Search results for: results of research

Authors: Rurui (Angelina) Liu

Abstract:

Universities have been one of the most important institutions in society. They shoulder the responsibility to do research and teach further generations. Therefore, the governance of universities has been a heated topic and has been learned for years. Recently, it witnessed great changes, for example, the massification of Higher Education (HE), marketization, and privatization. As a result, more stakeholders are involved in the governance of HE, among which students’ participation in HE becomes more important. However, the research about students’ participation in HE governance in China is not sufficient, and the situation requires improvement. The paper aims to not only fill in the research gap but also put forward practical suggestions to follow the world’s trend of HE governance. The methodology of this paper is literature analysis with comparative studies between China and western countries. The research points out that the current situation of students’ participation in HE governance is unideal due to problems in three fields, values and concepts, mechanisms and systems, as well as student unions. Then, the policy implications are based on these reasons: universities should highlight students’ status, respect their subjectivity and adhere to the service awareness; the government requires to build a sound legal system while universities should establish complete mechanisms and systems; student unions should be encouraged by universities to take part in HE governance affairs with sufficient funds, and autonomy. On the one hand, this paper is a further application of four rationales (consumerism, political-realism, communitarian, democracy, and consequentialism) created by Luescher‐Mamashela for the inevitable trend of students’ participation in HE governance. On the other hand, the suggestions it made benefit the students, universities, and society in practical ways.

Keywords: Students’ participation, higher education governance, Chinese higher education, university power.

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Authors: B. Zatwarnicka-Madura

Abstract:

The objective of the article was to identify the impacts of gamification on customers' behaviour. The most important applications of games in marketing and mechanisms of gamification are presented in the article. A detailed analysis of the influence of gamification on customers using two brands, Foursquare and Nike, was also presented. Research studies using auditory survey methods were carried out among 176 young respondents, who are potential targets of gamification. The studies confirmed a huge participation of young people in customer loyalty programs with relatively low participation in other gamificationbased marketing activities. The research findings clearly indicate that gamification mechanisms are the most attractive.

Keywords: Customer loyalty, games, gamification, social aspects.

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Authors: Ahmed Fathi Mohamed, Nasir Shafiq, M. F. Nuruddin, Ali Elheber

Abstract:

Implementing significant advantages in the supply of self-compacting concrete (SCC) is necessary because of the, negative features of SCC. Examples of these features are the ductility problem along with the very high cost of its constituted materials. Silica fume with steel fiber can fix this matter by improving the ductility and decreasing the total cost of SCC by varying the cement ingredients. Many different researchers have found that there have not been enough research carried out on the steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) produced with silica fume. This paper inspects both the fresh and the mechanical properties of SFRSCC with silica fume, the fresh qualities where slump flow, slump T₅₀ and V- funnel. While, the mechanical characteristics were the compressive strength, ultrasound pulse velocity (UPV) and elastic modulus of the concrete samples. The experimental results have proven that steel fiber can enhance the mechanical features. In addition, the silica fume within the entire hybrid mix may possibly adapt the fiber dispersion and strengthen deficits due to the fibers. It could also improve the strength plus the bond between the fiber and the matrix with a dense calcium silicate-hydrate gel in SFRSCC. The concluded result was predicted using linear mathematical models and was found to be in great agreement with the experimental results.

Keywords: Self-compacting concrete, silica fume, steel fiber, fresh and mechanical properties.

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Authors: Tang Mui Joo, Chan Eang Teng

Abstract:

The use of social media has become more defined. It has been widely used for the purpose of business. More marketers are now using social media as tools to enhance their businesses. Whereas on the other hand, there are more and more people spending their time through mobile apps to be engaged in the social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others. Social media has even become common in Public Relations (PR). It has become number one platform for creating and sharing content. In view to this, social media has changed the rules in PR where it brings new challenges and opportunities to the profession. Although corporate websites, chat-rooms, email customer response facilities and electronic news release distribution are now viewed as standard aspects of PR practice, many PR practitioners are still struggling with the impact of new media though the implementation of social media is potentially reducing the cost of communication. It is to the point that PR practitioners are not fully embracing new media, they are ill-equipped to do so and they have a fear of the technology. Somehow that social media has become a new style of communication that is characterized by conversation and community. It has become a platform that allows individuals to interact with one another and build relationship among each other. Therefore, in the use of business world, consumers are able to interact with those companies that have joined any social media. Based on their experiences with social networking site interactions, they are also exposed to personal interaction while communicating. This paper is to study the impact of social media to PR. This paper discovers the potential changes of PR practices in a developing country like Malaysia. Eventually the study reflects on how PR practitioners are actually using social media in the country. This paper is based on two theories in its development of this research foundation. Media Ecology Theory is to support the impact and changes to PR. Social Penetration Theory is to reflect on how the use of social media is among PRs. This research is using survey with PR practitioners in its data collection. The results have shown that PR professionals value social media more than they actually use it and the way of organizations communicate had been changed due to the transformation of social media.

Keywords: New media, social media, PR.

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Authors: Jennifer Leach, Umashanger Thayasivam

Abstract:

The use of technology has benefited society in more ways than one ever thought possible. Unfortunately, as society’s knowledge of technology has advanced, so has its knowledge of ways to use technology to manipulate others. This has led to a simultaneous advancement in the world of fraud. Machine learning techniques can offer a possible solution to help decrease these advancements. This research explores how the use of various machine learning techniques can aid in detecting fraudulent activity across two different types of fraudulent datasets, and the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 were recorded for each method. Each machine learning model was also tested across five different training and testing splits in order to discover which split and technique would lead to the most optimal results.

Keywords: Data science, fraud detection, machine learning, supervised learning.

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Authors: Sawsan J. Al-husseini, Talib A. Dosa

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Educational institutions are today facing increasing pressures due to economic, political and social upheaval. This is only exacerbated by the nature of education as an intangible good which relies upon the intellectual assets of the organisation, its staff. Top management support has been acknowledged as having a positive general influence on knowledge management and creativity. However, there is a lack of models linking top management support, knowledge sharing, and innovation within higher education institutions, in general within developing countries, and particularly in Iraq. This research sought to investigate the impact of top management support on innovation through the mediating role of knowledge sharing in Iraqi private HEIs. A quantitative approach was taken and 262 valid responses were collected to test the causal relationships between top management support, knowledge sharing, and innovation. Employing structural equation modelling with AMOS v.25, the research demonstrated that knowledge sharing plays a pivotal role in the relationship between top management support and innovation. The research has produced some guidelines for researchers as well as leaders, and provided evidence to support the use of knowledge sharing to increase innovation within the higher education environment in developing countries, particularly Iraq.

Keywords: Top management support, knowledge sharing, innovation, structural equation modelling.

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Authors: Ahmed A. D. Sarhan, M. Sayuti, M. Hamdi

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Nowadays, the demand for high product quality focuses extensive attention to the quality of machined surface. The (CNC) milling machine facilities provides a wide variety of parameters set-up, making the machining process on the glass excellent in manufacturing complicated special products compared to other machining processes. However, the application of grinding process on the CNC milling machine could be an ideal solution to improve the product quality, but adopting the right machining parameters is required. In glass milling operation, several machining parameters are considered to be significant in affecting surface roughness. These parameters include the lubrication pressure, spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut. In this research work, a fuzzy logic model is offered to predict the surface roughness of a machined surface in glass milling operation using CBN grinding tool. Four membership functions are allocated to be connected with each input of the model. The predicted results achieved via fuzzy logic model are compared to the experimental result. The result demonstrated settlement between the fuzzy model and experimental results with the 93.103% accuracy.

Keywords: CNC-machine, Glass milling, Grinding, Surface roughness, Cutting force, Fuzzy logic model.

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Authors: M. Giannopoulou, I. Roukounis, A. Roukouni.

Abstract:

Geographical Information Systems are an integral part of planning in modern technical systems. Nowadays referred to as Spatial Decision Support Systems, as they allow synergy database management systems and models within a single user interface machine and they are important tools in spatial design for evaluating policies and programs at all levels of administration. This work refers to the creation of a Geographical Information System in the context of a broader research in the area of influence of an under construction station of the new metro in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, which included statistical and multivariate data analysis and diagrammatic representation, mapping and interpretation of the results.

Keywords: Databases, Geographical information systems (GIS), Land-use planning, Metro stations

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Authors: V. Hadavi, J. Zamani, R. Hosseini

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The special and unique advantages of explosive forming, has developed its use in different industries. Considering the important influence of improving the current explosive forming techniques on increasing the efficiency and control over the explosive forming procedure, the effects of air and water as the energy-conveying medium, and also their differences will be illustrated in this paper. Hence, a large number of explosive forming tests have been conducted on two sizes of thin walled cylindrical shells by using air and water as the working medium. Comparative diagrams of the maximum radial deflection of work-pieces of the same size, as a function of the scaled distance, show that for the points with the same values of scaled distance, the maximum radial deformation caused by the under water explosive loading is 4 to 5 times more than the deflection of the shells under explosive forming, while using air. Results of this experimental research have also been compared with other studies which show that using water as the energy conveying media increases the efficiency up to 4.8 times. The effect of the media on failure modes of the shells, and the necking mechanism of the walls of the specimens, while being explosively loaded, are also discussed in this issue. Measuring the tested specimens shows that, the increase in the internal volume has been accompanied by necking of the walls, which finally results in the radial rupture of the structure.

Keywords: Explosive Forming, Energy Conveying Medium, Tubular Shell

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Authors: Katharina Buttenberg

Abstract:

Customer and brand-oriented capabilities have been identified as key influencing capabilities for business performance. Especially in the early years of the firm, it is crucial to develop and consciously manage these capabilities. In this paper, the results of a quantitative analysis, investigating the causal relationship between customer- and brand-oriented (marketing) capabilities and business performance will be presented. The research displays the dependencies between the constructs and will provide practical implications for young firms in the acquisition and management of these capabilities.

Keywords: Brand-oriented capabilities, customer-oriented capabilities, entrepreneurship, resource-based theory, young firms.

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Authors: Qasim Hamakhurshid Hamamurad, Normal Mat Jusoh, Uznir Ujang

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The concept of the city with an infrastructure of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) embraces several definitions depending on the meanings of the word "smart" which include: intelligent city, smart city, knowledge city, ubiquitous city, sustainable city, and digital city. Many definitions of the city exist, but this study explores which one has been universally acknowledged. From the literature analysis, it emerges that the term smart city is the most used in the articles to show the smartness of a city. This paper shares exploration of the research from the seven main website digital databases and journals focusing on the smart city from January 2015 to February 2020 to: (a) Time research, to examine the causes of the smart city phenomenon and other concept literature in the last five years; (b) Review of words, to see how and where the smart city specification and relation of different definitions are implemented; (c) Geographical research to consider where smart cities' greatest concentrations are in the world and determine if Malaysians are interacting with the smart city; and (d) How many papers are published in all of Malaysia from 2015 to 2020 about smart cities. Three steps are followed to accomplish the aim of this study: (1) The analysis which covered a systematic literature review search strategy to gather a representative sub-set of papers on the smart city and other definitions utilizing GoogleScholar, Elsevier, Scopus, ScienceDirect, IEEEXplore, WebofScience, and Springer between January 2015-February 2020; (2) The formation of a bibliometric map based on the bibliometric evaluation using the mapping technique VOSviewer to visualize differences; (3) VOSviewer application program to build initial clusters. The bibliometric analytical findings targeted the word harmony.

Keywords: Bibliometric research, smart city, ICT, VOSviewer, urban modernization.

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Authors: Dongjoo Kim, Chang-Sik Son, Won-Seok Kang

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Adequate sleep affects various parts of one’s overall physical and mental life. As one of the methods in determining the appropriate amount of sleep, this research presents a heart rate based sleep quality index. In order to evaluate sleep quality using the heart rate, sleep data from 280 subjects taken over one month are used. Their sleep data are categorized by a three-part heart rate range. After categorizing, some features are extracted, and the statistical significances are verified for these features. The results show that some features of this sleep quality index model have statistical significance. Thus, this heart rate based sleep quality index may be a useful discriminator of sleep.

Keywords: Sleep, sleep quality, heart rate, statistical analysis.

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Authors: Hao Liu, Lihui Zheng, Chinedu J. Okere, Chao Wang, Xiangchun Wang, Peng Zhang

Abstract:

The coalbed methane (CBM) extraction industry (an unconventional energy source) has not established guidelines for experimental evaluation of sensitivity damage for coal samples. The existing experimental process of previous researches mainly followed the industry standard for conventional oil and gas reservoirs (CIS). However, the existing evaluation method ignores certain critical differences between CBM reservoirs and conventional reservoirs, which could inevitably result in an inaccurate evaluation of sensitivity damage and, eventually, poor decisions regarding the formulation of formation damage prevention measures. In this study, we propose improved experimental guidelines for evaluating seepage sensitivity damage of CBM reservoirs by leveraging on the shortcomings of the existing methods. The proposed method was established via a theoretical analysis of the main drawbacks of the existing methods and validated through comparative experiments. The results show that the proposed evaluation technique provided reliable experimental results that can better reflect actual reservoir conditions and correctly guide the future development of CBM reservoirs. This study is pioneering the research on the optimization of experimental parameters for efficient exploration and development of CBM reservoirs.

Keywords: Coalbed methane, formation damage, permeability, unconventional energy source.

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Authors: Shams Ul Khaliq, Khan Shahzada, Bashir Alam, Fawad Bilal, Mushtaq Zeb, Faizan Akbar

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Marble industry contributes its fair share in environmental deterioration, producing voluminous amounts of mud and other excess residues obtained from marble and granite processing, polluting soil, water and air. Reusing these products in other products will not just prevent our environment from polluting but also help with economy. In this research, an attempt has been made to study the expediency of waste Marble Powder (MP) in concrete production. Various laboratory tests were performed to investigate permeability, physical and mechanical properties, such as slump, compressive strength, split tensile test, etc. Concrete test samples were fabricated with varying MP content (replacing 5-30% cement), furnished from two different sources. 5% replacement of marble dust caused 6% and 12% decrease in compressive and tensile strength respectively. These parameters gradually decreased with increasing MP content up to 30%. Most optimum results were obtained with 10% replacement. Improvement in consistency and permeability were noticed. The permeability was improved with increasing MP proportion up to 10% without substantial decrease in compressive strength. Obtained results revealed that MP as an alternative to cement in concrete production is a viable option considering its economic and environment friendly implications.

Keywords: Waste marble dust, concrete strength, environment, concrete, permeability.

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Authors: Rachel C. F. Sun

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This study examined the predictive effects of moral competence, prosocial norms and positive behavior recognition on school misbehavior among Chinese junior secondary school students. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that students were more likely to misbehave in school when they had lower levels of moral competence and prosocial norms, and when they perceived their positive behavior being less likely recognized. Practical implications were discussed on how to guide students to make the right choices to behave appropriately in school. Implications for future research were also discussed.

Keywords: Moral competence, positive behavior recognition, prosocial norms, school misbehavior.

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Authors: Tatjana Rakcejeva, Jelena Zagorska, Elina Zvezdina

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The aim of the current research was to investigate the gassy ozone effect on quality parameters of flaxes made form whole biologically activated wheat grains. The research was accomplished on wheat grains variety

Keywords: Gassy ozone, flaxes, biologically activated grains, quality parameters, treatment.

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Authors: Cao Ziyuan, Luo Xuan

Abstract:

To study the local force characteristics of a spatial Y-arch bridge, a medium-bearing spatial Y-arch bridge is used as the object of study, and the finite element software FEA is used to establish a spatial finite element model and analyze the force conditions of the arch legs under different most unfavorable loading conditions. It is found that the forces on the arch foot under different conditions are mainly in the longitudinal direction and transverse direction, which should be considered for strengthening. The research results can provide reference for the design and construction of the same type of bridge.

Keywords: Bridge engineering, special-shaped arch bridge, mechanical properties, local analysis.

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Authors: S. Sowmyayani, V. Murugan

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With the advent of three-dimension (3D) technology, there are lots of research in converting 2D images to 3D images. The main difference between 2D and 3D is the visual illusion of depth in 3D images. In the recent era, there are more depth estimation techniques. The objective of this paper is to convert 2D images to 3D images with less computation time. For this, the input image is divided into blocks from which the depth information is obtained. Having the depth information, a depth map is generated. Then the 3D image is warped using the original image and the depth map. The proposed method is tested on Make3D dataset and NYU-V2 dataset. The experimental results are compared with other recent methods. The proposed method proved to work with less computation time and good accuracy.

Keywords: Depth map, 3D image warping, image rendering, bilateral filter, minimum spanning tree.

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Authors: Jureerat Buakaew

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The purpose of this research was to investigate Thai Muslims’ way of life through the way their clothes. The data of this qualitative research were collected from related documents and research reports, ancient cloths and clothing, and in-depth interviews with clothes owners and weavers.

The research found that in the 18^th century Thai Muslims in the three southern border provinces used many types of clothing in their life. At home women wore plain clothes. They used checked cloths to cover the upper part of their body from the breasts down to the waist. When going out, they used Lima cloth and So Kae with a piece of Pla-nging cloth as a head scarf. For men, they wore a checked sarong as a lower garment, and wore no upper garment. However, when going out, they wore Puyo Potong. In addition, Thai Muslims used cloths in various religious rites, namely, the rite of placing a baby in a cradle, the Masoyawi rite, the Nikah rite, and the burial rite. These types of cloths were related to the way of life of Thai Muslims from birth to death. They reflected the race, gender, age, social status, values, and beliefs in traditions that have been inherited.

Practical Implication: Woven in these cloths are the lost local wisdom, and therefore, aesthetics on the cloths are like mirrors reflecting the background of people in this region that is fading away. These cloths are pages of a local history book that is of importance and value worth for preservation and publicity so that they are treasured. Government organizations can expand and materialize the knowledge received from the study in accordance with government policy in supporting the One Tambon, One Product project.

Keywords: Way of life, rite of placing a baby in a cradle, Masoyawi rite, Thai Muslims.

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Authors: Cristian Chacha, David Asiain, Jesús Ponce de León, José Ramón Beltrán

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This work explores and characterizes the behavior of the AFE AD5941 in impedance measurement using an embedded algorithm that allows using a constant current AC source. The main aim of this research is to improve the exact measurement of impedance values for their application in EDA-focused wearable devices. Through comprehensive study and characterization, it has been observed that employing a measurement sequence with a constant current source produces results with increased dispersion but higher accuracy and a more linear behavior with respect to error. As a result, this approach leads to a more accurate system for impedance measurement.

Keywords: Electrodermal Activity, constant current AC source, wearable, precision, accuracy, impedance.

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Authors: Muhammad Fiaz, Baseerat Rizwan, Naqvi Najam Abbas, Yang Naiding

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The aspiration of this research article is to target and focus the gains of university-Industry (U-I) collaborations and exploring those hurdles which are the obstacles for attaining these gains. University-Industry collaborations have attained great importance since 1980 in USA due to its application in all fields of life. U-I collaboration is a bilateral process where academia is a proactive member to make such alliances. Universities want to ameliorate their academic-base with the technicalities of technobabbles. U-I collaboration is becoming an essential lane for achieving innovative goals in this century. Many developed nations have set successful examples to prove this phenomenon as a catalyst to reduce costs, efforts and personnel for R&D projects. This study is exploits amplitudes of UI collaboration incentives in the light of success stories of developed countries. Many universities in USA, UK, Canada and various European Countries have been engaged with enterprises for numerous collaborative agreements. A long list of strategic and short term R&D projects has been executed in developed countries to accomplish their intended purposes. Due to the lack of intentions, genuine research and research-oriented environment, the mentioned field could not grow very well in developing countries. During last decade, a new wave of research has induced the institutes of developing countries to promote R&D culture especially in Pakistan. Higher Education Commission (HEC) has initiated many projects and funding supports for universities which have collaborative intentions with industry. Findings show that rapid innovation, overwhelm the technological complexities and articulated intellectual-base are major incentives which steer both partners to establish faculty-industry alliances. Everchanging technologies, concerned about intellectual property, different research environment and culture, research relevancy (Basic or applied), exposure differences and diversity of knowledge (bookish or practical) are main barriers to establish and retain joint ventures. Findings also concluded that, it is dire need to support and enhance cooperation among academia and industry to promote highly coordinated research behaviors. Author has proposed a roadmap for developing countries to promote R&D clusters among faculty and industry to deal the technological challenges and innovation complexities. Based on our research findings, Model for R&D Collaboration for developing countries also have been proposed to promote articulated R&D environment. If developing countries follow this phenomenon, rapid innovations can be achieved with limited R&D budget heads.

Keywords: University-Industry Collaboration, Academia, Innovation, R&D Barriers

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Authors: Fereidoon Nowshiravan Rahatabad, Mohammad Hassan Moradi, Vahid Reza Nafisi

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Nothing that an effective cure for infertility happens when we can find a unique solution, a great deal of study has been done in this field and this is a hot research subject for to days study. So we could analyze the men-s seaman and find out about fertility and infertility and from this find a true cure for this, since this will be a non invasive and low risk procedure, it will be greatly welcomed. In this research, the procedure has been based on few Algorithms enhancement and segmentation of images which has been done on the images taken from microscope in different fertility institution and have obtained a suitable result from the computer images which in turn help us to distinguish these sperms from fluids and its surroundings.

Keywords: Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA), Spermidentification, Segmentation.

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Authors: Ali I. Gumuseli

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In order to achieve effective management, the professional and individual characteristics and qualifications of school principals and their system-oriented perception is very important. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct regular comprehensive studies into the profiles of school principals. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of primary school principals about their working conditions and to present their professional profiles. The questionnaire was distributed to 1475 respondents and 1428 valid questionnaires were evaluated. The results of the research were discussed and compared to other similar studies.Keywordseducation, education management, primary school principal, principals profiles

Keywords: education, education management, primary school principal, principals profiles

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Authors: Eli Hustad, Aurilla A. Bechina

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The purpose of this research is to increase our knowledge as regards how Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) tackle ERP implementation projects to achieve successful adoption and use of these systems within the organization. SMEs have scare resources to handle these kinds of projects which have proved to be risky and costly. There are several studies focusing on ERP implementation in larger companies, however, few studies report on challenges experienced by SMEs. Our research seeks to bridge this gap. Through a multiple case study of four companies, we identified challenges and critical elements within the different phases (pre-implementation, implementation and post-implementation) of the ERP life cycle. To interpret our findings, we utilize a well-know ERP life cycle model and critical success factors developed for larger companies which are reported in former research literature. We discuss if these models are relevant for SMEs and suggest additional critical elements identified in this study to make a framework more adapted to the SME context.

Keywords: ERP implementation challenges, ERP implementation framework, ERP life cycle model, Small-and- Medium-Sized Enterprises, ERP critical success factors

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Authors: Š. Čemerková, M. Wilczková

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The paper deals with the importance of information flow for providing of defined level of customer service in the firms. Setting of the criteria for the selection and implementation of logistics information system is a prerequisite for ensuring of the flow of information in firms. The decision on the selection and implementation of logistics information system is linked to the investment costs and operating costs, which are included in the total logistics costs. The article also deals with the conclusions of the research focused on the logistics information system selection in companies in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: Customer service, information system, logistics, research.

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Authors: Caighley Logan, Suzzanne McColl

Abstract:

The outcome of fire related fatalities, along with other research, has found fires can have a detrimental effect to the mineral and crystalline structures within bone. This study focused on the mineral and crystalline structures within porcine bone samples to analyse the changes caused, with the intent of effectively ‘reverse engineering’ the data collected from burned bone samples to discover what may have happened. Using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), the data were collected from a controlled source of intense heat (muffle furnace) and an open fire, based in a living room setting in a standard size shipping container (2.5 m x 2.4 m) of a similar temperature with a known ignition source, a gasoline lighter. This approach is to analyse the changes to the samples and how the changes differ depending on the heat source. Results have found significant differences in the levels of remaining minerals for each type of heat/burning (p =< 0.001), particularly Phosphorus and Calcium, this also includes notable additions of absorbed elements and minerals from the surrounding materials, i.e., Cerium (Ce), Bromine (Br) and Neodymium (Ne). The analysis techniques included provide validated results in conjunction with previous studies.

Keywords: Forensic anthropology, thermal alterations, porcine bone, FTIR, XRF.

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Authors: Reem I. Altamimi, Geoff D. Skinner

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Extended periods engaged in sedentary behavior increases the risk of becoming overweight and/or obese which is linked to other health problems. Adding technology to the term ‘active living’ permits its inclusion in promoting and facilitating habitual physical activity. Technology can either act as a barrier to, or facilitate this lifestyle, depending on the chosen technology. Physical Activity Monitoring Technologies (PAMTs) are a popular example of such technologies. Different contemporary PAMTs have been evaluated based on customer reviews; however, there is a lack of published experimental research into the efficacy of PAMTs. This research aims to investigate the reliability of four PAMTs: two wristbands (Fitbit Flex and Jawbone UP), a waist-clip (Fitbit One), and a mobile application (iPhone Health Application) for recording a specific distance walked on a treadmill (1.5km) at constant speed. Physical activity tracking technologies are varied in their recordings, even while performing the same activity. This research demonstrates that Jawbone UP band recorded the most accurate distance compared to Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, and iPhone Health Application.

Keywords: Fitbit, Jawbone UP, mobile tracking applications, physical activity tracking technologies.

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Authors: Mahdi Hamzehei

Abstract:

In this research, heat transfer of a poly Ethylene fluidized bed reactor without reaction were studied experimentally and computationally at different superficial gas velocities. A multifluid Eulerian computational model incorporating the kinetic theory for solid particles was developed and used to simulate the heat conducting gas–solid flows in a fluidized bed configuration. Momentum exchange coefficients were evaluated using the Syamlal– O-Brien drag functions. Temperature distributions of different phases in the reactor were also computed. Good agreement was found between the model predictions and the experimentally obtained data for the bed expansion ratio as well as the qualitative gas–solid flow patterns. The simulation and experimental results showed that the gas temperature decreases as it moves upward in the reactor, while the solid particle temperature increases. Pressure drop and temperature distribution predicted by the simulations were in good agreement with the experimental measurements at superficial gas velocities higher than the minimum fluidization velocity. Also, the predicted time-average local voidage profiles were in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The study showed that the computational model was capable of predicting the heat transfer and the hydrodynamic behavior of gas-solid fluidized bed flows with reasonable accuracy.

Keywords: Gas-solid flows, fluidized bed, Hydrodynamics, Heat transfer, Turbulence model, CFD

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Authors: Shaharin A. Sulaiman, Haizatul H. Hussain, Nik Siti H. Nik Leh, Mohd S. I. Razali

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Accumulation of dust from the outdoor environment on the panels of solar photovoltaic (PV) system is natural. There were studies that showed that the accumulated dust can reduce the performance of solar panels, but the results were not clearly quantified. The objective of this research was to study the effects of dust accumulation on the performance of solar PV panels. Experiments were conducted using dust particles on solar panels with a constant-power light source, to determine the resulting electrical power generated and efficiency. It was found from the study that the accumulated dust on the surface of photovoltaic solar panel can reduce the system-s efficiency by up to 50%.

Keywords: Dust, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy.

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Authors: Sawsan J. Al-Husseini, Talib A. Dosa

Abstract:

Transformational leadership has been identified as the most important factor affecting innovation and knowledge sharing; it leads to increased goal-directed behavior exhibited by followers and thus to enhanced performance and innovation for the organization. However, there is a lack of models linking transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, and process innovation within higher education (HE) institutions in general within developing countries, particularly in Iraq. This research aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the transformational leadership and process innovation relationship. A quantitative approach was taken and 254 usable questionnaires were collected from public HE institutions in Iraq. Structural equation modelling with AMOS 22 was used to analyze the causal relationships among factors. The research found that knowledge sharing plays a pivotal role in the relationship between transformational leadership and process innovation, and that transformational leadership would be ideal in an educational context, promoting knowledge sharing activities and influencing process innovation in the public HE in Iraq. The research has developed some guidelines for researchers as well as leaders and provided evidence to support the use of TL to increase process innovation within HE environment in developing countries, particularly in Iraq.

Keywords: Transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, process innovation, structural equation modelling, developing countries.

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