Search results for: fund performance drivers

Authors: Mohammad Salameh Almasarweh

Abstract:

The primary aim of this research is to explore the mediating role of physiological climate in the relationship between green HRM practices (specifically, GHRM practices, GHRM recruitment, GHRM training, GHRM performance appraisal, and GHRM empowerment) and employee performance within the hotel industry. The study revealed that green HRM practices, encompassing green recruiting, green training, green performance evaluation, and green empowerment, exerted a statistically significant influence on employee performance. A quantitative method was employed for this research, focusing on hotel managers in Jordan as the study's population. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to a convenience sample of 300 managers from various hotels in Jordan. The results of the study align with prior research, supporting the notion that green HRM practices positively impact both employee performance and physiological climate. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that physiological climate acts as a mediating factor in the relationship between green HRM practices and employee performance in Jordanian hotels.

Keywords: GHRM practices, GHRM recruitment, GHRM training, GHRM performance appraisal, GHRM empowerment, employee’s performance, physiological climate

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Authors: Juliza Hidayati, Yesie M. Sinuhaji, Sawarni Hasibuan

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A company producing drinking water through many incompatibility issues that affect supply chain performance. The study was conducted to determine the factors that affect the performance of the supply chain and improve it. To obtain the dominant factors affecting the performance of the supply chain used Analytic Network Process, while to improve performance is done by using Kaizen. Factors affecting the performance of the supply chain to be a reference to identify the cause of the non-conformance. Results weighting using ANP indicates that the dominant factor affecting the level of performance is the precision of the number of shipments (15%), the ability of the fulfillment of the booking amount (12%), and the number of rejected products when signing (12%). Incompatibility of the factors that affect the performance of the supply chain are identified, so that found the root cause of the problem is most dominant. Based on the weight of Risk Priority Number (RPN) gained the most dominant root cause of the problem, namely the poorly maintained engine, the engine worked for three shifts, machine parts that are not contained in the plant. Improvements then performed using the Kaizen method of systematic and sustainable.

Keywords: analytic network process, booking amount, risk priority number, supply chain performance

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Authors: Samuel Reisman

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Background: Comparative rankings are increasingly used to evaluate health care systems. These rankings combine discrete attribute rankings into a composite overall ranking. Health care equity is a component of overall rankings, but excelling in other categories can counterbalance low inequity grades. Highly ranked inequitable health care would commend systems that disregard human rights. We simulated the ranking of a maximally inequitable health care system using a published, influential ranking methodology. Methods: We used The Commonwealth Fund’s ranking of eleven health care systems to simulate the rank of a maximally inequitable system. Eighty performance indicators were simulated, assuming maximal ineptitude in equity benchmarks. Maximal rankings in all non-equity subcategories were assumed. Subsequent stepwise simulations lowered all non-equity rank positions by one. Results: The maximally non-equitable health care system ranked first overall. Three subsequent stepwise simulations, lowering non-equity rankings by one, each resulted in an overall ranking within the top three. Discussion: Our results demonstrate that grossly inequitable health care systems can rank highly in comparative health care system rankings. These findings challenge the validity of ranking methodologies that subsume equity under broader benchmarks. We advocate limiting maximum overall rankings of health care systems to their individual equity rankings. Such limits are logical given the insignificance of health care system improvements to those lacking adequate health care.

Keywords: global health, health equity, healthcare systems, international health

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Authors: Vijay Kumar Bajpai, Sudhir Kumar Singh

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In this study, the performance analyses of the twenty five coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) used for electricity generation are carried out through various data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. Three efficiency indices are defined and pursued. During the calculation of the operational performance, energy and non-energy variables are used as input, and net electricity produced is used as desired output. CO2 emitted to the environment is used as the undesired output in the computation of the pure environmental performance while in Model-3 CO2 emissions is considered as detrimental input in the calculation of operational and environmental performance. Empirical results show that most of the plants are operating in increasing returns to scale region and Mettur plant is efficient one with regards to energy use and environment. The result also indicates that the undesirable output effect is insignificant in the research sample. The present study will provide clues to plant operators towards raising the operational and environmental performance of CFPPs.

Keywords: coal fired power plants, environmental performance, data envelopment analysis, operational performance

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Authors: Guoliang Fan, Aiping Li, Xuemei Liu, Liyun Xu

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The performance of the tightening equipment will decline with the working process in manufacturing system. The main manifestations are the randomness and discretization degree increasing of the tightening performance. To evaluate the degradation tendency of the tightening performance accurately, a complexity measurement approach based on Kolmogorov entropy is presented. At first, the states of performance index are divided for calibrating the discrete degree. Then the complexity measurement model based on Kolmogorov entropy is built. The model describes the performance degradation tendency of tightening equipment quantitatively. At last, a study case is applied for verifying the efficiency and validity of the approach. The research achievement shows that the presented complexity measurement can effectively evaluate the degradation tendency of the tightening equipment. It can provide theoretical basis for preventive maintenance and life prediction of equipment.

Keywords: complexity measurement, Kolmogorov entropy, manufacturing system, performance evaluation, tightening equipment

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Authors: Mariem Kchaou, Wiem Khlif, Faiez Gargouri

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Modeling business processes is an essential task when evaluating, improving, or documenting existing business processes. To be efficient in such tasks, a business process model (BPM) must have high structural quality and high performance. Evidently, evaluating the performance of a business process model is a necessary step to reduce time, cost, while assessing the structural quality aims to improve the understandability and the modifiability of the BPMN model. To achieve these objectives, a set of structural and performance measures have been proposed. Since the diversity of measures, we propose a framework that integrates both structural and performance aspects for classifying them. Our measure classification is based on business process model perspectives (e.g., informational, functional, organizational, behavioral, and temporal), and the elements (activity, event, actor, etc.) involved in computing the measures. Then, we implement this framework in a tool assisting the structural quality and the performance of a business process. The tool helps the designers to select an appropriate subset of measures associated with the corresponding perspective and to calculate and interpret their values in order to improve the structural quality and the performance of the model.

Keywords: performance, structural quality, perspectives, tool, classification framework, measures

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Authors: Rumesh Liyanage, S. B. Nawaratne, K. K. D. S. Ranaweera, Indira Wickramasinghe, K. G. S. C. Katukurunda

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Study it was attempted to identify an effect of food habits and publics’ attitudes on micro-sleepiness and preventive measures to develop a food product to combat. Statistical data pertaining to road accidents were collected from, Sri Lanka Police Traffic Division and a pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 250 respondents. They were selected representing drivers (especially highway drivers), private and public sector workers (shift based) and cramming students (university and school). Questionnaires were directed to fill independently and personally and collected data were analyzed statistically. Results revealed that 76.84, 96.39 and 80.93% out of total respondents consumed rice for all three meals which lead to ingesting higher glycemic meals. Taking two hyper glycemic meals before 14.00h was identified as a cause of micro-sleepiness within these respondents. Peak level of road accidents were observed at 14.00 - 20.00h (38.2%)and intensity of micro-sleepiness falls at the same time period (37.36%) while 14.00 to 16.00h was the peak time, 16.00 to 18.00h was the least; again 18.00 to 20.00h it reappears slightly. Even though respondents of the survey expressed that peak hours of micro- sleepiness is 14.00-16.00h, according to police reports, peak hours fall in between 18.00-20.00h. Out of the interviewees, 69.27% strongly wanted to avoid micro-sleepiness and intend to spend LKR 10-20 on a commercial product to combat micro sleepiness. As age-old practices to suppress micro-sleepiness are time taken, modern day respondents (51.64%) like to have a quick solution through a drink. Therefore, food habits of morning and noon may cause for micro- sleepiness while dinner may cause for both, natural and micro-sleepiness due to the heavy glycemic load of food. According to the study micro-sleepiness, can be categorized into three zones such as low-risk zone (08.00-10.00h and 18.00-20.00h), manageable zone (10.00-12.00h), and high- risk zone (14.00-16.00h).

Keywords: food habits, glycemic load, micro-sleepiness, road accidents

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Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

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The main purpose of this study was to figure out employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program and to examine whether three different types of appraisal processes differentially affected job satisfaction and employee engagement. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance appraisal reform, job satisfaction, and employee engagement. A large polyester and textile corporation had 2046 non-operational employees in February 2014. The valid participants were 1474 (72.04%) in this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, one-way MANOVA, Pearson correlation, Content Validity Index, the exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. The general results showed that employees who received the new performance appraisal program viewed the program more positively and showed more job satisfaction than those who did not. In particular, the implementation effects of this new performance appraisal program were most highly rated by employees who used the KPI to evaluate their job performance. Moreover, employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program were positively related to their job satisfaction and work engagement. On the other hand, most employees regarded themselves as engaged workers. To sum up, the HR department of this company has made an effective contribution to performance appraisal reforms.

Keywords: change management, employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance appraisal reform

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Authors: Parichehr Sharifi, Konrad Reschke, Hans-Liudger Dienel

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Psychological intervention generally targets changes in attitudes and behavior. Working with DUIs is part of traffic psychologists’ work. The primary goal of this field is to reduce the probability of re-conspicuous of the delinquent driver. One of these measurements in Germany is IFT courses for DUI s. The IFT course was designed by the Institute for Therapy Research. Participants are drivers who have fallen several times or once with a blood alcohol concentration of 1.6 per mill and who have completed a medical-psychological assessment (MPU) with the result of the course recommendation. The course covers four sessions of 3.5 hours each (1 hour / 60 m) and in a period of 3 to 4 weeks in the group discussion. This work analyzes interventions for the rehabilitation of DUI (Drunk Drivers offenders) offenders in groups under the aspect of activating psychological resources. From the aspect of sustainability, they should also have long-term consequences for the maintenance of unproblematic driving behavior in terms of the activation of resources. It is also addressing a selected consistency-theory-based intervention effect, activating psychological resources. So far, this has only been considered in the psychotherapeutic field but never in the field of traffic psychology. The methodology of this survey is one qualitative and three quantitative. In four sub-studies, it will be examined which measurements can determine the resources and how traffic psychological interventions can strengthen resources. The results of the studies have the following implications for traffic psychology research and practice: (1) In the field of traffic psychology intervention for the restoration of driving fitness, it can be stated that aspects of resource activation in this work have been investigated for the first time by qualitative and quantitative methods. (2) The resource activation could be confirmed based on the determined results as an effective factor of traffic psychological intervention. (3) Two sub-studies show a range of resources and resource activation options that must be given greater emphasis in traffic psychology interventions: - Social resource activation - improvement of the life skills of participants - Reactivation of existing social support options - Re-experiencing self-esteem, self-assurance, and acceptance of traffic-related behaviors. (4) In revising the IFT-§70 course, as well as other courses on recreating aptitude for DUI, new traffic-specific resource-enabling interventions against alcohol abuse should be developed to further enhance the courses through motivational, cognitive, and behavioral effects of resource activation, Resource-activating interventions can not only be integrated into behavioral group interventions but can also be applied in psychodynamic, psychodynamic (individual psychological) and other contexts of individual traffic psychology. The results are indicative but clearly show that personal resources can be strengthened through traffic psychology interventions. In the research, practice, training, and further education of traffic psychology, the aspect of primary resource activation (Grawe, 1999), therefore, always deserves the greatest attention for the rehabilitation of DUIs and Traffic safety.

Keywords: traffic safety, psychological resources, activating of resources, intervention programs for alcohol offenders, empowerment

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Authors: Kalaashini Ramachandran, Maznah Dahlui, Nik Daliana Nik Farid

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WHO recommends all babies to be exclusively breastfed and donor milk is the next best alternative in the absence of mother’s own milk. The establishment of a human milk bank (HMB) is still being debated due to religious concerns in Malaysia leading to informal milk sharing practices, but little is known on the knowledge, attitude and perception of women towards HMB and its benefits. This study hypothesizes that there is no association between knowledge and attitude and the acceptance towards the establishment of human milk bank among Malaysian women and healthcare providers. The aim of this study is to determine the drivers and barriers among Malaysian towards the acceptance of an HMB. A cross-sectional study with 367 participants was enrolled within a period of 3 months to answer an online self-administered questionnaire. Data on sociodemographic, knowledge on breastfeeding benefits, knowledge and attitude on HMB and its specific issues were analyzed in terms of frequency and then proceed to multiple logistic regression. Majority of the respondents are of Islamis religion (73.3%), have succeesfully completed their tertiary education (82.8%), and are employed (70.8%). Only 55.9% of respondents have heard of an HMB stating internet as their main source of information but a higher prevalence is agreeable to the establishment of a human milk bank (67.8%). Most respondents have a good score on knowledge of breastfeeding benefits and on HMB specific issues (70% and 54.2% respectively) while 63.8% of them have a positive attitude towards HMB. In the multivariate analysis, mothers with a good score on general knowledge of breastfeeding (AOR: 1.715) were more likely to accept the establishment of an HMB while Islamic religion was negatively associated with its establishment (AOR:0.113). This study has found a high prevalence rate of mothers who are willing to accept the establishment of an HMB. This action can be potentially shaped by educating mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding as well as addressing their religious concerns so the establishment of a religiously abiding HMB in Malaysia may be accepted without compromising their belief or the health benefit of donor milk.

Keywords: acceptability, attitude, human milk bank, knowledge

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Authors: Tohid Eskandarzadeh, Nader Bahlouli, Turaj Behnam, Azra Jafarzadeh

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The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to propose an optimal pattern to evaluate the staff management performance of the water and sewage organization. The performance prism-model was used to evaluate the following significant dimensions of performance: organizational strategies, organizational processes, organization capabilities, stakeholders’ partnership and satisfaction. In the present study, a standard, valid and reliable questionnaire was used to obtain data about the five dimensions of the performance prism model. 169 sample respondents were used for responding the questionnaire who were selected from the staff of water and waste-water organization in western Azerbaijan, Iran. Also, Alpha coefficient was used to check the reliability of the data-collection instrument which was measured to be beyond 0.7. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by means of SPSS version 18. The results obtained from the data analysis indicated that the performance of the staff management of the water and waste-water organization in western Azerbaijan was acceptable in terms of organizational strategies, organizational process, stakeholders’ partnership and satisfaction. Nevertheless, it was found that the performance of the staff management with respect to organizational abilities was average. Indeed, the researchers drew the conclusion that the current performance of the staff management in this organization in western Azerbaijan was less than ideal performance.

Keywords: performance evaluation, performance prism model, water, waste-water organization

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Authors: Rachel deCatanzaro, Madeline Austen, Ken Tuininga, Kathy St. Laurent, Christina Rohe

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In Canada, the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) provides protection for wildlife species at risk and a national legislative framework for the conservation or recovery of species that are listed as endangered, threatened, or special concern under Schedule 1 of SARA. Key aspects of the federal species at risk program include the development of recovery documents (recovery strategies, action plans, and management plans) outlining threats, objectives, and broad strategies or measures for conservation or recovery of the species; the identification and protection of critical habitat for threatened and endangered species; and working with groups and organizations to implement on-the-ground recovery actions. Environment Canada’s progress on the development of recovery documents and on the identification and protection of critical habitat in Ontario will be presented, along with successes and challenges associated with on-the ground implementation of recovery actions. In Ontario, Environment Canada is currently involved in several recovery and monitoring programs for at-risk bird species such as the Loggerhead Shrike, Piping Plover, Golden-winged Warbler and Cerulean Warbler and has provided funding for a wide variety of recovery actions targeting priority species at risk and geographic areas each year through stewardship programs including the Habitat Stewardship Program, Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk, and the Interdepartmental Recovery Fund. Key research needs relevant to the recovery of species at risk have been identified, and include: surveys and monitoring of population sizes and threats, population viability analyses, and addressing knowledge gaps identified for individual species (e.g., species biology and habitat needs). The engagement of all levels of government, the local and international conservation communities, and the scientific research community plays an important role in the conservation and recovery of species at risk in Ontario– through surveying and monitoring, filling knowledge gaps, conducting public outreach, and restoring, protecting, or managing habitat – and will be critical to the continued success of the federal species at risk program.

Keywords: conservation biology, habitat protection, species at risk, wildlife recovery

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Authors: Jongchul Park, Chan Byon

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In this study, the thermal performance of radial heat sinks for LED applications is investigated numerically and experimentally. The effect of geometrical parameters such as inner radius, fin height, fin length, and fin spacing, as well as the Elenbaas number, is considered. In addition, the effects of augmentation of concentric ring, perforation, and duct are extensively explored in order to enhance the thermal performance of conventional radial heat sink. The results indicate that the Elenbaas number and the fin radius have a significant effect on the thermal performance of the heat sink. The concentric ring affects the performance much, but the degree of affection is highly dependent on the orientation. The perforation always brings about higher thermal performance. The duct can effectively prevent the bypass of the natural convection flow, which in turn reduces the thermal resistance of the radial heat sink significantly.

Keywords: heat transfer, radial heat sink, LED, Elenbaas

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Authors: Mehdi Rezai, Asghar Zamani

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Virtual teams are a reality in today’s fast-paced world. With the possibility of commonly using common resources, an increase of inter-organizational projects, cooperation, outsourcing, and the increase in the number of people who work remotely or flexitime, an extensive and active presence of high-performance teams is a must. Virtual teams are a challenge by themselves. Their members remove the barriers of cultures, time regions and organizations, and they often communicate through electronic devices over considerable distances. Firstly, we examine the management of virtual teams by considering different issues such as cultural and personal diversities, communications and arrangement issues. Then we will examine individuals, processes and the existing tools in a team. The main challenge is managing high-performance virtual teams. First of all, we must examine the concept of performance. Then, we must focus on teams and the best methods of managing them. Constant improvement of performance, together with precisely regulating every individual’s method of working, increases the levels of performance in the course of time. High-performance teams exploit every issue as an opportunity for achieving high performance. And we know that doing projects with high performance is among every organization or team’s objectives. Performance could be measured using many criteria, among which carrying out projects in time, the satisfaction of stakeholders, and not exceeding budgets could be named. Elements such as clear objectives, clearly-defined roles and responsibilities, effective communications, and commitment to collaboration are essential to a team’s effectiveness. Finally, we will examine roles, systems, processes and will carry out a cause-and-effect analysis of different criteria in improving a team’s performance.

Keywords: virtual teams, performance, management, process, improvement, effectiveness

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Authors: Aliyu Aminu Baba, Yahaya Danjuma, Ahmad Sule Liman-Katagum

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This paper examines the effects of the board of directors’ diversity on firm performance. We investigate the relationship between the number of women directors on the board and important board committees and financial performance measured as return on assets. Our statistical analysis supports the theoretical position of the effect diversity on financial performance. These studies enhanced the previous studies on the board of director’s gender diversity, board committees, and its impacts on firm financial performance. The study uses data from eighteen (18) Nigerian commercial banks. The study finds that banks with a higher number of females directors on board and board committees have higher Earning per share(EPS)) and Return on Assets (ROA). It also finds that some banks did not even have a single female on its corporate board. Evidence imply that decisions concerning the appointment of women to corporate boards should be on criteria and financial performance. It is recommended that banks can enhance their financial performance by having more female directors on their corporate board.

Keywords: board of directors, gender diversity, board committees, financial performance

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Authors: Luis Amador Jimenez, Md. Shohel Amin

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Pavement performance models are based on projections of observed traffic loads, which makes uncertain to study funding strategies in the long run if history does not repeat. Neural networks can be used to estimate deterioration rates but the learning rate and momentum have not been properly investigated, in addition, economic evolvement could change traffic flows. This study addresses both issues through a case study for roads of Montreal that simulates traffic for a period of 50 years and deals with the measurement error of the pavement deterioration model. Travel demand models are applied to simulate annual average daily traffic (AADT) every 5 years. Accumulated equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) are calculated from the predicted AADT and locally observed truck distributions combined with truck factors. A back propagation Neural Network (BPN) method with a Generalized Delta Rule (GDR) learning algorithm is applied to estimate pavement deterioration models capable of overcoming measurement errors. Linear programming of lifecycle optimization is applied to identify M&R strategies that ensure good pavement condition while minimizing the budget. It was found that CAD 150 million is the minimum annual budget to good condition for arterial and local roads in Montreal. Montreal drivers prefer the use of public transportation for work and education purposes. Vehicle traffic is expected to double within 50 years, ESALS are expected to double the number of ESALs every 15 years. Roads in the island of Montreal need to undergo a stabilization period for about 25 years, a steady state seems to be reached after.

Keywords: pavement management system, traffic simulation, backpropagation neural network, performance modeling, measurement errors, linear programming, lifecycle optimization

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Authors: Shama Urooj

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The present work investigates the relationship among financial inclusion, modernization, and energy performance in SCO member countries during the years 2011–2021. PCA is used to create composite indexes of financial inclusion, modernization, and energy performance. We used panel regression models that are both reliable and heteroscedasticity-consistent to look at the relationship among variables. The findings indicate that financial inclusion (FI) and modernization, along with the increased FDI, all appear to contribute to the energy performance in the SCO member countries. However, per capita GDP has a negative impact on energy performance. These results are unbiased and consistent with the robust results obtained by applying different econometric models. Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) estimation is also used for checking the uniformity of the main model results. This research work concludes that there has been no policy coherence in SCO member countries regarding the coordination of growing financial inclusion and modernization for energy sustainability in recent years. In order to improve energy performance with modern development, policies regarding financial inclusion and modernization need be integrated both at national as well as international levels.

Keywords: financial inclusion, energy performance, modernization, technological development, SCO.

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Authors: Chi-Wai Kan, Kam-Hong Chau, Ho-Shing Law

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Wicking property is important for textile finishing and wears comfort. Good wicking properties can ensure uniformity and efficiency of the textiles treatment. In view of wear comfort, quick wicking fabrics facilitate the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, the wetness sensation of the skin is minimised to prevent discomfort. The testing method for vertical wicking was standardised by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) in 2011. The traditional vertical wicking test involves human error to observe fast changing and/or unclear wicking height. This study introduces optoelectronic devices to achieve an automatic Vertical Wicking Tester (VWT) and reduce human error. The VWT can record the wicking time and wicking height of samples. By reducing the difficulties of manual judgment, the reliability of the vertical wicking experiment is highly increased. Furthermore, labour is greatly decreased by using the VWT. The automatic measurement of the VWT has optoelectronic devices to trace the liquid wicking with a simple operation procedure. The optoelectronic devices detect the colour difference between dry and wet samples. This allows high sensitivity to a difference in irradiance down to 10 μW/cm². Therefore, the VWT is capable of testing dark fabric. The VWT gives a wicking distance (wicking height) of 1 mm resolution and a wicking time of one-second resolution. Acknowledgment: This is a research project of HKRITA funded by Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) with title “Development of an Automatic Measuring System for Vertical Wicking” (ITP/055/20TP). Author would like to thank the financial support by ITF. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Innovation and Technology Commission or the Panel of Assessors for the Innovation and Technology Support Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. Also, we would like to thank the support and sponsorship from Lai Tak Enterprises Limited, Kingis Development Limited and Wing Yue Textile Company Limited.

Keywords: AATCC method, comfort, textile measurement, wetness sensation

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Authors: Karel Šebesta, Jiří Žáček, Matuš Salva, Mohammad Housam

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Drivers of agricultural vehicles are exposed to continuous vibration caused by driving over rough terrain. The long-term effects of these vibrations could start with a decreased level of vigilance at work and could reach the level of several health problems. Therefore, eliminating the vibration to maximize the comfort of the driver is essential for better/longer performance. One of the modern damping systems, which can deal with this problem is the Semi-active (S/A) suspension system featuring a Magnetorheological (MR) damper. With this damper, the damping level can be adjusted using varying currents through the coil. Adjustments of the damping force can be carried out continuously based on the evaluated data (position and acceleration of seat) by the control algorithm. The advantage of this system is the wide dynamic range and the high speed of force response time. Compared to other S/A or active systems, the MR damper does not need as much electrical power, and the system is much simpler. This paper aims to prove the effectiveness of this damping system used in the tractor seat. The vibration testing stand was designed and manufactured specifically for this type of research, which is used to simulate vibrations with constant amplitude at variable frequency.

Keywords: magnetorheological damper, semi-active suspension, seat scissor mechanism, sky-hook

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Authors: Naritphol Boonyakiat

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This research attempts to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility and students’ job performance of the Silpakorn University’s internship program within various organizations. The goal of this study is to fill the literature gap by gaining an understanding of corporate social responsibility that fundamentally relate to students’ job performance within the organizations. Thus, this study will focus on the outcomes that derive from selected employers’ qualitative assessment and evaluation forms from various companies. The results represent the perceptions of students towards the corporate social responsibility aspects and their job performance evaluation from the employers in various organizations. The findings indicate that corporate social responsibility has significant effects on students’ job performance. This study may assist us in gaining a better understanding of the integrated aspects of university and workplace environments to discover how to allocate optimally university’s resources and management approaches to gain benefits from corporate social responsibility practices toward students’ job performance within an organizational setting. Therefore, there is good reason to believe that the findings can contribute to research in the area of CSR and students’ job performance as an essential aspect of long-term success sustainability.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, job performance, university students, internship program

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Authors: G. C. Surya Bahadur, Ranjana Kothari

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The paper attempts to analyze linkages between corporate governance and firm performance in India. The study employs a panel data of 50 Nifty companies from 2008 to 2012. Using LSDV panel data model and 2SLS model the study reveals that that good corporate governance practices adopted by companies is positively related with financial performance. Board independence, number of board committees and executive compensation are found to have positive relationship while ownership by promoters and financial leverage have negative relationship with performance. There is existence of bi-directional relationship between corporate governance and financial performance. Companies with sound financial performance are more likely to conform to corporate governance norms and standards and implement sound corporate governance system. The findings indicate that companies can enhance business performance and sustainability by embracing sound corporate governance practices.

Keywords: board structure, corporate governance, executive compensation, ownership structure

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Authors: Khasim Munir Bhasha Shaik

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Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lagoon after Chilika Lake of Orissa along the east coast of India. Estuaries and lagoons have brackish water which shows high biological productivity than fresh or sea water. Hence, it has a wide range of aquatic, terrestrial flora. The World Wide Fund for Nature declared it as a protected area. The present study aims to explore the flora of the lagoon along with the various threats for its eco-degradation which helps to plan necessary conservation methods.

Keywords: phytodiversity, pulicat lake, threats, conservation

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Authors: C. Slim

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This paper presents an integrated model, which hybridized data envelopment analysis (DEA) and support vector machine (SVM) together, to class countries according to their efficiency and performance. This model takes into account aspects of multi-dimensional indicators, decision-making hierarchy and relativity of measurement. Starting from a set of indicators of performance as exhaustive as possible, a process of successive aggregations has been developed to attain an overall evaluation of a country’s competitiveness.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support vector machine (SVM), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Aggregations, indicators of performance

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Authors: Pornpong Porpraphant

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This paper aimed to demonstrate how work performance quality development activity carried out for employees in an organization could lead to the organizational success and competency as a whole. The case studies selected for this research were the Thai huge corporate including Siam Cement Group or SCG, PTT Public Company Limited, and Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand or EGAT. The in- depth interview was applied with the three main groups that included the facilitator group, the managerial group, and the operational officer group. The Plan- Do- Check- Act approach was also utilized as to build up a conceptual model in corporate management that fostered employees’ knowledge acquisition, resulting in an improved work performance.

Keywords: high performance organization, quality, work performance quality development

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Authors: Zahra Zamanian, Alireza Zamanian, Jafar Hasanzadeh

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Background: Unwanted sound, as one of the most important physical factors in the majority of production units, imposes a great number of problems on the industrial workers. Sound is one of the environmental factors which can cause physical as well as psychological damages and also affects the individuals’ performance and productivity. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effect of noise exposure on human performance. Methods: The present study assessed the effect of noise on the performance of 50 students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (25 males and 25 females) at the sound pressures of 70, 90, and 110 dB by using two factors of physical features and the creation of different conditions of sound pressure source as well as applying Two-Arm coordination Test. Results: The results of the present study revealed no significant difference between male and female subjects as well as different conditions of creating sound pressure regarding the length of performance (p> 0.05). In addition, as the sound pressure increased, the length of performance increased, as well. According to the results, no significant difference was found between the performance at 70 and 90 dB. On the other hand, the performance at 110 dB was significantly different from the performance at 70 and 90 dB (p<0.05 and p<0.001). Conclusion: In general, as the sound pressure increases, the performance decreases which results in a considerable increase in the individuals’ rate of error.

Keywords: physical factors, two-arm coordination test, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, noise

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Authors: Gaddafi Sani Shehu, Tankut Yalcınoz, Abdullahi Bala Kunya

Abstract:

Multilevel inverters such as flying capacitor, diode-clamped, and cascaded H-bridge inverters are very popular particularly in medium and high power applications. This paper focuses on a cascaded H-bridge module using a single direct current (DC) source in order to generate an 11-level output voltage. The noble approach reduces the number of switches and gate drivers, in comparison with a conventional method. The anticipated topology produces more accurate result with an isolation transformer at high switching frequency. Different modulation techniques can be used for the multilevel inverter, but this work features modulation techniques known as selective harmonic elimination (SHE).This modulation approach reduces the number of carriers with reduction in Switching Losses, Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), and thereby increasing Power Quality (PQ). Based on the simulation result obtained, it appears SHE has the ability to eliminate selected harmonics by chopping off the fundamental output component. The performance evaluation of the proposed cascaded multilevel inverter is performed using PSIM simulation package and THD of 0.94% is obtained.

Keywords: cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter, power quality, selective harmonic elimination

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Authors: Bernasconi Matteo, Grothkopp Mark, Friedli Thomas

Abstract:

The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships between technical and social lean bundles as well as operational performance in the context of the pharmaceutical industry. We investigate the direct and mediating effects of the lean bundles total productive maintenance (TPM), total quality management (TQM), Just-In-Time (JIT), and human resource management (HRM) on operational performance. Our analysis relies on 113 manufacturing facilities from the St.Gallen OPEX benchmarking database. The results show that HRM has a positive indirect effect on operational performance mediated by the technical lean bundles.

Keywords: human resource management, operational performance, pharmaceutical industry, technical lean practices

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Authors: Guebli Abdelkader, Reguieg Madani, Belkadi Adel, Sbaa Bouabdellah

Abstract:

The identification of mechanical variables in the motor performance trajectory has a prominent role in improving skill performance, error-exceeding, it contributes seriously to solving some problems of learning and training. The study aims to highlight the indicators of motor performance for Paralympic athletes during the practicing sports between modelling and between excellence in motor performance, this by taking into account the distinction of athlete practicing with special behavioral skills for the Paralympic athletes. In the study, we relied on the analysis of some previous research of biomechanical performance indicators during some of the events sports (shooting activities in the Paralympic athletics, shooting skill in the wheelchair basketball). The results of the study highlight the distinction of disabled practitioners of sporting events identified in motor performance during practice, by overcoming some physics indicators in human movement, as a lower center of body weight, increase in offset distance, such resistance which requires them to redouble their efforts. However, the results of the study highlighted the strength of the correlation between biomechanical variables of motor performance and the digital level achievement similar to the other practitioners normal.

Keywords: sports, the disabled, motor performance, Paralympic

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Authors: Tanzeel bin Abdul Rauf Patker, Saba Mateen

Abstract:

This research investigates the impact of Brand Loyalty on the product performance and the factors those are considered more important in brand reputation. Variables selected for this research are Brand quality, Brand Equity, Brand Reputation to explore the impact of these variables on Product performance. For this purpose, primary research has been conducted. The questionnaire survey for this research study was administered among the population mainly at the shopping malls. For this research study, a sample size of 250 respondents has been taken into consideration. Customers from the shopping malls and university students constitute the sample for this research study using random sampling (non-probabilistic) used as a sampling technique for conducting the research survey. According to the results obtained from the collected data, it is interpreted that product performance shares a direct relationship with brand quality, brand quality, and brand reputation. Result also showed that brand quality and brand equity has a significant effect on product performance, whereas brand reputation has an insignificant effect on product performance.

Keywords: product performance, brand quality, brand equity, brand reputation

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Authors: S. Rezaei, Z. Mirzaei, M. Khalighi, J. Bahrami

Abstract:

Bridges, as an essential part of road infrastructures, are affected by various deterioration mechanisms over time due to the changes in their performance. As changes in performance can have many negative impacts on society, it is essential to be able to evaluate and measure the performance of bridges throughout their life. This evaluation includes the development or the choice of the appropriate performance indicators, which, in turn, are measured based on the selection of appropriate models for the existing deterioration mechanism. The purpose of this article is a statistical study of indicators and deterioration mechanisms of bridges in order to discover further research capacities in bridges performance assessment. For this purpose, some of the most common indicators of bridge performance, including reliability, risk, vulnerability, robustness, and resilience, were selected. The researches performed on each index based on the desired deterioration mechanisms and hazards were comprehensively reviewed. In addition, the formulation of the indicators and their relationship with each other were studied. The research conducted on the mentioned indicators were classified from the point of view of deterministic or probabilistic method, the level of study (element level, object level, etc.), and the type of hazard and the deterioration mechanism of interest. For each of the indicators, a number of challenges and recommendations were presented according to the review of previous studies.

Keywords: bridge, deterioration mechanism, lifecycle, performance indicator

Procedia PDF Downloads 82