Search results for: new public management

Authors: Csaba I. Hencz, István Á. Harmati

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Nowadays the significance of road transport is gradually increasing. All transport companies are working in the same external environment where the speed of transport is defined by traffic rules. The main objective is to accelerate the speed of service and it is only dependent on the individual abilities of the managing members. These operational control units make decisions quickly (in a typically experiential and/or intuitive way). For this reason, support for these decisions is an important task. Our goal is to create a decision support model based on fuzzy signatures that can assist the work of operational management automatically. If the model sets parameters properly, the management of transport could be more economical and efficient.

Keywords: freight transport, decision support, information handling, fuzzy methods

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Authors: Leslie M. Mullins

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In the face of dramatically shifting demographic trends and macroeconomic pressures on affordable housing in high-cost cities, municipalities and developers have been forced to develop new models of sustainable development that integrates elements of substantial rehabilitation and new construction while controlling for relocation and mass displacement. Community development partners in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California are starting to prioritize anti-displacement strategies when rehabilitating severely neglected public housing developments. This study explored the community-driven efforts to transform four dilapidated public housing sites (N=2,600 households) into thriving mixed-income housing communities. Eight interviews were conducted with frontline workers (property managers and service providers), who directly worked with residents throughout critical stages of the relocation and leasing process. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by a systematic procedure for qualitative analysis to identify key themes on the topics of interest. Also, an extensive literature analysis was conducted to determine promising practices throughout the industry. This study highlighted that resident’s emotional attachment to their homes (regardless of the deteriorating conditions of their unit) could both a) impede the relocation process and substantially impact the budget and timeline, while b) simultaneously providing a basis for an enhanced sense of belonging and community cohesion. This phenomenon often includes the welcoming of new residents and cultures. Resident centered workshops, healing centered rituals, and extensive 'hands-on' guidance was highlighted as promising practices that resulted in residential retention rates that were two to three times the national average and positively impacted the overall project’s budget and timeline.

Keywords: anti-displacement strategies, community based practices, community cohesion, cultural preservation, healing-centered, public housing, relocation, trauma-informed

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Authors: Cristian Cazacu, Bela Kobulniczky

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Even though nowadays the median area of the Bucharest’s Sector 1 owns one of the best reputations in terms of quality of life level, the problems in urban planning from the last twenty years, as well as those related to the urban environment, became more and more obvious and shrill. And all this happened as long as non-compliance with urban and spatial planning laws, corroborated with uncontrolled territorial expansion on certain areas and faulty management of public and private spaces were more acute. The action of all these factors has been felt more and more strongly in the territory in the last twenty years, generating the degradation of the quality of the urban environment and affecting in parallel the general level of the inhabitants¬’ quality of life. Our methodology is based on analyzing a wide range of environmental parameters and it is also based on using advanced resources and skills for mapping planning and environmental dysfunctions as well as the possibility of integrating information into GIS programs, all data sets corroborated with problems related to spatial planning management and inaccuracies of the urbanistic sector. In the end, we managed to obtain a calculated and realistic image of the dysfunctions and a quantitative view of their magnitude in the territory. We also succeeded to create a full general map of the degree of degradation of the urban environment by typologies of urban tissues. Moreover, the methods applied by us can also be used globally to calculate and create realistic images and intelligent maps over the quality of the environment in areas larger than this one. Our study shows that environmental degradation occurred differently in the urban tissues from our study area, depending on several factors, reviewing the faulty way in which the processes of recovery / urban regeneration of the gap in recent years have led to the creation of new territorial dysfunctions. The general, centralized results show that the analyzed space has a much wider range of problems than initially thought, although notoriety and social etiquette place them far above other spaces from the same city of study.

Keywords: environment, GIS, planning, urban tissues

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Authors: Muhammad Akram, Abdurrahman Ilgan, Oyku Ozu-Cengiz

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The quality of Work life is the general state of wellbeing of employees in the workplace. The quality of work life focuses on changing climate at work so that employees can lead improved work life. This study was designed to compare the quality of work life between Turkish and Pakistani public school teachers based on their location, gender, and marital status. A 30 items scale named The Quality of School Work Life (QSWL) was used for this study. 995 teachers from 8 Turkish provinces and 716 from four Pakistani districts were conveniently selected. The overall reliability coefficient of the scale was measured as .81. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis yielded five subscales of the construct. The Study revealed that Turkish and Pakistani teachers significantly differed, separately, on all the five subscales of Quality of School Work Life. However, no significant differences were found between Turkish and Pakistani teachers perspectives on the composite score of the QSWL. Further, Male, married, and Single teachers did not significantly differ on their perceptions of QSWL in both countries. However, Pakistani female teachers significantly perceived better QSWL than female teachers in Turkey. The study provided initial validity and reliability evidence of the QSWL.

Keywords: developmental opportunities, fair wages, quality of work life, Pakistan

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Authors: Reemiah Alotaibi, Muthu Ramachandran, Ah-Lian Kor, Amin Hosseinian-Far

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In the past decade, developers of Web 2.0 technologies have shown increasing interest in the topic of e-government. There has been a rapid growth in social media technology because of its significant role in backing up some essential social needs. Its importance and power is derived from its capacity to support two-way communication. Governments are curious to get engaged in these websites, hoping to benefit from the new forms of communication and interaction offered by such technology. Greater participation by the public can be viewed as a chief indicator of effective government communication. Yet, the level of public participation in government 2.0 is not quite satisfactory. In general, it is still at the early stage in most developing countries, including Saudi Arabia. Although it is a fact that Saudi people are among the most active in using social media, the number of people who use social media to communicate with the public institutions is not high. Furthermore, most of the governmental organisations are not using social media tools to communicate with the public. They use these platforms to disseminate information. Our study focuses on the factors affecting citizens’ adoption of social media in Saudi Arabia. Our research question is: what are the factors affecting Saudi citizens’ use of social media to communicate with the government? To answer this research question, the research aims to validate the UTAUT model for examining social media tools from the citizen perspective. An amendment will be proposed to fit the adoption of social media platforms as a communication channel in government by using a developed conceptual model which integrates constructs from the UTAUT model and others external variables based on the literature review. The set of potential factors that affect these citizens' decisions to adopt social media to communicate with their government has been identified as perceived encouragement, trust and cultural influence. The connection between the above-mentioned constructs from the basis for the research hypothesis will be examined in the light of a quantitative methodology. Data collection will be performed through a survey targeting a number of Saudi citizens who are social media users. The data collected from the primary survey will later be analysed by using statistical methods. The outcomes of this research project are argued to have potential contributions to the fields of social media and e-Government adoption, both on the theoretical and practical levels. It is believed that this research project is the first of its type that attempts to identify the factors that affect citizens’ adoption of social media to communicate with the government. The importance of identifying these factors stems from the potential use of them to enhance the government’s implementation of social media and help in making more accurate decisions and strategies based on comprehending the most important factors that affect citizens’ decisions.

Keywords: social media, adoption, citizen, UTAUT model

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Authors: Pascal Gliesche, Kathrin Seibert, Christian Kowalski, Dominik Domhoff, Max Pfingsthorn, Karin Wolf-Ostermann, Andreas Hein

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Robotic assistance in nursing care is an increasingly important area of research and development. Facing a shortage of labor and an increasing number of people in need of care, the German Nursing Care Innovation Center (Pflegeinnovationszentrum, PIZ) aims to address these challenges from the side of technology. Little is known about nurses experiences with existing robotic assistance systems. Especially nurses perspectives on starting points for the development of robotic solutions, that target recurring burdensome tasks in everyday nursing care, are of interest. This paper presents findings focusing on robotics resulting from an explanatory mixed-methods study on nurses experiences with and their expectations for innovative technologies in nursing care in stationary and ambulant care facilities and hospitals in Germany. Based on the findings, eight scenarios for robotic assistance are identified based on the real needs of practitioners. An initial system addressing a single use-case is described to show perspectives for the use of robots in nursing care.

Keywords: robotics and automation, engineering management, engineering in medicine and biology, medical services, public health-care

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Authors: Anusha Vaddiraj Pallapu

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Across the globe, there is a steady increase in people residing in urban areas. Due to this increase in urban population, urban health is affecting. The major issues identified like overcrowding, air pollution, unhealthy diet, inadequate infrastructure, poor solid waste management systems and insufficient access to health facilities, these issues are gradually clearly observed in health statistics of diseases and deaths rapidly increase in urban areas. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the health statistics and infrastructure services at urban areas to know the cause and effect between Infrastructure, its management and diseases (water borne). Most of the Indian cities have the municipal boundaries, which authorized by their respective municipal corporations and development authorities. Generally, cities have various zones under which municipal wards exist. The paper focuses on the city Ahmedabad, at Gujarat state. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is divided into six zones namely Central zone, West zone, New-West zone, East zone, North zone, and South zone. Each zone includes various wards within it. Incidence of diseases in Ahmadabad which are linked to infrastructure was identified such as water-borne diseases. Later on, the occurrence of water-borne diseases at urban area was examined at each zone level. The study methodology follows four steps i.e. 1) Pre-Field literature study: Study on Sewerage system in urban areas and its best practices and public health status globally and Indian scenario; 2) Field study: Data collection and interviews of stakeholders regarding heal status and issues at each zone and ward level; 3) Post field: Data analysis with qualitative description of each ward of zones, followed by correlation coefficient analysis between sewerage coverage, diseases and density of each ward using geographic information system mapping (GIS); 4) Identification of reasons: Affected health on each of zone and wards followed by correlation analysis on each reason. The results reveal that the health conditions in Ahmedabad municipal zones or boundaries are effected due to the slums created by the migrated people from various rural and urban areas. It is also observed that due to increase in population water supply and sewerage management is affecting. The overall effect on infrastructure is creating the health diseases which detailed in the paper using geographical information system in Indian city.

Keywords: infrastructure, municipal wards, GIS, water supply, sewerage, medical facilities, water borne diseases

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Authors: Gamze Sekeroglu, Mikail Altan

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Working capital is identified as firm’s all current assets. Inventories which are one of the working capital elements are very important among current assets for firms. Because, profitability is an indicator for firms’ financial success is provided with minimum cost and optimum inventory quantity. So in this study, it is investigated as comparatively that the effect of inventory management on the profitability of Turkish firms which operated in weaving industry, eatables industry, wholesale and retail industry in between 2003 – 2012 years. Research data consist of profitability ratios and inventory turnovers ratio calculated by using balance sheets and income statements of firms which operated in Borsa Istanbul (BIST). In this research, the relationship between inventories and profitability is investigated by using SPSS-20 software with regression and correlation analysis. The results achieved from three industry departments which exist in study interpreted as comparatively. Accordingly, it is determined that there is a positive relationship between inventory management and profitability in eatables industry. However, it was founded that there is no relationship between inventory management and profitability in weaving industry and wholesale and retail industry.

Keywords: profitability, regression analysis, inventory management, working capital

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Authors: B. Gechbaia, K. Goletiani, G. Gabedava, N. Mikeltadze

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At this stage, Georgia is a country which is actively involved in the European integration process, for which the primary priority is effective integration in the European education system. The modern Georgian higher education system is the process of establishing a new sociocultural reality, whose main priorities are determined by the Quality System as a continuous cycle of planning, implementation, checking and acting. Obviously, in this situation, the issue of management of education institutions comes out in the foreground, since the proper planning and implementation of personnel management processes is one of the main determinants of the company's performance. At the same time, one of the most important factors is the psychological comfort of the personnel, ensuring their protection and efficiency of stress management policy. The purpose of this research is to determine how intensely the relationship is between the psychological comfort of the personnel and the efficiency of the quality system in the institution as the quality assurance mechanisms of educational institutions affect the stability of personnel, prevention and management of the stressful situation. The research was carried out within the framework of the Internal Grant Project «The Role of Organizational Culture in the Process of Settlement of Management of Stress and Conflict, Georgian Reality and European Experience » of the Batumi Navigation Teaching University, based on the analysis of the survey results of target groups. The small-scale research conducted by us has revealed that the introduction of quality assurance system and its active implementation increased the quality of management of Georgian educational institutions, increased the level of universal engagement in internal and external processes and as a result, it has improved the quality of education as well as social and psychological comfort indicators of the society.

Keywords: quality assurance, effective management, stability of personnel, psychological comfort, stress management

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Authors: Soyhan Egitim

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This case study aims to investigate leadership practices in diversity management in the liberal arts department of a Japanese university. In 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) revealed their English education reform plan in response to rapid globalization. Based on the new reform plan, Japanese universities would expand their international faculty in order to promote globalization through an increased number of intercultural communication and content-based language classes in English. The study employed a two-phased qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding of the management strategies employed in diversity management, and the leadership practices influenced those management strategies. In the first phase, a closed-ended qualitative survey was conducted with ten adjunct faculty members from the liberal arts department. The results indicate that syllabus design, grading scheme, textbook choices, and class management policies are strictly regulated by the tenured Japanese faculty. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were held with international faculty members to understand their personal experiences. Their responses revealed that top-down management approaches are counter-effective in the department’s efforts to promote diversity and thus, a new organizational culture needs to be nurtured to emphasize inclusion alongside diversity. In this regard, the study proposes collaborative leadership as an inclusive leadership practice to minimize power differences in the hierarchy and increase opportunities for inclusion in the rapidly diversifying workforce.

Keywords: collaborative leadership, diversity, inclusion, international faculty, top-down

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Authors: Indre Brazauskaite, Vilte Auruskeviciene

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The paper explores the Stage-Gate framework application for innovation maturity among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Innovation management becomes an essential business survival process for all sizes of organizations that can be evaluated and audited systemically. This research systemically defines and assesses the innovation process from the perspective of the company’s top management. Empirical research explores attitudes and existing practices of innovation management in SMEs in Baltic countries. It structurally investigates the current innovation management practices, level of standardization, and potential challenges in the area. Findings allow to structure of existing practices based on an institutionalized model and contribute to a more advanced understanding of the innovation process among SMEs. Practically, findings contribute to advanced decision-making and business planning in the process.

Keywords: innovation measure, innovation process, SMEs, stage-gate framework

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Authors: Zeba Mahmood

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The modern business organizations are adopting technological advancement to achieve competitive edge and satisfy their consumer. The development in the field of Information technology systems has changed the way of conducting business today. Business operations today rely more on the data they obtained and this data is continuously increasing in volume. The data stored in different locations is difficult to find and use without the effective implementation of Data mining and Knowledge management techniques. Organizations who smartly identify, obtain and then convert data in useful formats for their decision making and operational improvements create additional value for their customers and enhance their operational capabilities. Marketers and Customer relationship departments of firm use Data mining techniques to make relevant decisions, this paper emphasizes on the identification of different data mining and Knowledge management techniques that are applied to different business industries. The challenges and issues of execution of these techniques are also discussed and critically analyzed in this paper.

Keywords: knowledge, knowledge management, knowledge discovery in databases, business, operational, information, data mining

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Authors: Laura Petrosyan

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The high and persistent working results are possible when people are interested in the results of the work. Motivation of working may be present as a psychological complicated phenomena, which determines person's behavior in working process. Researchers point out that working motivation is displayed in three correlated conditions. These are interest in outcomes of work, satisfaction with the work, and the third, is the level of devotion of employee. Solution of the problem of effective staff management depends on the development of workers' skills. Despite, above mentioned problem could be solved by the process of finding methods to induce the employees to the effective work. Motivation of the managerial activity aroused not only during the working process, but also before it starts. During education the future manager obtains many professional skills. However, the experience shows, that only professional skills are not enough for the effective work. Presently, one of the global educational problems is the development of motivation in professions. In psychological literature the fact is mentioned, that the motivation can be inside and outside. Outside motivation is active only at short time. Instead, inside motivation can be active during all process of the professional development. Hence, the motivation of managerial activity might be developed during the education. The future manager choose the profession being under some impression of personal qualities. Detection of future manager’s motivation will influence on the development of syllabuses. Moreover, use of the psychological methods could be evolved for preparing motivated managers. Conducted research has been done in the Public Administration Academy of the RA. The aim of research was to discover students' motivation of profession. 102 master students took part in the research from Public Administration Academy. In the research were used the following methods: method of identifying a person's motivation to succeed (T. Elers) and method of studying students’ motivation (T.E. Ilyin). First of the methods designed to explore a person's motivational orientation to get success represented by Hackhausen. The method gives the opportunity to reveal the level of motivation to success. In the second method separated three scales: i) Knowledge achievements, ii) Knowledge of the profession, iii) Get a diploma. The data obtained from these tests gave quantitative data. Aanalyses of our survey results exposes that within master students the high level have the average rates of knowledge achievements. The average rates of knowledge of the profession and geting a diploma not in high level. Furthermore, there are almost equal to each other. In the educational process The student acquiring skills not synthesize with the wield profession. Results show that specialists really view about profession not formulated yet.

Keywords: managerial activity, motivation, psychological complicated phenomena, working process, education the future manager

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Authors: Abeer Mohammed, Nevein Mustafa Elashery, Mona Hassan Abdel Aal, Ereny Wilson Nagib

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The Aim of the current study is to investigate nutrition role in the management of psychiatric disorders. Research Design: A quasi- experimental research design was utilized for this study. Setting The study was conducted at outpatient clinic at Institute of Psychiatry affiliated to Ain Shams University hospitals, using a convenient sample of 50 psychiatric patients with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorders. Tools: data were collected through; first, an interview questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics, second, nutrition assessment tools Third, nutrition risk assessment. Fourth, nutrition management program Results showed that there were highly statistically significant improvements in modified nutritional supplements for patients with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorders' patients after conducting the nutrition management program. Regarding psychiatric patients’ knowledge about healthy food, healthy nutritional habits, and patients’ awareness & readiness for change, there were highly statistically significant improvements. Concerning signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders, there were highly statistically significant improvements for depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and obsessive-compulsive patients after conducting the management program. In conclusion, the nutrition management program was effective in improving symptoms associated with, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorders. The study recommended that nurses should have more contribution in counseling psychiatric patients, and their families about healthy diet and healthy habits. Further research should recommend studying the effectiveness of herbs on enhancing mental health for psychiatric patients.

Keywords: nutrition, role, management, psychiatric disorders

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Authors: Choi Sang Long

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It is vital for Human Resource (HR) managers to address and overcome employees’ turnover intention in their organization. Ability to keep good employees is critical for ensuring success of the organization in future. People are seeking many ways of live that is meaningful and less complicated and this new lifestyle actually has an impact on how an employee must be motivated and managed. Therefore, this paper discusses extensively on the impact of human resource practices that can alter the negative effect on the organization due to high employees’ turnover. These critical practices are employees’ career development, performance management, training and a fair compensation scheme.

Keywords: turnover intention, career development, performance management, compensation, human resource management, organization

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Authors: Filiz Ersoz, Deniz Merdin, Taner Ersoz

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The objective of this study provides an insight into enterprises, who need to carry on their sustainability in harmony with the changing competition conditions, technology and laws, regarding the ISO 9001:2015. In the study, ISO 9001:2015, which is planned to be put in force and exists as a draft, was studied and its differences from the previous standard, ISO 9001:2008, were determined. To find out the differences, a survey was conducted among enterprises that implement a quality system. According to the findings obtained at the end of the study, it was observed that the enterprises attach importance to quality and follow the developments about quality management system, and they find the changes in the new draft document necessary.

Keywords: ISO 9001, quality, quality management system, quality revision

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Authors: Hasn Perera, Is Almeida, Hnk Perera, Mzf Mohammed, Ade Silva, H. Wijesinghe, Ajal Fernando

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Introduction: Dengue is a major Public Health burden of two clinical entities, Dengue Fever & Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF). The vast majority of dengue deaths occur in DHF patients, where the diagnosis hinges on the presence of fluid leakage. Limited Ultrasound Scans (USS) of chest and abdomen are used widely at Centre for Clinical Management of Dengue & Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (CCMDDHF), as the primary method for detecting fluid leaking in DHF. This study analyses the relationship between haematological and USS findings at the onset of leaking and to further determine the usefulness of ultrasound in diagnosing DHF. Methods: A prospective analysis of 80 serologically confirmed dengue patients initially admitted to a General Medical and Paediatric wards who were subsequently transferred to the CCMDDHF from March to September 2017 were analysed. In addition to repeated blood counts and capillary haematocrits’, serial USS were done to detect the onset fluid leaking by three competent and experienced doctors at CCMDDHF. Results: 80 patients (male: female: 38:42) with a mean age of 20 years (SD ±16.8, range 3-74) were evaluated. Dropping of platelet counts below 100,000 and haematocrit rise towards 20% started 4±1.3 day of fever with a mean platelet value of 69x103(range17-98x103). Gallbladder wall thickening was the commonest (98.7%) USS finding followed by fluid in hepato-renal pouch (95%), pelvic fluid (58.7%), right-sided pleural effusion (35%), bilateral effusions (7.5%). USS evidence of plasma leakage was detected in 11.25 %( n=9) of DHF cases from 1 day before significant haematocrit rise was noted. 35 (43.7%) patients with lowering platelets and haematocrit rise showed no objective evidence of plasma leaking on ultrasound scan. Conclusion: This outbreak underscores the importance of USS as a useful, sensitive and cost-effective tool for early diagnosis of suspected DHF cases, facilitating the tracking of progress of leaking and management of epidemics.

Keywords: dengue, ultrasound, plasma leaking, South Asia

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Authors: Adel Ali Elshaibani

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Risk management indicators augment the reporting infrastructure, particularly for the board and senior management, to identify, monitor, and manage risks. This enhancement facilitates improved decision-making throughout the banking organization. Decision tree analysis is a tool that visually outlines potential outcomes, costs, and consequences of complex decisions. It is particularly beneficial for analyzing quantitative data and making decisions based on numerical values. By calculating the expected value of each outcome, decision tree analysis can help assess the best course of action. In the context of banking, decision tree analysis can assist lenders in evaluating a customer’s creditworthiness, thereby preventing losses. However, applying these tools in developing countries may face several limitations, such as data availability, lack of technological infrastructure and resources, lack of skilled professionals, cultural factors, and cost. Moreover, decision trees can create overly complex models that do not generalize well to new data, known as overfitting. They can also be sensitive to small changes in the data, which can result in different tree structures and can become computationally expensive when dealing with large datasets. In conclusion, while risk management indicators and decision tree analysis are beneficial for decision-making in banks, their effectiveness is contingent upon how they are implemented and utilized by the board of directors, especially in the context of developing countries. It’s important to consider these limitations when planning to implement these tools in developing countries.

Keywords: risk management indicators, decision tree analysis, developing countries, board of directors, bank performance, risk management strategy, banking institutions

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Authors: Obaid Alotaibi

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Tourism and recreation have become one of the important and influential sectors in most of the modern economies. This sector has been accepted as one of the alternative sources of national income, employment, and foreign exchange. Kuwait has many potentialities in tourism and recreation, and exploitation of this leads to more diversification of the economy besides augmenting its contribution to the GDP. It is an import-oriented economy; it requires hard currencies (foreign exchange) to meet the import costs as well as to maintain stability in the international market. To compensate for the revenue fall stemmed from fluctuations in oil prices -where the agriculture, fisheries, and industrial sectors are too immune and inelastic- the only alternative solution is the regeneration of the tourism and recreation to surface. This study envisages the characteristics of tourism and recreation, the economic and social importance for the society, the physical and human endowments, as well as the tourist pattern and plans for promoting and sustaining tourism in the country. The study summarizes many recommendations, including the necessity of establishing authority or a council for tourism, linking the planning of tourism development with the comprehensive planning for economic and social development in Kuwait in the shadow of 2035 vision, and to encourage the investors to develop new tourist and recreation projects.

Keywords: Kuwait, public-private, partnership, tourism, 2035 vision

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Authors: Lacheheb Dhia Eddine Zakaria, Ballout Amor

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Today, it is necessary to be thrifty for its planet, on one hand the space being a rare, nonrenewable resource, and on the other hand the ecological, economic and social cost of the urban sprawl. It is commonly asserted that the promotion of a more compact and dense city has a positive effect in terms of public costs of investment, functioning and costs for the citizens and the users of the city. It is clear that the modes urban development management have to evolve profoundly, in particular towards a densification favourable to the raising of the urban quality through an ideal urban density on the scale of the individual housing estate. The lot as an individual housing estate was adopted as an alternative development model to the collective housing, thought in an anthropocentric perspective to emerge as a quality model where the density plays an important role, by being included in operations of a global coherence, in an optimal organization without forgetting the main importance of the deadlines of construction and the finalization of the works. The image of eternal construction site inflicted to our cities explains the renewed interest for the application of the regulatory framework and the completion of these limited operations without global coherence, which are summed up in our case to a ground cut in plots of land, sold then built independently without being finished, and support the relevance of the essential question of the improvement of the outside aspect bound to the appearance which can be revealed as a so important factor for a better use and a better acceptance of its housing environment, that the ratio of a number of houses on a plot of land or the number of square meters by house. To demonstrate the impact of the completion degree of the subdivision dwellings, roads system and urban public utilities on the density or the densification and therefore on the urban quality, we studied two residential subdivisions, the private subdivision Sellam and the subdivision El Imane with a common situation, and a different land surface, density and cutting, being occupied by various social classes, with different needs and different household average size. The approach of this work is based on the typo morphological analysis to reveal the differences in the degrees of completions of the subdivision’s built environment and on the investigation, by a household’s survey, to demonstrate importance of the degree of completion and to reveal the conditions of qualitative densification favourable and convenient to a better subdivision’s appropriation.

Keywords: subdivision, degree of completion, densification, urban quality

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Authors: Tania Viju, Bimal P., Naseer M. A.

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This study aims to develop a conceptual framework for the decision support system (DSS), that helps the decision-makers to dynamically choose appropriate safety measures for each identified accident blackspot. An accident blackspot is a segment of road where the frequency of accident occurrence is disproportionately greater than other sections on roadways. According to a report by the World Bank, India accounts for the highest, that is, eleven percent of the global death in road accidents with just one percent of the world’s vehicles. Hence in 2015, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India gave prime importance to the rectification of accident blackspots. To enhance road traffic safety and reduce the traffic accident rate, effectively identifying and rectifying accident blackspots is of great importance. This study helps to understand and evaluate the existing methods in accident blackspot identification and prediction that are used around the world and their application in Indian roadways. The decision support system, with the help of IoT, ICT and smart systems, acts as a management and planning tool for the government for employing efficient and cost-effective rectification strategies. In order to develop a decision criterion, several factors in terms of quantitative as well as qualitative data that influence the safety conditions of the road are analyzed. Factors include past accident severity data, occurrence time, light, weather and road conditions, visibility, driver conditions, junction type, land use, road markings and signs, road geometry, etc. The framework conceptualizes decision-making by classifying blackspot stretches based on factors like accident occurrence time, different climatic and road conditions and suggesting mitigation measures based on these identified factors. The decision support system will help the public administration dynamically manage and plan the necessary safety interventions required to enhance the safety of the road network.

Keywords: decision support system, dynamic management, road accident blackspots, road safety

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Authors: Chonlawit Yuwajitaa, Suttipong Pruangkab

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Existing situation on labour use, health management and problems, and ancillary work done along with buffalo farming in Thailand was studied, There were 52 farms had been interviewed during August to September 2014. The study revealed that 100 percent of labor use was family labors themselves and all of farmers reared their buffaloes and grew rice simultaneously. The farmers valued veterinary service and advice as the most important problem (40.40%) and buffalo farming health problems was found 7.69% of dystocia, retain placenta and abortion. The major problem that should be taken into account was officials involved and buffalo farming should be continually promoted by government sectors to help solving economic problems as a whole.

Keywords: buffalo, labor use, health management, Thailand

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Authors: Nizar Ibnus

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The term 'pribumi' or indigenous people was originally coined in the colonisation era to differentiate between Dutch colonials and native Indonesian people. The term was also used to trigger nationalism among Indonesian people to liberate their country from any kind of colonialism which had seized their freedom for ages. However, after the war was over and the colonials had fled from the country, the usage began to be altered. It changed from nationalist propaganda term to somewhat racist term. Immigrants and half-blooded people were massively victimized. Then, in 1998 the government forbade the use of this term for public use. Apparently, this racial issue happens again. On 16th October 2017, Anies Baswedan as the new government of DKI Jakarta province mentioned this term in his inauguration speech. This indeed raises controversy among Indonesian people. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper examines how Indonesian media portray the figure of Anies Baswedan regarding the issue. The findings reveal that Indonesian media depict Anies Baswedan differently. Some view him guilty as he mentioned the controversial and forbidden term in public. While, the other media consider him as innocent as he used the term in different contexts. This various media point of view and framing is presumably emerged from their different ideologies.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, media framing, racism, pribumi

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Authors: Lidia Lombardi

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Waste management in Europe and North America is evolving towards sustainable materials management, intended as a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles. Various waste management strategies are prioritized and ranked from the most to the least environmentally preferred, placing emphasis on reducing, reusing, and recycling as key to sustainable materials management. However, non-recyclable materials must also be appropriately addressed, and waste-to-energy (WtE) offers a solution to manage them, especially when a WtE plant is integrated within a complex system of waste and wastewater treatment plants and potential users of the output flows. To evaluate the environmental effects of such system integration, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a helpful and powerful tool. LCA has been largely applied to the waste management sector, dating back to the late 1990s, producing a large number of theoretical studies and applications to the real world as support to waste management planning. However, LCA still has a fundamental role in helping the development of waste management systems supporting decisions. Thus, LCA was applied to evaluate the environmental performances of a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management system, with improved separate material collection and recycling and an integrated network of treatment plants including WtE, anaerobic digestion (AD) and also wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), for a reference study case area. The proposed system was compared to the actual situation, characterized by poor recycling, large landfilling and absence of WtE. The LCA results showed that the increased recycling significantly increases the environmental performances, but there is still room for improvement through the introduction of energy recovery (especially by WtE) and through its use within the system, for instance, by feeding the heat to the AD, to sludge recovery processes and supporting the water reuse practice. WtE offers a solution to manage non-recyclable MSW and allows saving important resources (such as landfill volumes and non-renewable energy), reducing the contribution to global warming, and providing an essential contribution to fulfill the goals of really sustainable waste management.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, life cycle assessment, waste-to-energy, municipal solid waste

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Authors: Jo Rhodes, Peter Lok, Zahra Sadeghinejad

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of metacognition on top management team members and firm performance based on full team integration. A survey of 1500 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) was initiated and 140 firms were obtained in this study (with response rate of 9%). The result showed that different metacognitive abilities of managers [knowledge and experience] could enhance team decision-making and problem solving, resulting in greater firm performance. This is a significant finding for SMEs because these organisations have small teams with owner leadership and entrepreneurial orientation.

Keywords: metacognition, behavioural integration, top management team (TMT), performance

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Authors: Ayman Aboelkassem, Mohamoud Ali, Rezq Diab

Abstract:

This project aims to document and preserve boat models which were discovered in the Saqqara by Czech Institute of Egyptology archeological mission at Saqqara (GEM numbers, 46007, 46008, 46009). These boat models dates back to Egyptian Old Kingdom and have been transferred to the Conservation Center of the Grand Egyptian Museum, to be displayed at the new museum.The project objectives making such boat models more visible to visitors through the use of 3D reconstructed models and high resolution photos which describe the history of using the boats during the Ancient Egyptian history. Especially, The Grand Egyptian Museum is going to exhibit the second boat of King Khufu from Old kingdom. The project goals are to document the boat models and arrange an exhibition, where such Models going to be displayed next to the Khufu Second Boat. The project shows the importance of using boats in Ancient Egypt, and connecting their usage through Ancient Egyptian periods till now. The boat models had a unique Symbolized in ancient Egypt and connect the public with their kings. The Egyptian kings allowed high ranked employees to put boat models in their tombs which has a great meaning that they hope to fellow their kings in the journey of the afterlife.

Keywords: archaeology, boat models, 3D digital tools for heritage management, museums

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Authors: Charu Sharma

Abstract:

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Headquarters was listed in the 2013-American Institute of Architects Committee of the Environment (AIA COTE) Top Ten Green Projects. This 13-story, 277,000-square-foot building, housing more than 900 of the agency’s employees was completed in June 2012. It was designed to achieve LEED Platinum Certification and boasts a plethora of green features to significantly reduce the use of energy and water consumption, and provide a healthy office work environment with high interior air quality and natural daylight. Key sustainability features include on-site clean energy generation through renewable photovoltaic and wind sources providing $118 million in energy cost savings over 75 years; 45 percent daylight harvesting; and the consumption of 55 percent less energy and a 32 percent less electricity demand from the main power grid. It uses 60 percent less water usage than an average 13-story office building as most of that water will be recycled for non-potable uses at the site, running through a system of underground tanks and artificial wetlands that cleans and clarifies whatever is flushed down toilets or washed down drains. This is one of the first buildings in the nation with treatment of gray and black water. The building utilizes an innovative structural system with post tensioned cores that will provide the highest asset preservation for the building. In addition, the building uses a “green” concrete mixture that releases less carbon gases. As a public utility commission this building has set a good example for resource conservation-the building is expected to be cheaper to operate and maintain as time goes on and will have saved rate-payers $500 million in energy and water savings. Within the anticipated 100-year lifespan of the building, our ratepayers will save approximately $3.7 billion through the combination of rental savings, energy efficiencies, and asset ownership.

Keywords: energy efficiency, sustainability, resource conservation, asset ownership, rental savings

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Authors: Ikechukwu Ndu

Abstract:

This study examines the econometric modeling of the relation between discretionary accrual earnings management, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and certain corporate governance factors with regard to listed Nigerian non-financial firms. Although discretionary accrual earnings management is a well-known and global problem that has an adverse impact on users of the financial statements, its relationship with IFRS and corporate governance is neither adequately researched nor properly systematically investigated in Nigeria. The dearth of research in the relation between discretionary accrual earnings management, IFRS and corporate governance in Nigeria has made it difficult for academics, practitioners, government setting bodies, regulators and international bodies to achieve a clearer understanding of how discretionary accrual earnings management relates to IFRS and certain corporate governance characteristics. This is the first study to the author’s best knowledge to date that makes interesting research contributions that significantly add to the literature of discretionary accrual earnings management and its relation with corporate governance and IFRS pertaining to the Nigerian context. A comprehensive review is undertaken of the literature of discretionary total accrual earnings management, IFRS, and certain corporate governance characteristics as well as the data, models, methodologies, and different estimators used in the study. Secondary financial statement, IFRS, and corporate governance data are sourced from Bloomberg database and published financial statements of Nigerian non-financial firms for the period 2004 to 2016. The methodology uses both the total and working capital accrual basis. This study has a number of interesting preliminary findings. First, there is a negative relationship between the level of discretionary accrual earnings management and the adoption of IFRS. However, this relationship does not appear to be statistically significant. Second, there is a significant negative relationship between the size of the board of directors and discretionary accrual earnings management. Third, CEO Separation of roles does not constrain earnings management, indicating the need to preserve relationships, personal connections, and maintain bonded friendships between the CEO, Chairman, and executive directors. Fourth, there is a significant negative relationship between discretionary accrual earnings management and the use of a Big Four firm as an auditor. Fifth, including shareholders in the audit committee, leads to a reduction in discretionary accrual earnings management. Sixth, the debt and return on assets (ROA) variables are significant and positively related to discretionary accrual earnings management. Finally, the company size variable indicated by the log of assets is surprisingly not found to be statistically significant and indicates that all Nigerian companies irrespective of size engage in discretionary accrual management. In conclusion, this study provides key insights that enable a better understanding of the relationship between discretionary accrual earnings management, IFRS, and corporate governance in the Nigerian context. It is expected that the results of this study will be of interest to academics, practitioners, regulators, governments, international bodies and other parties involved in policy setting and economic development in areas of financial reporting, securities regulation, accounting harmonization, and corporate governance.

Keywords: discretionary accrual earnings management, earnings manipulation, IFRS, corporate governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Mohammed Alhawiti

Abstract:

Assessment of Learning Management Systems has been of less importance than its due share. This paper investigates the evaluation of learning management systems (LMS) within educational setting as both an online learning system as well as a helpful tool for multidisciplinary learning environment. This study suggests a theoretical e-learning evaluation model, studying a multi-dimensional methods for evaluation through LMS system, service and content quality, learner`s perspective and attitudes of the instructor. A survey was conducted among 105 e-learners. The sample consisted of students at both undergraduate and master’s levels. Content validity, reliability were tested through the instrument, Findings suggested the suitability of the proposed model in evaluation for the satisfaction of learners through LMS. The results of this study would be valuable for both instructors and users of e-learning systems.

Keywords: e-learning, LMS, higher education, management systems

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Authors: T. Radu, R. Sreenivas, H. Albuflasa, A. Mustafa Khan, W. Aloqab

Abstract:

The Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island country in the Gulf region, is experiencing fast economic growth resulting in a sharp increase in population and greater than ever amounts of waste being produced. However, waste management in the country is still very basic, with landfilling being the most popular option. Recycling is still a scarce practice, with small recycling businesses and initiatives emerging in recent years. This scenario is typical for other countries in the region, with similar amounts of per capita waste being produced. In this paper, we are reviewing current waste management practices in Bahrain by collecting data published by the Government and various authors, and by visiting the country’s only landfill site, Askar. In addition, we have performed a survey of the residents to learn more about the awareness and attitudes towards sustainable waste management strategies. A review of the available data on waste management indicates that the Askar landfill site is nearing its capacity. The site uses open tipping as the method of disposal. The highest percentage of disposed waste comes from the building sector (38.4%), followed by domestic (27.5%) and commercial waste (17.9%). Disposal monitoring and recording are often based on estimates of weight and without proper characterization/classification of received waste. Besides, there is a need for assessment of the environmental impact of the site with systematic monitoring of pollutants in the area and their potential spreading to the surrounding land, groundwater, and air. The results of the survey indicate low awareness of what happens with the collected waste in the country. However, the respondents have shown support for future waste reduction and recycling initiatives. This implies that the education of local communities would be very beneficial for such governmental initiatives, securing greater participation. Raising awareness of issues surrounding recycling and waste management and systematic effort to divert waste from landfills are the first steps towards securing sustainable waste management in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Keywords: landfill, municipal solid waste, survey, waste management

Procedia PDF Downloads 139