Search results for: attitude of managers

Authors: A. Alseiari, P. Farrell

Abstract:

Maintenance has evolved into an imperative function, and contributes significantly to efficient and effective equipment performance. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an ideal approach to support the development and implementation of operation performance improvement. It systematically aims to understand the function of equipment, the service quality relationship with equipment and the probable critical equipment failure conditions. Implementation of TPM programmes need strategic planning and there has been little research applied in this area within Middle-East power plants. In the power sector of Abu Dhabi, technologically and strategically, the power industry is extremely important, and it thus needs effective and efficient equipment management support. The aim of this paper is to investigate barriers to successful TPM implementation in the Abu Dhabi power industry. The study has been conducted in the context of a leading power company in the UAE. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 employees, including maintenance and operation staff, and senior managers. The findings of this research identified seven key barriers, thus: managerial; organisational; cultural; financial; educational; communications; and auditing. With respect to the understanding of these barriers and obstacles in TPM implementation, the findings can contribute towards improved equipment operations and maintenance in power organisations.

Keywords: Abu Dhabi power industry, TPM implementation, key barriers, organisational culture, critical success factors.

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Authors: M. Abdelhamid, I. Beshara, M. Ghoneim

Abstract:

In Egypt, the concept of Asset Management (AM) is new; however, the need for applying it has become crucial because deteriorating or losing an asset is unaffordable in a developing country like Egypt. Therefore the current study focuses on educational buildings as one of the most important assets regarding planning, building, operating and maintenance expenditures. The main objective of this study is to develop a SAMF for educational buildings in Egypt. The General Authority for Educational Buildings (GAEB) was chosen as a case study of the current research as it represents the biggest governmental organization responsible for planning, operating and maintaining schools in Egypt. To achieve the research objective, structured interviews were conducted with senior managers of GAEB using a pre designed questionnaire to explore the current practice of AM. Gab analysis technique was applied against best practices compounded from a vast literature review to identify gaps between current practices and the desired one. The previous steps mainly revealed; limited knowledge about strategic asset management, no clear goals, no training, no real risk plan and lack of data, technical and financial resources. Based on the findings, a SAMF for GAEB was introduced and Framework implementation steps and assessment techniques were explained in detail.

Keywords: Strategic Asset Management, Educational Building, Framework, Gab Analysis, Developing Country.

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Authors: P. Mbecke

Abstract:

The role of the government to tangibly alleviate poverty, improve and sustain the quality of people’s lives remains a “work in progress” twenty-two years after the dawn of democracy in South Africa despite a host of socio-economic programs and pro-poor policies and legislations. This paper assesses the development process and the implementation of the White Paper on Families in South Africa as one of the pro-poor policies intended to curb poverty and redress the imbalances of the apartheid regime. The paper is the result of a qualitative implementation research theory facilitated through in-depth interviews with social work managers complemented by literature and policy review techniques. It investigates the level of basic knowledge and understanding as well as the implementation challenges of the White Paper on Families as causes of its failure. The paper emphasizes the importance of the family-centered approach in the implementation of pro-poor policies. To facilitate the understanding of the White Paper on Families by its users, the Department of Social Development needs take stock of the identified challenges of its implementation so as to facilitate its success in fostering positive family well-being that will directly contributes to the overall socio-economic development of South Africa.

Keywords: Poverty alleviation, pro-poor policy, social development, social welfare, South Africa.

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Authors: H. Iranmanesh, M. R. Skandari, M. Allahverdiloo

Abstract:

Project managers are the ultimate responsible for the overall characteristics of a project, i.e. they should deliver the project on time with minimum cost and with maximum quality. It is vital for any manager to decide a trade-off between these conflicting objectives and they will be benefited of any scientific decision support tool. Our work will try to determine optimal solutions (rather than a single optimal solution) from which the project manager will select his desirable choice to run the project. In this paper, the problem in project scheduling notated as (1,T|cpm,disc,mu|curve:quality,time,cost) will be studied. The problem is multi-objective and the purpose is finding the Pareto optimal front of time, cost and quality of a project (curve:quality,time,cost), whose activities belong to a start to finish activity relationship network (cpm) and they can be done in different possible modes (mu) which are non-continuous or discrete (disc), and each mode has a different cost, time and quality . The project is constrained to a non-renewable resource i.e. money (1,T). Because the problem is NP-Hard, to solve the problem, a meta-heuristic is developed based on a version of genetic algorithm specially adapted to solve multi-objective problems namely FastPGA. A sample project with 30 activities is generated and then solved by the proposed method.

Keywords: FastPGA, Multi-Execution Activity Mode, ParetoOptimality, Project Scheduling, Time-Cost-Quality Trade-Off.

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Authors: H. J. Yang, R. Z. Jin, I. J. Park, C. T. Hyun

Abstract:

There has been gradual progress of late in construction projects, particularly in big-scale megaprojects. Due to the long-term construction period, however, with large-scale budget investment, lack of construction management technologies, and increase in the incomplete elements of project schedule management, a plan to conduct efficient operations and to ensure business safety is required. In particular, as the project management information system (PMIS) is meant for managing a single project centering on the construction phase, there is a limitation in the management of program-scale businesses like megaprojects. Thus, a program management information system (PgMIS) that includes program-level management technologies is needed to manage multiple projects. In this study, a support tool was developed for managing the cost and schedule information occurring in the construction phase, at the program level. In addition, a case study on the developed support tool was conducted to verify the usability of the system. With the use of the developed support tool program, construction managers can monitor the progress of the entire project and of the individual subprojects in real time.

Keywords: Cost∙Schedule integration management, Supporting Tool, UI, WBS, CBS, introduce PgMIS (Program Management Information System), PMIS (Project Management Information System)

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Authors: D. Moussazadeh, A. Aytug

Abstract:

The focus of this study is to analyze and elaborate the formal factors in the architectural features of the museums. From aesthetic vantage point, this study has scrutinized the formal aesthetic values and identity-related features of the museums. Furthermore, the importance of the museums as the centers of knowledge, science and arts has gradually increased in the last century, whereby they have shifted from an elite standing to the pluralist approach as to address every sections of the community. This study will focus on the museum structures that are designed with the aesthetic apprehension, and presented as the artistic works on the basis of an objective attitude to elaborate the formal aesthetic factors on the formal aesthetics. It is of great importance to increase such studies for getting some concrete results to perceive the recent term aesthetic approaches and improve the forms in line with such approaches. This study elaborates the aesthetic facts solely on the basis of visual dimensions, but ignores the subjective effects to evaluate it in formal, subjective and conceptual aspects. The main material of this study comprises of the descriptive works on the conceptual substructure, and a number of schedules drawn on such concepts, which are applied on the example museum structures. Such works cover many several existing sources such as the design, philosophy, artistic philosophy, shape, form, design elements and principles as well as the museums.

Keywords: Aesthetics, design principles and elements, Gestalt.

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Authors: H. Chaker, T. Slama, N. Elyétim

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the effects of gender, affiliation, prior work experience, social work, and vicarious learning through family role models on entrepreneurial skills development by students when they followed the teaching through the entrepreneurship method in Tunisia. We suggest that these variables enhance the development of students’ entrepreneurial skills when combined with teaching through entrepreneurship. The article assesses the impact of these combinations by comparing their effects on the development of thirteen students’ entrepreneurial competencies, namely entrepreneurial mindset, core self-evaluation, entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial knowledge, creativity, financial literacy, managing ambiguity, marshaling of resources, planning, teaching methods, entrepreneurial teachers, innovative employee, and entrepreneurial intention. We use a two-sample independent t-test to make the comparison, and the results indicate that, when combined with teaching through the entrepreneurship method, students with prior work experience developed better six entrepreneurial skills; students with social work developed better three entrepreneurial skills, men developed better four entrepreneurial skills than women. However, all students developed their entrepreneurial skills through this practical method regardless of their affiliation and their vicarious learning through family role models.

Keywords: Affiliation, entrepreneurial skills, gender, role models, social work, teaching through entrepreneurship, vicarious learning, work experience.

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Authors: Zhanna Mingaleva, Irina Mirskikh

Abstract:

Innovational development of regions in Russia is generally faced with the essential influence from federal and local authorities. The organization of effective mechanism of innovation development (and self-development) is impossible without establishment of defined institutional conditions in the analyzed field. Creative utilization of scientific concepts and information should merge, giving rise to continuing innovation and advanced production. The paper presents an analysis of institutional conditions in the field of creation and development of innovation activity infrastructure and transferring of knowledge and skills between different economic agents in Russia. Knowledge is mainly privately owned, developed through R&D investments and incorporated into technology or a product. Innovation infrastructure is a strong concentration mechanism of advanced facilities, which are mainly located inside large agglomerations or city-regions in order to benefit from scale effects in both input markets (human capital, private financial capital) and output markets (higher education services, research services). The empirical results of the paper show that in the presence of more efficient innovation and knowledge transfer and transcoding system and of a more open attitude of economic agents towards innovation, the innovation and knowledge capacity of regional economy is much higher.

Keywords: knowledge economy, innovational development, transfer of knowledge, institutional preconditions, innovation andknowledge capacity.

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Authors: H. Iranmanesh, M. R. Skandari, M. Allahverdiloo

Abstract:

Project managers are the ultimate responsible for the overall characteristics of a project, i.e. they should deliver the project on time with minimum cost and with maximum quality. It is vital for any manager to decide a trade-off between these conflicting objectives and they will be benefited of any scientific decision support tool. Our work will try to determine optimal solutions (rather than a single optimal solution) from which the project manager will select his desirable choice to run the project. In this paper, the problem in project scheduling notated as (1,T|cpm,disc,mu|curve:quality,time,cost) will be studied. The problem is multi-objective and the purpose is finding the Pareto optimal front of time, cost and quality of a project (curve:quality,time,cost), whose activities belong to a start to finish activity relationship network (cpm) and they can be done in different possible modes (mu) which are non-continuous or discrete (disc), and each mode has a different cost, time and quality . The project is constrained to a non-renewable resource i.e. money (1,T). Because the problem is NP-Hard, to solve the problem, a meta-heuristic is developed based on a version of genetic algorithm specially adapted to solve multi-objective problems namely FastPGA. A sample project with 30 activities is generated and then solved by the proposed method.

Keywords: FastPGA, Multi-Execution Activity Mode, Pareto Optimality, Project Scheduling, Time-Cost-Quality Trade-Off.

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Authors: Norazah Mohd Suki, Norbayah Mohd Suki

Abstract:

This research aims to examine the influence of mediating effect of corporate social responsibility on the relationship between consumer awareness of green marketing and purchase intentions in the retail setting. Data from 200 valid questionnaires was analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach for the analysis of structural equation models with SmartPLS computer program version 2.0 as research data does not necessarily have a multivariate normal distribution and is less sensitive to sample size than other covariance approaches. PLS results revealed that corporate social responsibility partially mediated the link between consumer awareness of green marketing and purchase intentions of the product in the retail setting. Marketing managers should allocate a sufficient portion of their budget to appropriate corporate social responsibility activities by engaging in voluntary programs for positive return on investment leading to increased business profitability and long run business sustainability. The outcomes of the mediating effects of corporate social responsibility add a new impetus to the growing literature and preceding discoveries on consumer green marketing awareness, which is inadequately researched in the Malaysian setting. Direction for future research is also presented.

Keywords: Green marketing awareness, corporate social responsibility, partial least squares, purchase intention.

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Authors: Samar F. Elkasrawy

Abstract:

Museums play a significant role in their communities with respect to culture, history, environment, and social development. They are considered as important sites for families, tourists, school groups, cultural visitors and individuals, looking to enjoy, learn and expand their horizons. Aim of audience development programs is to support individuals and organizations to work together to deliver messages that will raise museums' profile for both existing and potential visitors. They recognize the particular role that museums play for communities, the audiences they seek to reach, the experience they seek to offer and the extent and nature of their collections. This study aims at using both the qualitative and quantitative approach to explore the important role that audience development programs in museums can play in raising awareness in their communities concerning cultural heritage preservation and tourism. The Alexandria National Museum is considered as a valuable case study. In depth interviews with museum managers and staff was conducted as well as an online questionnaire. The study also includes suggestions and guidelines for applying audience development programs in Egyptian museums.

Keywords: Cultural heritage, tourism and preservation awareness, audience development programs, Alexandria National Museum.

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Authors: Edward Pol

Abstract:

All companies are confronted with the need to innovate in order to meet market demands. In so doing they are challenged with the dilemma of whether to aim to be first into the market with a new innovative product, or to deliberately wait and learn from a pioneers’ mistakes; potentially avoiding higher risks. It is therefore important to critically understand from a first mover advantage and disadvantage perspective the decision-making implications of defence industry transformation onset by an innovative paradigm shift. This paper will argue that the type of industry characteristics matter, especially when considering what role the clients play in the innovation process and what their level of influence is. Through investigation of qualitative case study research, this inquiry will focus on first mover advantages and first mover disadvantages with a view to establish practical and value-added academic findings by focusing on specific industries where the clients play an active role in cooperation with the supplier innovation. The resulting findings will help managers to mitigate risk in innovative technology introduction. A selection from several defence industry innovations is specifically chosen because of the client–supplier relationship that typically differs from traditional first mover research. In this instance, case studies will be used referencing vertical-take-off-and-landing defence equipment innovations. 

Keywords: innovation, pioneer, first mover advantage, first mover disadvantage, risk

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Authors: Shi Zhang

Abstract:

This paper aims to introduce the allopatry of national college entrance examination which allow migrant students enter senior high schools and take college entrance exam where they live, identifies the reasons affect the implementation of this policy in the Chinese context. Most of China’s provinces and municipalities recently have announced new policies regarding national college entrance exams for non-local students. The paper conducts SWOT analysis reveals the opportunities, strength, weakness and challenges of the scheme, so as to discuss the implementation strategies from the perspectives of idea and institution. The research findings imply that the government should take a more positive attitude toward relaxing the allopatry of NCEE policy restrictions, and promote the reform household registration policy and NCEE policy with synchronous operations. Higher education institutions should explore the diversification of enrollment model; the government should issue the authority of universities and colleges to select elite migrant students beyond the restrictions of NCEE. To suit reform policies to local conditions, the big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou should publish related compensate measures for children of migrant workers access to higher vocational colleges with tuition fee waivered. 

Keywords: College entrance examination, higher education, education policy, education equality.

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Authors: Karen Puren, Ernst Drewes, Vera Roos

Abstract:

This paper explores the sense of place in the Vredefort Dome World Heritage site, South Africa, as an essential input for the formulation of spatial planning proposals for the area. Intangible aspects such as personal and symbolic meanings of sites are currently not integrated in spatial planning in South Africa. This may have a detrimental effect on local inhabitants who have a long history with the site and built up a strong place identity. Involving local inhabitants at an early stage of the planning process and incorporating their attitudes and opinions in future intervention in the area, may also contribute to the acceptance of the legitimacy of future policy. An interdisciplinary and mixed-method research approach was followed in this study in order to identify possible ways to anchor spatial planning proposals in the identity of the place. In essence, the qualitative study revealed that inhabitants reflect a deep and personal relationship with and within the area, which contributes significantly to their sense of emotional security and selfidentity. Results include a strong conservation-orientated attitude with regard to the natural rural character of the site, especially in the inner core.

Keywords: Place identity, Sense of Place, Spatial Planning, Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site.

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Authors: F. P. Chew, Z. Ishak

Abstract:

Malay Folk Literature in early childhood education served as an important agent in child development that involved emotional, thinking and language aspects. Up to this moment not much research has been carried out in Malaysia particularly in the teaching and learning aspects nor has there been an effort to publish “big books." Hence this article will discuss the stance taken by university undergraduate students, teachers and parents in evaluating Malay Folk Literature in early childhood education to be used as big books. The data collated and analyzed were taken from 646 respondents comprising 347 undergraduates and 299 teachers. Results of the study indicated that Malay Folk Literature can be absorbed into teaching and learning for early childhood with a mean of 4.25 while it can be in big books with a mean of 4.14. Meanwhile the highest mean value required for placing Malay Folk Literature genre as big books in early childhood education rests on exemplary stories for undergraduates with mean of 4.47; animal fables for teachers with a mean of 4.38. The lowest mean value of 3.57 is given to lipurlara stories. The most popular Malay Folk Literature found suitable for early children is Sang Kancil and the Crocodile, followed by Bawang Putih Bawang Merah. Pak Padir, Legends of Mahsuri, Origin of Malacca, and Origin of Rainbow are among the popular stories as well. Overall the undergraduates show a positive attitude toward all the items compared to teachers. The t-test analysis has revealed a non significant relationship between the undergraduate students and teachers with all the items for the teaching and learning of Malay Folk Literature.

Keywords: Big Book, Early Childhood Education, Malay FolkLiterature

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Authors: Petr Cernohorsky, Jan Voracek

Abstract:

Well-developed strategic marketing planning is the essential prerequisite for establishment of the right and unique competitive advantage. Typical market, however, is a heterogeneous and decentralized structure with natural involvement of individual or group subjectivity and irrationality. These features cannot be fully expressed with one-shot rigorous formal models based on, e.g. mathematics, statistics or empirical formulas. We present an innovative solution, extending the domain of agent based computational economics towards the concept of hybrid modeling in service provider and consumer market such as telecommunications. The behavior of the market is described by two classes of agents - consumer and service provider agents - whose internal dynamics are fundamentally different. Customers are rather free multi-state structures, adjusting behavior and preferences quickly in accordance with time and changing environment. Producers, on the contrary, are traditionally structured companies with comparable internal processes and specific managerial policies. Their business momentum is higher and immediate reaction possibilities limited. This limitation underlines importance of proper strategic planning as the main process advising managers in time whether to continue with more or less the same business or whether to consider the need for future structural changes that would ensure retention of existing customers or acquisition of new ones.

Keywords: Agent-based computational economics, hybrid modeling, strategic marketing, system dynamics.

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Authors: Seyedehfatemeh Golrizgashti, Seyedali Dalil

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is proposing a supply chain value dashboard in home appliance manufacturing firms to create more value for all stakeholders via balanced scorecard approach. Balanced scorecard is an effective approach that managers have used to evaluate supply chain performance in many fields but there is a lack of enough attention to all supply chain stakeholders, improving value creation and, defining correlation between value indicators and performance measuring quantitatively. In this research the key stakeholders in home appliance supply chain, value indicators with respect to create more value for stakeholders and the most important metrics to evaluate supply chain value performance based on balanced scorecard approach have been selected via literature review. The most important indicators based on expert’s judgment acquired by in survey focused on creating more value for. Structural equation modelling has been used to disclose relations between value indicators and balanced scorecard metrics. The important result of this research is identifying effective value dashboard to create more value for all stakeholders in supply chain via balanced scorecard approach and based on an empirical study covering ten home appliance manufacturing firms in Iran. Home appliance manufacturing firms can increase their stakeholder's satisfaction by using this value dashboard.

Keywords: Supply chain management, balanced scorecard, value, Structural modeling, Stakeholders.

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Authors: Pavel Adámek

Abstract:

This study examines perception of environmental approach in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – the process by which firms integrate environmental concern into business. Based on a review of the literature, the paper synthesizes focus on environmental issues with the reflection in a case study in the Czech Republic. Two themes of corporate environmentalism are discussed – corporate environmental orientation and corporate stances toward environmental concerns. It provides theoretical material on greening organizational culture that is helpful in understanding the response of contemporary business to environmental problems. We integrate theoretical predictions with empirical findings confronted with reality. Scales to measure these themes are tested in a survey of managers in 229 Czech firms. We used the process of in-depth questioning. The research question was derived and answered in the context of the corresponding literature and conducted research. A case study showed us that environmental approach is variety different (depending on the size of the firm) in SMEs sector. The results of the empirical mapping demonstrate Czech company’s approach to environment and define the problem areas and pinpoint the main limitation in the expansion of environmental aspects. We contribute to the debate for recognition of the particular role of environmental issues in business reality.

Keywords: Corporate environmentalism, Czech Republic, empirical mapping, environmental performance.

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Authors: Suby Khanam, Jamshed Siddiqui, Faisal Talib

Abstract:

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial approach that improves the competitiveness of the industry, meanwhile Information technology (IT) was introduced with TQM for handling the technical issues which is supported by quality experts for fulfilling the customers’ requirement. Present paper aims to utilise AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology to priorities and rank the hierarchy levels of TQM enablers and IT resource together for its successful implementation in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. A total of 17 TQM enablers (nine) and IT resources (eight) were identified and partitioned into 3 categories and were prioritised by AHP approach. The finding indicates that the 17 sub-criteria can be grouped into three main categories namely organizing, tools and techniques, and culture and people. Further, out of 17 sub-criteria, three sub-criteria: top management commitment and support, total employee involvement, and continuous improvement got highest priority whereas three sub-criteria such as structural equation modelling, culture change, and customer satisfaction got lowest priority. The result suggests a hierarchy model for ICT industry to prioritise the enablers and resources as well as to improve the TQM and IT performance in the ICT industry. This paper has some managerial implication which suggests the managers of ICT industry to implement TQM and IT together in their organizations to get maximum benefits and how to utilize available resources. At the end, conclusions, limitation, future scope of the study are presented.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Information Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Prioritization, Total Quality Management.

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Authors: F. Farzin

Abstract:

Research has shown that techno-entrepreneurship is economically significant. Therefore, it is suggested that teaching techno-entrepreneurship may be important because such programmes would prepare current and future generations of learners to recognise and act on high-technology opportunities. Education in technoentrepreneurship may increase the knowledge of how to start one’s own enterprise and recognise the technological opportunities for commercialisation to improve decision-making about starting a new venture; also it influence decisions about capturing the business opportunities and turning them into successful ventures. Universities can play a main role in connecting and networking technoentrepreneurship students towards a cooperative attitude with real business practice and industry knowledge. To investigate and answer whether education for techno-entrepreneurs really helps, this paper choses a comparison of literature reviews as its method of research. After reviewing literature related to the impact of technoentrepreneurship education on self-employment 6 studies which had similar aim and objective to this paper were. These particular papers were selected based on a keywords search and as their aim, objectives, and gaps were close to the current research. In addition, they were all based on the influence of techno-entrepreneurship education in self-employment and intention of students to start new ventures. The findings showed that teaching techno-entrepreneurship education may have an influence on students’ intention and their future self-employment, but which courses should be covered and the duration of programmes, needs further investigation.

Keywords: Techno-entrepreneurship education, training, higher education, intention, self-employment.

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni, Emily Doreen Lee, Wee Hui Yean

Abstract:

This paper was prepared to see the perceptions of online lectures regarding collaborative learning, in terms of how lecturers view online collaborative learning in the higher learning institution. The purpose of this study was conducted to determine the perceptions of online lectures about collaborative learning, especially how lecturers see online collaborative learning in the university. Adult learning education enhance collaborative learning culture with the target of involving learners in the learning process to make teaching and learning more effective and open at the university. This will finally make students learning that will assist each other. It is also to cut down the pressure of loneliness and isolation might felt among adult learners. Their ways in collaborative online was also determined. In this paper, researchers collect data using questionnaires instruments. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted. By analyzing the data, researchers report the results according the proof taken from the respondents. Results from the study, it is not only dependent on the lecturer but also a student to shape a good collaborative learning practice. Rational concepts and pattern to achieve these targets be clear right from the beginning and may be good seen by a number of proposals submitted and include how the higher learning institution has trained with ongoing lectures online. Advantages of online collaborative learning show that lecturers should be trained effectively. Studies have seen that the lecturer aware of online collaborative learning. This positive attitude will encourage the higher learning institution to continue to give the knowledge and skills required.

Keywords: Collaborative Online Learning, Lecturers’ Training.

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Authors: Laila Ozola, Evita Straumite

Abstract:

Celiac disease is a permanent enteropathy caused by the ingestion of gluten, a protein occurring in wheat, rye and barley. The only way of the effective daily treatment is a strict gluten-free diet. From the investigation of products available in the local market, it was found that Latvian producers do not offer gluten-free products. The aim of this research was to study and analyze changes of celiac patient’s attitude to gluten-free product quality and availability in the Latvian market and purchasing habits. The survey was designed using website www.visidati.lv, and a questionnaire was sent to people suffering from celiac disease. The first time the respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire in 2011, but now repeatedly from the beginning of September 2013 till the end of January 2014. The questionnaire was performed with 75 celiac patients, respondents were from all Latvian regions and they answered 16 questions. One of the most important questions was aimed to find out consumers’ opinion about quality of gluten-free products, consumption patterns of gluten-free products, and, moreover, their interest in products made in Latvia. Respondents were asked to name gluten-free products they mainly buy and give specific purchase locations, evaluate the quality of products and necessity for products produced in Latvia. The results of questionnaire show that the consumers are satisfied with the quality of gluten-free flour, flour blends, sweets and pasta, but are not satisfied with the quality of bread and confectionery available in the Latvian markets.

Keywords: Consumers, gluten-free products, quality, survey.

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Authors: Ammal M. Metwally, Ghada A. Abdel-Latif, Walaa A. Fouad, Thanaa M. Rabah, Amira Mohsen, Fatma A. Shaaban, Iman I. Salama

Abstract:

The study aimed at determining the impact of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on patients’ Quality of Life (QoL), its relation to geographical characteristics of patients, awareness of the disease, treatment regimen, co-morbid psychiatric or other diseases. 457 patients were randomly selected from ten National Treatment Reference Centers of Ministry of Health hospitals from four community locations representing Egypt. Health related QoL assessment questionnaire with the 36-item Short Form used for assessment of the enrolled patients. The study showed no significant difference between HCV patients in different governorates as regards total QoL. Females, illiterate patients and those had bilharziasis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension or were depressed had significantly the lowest QoL score. HCV patients who knew the danger of the disease had significant lower mean score of physical and mental health components. Optimal care of overall well-being of HCV patients requires adequate knowledge of their neurological and psychological status. It is important to know how to cope with having a family member with hepatitis C and more importantly to know what should you say and what shouldn’t you say as a positive hopeful attitude is essential for combating HCV chronic infection.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus chronic infection, physical health component and mental health component of QoL, total quality of life.

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Authors: P. Thepnarintra

Abstract:

Frozen shrimp industry plays an important role in the development of production industry of the country. There has been a continuing development to response the increasing demand; however, there have been some problems in running the enterprises. The purposes of this study are to: 1) investigate problems related to basic factors in operating frozen shrimp industry based on the entrepreneurs’ points of view. The enterprises involved in this study were small and medium industry receiving Thai Frozen Foods Association. 2) Compare the problems of the frozen shrimp industry according to their sizes of operation in 3 provinces of the central region Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 148 managers from 148 frozen shrimp enterprises Thai Frozen Foods Association which 77 were small size and 71 were medium size. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and independent sample T-test with the significant hypothesis at .05. The results revealed that the problems of the frozen shrimp industries of both size were in high level. The needs for government supporting were in high level. The comparison of the problems and the basic factors between the small and medium size enterprises showed no statistically significant level. The problems that they mentioned included raw materials, labors, production, marketing, and the need for academic supporting from the government sector.

Keywords: Frozen shrimp industry, problems, related to the enterprise, operation.

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Authors: Saud A. Taj

Abstract:

Employer branding is considered as a useful tool for addressing the global-local problem facing complex organisations that have operations scattered across the globe and face challenges of dealing with the local environment alongside. Despite being an established field of study within the Western developed world, there is little empirical evidence concerning the relevance of employer branding to global companies that operate in the under-developed economies. This paper fills this gap by gaining rich insight into the implementation of employer branding programs in a foreign multinational operating in Pakistan dealing with the global-local problem. The study is qualitative in nature and employs semistructured and focus group interviews with senior/middle managers and local frontline employees to deeply examine the phenomenon in case organisation. Findings suggest that authenticity is required in employer brands to enable them to respond to the local needs thereby leading to the resolution of the global-local problem. However, the role of signaling theory is key to the development of authentic employer brands as it stresses on the need to establish an efficient and effective signaling environment where in signals travel in both directions (from signal designers to receivers and backwards) and facilitate firms with the global-local problem. The paper also identifies future avenues of research for the employer branding field.

Keywords: Authenticity, Counter-signals, Employer Branding, Global-Local Problem, Signaling Theory.

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Authors: Saleh Alumaran, Giampaolo Bella, Feng Chen

Abstract:

The study of organisations’ information security cultures has attracted scholars as well as healthcare services industry to research the topic and find appropriate tools and approaches to develop a positive culture. The vast majority of studies in Saudi national health services are on the use of technology to protect and secure health services information. On the other hand, there is a lack of research on the role and impact of an organisation’s cultural dimensions on information security. This research investigated and analysed the role and impact of cultural dimensions on information security in Saudi Arabia health service. Hypotheses were tested and two surveys were carried out in order to collect data and information from three major hospitals in Saudi Arabia (SA). The first survey identified the main cultural-dimension problems in SA health services and developed an initial information security culture framework model. The second survey evaluated and tested the developed framework model to test its usefulness, reliability and applicability. The model is based on human behaviour theory, where the individual’s attitude is the key element of the individual’s intention to behave as well as of his or her actual behaviour. The research identified a set of cultural and sub-cultural dimensions in SA health information security and services.

Keywords: Behaviour theory, Culture dimensions, Electronic health records, Information security.

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Authors: Natanya Meyer, Johann Landsberg

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Unemployment among the youth is a significant problem in South Africa. Large corporations and the public sector simply cannot create enough jobs. Too many youths in South Africa currently do not consider entrepreneurship as an option in order to become independent. Unlike the youth of the Netherlands, South African youth prefer to find employment in the public or private sector. The Netherlands has a much lower unemployment rate than South Africa and the Dutch are generally very entrepreneurial. From early on, entrepreneurship is considered a desirable career option in the Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in the perceptions of some Dutch and South African students in terms of unemployment and entrepreneurship. Questionnaires were distributed to students at the North West University's Vaal Triangle campus in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng, South Africa and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. A descriptive statistical analysis approach was followed and the means for the independent questions were calculated. The results demonstrate that the Dutch students are not as concerned about unemployment after completion of their studies as this is not as significant a problem as it is in South Africa. Both groups had positive responses towards the posed questions, but the South African group felt more strongly about the issues. Both groups of students felt that there was a need for more practical entrepreneurship training. The South African education system should focus on practical entrepreneurship training from a young age.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship development, entrepreneurship development programmes, entrepreneurship intention, Netherlands, South Africa, unemployment.

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Authors: Mohammad Namazi, Mohammad Sadeghzadeh Maharluie

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Predicting earnings management is vital for the capital market participants, financial analysts and managers. The aim of this research is attempting to respond to this query: Is there a significant difference between the regression model and neural networks’ models in predicting earnings management, and which one leads to a superior prediction of it? In approaching this question, a Linear Regression (LR) model was compared with two neural networks including Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), and Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN). The population of this study includes 94 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) market from 2003 to 2011. After the results of all models were acquired, ANOVA was exerted to test the hypotheses. In general, the summary of statistical results showed that the precision of GRNN did not exhibit a significant difference in comparison with MLP. In addition, the mean square error of the MLP and GRNN showed a significant difference with the multi variable LR model. These findings support the notion of nonlinear behavior of the earnings management. Therefore, it is more appropriate for capital market participants to analyze earnings management based upon neural networks techniques, and not to adopt linear regression models.

Keywords: Earnings management, generalized regression neural networks, linear regression, multi-layer perceptron, Tehran stock exchange.

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Authors: Amitrajit Sarkar

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The use of Electronic Commerce (EC) technologies enables Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to improve their efficiency and competitive position. Much of the literature proposes an extensive set of benefits for organizations that choose to adopt and implement ECommerce systems. Factors of Business –to-business (B2B) E-Commerce adoption and implementation have been extensively investigated. Despite enormous attention given to encourage Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt and implement E-Commerce, little research has been carried out in identifying the factors of Business-to-Consumer ECommerce adoption and implementation for SMEs. To conduct the study, Tornatsky and Fleischer model was adopted and tested in four SMEs located in Christchurch, New Zealand. This paper explores the factors that impact the decision and method of adoption and implementation of ECommerce systems in automobile industry. Automobile industry was chosen because the product they deal with i.e. cars are not a common commodity to be sold online, despite this fact the eCommerce penetration in automobile industry is high. The factors that promote adoption and implementation of E-Commerce technologies are discussed, together with the barriers. This study will help SME owners to effectively handle the adoption and implementation process and will also improve the chance of successful E-Commerce implementation. The implications of the findings for managers, consultants, and government organizations engaged in promoting E-Commerce adoption and implementation in small businesses and future research are discussed.

Keywords: E-Commerce in SMEs, E-Commerce in automobile industry, B2C E-Commerce, E-Commerce adoption and Implementation, E-Commerce Website Implementation, E-Commerce Models.

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Authors: Nevena Stolba, A Min Tjoa

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Evidence-based medicine is a new direction in modern healthcare. Its task is to prevent, diagnose and medicate diseases using medical evidence. Medical data about a large patient population is analyzed to perform healthcare management and medical research. In order to obtain the best evidence for a given disease, external clinical expertise as well as internal clinical experience must be available to the healthcare practitioners at right time and in the right manner. External evidence-based knowledge can not be applied directly to the patient without adjusting it to the patient-s health condition. We propose a data warehouse based approach as a suitable solution for the integration of external evidence-based data sources into the existing clinical information system and data mining techniques for finding appropriate therapy for a given patient and a given disease. Through integration of data warehousing, OLAP and data mining techniques in the healthcare area, an easy to use decision support platform, which supports decision making process of care givers and clinical managers, is built. We present three case studies, which show, that a clinical data warehouse that facilitates evidence-based medicine is a reliable, powerful and user-friendly platform for strategic decision making, which has a great relevance for the practice and acceptance of evidence-based medicine.

Keywords: data mining, data warehousing, decision-support systems, evidence-based medicine.

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