security. The paper also seeks to address the obstacles which prevent the proper treatment of refugees and to make recommendations as how the South African government can better regulate the treatment of refugees living in its territory.Recommendations include the amendment of the legal instruments that provide the normative framework for protection and improvement of protection policies to reflect the changing dynamics.

Keywords: international community, refugee, socioeconomic rights, social protection

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Authors: M. Dabirinezhad, M. Bayat Pour, A. Dabirinejad

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Recognition of the color spectrum of the teeth plays a significant role in the dental laboratories to produce dentures. Since there are various types and colours of teeth for each patient, there is a need to specify the exact and the most suitable colour to produce a denture. Usually, dentists utilize pallets to identify the color that suits a patient based on the color of the adjacent teeth. Consistent with this, there can be human errors by dentists to recognize the optimum colour for the patient, and it can be annoying for the patient. According to the statistics, there are some claims from the patients that they are not satisfied by the colour of their dentures after the installation of the denture in their mouths. This problem emanates from the lack of sufficient accuracy during the colour recognition process of denture production. The colour recognition pen (CRP) is a technology to distinguish the colour spectrum of the intended teeth with the highest accuracy. CRP is equipped with a sensor that is capable to read and analyse a wide range of spectrums. It is also connected to a database that contains all the spectrum ranges, which exist in the market. The database is editable and updatable based on market requirements. Another advantage of this invention can be mentioned as saving time for the patients since there is no need to redo the denture production in case of failure on the first try.

Keywords: colour recognition pen, colour spectrum, dental laboratory, denture

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Authors: Lubica Hikkerova, Jean-Michel Sahut

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Environmental protection remains a global challenge but, since 2012, there has been a progressive decline in corporate engagement in environmental protection issues. This study seeks to investigate the role of financial capacity and governance in improving the level of environmental engagement of companies. The regression technique is applied to data on 351 large European companies from the ASSET4-ESG database for the 2007-2015 period. Firstly, the results show that the companies in the sample are fairly engaged in environmental protection, with a strong dispersion representing nearly four times the average. This means that the companies in the sample do not share the same level of engagement in matters of environmental protection, some being more committed than others. Secondly, the results reveal that the financial capacity of the company, as assessed through its indicators, has a significant effect on its level of environmental protection engagement in the present sample. This effect is more positive the higher the profits the company makes, and more negative the more heavily indebted or, the higher the rates of dividends it pays per share. Lastly, the results also show that a better quality of governance plays an important role in the decision to undertake actions leading to environmental protection. More specifically, the degree of management implication in the running of the business, the respect of the rights of the shareholders, the effectiveness of the control exerted by the board of directors, and, to a lesser extent, the independence of the audit committee, are variables which have a positive and significant influence on the level of environmental engagement of companies.

Keywords: financial capacity, corporate governance, environmental engagement, stakeholder theory, theory of organizational legitimacy, theory of resources and capabilities

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Authors: Muhammad Abdullah, Salman Iqbal, Mamoona Rasheed

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Social identity among people is an important source of pride and self-esteem, consequently, people struggle to preserve a positive perception of their groups and collectives. The purpose of this paper is to explain the process of social identification and to highlight the underlying causal factors of social identity among employees. There is a little research about how the social identity of employees is shaped in Pakistan’s organizational culture. This study is based on social identity theory. This study uses Systems’ approach as a research methodology. The feedback loop approach is applied to explain the underlying key elements of employee behavior that collectively form social identity among social groups in corporate arena. The findings of this study reveal that effective, evaluative and cognitive components of an individual’s personality are associated with the social identification. The system dynamic feedback loop approach has revealed the underlying structure that is associated with social identity, social group formation, and effective component proved to be the most associated factor. This may also enable to understand how social groups become stable and individuals act according to the group requirements. The value of this paper lies in the understanding gained about the underlying key factors that play a crucial role in social group formation in organizations. It may help to understand the rationale behind how employees socially categorize themselves within organizations. It may also help to design effective and more cohesive teams for better operations and long-term results. This may help to share knowledge among employees as well. The underlying structure behind the social identification is highlighted with the help of system modeling.

Keywords: affective commitment, cognitive commitment, evaluated commitment, system thinking

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Authors: Kyung-Suk Choi, Hyung-Joon Kim

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Modular structural systems are constructed using a method that they are assembled with prefabricated unit modular frames on-site. This provides a benefit that can significantly reduce building construction time. Their structural design is usually carried out under the assumption that the load-carrying mechanism is similar to that of a traditional steel moment-resisting system. However, both systems are different in terms of beam-column connection details which may strongly influence the lateral structural behavior. Specially, the presence of access holes in a beam-column joint of a unit modular frame could cause undesirable failure during strong earthquakes. Therefore, this study carried out finite element analyses (FEM) of unit modular frames to investigate the cyclic behavior of beam-column joints with the structural influence of access holes. Analysis results show that the unit modular frames present stable cyclic response with large deformation capacities, and their joints are classified into semi-rigid connections.

Keywords: unit modular frame, steel moment connection, nonlinear analytical model, moment-rotation relation

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Authors: Syed Zameer, Mohamed Haneef

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Hip joint plays very important role in human beings as it takes up the whole body forces generated due to various activities. These loads are repetitive and fluctuating depending on the activities such as standing, sitting, jogging, stair casing, climbing, etc. which may lead to failure of Hip joint. Hip joint modification and replacement are common in old aged persons as well as younger persons. In this research study static and Fatigue analysis of Hip joint model was carried out using finite element software ANSYS. Stress distribution obtained from result of static analysis, material properties and S-N curve data of fabricated Ultra High molecular weight polyethylene / 50 wt% short E glass fibres + 40 wt% TiO2 Polymer matrix composites specimens were used to estimate fatigue life of Hip joint using stiffness Degradation model for polymer matrix composites. The stress distribution obtained from static analysis was found to be within the acceptable range.The factor of safety calculated from linear Palmgren linear damage rule is less than one, which indicates the component is safe under the design.

Keywords: hip joint, polymer matrix composite, static analysis, fatigue analysis, stress life approach

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Authors: Rajesh Singh, Kailash Kale

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In this paper, the Binomial process type occurrence of software failures is considered and failure intensity has been characterized by one parameter Rayleigh class Software Reliability Growth Model (SRGM). The proposed SRGM is mathematical function of parameters namely; total number of failures i.e. η-0 and scale parameter i.e. η-1. It is assumed that very little or no information is available about both these parameters and then considering non-informative priors for both these parameters, the Bayes estimators for the parameters η-0 and η-1 have been obtained under square error loss function. The proposed Bayes estimators are compared with their corresponding maximum likelihood estimators on the basis of risk efficiencies obtained by Monte Carlo simulation technique. It is concluded that both the proposed Bayes estimators of total number of failures and scale parameter perform well for proper choice of execution time.

Keywords: binomial process, non-informative prior, maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), rayleigh class, software reliability growth model (SRGM)

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Authors: Ugabi John Ibak, Odey Boniface Ugbem

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Education is considered the bedrock of any meaningful developments and teacher education plays a critical role in this direction. Teacher education is the master keys that can alleviate poverty, promote peace, conserve the environment, improve the quality of life for all and help achieve all round sustain enable development in Nigeria and the world over. This paper X-rays the nature and character of the teaching profession, historical background to teacher education in Nigeria, national policy on education, problems of teacher education in Nigeria and prospects of teacher education for sustainable national development. The study shows that the misfortunes of the teacher education owes much to it historical antecedent. Also majorly, is the failure of government to adequately fund education at the various levels in the country. It was discovered that in the history of the nation no government has budgeted 13% of its annual budget (half of 26% UNESCO minimum) to education. This has resulted to poor infrastructure, inadequate equipment and poorly motivated personnel in all the nations public schools at all levels. Hence, the paper concludes that in spite of these overwhelming challenges, teachers have a lot of prospects both in the teaching profession and outside teaching.

Keywords: teacher education, teaching profession, sustainable national development, education, development

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Authors: Luo Jin China, Jin Fang

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Countryside has been generally recognized and regarded as a characteristic symbol which presents in human memory for a long time. As a result of the change of times, because of it’s failure to meet the growing needs of the growing life and mental decline, the vast rural area began to decline. But their history feature image which accumulated by the ancient tradition provides people with the origins of existence on the spiritual level, such as "identity" and "belonging", makes people closer to the others in the spiritual and psychological aspects of a common experience about the past, thus the sense of a lack of culture caused by the losing of memory symbols is weakened. So, in the modernization process, how to repair its vitality and transform and planning it in a sustainable way has become a hot topics in architectural and urban planning. This paper aims to break the constraints of disciplines, from the perspective of interdiscipline, using the research methods of systems science to analyze and discuss the theories and methods of rural form factors, which based on the viewpoint of memory in psychology. So, we can find a right way to transform the Rural to give full play to the role of the countryside in the actual use and the shape of history spirits.

Keywords: rural, sustainable renovation, restoration, psychology, memory

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Authors: Nan-Ting Yu, Boksun Kim, Long-Yuan Li

Abstract:

The cold-formed steel beams with web holes are widely used as the load-carrying members in structural engineering. The perforations can release the space of the building and let the pipes go through. However, the perforated cold-formed steel (PCFS) beams may fail by distortional buckling more easily than beams with plain web; this is because the rotational stiffness from the web decreases. It is well known that the distortional buckling can be described as the buckling of the compressed flange-lip system. In fact, near the ultimate failure, the flange/web corner would move laterally, which indicates the bending of the web should be taken account. The purpose of this study is to give a specific solution for the critical stress of flange/web distortional buckling of PCFS beams. The new model is deduced based on classical energy method, and the deflection of the web is represented by the shape function of the plane beam element. The finite element analyses have been performed to validate the accuracy of the proposed model. The comparison of the critical stress calculated from Hancock's model, FEA, and present model, shows that the present model can provide a splendid prediction for the flange/web distortional buckling of PCFS beams.

Keywords: cold-formed steel, beams, perforations, flange-web distortional buckling, finite element analysis

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Authors: Shweta Jha, Nandita Chaube

Abstract:

The concept of self has a major role to play in the study of personality which drives the current study in its present form. This is a case of Miss S, a 17-year-old Hindu, currently in eleventh standard, with no family history of mental illness but with a past history of inability to manage relationships, multiple emotional and sexual relationships, repeated self harming behaviour, and sexual abuse over a period of 2 months at the age of 10 years. She comes with a psychiatric history of one episode of dissociative fall followed by a stressful event which left the patient with many psychological disturbances matching the criterion of Cluster B and C traits. Current episode precipitated due to the relationship failure, predisposing factor is her personality traits, and poor social and family support. Considering the patient’s aspiration for positivity and demand of the therapy, ventilation sessions were carried out which made her capable of understanding and dealing with her negative emotions, also strengthened mother child bond, helped her maintain meaningful and healthy relationships, also helped her increase her problem solving ability and adaptive coping skills making her feel more positive and acceptable towards herself, family members and others.

Keywords: cluster B and C traits, personality, therapy, self

Procedia PDF Downloads 282

Authors: Deepak Raj Bhat, Kazushige Hayashi, Yorihiro Tanaka, Shigeru Ogita, Akihiko Wakai

Abstract:

Slow-moving landslides are one of the major natural disasters in mountainous regions. Therefore, study of the creep displacement behaviour of a landslide and associated geological and geotechnical issues seem important. This study has addressed and evaluated the slow-moving behaviour of landslide using the 2D-FEM based Elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. To our based knowledge, two new control constitutive parameters were incorporated in the numerical model for the first time to better understand the slow-moving behaviour of a landslide. First, the predicted time histories of horizontal displacement of the landslide are presented and discussed, which may be useful for landslide displacement prediction in the future. Then, the simulation results of deformation pattern and shear strain pattern is presented and discussed. Moreover, the possible failure mechanism along the slip surface of such landslide is discussed based on the simulation results. It is believed that this study will be useful to understand the slow-moving behaviour of landslides, and at the same time, long-term monitoring and management of the landslide disaster will be much easier.

Keywords: numerical simulation, ground water fluctuations, elasto-viscoplastic model, slow-moving behaviour

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Authors: Franco Ceasar Agbalog, Shintaro Yukawa

Abstract:

Mindfulness is increasingly being used as a method for resolving conflict. However, less is known about how its positive outcome develops. To better understand the underlying effects of mindfulness on conflict resolution strategies, this study examines the potential mediating factors between them. The researchers hypothesized that Emotional Intelligence (EI) mediates the effects of mindfulness on conflict resolution strategies due to its similar components to the benefits of mindfulness, such as awareness and control of one’s emotions, awareness and understanding of other’s emotions, and cultivation of compassion and empathy. Using a random sampling, 157 participants completed three questionnaires: Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), and Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II (ROCI-II). Utilizing the SPSS Process, results showed a significant relationship between mindfulness and EI. However, among the five approaches to conflict resolution, only the integrating style was significantly related to EI. Following the principle of Mediation Analysis, mindfulness has an indirect effect on integrating style. Moreover, mindfulness and conflict resolution strategies were not significantly related. This is a rather surprising result because research literature has always indicated a positive relationship between the two variables. These findings imply that although integrating style is generally considered the best approach in handling conflict, each style may be appropriate depending on the situation. Mindfulness allows practitioners to have a holistic view of the conflict situation and choose the approach they think best for that specific situation. This could explain why statistically, there is no direct effect of mindfulness on conflict resolution strategies. This work provides basis for the necessity to investigate the factors of conflict instead of the conflict resolution strategies; factors that can be manipulated and may be directly influenced by mindfulness.

Keywords: conflict resolution strategies, emotional intelligence, mindfulness and conflict, ROCI-II integrating style

Procedia PDF Downloads 361